Becoming The Shadows (Shadow Series #4)

23 - Burned

Sheriff Stilinski pops his head out of his office calling out to the other deputies, "Anybody seen Parrish?" 

I scramble to my feet genuinely concerned. Something's not right here. I look over to my two best friends curious to know if they have the same feeling. "Something's wrong. I just know it." 

"Haigh?" 

Deputy Haigh looks around the station and shrugs. "Haven't seen him." 

Lydia hastily comes to my aid. "He probably fell asleep in his car or something."

Sheriff Stilinski closes the door once more. "Let me try his radio." He crosses the room to go behind his desk. 

Three gunshots go off in the other room sending everyone into a panic. Lydia crouches down and covers her head. Stiles tries to shield her body and mine, but I move too quickly out of his way while grabbing the Chinese ring dagger I always keep on me. Sheriff Stilinski draws his own gun and rushes out of the room. 

I abruptly stop walking when I see Parrish covered head to toe in what looks like black ashes and completely naked. "Parrish?" I whisper, confused at the sight of him throwing Deputy Haigh to the ground.

"You're dead!" Haigh screams. 

"Hey! Hey!" Sheriff Stilinski tries to interfere. 

Haigh's gun goes off in his hand when Parrish punches him in the face. The bullet goes right into Sheriff Stilinski's right shoulder. 

"Parrish!" I shout at the guy that practically feels like an older brother to me, but more in a best friend kind of way. I lower my dagger, knowing I could never hurt him any way. 

"But, you're dead!" Haigh yells out in disbelief. 

Oh, my god. He tried to kill Parrish because he's on the deadpool. Parrish uncontrollably punches Haigh over and over again. 

I rush forward and kick Parrish backwards with my foot on his shoulder. "Enough!" I order him in a strict voice.

Parrish breathes heavily from the floor. Something in his eyes flash and reality sets in. His shaky hands are held out in front of him as he gawks at them, like they don't belong to him. I grab a random deputy jacket from a nearby desk and throw it to him suddenly remembering that he's naked. 

I look over my shoulder to Lydia. "Call Scott." 

"What's going on?" Parrish stands in the doorway of my bedroom. 

I finish pulling on Allison's leather jacket and pull my hair out from under it. "We're going to talk about it at Derek's." I grimace just by saying his name. "We're meeting Scott there and he'll help explain everything." 

He stands still in the doorway to prevent me from leaving my room. "You can explain how I'm not dead after being burned alive?" 

"Surprisingly, yes." I cross my arms over my chest. "There's a lot about this town that you don't know about- and a lot about me." 

"You mean how Lydia and Stiles call you Clara instead of Claire?" Parrish surprises me by saying. He must have noticed the alarmed reaction from me. "And how you easily became friends with all of them, like, you've known them for years?" He points to my bow in the corner of my room that I haven't put away yet. "And the fact that you use a bow much like Clara Argent did and you act just like her?" 

Taken aback, I observe Parrish's body language as he shares all of this with me. His stance is straight and tight. How does he know all of this? Parrish is much more observant than anyone ever gives him credit for. My mouth opens and then shuts unable to form a word or even a proper sentence.