From Demigods to Werewolves

Chapter 54: Stiles

"Yeah, we wouldn't be asking if we weren't sure," Lydia says. Parrish nods before he gestures for us to follow. The three of us follow Parrish to his patrol car and we all climb in. Atlantia took shotgun because we figured she would be able to sense any assassins if they decided to try to kill three targets in one hit. Luckily, no assassins were hunting us at the moment so we made it to the Eichen House with no one dying. However, as one of the orderlies were bringing us to Meredith after Parrish told him that a murder investigation required us to talk to her, my least favorite orderly came down the hall.

"Oh, no. Not this guy." I mumble making Atlantia turn to see Brunski coming down the hall.

"What the hell are we running here, a bed and breakfast?" Brunkski shouts at the other orderly, "We do not just open the door for anyone with a badge." The orderly just rolls his eyes before handing over the keys to Brunski and walking away.

"We need to talk to Meredith Walker. It involves a murder investigation." Parrish explains calmly.

"Well, you can talk to her all you want, but these three? Especially that one?" Brunski jerks his hand at Lydia, "They're outta here."

"They're crucial witnesses in an ongoing investigation. I wouldn't have brought them if it wasn't absolutely crucuial." Parrish says still in that calm tone.

"Okay, Deputy. How about you come back with a court order, then I'll listen." Brunski says getting in his face before he turns to me, "As for you, Mr. Stilinsk, how about you come back with payment in full?" I try to keep the hurt of how much my dad is struggling from the medical bills but I think I didn't do a good job, "That's right. Daddy may be the Sheriff but he's late on the bills. I guess those government jobs aren't as reliable as they used to be, huh?" I was struggling to keep my emotions in check but then Parrish saved me.

"But they do help when you need a favor," Parrish says, "Like, how a month ago, Canaan P.D. helped you get home after blowing a 0.1 on a breathalyzer."

"No," I say in amusement.

"All right. I'm not against a little quid pro quo." Brunski says holding out the keys to Parrish which he takes. He turns to leave but Atlantia stops him.

"And here's the Stilinski's payment so leave them alone," She says dropping a check into his hand. He looks at her in surprise but I think he could tell that he shouldn't say anything because he kept walking.

I first turn to Parrish and say, "You! You. I like you. I'm gonna keep you." before turning to Atlantia as Parrish snorts and unlocks the door. "Why did you do that?"

"Because you shouldn't suffer when I have unlimited money especially for something that is literally out of your control." Is Atlantia's response before she walks into the room. I didn't know what to say so I just followed her into the room. I guess Lydia had already explained to Meredith why they were there because Lydia was saying,

"Meredith, what do you mean, you can't tell us?" She sounded really annoyed and I didn't blame her since she was under a lot of pressure to be the one to crack the code.

"We just need the third key. You can give it to us in numbers, letters, hieroglyphs...whatever you want!" I say trying to persuade her. Parrish looked at me with a small smile on his face like he couldn't believe what I had just said.

"I can't." Meredith says.

"Then why did you give us the second key." Lydia says.

"I wanted to help. That's what I want to do. I want to help." Meredith says softly.

"Great!" Lydia says smiling, "So help us now. Okay? Give us the third cipher key."

"Things have changed. I...I can't." Meredith says.

"Why not?" I say a little angrier than I wanted it to sound.

"Guys, go easy on her." Parrish says once I rose my voice.

"I'm sorry. I can't. He...He doesn't want me to." Meredith says softly.

"He? Who's he?" I ask knowing that he could be the one behind the deadpool.

"Meredith, who doesn't want you to tell us the third cipher key?" Lydia says softly.

"The Benefactor." Meredith says cryptically.

"Who's the benefactor? What's his name? You could just tell us his name." Lydia says excitedly but Meredith just keeps shaking her head.

"Okay, you're shaking your head...What's that mean? Does that mean you don't know? Or youd don't want to help us?" I question.

"I can't...I can't help anymore." Meredith says. I could see her getting a little more anxious with each question I said so I fell silent.

"How do you know about him?" Lydia says ignoring the signs that Meredith was getting stressed.

"Guys, I think we better stop." I hear Atlantia says.

"Meredith, a lot of people are going to die if you don't tell us." Lydia continues. It was almost like she couldn't hear Atlantia.

"I don't...I don't know...I don't know." Meredith says very anxiously.

"Please, Meredith. It's okay. You're gonna be all right. Please." Lydia says finally noticing Meredith's anxiousness.

"I don't...I don't...I don't know." Meredith says even more anxious.

"Meredith..." Parrish says stepping in to try to calm her but Meredith just screams, "I said I don't know!" The last part was a banshee scream and I knew our meeting was over because she just laid down on the pillows. Parrish gently prompts Lydia to get up and follow him out the door. No one said a word till we were back at the station.

"I'm sorry Lydia." Parrish says before walks into the station. Atlantia gently nudges Lydia into her car and I climb in after them and I tell her to drive to my house. She does just that and Lydia had broken from her stupor to walk into my house. We went to my room and I sat her in front of my computer so we could figure out the last code.

"Okay, well...we know one thing. Both of the first two keys, Allison and Aiden, they're both names of those who are supposed to have died if Atlantia didn't save them." I say after Atlantia explained what she knew of the keys.

"But we've already tried every other name that we could think of that, Atlantia has saved." Lydia says, "And if you haven't noticed, there were a lot of tries."

"Yeah, I noticed," I say before noticing Lydia crying. "You okay?"

"The only other Banshee I've ever met...and I think I might have just drove her over the edge." Lydia says looking guilty.

"Lydia, it wasn't your fault. I was there, too. And you're probably not the only..." I trail off when I realize something, "Hold on. Banshees predict death, right? So, what if the key is someone who isn't dead..."

"...but will be." Lydia finishes. She hovers her hands over the keyboard and closes her eyes. She allowed for her fingers to hit the keys that they needed to click. The name that she typed made my heart stop. The name on the screen was Atlantia and the worst part was that the key worked.