Season of the Witch
Chapter Eleven / Running From Lions
By the time she got to school, Wren was hideously late. She had stopped off at her house to get a shower and put on clean clothes, skipping chemistry because if there were any opportunities to not hear Mr Harris' voice she would take them. She slipped out of the house quietly, as her dad was inside sleeping after his night shift, and checked her phone. A number of texts were displayed on the screen, most of them from Stiles.
DUMBASS #1- heard about what happened is lydia okay?
DUMBASS #2- Is lydia okay?
ALLY A- Are you and lydia feeling okay? You weren't in home room.
DUMBASS #2- Answer your phone wren i swear 2 god.
DANNY BOY- how's lydia? Jackson won't tell me anything :((((
DUMBASS #2- why the fuck is no one answering their phones jesus Christ
Wren rolled her eyes and sat in her seat, firing off texts before she began the drive to school.
TO DUMBASS #1: not great. whatever she saw really fucked with her head
TO DUMBASS #2: to answer the millions of fucking texts you sent me, she's isn't great. i'm kind of worried tbh
TO ALLY A: i'm fine, lydia's not great. happy birthday btw. lydia's not coming into school so you only have to deal with my wonderful presence :p
TO DANNY BOY: jackson's in school today? that's weird. pretty sure he got worse than lydia and she's staying off.
The drive to school was quiet. Allison sent her a text back, asking her how she knew about her birthday since she had kept it so under wraps. Wren fired back a text as she walked back into school.
TO ALLY A: lydia knows everyone's secrets. that's why her hair's so big, it's full of secrets.
Unfortunately, that was also the moment where she hadn't lifted her head up to see someone was coming directly towards her until they collided head on. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Isaac exclaimed as he stumbled back.
Her phone fell out of her hands and clattered onto the floor, Isaac's books joining it. "It's okay." She laughed, crouching down to help Isaac pick up his books. "That's what I get for texting and not looking."
Isaac smiled, before a concerned expression came over his face. "Was Lydia okay?" He asked. "She seemed kind of out of it last night."
Wren let out a worried sigh, the smile dropping off her face. "She's not great. I stayed over last night so she wasn't alone, but she was completely knocked out this morning so I didn't get to see how she was today."
"That was sweet." He replied, handing Wren back her phone after he picked it up.
"That Lydia was knocked out?" Wren asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Wha- No! Not at all!" Isaac spluttered, his cheeks turning pink. "I just thought that was really sweet of you to stay with her to make sure she was okay."
Wren smiled. "Thanks. I just didn't want her to be alone." She replied. "And I'm sorry studying got cut short, I'm sure that doesn't help when parent-teacher conferences are tonight."
He smiled. "Don't worry about it. I just hope Mrs Harris is in a good mood tonight."
"I hope that miracle works out for you." Whoa, she thought when patted his shoulder. She could definitely feel the muscle, muscle that she was kind of surprised Isaac had since he hid it under baggy clothes. Lacrosse must help.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." He said. "I'll talk to you later; I have to get to class."
"Bye." She said, waving him off before she walked off herself. She was almost at her next class when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Where the fuck have you been?"
Wren whipped around to see Stiles chasing after her, his phone pressed to his ear. "What?" She asked.
Stiles rolled his eyes. "One second." He said to Wren, before speaking to someone on the phone. "Finally! Have you been getting of my texts?" He asked, before looking back to Wren and putting the person on loud speaker. "That question's for you too."
"Yeah, like all nine million of them." Scott said.
"Same for me." Wren added. "Where are you Scott?"
"I'm with Allison."
"Do you know what the hell is going on? Lydia's gone M.I.A, Jackson looks like he has a time bomb inserted inside his face, another random guy's dead and you have to do something about it!" Stiles exclaimed.
"Like what?" Scott asked.
"Something!"
"I'll deal with it later." Scott replied, before hanging up.
"Did he hang up on me? Did he freaking hang up on me?!" Stiles exclaimed.
"Yes Stiles, that's normally what that sound indicates." Wren deadpanned. "And I know where Lydia is."
Stiles gaped at her. "Why didn't you say anything before?" He exclaimed as they walked to their next class.
"Because you were too busy snapping at Scott!" She replied. "She's at her house and she's really out of it. Whatever happened last night really freaked her out."
"Did you find out what she saw?" He asked.
"No."
"And why not?!"
"Because she wouldn't tell me and I wasn't going to interrogate about it when she scared out of her mind!" She said. "And where the hell is Scott?"
"That's the problem, I don't know!" He said. "He didn't turn up in home room and speaking of which, where were you?"
"I was staying over at Lydia's and slept in." She explained.
Stiles immediately looked a little brighter. "So you can go and see her!"
Wren raised an eyebrow. "Obviously, why?"
"Because we need to find out what happened last night and I have a feeling that Lydia will know, so we're going to talk to her about it." He explained.
"I don't know if she'll actually be able to." She replied.
"She will, okay, she has to." The bell rung through the hallway and the pair headed into their next classroom.
Wren took her seat and paused for a moment, before swivelling around to face Stiles. "Why do I have to go with you?" She asked. "Why can't you go by yourself?"
"Well, it'll be less weird if I turn up with you, her best friend, then if I go by myself," he replied, "You picked a bad day to ditch chemistry, just FYI."
"Thank you Captain Obvious."
"Lydia honey, Wren is here to see you and she's brought her friend Stiles." Natalie said, telling the girl who was lying on bed with her mind in a haze.
"What the hell is a Stiles?" Lydia replied, her voice slurred.
Natalie glanced over at Stiles and gave him an apologetic smile. "She took a little something to ease her nerves. You can go in."
"Thanks Natalie." Wren said, before Stiles copied her.
"Let me know if you need anything." She replied and left the room.
At that, Wren went over to Lydia and sat on the bed beside her. "Hey, how are you feeling?"
"Sooo good, Wrenny." She slurred. "I'm feeling so good. H-Have you tried these?" She asked, picking up the bottle of pills from her bedside table and showing them to Wren. "They make me feel gooood."
Wren raised an eyebrow. "Maybe I'll give them a try someday." She muttered, pulling the pill bottle from Lydia's hand and placing it back on the table.
Lydia flopped backwards and stretched her body across the bed. "They shut off my brain and make me sooo sleepy."
"Oh, I know." She said. "I heard your snoring last night."
At that Lydia giggled, making Wren snort. She then sat up as she spotted Stiles. "Why are you here?" She asked.
"U-uh what, me?" Stiles stammered, taken aback that Lydia had addressed him directly. Lydia nodded and patted the bed beside Wren, motioning for Stiles to sat down. He grinned and nudged at Wren, trying to give him more room. "Just coming see if you were okay!"
"Why?" She asked, tilting her head and raising her eyebrow.
"Because I was worried about you today." He said. "Me and Wrenny both were."
Wren rolled her eyes as she watched Stiles' reaction at Lydia running her hand down his arm. His body stiffened and his jaw dropped. "I feel…" Lydia trailed off, sitting up to face Stiles. "Fantastic."
Lydia was practically on top of Wren as she leaned over to talk to Stiles, so Wren pushed her back slightly. "Lydia honey, personal space."
She backed off. "Whoops! Sorry Wrenny." She giggled. "Wrenny, that's funny to say."
"If that's funny to say, then why don't you try 'Suzy sitting in a shoe shine shop' ten times fast." Stiles said, making Wren turn her head and give him a confused look. He showed her the pill bottle and she took it from him, gaping at the amount Lydia had taken. She hadn't realised how much she had taken earlier. This morning she had only taken two.
Lydia stumbled over the words, but trailed off once she said 'I saw' again. Wren frowned at the look on her face. "Lydia?" She said. "What did you see?"
"Something." She replied.
"Something like a mountain lion?" Stiles suggested.
"A mountain lion." Lydia repeated.
"Are you sure you saw a mountain lion or is it because that's what the police told you?" Stiles asked.
In a soft voice, one that she used to use to calm her sister down when she had a nightmare, Wren asked "Do you remember what the mountain lion looked like?" She wondered if it looked like the thing from her nightmare.
"It looked like…" She trailed off. "A mountain lion."
Wren let out a sigh as Stiles picked up the giraffe from the bedside table and showed it to Lydia. "What's this?" He asked.
"A mountain lion." She replied.
"She's really out of it Stiles, maybe we should leave her alone and I'll come back later when she's-" Wren was cut off as Lydia fell forward, her upper body draped across Wren's legs and her head resting on Stiles' thigh. "Okay, she's worse than I thought." Stiles let out a gasp. "Stop enjoying this, you creep!"
"Her head is on my thigh!" He exclaimed breathlessly. "Do you see how close it is to my…" He trailed off.
"Your dick?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yes!" Stiles exclaimed, his cheeks turning pink.
Wren rolled her eyes and shook her head, before pulling Lydia up by her shoulders so she could sit up again. "Lydia, we're going to go, okay?" She said, brushing the hair out of the other girl's eyes.
"Do you have to?" Lydia and Stiles said in unison.
"Yes!" Wren said, a little more forcefully as she was responding to Stiles as well. She pushed him off the bed and was about to get up as well, when Lydia began to speak again.
"No!" Lydia said. "Stay. Both of you."
Wren rolled her eyes. It was like Lydia uttered the magic words. Stiles was back on the bed, a hopeful grin on his face. "We are not staying!" Wren said. Lydia was far too out of it right now.
"Please stay Wren." Lydia said, sticking her bottom lip out. "Pwetty please?"
"Yeah stay!" Stiles added. "Don't be a killjoy, Wrenny!"
"Jackson's right." Lydia said. Jackson? Wren burst out laughing, unable to hold it in. She thought Stiles was Jackson!
"And we're done here." Stiles said, his disappointment evident. Wren fell backwards onto the bed, laughing hard. "Stop laughing!"
"Oh my god no! I can't wait to tell Scott about this."
"We are not telling Scott about this!" Stiles snapped.
"No, that means you aren't telling Scott about this! That doesn't mean I'm not!" She said.
"I hate you." He grumbled.
"Ah, right back at you Stilinski." She laughed, just as Lydia's phone started to ring. "Give me that."
"Why can't I answer?" He asked.
"Because I'll probably know who's calling her more than you." She replied.
Stiles let out a sigh and picked it up. "It's a text." He said. "I don't how to-"
"You don't know how to what?" Wren asked, sitting up when Stiles didn't finish his sentence. She frowned at the surprised look on Stiles face. "What is it? Jackson's nudes?"
"I'm not even going to reply to that. Just look at this." He said, handing her the phone.
Wren frowned and took the phone from him. She pressed play on the video and watched as an animal jumped through the window of the video store. "Is that what I think it is?" She asked.
"Yep." Stiles said.
The alpha.
The sight of it sent shivers up her spine. It looked nothing like Scott where he werewolved out. It looked more like a monster from a fairy tale, like the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood. "Send me the video." She said. "We need to show Scott."
"Hey, it's me again." Stiles said. "Look, Wren and I found something and we don't know what to do."
Wren pulled the phone down so she could speak into it. "It's really freakin' huge Scott."
Stiles yanked the phone away from her. "What she said. Look, just turn your phone on okay? Or we'll kill you and you know Wren is really friggin' vicious so that is something to be afraid of." Wren raised an eyebrow. "Do you hear me? We're going to kill and I'm too upset to think of a witty explanation how we're going to do it but we're just going to do it, okay?"
Wren let out a sigh as Stiles threw the phone on her bed beside her. She was perched up on it, picking at her dark blue nail polish nervously and looked up at him in worry. "What are we going to do?" She asked, wondering how they would get through to Scott.
"What are you going to do about what?"
Wren and Stiles both snapped to attention as the Sheriff appeared at Stiles' door. "W-w-what! Nothing, nothing!" Stiles exclaimed.
"It's fine, don't worry about it!" She added, giving what she hoped would look like a reassuring smile. The last thing they needed was the Sheriff finding out about all this werewolf crap.
He glanced from one teenager to the other, giving them a puzzled look. "…Right. Anyway, why are you still here Wren? Shouldn't you be with your parents? The parent teacher conferences start soon and Logan told me you're supposed to be there."
Wren swore in her head. She had completely forgotten about the parent teacher conferences. It probably didn't help that she skipped classes that morning. "I'm going to meet them at the school." She replied.
"Right." The Sheriff replied, before turning to Stiles. "Please tell me I'm going to hear good news at this parent teacher thing tonight."
Wren glanced over at Stiles, whose mouth opened and shut a few times. "Depends on how you define good news."
"I define it as you getting straight A's with no behavioural issues."
Wren tried not to snort. Not at the straight A's, Stiles was very smart so that part wouldn't be a surprise. No, it was the no behavioural issues she's was thinking about. Stiles sometimes didn't know when to keep his mouth shut.
Look who's talking.
"Might want to rethink that definition." Stiles replied.
"Enough said." The Sheriff turned away. "You should leave soon Wren; you don't want to be late."
"I'll try not to be!" Wren called after him as he walked out of the room. "He's right, I should go."
"What? No!" Stiles exclaimed. "We have actual footage of the alpha and you're just going to waltz off?"
"Yes, because unlike you Mr Perfect Grades, I'm failing English and my parents will literally ground me until summer if I'm not there!" She said, grabbing her bag and jacket from the bed. "Besides, I'll see Scott there, if he decides to hurry his ass up and get home."
"When you do, tell him to call me." Stiles grumbled. "And then smack him for ignoring me."
"In that order?"
"Please!"
Wren fiddled with her shoelace, her feet pulled up onto the chair as they waited for Mr Stewart to be ready for them. Her parents were not particularly pleased with her after they found out she missed Chemistry that morning. The fact that she was getting mostly C's in her other classes also didn't help either. The only shining light in the whole mess was Art.
"Anything you want to tell me before we go in?" Logan asked, glancing at his daughter.
Wren tipped her head back against the wall and let out a breath. "I'm getting straight F's and I sell weed to the freshmen." She deadpanned. Logan rolled his eyes and Eva let out an annoyed sigh. "It was a joke!" Wren exclaimed. "I do that."
"I really wish you would take these things more seriously." Eva snapped, making Wren roll her eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at your mother." Logan added. "You should li-" Wren would have never of guessed it, but she was actually kind of thankful towards Mr Stewart for calling them in at that moment. That way she wouldn't have to listen to her parents ganging up on her. The group filled into the room, Wren taking a seat in between her parents as they greeted the teacher.
"Now Wren," He said, sitting down and going through his pages. "Averaging about a D minus in this class and has tendency to either mouth off or not pay attention at all and frankly, I'm disappointed."
"So are we." Eva muttered.
"You're a bright kid Wren and I understand that you made find things tough because of your dyslexia and considering what you've gone through over the past few months, but this simply isn't good enough." He said, leaning forward onto the desk. "Which is why I have spoken to Coach Finstock and we have decided that if you do not get your grades up, Coach will take you off the track team."
"What?!" Wren exclaimed, snapping to attention. "You can't do that!"
"I'm afraid we can." He replied.
"But I'm vice-captain and a shoo-in for captain next year! If you take me off, there's no way I'm getting that!" She snapped at him. "This is such bull-"
"Wren." Eva interrupted before she could take it any further. "Enough."
"What, you agree with him?" She asked.
"Frankly yes. Your grades have been very disappointing." She replied, nails tapping against her cane.
"I worked for that spot!"
"Wren." Her father said in a stern voice. "Your mother's right, that's enough."
"But-"
"Enough."
Wren let out an annoyed sigh and threw herself back in the chair, folding her arms and going into huff. The rest of the meeting past without incident and the group left the room in silence, Wren still seething with anger. She was silent as her mother began to speak. "I can't say I'm not disappointed."
"I agree." Logan said.
"I hadn't even realised how bad the grades had gotten." Eva added, shaking her head in disappointment.
Wren's fists clenched in fury, her anger towards her mother rising to the surface. Her day hadn't helped either. Lydia had been traumatised and there was nothing she could do to help her, Stiles was pissing her off, Scott was nowhere to be found, and now she could potentially lose her place on the track team. Now she was in a horrible mood. "I'm not surprised." She muttered.
"Excuse me?" Eva asked, her voice quiet.
"Maybe we shouldn't do this here." Logan muttered, looking around the crowded hallway. He knew that this could turn into an argument. He knew that his daughter was angry and had attempted to get Eva to talk to her, but to no avail.
"No, no." Eva said to him before turning back to Wren. "I want to hear what you said."
"I said 'I'm not surprised'." Wren replied, staring defiantly back at her.
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
Wren couldn't help but let a disbelieving laugh bubble to the surface. "What do you think?" She snapped. "Could it be because you've been avoiding me since Anna died?" She asked sarcastically, pressing her finger to her chin and pretending she was thinking deeply. "Oh no, maybe it's that you've barely spoken to me and, you know, that was really, really great. I loved the fact that you were avoiding me around the time when I needed you the most. You're still avoiding me now for Christ's sake!"
It was like someone popped the cork from a champagne bottle. She had finally snapped. All of her angry feelings were pouring out and it seemed like they weren't going to stop anytime soon.
Eva was silent, her mouth hanging open slightly in shock. Her black glasses prevented Wren from reading her eyes. "Wren, that's enough." Her father hissed, grabbing her arm. "Your mother has been going through a hard time too, she was in the accident as well."
"Yeah, but she wasn't the one driving!" Wren snapped, tears brimming as the guilt she had felt came back full force. "She wasn't the one who lost control of the car!" She turned back to her mother.
"Is that what you think?" Eva asked, her voice barely above a whisper. The sound caused a lump to form in Wren's throat. There was a part of her that hated upsetting her mother, but there was a bigger part of her that was too angry at her mother.
"That you've been a crappy mom for months? Yeah, pretty much." She snapped. She bit her lip as she felt the tears beginning to well. "I need some air." She whispered, pushing past her parents.
Logan grabbed her arm. "No, get back here and apologise-"
"No." Eva whispered, just as quiet as Wren. "Just let her go."
Logan released Wren from his grip and Wren sped off. The other families in the hallway that had been staring at them now looked away from Wren in a hurry as she elbowed her way through them. She stormed through the hallways and shoved the doors open, before hurrying down the steps. Her aunt called out to her as she passed, asking what was wrong, but Wren ignored her, wanting to get away from the crowd as she began to cry.
Wren was almost at her car when she reached into her pocket to grab her keys, only to find her pockets empty. She let out a string of curses, realising that she had dropped her keys and was tempted to wait for everyone to leave before she went to search for them, just to avoid her parents. She knew the move was cowardly, but she really didn't care.
"What do you want?!" She snapped as someone tapped her one the shoulder, making her whip around only to see that it was Isaac standing. He flinched slightly at her harsh words, making Wren feel horrible.
"I was just going to give you back your keys." He said, holding them up. "A-and I just wanted to see if you were okay."
"What, were you staring at us too?" She snapped at him, embarrassed that she had snapped in front of such a large group.
"No, no, I just saw what was going on when we were walking past." He explained, shrinking into himself. "I-I'll leave you alone."
"Wait, don't, don't." She said, suddenly feeling awful that she had lashed out at Isaac even though he hadn't done anything. She had a tendency to lash out at everyone whenever she was upset, even if they had done nothing to her. "I'm sorry I'm being such a dick to you, I'm just having a really bad day."
"It's okay." He shrugged, staring at his feet.
"No, it's not!" She said, pressing her hands to her face and rubbing her eyes. She was suddenly so exhausted and was tempted to ask Natalie if it was okay if she stayed over again that night because she didn't want to see her parents. "I'm being a bitch and I just made a fool of my-myself in there and now I'm acting like a brat too."
"It's fine." Isaac shrugged, before rooting through his pockets and pulling out a tissue. Wren raised an eyebrow. "You look like you need it."
"Thanks." She smiled, taking it from him and wiping her eyes. "God, I'm glad you gave me this now, I'm such an ugly crier."
"I think you look fine," Isaac said as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Really pretty actually." He muttered.
"What?"
"What? Nothing." He said, his ears turning pink as he tried to look everywhere but Wren's face.
Wren raised an eyebrow as a slight smile came over her face. "Right, okay. I'm not even going to ask."
"That's probably for the best." He said. Wren laughed as Isaac's father began to call for him. "I better get going."
"How did the meeting with Mr Harris go by the way?" She asked, as Isaac turned back to her.
He raised an eyebrow. "How do you think?"
Wren winced. "That bad?"
"Oh yeah." He said as his dad called to him again, sounding more annoyed. "I really have to go."
"Bye." Wren said, giving him a smile. She felt slightly more composed now, even though she was embarrassed that Isaac saw her cry.
She sighed and went onto her car, looking up in surprise when she heard people screaming. What the hell? A nearby conversation caught her attention. "A mountain lion? Oh god, get in the car. It's probably rabid."
Wren froze as her heart began to beat faster in fear. A mountain lion? Was it an actual mountain lion or was the alpha going to pop up and start attacking people? Surely it wouldn't do it here in a crowd full of people. Wren began to go faster to get to the car, narrowly dodging being knocked over a few times because some people didn't look where they were going.
Assholes.
Her head whipped around as heard a thump and a cry of pain nearby, looking over to see the Sheriff on the ground before she sprinted over to him. "Oh my god, are you okay?!" She exclaimed crouching down beside him. "Do we need to call an ambulance?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine." He said, his head darting up as the growling got louder. "Wren sweetheart, I need you to go to your car."
"Uh no, I'm not going to leave you like this." She said, a frown on her face. "Can you get up?"
"Wren seriously, I really need you to get to your car." He said, his hand going to his ankle. "You really shouldn't stick around for this."
"What?" He pulled up the leg of his pants to reveal a gun strapped to his ankle. "Oh."
"Yeah, oh." He said, about to add more when he was cut off with a BANG! Wren jumped in surprise, looking up to see that Mr Argent had shot the lion or alpha or whatever it was. "Uh, could you actually help me up?" He asked.
Wren nodded, helping the Sheriff to his feet so they could join the crowd forming over whatever animal Mr Argent had shot. They went forward, Wren noticing the limp that the Sheriff was trying to hide, and elbowed their way through the crowd.
A dead mountain lion lay before them and Wren couldn't help but wonder why it came to such a crowded place.
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Please let me know what you think.
Thank you to Guest and Lucy Greenhill for reviewing, Asery Aseerrmio Ecvoll Asernil, January Lily, Mars Carter, Srodriguez356, The Price is Wrong Bob, Ydalia, gabriellaarteaga1, hungergamespettalover, . . , kanna-yamamoto, 2001, tiredyouths for favouriting and Asery Aseerrmio Ecvoll Asernil, DitzyBrunette89, Edward Cullen's Girl, JasZ1991, LenaP102, Mars Carter, ParalyzedInHeaven, Srodriguez356, The Price is Wrong Bob, Ydalia, avengeful, bellexxxx, gabriellaarteaga1, housedayne, hungergamespettalover, . . , jrwoo, 2001, marveloncer, sydhuman and tiredyouths for following!