Warning: lots of swearing. I'm trying not to use it as much, but it's proving to be difficult.
As always, read and review.
Enjoy!
I do NOT own Teen Wolf, only my OCs.
Stiles' POV
"You did what?" Scott practically screamed at me as we walked to the locker room.
"I kissed her," I mumbled.
"Why?" he asked still at a high volume.
I rolled my eyes, "Cause I wanted to." He gave me a look to go on, so I did. "It's not like a want to get back together with her. I mean I do and last night, I told myself that that was why I did it. But now, I – I don't know man, I just wanted to. I felt like if I didn't kiss her then, I would never get another chance."
"Wow, dude," Scott said with wide eyes.
"What?" I snapped.
"I didn't realize you still had such strong feelings for her," he mumbled as we entered the locker room.
"Yeah, well, I do," I said going over to my locker to get changed for practice.
"Anyway, moving on to the task at hand. What do you think happened to that kid?" Scott asked as he began to change.
"I don't know," I said with a shrug, "He was probably taken. You're sure he didn't just go home?"
"I looked everywhere. It's like he just vanished. He left his car, his dog," Scott explained.
"Okay, was he like, could he have been a virgin?" I asked, trying to make a connection, "Did he look like a virgin? Was he virginal?"
"No," Scott said with a smirk, "Definitely not. Deaton makes me have sex with all of his clients. It's a new policy."
I just blinked at Scott. I was so surprised by his sarcasm that I didn't notice Seth coming over to us.
"What about having sex with Deaton's clients? Are you a veterinarian prostitute, McCall?" Seth asked with a smirk.
"No, I don't know if he was a virgin," Scott said, ignoring Seth, "And why are you talking like he's already dead? He's just missing."
"Missing and presumed dead because he's probably a virgin, Scott," I said frantically.
"And you're worried about that, why?" Seth asked, crossing his arms. Before I could answer, "Oh, right. Cause you're a virgin."
"You really think I dated Emma and didn't get it in?" I seethed, loudly.
Seth and Scott exchanged a look. Scott's face was covered in a shocked and slightly pained expression. Seth looked amused. Like I had somehow fallen into his trap. Shit. He was probably going to go tell Emma about our 'locker room talk'. I looked around the room and saw that all of the boys were looking at our group. They had noticed my sudden outburst.
"Mr. Lahey," Coach's voice interrupted my panic, "Happy to have you back. Not happy that you're late."
"Sorry, Coach," Isaac said under his breath. He came over to where we were standing by the lockers.
"I'll remind you all that cross country is not optional for lacrosse players," Coach ranted, "I don't need you turning into a bunch of fat asses in the offseason." He looked at Danny and Isaac who had just taken their shirts off. "So, work on that."
Emma's POV
Fuck Seth. I cannot believe he is making me join the cross-country team. And fuck my mom for agreeing that this can count as part of my training. I don't run. I hate running. I hate exercise of all kind. Unless it's hand to hand combat because at least then I get to hurt something. This is so unfair. I don't know any of the girls on this team which made me realize that I only actually have two girl friends. So now, I'm standing in the locker room, watching everybody in their cliques, and waiting for us to go outside so I can at least see one person I know.
We exit the locker room and meet up with the boys in the hallway. Coach is giving them an inspiring speech about the positives of cross country. I hang back, towards the back of the group, waiting for anyone to realize that I'm there. And sure enough, there's the boys that I hate to love. All in a group, walking down the hallway. I fall into step next to Seth. Isaac is on his other side. Scott and Stiles are behind us.
"I hate you so much," I mumbled to Seth.
He smirked, "Just think of how this will help you run away from hunters."
I shot him a glare, "Yeah, that doesn't make this anymore appeasing."
We got outside of the school. I started stretching, trying to waste time before I actually had to run. Stiles and Scott were behind me, whispering about something. Seth and Isaac were in front of the group, getting ready to start. Suddenly, the twins came up behind Isaac and Seth. I heard their heart rates spike and turned, ready to intervene if I needed to. And then I smelled it. The twins were werewolves. They had to be a part of the alpha pack. Coach blew his whistle and everyone ran off. Isaac's heart beat was still crazy.
I grabbed his wrist, "Isaac."
"It's them," he said. Then he ran off, through the group to the front.
"Isaac, wait," I called after him.
"Isaac, stop," Scott tried.
"I got him," Seth said to us.
I looked at Scott and Stiles and shrugged. Scott ran after Seth and Isaac. I stayed where I was. I didn't really feel like fighting alphas today. I started jogging, to catch up with the rest of the group. Stiles fell into step beside me.
"Hey," he said softly.
"Hi," I said, not looking at him.
"About last night," he started.
"Honestly, can we not talk about it?" I asked, waving him off, "It was just a kiss. Nothing else happened. You were upset and I was there. It's fine."
"No, Emma, that's not - ," he started.
"Really, Stiles, it's fine," I cut him off.
I didn't want to talk about this anymore. I had talked about it with my mom and Seth. I was talked out. It was just a kiss. Granted, a kiss that he initiated but still. It was only a kiss. How could he go from hating my guts to kissing me in 48 hours? Boys are so confusing and dumb.
"So, since when are you on the cross country team?" Stiles asked, slightly panting.
"Since Seth convinced my mom that it would help me stay in shape for training," I said through gritted teeth.
"He's not wrong," Stiles said softly.
"That's not the -," I began to argue but I was cut off by an ear piercing scream.
I looked at Stiles for the first time all day. He looked back at me with wide eyes. We ran toward where the loud scream came from. We came across the rest of the group in front of a bloody body tied to a tree. Instinctively, I cowered into Stiles' side. I was gagging. The smell of blood was so strong.
"It's him, isn't it?" I heard Stiles ask. I glanced up to see Scott, Seth, and Isaac standing next to us. Scott nodded. Stiles wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him, running his fingers through my hair. "That's just great."
Stiles' POV
Of course, because there was a dead body found, my dad immediately shows up.
"Out of the way," he said shoving through kids, "Get out of the way. Back up! Get these kids out of here!"
I slowly untangled myself from Emma, reluctantly I might add. She looked at me with a shy smile. Her face was flushed. I couldn't tell if it was from the running or the moment we just had. She moved to stand next to Seth who smirked down at her. She punched him in the shoulder.
"Dad," I said, moving over to my father, "Come here, look. It's the same as the others. You see?"
"Yeah, I see it," he said, exasperated, "Do me a favor? Go back to school." I just stared at him in awe. They just found a dead body and I'm supposed to go back to school? He looked at Coach, "Coach, give us a hand here?"
"You heard the man," Coach yelled, "Nothing to see here. Probably just some homeless kid."
"Coach," Scott said softly, "He was a senior."
Coach sighed, "Oh god, he wasn't on the team, was he?"
A girl came running out of nowhere, "Kyle! Oh god, Kyle!"
Her friend pulled her back, away from the body. I cringed. I could not imagine finding someone I loved dead like that. It would probably kill me.
I looked over at the twins. Now that we knew that they were werewolves, I saw them in a different light. They looked confused about the murders. Like they had no idea what was happening either. I ran to catch up with everyone else.
"Did you see the way the twins looked at him?" Isaac said through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, you mean like they had no idea what happened?" Emma responded, crossing her arms. She had noticed it too.
"No, they knew," Isaac argued.
"The kid was strangled with a garrote, alright?" I backed up Emma, "Are we the only ones recognizing the lack of werewolfitude in these murders?"
Seth, Scott, and Isaac looked at Emma and me. It was obvious that we were outnumbered but Emma and I were right. I could feel it. The sacrifices had to be real.
"Okay, you think it's a coincidence that they turn up and people start dying?" Isaac argued.
"Well, no," Emma said, "But I still don't think it's them."
"Scott? Seth?" Isaac asked after a tense moment, "What about you guys?"
"I don't know yet," Scott said.
"I don't either. We don't have enough information," Seth pointed out.
"I'm not saying that we do, I'm just saying that werewolves don't strangle people, slice their throats, and bash their heads in, okay?" Emma said, getting annoyed.
"Hold up," I said, stopping Emma, "Scott, you don't know yet?"
"Well," he said, gesturing to Isaac, "He has a good point." I looked at him in shock, "Seriously, guys, human sacrifices?"
"Scott, your eyes turn into yellow glowsticks. Hair literally grows from your cheeks and then will immediately disappear. And if I were to stab you right now, it would just magically heal. Not to mention, this one," I said in disbelief, pointing at Emma, "can see, feel, and hear things before they happen but you're telling me that you're having a hard time grasping human sacrifices?"
He turned to Isaac, "That's a good point too."
"I don't care," Isaac said, "They killed that kid. They killed the girl that saved me. And I'm going to kill them too."
"Isaac," Emma called after him, "Are you fucking kidding me?"
She ran off, trying to catch up with him before he presumably killed someone. Seth, Scott, and I began to walk back into the school to change out of our uniforms.
"Do you think Emma can stop him?" Scott asked Seth.
Seth looked at me for a second. Then looked back towards Scott. "They have connection. It's hard to explain."
"What kind of connection?" Scott asked, looking at me to make sure I was okay.
"It's not my place to say," Seth said, "If you are really that interested, ask Emma. I doubt she would lie to you guys."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped.
"It means, I don't know if you've noticed but Emma is different. A lot happened this summer that you two aren't aware of. So, I suggest you ask her about it. Lord knows the girl needs friends and for some reason, she chose you two. Talk to her. The new Emma doesn't lie as much," Seth said. He closed his locker and walked away.
Emma's POV
"Isaac, please," I begged for the thousandth time. I had changed back into my clothes for the school day. My outfit today consisted of black, ripped cutoffs, a black tank with a skull on it, and my maroon leather jacket. I had opted for black high tops instead of boots today. Thank god, I was at least capable of keeping up with Isaac with converse on.
"Emma," he snapped, turning towards me, "You're not going to get me to change my mind."
He walked into the chemistry classroom. I took a seat at the lab table that I shared with Scott.
"Anything?" he asked.
I shook my head, "He's stubborn that one."
"Isaac," Scott said softly, "Please don't do anything you might regret, okay? They're here for a reason. Just let me figure it out before you do anything, okay?" Isaac didn't answer. "Isaac?"
"Scott," I said nudging the boy next to me, "His heart rate."
Scott listened for a second. "He isn't going to listen to me, is he?"
I shook my head. Isaac made up his mind easily. But once he had made a decision, you could never change his mind.
"Mr. Harris," Isaac said from in front of Scott and I, "Can I go to the bathroom please?"
Harris gestured that Isaac could go. Isaac bolted out of his seat and out the door, into the hallway.
"I have to go to the bathroom too," Scott and I said at the same time.
Harris looked between the two of us, "One at a time."
"But I'm a girl," I said, "I'm technically going to a different bathroom?"
"But I really have to go," Scott argued, "Like medical emergency have to go."
"Miss Baker, that's a fascinating argument but the answer is still one at a time. Mr. McCall, if your bladder suddenly exploded and urine began to pour out of every orifice of your body, I would still respond, 'one at a time'," Harris said darkly, "Is that enough hyperbole for you or would you like me to come up with something more vivid?"
I gulped and quickly sat back down in my seat.
"Nope, that's pretty good," Scott said defeated, sitting back down.
"Do you smell that?" I whispered to Scott.
"What?" he said, taking a deep breath, "I only smell chemicals."
"No," I said, "I smell blood."
We heard a loud noise in the hallway. Harris walked to the door, storming out into the hallway. The entire class followed him out. Isaac was standing in the hallway with a half beaten Ethan on the ground in front of him. I looked at Scott with raised eyebrows and mouthed 'blood'. He just shook his head.
"What the hell is this?" Harris yelled, "What's going on?"
Danny knelt next to Ethan, "Are you alright?"
"He just came after me," Ethan lied.
"Mr. Lahey, what the hell did you do?" Harris asked Isaac.
Scott and I glared at Ethan. This had to be a set up. I had trained with Isaac and while he is pretty great with his claws and gymnastics, he isn't that strong. He couldn't have punched Ethan that many times without Ethan getting one punch in.
The rest of chemistry went by in a blur. I was trying to think of ways to either get rid of the twins or stop Isaac from murdering someone. Scott and I followed Isaac out of the room. He was even tenser than before. His jaw was clenched and he kept sending Scott glares from the side of his eye.
"Don't let them get to you," I said, touching his arm, "It's just a lunch detention."
"Yeah," Scott agreed, "Don't give in. They're just trying to get to you."
"It's not just me," Isaac said, nodding his head towards the other side of the hallway.
Scott and I looked over to see Aiden flirting with Lydia and asking her on a date. This is what she wanted. A distraction. Little did she know that this distraction came with fangs and claws.
"What?" Scott said through gritted teeth.
"Now they're getting to you," Isaac said with a smirk, "And Seth."
I looked down the hallway and saw Seth glaring at Aiden's back. He looked seriously pissed. Aiden smirked at him when he turned around. I thought Seth was going to beat his ass right there but instead, he clenched his jaw and his hands were in fists at his sides. He was trying not to shift.
"Shit," I mumbled, under my breath.
This wasn't good.
Stiles' POV
I was waiting outside of the principal's office, spying through the window. Not my stealthiest move but it worked for the time being. My dad and a deputy were interviewing that Kyle kid's girlfriend. She was still sobbing about the fact that her boyfriend was murdered. However, I couldn't actually hear what was being said through the window. Where was one of the million werewolves that go to this school when you need them?
Ashley and the deputy moved to leave the office and I quickly ducked down behind the wall so they wouldn't see me. They came out into the hallway and I knew that this was my chance. The deputy told her to wait. I decided it was now or never.
"Um, hi, Ashley?" I whispered, crossing over to her. I moved her away from the office to speak to her privately, "Can I talk to you for just a sec? I just need to ask you something really quick. And it's going to sound really unbelievably insensitive so I uh, apologize in advance. But, um, was Kyle a virgin?"
She glared at me, "What?"
"Your boyfriend. Was he a virgin or did you guys, ya know?" I elaborated.
She slapped me across the face. My cheek stung as her hand made contact with it. I deserved that I guess. I looked at her with apologetic eyes. I knew this was a bad idea. The deputy came to her side and began to usher her away from me, shooting me a death glare.
Ashley stopped and turned to face me, "No, he wasn't a virgin."
I sighed. Shit. If he wasn't a virgin then what was the pattern here? Was there no pattern?
My dad came out of the office and turned to look at me. He was angry, annoyed, and confused. There was honestly nothing I could do to correct that I guess.
"Have you completely lost your mind?" he snapped at me, "I've got four murders, Stiles. See those men in there? That's the FBI. They're putting together a task force to help because it appears like we have full blown serial killer on our hands. Do you get that?"
"Yes," I said softly, "Yes, dad. I get that."
"Then what are you doing?" he asked, still confused.
"I'm trying to find a pattern," I explained.
His face softened, "That's not your job, Stiles. Go back to class, okay?"
I nodded. He turned and followed his deputy out of the school. I wish he would let me help. I need to help. I can't just sit here and do nothing. Especially when this is more likely than not a supernatural problem.
"Hey," I heard a voice next to me. I turned and saw Emma softly smiling at me, "You okay?"
"Yeah," I said moving towards my next class, "That kid wasn't a virgin."
"So, maybe it's a different pattern then. Maybe they all have something else in common," she said hopeful.
I shook my head, "Or maybe we're both completely wrong and a serial killer is just targeting high school students."
"No," she said sternly, "I know they are sacrifices. I can feel it in my gut. And trust me when I say that my gut is never wrong."
"How do you still believe that though?" I asked, not believing her.
"Just because one guy doesn't fit the pattern doesn't mean that the pattern is wrong. We just need to adapt and find another connection that all four victims have," she said.
We came across Kyle's locker. We both moved closer to study it. Maybe there were clues in the notes people left him or the pictures people had posted. There had to be something we could find.
Boyd came up to put a card on the locker. Emma nudged me, pointing at Boyd.
"Hey, Boyd," I said, "I didn't know you were back at school."
"Yeah, I would have told you but we aren't actually friends," he said with a smirk. Emma snorted.
"Oh yeah," I said softly, "So, hey, did you know Kyle?"
"Yeah," he said softly, "We were in junior ROTC together."
"So you two were friends?" I asked.
"I only had one friend," he said softly, "And she's dead too."
Boyd smiled softly at Emma. Then turned, and walked away.
"That went well," Emma said with a smirk.
I shook my head at her, "Come on. Let's get to class."
We walked down the hallway. We got right to the door of our math class when Emma stopped suddenly. She wrapped her arms around herself and shut her eyes tight.
"Are you okay?" I asked, going back to where she was.
She shook her head, "I need to go find Isaac."
She turned around, and ran down the hallway. I was left to go to class by myself. Seems like I was left to do a lot of things by myself these days.
Emma's POV
I came racing around the corner just as Scott threw Isaac off of Allison and into the hallway. His body skidded across the floor. I bent down so I was hovering over him.
"Isaac," I said softly, "Calm down. You have to calm down."
"Isaac!" Scott screamed, coming up next to me.
Isaac slowly shifted back to his human self. I followed him to the other side of the hallway. I sat next to him, and pulled his body against mine. I held his head against my chest, slowly combing my fingers through his hair. He was panting like crazy.
"I'm okay, I'm fine," Allison said as Scott assessed the scratches on her arm.
"I'm sorry, I didn't – I didn't mean to do that," Isaac stuttered. I tightened my grip on him.
"It's not his fault," Allison said to Scott.
"I know," Scott said ominously, "I guess now we know that they want to do more than get you angry."
"They want to get someone hurt," I added.
"So, are we going to do something?" Isaac asked Scott and me.
"Yeah," Scott said like a man on a mission, "We're going to get them angry. Really angry."
"I like the sound of that," I said, finally letting go of Isaac.
We both stood up from our position at the wall. I crossed over to Allison to make sure that she was okay. She looked shaken up but beyond that, she seemed okay. Isaac and Scott discussed the plan.
"Are you okay?" I whispered to her.
She nodded, "He didn't do it on purpose."
"I know," I said softly.
"Is he going to be okay?" she asked, looking at Isaac.
I shrugged, "Probably."
Scott came over to us and told us the plan. We were going to hotwire one of the twin's motorcycles and Isaac was going to drive it through the school. Scott and I were supposed to go to class and basically antagonize them into getting angry about the bike. Apparently we were going to take parts off of the bike in order to do this. We would have to wait until later in the day when they were in our class to do this, but for now, we had to act like nothing had happened.
Stiles' POV
"Did you know that there is a temple in Calcutta where they sacrifice a baby every day, Lydia? Do you wanna know what today is? It's dead baby day! Oh wait, no. That's every day cause every day is dead baby day! Yay!" I said as I quickly followed the strawberry blonde in front of me.
"Why are you telling me this?" she asked.
"Because Emma and Scott are dealing with the alpha twins," I explained softly. She stopped and looked at me with a confused glare. "You don't know about the twins?"
"What twins?" she asked softly.
"Ethan and Aiden," I explained.
"Oh yeah," she lied, turning to continue walking to class, "I know about them."
"Okay, okay, so, look," I said catching up to her, "Here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that maybe the murders come in threes. Ancient people love things in threes. So maybe first it's three virgins and then, I don't know, maybe it's three people who own little dogs."
"I own a little dog," she said, stopping again. I gave her a look, "I'm not getting rid of my dog."
"Can you just think about getting rid of your dog?" I asked, continuing to follow her.
"No," she said, "And by the way, you cannot discern a pattern by a single data point so stop trying."
"Okay, wow, so I'm just supposed to wait around for someone else to die?" I asked, "I'm just supposed to sit there and watch them die? Just wait for them to wither up and die right in front of me?"
"Wither?" she questioned.
"You know what I mean, die. You know, just in a hideously awful strangulating, head bashing, and throat cutting kind of way," I said frantically, flailing my arms.
"Maybe it's not your job," she said softly, "You said it yourself, they were strangled with a garrote. That's a human thing to do. So, maybe just leave the figuring out part to someone human."
"You mean, someone like my dad?" I asked softly.
She sighed, "No, I mean your dad." She started to walk the rest of the way to class. The bell rang, signaling that I needed to be on the other side of the building for my class. "The sheriff," she yelled over the racket in the hallway.
I glared at her back, maybe she was right. Maybe the police could handle this one. Or maybe there is something we are missing. Something that might tie this whole thing together.
Emma's POV
Scott and I walked into English, the last class of the day. I sat behind him as he sat next to Ethan. Aiden was on Ethan's other side. This was when we would put the plan into action. Scott pulled a part of the motorcycle out of his backpack. It was a large spiraly looking thing that looked like a gear.
"That looks kind of important," I said, loud enough for the alphas to hear me.
Scott pulled out another piece, setting it on his desk next to the other ones, "I have no idea what this does."
We heard a motorcycle engine in the hallway. Isaac started revving the engine so it would be louder. The twins' heads snapped towards the door. Scott and I gave each other a knowing smile. Aiden jumped up and ran out of the room. Ethan yelled after him but he was long gone by that point. Miss Blake stared after him. Eventually, Isaac got near the classrooms and you could hear the engine without supernatural hearing. The whole class left the classroom and filled the hallway to see what would happen.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Miss Blake said as she entered the hallway and crossed to Aiden, "You realize this is going to result in a suspension?"
Allison, Isaac, Scott, and I all smiled at each other. Isaac and I high-fived. For once, we did something and the results were instantaneous. Ethan shot us a glare.
Class ended quickly after that. I went to my locker to put away the books that I wouldn't need for the night. I felt a presence behind me. I turned around and saw Seth looking at me with a concerned look.
"What?" I snapped, closing my locker.
He crossed his arms, "I thought you decided last night that the kiss with Stiles was nothing?"
"I did," I said, still confused.
"Then why were you cuddled against him during practice this morning?" he asked.
I shook my head, "It's not like I did it on purpose. It's just out of instinct. It didn't mean anything."
"E, I know you still love the kid but you can't keep running back to him. It's not healthy," Seth said softly.
"We are meant to be together. You know that. I'm not running back to him. It's just that things that used to be normal when we were together still feel natural to me. I'm not going to fight that," I argued.
He sighed, "I know you are meant to be together. I just think that you guys still need some time apart from each other."
Before I could respond, a group of boys who I had never seen before came up to me.
"Hey, Emma," the guy leading the group said, "Looking good."
I quirked my eyebrow, "Can I help you?"
The guy shrugged, "We were just wondering when you were going to let the rest of the lacrosse team get a piece of that ass."
The guys behind him all laughed. I looked at Seth in horror. I was blinded with rage.
"What the fuck did you just say to me?" I snapped, stepping closer to the group of boys.
The guy threw his hands up in surrender, "It's only fair that you share with us what you gave Stilinski, Lahey, oh and this asshole right here." The guy pointed at Seth.
I glared at them but before I could say anything, Seth grabbed my wrist, closed my locker, and pulled me away. He dragged me down the hallway and out the doors to the parking lot. When we got to the car, I glared up at him.
"Would you please explain to me what the fuck just happened?" I snapped.
"It's just locker room talk, don't worry about it," he said, getting into the car.
"Just locker room talk?" I asked, getting in as well.
He shrugged, "It's not that big of a deal."
"It is to me," I said forcefully, "I just basically got called as slut in the school hallway by a bunch of lacrosse players who I have literally never met before. So please tell me why that is happening and if you don't, I'll just ask Isaac who you know won't lie to me."
He sighed, "Fine, but don't shoot the messenger."
Stiles' POV
I walked into the animal clinic. I figured since my friends weren't going to help me with this, Dr. Deaton would be the next best thing.
"You're out of school early," Dr. Deaton said.
"Yeah, I have a free period actually," I explained, "I was, um, just headed home to see my dad. He's, uh, you know? I guess you've probably heard? People are getting murdered again. And it's his job to figure it out."
"I gathered as much from the 'sheriff' title," Deaton said with a small smile.
"Yeah, um, it gets kind of hard for him to do his job when he doesn't have all the information. And we all know he's missing pretty much half the story here, right?" I said with a smirk, "So, then I started thinking and I remembered someone who does have a lot of information. Someone who always seems to know more than anyone else around here. You."
Deaton nodded and turned leading me back to the operation rooms. I took his silence as his agreement that he knew more than he was letting on.
"All these symbols and things; the triskeles, the bank logo, the mountain ash; all of it's from the Celtic druids. And anyone who has ever looked up 'human sacrifice' before knows that the druids had a pretty big hard on when it came to giving one up to the gods. Did you ever hear about the Lindo Man? Two-thousand year old body found in England? He was found strangled, head bashed in, throat cut; three-fold death. They also found pollen grains in his stomach. Guess what favorite druid plant that was," I rambled.
Deaton picked up a jar. He pulled out a green plant and held it in front of me, "Mistletoe."
I stared at the plant and sighed, "I'm just telling you everything you already know, aren't I?" He didn't answer. "So, why aren't you telling us?"
Deaton looked away from me. He sighed, looking up at me, "Maybe because when you've spent every moment of the last ten years trying to push something away, denying it, lying about it; it becomes a pretty powerful habit."
I swallowed the lump in my throat, "Okay, so this guy, is he a druid?"
"No," he said confidently, "Someone copying centuries old practices of a people who should have known better. Do you know what the word 'druid' means in Gaelic?"
"No," I mumbled.
"Wise oak. The Celtic druids were close to nature. They believed they kept it in balance. They were philosophers and scholars. They weren't serial killers," he explained.
"Yeah, well this one is," I sighed.
I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out with a sigh. It was Lydia.
"Hey, look I can't talk right now," I said.
"The music teacher at school is gone. I think this has something to do with your theory," she said with a shaky voice.
"Okay, are you sure he's missing?" I asked.
"Not just missing," she said taking a deep breath, "Taken."
Emma's POV
"You're taking this remarkably well," Seth said softly.
I ran my hand through my hair, "Trust me, I'm still processing and hoping that this is all just a misunderstanding."
"E," Seth said with a chuckle, "He basically advertised your sex life and you think it's a misunderstanding?"
I glared at him, "I don't know what to think but from what you've told me, you didn't help the situation by being a dick. So clearly, I have to hear his side of the story too."
"I wasn't being a dick," he argued.
"You called him a virgin and there is something so special about male masculinity that they cannot be seen as virgins in front of their friends so yes, you were being a dick to him. You basically egged him on," I said with a sigh.
Seth's phone ringing brought both of us out of the conversation. We were still sitting in the parking lot of school. He had thought it was best that we not be in a moving vehicle when he told me. Apparently he thought I was going to snap or something. Honestly, I kind of get why Stiles said what he did. However, I don't really want my sex life to be the topic of the locker room so we are going to have a talk about that.
"Lydia," Seth said frantically, "What's wrong?"
I turned to look at him. I strained my ear to hear Lydia's side of the conversation.
"The music teacher is missing. I think he was taken," Lydia's voice said through tears.
"Emma and I will be there in a minute, tops, okay?" he said soothingly.
"Yeah, alright," Lydia choked out.
Seth hung up the phone, "Let's go."
We got out of the car and went back into the school. We went to the music room where Lydia was. She was staring at the piano in horror. She didn't even hear us run in.
"Lyds," I said, getting her attention.
She pointed at the piano, "The phone, it has a, uh, recording on it."
I gave Seth a pointed look, telling him to go comfort the girl he supposedly likes. He rolled his eyes at me but moved over to Lydia. He wrapped his arms around her and she nuzzled into his chest. I crossed over to the piano. I picked up the phone. I brought it to my ear and pressed play. There was a really pretty piano piece, then a banging of keys, and then weird chanting.
"What the hell is that?" I heard Stiles' voice say. I looked up and saw him entering the room with Dr. Deaton.
"Can I see that?" Deaton asked, reaching for the phone. I handed it over. He played the same part of the recording that I had just played. "Can we get a copy of this?"
I nodded and took the cellphone back. I sent the recording to myself, Stiles, and Scott thinking that eventually one of us would find a use for it.
"Hey, Doc," Stiles said as he went through the teacher's desk, "Any help would be, ya know, helpful?"
"Each grouping of three would have its own purpose," Deaton explained.
"Wait, grouping of three?" I asked.
"The sacrifices are happening in threes," Lydia said softly from behind me.
Deaton nodded, "Yes. They would have some type of power. Virgins, healers, philosophers, warriors…"
"Wait, wait, wait," Stiles said from the teacher's desk, "Warrior? Could that also be like a soldier?"
"Absolutely," Deaton said.
Stiles held up a picture of the music teacher in a uniform. He was a soldier of some kind.
"Kyle was in ROTC with Boyd," I said softly. He nodded.
"That's gotta be it. That's the pattern," Deaton said, "Where's Boyd?"
"He's probably home by now," Stiles said, pulling his phone out of his pocket, "I'm gonna try to get him on the phone."
Lydia and Seth had rejoined our group at the piano. Lydia looked thoughtful, like she had thought of something but wasn't sure how to say it.
"Lydia," I said softly, "Is something wrong?"
Her eyes widened, "No, I mean, I just thought of someone else with a military connection."
"Who?" Stiles asked, hanging up on Boyd.
"Harris," Lydia and I said at the same time.
We all raced to Harris' room, knowing that he was the next to be taken. When we got there, the room was empty but it didn't feel intentional.
"This is just one of many possibilities," Deaton pointed out, "He could have just left for the day."
"Yeah, well, not without this," Stiles said, holding up Harris' bag.
Lydia and I began to look at the papers on his desk. They were all graded differently.
"Wait," I said, holding up a test, "This test was graded 'R'."
Deaton and Stiles looked at me, confused. Seth moved over to Lydia, helping her look through the papers.
"This one's an 'H'," Lydia said, holding up another test.
Deaton took the tests from us and moved behind Harris' desk. He began to organize the papers. They looked like the spelled a word but it wasn't a word that I knew.
"Stiles," Deaton said ominously, "You remember I told you 'druid' is the Gaelic word for 'wise oak'?"
"Yeah," Stiles said giving Lydia and me a confused glance.
"If a druid went down the wrong path, the wise oak was sometimes said to have become a dark oak. There's a Gaelic word for that as well, 'darach'," Deaton explained.
A darach? What the hell is that?
Stiles' POV
"Hey," I heard Emma say from behind me as I walked to my Jeep.
"Hey yourself," I said, turning around.
"Can we talk?" she asked, looking at her feet.
"Uh, yeah," I swallowed, "Do you want a ride?"
She nodded, "Yeah, that would be great."
I led her to the Jeep. We both got in. We sat in the cab quietly. I didn't start the Jeep in fear that if I did, she would tell me something horrible. But eventually, I had to start the car so we could go home. I pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards her house.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked, nervously.
"Um, I heard about what happened in the locker room," she said softly.
I gulped, "Oh, that. How'd you find out?"
"Some guys hit on me and I forced Seth to tell me why they said what they did," she said with a shrug.
"What did they say?" I asked, feeling a tiny bit of anger boiling in my stomach.
"It doesn't matter," she said softly, "I just wanted to know why you said what you did."
I shook my head, "Seth provoked me. He was basically calling me a virgin in front of the entire lacrosse team."
"Right but you didn't have to bring me into it," she said still speaking in a soft tone.
"Well, I mean, I guess I didn't," I agreed.
"You could have said in so many more ways that you aren't a virgin. You didn't have to make it seem like dating me means that you'll get laid," she argued, her voice cracking.
I flinched, she was right. I pulled into her driveway. I put the Jeep in park and finally turned to look at her. It had started raining as I drove home so it was pouring at this point.
"I didn't mean it like that," I said.
"Then how did you mean it?" she asked, still not looking at me.
"It just came out like that. You're right I could have said it in so many different ways but I felt like I had to prove it to the guys that I wasn't lying," I said, basically pulling at straws for a defense here.
"And you couldn't have used one of the other girls from this summer as your proof?" she asked sarcastically.
My jaw dropped, "How do you know about that?"
She waved me off, "It doesn't matter. What matters is that you could have used literally anyone else as your defense to not being a virgin but you had to use me and now my sex life is once again the talk of the school and the entire lacrosse team thinks I'm a slut."
"I mean, no offense, but you did have sex with three lacrosse players," I said softly.
She snapped her head towards me, finally looking at me. Her blue eyes were wet with tears. Fuck, I did that.
"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" she snapped, "You're going to spend your entire summer sleeping with the female population of Beacon Hills and then call me out for having sex with three guys in my entire life? One of whom was you, by the way. Another who was my boyfriend since childhood basically. So, yeah I've had sex with three guys. All of whom are on the lacrosse team. But that doesn't mean that the lacrosse team or the rest of Beacon Hills High should be allowed to talk about my sex life."
"You're right and I'm sorry," I said frantically, "I'm so sorry. For saying what I said in the locker room, for saying what I just said now. You're completely right. I'm an asshole and I shouldn't be judging you or talking about you."
She shook her head, "I just thought that you would have some explanation behind this that didn't make me feel like shit."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"When Seth told me about this, I hoped you would have an excuse that would make it easy to forget and move on," she said softly.
"But I'm an asshole and you're seriously questioning why you dated me and why you continue to be my friend?" I asked sarcastically.
She laughed, "No, I know why I dated you. And I know why I continue to be your friend."
"Are you mad at me?" I asked softly.
"No, I was never mad," she explained, "Just hurt."
"I'm sorry I keep hurting you," I said reaching out, putting my hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, remember when you tried everything in your power to not hurt me?" she said with a smirk.
"Those were the good old days," I said with a smile.
She hadn't made any move to leave the car to go inside. I hoped she wasn't going to run out. We were finally talking. And not about the supernatural, just talking in general. When was the last time we were able to just talk?
"Can I ask you something?" I asked, hopeful. She nodded. "Seth told Scott and me that you and Isaac have a connection and that shit went down this summer. What do both of those things mean?"
She sighed, "Apparently, as a psychic, I can have familial connections, romantic connections, and friend connections. So, like, with my mom or my grandparents or Seth, my connections with them are stronger than with the average person. Isaac was the first friend connection that I was able to make so it's the strongest. My connection with Scott is the second strongest friend connection I have. It's kind of complicated but it just means that I can't not act on a premonition when it comes to those connections."
I nodded, taking in all the information she was telling me. Seth was right, she didn't lie. At least not that I could tell. But she only answered one of the questions. But, I would take what I could get.
"Who's your romantic connection with?" I asked softly.
She blushed, "It's not important."
"No, tell me," I said, now genuinely curious.
She sighed, "You, Stiles. You're my romantic connection."
Emma's POV
I fell back on my bed. I had just changed out of my wet clothes. Running from the Jeep to the house in the pouring rain hadn't seemed like that bad of an idea at the time but now I was severely regretting it. After everything that had happened today, I wanted to cuddle up and watch Netflix but the universe had other plans.
"Sweetie," my mom called up the stairs, "Time for family dinner."
I stood up, leaving my room to head downstairs. This was a new thing. This way, my mom could keep an eye on Seth and I without forcing us to tell her what we were doing. At least one night a week, we had to have family dinner. Sometimes it was just the three of us, other times my grandparents would join us. Tonight though, it was supposed to be the three of us so we could talk about the alpha pack, which we weren't allowed to talk about with my grandparents.
The doorbell rang as I came off the bottom step. I looked towards the kitchen were Seth and my mom were standing by the table, looking at the door quizzically. I turned around and opened the door. There, in the pouring rain, was Isaac Lahey.
"Hey," he said softly, looking behind me to Seth and my mom, "Is my old room still available?"
"Oh, Isaac," my mom said, pushing past me to usher the boy into the house, "Of course your room is still available. You go upstairs and get changed. We were just sitting down for dinner. You like lasagna right?" She didn't even wait for him to respond, "Emma, please go help Isaac find dry clothes and collect his wet ones, okay?" I nodded, "Seth, help me set the table."
I looked at Isaac expectantly. He led the way to his old room, also known as the guest room. We walked into the room and it felt as if nothing had changed at all. He had moved out when Seth and I left for England, opting to live with Derek at the loft instead of here with my mom. I had understood it at the time, but I was kind of hurt that he didn't move back in when Seth and I got back.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, sitting on his bed.
He began to strip off his wet clothes, "There's nothing to talk about."
I sighed, "You know you can't lie to me."
"I'm not lying," he said, pulling dry clothes out of his drawers. He must have left stuff here at the beginning of the summer. "Derek kicked me out."
"Why?" I asked.
He shrugged, "Who knows why Derek does anything?"
I stood up and crossed over to him. I wrapped my arms around his waist from behind. I pressed my face against his back.
"Whatever he said, you know he didn't mean it, right?" I said into his back.
"He reminded me of my dad," he said softly, his voice cracking.
I held him tighter. He didn't talk about his dad. And today alone, he had already had an episode of PTSD at school. If Derek had done something even close to what his dad used to do, Isaac wasn't going to be okay. He didn't deserve this.
I slowly let go of him, moving back to his bed. He finished getting changed. He turned to look at me with a small smile on his face.
"Let's go get some food," he said softly, "I've missed your mom's cooking."
I snorted, "You're the only one."
We walked down the stairs. Seth and my mom were sitting at the table, waiting for us to join them. I ran to the laundry room and threw Isaac's wet clothes in the washer. I came back to the table and they were already chatting about their days.
"I've missed this, kids," my mom said fondly.
"You see Seth and I literally every day," I pointed out, "I think you just missed Isaac."
My mom snorted, "Well, obviously, he has the best manners of the three of you."
We all laughed. This was what kept me grounded. With all of the shit with the hunters and the alphas this summer, all that kept me going was knowing that these moments of normalcy were going to happen. I needed them to keep pushing me forward. I needed them then, and I need them now.
After all the shit that happened today; the dead body, Isaac's freak out, the twins, more sacrifices, and my talk with Stiles; I would take all the 'normal' I could get.
