In Economics the next day, the girls were sitting, trying to look as if they were paying attention. But really, they were looking at some printed out pages Cassie had just pulled out of her backpack. "Last night when we got home, I went and asked mom about a bestiary – I thought I'd seen one in an old trunk in storage while I was looking for something. She told me it was old, mostly in Italian, and only about creatures that were around that part of the world. I told her about that…thing we saw last night, and she said it wasn't in the book, but she'd heard of it before; it's called a-"
"Kanima?" Naja interrupted, raising an eyebrow. Her friend was taken aback until she jerked her head to where Coach was yelling at Jackson. After he walked away, she stared on, her face becoming paler. "Lydia might be in trouble."
"For what? Is it going to kill her? I don't even know what the thing really is, let alone what it wants!" the petite girl cried out, eyes wide, progressively slinking down in her seat.
"No, not it. Isaac and Erica. They think she is the Kanima. …or Derek does, or something. But something is going to happen in Chemistry, we need to help her!" Naja hissed, her eyes darting to Lydia as she went up to the board.
"Well, what if it is her? I mean, she's pretty evil. Not as bad as my sister, but still," was the rebuttal, though she grew more concerned as she watched the scene unfold.
They sat in shocked silence as Lydia, crying and almost sobbing, wrote the same thing over and over on the chalkboard. Coach laughed about it being a different language, and Naja turned around, lip curled in confusion. "They do see it says 'Someone Help Me,' right? Are they all dumb?"
"This is Beacon Hills remember. No great minds have emerged from here," Cassie scoffed, rolling her eyes. She turned to look at Lydia, tears still on her face, and tapped her fingers on her desk. "Are you sure it's not her?"
"I don't know what's wrong with her, but I'm about ninety-five percent sure she isn't the Kanima."
Before the bell dinged in Chemistry to signal the start of class, the best friends watched Scott and Stiles clamor to sit beside Lydia, and breathed an audible sigh of relief. Which was short lived as they began to rotate for the experiment. Naja shot her friend a look, and received a nod in response, as she kept one eye on the experiment, one on Lydia.
The grey-eyed girl listened in on the conversations between Erica and Scott, and Stiles and Isaac, grinding her teeth a little harder every time. When Erica sat down beside her, still glancing over at Lydia, the girl took a deep breath before opening her mouth. "Leave Lydia alone."
The blonde bombshell nearly laughed, a form of half laugh coming out of her nose. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Yes you do, Erica. I'm warning you, don't touch her."
An actual laugh this time, and she leaned in close, almost whispering. "You have no idea what you're messing with, Naja,"she replied snidely, reaching across her for a flask.
"Do you?" the dark haired girl retorted, grabbing the blonde's wrist firmly. She locked eyes and didn't wavered, even when Erica tried to use her full strength to rip her arm away. She let go when the other girl pulled back, so she almost fell on the floor, staring at her wide-eyed. "Oops. Be careful, there's something on the floor there."
She heard Erica growl under her breath as she went to the next station, leaving the very hint of a smile playing on Naja's lips. A familiar smell filled her nostrils as Isaac sat down beside her. She felt him staring at her as she did her part of the experiment, and she rolled her shoulders before staring back. "Is there something on my face?" she snapped, putting the stir stick back down.
"Huh?"
"In my hair, a mark on my shirt or something?" she asked slowly, still seeing confusion written on his face. "You're staring at me."
He shifted uncomfortably on his stool, moving some of the things on the bench around. "Oh, I just saw you get into it with Erica. Not many people do that. Not lately, anyway," he said, hitting the flask with his elbow. He had an almost panicked expression as it tumbled towards the tile floor.
There was a slight ting sound as Naja caught it between her thumb and forefinger, the base resting on the toe of her sneaker. She pulled it back up and placed it on the table, meeting his mystified stare with a blank blink. "Be more careful."
At the same time, a highly irritated Erica was sitting beside Cassie, who was tugging on the neon blue lock in her bangs. She glanced over at the calmness of her best friend and took a deep breath. She might not be super strong like the girl sitting beside her. Or have sharp fangs. Or claws. Or be able to heal. She shook her head hard, breathing out the breath she didn't know she was holding. She began to sing softly under her breath, almost inaudible if you weren't sitting right beside her. Or if you had super hearing. "I breathe you in with smoke, in the backyard lights, we used to laugh until we choked, into the wasted night," she began, causing Erica to stare at her.
"What are you – "
She didn't get to finish her sentence, because the voice was filling her head. It was as if just moving her arm to do her part of the experiment was like swimming through syrup. Even seeing straight got harder the longer Cassie was singing – and then the bell for switching stations dinged, and she got up, feeling a little disoriented, but still looking at Lydia. "Dammit!" Cassie cursed under her breath. "I only needed one more minute… "
When Naja plopped onto the seat beside her, she nearly jumped. "Jesus Nana, don't do that!" she hissed, clenching her hands into fists. "I almost had a heart attack. She's scary!"
Her friend nearly snorted with laughter. "Yeah, she's a little bit of a psycho. But I think I intimidated her enough," she smirked, holding her one hand up near Cassie's face, the other putting the finishing touches on their experiment. "Not that she has any idea. Just very confused. And annoyed I'm stronger than her."
"Yeah, well, I'm not!" came the same irritated hiss.
They were told their experiments should be edible crystals, and both girls snapped their necks around to Lydia right before Scott yelled out her name. Watching as Erica and Isaac shared a look, Cassie clamped her hand onto her friend's arm. "I don't think that's a good sign."