SO MUCH STARLET IS IN THIS CHAPTER AND I HOPE IT MAKES UP FOR HOW LATE THIS IS OK OK
As much as I wanted to stay on the roof and cry about Scott, I knew that I couldn't. I had to go find Derek and take care of Cora, and find Lydia, Allison, and Isaac. I had the rest of my pack to take care of, but Scott was in danger. I hated doing it, but I pushed that thought to the back of my mind before following Stiles on the search for Derek.
"Where do you think he is?" I asked, clutching Stiles' arm as we walked through the eerily lit hallways. "What if the alphas or Jennifer finds us first?"
"The alphas left with Deucalion, and I don't think Jennifer would hurt either of us. We're not exactly of use to her," Stiles told me, watching the halls and ducking into rooms for Derek. "We're going to be okay and so is Scott."
I just nodded even though I could tell that he wasn't sure that he was speaking the truth. I took a deep breath to calm down my nerves before looking into the elevator. I saw a person laying on the floor of it so I let go of Stiles and ran over to them. It was Derek.
"Derek! Hey, are you okay?" I shouted as I ran over to him. When I saw that he was unconscious, I felt my heart drop into my stomach.
I crouched down beside his head and ran my hand through his hair. He was still breathing and warm so he was just unconscious, not dead. That made a sliver over hope bloom in my chest and I let out a breath.
"Is he dead?" Stiles asked as he knelt down beside of me.
"No, he's still breathing. We just need to wake him up somehow," I said, shaking him gently. "Derek, you need to get up so we can go save your family and my brother."
I tried a couple more times, but he wasn't moving. I saw Stiles draw back and throw a punch at Derek's face. Before I could say anything, Derek threw his hand up and stopped Stiles' fist. He opened his eyes and sits up quickly, moving his head from my lap.
"What's going on? The last thing I remember was Jennifer knocking me unconscious," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "That bitch!"
"Scott went off with Deaucalion just now, Peter and Cora got away with Isaac, and the only people left in the hospital are Stiles and me," I explained to him quickly, rubbing his arm absentmindedly as I explained.
"Oh, and the police are on the way so we need to get out of here fast," Stiles added after he forced himself to look away from my hand on Derek's arm.
"I need to get to Cora," he stated, standing up and rushing down the hallway.
I stood up and started walking after him when Stiles fell into step beside me. "So, what's going on between you and Derek? I saw you touching him just now."
I rolled my eyes and bumped his shoulder with mine. "I was comforting him because he was freaking out. Were you jealous?"
His face turned three different shades of red before he spluttered out, "No! I was just curious why you were touching him because he's a little scary."
"He's, like, the least scary thing in Beacon Hills. Have you see the alphas, or the Kanima, or the Darach? They're scary," I explained. "Derek is just misunderstood and scared. I feel for him and want him to know that he has a friend in me."
He just looked at me for a second and stopped walking. I felt awkward under his scrutinizing gaze so I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth and looked down at the toes of my sneakers. I was still wearing my scrubs from earlier and my pants had some of Cora's black-goo vomit on them.
"If you're finished being weird, I really need to go home and change out of this. I have werewolf vomit on my leg," I said, turning on my heel and walking away from Stiles.
I walked out of the hospital after Derek and saw that the Argents and Isaac were standing beside Derek's care. I saw Cora slumped over in the backseat with her head in Peter's lap and knew that they were waiting for Derek to take her anywhere.
When I walked up to all of them, I saw Allison and Isaac looking at me sadly. I felt dread course through me and leaned back against Derek's car. Something else was wrong, I could feel it.
"The Darach took you mom," Isaac finally forced out, not meeting my eyes.
My stomach clenched painfully and my eyes heated up. "She what? Where's my mom?"
I felt my breath leave my lungs as I slid down to sit in front of the tire. My heart felt like it was trying to tear out of my chest and my breath kept coming faster. I was getting dizzy so I slid my head between my knees and tried to calm myself down. As soon as my breath evened out, my tears started coming out.
"Whoa, what's wrong?" Stiles asked, running over to me and crouching down beside me. He took my chin in his hand and lifted my face up so we were looking at each other. "What's wrong, Scar?"
"She took my mom," I whimpered. "I don't have anyone anymore."
He stood up and pulled me with him before cupping my cheeks in his palms. All the other people around us disappeared and it was just Stiles and me standing there. His eyes held mine and I could feel his heat radiating off of him.
"That's a lie," he whispered, "That's a lie and you know it. I'm here and that's never going to change. We're going to find your mom and we're going to find my dad, and then we're going to figure out a way to get Scott back."
I just nodded and swallowed the lump that had made itself at home in my throat. I couldn't have a meltdown right now, too many people were counting on me. I took a few more calming breaths and stepped out of Stiles' grip, ignoring the twinge in my stomach at the loss of his touch.
"After this is all over, I really need to tell you something," he said after I'd calmed myself down. "But it's not important right now."
I ended up going with Isaac to Derek's loft to make sure Cora got there safely. I didn't want to be with Stiles right now because I didn't trust myself to not jump all over him. Something about losing almost everyone you care about makes you want to be close to someone. It's not conventional, but it definitely happens.
I was sitting beside Cora when Isaac's frustration finally bubbled to the surface. "None of this would've happened if you hadn't been rolling around in the sheets with the actual killer! The rest of us were trying to keep innocent people from being killed. What about Erica and Boyd? And Cora? She's dying because you were fucking around with a damn Darach! Why did you even bite all of us? Were you bored? Lonely?"
I wiped Cora's forehead with a cold, wet washcloth. I hoped that she wasn't feeling all the tension in the room right now, it couldn't be good for her. She was too white to be healthy, and I wanted to do something to change that but didn't know what. I needed Jennifer Blake.
"I'm leaving to go do something productive!" Isaac shouted, the anger in his voice making me flinch.
"I'm going to stay with Cora because I promised her I would, and I'll help everyone else whenever I figure out how to help her," Derek responded as he made his way over to Cora and me.
"There is no time!" Isaac screamed. "There's a full moon coming, and that means that Sherriff Stilinski and Melissa will be dead! I'm going to go try and help why you perfect the art of doing nothing!"
Tears stung my eyes at that statement. I couldn't blame Derek for staying with Cora, I would do the same for Scott, but I still wished that he would help. I knew that I had to go with Isaac but leaving Cora was almost painful.
"I'm going with Isaac, but I don't blame you for staying with your sister. I would do the same if I were in your position," I whispered to Derek before chasing after Isaac.
We ended up parting ways because an angry Isaac wasn't something I wanted to be around right now. I didn't want to hear him talk about mom and how she might me dead. I wanted to go find Stiles and curl up with him underneath some covers, and act like nothing was wrong. But I knew I couldn't do that.
"I think I'm going to go to the Argent's and see what I can do there," I said as we walked towards the Argent's together. "You don't have to come with me, you can go do your own thing. I just thought I'd tell you where I was going just in case…"
He reached out and stopped me before moving to stand in front of me. "Hey, you're going to be safe. There's no way in hell that Stiles and I are going to let you get hurt. Do you understand me, Scarlet Lorraine McCall?"
I took a deep breath, nodded, and laid my forehead against his shoulder. He let out a deep breath and rubbed my back, breathing normally for the first time since we'd left the loft. He and I were sort of alone together right now as much as Stiles and I were. He didn't have anyone in general, both of his parents were dead and so was his brother.
"You're my family, Isaac. Maybe not by blood, but you're my family," I whispered, clutching the back of his shirt in my fists. "I just want you to know that you do have a family."
I felt him take a ragged breath and heard it rattle around in his chest. "Thank you, Scar. I haven't had a real family in such a long time."
I loved that I could provide Isaac a family after he'd been through so much. I thought my dad's drinking and walking out on us was bad, but at least he didn't beat us. Well, there was that incident with Scott and the staircase, but I don't think that really counts. Plus Scott doesn't even really remember that too well, if at all.
"We're going to get mom back and we're all going to be a family," I whispered as we parted. "I swear."
When I got the Argent's house, I saw that Allison, Chris, and Stiles were all back in Chris' office. I wandered back there and stood on the other side of Allison. They didn't even pause in their conversation when I walked in, they just glanced over at me and nodded.
"Just because my name's on the door doesn't mean I'm going to be the next one taken," Chris said, eyeing Stiles. "I haven't really been living up to my 'Guardian' role as of late."
"It can't be a coincidence that they took Stiles' dad and Scarlet's mom," Allison pointed out, smiling at me sheepishly when she saw me wince.
"Someone put the name 'Argent' in big, block letters on the doors of the hospital. I think it's a warning," Stiles said, crossing his arms over his chest as he spoke.
"I think that Ms. Morrell is behind the warning, she knows a lot more than she should to be just a guidance counselor. Maybe she's trying to help us," Allison theorized.
"We need to hurry because the lunar eclipse is two freakin' nights away and our parents may already be dead," Stiles cried out suddenly.
"I don't think so," I disagreed after I pushed down the panicky feeling of my mother being dead. "Jennifer is too smart and cunning to do that, I think she'd moving her pieces into place."
"Yes, but you're one of those pieces, dad," Allison pointed out, clutching her dad's arm.
"I know, that's why we're not waiting around to see her next move," he said, patting her hand and smiling at her sadly before pulling out his map that Allison had showed us a few days ago.
Stiles was frowning whenever he said, "If we go after her, that means that you're probably going to get taken, too."
"I'm different; I'm carrying a .45 caliber pistol and I'm not afraid to use it," Chris stated. "She can heal from a shot to the leg and slashes to her face, but I wonder how she would cope with half her skull blown off."
I looked over at Stiles and saw that we both had reluctant expressions on our faces. It was one thing for him to say that he was going to fight her, but it was a completely different thing when your only parent was taken. He was talking a big game now, but I'd seen Jennifer Blake keep going after Sherriff Stilinski emptied a magazine of bullets into her without making her pause.
"Okay, I think the placement of the sacrifices has to do with the strength of the telluric current under those spots," Chris said, going into planning mode. He pointed to a couple of places on the school and said, "She might return to a place where she failed to complete a sacrifice the first time."
"So does that mean that the bank is a logical starting point?" I asked. "I mean, she planned on Deaton dying there, but Sco- uhm-my brother got there first and stopped her."
It was almost a physical pain to say his name right now. I'd watched him walk away without putting up a fight. What kind of twin sister was I? He would've fought with all of his might to keep me safe, but I couldn't return the favor? I was pathetic.
Stiles seemed to sense my thoughts because he crossed the room and took my hand in his. Our arms were pressed together and I took a deep breath as he warmth seeped into me. I don't know what I'd be doing if I didn't have him right now, but I suspected that it wouldn't be very good.
"Maybe we should get Lydia to help us," Allison suggested.
"Why would we do that?" Chris asked, confusion coloring his voice.
"She has a way of finding dead bodies without trying," Stiles answered, rubbing his thumbs over my knuckles soothingly as he talked.
"Is she a psychic?" Chris asked.
"She's definitely something," I supplied.
After we'd finished out discussion about Lydia, Stiles and I followed the Argent's into another room. They opened a door and started pulling out various weapons. I knew my jaw was hanging open when I saw just how much they were bringing with them to the bank. A couple pistols, a crossbow, a rifle, machine guns, and the ring daggers I'd seen Allison use before. Oh wow.
"I thought you guys were retired?" Stiles questioned, making me look over and see that we had matching expressions yet again.
"Retired, yes; defenseless, no."
"Make sure you keep your phone on just in case Scott tries to call, Scar," Allison advised when our gazes met over the table covered in weapons.
"I don't think that's going to happen," I said sadly, looking down at the toes of my shoes that also happened to have Cora-vomit on them. Damn, that girl got some distance.
"Hey, Scott's only doing what he thinks is right for the people that he cares about," Chris consoled in the way that only a dad could.
I heard someone knocking lightly on the doorframe, and whenever I turned around I saw that it was Isaac.
"I can't use a gun or crossbow, but…" he trailed off as he extended his claws. "I'm getting pretty good with these."
Allison and Isaac went with Chris to the bank while Stiles and I went to get Lydia. I breathed in the familiar smell of Stiles' Jeep and let it calm my frazzled nerves. It was like a second home to me, to be honest, I spent a ton of time in here. Stiles still had my hand in his as he drove through the dark streets. I don't know if he realized it or not, but I was going to be the one to tell him. It was comforting me, too.
After we parked in front of her house, Stiles and I made our way to the door. I knocked and Mrs. Martin answered, looking at us and then the clock in the hallway. Then her eyes traveled down to the black stains on the side of my pink scrub pants. I was too strung out to even be ashamed of my stains, I had bigger fish to fry.
"I know it's late, Mrs. Martin, but can we talk to Lydia. I'm worried about her after what happened, we wanted to make sure she was okay," Stiles said after he realized that I wasn't going to talk to her.
"She's up in her room," she finally answered, jarring herself out of her daze. "That's nice of you all to do."
We were too far away when she said the last part to respond, and I was grateful for that. There had always been something about Lydia's mom that rubbed me the wrong way.
"Hey, Lydia, it's us. Can we come in?" I asked, knocking on her door gently. "Well, we're coming in anyway, I hope you're dressed."
Stiles told her about Scott leaving and about Jennifer Blake. I was sitting on the edge of her bed, picking my nails to bits and wiping the blood on my pants. I knew I'd have to toss these out whenever I finally changed out of them; they were ruined.
"There's no way Scott would willingly join the alphas!" Lydia exclaimed in exasperation.
"The look on his face at the time suggests otherwise," Stiles quipped back.
"I can help with my human Geiger counter for death," Lydia suggested, tugging her jacket tighter around her. "I just don't know how to turn it on and off.
"Jennifer seemed surprised that I was a banshee, she wanted me dead before she knew about it," Lydia continued to muse to us.
"To me that says that she wanted you dead for something that you know or something that she thinks you know," I said, chewing on the bottom of my lip thoughtfully. "That mark on your neck makes you look tough, by the way."
She winked at me and said, "I'm tough and cute, don't you forget it!"
Stiles, Lydia, and I all camped out in my living room that night. There was no way I was staying completely on my own at night so I made Lydia come. Stiles said that he was going to "protect" us, but he didn't have my mom's bat so I was skeptical.
That morning wasn't the same without Scott. Lydia and I got ready together in silence as Stiles sat downstairs by himself. I was a fidgety, nervous wreck by the time I tried to do my hair. My hands were shaking too badly for me to do anything with my hair, but thankfully Lydia took mercy on me.
"Hey, why don't you sit down and let me do your hair for you?" she asked after she finished her lipstick.
I smiled at her gratefully before letting out a deep breath as I felt her fingers moving through my hair. It always relaxed me whenever someone played with my hair. Mom used to do it for me whenever I had nightmares when I was younger. That thought sent a pang through my chest so strong that it made me wince.
I was thankful that Lydia didn't point it out. She just focused on my hair and twisting it into some style that I couldn't see. I wished more often than not that I could be as strong as she was. If you'd ask, she'd say that she wasn't, but I knew differently. Someone had tried to kill her less than twenty-four hours ago, but she was in better shape than I was.
Before I could comment on that, she let out a noise and stepped back from me. "I think I outdid myself on this. You're hair looks spectacular!"
I trusted her so I didn't look in the mirror before exiting the bathroom. I knew I had bags under my eyes and they were probably still red from crying so much last night. I remember how rough I looked when I was doing my makeup earlier, I'm sure it was just worse now.
We were all walking through into school when Lydia said, "I can't believe that Aiden isn't texting me back! You'd think my hotness would keep him clenched."
I just ignored her and looked up at Isaac as he joined up with us. "I texted Scott about Chris going missing too, but he didn't respond. Not that I thought he would, but I figured I'd try."
I felt the color drain from my face as what Isaac said registered in my head. Chris was missing now? What the hell were we all supposed to do without anyone?
I looked over at Stiles for help, but he seemed to be having his own trouble. His face was going white and I saw him struggling for breath, he was having a panic attack. I glanced down at his hands and saw that they were shaking. I needed to get him somewhere else before he had a total meltdown in the middle of the hallway.
I grabbed his hand in mine and yanked him towards the locker room. Lydia and Isaac watched us with big eyes, but neither of them followed. I pushed that to the back of my mind and focused on Stiles, he needed me.
He crashed into a row of lockers and sank to the floor as his breathing got faster. I had no idea what to do because I was trying so hard to not start freaking out along with him. I realized that I had to do something to get his mind off of things.
"Hey, you need to think about something else. Good things, happy things like friends and family," I said. Then I saw his face and instantly backtracked, "Okay, maybe not family.
"You need to breathe slower."
"Can't," he forced out, clutching his throat.
A thought crossed my mind that was so insane that I knew it might work. I took his face in my hands and said, "Stiles, look at me, okay?"
He forced his gaze up to me and I took a deep breath before bending down and connecting our lips. I'd dreamed a billion, trillion times about kissing Stiles, but this situation never crossed my mind. Not crouching down in the middle of the dirty, disgusting locker room that smelled like dirty socks and sweat.
I pushed that to the back of my mind and focused on kissing him. His lips were really soft and slowly and clumsily starting to move against mine. My stomach was literally in my throat and every other thought in my mind was gone completely. The only thing I could think about was Stiles and how we were finally kissing each other.
I reluctantly pulled away from him and opened my eyes to see something that I hope I never forgot. Stiles was looking at me with so much wonder and adoration in his eyes that my entire body filled up with warmth. I'd never seen anyone look at anyone like that before outside of Disney movies.
"How did you know to do that?" he whispered to me.
"Uhm, I think I've heard Lydia say that holding your breath can stop a panic attack. Whenever I kissed you, you held your breath," I explained, my voice as low and hushed as his was.
"That was really smart," he said, reaching out and rubbing his thumb over my cheekbone. "You're really smart."
"If I were really smart, I would tell you to make a couple appointments with the guidance counselor." I tried to laugh of his compliment, but I knew my cheeks were red.
His face quickly became serious again and he said, "I bet Morrell knows why Jennifer thought that Lydia knew something that she didn't. Why didn't we think about that before?"
He was up on his feet within a couple of seconds and dragging me behind him before I could even process what he'd said. We found Lydia at her locker, and I told her what we were doing as Stiles led us to Morrell's office. Well, I told her as much as I could with my head still spinning about my kiss with Stiles.
He slammed the door open and I saw a girl sitting in a chair in front of the desk. "Y'all gotta wait your turn, I've got some serious issues to work on."
"Hey, you're name's Danielle. You were friends with Heather, we met at her party," Stiles said suddenly, making me tense as he mentioned his dead friend.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talking to the counselor," she said with so much sass that it almost made me giggle. "I've been waiting for twenty minutes, and that's weird because Ms. Morrell is never late."
"She's right, whenever I was seeing her at the beginning of the year she was always on time," Lydia agreed.
"I bet she's not late, she's missing," Stiles concluded.
"I don't care if she's missing or late, I want to know what she knows," I said, walking over to her desk and searching through the drawers of it.
Stiles nodded and came over to help me. I saw a couple pictures, both of young kids, just sitting on her desk. It was a bit odd, but I just shrugged it off. Everything was odd in Beacon Hills.
"Uhm, Lydia, why do you always draw the same tree?" Stiles asked.
I raised an eyebrow as I turned around to look at what he was talking about. He had a manila folder in his hands with Lydia's name on the tab. He spread out all the sketches of the exact same tree that she'd drawn. When I saw exact, I literally mean it looked like she drew one and then traced the other perfectly.
"Oh wow, you definitely have more issues than I do. You can have my slot," Danielle said before standing up and walking out of the office.
I ignored her exit and focused back in on the tree. It looked weird, but I couldn't figure out why. "Hey, this looks weird. I don't think it's a tree."
Stiles seemed to understand what I was saying because he turned the paper over slowly. "That's because it's the roots instead of the branches."
"That's got to be the Nemeton!" I screeched suddenly. "That's where the Darach is keeping our parents! It had to be!"
We all looked up and seemed to lock eyes with each other. Then we ran out of the office and towards the front doors and Stiles' Jeep outside. We were almost there when I saw a face that I thought I'd never see again.
"Scarlet, you've grown up so much!" my dad said, his face completely changing whenever he saw me. "You look so much like you're mother."
He walked up to me and tried to touch my shoulder, but I stepped to the side before we touched. "Like you would know that. You haven't seen me in years. I hope there's another reason that you're talking to us, because if not you're going to be sorely disappointed."
My temper was flaring and it only got worse when I felt tears burning my eyes. He'd left me and now just expected me to let him back in like nothing happened. The only thing that helped me through it was Stiles' hand firmly grasped in mine.
"I'm actually here to talk to Stiles about his dad," he said, forcing himself to look over at Stiles. "We found his cruiser in the school parking lot and it's been there overnight. He's officially missing."
I squeeze his hand and moved closer to him, our shoulders would've been touching if he wasn't so much taller than me. Knowing that your father is missing and actually knowing that your father's officially missing was hard. I had to be here, we were each other's rocks.
Reluctantly, we both followed him into an empty classroom. Whatever he was saying was keeping us from finding our parents. He wasn't a good person, and I really didn't want to be around him any longer than I had to be. I actually think I'd rather spend time with Peter than him, and that's saying something because I can't stand Peter.
"Stiles, why am I getting the feeling you know something that could help us find your dad?" he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"If I did, why would I not tell you?" Stiles barked back.
"If it meant helping your dad, why wouldn't you?" he retorted back quickly.
"So you're asking me to tell you what I wouldn't not tell you?" Stiles asked, I realized that he was trying to convince him so he would stop asking questions. I'd seen him do it a billion times before.
"First, I have no idea what you just said," he said, then went on, "Second, how about you just help me help you?"
"Well, I don't know how to help you help me tell you something that would help you if I don't know it," Stiles said, his face completely calm as he confused him.
"Are you doing this on purpose, Stilinski?"
"He and I don't know anything, okay? Stop being an ass and go find the sheriff," I snapped, rubbing my thumb over Stiles' knuckles soothingly.
"Where are you all's other friends? And your brother?" he asked, realizing that both of us were done with his questioning.
"What friends are you talking about?"
"Scott, and Isaac Lahey, Allison Argent, and these twins: Ethan and Aiden," he said, reading off of his phone as he spoke. "I was told your all's whole little clique didn't show up to school today other than the two of you and Lydia Martin."
"We don't have a clique." Stiles and I actually spoke at the same time.
"Come on, you guys," frustration was clear in his voice. "There's been a pretty disturbing amount of violent activity in this county in the last few months, several murders tied to this school. I don't know what's going on here, but it's serious."
"We both know that, you don't have to remind us. We've been here and were actually in the school that night of the break in," I screamed at him. "Stop treating us like we're delinquents and go find Stiles' dad."
He was taken aback by my outburst but recovered quickly. "Stiles, do you have somewhere to stay tonight?"
"He's with me," someone said from behind Stiles and I.
I turned around and saw that Dr. Deaton was standing in the doorway. He had a habit of appearing out of nowhere and doing things that were odd. There was something about him that was familiar, but I couldn't figure out what it was. But then again, I had a lot of my mind and I could be going crazy. It's totally plausible.
Stiles followed behind Deaton in his Jeep, and the silence between us was almost painful. The kiss was something that I'd wanted for as long as I could remember, but maybe I'd misjudged his look. He was probably disgusted with me for kissing him but happy that he'd stopped having a panic attack.
When we pulled into the animal clinic, I saw Allison, Lydia, and Isaac standing outside waiting for us. I got out of the Jeep without looking at Stiles and walked up to them. Lydia automatically realized something was wrong and squeezed my arm before we all followed Deaton inside.
"We have to figure out where the Nemeton is. That's the only way we're going to save our parents," Allison said, looking at both Stiles and me.
"I has to be on a telluric current or at the convergence of the currents," Stiles supplied from his spot across the table from me. "What do you think, Scar?"
He was begging me with us eyes to say something. He seemed to be just as confused about what happened between us as I did. I shouldn't be so rash with him, we could figure this out together. I mean, after we figure everything else out and save our parents. Whatever.
"Maybe you're right," I agreed. Then I turned to Allison and asked, "What did Gerard say about it? Didn't you say that he'd been there before with your dad?"
"He claims that he can't remember where it is," she said, disbelieve coloring her voice.
"There might be a way to find the Nemeton, but we're going to need Scott to do it," Deaton said, drawing all of our attention over to him.
"I'll text him to meet us," I said, pulling out my phone. "If I say it'll help mom, he'll jump at the chance. I know my brother, his family and his pack are the most important things to him."
He texted me back surprisingly fast and our meet up spot was set. Deaton and Stiles both knew better than to try and get me to stay with the others so they didn't even suggest it.
The drive was short and as soon as I saw Scott, I ran full-force at him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs tightly around his waist as I inhaled his scent. I felt hysterical tears threatening to fall, I was so glad that he was okay!
"I'm so glad that you're safe! I love you, even if you are too noble for your own damn good," I whispered in his ear after he'd set me back down on my feet.
He smiled at me sheepishly and wrapped his arm tightly around my shoulder. He addressed all of us whenever he spoke, "None of the alphas know where the Nemeton is. I've already asked them."
"Are you going to tell them if we figure out where it is?" Stiles asked.
"I can't stop the Darach without them," Scott answered.
"What exactly is the plan here?" Scott asked after we'd returned to the clinic.
"Essentially, you, Allison, and Stiles are going to be surrogate sacrifices for your parents," Deaton explained clinically in a way that only he could.
"So we're going to die for them?" Stiles asked.
"But he can bring us back," Scott quickly said, catching my fearful glance.
"You can… you can can't you?" I asked, my throat tightening as what was happening finally set in.
''You remember the part where I said it was dangerous? If it goes right, the three of you will be dead for a few seconds, but there's something else you need to think about," Deaton explained further. "This is a dangerous thing for more reasons than one. You'll be giving power back to the Nemeton, a place that hasn't had power for a long time. This kind of power is like a magnet, it attracts the supernatural. The kind of things that a family like the Argents can fill a bestiary with. It will draw them here, like a beacon."
"That doesn't sound like anything worse than what we've already seen," Allison said, shrugging her shoulders.
"You're all about to die for a few seconds and you're shrugging?!" I said before I could stop myself. Then I turned to Scott, "I'm going instead of you. I have to go, you can't die. Without you, the alphas aren't going to help and everything's going to go crazy."
"No!" Stiles and Scott both told me. Scott continued, "There's no way in hell I'm letting you do this. If I had my way, I wouldn't let Stiles or Allison go either, but they have no choice. I do and I chose to go in your place. There's nothing you can do about it either, punk."
I tried to smile but I'm sure it was more of a wince. "I hate your ethics sometimes, but I know you're right."
"There's more that I haven't mentioned yet," Deaton said after Scott and I finished our sibling bonding. "Going under will have an effect on all three of you. You won't be able to see it, but you'll feel it every day for the rest of your lives. It'll be a kind of darkness around your heart, and permanent, like a scar."
"Like a tattoo," Scott said, absentmindedly rubbing his bicep.
Deaton led all of us over to three tubs full of water with white things floating in it. Whenever I looked closer, I could tell that they were mistletoe berries. I couldn't help but remember when we'd held Isaac underneath the water and how scary that was. I couldn't even imagine watching three of my best friends do it.
"Okay, you all have to have something that belongs to your parents. What did you bring?" Deaton asked.
"Um, I got my dad's badge," Stiles stuttered out, holding up the mangled star in his hand. "Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand, so I tried hammering it out… still doesn't look that great…"
"It doesn't need to look good as long as it's got meaning," Deaton said, smiling warmly at Stiles. "What about you two?"
"Is that an actual silver bullet?" Isaac asked Allison in shock.
"Yeah, my dad made it. It's kind of a ceremonial thing. Whenever one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the code," Allison explained, clutching the bullet in her hand tightly.
"Scott?"
I looked over at my brother and saw him holding up mom's Timex. "Dad got mom this watch when she was first hired at the hospital."
"She used to say that it was the only thing in their marriage that ever worked," I said, tears clouding my vision as I remembered her telling us that.
"Okay, the three of you can get into the tubs now," Deaton instructed. "Each of us will hold you down until you're essentially… Well, dead. But it's not just someone to hold you under, it needs to be someone who can pull you back. Someone that has a strong connection to you, a kind of emotional tether."
After he stopped talking, I made my way over to Scott. It only made sense that I was going to be his tether, I mean I was his twin sister.
"No, Scarlet, you need to go with Stiles," Deaton said, making me look over at him.
I raised an eyebrow at his directions, but I followed them nonetheless. I saw his face turning pink and I knew mine was matching more than likely. I walked over to him and wait for him to sit down before placing my hands on his shoulders. I looked over at Allison and saw that Isaac was holding onto her. I'm sure that that tore Scott to bits inside, but he was too nice to say anything.
"Scott, just in case you come back and I don't, you should know that your dad is in town," Stiles said, looking at Scott.
"Don't you dare say something like that! You're both going to come back and so is Allison and then we're going to get our parents. There aren't any more options," I said with a stomp of my foot.
"Regardless of that," Stiles said, standing up and taking my cheeks in his hands. "I want to do something just in case something does happen to me."
He pulled my mouth back to his and kissed me harshly. I forgot about Scott being less than two feet away, I forgot about all of our friends being around us, hell, I even forgot about our parents being missing. The only thing that I could think about was Stiles Stilinski and that was alright for that moment.
When he pulled back, the look from earlier was clear on his face. It was something that I would never forget, the wonder and adoration, it was the Stiles that I always wanted.
He sat back down in the tub and placed his hand over mine, giving it a squeeze, before dropping it back into the water. Deaton counted to three before Lydia, Isaac, and I pushed the others into the water. They all struggled and water splashed around for a couple of seconds before everything became too still.
They were dead.
Thaaaaaaaaaanks for reading :)