Deafening Silence

13 // The End - Almost

 Derek dragged me out of there after that, set on finding Scott and Isaac. I sat obediently in the passenger seat, terrified. I had never seen this side of Derek before, the determined cold side. He looked over to me as we played eye tag, and finally I felt his warm fingers lace in between mine. His eyes were locked on mine, studying me. After a cough from the idiotic Peter, he snapped his concentration back to the road.

Once we were in the school after the game, he took me by the hand and led me inside to the locker rooms. Kids were completely ignoring us as they laughed and high-fived, ready for a night out of celebration. Others looked glum due to Jackson's so-called 'death', but I knew better.

As we stepped in, Derek stood in front of me protectively. He always did this around Isaac after the almost-kiss a while back, and I frowned up at the back of his head. As Scott and Isaac fussed over some of Stiles' clothes, I heard Derek's husky voice echo in the locker room.

"We need to talk."

They whirled around, partially in fear, and partially in surprise. When Peter stepped out, their eyes only got bigger.

"All of us." He said with a smug look. I rolled my eyes. Peter was always one for the dramatics.

"Holy sh....what the hell is this?" Scott asked, taking a predatory step forward.

"You know, I thought the same thing when I saw you talking to Gerard at the sheriff station." Derek retorted. "Okay, hold on, he threatened to kill my Mom! And I had to get close to him, what was I supposed to do?!" he shot back.

"I'm gonna go with Scott, on this one. I mean, have you seen his mom? She's gorgeous." he admired.

"Shut up!" we all yelled at once.

"Who is he?" Isaac asked tentatively.

"He's Peter." Scott said, anger tinted in his voice. "Derek's uncle. A little while ago, he tried to kill us all so we set him on fire and Derek slashed his throat." It seemed like he was basking in the moment.

Peter raised a hand, waving a tad as he said hi to Isaac.

Believe me, I would have killed him by now if he wasn't Derek's uncle.

"That's good to know." Isaac said coolly.

"How is he alive?" Scott demanded quizzically.

"Look, the short story is he knows how to stop Jackson, maybe how to save him." he added. I felt him grip my hand tighter and tighter. He must have really hated standing up for his uncle.

"Well, that's very helpful, except Jackson's dead." Isaac informed.

All of our faces dropped, our jaws hitting the floor.

"What?" Derek demanded. He was swung completely off guard.

"It just happened on the field." Scott explained.

"Okay...why is no one taking this as good news?" Isaac frowned, obviously lost.

"Because if Jackson is dead, it didn't just happen. Gerard wanted it to happen." Peter sighed.

"But why?" Scott frowned.

"Well, that's exactly what we need to figure out." He shot a glance at Derek as he stepped in front of us, the level of intimidation rising in the room. "And something tells me that the window of opportunity is closing. Quickly."