The car had barely parked in a parking spot before Sweet Pea was out the door, muttering a quick, "There's Toni", before vanishing.

"Some manners," Alice huffed, deeply and mortally offended by everything like she usually was.

"What's eating him?" Jughead asked.

"No idea," Betty rolled her eyes, "But don't worry about that. This dance is about us!" She said, squeezing his hand.

Alice was already beelining toward the door, leaving Betty and Jughead to walk at their own pace.

"Good talk with your dad?" Betty asked, nudging his shoulder.

"Really good. Really, really good," Jughead said. He pursed his lips, deep in thought, "Betty, come back to my trailer with me tonight."

Betty choked out a laugh, "Oh, Jughead! What a way to seduce a girl."

She watched his cheeks flush bright red, "What? No! I'm not… propositioning you…that wasn't-," He sputtered.

"Babe, calm down," Betty cooed, "I was teasing."

"Right," He laughed, "Not that I wouldn't want to do that with you. Because, well, I would. Of course, I would. God, is it hot out?" He asked, sticking a finger beneath his collar.

"It's almost winter, Jug," Betty found his awkwardness adorable.

"I just…I'd like to talk to you about something. It has to do with me, and my dad. Everything's great, so, no worries there. I just want us to tackle something together. And I think I need time…more time than the ten seconds it will take for us to intersect the door." He said.

Betty had a faint inkling of what it might be about. Obviously, the big news she knew everyone magical was whispering was that Jughead now knew things he was not supposed to know. She knew it had been Joaquin's fuck up, and that Sweet Pea hadn't exactly fixed it. She knew that so far she hadn't been asked to wipe his memory, which she staunchly would not. And, as far as she could tell, no other witches had been contacted so…it left little to guess.

Or maybe it was something else. Something utterly human.

For a moment, Betty hoped it would be.

But still.

"Well, I'm excited."

Jughead squeezed her hand, "Excited. Yeah. That's a nice word. Please remember that word for our talk."

Betty cursed mentally; it was totally a werewolf conversation.

She considered just spilling the beans now, that she totally knew, and skipping the whole 'later at the trailer' thing. But the fact she knew anything at all would start an entirely different conversation, one that…yes, probably needed time and space for.

And any future musings about possibly telling him before he could tell her were thrown violently from her mind when she was greeted with three issues as they entered the gym.

One; Cheryl, without Polly.

Two; her mother- who hated all her friends and spent a great deal of time making that known- willingly talking to Archie and Veronica.

And Three; Sweet Pea, with Toni, focusing so hard on Betty she thought she'd burn up on sight until she turned his way slightly, and he snapped his head away like he'd been caught doing something wrong.

"Man, It's going to be a memorable night," Jughead said, kissing her forehead.

He was so high on endorphins and hope that he didn't notice any of what Betty had seen.

"Yeah…" Betty said, hoping her voice didn't shake, "You're right about that."

XXX

"What the hell is your damage, man?" Toni huffed.

Sweet Pea spun around, "Why is everyone insisting something's wrong with me? I'm perfectly fine!" He snapped.

"Uhm, one, it's so obvious you aren't. You haven't even noticed the color I'm wearing. I thought for sure I'd get an earful from you. The fact you haven't tells me something else is going on in that furry head of yours," Toni said, rubbing her knuckles on his forehead, "And two, who is 'everyone'?"

Sweet Pea paused, taking Toni's appearance in. Bright, cheery, cherry red.

"Oh, fuck me," He muttered, "Red? Are you trying to summon the she-devil herself? God, Toni!" He ran his hand down his face, "You're pathetic."

"I am in fact trying to summon her, yes," Toni winked, "Think it'll work? I've heard she's territorial about the color red..."

"You're terrible. Awful. Way too horny for your own good." Sweet Pea huffed, "And I am offended you used me as a pawn to get to the Blossom witch!"

"You asked me. I took advantage of a situation."

"You…you…" Sweet Pea stuttered, "You bewitched me! Put the idea in my mind! You were the one to suggest I should bring someone to this dance."

"No, that was Orca."

Sweet Pea paused, thinking back.

Shit. It was.

"Fine. You still know what you're doing. You think you know what you're playing with. If FP finds out," Sweet Pea barked out a laugh, "You'll be cat food."

"I have no interest in her magically, like you lot. Just the 'get naked' sort of interest. He can cuff my ear for being sexually deviant, but I'm not doing something foolish like raising the dea-,"

Sweet Pea shoved his hand over her mouth.

"Speak a bit louder, okay? I don't think Greendale heard you."

"You still haven't told me why you're in a bad mood. And best friends tell each other everything," Toni said, "Between you and Betty, you're both putting off enough anxious vibes to kill a moose."

"Betty?" Sweet Pea mumbled.

"Yeah, something's eating her too. Kevin, the mayor, and your principal have all tried to talk to her, but her mind is somewhere else. You're supposed to be good at picking up vibes. It's making her magic go crazy." She narrowed her eyes, "Is it the same thing?"

"Hightly doubt it," Sweet Pea ground out through gritted teeth. Though, god, some part of him hoped, foolishly, they were agonizing over the same thoughts.

"Ahah! So there is something on your mind. Spill, spill, spill!" Toni said, bouncing on his arm, almost tearing it out of the socket.

"Not in a million years, Topaz. For my mind only."

"Sure," Toni shrugged, "Till ya turn and I pick your brain like an all-you-can-eat buffet."

"I'll resist the urge to turn."

"Forever?" Toni teased.

"Yeah," He growled, "Forever."

Toni blinked, eyes wide, and for a far-too-hopeful second, he thought she'd drop it, recognizing how upset he was. Instead, she grinned, almost maniacally.

"Something this secret? I'm gunna be hounding you until you tell me. This secret seems juicy."

"Urg. Go find Cheryl or something."

Toni did a little dance, "If you say so, Mr. Date." She said, "You are a horrible influence on me."

"That's so not true!" Sweet Pea yelled after her as she darted into the crowd, catching the attention of a few of his classmates, "Not true at all," He muttered to anyone that would listen.

He closed his eyes, huffing.

He needed to focus. He still had a task.

Jughead was by the punch. Looking confused, looking for Betty. So human, so mortal with his expression right now.

Betty was…stalking Veronica. And something told him that he should be there too.

Something was brewing.

XXX

"Jesus! Wear a bell, Karan!"

"I can't help it I have quiet feet, Lodge," Sweet Pea snarked back. God, Veronica really hated him sometimes. Always showing up unwanted.

"This is a private conversation. Or, actually, it's not one at all." She said, trying to escape Betty, who was staring her down with murderous intent.

"It's fine, he's fine," Betty snapped, always coming to his rescue. Urg, "Where were you guys? Before this?"

"We stopped at Pop's. You know Archie, always hungry," Veronica said, laughing. Not even a lie. The hungry part, at least.

"Right, sure. And what would you have to talk about with my mother?" Betty pressed.

Veronica saw Archie waving to her from the stage. She slid her fingers from Betty's stony grasp.

"Let's table this. Would love to talk more. Bye, boo," She said in a faux cheeriness, walking swiftly toward the stage.

In all their planning, somehow, they hadn't gotten to thinking of ideas of how to handle Elizabeth Cooper, worse than her mother when she was on the hunt for the truth. A true oversight and one Veronica knew wouldn't just be dropped.

"Bitch." Sweet Pea coughed behind her. She heard Betty thwack his arm, and though she knew it wouldn't hurt him at all, she was pleased that Betty hadn't totally gone to the dark side.

Same to you, asshole.

XXX

"I'm surprised you were let out of the doghouse…can I make that joke?" Kevin asked as he swayed to a mostly appropriate pop-song ballad with Joaquin. Luckily, his boyfriend (and gosh, he was geeked to be able to even say that), laughed.

"FP isn't too happy with me, that's true, but I dunno…" he shrugged, "I think he's gunna tell him. Let him in. Maybe we'll take more non-wolves soon," He said, nudging Kevin's shoulder.

"You're inviting me to the pack? Is this like marriage?" Kevin asked, "Because you know, you're the first time I've taken a boy to one of these things. Actually, my first real boyfriend…" He trailed off, nervous, "But I know the jokes about how quickly gays go through life steps, so I guess a marriage proposal isn't too strange."

"Naw, dude. But it would be nice, you know, to see you around the full moon," Joaquin said, "I think everything's going to turn out fine."

"Any chance that Betty, with bloodshed in her eyes, is going to have a totally normal human problem?" Kevin asked over Joaquin's shoulder, wincing. Betty looked like a girl with a mission. Which was usually not a good thing. It was only a matter of time before they were involved. Small miracles they weren't already, actually.

Joaquin gave the longest sigh that Kevin had ever heard. They watched as Betty, once being directed to Veronica and Archie in the hall by a few classmates, took off like a bullet, and then Sweet Pea followed. Then, they watched as Jughead, drinks in hand, approached them, confused.

"You seen Bett-," He started.

"You all need tracking devices," Kevin snipped, annoyed.

Seriously; they all needed to have 24/7 access to each other's tracking locations for their phones. Kevin wasn't Charon, guiding people to their destination, nor was he anyone who could do tracking spells.

Some petty part of him almost told Jughead that his girlfriend was best at those, but Joaquin's quiet squeeze to his hand kept him quiet.

So, they sent him the direction of all the drama. The drama that, for once, Kevin wanted to be nowhere near.

"Still think it's all okay?" Kevin asked dryly. Joaquin pouted.

"Apparently, I spoke too soon."

XXX

"Before you get mad, let me explain-," Archie started.

"Explain what?" Betty clenched her fists, the lights flickering in the hallway, "That you're working with your mom behind my back?"

"Before anyone says anything; why the hell are you even here, Sweet Pea?" Veronica stepped between Betty and Sweet Pea, "This isn't your problem."

"It is my fucking problem. You have no idea how much it's my fucking problem, Lodge. Damnit!" He snapped.

"We were doing it to protect Jughead!" Archie tripped over himself, trying to ease the tension, "To make sure there wasn't an arrangement with the Blossoms-,"

"Oh, the murdering kind? You think you learn about us and, of course, the big bad wolves did it, huh?" Sweet Pea demanded, shoving Archie, "Always the scapegoats. Always the bad guys. Watch any movie, right? It's always kill the beasts, skin them, mount them on the wall. Did you ever fucking think that maybe Red Riding Hood was just a bitch?"

"No! No that's not!" Archie stumbled back, shoving Sweet Pea too, "Shut up, man. It's not about you, it's about Jughead!"

"And what did your little powers find?" Sweet Pea demanded.

Veronica frowned, "Powers?"

"Nothing!" Archie insisted, "They didn't find anything. He's clean. That's the point of it. He didn't do anything wrong."

"Powers?" Veronica echoed, louder, though it went unheard.

"Oh, of course! The hero Andrews saves the world again," Betty rolled her eyes, "You're not part of this, Archie! This isn't your problem."

"It's my duty to be part of this! To keep creatures like him at bay!"

"You'd better take that back!" Betty said, her eyes flickering cold as ice, stony and furious, "Before I blow you through a wall!"

"What? Is? Going? On?" Veronica asked, stomping her foot, but no one was answering questions at that moment.

" Creatures like me, Andrews?" Sweet Pea snapped, "Want to see who would win; werewolf or Grimm?"

"Oh, oh, give me a time and place, and I'll take you on!" Archie threw up his hands, "Let's go outside, right now, dog!"

"What! The Fuck! Is going on!" Veronica repeated, clapping her hands to her question, "I feel like we're wildly off track and-,"

"And I'm left out."

Silence fell so quickly that it was as though everyone's voices were suddenly snatched away by the wind.

The group of four turned to see Jughead standing, eyes wild, as though he was doing calculus, horrified.

"Jughead-,"

Betty went to touch his arm, but he flinched away.

Sweet Pea wanted to scream inside of his head.

He didn't have to be a mind reader to know what Jughead was thinking. He swallowed hard, fingers shaking as he pulled his hat down farther onto his head, and took three steps back.

"Let me try to explain..." He whispered, and no one spoke, no one tried to stop him.

"Sweet Pea is a werewolf," Jughead said, voice shaking, "Like all the Serpents are. And you…and you…seem to be very much not reacting to him saying it out loud." Jughead looked at Betty, whose cheeks were flushed bright red, "Only Veronica is freaking out." He said, "Which leads me to believe…that you…knew."

If you looked up the definition of betrayal in the dictionary, you'd see Jughead's expression right now.

It fucking broke Sweet Pea's heart.

Because no one deserved to feel how he was feeling right now.

Sweet Pea knew that feeling. He was an orphan. His own parents didn't think he was worth the time to get to know or stick around for. But he'd stupidly kept thinking that one day his father would come back to the trailer with a reasonable explanation for his absence or his mother would wake up and remember that she had a son.

The day he found his mom dead was the day he knew that neither gave a shit about him. In fact, both would rather be anywhere else than near him.

So fuck, yeah. Sweet Pea knew that look.

And though he understood why Betty couldn't tell Jughead, he felt so horrible for him, and he was almost on his side.

"You knew?" He echoed, quieter, hurt, looking up at Betty, "Who he is? Who my dad is? What I could be?" He whispered.

"Yes, but," Betty wiped tears from her cheeks, "It's not what you think."

"How long."

Jughead's voice was icy cold.

"Let me just-,"

"How long have you known?"

Betty pulled herself together. Sweet Pea watched her stitch herself upright, ready herself like she was heading into battle.

"Since the beginning of the school year. Sweet Pea saved me from some…things trying to kill me. He's been protecting me, teaching me. I'm…a…witch."

"Excuse me, what?" Veronica squawked in the back.

"Oh, kettle black, blood-sucker." Sweet Pea huffed.

"What?" Jughead said, staring at Sweet Pea, and then Veronica, who had gone very still and shocked, "No. One thing at a time. You…witch? For months? And you never fucking said anything? That's worse, Betty. All those times when I thought I was going crazy! You just let me! How could you?"

"FP made me promise not to tell! He said I couldn't! I didn't know just letting the secret out was an option!" She said, turning furiously to Sweet Pea, "You have a werewolf leader threatening you and tell me you wouldn't do the same. There were so many times I wanted to tell you. God, I wanted this conversation to go so differently-,"

"Yes, because was a better way to tell me how much of a liar you've been, please, enlighten me?" Jughead sneered. He turned to Sweet Pea, "What do you mean about 'blood-sucker.'"

"Her family are vampires. She's not one, currently, but…she knows. I know she knows." Sweet Pea said, swinging to look at Veronica with narrowed, distrustful eyes.

"I just found out," Veronica said, blubbering, "Not very long ago."

"Right," He turned to Archie, "And you? What the hell is a Grimm?"

"It's, uhm, like a warrior. Usually to kill wolves and vampires. But, that's totally not how it works now."

Jughead listened, but Sweet Pea watched his expression grow colder and colder. Betty tried to reach, but Jughead took three more steps back. There was now a wide chasm between the four teens and Jughead, literally and metaphorically growing each second.

"So, let me get this straight. All you guys, with your supernatural secrets, decided to gang up on the mortal, who apparently is a fucking clueless idiot-,"

"I'm actually still human, and Veronica hasn't changed-," Archie tried, but Jughead threw up a sharp hand.

"Let me finish. And, god, I don't really care. All I know is that I've been convinced I'm clinically insane for weeks and you just let me carry on. And you raided my dad's trailer too, to what? Throw salt in the wound? At a dinner I thought was because my girlfriend's mother was actually starting to like me?"

"I had no idea-," Betty tried to interject again.

"You're either a liar or dumb, I'm not sure which," Jughead said flatly, "If you really thought Alice Cooper was doing it out of goodness. I'm not her kid, but even I should have known. You? There's no excuse for you."

"I suspected. But I thought…it would just hurt you. You were so excited. And you and your dad had turned a new leaf. You'd be in the pack, in the know, and we could have the knowledge together and be okay," Betty whispered, "It was all supposed to work out."

"Naive, huh? That's what you're going with?" Jughead asked, voice as chilly as a murderous winter storm, "You all lied to me. Don't think I'll forget this any time soon."

"Man-," Archie stepped forward.

Before Jughead could rebuke him, it felt like someone had just shot a bullet straight through Sweet Pea's brain. He screamed, falling to the ground, grasping at his hair.

"Oh, what now?" Jughead asked, throwing up his hands, "How conveniently timed-,"

"Shit! No, something's really wrong!" Betty said, frantic, pacing, grasping her own head, "It hurts."

Sweet Pea tried to stand, but his brain felt like putty. It had been a pulse, sent out, and though he wasn't grasping any particular words, he knew what it meant.

Danger. Danger. Danger. Danger.

It was a warning alarm, playing over and over in his head, pushing through the pack link, even as an unchanged wolf. Even into Betty's brain, through him. She looked at him, her words mouthing 'Danger', meaning that she was hearing it too. That terrified Sweet Pea to the core, that this could even be done.

"I need…to change…soemthing's…happened," He said, trying to keep the vomit from spilling out, "I need to change, now," He snapped.

Before anyone could say anything, he pushed himself back and spun, tornadoing into a wolf.

Now that he was connected, he had the fear of Joaquin and Toni, two young wolves with less experience with him, were fighting the world right now. They might have changed on the spot, unable to help it.

He looked at Betty, able to push out a thought.

"I'll check," Betty said, nodding.

"You two can talk? Telepathically? Of fucking course!" Jughead snapped, furious, but also a bit wary, staring at Sweet Pea. Veronica was almost in a clinical state, and some small part of Sweet Pea felt bad everyone was dumped on her all at once. But the same(ish) had happened to Betty, and she had handled it much better. Maybe Lodge wasn't made with as strong of stuff as she'd hoped?

That tiny humorous thought was gone immediately, shoved out by the screaming of the voices in his mind.

It was hard to pin down exact thoughts. Everyone was yelling over one another in the pack's mind, but he caught snippets of it. More so, he caught emotions.

Fear. Anger. Revenge. Horror. Terror.

It all was balled together, the voices of a hundred all yelling at the moon together.

But there was one voice markedly absent; their alpha's.

Joaquin and Toni had turned, but they'd managed to get outside on the football field before it happened. Kevin was with Joaquin, at least, and it seemed Betty had found Toni mostly alright, from what he caught in her mind.

Sweet Pea pushed against the urge to get lost in the feelings and clawed his way back to his humanity, shoving himself violently back to a human.

"Thought he'd be naked," Veronica muttered, half-delirious. He didn't have the time to explain Betty's amazingly creative little totem necklace spell but was glad it worked all right now. Out of all the people he didn't want to be seeing him naked, the three in front of him were at the top of the chart.

"Jughead, it's your dad," Sweet Pea panted, grasping Jughead's shoulders. Jughead looked white as a sheet, trying to squirm from his grasp, but Sweet Pea's fists were tighter, "He's been arrested. For Jason's murder."

XXX

By the time Betty helped Toni back to human form, the girl shaking like she'd been electrocuted, and made her way back inside, Jughead was gone.

Sweet Pea too.

"He took off. Sweet Pea followed." Archie mumbled, "I couldn't stop him. His dad-,"

"Has been arrested. I know," Betty was furious, "You said you didn't find anything!"

"We didn't!" Veronica said.

"Think he'll hurt Sweet Pea?" Archie asked.

"Sweets is there so he doesn't hurt anyone else. Trigger the curse."

"Trigger the what?" Veronica asked.

Betty shook her head, "I can't deal with this right now."

She caught her mother, looking all too pleased by the door of the gym.

"Kevin said someone tipped his dad off. It was you, wasn't it?" Betty snarled.

"I was at the dance, Betty," Alice said, feigning innocence.

"Answer the question. Don't lie!" Betty said, taking a step forward.

"I don't lie," Alice said smoothly, "But I'm glad you're safe. As much as I like Jughead, I'm so glad you're done with all those wolves."

"Done?" Betty let out a croaked laugh, "Done? I'm a witch, Mom, for as hard as you tried to suffocate that part of me. I'll never be done! I love Jughead. I'm part of this now, and all you did was send me unprepared into this battle!" She snarled, "You have no idea what you took from me? From Polly? Do you?"

"I did it to keep you both safe!" Alice insisted.

"You're delusional. It's a tired argument, and frankly, I'm bored with it." Betty stepped back, nose flaring, "I'm going to look for Jughead."

"He's in a dangerous place right now. He might not be himself. And if you're the reason he triggers his curse…I'll mount his head on a wall myself," Alice said, her voice low.

"I can handle myself. Miraculously. No help from you. And he would never," Betty said, horrified at the accusation he might kill her, even accidentally, "Don't push me tonight, Mom. Because I will push back. And you can't even imagine the power I have."

XXX

"Get out! Leave me the fuck alone, Sweet Pea!" Jughead said, tearing through his dad's trailer, marked with caution tape.

"No can do, Jones," Sweet Pea sighed, "You're violate right now."

"Making sure I don't go and off someone?" Jughead snapped, "You think so little of me, huh?"

"Most don't mean to. We're not cold-blooded, murders, Jug," Sweet Pea snarled, "So shut the fuck up."

"I'll kill you if you don't leave me."

"Try it. It'll be better than doing something you'll really regret."

Jughead seemed to consider it. He turned, grabbed a side table, and flung it at Sweet Pea.

"That all you got?" Sweet Pea taunted.

"I hate you! I hate you so much!" Jughead snapped, moving through the house like a tornado, destroying anything he could get his hands on.

"Awe, you hurt my feelings," Sweet Pea rolled his eyes.

"You're a fucking liar! You don't care for anyone but yourself! And my dad is gone now!" Jughead said, flinging a vase toward him. Sweet Pea caught it; stellar reflexes and all, and watched as Jughead burned through anything he could. He caught what he could, ducked what he couldn't, and only once was he actually concerned that he might suffer an injury when Jughead threw a knife block at him.

Finally, Jughead sat against the island, shoulders quaking with a long, deep sob.

"Trust me, I'd rather be anywhere else too," Sweet Pea muttered, sitting beside him, "You lost your dad, but I lost my pack leader."

"What happens to you all now? When someone's in prison?" Jughead asked, sniffling.

"I don't know. Maybe it goes to Tall Boy, but he makes my skin crawl. He's second, I guess. I just…I don't know."

"You're a gang. Seems like you all should have had a backup plan already, no offense," Jugehad said, wiping his nose, "It's a miracle my dad hadn't been arrested before, right?"

Sweet Pea, despite himself, let out a small smile, "Yeah, seems dumb, huh?" He paused, "Can I stay here too?"

As though recognizing that Sweet Pea was hurt and angry and furious all in the same ways, with the same emotions for FP, Jughead nodded.

"Yeah. Let's just sit here…just for a bit."

Sweet Pea go the sense 'a bit' meant until a force of anything pushed them out. And he was fine with remaining here all night, staring at FP's trailer, wondering how he could have gotten the read so wrong on someone he thought was a good guy. Something in him refused to compute that FP could be a murderer; a murderer of a teenager, someone scarcely older than him, at that. It left him feeling cold like maybe he was wrong about so many other things too. It scared him.

"Yeah. Alright with me."

XXX

"FP has always had his demons, he fooled the best of us."

"I really thought he'd changed," Archie murmured, "For Jug."

"It's hard for people to change," Mary said, rubbing Archie's back as they sat on the front porch, hot chocolate in hand, trying to make sense of it all, "I think you should come back to Chicago with me."

Archie looked up, having been a hundred miles away.

"What?"

"Riverdale isn't safe anymore. I left when things were..settled. But with werewolves killing kids, magic running amuck, vampires returning…" Mary shook her head, "You'd be safer with me. You're just a baby. My baby," She whispered.

"And a Grimm."

"Such a young one. You barely know any of it," Mary sighed, "I can teach you. Come with me. Chicago, for all the danger it does have, it is far safer for you than here is right now."

"I don't think I can leave my friends. I'm in this. I know you don't want me to be, but I am." Archie argued, shaking his head. Mary frowned.

"You are so like your father. Wanting to save everyone."

Betty's biting comment, how she'd called him 'hero', like it was a swear word, clattered around his head.

"Not everyone. Just those I care about." He tapped his foot, "Something is happening, Mom. I'll never forgive myself if they all slide off a cliff with this and I'm just eating deep-dish pizza in Chicago, you know?"

Mary sighed, "I know. Trust me, I know," She said, leaning her head on his shoulder, "Just…really think about it. Actually. For me."

Archie considered it, just for a second. Coming into his powers with a real mentor, having someone to go to when things got weird. Not having to worry about his best friend killing someone or Betty taking a block out in anger.

And it was nice. Just to imagine it.

"I will. I promise."

XXX

"That was quite a night, huh?" Hermione sighed as she set her coat down in the apartment, "But, to be honest, it was like that when I was your age. High school has so much drama." She said, laughing.

"You've watched the father of a friend get arrested for murder?" Veronica asked dubiously.

"Okay, perhaps not that," Hermione said, squeezing her shoulder as she passed, "More like…finding the football star cheating on his girlfriend in the locker rooms or finding out that the smartest kid in your class has been cheating on tests all year."

Veronica winced, "I wished it could just be that."

"This is…quite the spectacle." Hermione paused, snapping her fingers, "Oh, right. You got a package today while you were at Pop's with Archie."

"Okay?" Veronica frowned. She got many packages; hardly anything new.

"It's from Nick. I didn't know you two still talked."

Her mother seemed pleased.

Of course; marry two infamous vampire bloodlines. She forgot her parents had been vying for this match for…well, forever.

But her mom didn't know that she knew.

She would probably be shocked about how much Veronica now knew, and be impressed by how well Veronica was keeping her head above water.

"Oh, yeah," Veronica played it off casually, "We reconnected recently."

"Good. It's nice to keep friends from NYC," Her mother encouraged, "We have friends in high places, we need to remember."

"Of course. I'm going to go see what he sent me. Hopefully that Tiffany's necklace I've had my eye on."

In reality, she had no idea what it was, but this answer pleased her mother, who said she was going to have a glass of wine (Veronica now knew better; blood) and take a warm bubble bath. Veronica wondered if she felt warmth anymore.

Inside her room, with the door locked, Veronica carefully opened the package. It was small.

On top was a Tiffany's Robin-egg blue box, with that necklace that yes, Veronica had pinned to her Pinterest two days ago.

But that couldn't be it, right? She and Nick were now playing a very different game with each other than before. They knew things. They understood each other.

The bottom was a false one.

She lifted the protective sponge bottom to reveal a vial of blood with a note.

She had a good idea of what it was but read it anyway.

In case you want a good and proper teenage rebellion, consider joining my blood lineage. Take with care and good luck.

With everlasting love,

Nick

Veronica clasped the vial in her fingers, holding it against her heart, and one part of her almost uncapped it tonight. And, she considered perhaps she would have rushed into it, had her phone not rung at the very moment her fingers started for the cork.

XXX

Penelope's wails rung through the house, and anyone would think a banshee floated through the hall instead of a witch. Though there were probably enough ghosts lingering for that assessment to be mostly true, Cheryl considered.

"My baby! That bastard killed my baby!" She sobbed, clutching the bedsheets of Jason's duvet, holding it to her face.

"Mother?" Cheryl said, pausing at the door. She had offered, or been voted (it didn't matter, not really) to approach her. Father had no magic. Polly's babies protected her, but this was nothing anyone wanted to chance. Though Penelope had never been a very good witch, sheer and pure anger spiked her magic in ways that could kill someone. Cheryl, at least, could block and defend.

"I want them dead, Cheryl! I want them all to pay!" Penelope said, pulling his pillows to her chest, "They're all in cahoots with him; all those wolves, and the Grimm, and Betty. Everyone deserves to pay!"

Cheryl licked her lips. She had been shocked stiff when she'd heard the news, through Toni, before the wolf-girl had run away, crying like someone had electrocuted her brain.

It seemed impossible.

FP killed him?

But why shouldn't it be? Wolves were dangerous beings. They were known to kill. And they hated the Blossoms.

It made perfect sense.

And that hatred, that feeling of being alone and scared and left without a brother who may never wake up, festered within her.

It only grew when her mother pulled her into her arms, petting Cheryl's head.

"My darling daughter," Penelope murmured, "You'll help me, won't you? You'll help me with my revenge?"

Cheryl looked up, wanting so much to get her mother's approval, and wanting everyone to feel the hurt she felt, "What do you have in mind?"

XXX

"Oh, thank god."

Sweet Pea looked up to see a trio of silhouettes in the doorway of FP's trailer.

"Is Jug alive?" Archie asked, "Is everyone he came in contact with tonight alive?"

Jughead grunted, glaring distrustfully at the group.

"How'd you find us?" He finally asked.

"Locator spell," Betty said and winced hard.

"Oh, but like, we could have guessed," Veronica threw up her hands, "Not exactly a secret speakeasy or something."

Jughead's expression turned colder if that was even possible.

"Look, you have every reason to hate us, I get it," Archie said, "and Betty hates me and Veronica, but she's still here."

"We all hate each other now, then? Just a sad little hate party, huh?" Jughead asked, "Except you two," He said, to Veronica and Archie, "Who are obviously fucking. And you two," He said, turning to Sweet Pea and Betty, "And I can't...I don't even want to talk about whatever the hell this is. Sweet Pea is the only one I tolerate right now, so don't fucking ruin this for me too, Betty."

"Nothing, it's nothing," Betty rushed to say, at the same time Archie began to stutter.

"We haven't-," Archie's face blushed as red as his cheeks, "Jug, let me talk. And if you want us to leave, we'll walk away, I swear it."

"They'll just bother us if we don't let them," Sweet Pea grunted.

"Fair point. You get one minute."

"What?"

"Fifthy-eight seconds," Jughead threatened, arms crossed, counting down.

"Kevin called me! He said his dad found a gun- the gun that killed Jason- in a lock box in your dad's closet. But honest to god, we searched this trailer up and down. We looked through that closet, three times. Like we really looked, Veronica can attest it and my powers found-,"

"Times up!" Jughead snapped, maybe because as much as he had wanted to know about the world his dad was in, he actually didn't, Sweet Pea guessed.

"Someone put it there!" Veronica said, pushing into the house, "Jughead, you're dad's being framed."

There was a pause. Sweet Pea stood.

"Still want them to leave?" He asked, staring at Jughead, ready to shoo them away.

Jughead stared, licking his lips, and Sweet Pea saw it. That flicker of hope. That fickle, disastrous reach of hope.

Sweet Pea had been here too often before.

"I think you should all go," He started to stay, but Jughead scrambled up.

"No. They can stay." He said, frantic, clutching his lifeline, "They can stay."

Sweet Pea sighed.

God, he hoped they were right about this. Jughead couldn't take more lies, even unintentional or well-meaning ones.

"Okay," Sweet Pea groaned, deciding to take the lead on this, for Jughead's sanity, running his hands down his face, "What next?"