I know that I thank you guys at the beginning of every chapter but I sincerely hope that you know how much it means to me. I never thought that I would get this far and it's all thanks to you: the people that read, review, follow, and favorite this story. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
The dinner scene in this chapter was inspired by a wonderful gif set that the lovely Alice ('allybz' on here, 'lydamartin' on Tumblr) made for me. You can check it out on Tumblr.
The poll for whether or not Marlee should remain human or become supernatural is still up on my profile, so if you haven't voted yet- what are you waiting for?
As usual, you can find me on Polyvore ('earthdiva') and on Tumblr ('missunderstoodxoxo'); you can also check out the Marlee Decker tag on Tumblr.
Inspiration for this chapter: "Strangers in Love" by Parisian (they're not in love yet but they really do like each other), "Back in Black" by AC/DC, "If You Ever Want to Be in Love" by James Bay, "Start of Time" by Gabrielle Aplin (the Stydia locker room song- if I was going to have a locker room scene, I needed to listen to that), and "Running Up That Hill" by Placebo
Disclaimer: I own the Decker/Keating clan, Amy Shriner, and the car known as Ron Burgundy. Everything else belongs to the rightful owners.
On Sunday afternoon, Scott McCall's dirt bike pulled into the Deckers' driveway. Removing his helmet, he stared at the home for a moment, lost in thought. The past couple of days had been full of grief and frustration but today, he was feeling more upbeat. Scott knew that it had to do with the girl who lived in this house, the girl who always seemed to come to mind lately. If someone had told him a couple of months ago that he would be interested to someone other than Allison at this point in time, he would have thought that they were crazy. But now? Now he couldn't stop his heart from picking up the pace whenever he saw Marlee or the smile that would spread across his face whenever he received a text from her. (Stiles had mock-complained the other day that he was going to have to start wearing sunglasses around Scott with all of the beaming the beta was doing.)
"You just going to sit there or what?"
Scott's attention was brought to the girl standing on her porch, the front door open behind her.
"Come on, McCall. I need all the help I can get with this physics shit!"
A grin appeared on the young man's face as he dismounted his bike. He made his way to the house and up the front steps, helmet under his arm.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a little impatient?" He teased.
Marlee smirked at Scott as she replied, "Only about half a million times or so."
"So, Scott, how did you meet my lovely daughter? I mean, I already know, but I'd like your version."
After a bit of studying, Virginia called the two teenagers downstairs for dinner. After she had spent her usual amount of time fawning over her daughter's potential love interest (so she hoped), she had informed them that she would be going into work soon. Though it was a Sunday, she had to be in court the next morning and wanted to go over the evidence one last time. Due to the case being centered around some potentially unapproved firearms, Chris Argent had offered his expertise to help identify the dangers of some of the more difficult ones. The two of them would be meeting at her office in an hour or two.
Scott was speechless for a moment, his mouth hanging open slightly as he tried to think of what to say. Marlee looked thoroughly amused with the situation, waiting to see how he would answer the question.
"I, uh, I kind of pushed her down and ran away." He smiled sheepishly before turning to look at the girl sitting across from him.
Marlee looked intently at him, finding his humility sweet, before objecting, "He's just being modest, Mom. He saved my life…"
Her eyes never left Scott's as she spoke, popping a piece of her dinner into her mouth after she finished her sentence.
Scott gazed at the blonde as he replied, softly, "Yeah, I guess I did."
Marlee smiled back, a quiet chuckle shaking her shoulders.
"Okay, what am I missing here? How did you save her life?" Virginia's voice broke through the tender moment between the two.
"Well, Mother dearest," Marlee focused her attention on the woman staring at her, curiously. "While Scott and I were formerly introduced at school, that wasn't the first time we had met. I may or may not have accidentally stepped out into the street and almost got hit by a car- and Scott may or may not have pushed me out of the way."
"Oh my God!" The matriarch's fork and knife clattered onto her plate as she stared at her daughter in horror. "Why didn't you tell me?"
The younger blonde tried to downplay her words by shrugging, nonchalantly. "It was the day before school started and you were already stressed out enough. I didn't want to add to that."
"That doesn't mean you keep the fact that you were almost killed a secret!"
"It happened weeks ago. I'm fine. Superman over here saved the day. We're all good now."
Letting out a frustrated huff, Virginia turned to Scott. Her expression softened as she spoke to him. "Thank you, Scott, for saving my difficult child."
"You're welcome."
"Now, if we're past that-"
"We will be discussing this again at a later time, young lady!"
"As I was saying before being so rudely interrupted, if we're past that, I was wondering if Scott here would be so kind as to teach us a little more about lacrosse." The young woman turned her head and smiled at her friend. "We know the basics of the sport but it would be nice to know the finer details so we don't look like total noobs at matches in a few months."
The rest of dinner was spent talking about lacrosse and discussing upcoming projects in classes. Throughout the meal, Virginia observed Marlee and Scott's interactions. She wondered if her daughter noticed the way Scott's eyes lit up whenever she smiled or if he noticed the way that the times when Marlee really smiled were when she would meet his gaze. As a mother, her heart swelled at the sight. It was everything that she could have hoped for her child, especially after everything they had been through. From the looks of it, Scott had needed Marlee to bring a little light into his life as well. She knew that whatever was going on between those two wasn't love- at least, not yet… but it was something good.
"Marlee, you know this. I know that you know this."
A couple of hours after dinner, after Virginia had left for the office, the two high schoolers were lounging on Marlee's bed. Their textbooks and notebooks were spread out in front of them, information swimming across the pages. Edgar was currently hiding out in his room down the hall, avoiding Scott. (Whether it was because of the werewolf thing or the fact that Edgar was just a grumpy asshole, neither of them were really sure of the answer.)
"What makes you think that I know the answer? My brain is Swiss cheese right now; it's slowly deteriorating from all of this."
"Because you're smarter than you think and it's something that you need to have down- we have our first Physics test soon."
"Which I still think is stupid because our teacher is dead."
"If you get this right, we'll take a break." He attempted to compromise.
"What don't you understand about the words coming out of my mouth? There are too many fucking equations and there's no way I'm going to remember that the formula for kinetic energy is 'one-half multiplied by mass and multiplied by velocity to the second power'!"
"Marlee, you did it!" Scott exclaimed with a grin.
The blonde's eyes widened as she realized that she, in fact, had remembered the correct answer. Around the time she entered middle school, equations and formulas had become the educational bane of her existence. Fractions were one thing but then they threw in 'powers' and 'square roots'. Math and science were subjects that she had learned to thoroughly dread because of the difficulty she had with them.
With a brief shriek of excitement, she threw her arms around Scott, who started to laugh at the girl's elation. The feeling of happiness that was occurring over such a simple thing was intoxicating.
"You're the best, you know that?" Marlee said as she released him and pulled away.
Scott shrugged and modestly replied, "I try."
"Oh my God, why can't you ever take a compliment? In case I haven't already said this before, you should know that you're seriously one of the best people I have ever met in my entire life."
She wasn't sure why she was speaking so freely but it felt good. It had been a while since she had been able to open up to others without a second thought. Almost all of her inhibitions seemed to fall away around her friends, especially around the boy sitting with her- the same boy who was currently gazing at her in wonder and starting to lean closer.
"Scott…" she whispered.
Marlee didn't know why she wasn't moving away from him; she certainly didn't know why she seemed to be slowly leaning towards him as well, head slightly tilting to the side. She wasn't attracted to Scott McCall. She couldn't be attracted to Scott McCall. Someone like him wasn't meant to be with a fuckup like her. Yet, as she internally panicked with alarm bells going off in her mind, her eyes began to flutter shut...
The ringing of a cell phone made the two teenagers jolt away from each other. The screen of Scott's phone informed them that Stiles was calling. Marlee let out a quiet sigh of relief as the beta answered the call.
"Stiles?... Is she sure?... Alright, all of us will meet up there... Yeah, I'm still at her house. We'll take my bike... See you in a few."
The young man sighed as he raked a hand through his hair.
"Stiles says that Lydia is getting that feeling again."
"The 'corpse compass' feeling?"
"Yeah. She's headed towards the school."
Marlee gave a short, incredulous laugh before joking, dryly, "At this rate, I'm never going to pass Physics."
It seemed as if the pair had fallen into a routine. The process of hopping on Scott's bike and shooting off down the road had become effortless.
The two of them came to a stop outside of the school just as Stiles pulled up behind them.
"Where is she?" The pale boy asked.
"Over here." Allison called out.
The five teenagers quickly converged, anxious and on guard.
"Lydia?"
"It's the same thing. Same thing as the pool. I got into the car heading somewhere totally different, and ended up here. And- you told me to call you if there's a dead body."
"Wh- you found a dead body?"
"Not yet."
"'Not yet'? What do you mean 'not yet'? Lydia, you're supposed to call us after you find the dead body."
"Oh, no, I'm not doing that again." Lydia held a finger up. "You find the dead body from now on."
"How are we supposed to find the dead body? You're always the one finding the dead body."
Marlee observed her friends with a hint of amusement and disbelief.
The fact that this conversation is considered normal for us should probably seem a little bit more disturbing.
"Guys!" Her attention shifted to Scott, who had stepped away from the four of them. "I found the dead body."
Laying on top of the Beacon Hills High School sign, a river of blood marring the stone, was the corpse of a woman. As the group of teens moved closer to investigate, Marlee noticed the dark eyes were open, staring off into nothingness.
"Tara." She heard Stiles breathe out.
"You know her?" Marlee turned to look at the stricken young man.
"She's- well, she was one of my dad's deputies." His voice was becoming thicker with emotion. "I've gotta- I've gotta call him."
Stiles' friends watched as he fumbled in his pocket before pulling out his cellphone. Tapping the call button, he shakily raised the phone to his ear.
"H-hey, Dad. I'm at the school a-and there- there's been…" Stiles couldn't seem to form the right words as he kept his gaze on the body of the deputy, a woman he had known for a number of years who had always been so nice to him.
Seeing that he wasn't going to be able to get through this conversation without breaking down, Marlee stepped over to stand next to Stiles; she gently took the device out of his hand before raising it to her own ear.
"Sheriff Stilinski?"
"Yes, who is this? Is my son okay?"
"Sheriff, this is Marlee Decker. We're currently at the school, as Danny Mahealani mentioned the band was practicing for the recital tomorrow and wanted our opinion. There's been another murder."
"Alright. Stay where you are but be alert. Keep an eye out for any suspicious activity and have Stiles call me if you notice anything out of the ordinary. I'll be there with a couple of squad cars soon."
"Of course. And Sheriff? I… Stiles recognized the body as one of your deputies, Tara. I'm so sorry."
There was only silence for a moment before the man responded quietly, "Okay. Thank you."
The two hung up before Marlee turned to look at her friends. Stiles was working to keep himself composed as Scott laid a hand on his best friend's shoulder. Lydia and Allison were conversing in low voices, shooting worried glances at Stiles every few seconds.
The bodies seemed to keep piling up. They needed to find the Darach soon… before it hit even closer to home.
Driving Ron Burgundy to school for the first time in weeks was a fucking good feeling. With "Back In Black" blasting from the speakers, the Oldsmobile pulled into the BHHS parking lot. As she looked for a spot, she could see a cleaning crew working to get the remainder of Tara's blood off of the school sign. After finding a place to park her car, Marlee noticed Amy Shriner shooting her and her beloved vehicle a repulsed look. The blonde resisted the urge to throw a middle finger up in the air, simply rolling her eyes before glaring right back.
Ugh, for fuck's sake. She really needs to take a fucking chill pill. Just because she thinks that Scott and I are…
Just as Marlee thought that, an all-too familiar dirt bike parked in its usual spot. She watched as its rider dismounted and pulled their helmet off. Her thoughts drifted to the night before, when she and the boy she was currently studying had almost… had almost kissed. The memory of Scott leaning towards her, that look in his eyes, caused butterflies to flit around in her stomach. Just as quickly as they started, she put an end to them.
Okay, this has gotta stop! Scott already has enough shit going on in his life and the last thing he needs is to get tangled up with me. Besides, have the past few years taught me nothing? Romance and love is just a load of bullshit. I don't need that, he doesn't need that, nobody needs that.
Pulled out of her internal scolding by the sounds of a softer melody, Marlee finally realized that the song had changed a minute ago.
"If you ever want to be in love, I'll come around-"
Marlee immediately unplugged her iPod, mortified. She was thankful that no one else knew about what she had just experienced. Yet as she looked out her windshield and met Scott's brown eyes and his frustratingly beautiful smile, she got the feeling that maybe someone else did know.
"Idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes- all tools the writer uses to tell their story."
Marlee was faintly paying attention to what the brunette woman was saying. It completely sucked that a subject she loved had to be taught by someone that she absolutely despised. Though she wasn't any good at math-related classes, Marlee excelled in English classes. She had always been an avid reader and loved to write short stories and poetry before her dad died. Her mother had always applauded her when her literature and composition scores on standardized tests came back; they were always in the advanced category.
Ms. Blake stopped at a student's desk, glancing down at the redhead's notebook. Marlee would bet her entire college fund that her friend was sketching that infamous tree again.
"Lydia, I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents."
"You and every guy I've ever dated." Lydia remarked, smartly, as she looked up at her teacher with a shameless smile.
More than a few heads turned as Marlee unsuccessfully attempted to stifle peals of laughter.
Jennifer let out an awkward noise of mortification before replying, "Oh, um, well, that was an idiom, by the way."
The woman regained her composure and began to walk away, continuing, "Idioms are something of a secret to the people who know the language or the culture."
Marlee narrowed her eyes at her teacher as the brunette noticeably looked at Stiles and then Scott.
"They're phrases that only make sense if you know key words. Saying 'jump the gun' is meaningful only if you know about the starting gun in a race, or a phrase like 'seeing the whole board.'"
"Like chess." Stiles said to himself, quietly.
"That's right, Stiles. Do you play?"
"Uh, no. My father does."
Ms. Blake smiled at the boy sweetly before asking her class, "Now, when does an idiom become a cliché?"
Marlee watched as Scott shifted in his seat to face Stiles.
"I think I can get to Ethan. I'm pretty sure I can make him talk."
"What do you want to do that for?"
"The druids are emissaries, right? So what if the Darach was an emissary to the Alphas?" Scott explained.
"Okay, first of all, I cannot believe that we've gotten to the point where a sentence like, 'What if the Darach was an emissary to the Alphas?' actually makes sense to me. Second of all, we're gonna have a huge problem getting to Ethan."
"What's that?"
"Going through Aiden. Ever since he's been back at school, they're always together. How are we gonna separate them again?"
Marlee leaned towards them and whispered, "I can always jump on his back and gouge his eyes out with my nails."
Scott's lips twitched in amusement, despite the fact that she was completely serious, before Stiles countered, "Or…"
The three of them seemed to have reached the same conclusion. Marlee's head snapped in Lydia's direction as the boys simultaneously twisted to face the strawberry blonde.
The girl, tearing her attention away from her notebook, looked thoroughly exasperated- yet expectant- as she inquired, "What now?"
With all of the commotion that had been going on recently, Marlee had forgotten that she had a scheduled appointment with the guidance counselor that day. It wasn't until the woman had approached her in the hallway that she remembered. Trudging behind the druid, there was a tight feeling being produced in the blonde girl's chest. The image of Boyd's still body flashed through her mind. As she settled into a seat in Marin Morrell's office, she reminded herself that the authority figure in front of her was really a wolf in sheep's clothing.
"I know we haven't talked much in our previous sessions but-"
"You wanna talk?" Marlee's tone was sharp yet she kept her best poker face on. "Fine. Let's talk. Did you know that the Alpha pack was going to kill Boyd?"
A flicker of surprise passed in the other woman's eyes before she adopted an impassive expression.
"I didn't."
"They've killed people, slaughtered their entire packs to rise to the top. And they still kill people- they killed Erica and Boyd! They were just kids! How can you side with them? How you can you trust them?"
Marlee's cool demeanor had melted away, revealing the fury that raged within her.
"I'm going to let you in on a little secret."
Ms. Morrell leaned forward, as if they were conspiring.
"The only person I trust is myself." She disclosed in a low voice. "I'm not doing this for them. I'm doing this for me. I'm doing this for my own survival. If I don't comply, Deucalion will not hesitate to rip my throat out."
Marlee leaned forward as well, narrowing her eyes at the emissary in front of her. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you and I are more alike than you think."
"I really don't find that reassuring, seeing as you play 'babysitter' for a bunch of homicidal mutts."
As the counselor began to open her mouth to reply, she froze and looked past the student in front of her towards her office door.
"If I were you, I'd be out in the hallway in the next ten seconds. A couple of your friends are about to run by and I'd suggest that you go with them."
Despite her uneasy relationship with the woman, Marlee didn't hesitate to snatch up her bag and scramble out of her seat. Taking the few steps from her chair to the door, she flung it open before darting across the waiting area of the guidance office. She could already hear the sound of rushing footsteps when she entered the hallway, right before Scott, Stiles, and Ethan rounded the corner. Without missing a beat, she joined them as they continued to dash towards the boys' locker room. They burst through the door just in time to see the other alpha twin smack Cora Hale across the face with a barbell weight. The beta went down like a ton of bricks, sliding across the ground.
"Aiden, you fucking psycho!" Marlee snarled while Scott and Ethan moved to restrain the wolfed-out douchebag. She crouched down on the floor next to Cora as the weight clattered to the ground.
"Aiden, you can't do this!" Ethan rebuked.
The werewolf in question, fangs still visible, defended his actions. "She came at me!"
"It doesn't matter! Kali gave Derek until the next full moon. You can't touch him or her."
Aiden stared at the group gathered on the floor, specifically Lydia, before his brother ushered him out of the room with a sigh.
Stiles peered down at Cora, who was blinking rapidly while her head wound slowly continued to bleed.
"Hey, guys, I think she's pretty hurt."
The four teens surrounding the injured girl studied her before Scott spoke.
"Let's get her cleaned up."
While the other three gingerly helped Cora to her feet and guided her towards the sinks, Marlee grabbed a wet paper towel and got to work with wiping the blood off of the floor. There wasn't much she could do without disinfectant but it still got the job done well enough.
"This will have to do." She declared before shooting the paper towel into a trashcan. She walked over to the left sink to wash her hands.
Cora groaned in annoyance as she dabbed at her wound, eying it in the mirror.
"You okay?" Scott asked the Hale, looking at her in concern.
Marlee leaned back against the sink she had just used and crossed her arms, watching them.
"She doesn't look okay." Lydia answered instead.
"I'll heal." Cora stated, sounding a bit disgruntled.
As the dark-haired girl stepped back, she began to sway. Marlee straightened up, meaning to steady the young woman, but Scott and Stiles beat her to it. Cora held a hand up, causing the boys to back away.
"I said 'I'm fine.'"
"Do you realize how suicidally crazy that was? What were you thinking going after them?" Stiles questioned.
"I did it for Boyd." She snapped, abruptly turning to the trio on her right. "None of you were doing anything."
"We're trying." Scott replied, softly.
"And you're failing. You're just a bunch of stupid teenagers- running around, thinking that you can stop people from getting killed. But all you do is show up late. All you really do is find the bodies."
Cora walked off without another word, leaving the people that she had addressed looking down in shame. Marlee watched her leave, a frown set in place.
"She's definitely a Hale." Stiles said before moving past Scott and Lydia. "I'll make sure she gets home."
Marlee observed her two remaining friends, carefully assessing their expressions. "Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah… I- I've got to go to class." Lydia weakly uttered. The redhead strolled out, staring at the floor in thought.
With a sigh, Scott wandered over to one of the benches in the locker room and sat down. He hunched over, hanging his head and curling his hands around the edge of the seat. After a moment of hesitation, Marlee moved to sit beside him. She studied his features, hating the dejection she saw there.
"You know she only said those things because she just got her ass kicked."
"She's right though."
"Okay, that's definitely not true." She lightly bumped his shoulder with hers'. "You saved Deaton's life just the other day."
"Allison's grandfather said the reason that the police found another body so quickly is because the Darach expected Deaton to survive. He even suggested that Deaton might be the one we're looking for."
Marlee snorted.
"Yeah, well, from what I've heard, Allison's grandfather has a few screws loose. And I've met your boss. The guy may have that whole 'tall, dark, and mysterious' thing going for him but he's not a cold-blooded killer."
"Yeah, but whoever it is- they're still two steps ahead of us."
"Remember what Ms. Blake was saying earlier about 'seeing the whole board'? We've been examining the Darach's moves and soon enough, we're going to outmaneuver them."
Scott turned his head to meet her stare. She kept steady eye contact with him as she spoke again.
"Hey… you're doing the best you can."
"But maybe-"
"'But maybe your best isn't good enough'? I don't wanna hear anything like that. You really need to learn how to give yourself some credit, McCall."
Her attention was drawn to her phone as it buzzed in her pocket, alerting her that she had received a text. Pulling out her cell, she chuckled at the message.
"My mom wants to know if it's okay for her to go out to dinner with some coworkers. Like I'm going to say 'no.'"
Scott gazed at Marlee in awe while she typed out a reply. She had only known him for a few weeks, yet she already had so much faith in him and his abilities. Taking in the the playful smirk on her face and the amusement that danced in her eyes, he couldn't help but remember what had almost transpired between the two of them the night before. If only Stiles had called just a minute later…
"What?"
The sound of her voice cut through his musings. She had caught him staring and was looking at him in curiosity, the slightest hint of nerves barely concealed.
"Nothing." Pushing himself off of the bench, Scott held out a hand to help Marlee stand. "I'm going to go talk to Ms. Morrell. It's time we got some answers."
"I just came from there. She's in a cryptic mood- as usual."
"There is no doubt in my mind that she and Deaton really are brother and sister."
Marlee let out a laugh, causing Scott to smile to himself, pleased.
A half hour later, she met him outside of the guidance office. The perturbed look on his face bothered her.
"Hey, how did it go?"
Scott composed himself quickly before responding, "About as well as you'd expect. She's not the one killing people."
"How do you know for sure?"
"She told me to listen to her heartbeat. It was steady when she answered."
"There's something going on in one of the history rooms."
The two of them glanced to the side to see Ethan, who was looking rather tense.
"Someone else was taken." He clarified.
No other words needed to be said. The three of them immediately started to head over to the room. Scott and Marlee approached the crowd gathered in the doorway, Ethan not that far behind them. Ms. Blake stood, arms crossed, in front of a distressed-looking Lydia. Aiden maintained his protective and comforting stance next to the redhead. If Marlee didn't know any better, she would have thought he was just being a normal, caring boyfriend.
"Okay. Look, we're just trying to understand, okay? All we know is that Mr. Westover didn't show up for class." The teacher tried to calm the younger female.
"And the last time that happened was Mr. Harris. Anyone heard from him lately?" Lydia fired back. "He's gone."
The genius strode over to the board, which showed five overlapping circles. The one on the right had a '2' written in it.
"And he's going to be the second murder." She stated, boldly, as she pointed at the number.
"But, Lydia, you wrote that number."
"Okay, fine." After a moment of hesitation, Lydia proclaimed, "I'm psychic."
"You're psychic?" Ms. Blake replied, disbelieving.
"I'm something!"
The exclamation drew quite a few odd looks from individuals who were within earshot.
Marlee frowned at the brunette's attempts to diminish Lydia's claims. It didn't matter if they were in a room full of people who were unaware of the supernatural. If Jennifer Blake really was involved with Derek or whatever (a thought that made Marlee mentally vomit), then she should have known that the strawberry blonde had a solid argument. The woman didn't have to try and make her student appear hysterical or delusional.
"A deputy and a teacher? What's the pattern?" Ethan asked Scott.
"I don't know."
Later that night, Marlee was home alone while Virginia was out and about. She had just sat down with some leftovers when her cellphone rang, 'Superman Scott' lighting up the screen.
"Hurro?" She greeted through a mouthful of food.
"Marlee, you have to get down to the school right now. We were wrong. The targets aren't guardians, they're philosophers. Every teacher is here for the recital."
The blonde swallowed her food before responding, "You know, someday you're going to call me and we're going to have a completely normal conversation."
She hastily shoved her dinner back in the fridge before scooping up her keys, heading towards the garage.
"I'm on my way."
Marlee was careful to keep the speeding to a minimum when needed, driving faster on parts of the road where no cops would be lurking. The parking lot was packed with vehicles when she arrived but she managed to find a spot near the farther end. She sprinted towards the school and made her way inside. Entering the auditorium, she spotted Lydia and Scott.
"Hey," she swiftly approached them, "where are the others?"
Scott leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Allison and Isaac are with her dad; they just found Mr. Westover's body. Stiles is at the hospital because Cora passed out but he's on his way here."
Troubled, Marlee began to ask him for more details, only for the houselights to dim. Deciding to stay vigilant of her surroundings, she saved the questions for later. She glanced around every few seconds as the principal gave a speech about all of the lives that had been lost recently.
"… while they may be gone, they will never be forgotten."
Marlee suppressed the urge to scoff at his words. Though they were meant to be encouraging and sympathetic, they were also a bit redundant. She was sure that everyone in here would be haunted by the loss of at least one of those lives for as long as they lived.
The conductor directed the orchestra to pick up their instruments and begin playing. Beautiful yet eerie music filled the air, creating an ominous atmosphere around them. Neither Scott nor Marlee noticed as Lydia slipped away a moment later. What they did notice was the Argents and Isaac quietly entering the room. The trio slipped off to the side of the room after exchanging looks with the two teens.
Stiles weaved his way over to the pair a minute later.
"Hey. We notice anything yet?"
"No one looks overly suspicious so far." Marlee replied, lowly. "How's Cora?"
"Derek's with her right now. Last time I saw her, she looked pretty rough."
"And your dad?" Scott inquired.
His friend grimaced. "He didn't believe me."
Marlee had been so focused on people entering the building, watching for the potential killer, she only noticed at that moment that someone was missing.
"Where did Lydia go?"
The boys scanned the room and when their friend was nowhere to be found, they raced off towards the front of the school. Their female companion stayed behind to keep an eye on things.
It happened in an instant. The music's tempo abruptly changed. As the choir began to sing that haunting chant that had become associated with the elusive Darach, Marlee shoved her way past people who were looking at the stage in confusion.
"Guys!" She called to Scott and Stiles as she bolted out of the doors they had exited through shortly before. "The choir just started fucking chanting."
The faint sound of a wail in the distance reached them. Scott's hypersensitive hearing caused him to let out grunts of pain as he clamped his hands over his ears, falling to his knees.
"Scott?" Stiles questioned, unsettled by his best friend's actions.
"Lydia…" He managed to groan.
Recovering from the audial onslaught that had just occurred, Scott steadily picked himself up off of the ground.
"It came from over by the English room."
As the three of them went back into the school and flew down the halls, the screaming started from the auditorium. They knew what had to have happened but kept moving forward, determined to save Lydia. Scott used his supernatural speed to his advantage and shot off like a rocket, leaving Stiles and Marlee in the dust.
Why does he even need a bike when he's basically the Flash?
The pair eventually reached one of the open doors to the classroom and gaped at what they saw inside. Lydia, tears streaming down her face, was tied to a chair while Jennifer Blake stood a few feet away from her.
I knew there was something off about her!
The brunette woman turned her head in their direction and managed to effortlessly shove her desk in front of the door, effectively closing and blocking it.
"You fucking psychotic bitch!" Marlee yelled.
Stiles attempted to push the door open, futilely slamming his body into it.
"I'll check the other one."
Marlee dashed around to the back entrance- completely unaware of the toppled student desks- only to find that something was blocking that as well. A gunshot went off somewhere in the room. Running back to where she had left Stiles, she found him with his face pressed up against the glass.
"What's going on?"
"My dad's in there." Her friend was downright terrified as he said those words.
Adrenaline rushed through her veins as that goddamn mysterious chanting started up again. She made Stiles shift slightly and pressed her body against the door.
"Push!"
Together, the two of them managed to move the desk enough so they would be able to squeeze through the door. A shattering sound mingled with the noise of the desk's legs scraping against the floor. Stiles and Marlee shoved past the mess and hurried to the window. Scott, who Marlee anxiously noticed had a trail of blood going down his chin, joined them.
"Dad?"
Jagged glass remained in the windowpane, silently taunting them. Jennifer Blake had disappeared into the night, taking Stiles' very own father with her.
I'm sure a few of you are mad at me right now for that little teasing 'almost'.
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