Beacon ⌲ Stiles Stilinski [1] EDITING

twenty six

Further down the hallway, my footfalls came quicker and I had to fight the urge to check over my shoulder for someone following me or someone who knew what we were doing. I had done my part: presented the bestiary snippet to the school's approachable language expert and translated the bulk of our mystery document. I'd fallen a little short on actually disproving Lydia as the kanima, but at least Latin was now comprehensible English and our idea of the creature was a little less foggy. It was something.

Rounding the corner, I halted in my tracks when my eyes fell on the very people I was hurrying to meet. Instead of waiting in the library, Stiles, Allison, a confused Lydia, and even a reluctant Jackson were trudging down the hall in the exact opposite direction.

I waited until they caught up with me and joined their current, our path now set for the parking lot.

"Change of plans?" I poised the question as casually as I could. Allison met my gaze with a strained look in her eyes, despite her grin and nonchalant shrug.

"Study group is just changing locations."

Lydia rolled her eyes as the group continued to gently push her along down the halls. "I don't see why we have to leave the library."

"We're meeting up with someone else," Stiles explained.

"Couldn't they just meet us in the library?"

Lydia's steadiness was met with a heartbeat of silence and a strangled laugh from Stiles.

"Wow! That would've been a great idea! Really, Lydia, you are just so... so smart," his eyebrows jumped up his forehead and he flailed his arm more than necessary. "Oh well! Too late!"

She pondered this for a minute, halting her tracks and pursing her lips. "Wait, hold on-"

Jackson huffed and pushed pass me to wrap his hand tightly around Lydia's upper arm in frustration. I winced as he yanked her forward and growled into her ear, "Just shut up and walk."

Outside, the sky was overcast and ominous. Watching the lesser co-captain push Lydia into Stiles' blue jeep and the flannel clad boy shaking his head vigorously to himself, I joined Allison outside of our own car. 

"Where are we going and why is he here instead of Scott?" I hushed.

"Scott's still talking with Derek somewhere," she fidgeted nervously. "But we can't wait for him in the library."

"Why not?"

"Because Derek wasn't going to kill Lydia, he was going to get his minions to do it and we have to get as far away from them as possible."

I had thought Isaac, Erica, and even Boyd were just going to test our friend, but it turned out that they felt justified doing everything for the alpha in charge.

"Okay, but why does he have to be here?" I motioned to Jackson as he swung his feet into the jeep's backseat next to Lydia.

"I don't know, I thought he could help," she groaned and walked over to the driver's side of the car while she carried on in a whisper. "He said he needed to talk to her anyway. Deep down, I think they both still care about each other."

"Well he's definitely got an odd way of showing it," I mumbled in disbelief, but Allison had already opened her door and slid behind the wheel.

The journey to Scott's house was quiet as we tailed the Jeep closely. Through the back window of the vehicle, I shot daggers at Jackson for his scowl and the way he was manhandling Lydia, who I kept watch of simultaneously. 

She had closed herself off by crossing her arms tightly around her body and she kept twisting in her seat to glance at the surroundings; still unsure of our final destination but well aware of the anxiety thick in the air.