Chapter Fourteen
"What are you doing?" Emma looked down at him as she peered over the stairs at her brother who sat, facing the door, with a bat. "Archie, is this what you've been doing every night?"
"It's to keep you and dad safe, Em."
Emma shook her head as she came down the stairs, "No, Arch. This is obsessive." She eyed him, clearly worried as he began to speak. Only to stop himself and look around.
The sound of creaking became more audible, causing Emma to look at him in a questioning manner. "Stay behind me."
She followed him as he walked slowly towards the door in the kitchen. Emma's heart pounded as she passed the island. The door had opened and just as Archie was about to swing, "Whoa, whoa!" Jughead jumped.
"Stop! wait." She grabbed her brother.
Archie put the bat down and stared at him in disbelief. "Jughead, are you insane?"
"You're one to talk." Emma muttered.
Jughead nodded, "You're the one who looks like a dream warrior from Nightmare on Elm Street 3."
"Nice one." Emma said as she sat. Archie leaned against the sink as Jughead sat next to Emma, giving her a quick kiss, he sighed into his seat. "What did the lawyers say?" She asked.
"I've been walking around all night, trying to wrap my head around how bad it is... It's bad." His voice wavered as the twins looked at him intently. "The lawyer thinks my dad should take the deal. 20 Years. If not... and it goes to trial, it could be forty. I'm just really, really scared." Emma rubbed his back as she watched him slowly panic.
"Yeah, me too." Archie agreed, staring into oblivion. Emma knew he wasn't scared for FP or Jughead, but for himself. For her and her dad.
Emma watched as Archie paced frantically as she and Fred sat down in their living room. She could see the worry on Archie's face, the news of Grundy's death had reached him.
"First, you guys get shot. Then, Ms. Grundy is murdered. All within the matters of weeks. Wh- what if some crazy person is going after the people I care about?" Fred sighed causing Archie to continue, "What? You think I'm nuts?"
"No, son. I think you're scared. Understandably, so. Truth is, we don't know anything about what happened to Ms. Grundy."
"She's dead, she was killed."
Emma nodded and spoke softly, hoping to tame her brother's worries and theories. "I know, Arch, but it's a stretch. She wasn't attacked the same way, there are no witness." She stood up and walked up to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "You haven't been sleeping. I think it's-"
"It's what? Getting to me? I'm just imagining this, right? Isn't that what you think?" He shrugged her hand off his shoulder.
Fred sighed, "It was horrible thing."
Archie walked towards the chair as he stared between the two. "Don't you wanna know who did this? Who is doing this?" He watched as Emma and her father avoided eye contact. Yes, they wanted the person who had hurt them but to fuel Archie's anger would only bring more destruction than help. He sat in the chair, sighing and closing his eyes.
Emma bit her lip as she looked at her father, who lightly shook his head. She took one last look at Archie before returning upstairs, knowing Fred would speak to Archie more once he calmed down.
Archie had told Emma about Alice's inquiries on Grundy's death. She was choked with a cello bow, the one Archie believed he had given her. She had fought and that they were unrelated to the shooting at Pops. Emma had been on bed rest, hoping to heal fast so that she could rejoin society. She was outside of the loop with her friends, only being updated through texts and sparse visits.
The duo made their way towards Pop's as she could see the Pussycats and Cheryl, singing on the roof as a crowd of onlookers watched. She watched as her brother hesitated to walk into Pop's, clearing remember the incident. Taking his hand she smiled, "We're good." He nodded as he entered.
"Hey there, daddy-o," Veronica beamed at her boyfriend. "Emma, I'm glad you came." She gave the strawberry blonde a hug.
"Yeah, well, you do have a way of convincing people. Plus, I have to show the people of Riverdale there is nothing to fear." Jughead rounded the corner and smiled at her. "And what is this fine lady doing here?"
She smiled and shrugged, "I came for the world class milkshakes and the eye candy, I guess." He chuckled kissing her hello, as Veronica guided them to a booth. Emma slid into the booth as she watched as her brother, looked around.
She knew even as he tried to fake it, his mind was buzzing. She made conversation with Archie and those who stopped by. Archie remained quiet most of the night as Cheryl, Josie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead stopped by. Each one attempted to make conversation as they found Emma was more talkative tonight.
"Hey," Emma breathed as she walked up to Jughead. He stopped and smiled at her.
"Are you okay? You're not in pain, are you?"
She shook her head, "No, no. I'm gonna get going but can you do me a favor?" Jughead nodded as he looked at the small girl. "He hasn't been sleeping, he stays up all night watching the door. Constantly, he goes on these crazy conspiracy binges. I'm... worried."
Jughead looked at her as she looked at her brother who was speaking to Veronica. "I'm out of the loop here. Can you just promise to keep an eye on him for me? Make sure he doesn't do anything crazy?"
Jughead nodded, "Of course, Thea. How are you? How's it being back here?"
He grabbed her hand sitting her on a stool as he stood in front of her. "I'm okay. I was a little shaken before, but better." He nodded at her, kissing her promptly. "Just text me when you guys are home."
"Of course, Forsythe." She beamed as she got off the counter and walked towards Archie, telling him it was time to go home.
"Hold on, so he suggested that we get guns? Seriously, dad?" Emma looked at her father as the sun shone into the kitchen at the Andrews' house. She had saw her father watching the 'Red Circle' video that Archie and the other guys on team, she assumed, had posted. Fred nodded as he paused it.
He sighed, "I don't know what to do. It's like h- he's..."
"Been possessed? Yeah. That would be on account to not sleeping and his obsession with watching the door." She leaned over the counter, looking at her dad. She could tell, this was another added stress. One he had learned of from a neighbor as Emma and him were at the supermarket. "What are we gonna do, dad? He's going down a dangerous path." Emma crossed her arms with an exasperated look on her face
"I know." Fred nodded as he clicked play, watch the rest of the video as Archie walked in through the back door. "So what? You didn't think we'd see it?" Fred closed his phone watching as his son stood by the sink, facing them.
"Dad, I was pissed off. We were all pretty pissed off. We were trying to send a message, scare the Black Hood."
Emma tensed up and shook her head, "So you antagonize him? Making yourself a target, potentially us again."
Fred had agreed, "Your sister is right, Archie. So take it down. Right. Now. While I can see it." He slammed his phone down causing Emma to internally cringe as it make a hard thudding noise, not to mention it being her phone.
"I already did, the original post, but people keep sharing it."
"The magic of twitter." Emma huffed as Fred bowed his head in defeat. "You're an actual idiot, Archie."
"For what? For wanting to protect you? To protect the school?" His voice raised causing Emma's eyebrow to lift. "Me? Me. Are you actually that thick headed? You think a bunch a meat heads with abs, wearing red stockings over their faces are gonna frighten the guy who shot us? He didn't even flinch and you think you're gonna get him!"
"Well, maybe I will. If this is how to protect us, then that's what I'm gonna do!"
Emma shook her head, hitting her hand against the table. "You weren't in that moment. You didn't have that cold metal barrel to your head. You didn't get shot. I did. Dad did. So don't attract attention to us, for the possible chance that he might wanna finish the job he started." Emma voices slowly got lower and lower, as anger rose.
Look at her brother, she scoffed. "Get out of my face." He pursed his lips, looking at his dad and then his sister before walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
Night had fallen as Betty, Jughead, Kevin, Emma and Toni, Jughead's new friend, sat in FP's trailer. "These symbols look so familiar to me." Betty said as she stared at the cypher the black hood had given her. As the group had first arrived, Jughead took Emma off to the side. Filling her in about the Serpents, the price on Archie's head and the Red Circle. She knew that something like this would happen, cursing under her breath about her twin brother's stupid vigilantism.
Emma stayed quiet, staring for any patterns as Betty went on. "It's like I've seen them somewhere. It's driving me crazy."
"Maybe if you loosened your ponytail." Toni stated. The group had lifted their heads, at her remark. "What? that was a joke, guys..." Emma chuckled at Toni's comment as Kevin defended Betty. "Betty's ponytail is iconic and beyond reproach."
Emma blinked slowly and tilted her head, "Relax, Kevin. It's a regular ponytail, no need to stan for it." Emma's eyes moved to Toni who had looked at her with surprise. "Plus, I though it was funny." She high-fived Toni as Betty huffed.
"At this point I'm willing to try anything." She took down her hair as Jughead, sat up. "Per Mrs. Paroo's books, I'm looking for common letter associations like T-H, A-N, I-N-G."
"I'm looking for doubles. Double L and four-letter words like kill." Toni added.
"That's morbid." Kevin chimed still bothered by Toni's comment before. Jughead shrugged, "We don't even know if this thing is even in English. Guy this could be an anagram."
"It's literally at the top of my head." Emma watched as Betty started to drive herself crazy, slowly but surely.
Emma stared at the paper hard. "Can I see the original?" Betty nodded handing her the original paper.
They watched her as she felt the symbols and furrowed her eyebrows. She spoke softly, more towards herself as she thought aloud. "Often, we reflect who we are by the way we write. For example, I know Betty writes light and wistfully. Meaning she is empathic and spontaneous, open to new ideas."
Kevin shook his head, "I don't get it."
"Well, if you let me finish. His hand writing his hard, really hard. Meaning he is methodical and takes these very seriously, he's probably uptight. There's no slants- like at all which means he's logical. The way he writes in itself is pretty big. He likes attention and is outgoing. He might even be people-oriented and outgoing. I think he might be someone we know. And- And these symbols, I think they are words themselves or word pairings at least."
"Where did you even learn this?" Betty asked as Jughead thought about the strawberry blonde's analysis.
"Graphology, it's the study of writing."
Jughead nodded, "Okay so let's go back to the basics. What do we know about this guy? Who is he?"
Toni started, "Well he's a white male, in his 40s. Which is pretty much every serial killer."
"But he is well liked, outgoing, personable. Still he is methodical and precise. Everything is planned." Emma added.
"Yes," Jughead said as he furrowed his eyebrows. "but why. Why is he killing people."
Emma shrugged, "Well he likes attention. He wants to cleanse in his own perception of religious order."
Betty nodded and pointed towards Emma, "Yes and he seems to be attacking anyone with tie to the Northside."
"I-I don't know about th-" Emma started but was quickly cut off my Toni. "Here you go again with the fake news. You Northsiders and your privilege. All you do is demonize the Southside, so of course you think the Black Hood's from there."
Kevin and Emma looked at each other as a cat fight brewed between Betty and Toni. "It's not demonizing. It's stating facts. There's way more gangs and drugs and-"
"The drugs you mean which are sold primarily to Northside crackheads? What about the Northside Neo-Nazis? The Red Circle. More like the Red Psychos. Hell Betty, I'm surprised you haven't said it yet."
"Said what?"
"That you think the Black Hood is a Serpent. We all know you hate us."
Jughead tried to intervene as Betty attempted to defend herself. Toni had spoken louder, catching Betty by surprise. "Oh, yeah? Then why is it Jughead here lies about the fact he sits with us at lunch? Hell, even Emma knows and she tells him to embrace it. But you? You denounce it."
Betty's eyes shift from Jughead to Emma, who stared at her back with unemotional look.
Kevin nodded, "I'm gonna go."
"Yeah, you know what. I'm out of here too." Toni chimed. Emma stood as well, "I think it's time for me to leave as well. My dad will start to worry and I have to redress my wound." Jughead nodded and kissed her temple.
The three left without a word, knowing Betty and Jughead's conversation was far from over. She had to admit, she agreed with Toni. Betty was known for pulling the same card as her mother, casting blame on the Serpents as was Archie. The walk home quiet as they didn't speak much, thinking about the night's events.