20. Hide and Seek
I had made sure to be extra careful around Allison the next couple of days. Her neck was more than sore from getting that claw removed, and it was pretty hard to cover it up and hide it from her father. We didn't tell him what had actually happened, but instead we lied and told him that she had strained it after sleeping on the bus. Somehow, he believed us, but I had a feeling he knew something else was going on.
Deaton had explained the whole claw thing to us better the next day, which made a lot more sense after he did. He said that according to what he had read, if a werewolf's claw gets stuck below the skin in a human, it will give them werewolf qualities to start off with, and then it will just progress and get worse. Exactly like what happened to Allison, he said that they'll start having seizures, throwing up black blood, or anything else along those lines. He had just gotten the claw out in time too; if he wouldn't have, she would be dead right now.
After what happened, every time I saw her, I couldn't help but imagine as if I was seeing her again for the first time. She had almost slipped through my fingers, so I felt that I needed to thank God for her every single day, or else I might actually lose her for real. It was just little things I did; like study her face when she wasn't looking and how I carefully observed how she walked and how much creamer she poured in her coffee. I tried to memorize everything that reminded me of her.
So, that's basically all I did for those next few days. It was the same repetitive process...at least until things went bad again. Doctors started turning up missing last night, and Danny was in the hospital. We're pretty sure it's more sacrifices, which wasn't good when it came to Scott's mom, since she was a nurse. If things couldn't get more worse than that, Deaton had called Scott earlier in class and was then taken himself. It was like a mad dash now to find him.
He saved Allison's life, and now it was our turn to save his.
"Corey," Allison says suddenly, snapping me from my little daze. My eyes go back into focus as I stare at her wide eyes, filled with frustration. "Are you listening to me?"
I nod my head, but I was lying. "Yeah, I was listening."
Allison rolls her eyes slightly, knowing that I wasn't. "Well, this is a picture of the map I was talking about just now. Look at this-"
She holds her phone out towards me as I scan the screen, seeing a dull looking map of Beacon Hills lying down on a table. I remembered seeing it every now and again when I walked into Chris' office looking for a pair of scissors, but I didn't notice anything special about it.
"I don't see what you're wanting me to see," I say, furrowing my eyebrows as I squinted, hoping that a solution would just show up on the screen.
Allison's eyes gaze up to me. "That's because you can't."
I don't get to ask before she's swiping her finger to the left, showing me a picture of the same map, but this time, there were blue markings on it. Some were circles, some were squares, and some were X's. I wasn't sure what this was supposed to mean, but I knew that it must mean something important with how Allison was talking about it.
"He's been mapping this whole sacrifice thing out, Corey," Allison says, lowering her phone. "And he hasn't been telling me what he knows."
I noticed her aggravation, but I counter fire. "You haven't exactly been honest either."
Allison scowls at me. "That's different and you know that. My father has been keeping track of the sacrifices, might know where Deaton is, and is keeping the information from us. I'm pretty sure my little scratch on the back of my neck is a lot less important than Deaton's life."
I knew that she was wrong, because her life meant everything, but I didn't say anything. "What do each of the markings mean?"
"Some mean where people are being taken from, others are where they died, but then there's this..." she fades out, pointing to a few of the markings on the screen. "There's only been six sacrifices, but there's twelve markings on here."
My eyes widen. "Did your dad find other bodies and not tell anyone?"
Allison shakes her head, the curls in her hair bouncing. "I don't think so. I think he knows where they might end up; like it's a pattern of some sort."
My mind rushes, trying to find some type of patterns as I stared at the map, but I had nothing. "Have you told Scott about this?"
"Not yet," she says, but something in her tone told me that she was almost afraid to. I wasn't sure why, but I wanted to know.
"Why not?"
She shoves her phone into her pocket, her eyes not meeting mine. "I don't know; I just thought I'd tell you first. I haven't really spoken to him ever since the Motel."
I knew then why she didn't want to talk to him after she mentioned the Motel. "Is this about what happened there?"
I would have believed her lie, but she was a beat off while telling it. "No, I just-"
"Allison," I sigh as I run my fingers through her hair. "What happened there, what Scott did, he wasn't himself. Sure, I didn't act like I knew that at the time, but you know he'd never do anything like what he did on purpose."
Allison shakes her head, her chin resting against my palm. "I heard what he said, Corey. About us. You can't just pull words like that out of thin air."
Granted, I knew that she was kind of right. I mean, think about it. When you're dreaming, don't you always dream of things that you've thought, seen, or heard? It would be the same thing with hallucinating. Things like that must have been on Scott's mind for him to say it, but I tried telling myself that those words were stretched.
"Allison, what he said about you two..." I fade out, remembering him mentioning how her and him had hooked up at some party. "Was that true?"
I feel Allison's jaw tense up on my hand. "God, no Corey. All that happened at that party was that I had a few too many drinks, Scott and I met there, and that was it. Nothing happened after that."
For some reason, I was relieved. I hated to admit it, but Scott was the only guy I worried about that had the potential to take her from me. I was jealous, sure, and I knew that Allison wouldn't ever do something like that, but I couldn't stop myself from worrying about it.
I sigh as she leans her head onto my shoulder. "You need to tell Scott."
"I know," she breathes, accepting reality. "Just give me a few more moments."
I looked down at her, seeing that she had her eyes shut. "Tired?"
"More than you know." She nuzzles her head into my shoulder more. "Plus I don't want to leave your arms. I always hate when I wake up and you're not there."
I smile faintly. "Do you think I wanted to leave? Your father checks on you a lot when you sleep. It's almost like he knows I'm there."
Allison laughs softly, the sound muffled. "Well, next time you know he's coming, stay. I'd rather try explaining than to wake up without you again."
"I'd rather not have a bullet in my head," I laugh, knowing for a fact that if Chris were to find me in his daughters bed...he'd kill me himself.
"I'd just bring you back to life again if that did happen," she smiles. "I've done it once, why not again?"
Something about the way she said that scared me. Not because we were talking about me dying again, but first off, because she acted as if she almost didn't die the first time she brought me back. Then her tone told me that she thought that she could just bring me back whenever and however she wanted; like dying was no big deal. I thought she knew that it didn't work like that, but I didn't have the heart to tell her that the only reason I came back was because of pure luck and everything lining up just right. It was a miracle.
Instead, I pulled her closer, getting a whiff of her perfume. "Why do I have a feeling that someone is going to die tonight?"
"Probably because you're a seer and you're right," Allison says, despair in her voice. "We're going to save Deaton; I know that much."
"He saved you, Allison..." I breathe, remembering the look on her face when she almost slipped away from me; the black blood on her lips haunting me at night. "We have to save him too."
As soon as I said that, a loud ringing filled the silence around us. It took me a moment after Allison pulled away from me to realize that it was the fire alarm, which was odd. I mean, how many times has a fire alarm went off at school and it was the real deal?
"You've got to be kidding me," Allison sighs as she grabs her backpack from the ground, throwing it up on her shoulder before taking my hand. "I guess we better go then."
We start to walk out of the locker room, but right when Allison reaches for the door handle, the door goes flying open, revealing a frantic Stiles.
"What are you doing-"
"Have you seen Lydia?" he asks, his eyes wide.
I furrow my eyebrows. "No, why?"
"We need her to find Deaton," he says before his eyes stop on me. "Actually, we need you too."
I raise my eyebrows. "Me? I don't know where he is-"
"We need Lydia," he interrupts me, running around Allison and I as he searches the whole locker room as if he was playing hide and seek. I was willing to bet though that she was in some room making out with some lucky teenager in high school, more than likely being Aiden.
Allison looks up at me. "I'm going to go find Scott, okay? I need to tell him about the map."
I nod my head. "Okay, I'll stay here and help the spaz find the red head-"
"It's strawberry blonde!" Stiles shouts over to me, continuing to search. Allison rolls her eyes slightly.
"Stay safe," she says as if on command before pecking my cheek with her lips, turning and leaving the locker room. I smile to myself for a moment before turning around to see Stiles throwing open every locker door as if she was hiding in one of them.
I sigh. "Stiles, she wouldn't be hiding in there-"
"Just making sure," he says, lost in his own thoughts. He whips around and faces me again. "You go check the weight room."
I scoff. "Stiles, why in the hell would she be in the weight room?"
"She's got to build up muscle somehow!" Stiles screams at me, but it was more-so of a funny type of scream.
I raise an eyebrow. "You're telling me that Lydia Martin, the girl who probably wears heels while sleeping, might be in the weight room because she needed to build up muscle?"
Stiles' eye twitches as he looks up at me. "Yes!"
I roll my eyes before a scream making my head snap towards Coach's office comes across my ears. Stiles was already running towards it as I follow after him, having a gut feeling that it was Lydia that screamed. I wasn't sure why she was screaming, but I had a bad feeling.
Stiles was standing there in the doorway when I came up behind him, seeing Cora standing there with her hand on Lydia's wrist. "Let her go. I said let her go."
Cora looks over at Stiles before dropping Lydia's hand, angry. I wasn't sure what that was all about, but I had a feeling it had to do with the smeared lipstick that was now painted on Lydia's lips. "Cora, what are you doing here?"
"I didn't think I'd see you again, ghost boy," Cora remarks as she walks away from Lydia, staring me up and down. "Quite honestly, I'm surprised you're still alive."
"Thanks," I say, not really sure how to respond to that. I mean, Cora and I had some conversations back in the vault, but nothing to where you could classify us as great friends. "But can you explain to us why you're here?"
She looks back at Lydia. "I was just telling her to stay away from Aiden. You know, cause he's apart of a pack of alphas that wants you, Corey, for your ability and my brother dead."
Stiles speaks now. "What do you mean they want Derek dead?"
"He killed Ennis," Cora fades out, her eyes going dull. "They're coming for him tonight. They're going to kill him."
My heart starts to pound in my chest, but only because of all of the lives at stake right now. First Deaton, now Derek, and not to mention everyone around them. I definitely knew now that someone wasn't going to make it to tomorrow alive.
The room is silent for a moment before Stiles gets back to the task at hand. "Lydia, you need to come with us."
She wrinkles her nose up. "What? Why?"
"Because you can find Deaton," Stiles says before looking back at me. "So can you."
Lydia looks just as confused as I do. "How in the hell am I supposed to help find Deaton?"
"You're a seer!" Stiles exclaims. "You can literally see visions of the past, present, and future-"
"Not the future," I correct. "I can't see the future. Not yet, anyways."
Stiles shakes his head. "Whatever. Plus, I'm sure since you and Lydia are "messengers of death", as Deucalion said, you guys can work together to find him."
Lydia's eyes are wide as she stares at me, the conversation I had with her awhile back at the Motel coming back up in my mind. "Stiles, we don't even know what we're capable of-"
"We don't even know what Lydia is!" he says, pointing at her. I could sense his frustration before he takes a deep breath. "All I know is that Deaton might die if you guys don't at least try. Can you please just do this for me? For Deaton?"
Lydia's eyes connect with my own as the room goes silent. I knew that Stiles was right; if we had the potential to find Deaton, we had to at least try. Like I said before, he saved Allison. I'd do anything to repay the favor. Lydia's eyes give me her answer as I nod my head yes to Stiles.
"This should be interesting," Cora says dryly, but I knew she was right.
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Aye I didn't realize how long it's been since I've updated for this story! I've been so busy I just can't keep track anymore. But isn't that GIF adorable?! Someone had made it for me and I can't remember who it was exactly but if you're reading this and you were the one who made it, please tell me! I want to dedicate the chapter to you (:
Hoping to make Lydia and Corey next chapter pretty interesting. Well, at least spice it up a little bit. Who knows how it'll work out though...I suck at keeping to plans for stories.
Vote and comment cuties!
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