imposing, psychiatrist was gone, replaced by a grotesque--and completely terrifying--creature with eyes that seemed barely human.
There were hints of Dr. Hyde: the beard, the suit, the shape of his face. And yet the beard wasn't neatly trimmed, the suit hung wrong on uneven shoulders, and the features on his face were warped and irregular. The bent nose, the lopsided mouth--they were awful, physical manifestations of the twisted soul that had emerged.
This thing ... It was someone--something--else. And it was terrible to behold.
"Steady, now," he urged again when Mom's hand kept trembling.
"You might be thirsty later."
"What are you doing?" Tristen repeated, his own tone ominous.
"Blackmailing you," Dr. Hyde said. "Tonight you will drink the formula or watch your girlfriend's mother drink what is in
her
cup. And then we will all sit and watch Mrs. Jekel die, slowly and in agony. And if
that
doesn't convince you, I will break your little girlfriend's neck with my bare hands."
269
I stifled the urge to cry out as tears began to stream down Mom's face.
"Over my dead body," Tristen said, putting a protective hand on my arm.
"As you wish," Dr. Hyde agreed.
"What's in the cup?" I spoke for the first time since coming in the door.
Dr. Hyde released Mom's shoulders and stepped around from behind the couch. "Household bleach. A common but effective corrosive--as I'm sure you, a chemist, know perfectly well."
"No ..." I shook my head, looking to Tristen. "No ..."
"We don't have any formula," Tristen pointed out. "If you thought we made some at the contest, you're wrong. It was just a demonstration. I didn't add the final ingredient. I won't ever again."
"You know how to make it, and you have everything you need in the car," Dr. Hyde growled, stepping closer. His eyes were so metallic, and the smell of him ... He smelled like a corpse already rotting in the grave.
Is that what Tristen would have become? What I would have become if I'd kept drinking the formula?
Where
was
the formula?
I shot Mr. Messerschmidt a confused glance. And how--why--had our teacher betrayed us?
"I don't have
all
the ingredients," Tristen insisted. "I don't have the altered salt!"
This revelation seemed to anger Dr. Hyde further--but didn't sway him from his plan. "You will tell Messerschmidt what is needed, he will get it, and you
will
drink the solution!" he snapped. "Tonight, as I planned!"
270
"Tristen, don't!" I cried. I couldn't let him become like the monster that stood before us. It would only delay the inevitable for my mother and me. I didn't believe Dr. Hyde would let either of us leave the house alive. There was no reason for Tristen to destroy his soul again. "Don't make more."
"I
can't
do it," Tristen said. "And neither can you." And with that, he drew back his arm and hurled the old metal box into the fireplace, where the unlocked clasp opened on impact, the papers flying into the flames.
"YOU FOOL!" the beast roared, staring into the flames, curling and uncurling its fingers as the documents were consumed. "YOU
IDIOT!" He spun to face Tristen. "You were the best of our lineage. Young, smart, ambitious--and talented! With your gift and our legacy you could have commanded incredible power. Been worshiped--and feared--around the world. Now you've ended everything!"
"On the contrary," Tristen said. "You and I--we are just beginning." He stepped closer to the beast. "Now let the women go, and let us conduct our business in private. Because I am
very
eager to see this through to the end."
I had seen Tristen Hyde's imperious side many times, but I'd never seen him be that commanding, and I thought he probably
could
have inspired both adoration and outright terror if his evil side really had been unleashed. Maybe he could do it, just on his own. But even the powerful guy who stood, feet planted wide on our old wooden floors, wasn't strong enough to slay the monster that seemed to be growing more hunched, and more vile, with every passing second. Not without unleashing his own terrible side ...
"You have made a grave mistake, Tristen," the beast growled, 271
stalking even closer. Tristen stepped in front of me, guarding me.
"And now all of you will pay! You have cost your lover and her mother their lives, too."
I had no doubt then that we were all going to die as the beast reached out for Tristen, to take him first.
But suddenly, into the surreal silence that had descended upon all of us, Mr. Messerschmidt cried out, "Wait!"
Chapter 93
Jill
"I HAVE THE FORMULA
," Mr. Messerschmidt announced, stepping out from where he lurked near the door.
We all spun to face him, and I saw the vial from my pocket. "How did you get that?" I demanded.
"From your coat," my teacher said. "I knew you'd made some. I listen to you kids, Jill, when you think I don't. I heard rumors about you changing. I thought, maybe, given how shy you are, you might take some to the contest.
I
would have done it if I had been you." His face reddened. "The formula is so ... liberating."
"You--you've taken it?" Tristen asked, sounding confused.
"Oh yes," the beast chimed in with a deep, gloating laugh. "Tell them, Messerschmidt. Tell them how you were a paid guinea pig for Jill's father, testing the formula to 'cure' Dr. Hyde." My mind struggled to keep up. "I don't understand ..."
"I wasn't a guinea pig," Mr. Messerschmidt protested, sounding hurt. He looked to me. "Your father and I were
partners.
We were 272
all going to share the accolades when we found the proper formula. I was going to be a respected scientist, in league with your dad!"
"You were never going to earn respect." The beast laughed. "You were a very well-compensated lab rat."
The final piece of the puzzle fell into place. My dad had paid Messerschmidt to help him in the lab. That was where my college savings had gone.
"You're wrong," Mr. Messerschmidt objected. "Dr. Jekel treated me fairly. We were
collaborators!"
"Then why did you bite your master?" The beast laughed again, turning to me. "Your father was so determined to 'save' Frederick. What a miserable martyr Jekel was--killed by his own assistant!" I spun to face my teacher.
"I didn't mean to, Jill," he said. "But when I took the last formula, I changed. I followed him to the parking lot, needing to know how to make more, but he wouldn't tell me the secret..."
The room started to whirl around me. Mr. Messerschmidt--my
teacher
--had killed my father?
Across the room my mother was sobbing loudly. I looked over and saw that the fire had spilled out onto the floor, and the rug was smoldering at her feet.
"Jill." Tristen grabbed my arms. Maybe I was swaying. "It's okay," he soothed. "It's okay ..."
"You came to his
funeral,"
I accused Mr. Messerschmidt, hearing the disbelief in my voice. "And you faced me, every day in class. How could you? How could you not
turn yourself in?"
He didn't answer, and I saw not just guilt but shame on his face. A shame I recognized.
"You
still
wanted more!" I screamed. "That's why you forced me 273
and Tristen together to do the contest. You wanted us to make more so you could change again. Even after what you did to my father!"
"Yes," Mr. Messerschmidt confessed, breaking down before our eyes. "Your father ... he never did tell me the final ingredient..." He buried his face in his hands, starting to cry. "I knew you and Tristen were smart enough to figure it out. I pushed you two together ..." He raised his face to me. "God help me, I craved it..."
"I don't understand," Tristen said, turning to face the beast. "When did Messerschmidt start working for
you?"
The monster in my living room was grinning again. "When you destroyed yourself, Tristen, I went to Messerschmidt, thinking he'd somehow figured out the formula and 'cured' you. But that idiot didn't even know you were already working, let alone had
solved me.
mystery. I figured that out. After that I made sure he pressured you to make more. Your teacher became
my
pawn." The beast snorted a laugh. "While I was enjoying myself, relaxing in a quiet hotel room and courting Mrs. Jekel--"
My stomach lurched again. I'd kind of known Mom was up to something, with the fancy dresses and new social life, but I had conveniently ignored the signs, having grown tired of taking care of her. I looked to my mother quaking on the couch and saw that the rug was starting to burn more brightly, the flames spreading.
Oh, Mom ...
We were all going to die ...
"While I was amusing myself," the beast continued, "that
mess
of a man was keeping tabs on you, reporting to me, so I could confront Tristen at the proper time."
I wheeled to face Mr. Messerschmidt again. "You told him that night Tristen and I worked alone in the lab. You set us up! You delivered us to Dr. Hyde
twice!"
274
He didn't say anything, and Tristen squeezed my arm again, either holding me up--or holding me back.
"Here," Messerschmidt said, avoiding my eyes and stepping past me and Tristen--giving us a wide berth in a room that was getting warmer, filling with acrid smoke--to hand the vial to the beast. I saw my teacher's hand shake as he offered up the solution. "Just give this to Tristen, and let me be done with all of this." NO.
Tristen would not drink the formula. And I was not done with my father's murderer.
Lunging forward, I tore free of Tristen's grasp and snatched the vial from Messerschmidt's hand just before the beast could take it, and I tore off the stopper and poured every last drop down my throat, ignoring Tristen's cry.
"Stop, Jill! Don't do it!"
He was too late.
I turned on Mr. Messerschmidt and saw raw fear in his eyes.
Chapter 94
Jill
I DRANK THE
last few drops ... and nothing happened. Maybe nothing had ever happened. Maybe all along the beast I'd unleashed had just been ... me. Or maybe I was so full of rage that there was no room for a worse self to emerge. I
was
my worst self that night. "I hate you!" I screamed at Messerschmidt.
"Jill..." I heard Tristen calling my name, but his voice seemed to come from far away.
275
"I'm going to kill you," I advised my teacher, who backed away from me. I wheeled to face the beast, who stood too close to Tristen. Behind them both the fire began to spread in earnest.
"And then I'm going to kill you, too, you fucking monster." I think Tristen was too stunned to move. Either that or he wanted to let me have revenge. Regardless, he didn't move as I bent and smashed the vial against the floor so the glass broke raggedly. Swinging my arm wide, I swiped at Mr. Messerschmidt's face, wanting to maim him first.
I saw my teacher raise his hand, but I was too quick, and the glass caught him right beneath his eye. He howled in pain, and as he covered the spurting wound, I pulled my arm back again, aiming for his throat.
"Jill, no!" Tristen caught me, swinging me to face him. "Don't become like him. Stop--for me!"
I breathed hard and raggedly, staring into his eyes. I wanted revenge. I wanted nothing less than full retribution. But more than that I wanted Tristen to love me again. I didn't want to see the fear and dismay that I saw in his eyes then.
I dropped the broken glass.
"Jill..." Tristen was searching my face, and I knew he saw that I was still
me.
"Don't kill him."
Mr. Messerschmidt cowered on the floor, whimpering, and behind us the fire was still spreading, starting to consume the curtains. My mom struggled to free herself, crying, "Jill! Get out of the house!"
Yet the world seemed to stand still, revolving around me and Tristen.
"Kiss me, Jill," he said, holding my arms. "Kiss me and share the formula."
276
I shook my head. "No, Tristen. I don't even know if it's working ..."
"It will work for me. You know it will. I am a
Hyde."
The beast was coming closer to us, taking its time before killing us all--and giving Tristen one last chance to drink from my lips. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the twisted smile of anticipation on its face.
"Kiss me, Jill," Tristen repeated. "Kiss me goodbye. Then go save your mother."
"We don't have any more formula," I said. "You won't be able to come back..."
"It's okay, Jill."
I shook my head harder. "No."
"I love you," Tristen said. "I love you so much." They were the words I'd longed to hear. And although we were probably both going to die, I suddenly felt curiously at peace. "I love you, too," I told him. "I'll always love you."
"Then do this," he said.
I thought I'd gone beyond taking orders from Tristen Hyde, but how could I disobey as he bent his head to mine and pressed our lips together? And although I knew I was corrupting him again, ruining him, I kissed him so tenderly and so hungrily that, for the brief moment that we had, we really did feel like one soul. I felt like I lived and breathed as part of him, and shared that glorious strength that he always possessed, whether he was a man or a monster. For a moment I
was
Tristen and he was part of me. Then he released me, and as I darted to save my mom, I saw Tristen Hyde turn to face his waiting father as the house burned down around them.
277
Epilogue
Jill
"I'M
GLAD YOUcame with me," I told my mom, taking her hand in mine.
"I worry about you in this city." She shook her head. "It's not safe. Are you
sure
you want to live here? You could wait a year, reapply to Smith."
"I'll be fine," I promised. "The NYU campus is very safe, and Tristen will be close by. I don't want to go to Smith anymore." Mom looked at me with sad, worried eyes--the expression she always seemed to have since that night our house burned down. We never talked about it anymore, but I always saw a shadow of the experience in my mom's face. "I don't know that you being with Tristen reassures me," she said. "It's a big city."