chapter seven || help me

"Okay, well, we know one thing: both of the first two keys, Allison and Aiden, they're both names of the dead, right?" Stiles asks Lydia.

She nods. "But we've already tried every other dead person's name we could think of, and if you haven't noticed, there were a lot of tries."

Stiles rubs his forehead. "Yeah, I've noticed," he looks at her door. "Hey, is Ariel here?"

Lydia sighs. "Yeah she's in her room sleeping. Please don't bother her she needs her rest."

Stiles nods knowing she is right. He sighs. "Alright, okay." The pale boy looks up at Lydia. "Hey, are you okay?" He asks, seeing the distant look in her eyes.

"The only other banshee I've ever met and I think I might have just drove her over the edge."

Stiles sighs. "Lydia, it wasn't your fault, Parrish was there too and you're probably not the only... hold on. Banshees predict death, right? So what if the third key is someone who isn't dead... "

"But will be," Lydia says before taking a deep breath, closing her eyes and types in 'Derek'.

The word 'Denied' pops up across the screen in big bold red letters.

Stiles sighs. "Try again."

Lydia once again closes her eyes and types. Stiles looks at the screen his face pale, Lydia having a horrified expression.

"No, no!" Stiles says shaking his head.

Lydia looks at Stiles, pity in her eyes. "Stiles..."

"No!" He screams pounding his fist on the desk, Lydia flinching in her seat.

"Please, Lydia, please write something else," he begs, his voice cracking.

Lydia shakes her head, her eyes glossed over and presses enter. A list of names fill the computer screen.

Stiles shakes his head. "I can't, I can't."

Lydia takes a deep breath and looks at the names on the screen.

The pack maybe able to save these people but they won't be able to save the mermaid that has swam her way into their hearts.

They're going to lose Ariel.

Because her death was inevitable.

❁

"After entering the IP address, you will be connected through a Darknet portal to an untraceable bank. Once logged in, enter your account number to receive wire transfers. The IP address will deactivate with each transfer. You will be assigned a new IP address if you choose to continue down the list. Remember, visual confirmation is always required for payment," a deep voice blares out through the tape recorder, informing the werewolf and his best friend how people get payed.

"You ever made a wire transfer?" Stiles asks his best friend.

Scott shakes his head. "Never had enough money," he shrugs.

"So you didn't understand a word of that either?"

"I don't understand any of this. Why would someone use all this money just to kill us?"

"Someone wants you dead, dude, obvioisly," the pale boy tells his friend. He sighs and runs his forehead in complete exhaustion, his best friend noticing.

"Are you okay?"

Stiles shakes his head. "Honestly? No, not at all."

Scott puts his arm around Stiles. "Hey, I'll protect her, alright?"

Stiles shakes his head and stands up. "That's the thing, no one can protect her, alright? Lydia predicted it, and she's never been wrong. Ariel is going to die and I'll have to add her on the long list of people I've killed!"

Scott takes in a deep breath. "You didn't kill Alison, Stiles. The Nogitsune did, not you. It's the samething for Ariel, it won't be your fault."

Stiles shakes his head and sits on the bed, his elbows on his knees his head facing the floor. "If I didn't bring her into this then she would of been perfectly fine, splashing around in the lake with that beautiful smile."

"You weren't the only one who brought her into this, we all did, she was brought into this the moment we talked to her. It's not just on you Stiles, its on all of us."

Stiles doesn't say anything and just stares at the floor. Scott sighs and starts putting the money in the bag.

Stiles immediately stands up, their conversation forgotten for now. "Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?"

"It's late and we've got the PSATs in the morning."

"No, I meant the money, $500,000, you know how much money that is?"

"It's 500,000..." Scott says slowly as if talking to a child.

"It's half a million dollars, Scott," Stiles says flailing his arms around.

"Pretty sure that's the samething," Scott mumbles.

"What are you going to do, just slide it under your mattress?"

"I have to talk to Derek," Scott tells Stiles. "The money's his."

"You mean his and Peter's," Stiles reminds Scott.

"What does that mean?"

"It means maybe we should proceed with caution."

"You don't think we should tell Derek?"

"No, no," Stiles sighs. "No, of course we have to tell him. I'm just... I'm just saying, some of that money's Peter's, right?"

"Yeah."

"Right, you know, Peter?" Stiles repeats but then rolls his eyes noticing his best friends confused expression. "Homicidal killer? Remember? You want to give $500,000 to him?"

Scott furrows his eyebrows. "So we should give Derek his money back. But not Peter?"

Stiles points at Scott. "Hey, I didn't say that!"

Scott sighs in frustration. Stiles, what are you saying?"

Before Stiles could reply Malia burst into the room. "We found Satomi's pack, Derek and I, but they're dead."

Scott's eyes widen. "All of them?"

Malia nods. "All the ones we found."

❁

The pack-- minus Lydia, Ariel, and the recently turned beta Liam-- all stood around the school waiting for the PSATS. "Where's Lydia?"

"She's took it her freshman year."

"Well, what about Ariel?"

Stiles rolls his eyes. "The principal said she didn't have to take it," he says shaking his head. "That girl can charm her way through anything, she could probably commit genicide and people would praise her for it," Stiles says making Scott chuckle.

"Does that mean I could have taken it some other time or not at all?" Malia asks Stiles.

"Malia," Scott begins. "You studied harder for this than any of us."

"Doesn't mean I'm gonna do good."

"Well..." Stiles adds.

Malia turns her head towards Stiles. "Well, what?"

"It's do well, not good," Stiles corrects her.

"Oh, God! Okay, okay."

"You're doing this, because while we're trying not to die, we still need to live. If I survive high school, I'd like to go to college. A good college," Scott tells Malia, trying to encourage her.

"It's only three hours. We can survive three hours," Kira says trying to cheer up Malia.

❁

"Hey Ariel?" Lydia calls out after knocking on the red-heads door. "I'm going to the mall," she tells her, lifting up her shoulder bag slightly. "So you wanna come?"

Ariel smiles at the offer but shakes her head. "No thanks."

Lydia smiles weakly. "Well, maybe we can have a movie night? We can invite the whole pack?"

Ariel gives Lydia a grin. "Yeah, I'd love that!" She tells Lydia excitedly.

"Alright, well I'm going to go now," the strawberry blonde tells her friend, her eyes glossy which goes unoticed to the innocent mermaid. "I'll see you later."

Ariel nods excited about the movie night. "Bye!"

❁

"Sydney!" Ms. Martin calls out to the girl with brown hair that fell out of her chair. "Are you all right?"

"I'm okay. I just got kind of dizzy," the junior reassures her.

"Sydney, how long have you had this?"

Sydney shakes her head. "I-- I don't know."

"Ms. Martin, do I need to stop the test?" Simon asks.

Ms Martin shakes her head. "No, um, no it's fine," she denies his request. "Just, just everybody stay in your seats. I'll, um, be back in a minute. Nobody leaves the room."

"Get back! No! Do not come in here! Get back outside! Back to your seats, now please," Ms. Martin begs to the students that have gotten out of their seat.

I need the number of the CDC. Yes, the Center for Disease Control."

❁

A loud thunk pulls Ariel away from the book she was reading. She gets up and walks to her door. "Lydia?" Ariel asks poking her head out through the door. "Lydia?" She asks walking down the stairs and to the kitchen where she hears rustling. She cracks a smile. "Lydia, what are you doing back so early? There's no way you bought the whole mall in 30 minutes?" She jokes but her disappears because there standing in front of her was a person clad in all black, face included, holding a large kitchen knife. Ariel lets out a high pitched scream and starts to run towards the door.

The masked person lunges towards her knocking her down. They straddle her and stab at her shoulder but she rolls away. She grabs a vase and throws it at the person, knocking them down only for them to stand back up.

She runs up the stairs but the masked person grabs her legs. "Help!" She screams to no one, tears pouring down her face. She kicks the masked person in the face. They let go giving her a few seconds to run up the stairs to her room and close the door.

She locks the door and puts her desk in front of it. She sobs as she here's the person banging on her door. "Please," she whispers. "Please, I don't want to die," she says right as the door slams open.

wow, is it me or was that intense? not the best chapter then again none of them really are.

anyways please tell me what you think.

be cool kid and
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