chapter twenty two
"a missing stiles"
"AND THAT'S WHAT AN EVOLVED werewolf is, aka me, tada."
Lynn glanced over towards Isaac — who was walking step by step with her while they headed their way back to the field. Luckily, it only took a short time for the small amount of venom that Jackson had managed to get into his system.
Isaac flashed her a warm smile, shrugging an arm over Lynn's shoulder while pulling her a bit under his weight. "You're not so bad, Kennedy."
Lynn couldn't help but chuckle at the somewhat sarcastic comment, but nonetheless liked the friendship she was slowly developing with the boy.
However, that lighthearted and sarcastic manner between the two werewolves shifted as screams echoed throughout the air, straight from the high school field. Lynn whipped her head with fear and concern written on her face as they both darted down the grassy field over to the bleachers.
Lynn noticed as they came across the crazed and confused crowd, that this had to be Gerald. That was when the lights flickered back on, and instead of running aimlessly around, people seemed to gather their breath back.
She focused on the center of the field, where she saw the parents of her friends, including hers, and then Scott and Lydia, surrounding someone's fallen body.
"Oh my God," Lynn breathed out as she noticed who the body belonged to, and she had a surprised expression covering her face as she saw his bloodied hands — he did this to himself, but why?
Melissa started to direct a few people to help cover the wound, CPR, etc, but none of it seemed to help. Lynn could listen in, Jackson's pulse was gone.
It wasn't like she hated the boy, or that he deserved to die, and there was a serious part of he heart humming with pain at seeing the bloodied boy just laying there without a single twitch.
"This is all your fault."
Lynn's sister's voice echoed throughout the back of her voice, and soon Jackson's body was replaced with hers, only the blood covering her body was ten times worse. When Lynn gazed down to her shaking hands, what saw her horrified her so much that she gasped under her breath. They were covered with the crimson colored liquid, all of her fingers and palms, and her claws were shredded through skin.
Isaac seemed to notice the way that Lynn was just staring at his body, then the way she seemed shocked when she glanced at her hands, like her feet were frozen to the ground, and she had lost track of her breathing.
"Lynn? Hey, Evelynn?"
Lynn flinched when she felt Isaac place his warm, slightly sweaty, palm on her left shoulder. She was brought back from the fear covered illusion she had just put herself through. Lynn sniffed and quickly recovered, most definitely not having the strength to talk about her, so then she skipped a few beats to be closer to Jackson's body.
But then terrifying words were released into the air, and Lynn felt like she was just about to fall right back down the rabbit hole; "Where's Stiles? Where's my son!?"
———
"I got to meet with the medical examiner and try to figure out what happened with Jackson. I've got an APB out on Stiles. His jeep is still in the parking lot, so that means..."
Lynn sympathetically glanced up to make eye contact with the Sheriff, and then her eyes fell right back down to the ground. She couldn't believe that Stiles had just disappeared right from the field, and even thought she hadn't really known the boy long, she couldn't help but to possibly imagine that it would be his bloodied body they find next.
But she nervously shoved those negative thoughts into the back of her head, and focused at the plan at hand. Scott said that their best bet would be to find some of Stiles' clothes and try tracking him down.
She suggested that they call Derek, since he had more experience in that field than any of them, and when Scott finally caved and dialed the man's number, he went straight to voicemail. Then, when Lynn was about to say that he would answer her, no doubt, she quickly clasped her mouth back closed.
"The hell, I don't know what that means," the Sheriff corrected, and then his voice trailed more a moment. "Um, look, if he answers his phone, if he answers his emails, if any one of you see him—
"—We'll call you."
"You'll be the first person to know, Sheriff," Lynn added onto to Isaac's statement, and the smallest amount of relief seemed to spread across the older man's face, but it quickly dispersed when he must've been reminded that they have yet to find his son.
"Look, he's probably just freaked out from all the attention or something," Scott explained, but Lynn wasn't too sure if the Sheriff would believe his shaky tone. "We'll find him."
"Yeah, I'll see you kids, okay?"
And with that, the Sheriff share done more look with each of the kids, and then headed towards the exit. Lynn sighed a bit, where both of her male friends seemed to notice her decreased mood, but didn't have the strength to comment on it, figuring it was because o their missing friend.
Lynn peeled open her lips to ask what the next step was, but was interrupted as she felt someone's presence sneak up behind her. She quickly jumped off to the side with caution, but quickly exhaled a deep breath when she recognized it was just Coach.
She was half expecting a screaming fit from the man on the fact that Lynn seemed to just disappear from the field halfway through the game. But she was heavily surprised when the man just faced towards Scott instead.
"McCall, we need you on the team, okay?" Coach spoke up, and Lynn's face twisted a bit in confusion when all she could smell from the man was — sadness. There wasn't any happiness from their victory, no anger from some of his teammates vanishing in the game, just pure sadness. "You know I can't put you on the field next season if you don't get your grades up."
"Yeah, I know, coach," Scott replied, and by his sympathetic face, he must've also noticed how different Coach was acting right now.
"Alright," Coach concluded, turning on his heels for a moment, but then he just shifted right back towards the three werewolves. I mean, I-I know I yell a lot, but it's not like I hate you guys. Well, I kind of hate Greenberg, but, you know, that's different, it's Greenberg. I'm just saying we-I need you on the team. Get your grades back up."
"I will," Scott answered with a more affirmative, stronger voice than the last time.
"I know."
Coach flashed a small, slightly tight lipped smile towards both Isaac and Lynn as he turned around, and that was when noticed that practically everyone that was previously in the locker room was no where to be seen.
"Is that everyone?" Scott questioned, and when Lynn peaked her head around the next set of lockers, she didn't spot a single soul.
"Yeah, it looks like—" Lynn was interrupted as Scott just ripped the front of Stiles' locker right off the hinge, she then looked wide eyed towards Isaac, who simply shrugged. "—Or just damage school property when the coach literally just walked out the door."
Scott didn't seem to find Lynn's statement funny, or he might've not even selected to hear it in the first place, because he continued on digging through Stiles' locker, tossing certain items onto the other side as he did so.
"You're gonna find him by scent?" Isaac asked, and his tone seemed to be a bit weary, probably because he's hardly ever even tried finding something by scent.
"Yeah, all three of us are," Scott instructed, lightly throwing an old shoe in Isaac's direction, where he easily caught the item.
"But how come you get his shirt and I get a shoe?" Isaac whined, lightly snitching his nose up when he smelled the shoe. Scott then picked up a stained white shirt for himself, and then cringed up his face as he handed Lynn a piece of clothing, but she didn't notice what until it was already in her hands.
"I don't think you get to complain, I got the boy's fucking UNDERWEAR!?" Lynn shouted in disbelief, immediately throwing the piece of clothing back at Scott, his face covered with pure disgust. "Give me that damn shirt."
Scott didn't seem to care whether he was sniffing a used shirt or Stiles' underwear, so he annoyingly tossed the shirt over to Lynn was keeping the striped boxers in his right hand. But then the boys irritated glance shifted into confusion as he looked past Lynn, behind her.
Lynn followed his eyes, turning on her heels to spot Derek standing directly behind her a few feet back. He was standing with his hands behind his back, his usual tight v-neck shirt covering his muscles with dark blue jeans pants. HIs eyes flickered over to Lynn, and she met those green eyes of his, and a butterfly erupted in her stomach.
"We need to talk," Derek stated, and Lynn wasn't so sure what she was recognizing in his voice, but it was almost like he was concerned for something.
An unfamiliar man then stepped from around the lockers to stand by Derek, and Lynn's guard shot through the roof, but then she noticed how Derek didn't even flinch. He knew who the man was, and that he was there with him the entire time.
"All of us."