After getting ready for school, dressed nicely in a simple, casual, black dress paired with a cardigan and a belt, I sat in the kitchen, eating the bagel I had just made myself. I let my hair naturally air dry after my shower, considering there was no power in town still. When Scott and I came home from last night, I was surprised at how little Melissa was staggered. She didn't seem to care all that much, like it was expected of us.
I nibbled on my bagel and grabbed the newspaper on the kitchen table.
The headline of the newspaper was about a girl, named Malia Tate, who was found in the forest a few days ago. I recalled Stiles talking to us about this during lunch time. It was his father's last case. It was amazing how she phenomenally survived in the woods for eight years… It almost seemed impossible.
I nibbled on the last piece of bagel, then called for Isaac. We drove to school quickly and parked in the nearest opening parking spot.
I grabbed my keys from the ignition, and swung my backpack over my shoulder. Isaac departed from me as soon as we entered the school. I saw Stiles faced away from me, leaning against his locker.
I walked up to him, "What's wrong?"
He turned to me, not even acknowledging my question. He didn't even look at me; he just gazed at his keys in his hands. "I have no idea where this key came from." He held up the one key, raising it up to get a good look at it.
I shrugged, then walked forward to my locker that wasn't so far from his. He followed behind me, still attentive to his keys.
I opened my locker and grabbed my books from it.
"So are you going tonight?"
I slammed my locker shut, "Going to what?"
"The black light party. There's a huge rave."
I pursed my lips, "Eh. Not really my forte."
He nudged me, finally putting his keys away in his pocket. "Come on, it's Halloween. What are you gonna do at home? Scott and Isaac are going."
I shrugged, "I'll find something to do." We walked up the stairs. "Maybe I'll hand out candy."
He laughed, "No you won't. You're coming tonight."
I shook my head, "What if I don't want to?"
"Of course you want to go, I'll be there. I'm the life of the party!"
"Psssh. Sure you are, Stiles." We walked to the end of the hallway, just as the bell rung.
"I am. And you're coming tonight, even if I have to drag your ass into my stupid jeep and take you there myself. You're coming."
"Fine" I laughed.
He did a little victory dance. "Pick you up at seven then," He started to walk backwards, sending me a wink and made his fingers into the shapes of guns, pretending to shoot me. He bumped into a tall girl, which I recognized from my art class. "Oh God, sorry…" he held up his hands in justification then turned around and started walking forward.
I laughed, and then entered my class.
After my first two classes, it was lunch. They went by pretty swiftly. I was just excited for the weekend, so I wanted school to be over as soon as possible. It was too chilly to sit outside again so I sat on with my back against the lockers, sitting by my locker. I pulled out a sandwich I made this morning and snacked on it. I looked across the hallway and saw Scott and Kira sitting against the wall by coach's office. I debated sitting with them, but decided against it. I would leave them alone.
"You're coming tonight, right?" A body slid beside me, I turned to see one of the twins. It was Ethan. It was hard to distinguish between the two, but they both seemed to act a bit differently.
I bit into my sandwich, then chewed it. "So it's your party?
He nodded, "Everyone's going to be there."
"Where is 'there' exactly?"
"This guy I know has this big loft."
I nodded, "How are you supposed to with the black out though?"
"Generator. So are you coming?"
I shrugged, "I don't know, I hardly know you and you're asking me to go to your party…"
"Come on," he pointed to himself, "Do I look like a bad guy?"
"Uh, yeah. You kinda do." Those words had meant to come out of my mouth, but instead they came out of Stiles'. He took a sit beside me.
"Shut up, Stilinski." Ethan spat.
Stiles gave him a sardonic expression, leaning his head back alongside the lockers.
"Ethan, let's go." Aiden had walked past us, not even acknowledging us, just ordering his brother to follow him. Ethan hopped up from his position and paced over to his brother.
"They bug me." Stiles declared as soon as they were out of sight.
"I can tell," I said, biting into my sandwich.
Scott paced over to us, lacking Kira. I peered aroud him, Kira wasn't sitting against the wall either.
"I need your help." He took a seat beside Stiles. "Kira and I need your help."
Stiles groaned. "Alright, what now?"
"Kira and I need to get in my dad's office at the station but you're the only one who could have access to the key cards."
Stiles game him a look. "Why do you need to go to your dad's office? Can't you just ask him?"
Scott shook his head, "Kira needs her phone."
"Why?" I asked.
Scott flashed his eyes to me, then back to Stiles. "She has some pictures she needs to delete before the cops check her phone."
"What kind of pictures?" Stiles licked his lips.
Scott flashed his eyes to me, locking them there as he leaned into Stiles, whispering something in his ear.
Stiles' eyes widened. "Oooooo…"
Scott nodded, "Please Stiles, I need your help."
Stiles groaned, smacking his head against the locker behind him. "Meet me there at eight, I'll give you the key cards but that's it. I can't jeopardize my dad's job."
Scott stood, holding his hands together, making a thankful gesture. "Thank you so much dude." He walked back into the traffic of the hallway.
I looked to Stiles, who already had his eyes on me. "What kind of pictures were they?"
"Naked." Stiles smiled slightly as he said the word.
I shook my head, laughing. "You're so immature."
He stood, holding out his palms in front of me to give me hand. I took them gladly, and he helped me up "I know."
The bell rang.
"So I'll pick you up at seven still, we'll just meet Scott and Kira at the station then as soon as we're done we'll head to Derek's."
"Derek's?" I asked.
"Yeah that's where the party is"
I nodded, "Sounds like a plan, Stan." I rhymed.
"See you then Glenn," He had a wide grin on his face as he turned to go to his class.
I took the last pin out of my hair, unveiling a beautiful curl. Since the power was out, I couldn't use any heat on my hair, but my hair looked just as good, just took a little longer. Since it was a backlight party, I picked out some neon clothes. I wore some black shorts, a neon pink bandeaux and a white tank top that had the sides of the sleeves cut out. It was a little scandalous, but I felt like being a little indifferent lately.
I heard the beep of Stiles' jeep outside and made my way to his car.
His expressionless face alarmed me at first site. But then as I walked to the passenger side and hopped in his face grew quizzical, then he grew content.
I buckled my seatbelt. "You likey?" I gestured to my body.
He nodded, then gestured to himself. He wore the exact same clothes he had during the day. He wore a striped shirt and jeans, pretty simple but it looked perfect for the occasion. I felt a wave of embarrassment wash over me. He was probably thinking I was way to dressed up for the occasion…
"I likey" I responded.
Stiles backed out of the driveway and onto the road. He turned up the volume on the radio, bopping his head to the beat. A lazy smile grew upon my face.
"So did you get the keys?"
He held the key cards up, focusing on the dark road ahead of us.
We drove to the police station, which wasn't too far from my house. I was surprised when Stiles passed the parking lot. He made a left turn down a street I hadn't even seen. I heard the rev of Scott's motorcycle, and so had Stiles as seen by his actions of slowing down. He turned his headlights off and took the keys out of the car, lobbing them in to my lap.
It was funny how casual Stiles was around me, like we had been best friends for years.
Scott and Kira leisurely walked up to the driver's window. Stiles leaned over, grabbing the key cards from the cup holder.
"Okay, this one will get you into the perimeter doors," he handed him a card, "this one into the evidence room," he handed him another, "and this one is for your dad's office."
Scott held the cards up, "You didn't steal these, did you?"
Stiles drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, "Nah, just cloned em' using an RFID emulator." I had no idea what that was, and it seems like Kira didn't either from the vacant expression on her face.
"Is that worth the stealing?" Scott raised his bushy eyebrows.
There was a long pause before Stiles replied. "It's smarter…"
"Scott can I ask you something…" Kira and Scott stepped away from the vehicle.
Stiles threw his hands in the air "What the- okay then…" He scratched his head, "We'll just hang here…"
I leaned to Stiles, "What do you think they're talking about?"
Stile shrugged, sighing, "I don't know."
Stiles and I waited a few seconds for them to return, when they did, Stiles gave them more instructions. "Okay…. So almost everybody is out dealing with the blackout but there's almost always somebody at the front desk. Dispatch, usually a night shifter or two." Stiles pointed to the door beside the dumpster, "You guys are going to use the service door beside the dumpster, no one really uses it. Now Scott, I'll text you if someone comes out but if you get caught I can't help you. My dads under investigation for impeachment, because of your dad, so if anything happens Anna and I will run and leave you both for dead." His lips tightened into a line.
Kira raised her eyebrows and bit her lip.
"We got it, thanks, seriously dude." Scott smiled.
"I'd ask my dad but…"
"No I know, I get it."
"Alright well— just uh… hurry up."
Scott nodded, then led Kira towards the service door. We both watched Scott and Kira scope out the building, making sure there would be no one there when they entered, then they swiped the key card, opened the door, and were in the station.
Stiles drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.
"Would you actually leave them for dead?"
Stiles nodded, "Cant risk my dad's job. Scott knows that too."
I nodded.
Stiles grabbed the keys from my lap and tossed them in his hand a few times. He grabbed a small, silver key, narrowing his eyes at it.
"What?" I asked.
He kept his gaze on the key. "Still can't find out where this key came from."
"Did you ask your dad? Maybe he put it there."
"I asked my dad, he said he didn't know anything about it."
I gave him a despondent look, even though he was still focused on the key. "I don't think it's anything to worry about."
He looked to me, "You think?"
I shook my head, "We'll figure out where it came from later. I'll help you, if it's so important to you."
He looked back to the key, "It is important to me."
I smiled, "Okay then I'll help you, I promise."
He held the key up, still looking at it and smiling slightly at my promise.
The car abruptly lit up. I looked ahead, seeing a pair of headlights shining right at us. I smacked Stiles' arm.
"Stiles, look."
He looked ahead and narrowed his eyes, trying to get a good look of whoever's vehicle had just pulled up beside the dumpster. "Oh shit."
"Text Scott!" I shrieked.
He complied with my orders, grabbing his phone from the back seat. He sent a text. We looked at the vehicle in front of us, who had now turned their lights off. It was my uncle. Of course it was. I rolled my eyes to myself.
I heard the clicking of a seatbelt beside me.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
Stiles opened his door, jumping out. "I'm going to stall."
I unbuckled my seatbelt and jumped out as well. "Well if you're going so am I."
"I'm so going to regret this." Stiles rubbed his head,
We snuck around to the back door, and Stiles swiped another spare key he had. His hands flailed around in the air as he ran. As serious as this moment was, I chuckled to myself. We met another set of doors. My uncle walked through them, and just as they were about to close Stiles ran into them.
"Woah." He backed up, then pressed against the doors, pushing them open. Stiles ran over to my uncle, and blocked the doors he was just about to enter, where Kira and Scott were. "Hey! Ah. Thank God you are here…. Thank the lord…" He breathed.
"What do you want Stiles?" The mad folded his arms. He glanced back at me and I gave him a small wave.
"Well… I just… we were…. I was thinking on that case." He tapped my uncle's shoulder, "I was thinking that by my thinking, I should clue you in on my thinking…" He snapped his fingers, "So I was thinking that Barrow, right? Barrow received the information at the school about who to kill, so I was thinking, well we were thinking that the person who gave him that information…" He winked, "Check this out..." He pointed towards me.
My mouth was agape. I had no idea to say. My uncle was staring at me and so was Stiles. He made a series of movements behind my uncle, and mouthed some words to me. I was going to kill Stiles for putting me on spot after this. "It might actually…. Um be someone at the school…" I bit my lip.
Stiles pointed at my uncle. "And that uh… our thinking."
"Hm." My uncle looked back at me, then to Stiles again.
I mouthed the words 'I'm going to kill you' at Stiles.
He threw his hands up in the air and furrowed his brows, mouthing something back I couldn't read. My uncle turned to look at me, suspicious of our silent conversation. I gave him a bright smile.
He raised a brow at me. "Well you're right."
"I am?" Stiles grinned.
"Yeah, we actually starting looking at links between Barrow and the students last night."
Stiles put his hands on his hips, shifting his weight to the left. "Oh! So you already know that stuff then. You already thought of it then eh."
"Your dad did, actually."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Its one useful suggestion." He moved past Stiles and swiped his key card in the door.
Stiles put a head against his chest, moving him away from the door, and scowled at him. "You know, this attitude you have towards my dad, you can dress it up to all professional disapproval you want, but I know the real reason you don't like him."
I put my hand over my mouth. I can't believe Stiles had just said that to him. In fact, I had never seen Stiles so mad.
My uncle smiled at Stiles. "Is that so?"
Stiles narrowed his eyebrows at him. "Yeah. Because he knows something that you don't want him to know."
My uncle sighed, trying to move by Stiles.
Stiles barricaded the door with his body. "And guess what," He continued, "I know it too."
I cocked my head at them. I had no idea what they were talking about. I was used to that in this town though. I was kind of done trying to figure out bizarre conversations.
"Go home, Stiles. There's a— There's a curfew." He cleared his throat, then looked back to me. He swiped his key card in the door once again, and this time Stiles let him. I looked to Stiles. His body was like a statue. He just stood there looking at me, expressionless.
"Come on Stiles. Let's go." I nodded towards the door.
He nodded slightly, then trudged towards past me. He held the door open for me, not even saying a word. "So you wanna tell me what you were talking about? Or is it not worth me even asking."
Stiles glanced at me, "Maybe I'll tell you another time." He smiled, making his way to his jeep. Scott and Kira were already there waiting for us.
"We did it! All the pics deleted." Scott grinned.
"That was awesome!" Kira cheered. "Well, I mean, terrifying… It was completely terrifying but kind of awesome." She giggled.
I laughed.
"I've never done anything like that before! Have you?"
I shook my head, then looked to Scott and Stiles. Scott pursed his lips, looking to Stiles. They exchanged a long look with each other.
"Yeah, once or twice." Stiles' voice rose as he said that. He liked his lips again.
I looked to Kira, who just shrugged. "Oh, nice."
"Well I guess I should get you home." Scott declared. He put a hand on her back, leading her to the motorcycle.
I looked to Stiles. "Ready to go?"
"Hells yeah." He twirled his keys on his finger and hopped in his jeep.
Scott opened the huge sliding door to the loft.
It was bright, loud, and crazy.
There were flashing lights everywhere. There was a huge window at the very front of the loft that literally filled the whole wall, where the DJ was, beside that was a painting booth. Beside the massive window was a little door, leading outside to a little patio. To the right of us was a set of stairs, and perhaps a hallway leading somewhere, to the left was another hallway.
I felt the heat of the dancing bodies blast me like a gust of wind. I pulled my hair up into a pony tail. It was insane in here. Everyone was covered in neon paint that glowed in the black light. Some wore wigs, others wore Halloween costumes. The strobe light flashed everywhere. I looked to Kira, who was just as thrilled as I was. This was by far the coolest party I had ever been to. Well, this was the only party I had ever been to. Scott and Stiles led us through the crowd of people, talking about the key Stiles had found.
"Its not mine, and I don't know how it got there or what it's for." Stiles yelled over the screaming crowd. It was hard to hear them.
The bodies grinded against us as we made our way through them.
"Wanna leave so we could figure it out?"
Stiles scratched his head debating. "Uh…." Just as he was having an internal dilemma, a girl I recognized from history class walked up to Stiles, plating a neon kiss on his cheek. You could clearly tell she was wasted by the way she walked. I looked to Kira and Scott, raising my eyebrows and smiling.
"Happy Halloween!" She screamed, walking away.
Stiles looked at the girl, then to me, then to Scott. He shook his head rapidly. "It can wait." He patted his friends back, then disappeared in the energetic crowd after the mystery girl who had kissed his cheek.
I let out a small laugh.
Bodies smashed against us, dividing Kira and I from Scott. Scott pushed through back to us, gently grabbing Kira's hand and intertwining them together.
And that was my signal to leave. "I'll see you guys later" I yelled.
Scott nodded at me, smiling.
I smiled back and pushed through the crowd in the opposite direction. I made my way to the painting table, taking a place in the short line. I looked around me, seeing if I could spot anyone I knew. There were only a handful of people I knew in beacon hills, but most of them were at this party at least. I scanned the crowd with my eyes, eventually locking eyes with Allison. She grinned, showing her deep dimples, and waved. I smiled back.
When it was my turn in line the lady looked at me, smiling. The lady had short hair, with streaks of neon pink in it. She wore a lime green bra and shorts, nothing else. "Face or body?"
I shrugged. "Surprise me."
She laughed. "You shouldn't have said that."
I probably should have been a bit nervous when she said that, but I wasn't surprisingly.
"Take off your shirt." She shouted.
"What?" I could hear her perfectly clear; I was just shocked she had just asked me to take my shirt off.
"Take it off."
Before I had a chance to do anything, she peeled off my white tank top, exposing my stomach. I was just wearing my black shorts and my neon pink bandeaux. I didn't hesitate when she took it off though; I just let her do her job.
I waited about ten minutes for her to finish, when she finally did she let me take a look in the mirror. She had painted an intricate swirl on my left side, which flowed over to the middle of my stomach. She painted the side of my neck. There were little colorful swirls that grew all over my neck, reaching my jaw line. I smiled. I looked absolutely awesome.
"Thank you!" I shouted.
She smiled, "No problem."
I gave her a small smile, then made my way back into the crowd.
"Wow! You are very… exposed!" Someone shouted into my ear. I turned to see Stiles, checking my body out.
I bit my lip, then leaned into him so he could hear me better, but still shouted. "Yeah, it wasn't my choice!"
"Well whoever it was made an awesome choice!" He gave me a double thumbs up, smiling.
"What happened to your mystery girl?" I asked, moving my hips to the music.
"Wow you actually dance!" He leaped into the air. He started doing the sprinkler, joining it with the weirdest dance I had ever seen, but he was having fun. "She ended up being lesbian."
I laughed a little. "Bad luck."
He shrugged, still dancing. "Eh, she was nice."
I smiled, throwing my hands up in the air and dancing. He had the biggest grin on his face.
"Ayyyyy!" Ethan moved past me, "You made it!"
I nodded, smiling and still dancing to the loud music.
"Take these!" He handed me two cold beers. I looked to Stiles, we both shrugged. I tossed one to him and took a sip of the cool drink, chugging it. It was so refreshing. I finished in a few minutes.
Stiles gave me a surprised look when I tossed the bottle away.
"What?"
"You just chugged that whole beer!"
"Yeah so?" I shrugged.
His face turned coy. I smiled at him, narrowing my eyes.
"Aren't you glad I brought you now?" He shouted.
"Yeah, actually, I am!"
He snapped then pointed his finger at me, "Told you!"
I laughed.
Stiles continued to move closer to me, still doing his crazy dance and enjoying himself. He trid to dodge the people moving past him as he danced, moving himself so close to me that out bodies were basically touching. He kept inching forward. After a while, I wasn't sure if it was people pushing him closer to me or if he was just moving himself closer to me. I continued to dance though.
His keys came flying out of his pocket in an instant. I caught them with my hands before they hit the ground. There was an orange print on the mysterious key. I took a closer look at it, slowing my dancing. He moved even closer to me, but stood behind me. Our bodies were pressed together from the moving crowd.
"What is it?" He yelled.
"Phosphors."
"Phosphors?"
"Yeah" I yelled, "it's a substance that's luminescent in blacklight."
"How would I get phosphors on my key?"
I turned the key over, flipping it continuously to examine it. I turned to face him, our noses almost touching. I moved my head to his ear. "Have you been handling chemicals?"
"No I don't think—" He grabbed the keys from my hand at stared at them. "Oh my… I'm sorry Anna, I have to go. I'm really, totally, sorry. I just thought of something…"
"Thought of what Stiles?"
"I just— I have to go. Trust me I don't want to I'd really love to stay here and dance with you." He pointed to the floor where we stood. "I would just stay and… I would just be here with you all night. I swear. I really don't want to offend you. I'd totally ask you to come with me too but… I have to go I'm sorry."
I nodded, confused. "Okay. It's okay Stiles, just go!"
"I am really sorry." He walked up to me and pulled me into a tight embrace. I was stunned at first, but then wrapped my arms around him too. His body was warm pressed against mine. He pulled away a little too soon then I would have liked him to, and then darted out of the massive crowd.
I stood by myself in the middle of the crowd, not really knowing what to do now that he was gone. I swiftly made my way out of the crowd, and leaned against a giant pillar at the side of the loft, away from the giant crowd.
I sighed, wiping sweat off of my face.
"Pretty sweet party, eh?"
I turned to the voice behind me. A tall skeleton-dressed teenager stood there.
I shrugged. "Yeah I guess." I tried to get a good look at his face through the mask, but didn't recognize anyone I know.
"Do you know who owns the place?"
"No idea."
"Hm."
I licked my lips. I hoped this stranger would sense the cold shoulder I gave them and take the hint and walk away.
"Nice loft." Apparently, they didn't.
"Yup."
I turned away from the stranger and faced the crowd. The music was blasting and everyone was dancing. It was so electrifying.
The silence made me assume the stranger had walked away.
I looked back to where they were previously standing. A black glove flew to my mouth. The other hand grasped my body, pulling me back. The skeleton dragged me to the hallway that was nearby. I thrashed and kicked in the guy's strong arms. It wasn't working. I started to panic. This was totally one of those situations where a teenage girl gets murdered at a party.
My heartbeat thumped in my chest, speeding up as he towed me further and further down the hallway. I tried to grasp the person's throat, but they were just too brawn. I screamed, but it was no use.
He let go of my waist, and slammed me against the wall, putting a hand to my throat and lifting me up the wall. I couldn't breathe. Oh my gosh, I couldn't breathe.
The skeleton pulled out a little vile from his pocket and poured it into my mouth, forcing it open with his hands. The liquid ran down my throat. I gulped a mouthful. It tasted like blood. I tried to kick the skeleton, but failed miserably.
"You'll thank me for this." He said, before letting my throat go. I felt my feet plant on the floor again. My hands flew to my throat, trying to catch my breath once again. I leaned over and spat out the residue of the liquid he had poured down my throat. It was crimson red. There was no doubt about it that this was blood I had just drunken. I turned to my attacker, ready to fight, but he has already disappeared.
I tried to catch my breath, but couldn't. My knees felt week and I was having a series of hot flashes. Was I dying? Was this death? I collapsed on the ground. My ears popped. The music and the screaming crowd seemed distant and faded now. All the noises around me blurred. My vision became extremely disoriented. Everything seemed to split into two. Little black started to swarm my vision, eventually clouding my eyes completely.
I went unconscious.
A/N: Thanks for reading again! Review and tell me what you think please! I hope you enjoy and I'm excited for you to read the next few chapters! I might not update as often though, every few days instead of every other.
