s e v e n t e e n
b o n f i r e
"TRY MADDY. IT'S GOT TO BE MADDY."
"Doesn't Maddy feel a little obvious as a cipher key?" Asked Amelia to her boyfriend as she was laying on the bed, looking at the ceiling, while Lydia was sitting in front of her laptop with Stiles and Lizzie standing behind her.
"Don't listen to her," Stiles told Lydia, making Amelia frown and sit down, placing her elbows on the bed to look at her boyfriend. "I guarantee it's Maddy."
As Lydia typed, Amelia couldn't help but to ask. "Why shouldn't she listen to me?"
"Agh, uhm... I love you," was the thing he replied, without even looking at her, his eyes glued to the screen.
When she heard the sound, she knew it wasn't Maddy.
"Okay, your name," Stiles told Lydia. "She left the code for you, right? So it's got to be your name."
Amelia heard the beep after Lydia typed. Not, it wasn't.
"Your mom's name?" Offered Lizzie.
The beep again.
"Do you have any beloved family pets?"
Amelia looked towards her boyfriend again as soon as she heard him.
"Oh, God," she whispered before letting herself fall on the bed again, closing her eyes in frustration.
When she opened them, she saw someone on top of her.
Allison.
Allison with a dagger.
Allison with a dagger about to stab her.
And she screamed.
"Amelia!" Yelled Stiles as she approached the girl, placing his hand on her back as she sat down, panting. "Amelia, breathe..."
But she couldn't. It was so real, it was so real. She was there. She was there. It was so real.
"Ames, you're having a panic attack, you need to breathe." But she couldn't. "Amelia, breathe. Ames..."
Amelia stared at him in panic as he tried to help her control her breathing again. She looked so scared, and her eyes started glowing as she was trying to stay calm.
"What happened to her?" Lydia questioned as Lizzie approached her sister.
"I don't know," whispered Stiles as she held on to his hands. "But something scared the hell out of her."
Not something... someone.
• • •
Amelia was sleeping on Stiles's bed as the other three kept trying to figure out the cipher key.
"Shouldn't we check on Amelia?" Lydia asked as she was about to stand up, but Lizzie sat her down again.
"She's fine. She just got a big scared. You focus on deciphering the code."
Lydia sighed, looking at the screen again with no idea how to decipher anything.
"The ashes were left for you," pointed out Stiles, looking at the girl. "The code was left for you. You're supposed to be able to figure this out."
"But no one else is," she whispered, looking at the screen. "Which is why she made it hard."
The printer started beeping, telling everyone around that she was out of paper. So, Stiles, frustrated, grab a pile of white sheets of paper and forced them inside the printer, exhaling.
Until he figure out. "You... «No one else»," he whispered. "No one else but you."
"What?" Lydia asked.
"Our guesses. They're all about Lorraine. Right? We are trying to guess a word that has something to do with her. So, maybe we should be trying to guess one that's about you."
"Me?" Doubted Lydia. "What about me?"
"What do you remember doing with your grandmother?" Lizzie crossed her arms in front of her chest, hearing Stiles out. "You know, what was you guys', like, special thing? Did you guys... Did you guys go to the beach? You know, did you like ice cream or..."
"My grandmother used to teach me and Amelia how to hunt deers." Stiles looked at Lizzie with a deeply worried and confused expression, trying to understand how did she say that with such calm.
"That's profoundly disturbing, and also explains a lot of things about you two," whispered Stiles and Lizzie nodded.
"We read," replied Lydia, making Stiles look at her.
"Okay," talked Stiles. "What did you read?"
Lydia shrugged. "The Little Mermaid."
"You read that cartoon movie?" Asked Lizzie in confusion and Lydia exhaled.
"It was a book first," Lydia explained. "Hans Christian Andersen."
Stiles sighed. "Type it in. Little Mermaid."
Lydia proceeded to type it, but the word ERROR appeared back. So she proceeded with Mermaid, but it didn't work either.
"We read it every night," assured Lydia in a whisper. "I got so obsessed with it, for three months I wouldn't respond to anything but Ariel. It drove my parents crazy, but..." Lydia opened her eyes as she started typing. "Grandma thought it was adorable."
And as soon as she typed the nickname, a new list of names was revealed.
"You recognize any of these names?" Lizzie asked her.
"Just my grandmother," she replied.
But the sound of the printer going on stopped the conversation, and also woke up Amelia.
"What's going on?" The girl asked as Stiles grabbed one of the papers, looking at it. "Did you figure out the cipher key?"
But she stopped herself when she saw what the printer was printing.
Copies of the list. Multiple, and multiple copies of the list.
"We need to call Scott."
• • •
Amelia was watching at they turned on the bonfire in celebration for the beginning of the lacrosse season.
"Hey you," she heard someone call her and she turned around, noticing it was her cousin Dahlia, walking towards her with a big smile.
"Hey you," she said back, smiling. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be at the hospital."
"Malia invited me. And I'm feeling much better, if I have to say," the girl assured her, smiling. "I also wanted to talk to you about something important. It's about Gabriella."
Amelia frowned. "My mother?"
"I might know why she's on the list."
But she got interrupted by someone scaring her from behind, making both Amelia and Dahlia raise their fists, only to see Scott standing there.
"Woah! It's just me," he said, chuckling. "Don't hit."
Amelia chuckled a bit. "Where's everyone?"
"I don't know, I thought you'd came with Stiles." She shook her head.
"He's busy. And I didn't feel like going to Eichen House, you know. Place kinda creeps me out," she said, shouting a bit so he could hear her over the music.
"Have you seen Malia?" Dahlia asked Scott and he shook his head.
"Let's go find her."
The three walked around the bonfire, looking at everyone dancing and jumping, having the time of their lives.
Amelia wished she could drink.
Her body will heal it to fast for her to even get drunk.
They arrived where Malia was and the girl was quick to receive Dahlia with a smile, and Amelia noticed how she was holding a glass with what she assumed alcohol.
"Hey," Scott greeted Malia and the girl smiled. "I didn't know you'll come. What are you doing here?"
"Getting drunk," she replied as she gave her cup to Dahlia so she could drink too. "What are you doing here?"
Scott sighed. "Trying to make sure no one gets hurt."
"That sounds fun too," Malia replied as she placed a hand over Dahlia's shoulders while her protector looked around.
"I don't want to ruin your night or anything," started Amelia, "but we kind of can't get drunk."
Malia frowned as Dahlia chuckled. "What?"
"It has to do with our healing," told her Dahlia. "But I still like to try. You're not gonna feel anything."
"Maybe you should tell him that," pointed out Malia behind her, making Dahlia, Amelia and Scott looked over to the bench.
Where Liam was trying to get drunk.
"Yikes, that can't be good," whispered Amelia, while Scott was still staring at Dahlia dancing with Amelia.
"Hey, Malia, can we please talk?"
"No," replied the coyote before Dahlia exhaled.
"I'm gonna get a drink," whispered the protector before looking at Malia. "Be right back."
Dahlia walked passed Amelia and Scott, and she didn't have the chance to ask her about the thing she figured out about her mother when Scott interrupted again.
"I just want to talk," he repeated to Malia as the girl kept dancing on her own.
"Well, I just want to dance," she yelled over the music.
"We had our reasons," he kept insisting. "We didn't tell you about Peter..."
"To protect me," cut him off Malia. "I understand that from Dahlia. And that's also what Peter said you would say. And guess what he said next? That you were right." Amelia and Scott frowned. "Does that surprise you?"
"No. It makes me wonder what he wants," admitted Amelia as she started dancing too, making Scott look at her confused. "What? I like to dance. I'm fun."
"Malia, we need to stay together," insisted to her Scott. "You, me, Amelia, Stiles, Dahlia..."
"Dahlia supports me in anything that I do. She said if I wanted to interact with Peter, that I was free to do it. And I just want to dance," the last she said getting a bit dizzy, making Amelia look at her confused. "And get drunk."
As she was about to walk away, she almost fell, making Amelia and Scott quickly ran towards her, grabbing her before she hurt herself.
The girl started laughing, making Scott and Amelia look at each other before looking at her.
"You're drunk," she whispered, being interrupted by Dahlia, who came running towards them, also almost falling. "And she's drunk too."
"Yep!" Exclaimed Dahlia as she placed her hands on Malia's cheeks. "Let's dance!"
"She can't be drunk," whispered Scott, looking at Amelia before they both looked towards Liam, who was also stumbling.
"Is this what drunk feels like?" Questioned Malia to Dahlia as she was getting dizzy, her protector too. "It doesn't feel as good as I hoped."
"I don't think it's supposed to," mentioned Scott, looking at the two girls. "Amelia, are you drunk?"
"I haven't had a single drink all night," whispered Amelia. "Malia?" But the two girls were too dizzy to even stand now.
Scott grabbed Malia's cup and smelled it before looking at the werecoyote.
"What's in this? What did you have to drink?"
"Just vodka!" Defended Malia.
"Stay on your feet," told her Scott to the girls, "and keep moving."
Amelia placed Dahlia's arms over her shoulders while Scott did the same with Malia, his protector following the Alpha wherever he was taking the girls.
• • •
Scott offered Dahlia and Malia bottles of water and the two girls picked them up, drinking from them.
Amelia approached Liam and his friend Mason, looking at how dizzy Liam was.
"How much has he had to drink?" Asked Amelia to Liam's friend and he sighed.
"Not enough to get him like this," he replied and Amelia looked towards Scott, who had the same revelation she had.
Assassination.
"Something's happening," announced Scott to Mason. "We need to get them out of here. I think we're gonna have to, uhm..."
"Scott?" Amelia called him as she noticed how he was staring at his hand before she started getting dizzy too.
"How much did you two drink?" Mason asked the two, but Amelia frowned.
"Nothing," replied Scott. "Not even a sip."
Amelia was almost falling, getting dizzier and dizzier every time, and Mason was quick to grab her before she fell on the floor.
"It's not the drinks," Amelia heard Scott say as the guy helped Amelia sit down next to Dahlia and Malia. "It's the music."
Scott quickly stood up, and Amelia looked at him confused.
"I have to..." started Scott. "I have to turn off the music." Mason looked at him confused. "Don't let them out of your sight."
As Scott left, Amelia looked towards Dahlia, trying to stay awake.
"My mother..." she started, making Dahlia look at her. "Why is... why is my mother on the list?"
"She's... she's... she is a..."
But she felt a man grabbing her by the arm, forcing her to stand up.
"Hey what are you doing?" Snapped at the men Mason. "These are my friends."
"Your friends are overly intoxicated. They need to be escorted out."
"Okay, I'll go with them."
"That won't be necessary," insisted the man, but Mason kept talking.
"I said they're my friends—"
But he cut off by the guy pushing him to the ground before continuing to grab Amelia, dragging her away.
• • •
She felt how someone tossed her to the ground, and then she felt arms around her.
"Lia," she heard Isaac call her. And he sounded confuse.
"What is that?" She listened to Scott ask. "What are you doing?"
"It's gasoline," the man replied. "Haigh says we gotta burn you."
She felt how liquid falling on her, making her open her eyes just to see Isaac holding her as he crashed the back of his head against the locker, panting.
"What are you doing here?" She asked him in a whisper and he looked down, dry swallowing.
"I saw you coming in... without Stiles and... I got worried and then... I was passing out... then I ended up here," he tried to explain as he tried to stay awake. "I'm sorry..."
"It's okay," she mumbled, watching how with all the strength he had, he interlocked his fingers with hers. "It's okay, Isaac..."
"You know," he whispered to her as he lifted her head up. "You were my first love..."
Amelia slowly closed her eyes as she felt Isaac's forehead lay on top of hers.
She was going to die, burned by a psycho. Why not?
As she was about to give up, the music stopped and she quickly opened her eyes, Isaac doing the same as he quickly sat down straight, both looking towards Scott as he was twisting the wrist of the man with the lighter.
But then, someone kick the man on the face, making Amelia and Isaac quickly look up to see Braeden and Derek walking in, making Amelia smile.
They all saw Derek and Braeden fight the guys with agility and speed, making Amelia gasp before chuckling a bit when she saw Derek using something else that wasn't his powers.
As soon as he took them all down, Derek quickly approached the group, especially Amelia, helping her stand up.
"I told you, you could trust me." Amelia smiled. "Told you I'd find you..."
Isaac quickly stood up and Derek let Amelia go, just for the girl to turn around and hug Isaac, as the guy laid his back on the lockers.
"What happened to the gun?" Scott asked Derek as he panted.
"You're covered in gasoline," he replied, making Amelia chuckled as she held on to Isaac
"Oh, yeah," whispered Scott, laughing a bit.
"I'm never getting drunk again," whispered Malia, making everyone laugh this time.
• • •
As they got out of the school, Amelia quickly stopped Dahlia, turning around to look at her cousin.
"Why is my mother in the list?"
Dahlia quickly pulled out the piece of paper, showing it to her.
"Liam's number isn't the only one that went up."
She looked down to the list, noticing the number next to her mother's name.
GABRIELLA SEALGAIR 10
"How did she went from five hundred to ten million?" Amelia asked in confusion before looking up.
"Because..." Dahlia took out her phone, showing it to her. "She's hunting you for free."
She looked at the picture on it, showing it was a shot from a camera outside the old Sealgair house.
And how the eyes around the woman that was walking towards the door, were shinning.
Like how her eyes did when that guy at the bleachers took a photo of her and Lizzie.
"That's impossible..."
"I don't know how, but... she's like us." Amelia looked up towards her cousin. "She's a seeker."