I hope you all enjoy this chapter! That's all I've got for now haha!
It was date night. Finally! Since Natalie had come back from Arizona, it had been hard to actually find the time to go out. The supernatural never sleeps apparently, but it seemed to be on a break tonight which Stiles and Natalie appreciated. So they decided to go back to that pizza restaurant they went to on their very first date back in the winter. They were even sitting at the same booth. It was actually pretty cute! Natalie also was starting to bum herself out when she started to think about how many more opportunities she and Stiles had left to have these kind of nights before she… you know.
Their waiter, who was probably in his twenties, scribbled down their order on his small notepad. "Alright, so that's a pitcher of Coke and a large pepperoni pizza. Did you guys want to try an order of Diablo wings for just-"
"No!" Stiles and Natalie shouted at the same time, suddenly remembering the traumatic experience they had with those god awful wings the first time.
When the waiter looked at them funny, Stiles cleared his throat. "No, that's okay. The pizza and drinks should be good."
"Alright," the waiter said as he collected Stiles and Natalie's menus, "I'll have that out for you in about fifteen minutes."
"Thanks," Natalie nodded. As soon as the waiter walked away, she and Stiles let out a deep breath.
"Man, good thing we dodged that bullet, huh?" her boyfriend chuckled.
"Yeah, no kidding," Natalie laughed as well. She played around with a packet of chili flakes on the tackle. "Hey, I have a question for you."
"Should I be concerned?" Stiles asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, it's actually one of those hypothetical questions."
For a moment there Natalie actually thought that Stiles was going to fall out of the booth, making her roll her eyes. He smirked at her.
"Wait a minute," he said, "You're asking me a scenario question for once? Have we entered an alternate universe or something?" He squeezed his eyes shut and crossed his fingers. "Please let me be buff. Please let me be buff."
The redhead threw the chili flake packet at his head. "Just let me ask the question, dumbass." Stiles waited for her to continue. "If the world was ending, and you had one last day left, what would you wanna do?"
"Oh, man, we're getting deep tonight," Stiles sighed, rubbing his hands together.
"That's what she said," Natalie said cheekily. Her boyfriend cocked up an eyebrow. "Sorry. Zach and I were watching The Office all day."
But Stiles just laughed it off. Then his face grew serious as he became deep in thought. It take him long to come up with an answer though as he stared at his beautiful girlfriend sitting across from him.
"That's easy. Spend it with you."
"Oh, come on," Natalie scoffed, "You're just buttering me up so you could get lucky tonight."
"Kinda," Stiles shrugged with a smile, "But really. If I knew the world was ending, I want to enjoy every last minute with you as I possibly can. Before I die, if I could just see your face looking at me, smiling even though the world was falling apart around us… I know that I lived a really good life."
Damn his ability to be as sweet as candy. That jerk. But he never failed to turn Natalie's heart in putty in his hands. And it just made her feel even more guilty for not telling Stiles about her illness yet. She'll get there though. All in good timing… as good as the timing could get, at least.
"I love you," Natalie said sincerely, "It's been a while since I've told you that. But I really do love you, Stiles."
"And I love you too, Natalie," he responded, grabbing her hand.
Not caring that they were in a busy restaurant where people could be watching them, Natalie leaned over the table and captured Stiles's lips in a kiss. She cradled his jaw as she continued to kiss him like it really was their last time. While it wasn't, Natalie knew it wasn't going to be long until they did have their last kiss. So that's why she was going to do her best to follow Melissa's advice- live every day like the world was going to end tomorrow.
Since lacrosse and baseball was during the spring season, the fall season consisted of cross-country, which was a coed sport. So that meant that Natalie was actually participating in a team with her boys despite doctor's advice. It was all a part of her 'end of her world' plan. As soon as she changed in her baseball jacket and leggings, she met with Scott, Stiles, and Zach in the boys locker room. Usually the team was for upperclassmen, but Natalie pestered Coach enough to allow Zach to join.
Anything to get the redhead to shut up.
While the boys got dressed, Scott was filling them in on what happened at the animal clinic the night before. One of the clients had disappeared after he got his dog checked out.
"I looked everywhere," Scott told them, "It's like he just walked away. Left his car, his dog."
"Okay," Stiles said as he put on his jacket, "Was he, like- could he have been a virgin maybe? Did he look like a virgin? Was he, you know, virginal?"
"No, definitely not," Scott shook his head, "Deaton makes me have sex with all of his clients. It's a new policy." He laughed at his best friends' deadpanned expressions.
"Glad that you can crack jokes at a time like this, Scotty," Natalie said, sarcasm dripping.
The teen wolf shrugged. "Nat, I don't know if he was a virgin. And why are you guys talking like he's already dead? He's just missing."
"Missing and presumed dead because he's probably a virgin, Scott," Stiles reminded him, "At least Nat and I are safe though." He held up his hand and his girlfriend high-fived him without looking.
Next to them Zach rolled his eyes. "Yeah, lucky for you guys. But you know who is a virgin? Me!"
"Dude, you're fourteen," Natalie said, "You're too young to be thinking about losing your virginity."
"Uh, not if it means that it could cost me my life!" Zach hissed at her, "Okay, I need to have sex, like, right now. Someone needs to have sex with me, like, today. Like, someone needs to sex me right now!"
Shutting his locker, Danny says from behind him, "Alright, I'll do it."
Zach let out a shout as he was not expecting that. "What?"
"Come to my place at 9:00," Danny told him, "Plan to stay the night. I like to cuddle."
When the youngest Henderson looked back at Scott, Stiles, and Natalie, the boys just shrugged their shoulders while his sister facepalmed. God, her boys were such morons. And Zach still wasn't catching on.
"Wow, Danny, that was so sweet," Zach said sincerely, "Are you kidding?"
"Yes, I'm kidding," Danny laughed. He patted the younger teen's shoulder and walked away.
"Hey, you don't toy with a guy's emotions like that, okay?" Zach called after him, "That's not hot at all!"
"It's okay, dude," Stiles chuckled, grabbing Zach's shoulders, "One day you'll find your Prince Charming."
"Ugh, I hate all of you!" the boy pouted, making the trio laugh.
Isaac soon walked into the locker room after that, face looking a little red. Judging from the way he was also a little out of breath, the trio could assume that he was with Delilah beforehand doing God knows what. Probably something not school friendly. That just made Zach grumble even more about how he was going to die alone.
"Mr. Lahey, happy to have you back," Coach told the beta, "Not happy that you're late. You can save your horn dog moments with Miss Lambert for later."
"Sorry, Coach," Isaac mumbled as he rushed to his locker.
"I'll remind you all, cross-country is not optional for lacrosse players," Coach announced to the whole room, "I don't need you turning into a bunch of fatasses in the off-season." When he turned his head, he saw Isaac and Danny with their shirts off, displaying their washboard abs. Coach cleared his throat. "So work on that."
Natalie laughed. "Man, don't you wish you could go back in time before you had the beer belly and started aging like milk, Coach?"
"Shut it, Henderson!"
Everyone had headed to the trails at the preserve so they could do a warm up run. Natalie was actually feeling a little nervous. She wanted to do this, but she wasn't able to train while being treated in Arizona so this was going to be her first source of physical activity (besides doing the horizontal tango with Stiles) since baseball season. There was no telling how this was going to go for the redhead. As long as Natalie didn't faint in front of everyone, she would consider anything to be a success. So she just stretched at the starting point and hoped for the best.
To her left was Stiles who was jogging in place to get his adrenaline pumping. He looked down at Natalie as she grabbed her ankles. He nudged her leg with his foot.
"Wanna race, Henderson?" he challenged, "Whoever gets back to Coach first gets to plan an entire date night. No complaints from the loser."
His girlfriend scoffed. "That's quite a ballsy challenge coming from you. You sure you're up for it?"
"Oh, yeah," Stiles said cockily, "I've been running with Scott and Rocky all summer and let's just say I finish now at five seconds ahead of Rocky."
"Wow, that's your personal best, babe," Natalie said, somewhat genuinely impressed. She stood up straight. "Alright. I just hope you're ready to watch all five of the Twilight movies from start to finish with-" she pointed to herself, "commentary included."
Oh no.
"I thought you hated those movies."
"But you hate them more."
Stiles was suddenly regretting this challenge but he refused to let Natalie see him deflate. "Fine. It's on."
"Let's do it, Stilinski," Natalie said, shaking his hand.
Then Coach blew his whistle and everyone started jogging while Stiles and Natalie were full on sprinting. Even he was getting ahead of everyone else. All of that training with Scott really did pay off. Score for Stiles.
As for Natalie, it was no surprise that she was the front runner of her race with her boyfriend. At first she started off really strong, running like she was a track star. However it didn't take long for her head to start pounding and lungs burning. She was struggling to breathe and even became lightheaded. Natalie had to stop. Even she wasn't too stupid enough to continue to the point where she had to be carried off in an ambulance in front of everyone.
Coming to a halt, Natalie placed her hands on her knees and tried to regulate her breathing pattern. Stiles had run past her, cheering to himself when he realized he was now in first place. But then he quickly noticed that Natalie wasn't looking so good so he jogged back over to her and placed his hand on her back.
"Whoa, whoa," he said hurriedly, shocked because he had never seen her so out of breath before, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm cool," Natalie wheezed.
She pulled the inhaler the doctor prescribed to her before she left Phoenix. After she shook it up a couple times, she brought it up to her mouth and took a puff from it. It did help a little. The whole time though Stiles was staring at her with scrunched up eyebrows.
"Is that an inhaler?" he asked.
"No." Natalie chucked the object in the nearest bush. "I don't know what you're talking about."
But she couldn't fool Stiles. He reached into the bush and picked up the inhaler. "Why do you have this? You've never needed an inhaler before."
"Uh…" Crap. How was Natalie going to get herself out of this?! Think, girl, think! "It's for my… allergies."
"You don't have any allergies," Stiles reminded her.
"I developed some in Phoenix," Natalie lied, snatching the inhaler out of her boyfriend's hand, "It's that desert wind. That shit gets to you."
None of that seemed to convince him in the slightest. But he didn't have the time to ask Natalie anything more because they suddenly heard a girl screaming. The couple looked at each other and ran off towards the direction of the sound.
When they reached the bottom of the hill with the rest of their classmates, they saw a boy that was a year older than them dead and tied to a tree. His throat was slit, his head was bashed in, and he looked to have been strangled. Just like the kid from the pool.
The threefold death.
"It's him, isn't it?" Stiles asked Scott, who had joined him and Natalie with Isaac and Delilah.
The police had shown up shortly afterwards. Noah and Kurt ran to the body and tried to clear everyone away from the horrific scene.
"Hey, get out of the way," Noah said as he pushed his way past the teenagers, "Get back." He turned to his partner. "Get this area cordoned off before they trample every piece of evidence."
"Back up!" Kurt barked, holding his hands up, "Everyone back!"
"Get these kids out of here!" Noah ordered.
"Dad! Noah!" Natalie called out to the officers, "Come here for a second."
Stiles grabbed his dad's shoulder as he and Natalie led him and Noah to the body. He pointed to the injuries. "Look, look. Look at it. It's the same as the others, you see?"
"Yeah, we see it," Kurt sighed.
"Do us a favor and go back to school, okay?" Noah asked. Stiles and Natalie's faces fell. They couldn't believe that their dads really weren't going acknowledge this coincidence even further. Noah turned to Coach. "Coach, can you give us a hand here?"
"You heard the man," Coach announced to his team, "Nothing to see here. Probably just some homeless kid."
"Coach," Scott addressed.
"Yeah?"
"He was a senior."
"Oh." Coach rubbed his face. "He wasn't on the team, was he?"
Was this man for real? Natalie gawked at him. "How are you even allowed to teach at this school?!"
Another girl screamed. This time it was a blonde girl who looked to be a senior as well. She tried to run to the body but Kurt held her back. Must be the boy's girlfriend. Poor thing.
"Kyle!" she cried, "Oh god, Kyle! Oh god!"
The team was shooed off and ordered to go back to the school. As they trio started to walk away, both Stiles and Natalie took note of the confused look on Aiden and Ethan's faces. It was strange. But it only proved the couple's theory even further that this wasn't a werewolf thing.
Isaac seemed to disagree.
"You see the way the twins looked at him?" he asked as he, Delilah, Scott, Stiles, and Natalie walked down the hill.
"What, like they had no idea what happened?" Natalie asked.
"No, no," Isaac said as he looked back at the twins, "they knew."
"The kid was strangled with a garrote, alright?" Stiles pointed out, "Are Natalie and I the only ones recognizing the lack of 'werewolfitude' in these murders?"
"Oh, you think it's a coincidence they turn up and then people start dying?"
"Well, no, but I still don't think it's them."
All five of them stopped walking and both couples looked over at Scott, who seemed to be the middle man in this situation.
"Scott?" Isaac asked, "How 'bout you?"
Sighing, the teen wolf said, "I don't know yet."
"You don't know yet," Natalie repeated, crossing her arms, "You gotta be kidding me."
"Well, he's got a point." Scott's best friends rolled their eyes. "Seriously, guys, human sacrifices?"
"Scott, your eyes turn into yellow glow sticks, okay?" Stiles reminded him, "Hair literally grows from your cheeks and then will immediately disappear, and if I were to stab you right now, it would just magically heal, but you're telling me that you're having trouble grasping human sacrifices?"
"Yeah, I think we've established a long time ago that the impossible is in fact very possible," Natalie added, flailing her arms.
Scott sighed as he turned to Isaac. "That's a good point too."
"I don't care, alright?" Isaac said, "They killed that kid. They killed the couple that saved Delilah and me." He started to walk away. "And I'm gonna kill them too."
Letting out a low whistle, Stiles said to Delilah, "Your boyfriend really needs to take some anger management classes."
They expected the hybrid to say something back, but she didn't even seem to be paying attention to them. Instead, her eyes were on the twins, who also were staring back at her. In their eyes they were ready to hunt for the kill. And Delilah was definitely looking fearful.
"Delilah?" Scott said, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Hm?" The girl finally turned to the trio. "Oh. Sorry." She pointed towards the direction her boyfriend went. "I'm- I'm gonna go check on Isaac. I'll see you guys back at the school." Then she ran off.
The trio watched her and then looked back at the twins. They were still watching after her too.
"What could an alpha pack possibly want with her?" Scott asked himself out loud.
"All I know is that this looks like a lion stalking after their prey," Natalie said, "From the looks of it, Delilah's definitely the prey."
Whenever Stiles came up with some idiotic plan, which he always did, Natalie really does try her hardest to not be involved in that plan. Yet somehow, she gets roped in. Like right now.
Their eyes peeked through the office window. Both of their dads were talking quietly with Kyle's girlfriend, Ashley. The girl was crying, still traumatized over finding her boyfriend not only dead, but murdered. It would be enough to traumatize anyone, quite frankly. Kurt led Ashley out of the office, making Stiles and Natalie turn around and try to act 'natural'.
"Wait right here," Kurt told Ashley before going back inside.
That was Stiles and Natalie's cue to go over to the girl.
"Hey," the redhead greeted, making the girl jump, "It's Ashley, right?" She nodded.
"Hi," Stiles said, "Can we talk to you just for one sec?" Not waiting for an answer, Natalie pulled on Ashley's arm to lead her towards an area no one else could hear. "Sorry. We just need to ask you something really quick, and it's gonna sound really unbelievably insensitive, so we apologize in advance." He nudged Natalie's arm.
"Oh, you're going to make me do it?" she exhaled. Stiles gave her a look that said to get on with it. "Fine. Uh, how do I put this… was Kyle, perhaps, a virgin?"
"What?" Ashley asked incredulously.
"Your boyfriend," Stiles specified, "was he a virgin, or did you guys... You know what I mean..."
Suddenly Ashley slapped him and then Natalie across the face, stunning the both of them.
"Jesus!" Natalie cried out as she held her throbbing cheek.
"Oh my god," she heard her dad say before coming to take Ashley away, "Are you guys insane? Come on, Ashley, let's get you out of here."
Before they could walk away, the girl made sure to tell the couple, "No. He wasn't a virgin."
Stiles grunted as he rubbed his own cheek. "We could have worded that differently."
"You think?!" Natalie exclaimed.
"Have you two completely lost your minds?" Noah scolded when he came up to them, "We've got four murders, Stiles and Natalie." He pointed at the office window. "You see those men in there? That's the FBI. They're pulling together a task force to help because it looks like we've got a full-blown serial killer on our hands. You guys get that?"
"Yes, Dad, I get that," Stiles said.
"Sorry, Noah," Natalie apologized.
"Then what are you guys doing?" Noah hissed.
Sighing, Stiles told his dad, "We're trying to find a pattern."
During lunch, the couple stopped by Kyle's locker to pay their respects. Students had already laid bundles of flowers on the floor and placed pictures on and signed the paper covering the locker. Is this what Natalie's locker was going to look like when she passes away? Did she want all of these people mourning her?
Honestly, she didn't think she wanted anyone to make a big deal of her death. She didn't even want a funeral. Maybe just a private service with Stiles, Scott, their parents, her own parents and Zach. While Natalie did have a good amount of friends and was beloved by a lot of people at the school, she only wanted to be surrounded by those who have stuck with her through her best and worst times. Those were the ones that really mattered. Those were the ones she hoped to have made a big impact on their lives.
"Man, poor guy," Stiles sighed, "He was so young. All of those who have died so far were. It's sad, isn't it?"
"Uh, oh, yeah," Natalie agreed, gulping nervously, "It's all just… really, really sad."
Just as he was about to comment on her weird behavior, Boyd had reached in front of them and clipped on an Air Force ROTC patch. He went to walk away but Stiles stopped him.
"Whoa. Hey, Boyd! I didn't know you were back at school."
"Yeah, I would have told you, but we're not actually friends," Boyd told them.
"Ouch," Natalie cringed, "I'm just gonna ignore that. Anyway, how did you know Kyle?"
"We were in the junior ROTC together," Boyd explained.
"So you two were friends then," Stiles said.
"I only had one friend. She's dead too."
As Boyd walked away, Stiles cleared his throat. "Well, this day just keeps getting more and more depressing."
"I'll say," Natalie said, "I still don't get it. There's definitely a pattern to this whole thing. But if Kyle wasn't a virgin, then where the hell does he fit into all of this?"
"Well-" Stiles wrapped his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders as they walked down the hall, "that's what we're gonna find out, pretty lady. To the library!"
They spent the rest of their time during lunch period doing research on anything related to what was happening whether it was about human sacrifices, the threefold death, and different sorts of patterns. What they did find was all sorts of fascinating and very disturbing. But! It was all one step closer to getting behind what was actually happening in this town. So Natalie printed out literally every page they looked up and then they ran out of the library.
Since Scott was dealing with other werewolf problems, Stiles and Natalie went to spill the tea to the only other person that is somewhat involved in discovering dead people- Lydia. The couple found her walking outside with Zach. Okay, since when did those two start becoming best buddies?!
Not important. What was important was getting to the bottom of this.
"Look at this, Lyds," Natalie said as she showed her friend one of the papers she printed out, "Did you know that in Calcutta there was this temple where they used to sacrifice a child every day?"
"That's every day a dead baby, you guys, every day!" Stiles exclaimed, "Hey, you want to know what today is? It's dead baby day. Oh, no, wait, that's every day, because every day is dead baby day, yay!"
However Lydia wasn't looking so impressed. She handed Natalie back the paper. "Why are you guys telling me this?"
"Because Scott's dealing with the alpha twins," Stiles answered.
"Lyds, do you really not know about the twins?" Natalie asked when she saw the confused look on her friend's face.
This made the strawberry blonde stop in her tracks. "Alphas?"
"Yeah, Ethan and Aiden," Zach clarified.
"Oh, yeah," Lydia said, "Yeah, I knew about them."
Liar.
"Well anyway," Natalie said, "Here's what we came up with- we think that there is a pattern here. The murders are coming in threes."
"Yeah, because ancient people love threes, right?" Stiles added, "So maybe first it's three virgins, and then, I don't know, maybe it's three people who own little dogs."
"I own a little dog," Lydia said. Stiles smiled knowingly at her. "I am not getting rid of my dog!"
"Would you just think about getting rid of your little dog?"
"No."
Then Stiles turned to Natalie. She crossed her arms. "I am not getting rid of Rocky!"
"Not even for the greater good?" her boyfriend asked.
"How about I get rid of you for the greater good?" Natalie threatened.
"Uh, no, thank you," Stiles said, cowering a bit.
"And by the way," Lydia spoke up, making the couple turn their attention back to her, "you guys cannot discern a pattern by a single data point, so stop trying."
"I mean, you gotta admit that these actually sound like pretty legit theories," Zach told her.
"Of course you'd agree," Lydia scoffed.
"Okay, so what, we're just supposed to wait around for someone else to die, then?" Natalie asked, "We're just supposed to sit there and watch them die? Just wait for them to wither up and die right in front of us?"
Zach raised an eyebrow. "Wither? Really?"
"You know what she means," Stiles said, flailing his arms, "Die, in just a hideously awful, strangulating, head-bashing, throat-cutting kind of way."
"Maybe it's not your job," Lydia told them after a moment of silence, "You guys said it yourselves, they were strangled with a garrote. That's a human thing to do, so... maybe just leave the figuring it out part to someone human."
Stiles frowned. "You mean someone like our dads?"
"No, I mean your dads." Lydia walked away. "The sheriff and his right hand man!"
The bell rang, but the couple and Zach stayed put. Natalie leaned against the locker next her and massaged her temple.
"We're not gonna stop, are we?" she asked her boyfriend.
"Hell no," Stiles told her, "But we are gonna need some help. Lydia said we should leave this for someone human? Well, maybe we should go to someone human." The redhead bit her bottom lip in excitement as she realized who he was referring to.
"I don't get it," Zach said, clueless as ever.
His sister rolled her eyes. "Just go to class, freshie." She pushed Zach forward. He just sighed and walked away while Stiles and Natalie started to head for the school parking lot.
The couple ended up at the animal clinic, the sound of dogs barking automatically filling the air. Right away they spotted Deaton. He smiled at them.
"You guys are out of school early," he said.
"Yeah, we actually had a free period," Natalie told him, "We were just heading home to go see our dads."
"You know, I guess you probably heard people are kind of getting murdered again," Stiles said, "It's their jobs to figure it out."
Deaton nodded. "I gathered as much from the sheriff title and your dads being work partners."
Duh.
"Yeah, um... you know, but it gets kind of hard for them to do their jobs when they doesn't have all the information," Stiles continued, "And we all know they're missing pretty much half the story here, right? So then I started thinking, and I remembered someone who does have a lot of information. Someone who always seems to know more than anyone else around here."
"That- that's you, in case you were wondering," Natalie said, scratching her neck.
They then began going over their research with Deaton as they followed him into his office. Natalie pointed to one paler that she had bookmarked earlier.
"See these pictures right here?" she asked the veterinarian, who wasn't even looking, "All of these symbols like the triskeles, the bank logo, the mountain ash- they all come from Celtic Druids."
Stiles nodded. "And anyone who has ever looked up human sacrifice before knows that the druids had a pretty big hard-on when it came to giving one up to the gods. You ever hear of the Lindow Man? 2,000-year-old body found in England? He was found strangled, head bashed in, throat cut."
"The threefold death," Natalie clarified, "Just like every single one of these murders."
"They also found pollen grains in his stomach. Guess what favorite druid plant that was."
While they had been talking, Deaton was already pulling out a plant from one of his many jars laid out of the table. He held the plant up to show Stiles and Natalie.
"Mistletoe."
Oh. Both of the teenagers deadpanned.
"We're just telling you everything you already know, aren't we?" Stiles asked.
"Then why aren't you telling us?" Natalie demanded.
"Maybe because when you've spent every moment of the last ten years trying to push something away," Deaton said, "Denying it. Lying about it. Becomes a pretty powerful habit."
After exhaling, Stiles asked, "Alright, so this guy… is he a Druid?"
Deaton shook his head. "No. It's someone copying a centuries-old practice of a people who should have known better. Do either of you know what the word 'Druid' means in Gaelic?"
"No."
"'Wise oak'. The Celtic Druids were close to nature. They believed they kept it in balance. They were philosophers and scholars. They weren't serial killers."
"Well, this one is," Natalie said. Her phone suddenly rang and she pulled it out of her pocket. She sighed when she saw Lydia's name but she answered anyway. "Hey, Lyds, now's not really a good time."
"We have another missing person," Lydia said, voice trembling.
Natalie's eyebrows furrowed. "What? Who?"
"The music teacher," Lydia answered.
"And you're absolutely sure he's missing?" Natalie asked. Stiles and Deaton perked up at hearing this.
"Not just missing. Taken."
The veterinarian followed Stiles and Natalie back to the school so they could take a look at what Lydia found. They found her and Zach in the music room. Right away, she showed Deaton the phone she found on top of the piano. She had them listen to an audio that first started off as keys of the piano. Pretty normal. Until the creepy chanting started. It sounded like some satanic cult or something.
"Can we get a copy of this?" Deaton asked Lydia. She took the phone back so she could send the file to Natalie.
Speaking of, she and Stiles were going through the music teacher's desk in search of clues. "Yo, Deaton. Would you mind giving us a hand here?"
"Each grouping of three would have its own purpose," Deaton said instead, "its own type of power. Virgins, healers, philosophers, warriors..."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Warrior, could that also be like a soldier?" Stiles asked.
"Absolutely."
Stiles held up the picture he found in one of the drawers. It was of the music teacher on his wedding day with his wife. He was dressed in full military uniform.
"Kyle was in the ROTC with Boyd," Stiles said.
"That's it!" Natalie exclaimed, snapping her fingers, "That's the pattern!"
"Where's Boyd?" Deaton asked.
"He's probably home by now," Stiles replied, already whipping out his phone, "I'm gonna try and get him on the phone." He walked off to the other side of the room.
"Lydia?" Deaton questioned when he saw the distant look said girl was giving, "Something wrong?"
She shook her head. "No, it was... I mean... I just thought of someone else with a military connection."
"Who?" Zach asked.
"Harris."
Ah, great.
The five of them rushed to Mr. Harris's classroom. Normally he stayed behind after school, grading papers or coming up with the lesson plan for the next day. But he was nowhere to be found. Deaton picked up the plaque that was on Mr. Harris's desk and read it to himself.
"A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do."
"Shit, he's dead already," Natalie groaned.
"This is just one of many possibilities," Deaton told her, "He could have simply left for the day."
"Yeah, well, not without this," Stiles said, holding up his teacher's bag.
Meanwhile Lydia and Zach were looking down at the graded papers on the desk. They looked at each other, confused on what was on the papers.
Deaton noticed their expressions. "What?"
"This test is graded 'R'," Zach said. He held up the paper in his hand that did indeed have a big red 'R' on top.
Lydia showed them the paper she was holding. "This one's an 'H'."
After taking the papers, Deaton started arranging the other tests that were laid on the desk. He sighed, clearly looking alarmed by what he had just figured out.
"Stiles, Natalie," he said to them, "you both remember I told you 'Druid' is the Gaelic word for 'wise oak'?"
"Yeah," Stiles said, nodding with his girlfriend.
"If a Druid went down the wrong path, the wise oak was sometimes said to have become a dark oak. There's a Gaelic word for that as well... Darach."
All of them looked down at the papers, the red letters spelling out the word 'Darach'.
At the Henderson household that night, Natalie was doing a little multitasking in her bedroom. On her laptop, she was trying to do some research on this so-called 'Darach', which was of course information was hard to find because according to the internet, the supernatural was bullshit. So to help keep her mind off it it when she needed to, she decided to start a scrapbook. Her mom had already made a bunch of scrapbooks for the family, but Natalie wanted her own.
This scrapbook was all about her life over sixteen years. She had most of the pictures she wanted to use printed out but she still needed to decorate and add her own 'Natalie flair' to it. Plus she figured she would gather more pictures over the next few months so she could have everything from the beginning to the end of her life. And once her scrapbook was completed, she was planning on giving it to Stiles as a parting gift or something like that. Just so he would have something to remember her by.
While Natalie was working on the page where her baseball team won the championship before the end of sophomore year, Terri knocked on her door. She smiled at her daughter.
"Hi."
"Hey," Natalie smiled back, closing her laptop so her mom wouldn't see what was on the screen.
"What are you doing?" Terri asked. She sat next to Natalie on her bed.
"Just working on a little gift for Stiles. So even after I die, he'll still remember how awesome I was."
Terri rolled her eyes. "It will never not concern me how casually you talk about all of this."
"I guess it's just easier for me to make light of a situation that I have no control over," Natalie shrugged, "Basically it's a 'when life gives you lemons' sort of thing."
"I see."
Looking down, Terri saw a photo where the redhead was holding the championship trophy with a huge smile on her face. That day was just so amazing. Leading her team to victory as a sophomore on the varsity team was one of the biggest accomplishments Natalie had ever achieved. Besides the week she spent watching the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies in chronological order with no breaks in between. She won so much money that week thanks to the bet she made with Scott and Stiles. They never do learn.
Terri leaned back on the pillows on her daughter's bed. "So I never asked how your cross-country practice went today."
"Before or after we found a dead kid?" Natalie asked.
"Uh, before," Terri specified with furrowed eyebrows.
"Well the answer's still the same," Natalie shrugged, "Not great. I didn't even get through a mile without having to break out the inhaler. It was embarrassing."
Her mother sighed. "Are you sure you want to keep going through it, Natalie? No one would think less of you if you quit."
"I would. I don't want to look weak."
"You're not weak, Natalie," Terri told her, "You're sick."
"Sickness equals weakness." Natalie shut her scrapbook and cuddled up next her mother. Terri smoothed down her daughter's thinning hair. "Cancer sucks."
"It really does, honey… it really does."
Poor Natalie, that girl is definitely struggling. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! PLEASE leave a review and let me know what you think! Also be sure to read and review my other two stories in the saga, Scars and No One Else. I'll be sure to update soon! Xoxo, Maddie