t w e l v e
t e s t s
"AFTER ENTERING THE IP ADDRESS, YOU WILL BE CONNECTED THROUGH A DARNET PORTAL TO AN UNTRACEABLE BANK. Once logged in, enter your account number to receive wire transfers. The IP address will deactivate with each transfer. You will be assigned a new IP address if you choose to continue down the list. Remember, visual confirmation is always required for payment."
Stiles stopped pressed the stop button on the radio as Isaac, Scott and Amelia kept staring at it.
She didn't understood a word she just listened. She only knew that this guy was very careful about his money, if he was so secure about these IP addresses he kept talking about.
"You ever made a wire transfer?" Stiles asked the other three.
"Never had enough money," whispered Scott.
Stiles looked towards Isaac and then Amelia, both shaking their heads.
"So you didn't understand a word of that either?"
Amelia talked. "I don't understand any of this," was the thing she said before grabbing her bag, taking out the paper with the dead pool on it. "Why would someone use all this money just to kill us?"
"Someone wants you dead," Stiles whispered. "Badly."
Amelia looked at the list again, caressing her name with her index finger.
AMELIA SEALGAIR 23
"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" Isaac asked Scott when he started packing all the money back on the bag.
"It's late," replied Scott. "We've got the PSATs in the morning."
"No, I meant the money," clarified Isaac. "Five hundred thousand dollars. You know how much money that is?"
Scott stared at Isaac for a few seconds before looking at Stiles. "It's five hundred thousand—"
"It's half a million dollars," interrupted him Stiles. "Scott, what are you going to do, just slide it under your mattress?"
"We have to talk to Derek," intervened Amelia. "It's Derek's money."
"You mean his and Peter's," mentioned Stiles and Amelia scoffed.
"What does that mean?" She asked her boyfriend.
"It means maybe we should proceed with caution," tried to clarify Stiles.
Amelia raise an eyebrow. "You don't think we should tell Derek?"
"No," replied simply Stiles before he stood up, making Isaac, Scott and Amelia look at him. "No," Stiles sighed as he turned around. "No, of course we have to tell him. I'm just... I'm just saying, some of that money's Peter's, right?"
"Yeah," answered Isaac as Stiles turned around.
"Right? Peter," he spit the name. "Homicidal killer? Remember? You guys want to give five hundred thousand dollars to him?"
Amelia stood up from the floor, looking at Stiles. "So... we should get Derek his money back. But not Peter?"
"I didn't say that, Ames..."
The girl frowned. "Stiles... what are you saying?"
They heard some banging and Isaac was quick to push the bag under the bed before the him and Scott stood up, looking towards the door.
Malia opened it, revealing Dahlia behind her.
"We found Satomi's pack," informed the werecoyote. "Dahlia, Derek and I. But they're dead."
Isaac opened his eyes. "All of them?"
"All the ones we found," talked Dahlia as he laid her arm against the frame of the door.
Amelia stepped forward.
"Then where's Derek?"
• • •
They were in the line for the SATs and Amelia kept looking at her phone.
DEREK (SOURWOLF)
I'm fine
Why does he have to be so mysterious all the time? What the hell was that supposed to mean? "I'm fine"? The guy found an entire pack of wolves dead and a whatever Braeden almost dead, and the only thing he can say to her is "I'm fine"?
Oh, she was going to kill him.
AMELIA
What do you mean by that?
She waited for a few seconds before her phone chimed again.
DEREK (SOURWOLF)
That I'm fine
"Oh God, I hate him," she whispered before typing again.
AMELIA
don't lie
DEREK (SOURWOLF)
I'm not lying. I'm fine
DEREK (SOURWOLF)
Go give you PSATs
DEREK (SOURWOLF)
happy face emoji
Amelia frowned before scoffing.
AMELIA
Did you just write happy face emoji
hoping that a happy face emoji
will appear?
DEREK (SOURWOLF) IS NOW OFFLINE
Amelia smiled to herself before placing her phone in her bag, looking at Stiles with a smile as the guy kissed her cheek.
"Where's Lydia?" Kira asked and Amelia laid her back on the lockers.
"She took it her freshmen year," replied Amelia, making Malia turn around to look at her.
"Does that mean I could have taken it some other time?" She asked abruptly, making Amelia chuckle a bit.
"Malia," called her Scott, "you studied harder for this than any of us."
"Doesn't mean I'm gonna do good."
Amelia raised her eyebrows before placing both of her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Well..."
"Well, what?" She asked the protector.
"It's... do well, not do good," she corrected her softly, making Malia panic.
"Oh, God!" She exclaimed and Amelia opened her eyes.
"You're doing this," assured her Scott, "because while we're trying not to die, we still need to live. If I survive high school, I'd like to go to college. A good college."
Amelia smiled as Malia turned around to look at her.
"Where's Dahlia?"
"She's uhm... not gonna come. She's busy... with not coming because she hates school," replied Amelia, giving Malia a reassuring smile.
"It's only three hours," commented Isaac, raising his eyebrows. "We can survive three hours."
Oh, Amelia really wished that was true.
• • •
She pressed her thumb against the ink before placing it on the square at the top right corner of the sheet, grabbing the test from the examiner before walking towards Lydia's mom.
"Cell phone in the envelope, Amy. You'll get it back after the test."
Amelia nodded before turning her phone off, placing it inside the envelope. She noticed how Lydia's mom was staring at her bag before she looked down, noticing that she left it open after getting her phone out.
"You practice archery?" Was the thing she asked and Amelia nodded quickly.
"I have training," she said, "after the test. It's disarmed." The girl smiled before walking towards her desk, seeing Stiles walk past her, sitting behind her.
She also noticed how he had like three Number 2 pencils behind both ears and the other in his hand, making the girl chuckle a bit.
At least someone was more nervous than what she was.
"Please do not open the test booklet until you are instructed to do so," demanded the examiner. "This test is two hours and ten minutes long. There will be two twenty-five-minute critical reading sections, two twenty-five-minute math sections and an essay writing portion that will last thirty minutes."
Amelia looked behind her to see Stiles, who quickly looked up from her test to smile at her.
"Love you," he mouthed and she smiled.
"Love you too," she mouthed as well before looking in front of the classroom as the teacher glanced towards Lydia's mom.
"There are supposed to be two teachers monitoring this exam," he said to the woman and Mrs. Martin nodded.
"I know. It's Coach. He's not exactly punctual." Amelia raised an eyebrow as the woman picked up her cell. "Uhm, let me just try him again."
The woman left the classroom and Malia quickly turned around to look at her.
"I'm panicking. Where is Dahlia?" She whispered to her and Amelia raised her eyebrows.
"She's not coming. She's allergic to test booklets and N°2 pencils. Why do you need her so badly?"
Malia looked down before turning around again, making Amelia confused.
Mrs. Martin entered again the classroom, chuckling nervously.
"I can't find him, but Mr. Yukimura is upstairs grading papers. Do you want me to try him?" The woman offered, but the examiner shook his head.
"We have to start. We can ask for his assistance during the first break."
Amelia exhaled deeply, looking at her name on the paper.
But only seeing...
AMELIA SEALGAIR 23
ELIZABETH SEALGAIR 11
DAHLIA MARTINEZ-SEALGAIR 5
GABRIELLA SEALGAIR 500
Amelia squeezed her eyes shot and shook her head a bit before opening them, looking how her name had gotten back to normal again.
"You may now open your test booklets and begin."
Amelia followed the instructions and started reading the first question of the exam.
She blinked several times.
She should have definitely studied more instead of telling Stiles not to and make out.
"Excuse me, professor." Amelia raised her eyes from the exam when she recognized that voice.
"Ally?" She asked in a whisper.
Allison Argent was standing on the door, with a crossbow in his hand and the dead pool on the other, with the names of Lizzie, Dahlia and her mother crossed with red lines.
"I'm missing one name."
She blinked several times when she heard the bang, turning around quickly to see a girl passed out on the floor.
She looked back against the door, and Allison was gone.
"Sydney!" Exclaimed Mrs. Martin and Amelia looked again towards the girl again, noticing she was definitely passed out. "Sydney, are you alright?" The woman asked her as she helped her stand up when she regained consciousness.
"I'm okay," the girl said, panting. Mrs. Martin kept helping her stand up. "I just got kind of dizzy."
The woman looked down to Sydney's wrist.
"Sydney, how long have you had this?" Mrs. Marring asked the girl.
Amelia could see that it was a red mark.
"I don't know," stammered the girl.
The examiner interrupted. "Mrs. Martin, do I need to stop the test?"
The woman looked at him. "No, uhm, it's fine."
Sydney sat back in her seat and Amelia turned around to look at Stiles, who was that same worried face he has when he can't figure something out.
"Everybody stay in your seats," Mrs. Martin told them. "I'll, uhm, be back in a minute."
She whispered something to the examiner before she left the classroom, making Amelia frown before looking back at the test.
But only seeing big words in bold letters.
I'M COMING FOR YOU AMY
LOVE, ALLY
Amelia blinked several times, panting before she felt a hand on her naked shoulder.
Stiles.
Amelia laid back on the chair, exhaling as Stiles kept his hand on her shoulder, making her calm down.
She nodded softly and he removed it, letting her look back at the booklet before she heard screaming.
"No! Get out of here! Get back! Get back outside!" They heard Mrs. Martin yell, making Amelia raise her eyes from the test before looking towards Stiles.
They all stood up, Amelia interlocking her fingers with Stiles before they walked out of the classroom, noticing Mrs. Martin standing there, against the exit door, panting.
"Back to your seats. Now," she demanded to the group. Amelia looked at Stiles. "Please."
They all walked back inside, seating down in their desks again before trying to focus.
"If you want to hear things," told her Isaac, "you have to isolate the things you don't want to hear."
"How do I do that?"
"How do you hear my heartbeat?"
"By focusing." Isaac smiled. "Okay..."
"I need the number of the CDC," she heard Mrs. Martin said, and she knew Scott and Isaac heard it too. "Yes, the Center for Disease Control."
• • •
They were outside the door, watching as people covered in yellow suits from head to too, were walking across the hallway, making Amelia dry swallowed as she hold on to Stiles's hand.
Amelia was nervous, Amelia was so nervous.
After they announced the quarantine, Amelia couldn't stop biting her nails, not even when Stiles pulled her arm away.
Not even that.
She was sitting in between Stiles's legs on top of a desk, staring at a spot on the floor while she heard her boyfriend talking.
"Bet they're thinking smallpox," he said and she heard him behind her.
"Not likely," interrupted the examiner, making the whole group look at him. "Smallpox was eradicated worldwide in 1979." Amelia raised her eyebrows as she slowly put down her arm. "We've only managed to completely eradicate two viruses in history. The other was rinderpest. It killed cows."
Amelia frowned. "So we should be comforted by that, right?" She asked as Stiles pulled her against his chest, placing her hand away from her mouth.
"Unless it's something worse," said the teacher.
Amelia stared at him confused before getting a bit worried. Stiles noticed this, and he wrapped his arms around her, trying to calm her a bit.
He knew her well, and there was one thing Amelia hated and that was being sick. It was very rare that she got sick since she's always had the ability to heal faster than a human, but that doesn't mean that she didn't ever get sick, just that it was softer on her.
But she hated it, and Stiles knew that. He hugged her tight from behind, as he tried to calm her a bit.
"Hey," Stiles whispered to her ear and Amelia closed her eyes. "I love you... everything will be alright."
Amelia nodded softly before Malia talked again.
"Whatever it is, they're taking it pretty seriously. There's a lot of cars and trucks out there."
Someone opened the door, making everyone look at it.
"Dahlia?" Amelia asked as her cousin slowly walked towards the group, making Malia stand up quickly. "What? How did you?"
Dahlia placed her index finger in front of her lips before sitting next to Malia, smiling.
Amelia scoffed. "The only person I know that is psycho enough to voluntarily enter a quarantine." Dahlia smiled as Malia kept hearing before looking towards Stiles.
"Your dad's with them," she said the the guy behind Amelia, making him frown.
"Hey, I should probably call him," he whispered before patting Amelia two times on the legs.
She stood up and let him walked towards the desk, looking for his phone.
"Don't bother," said the examiner to him, making Stiles look up. "They would have shut off any access to all outside communication by now. No cell service, no WiFi. No one starting a panic."
Dahlia scoffed a bit. "Who's that guy?"
"Looks like we're all just going to have to wait here and see what happens."