CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE:
CELTIC SYMBOL
WHEN ALLISON HAD SHOOK HER awake, the wolf almost attacked her before quickly reeling back when she saw it was just Allison. She saw the nervous looks covering Allison's face and without hesitation she jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed, the two entered the car and were quick to speed off to the school where Lydia stood. The two girl's were quick to pour out of Allison's car and run over to the strawberry blonde, placing a hand on her shoulder. They waited for Scott and Stiles to pull up, and when they did it wasn't a surprise to Gwen that Stiles had practically fallen out of his jeep in order to get to Lydia.
"Where is she?"
"Over here." Allison called for him, and Stiles was quick to run over to them.
"Lydia?" Stiles questioned her.
"It's the same thing." The girl sighed, shaking her head. "Same thing as the pool. I got into the car heading somewhere totally different, and ended up here. And you told me to call you if there's a dead body."
"You found a dead body?" Stiles stuttered.
"Not yet."
"'Not yet'?" Stiles furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean not yet? Lydia, you're supposed to call us after you find the dead body."
Lydia shook her head. "Oh, no. I'm not doing that again. You find the dead body from now on."
"How are we supposed to find the dead body? You're always the one finding the dead body!"
That's when Scott walked a little ways away. "Guys. I found the dead body." Gwen carefully moved to stand beside Scott and a gasp fell from her lips. A body lay over the school sign, blood dripping down it. And that's when she noticed, it was a police officer. And that meant that shit was about to get really serious.
She sat in the room that the Argents were letting her sleep in, staring blankly at the wall in front of her when a knock came on her door. She carefully sat up, watching as Chris Argent entered her room and offered her a small smile. He silently asked if he could come in to which Gwen nodded her head. She sat up so more, allowing him to sit on the edge of her bed.
"Listen, Allison isn't going in today." Argent told her. "You wouldn't mind staying here and just keeping an eye on her, would you?"
"I wasn't going in today anyways, Argent." Gwen told him, offering the man a simple smile. "I'll make sure she's alright." He nodded, giving her a silent thanks before walking out of her room. She waited for his footsteps to leave, before Gwen quickly shot up and got dressed, rushing towards Allison's room and quickly entering, closing the door behind her. Allison stopped and turned her head to look at Gwen, looking like a dear caught in headlights.
"Whatever you're planning, I want in." Gwen told her, and Allison couldn't help but smile. Gwen made her way towards Allison, watching the girl grab her knife, before quickly closing the closet door, and that's when she suddenly froze in her steps, as did Gwen. The two both turned towards the open balcony doors, sharing a look with one another before Gwen stepped forwards and quickly yanked the door open, grabbing onto the person and placing her claws at their throat.
When she saw Isaac she frowned. "What do you think you're doing?"
"You weren't at school." Isaac answered, glancing towards Gwen and Allison.
Allison sighed. "Did Scott send you? Is he checking up on me?"
"Maybe he's worried about you." Isaac nodded.
"I can take care of myself."
"As can I." Gwen sarcastically smiled at her boyfriend.
"Yeah, I've noticed." He met Gwen's eyes, smirking slightly as he said, "More than once." He nodded towards her claws. "You gonna let me go now?"
"That depends, you gonna sneak into the right room next time?" She came of a suggestive smirk.
"God, you two disgusts me." Allison shook her head, scrunching up her nose as she walked out of the room.
Gwen removed her claws from Isaac's neck, leaning down and pressing a firm kiss to his lips, smiling in the kiss when she felt him desperately kiss her back. She pulled away, a teasing smile on her lips. "To be continued." And then she jumped out and held out her hand to pull him up as well, smiling in amusement at the annoyed look that was plastered on his face. They exited the room and finally found Allison who explained to them her suspicions about her father.
"Hold on, hold on, your dad's the killer?" Isaac quickly rushed out as they followed her into her father's office.
"No." Allison denied. "I mean, I don't think he is at least. I hope he isn't."
"You hope he isn't the serial-killing dark druid who's been slashing people's throats?" Isaac questioned, glancing towards Gwen who had the same concerned look on her face. Allison turned to look at the couple, and the distress covering her face made a deep frown fall on Gwen's.
"Yeah."
"Right."
"Do you wanna help me or not?"
"Yeah, I'm just―︎I'm just trying to get all the cards on the table here." Isaac muttered before looking towards Gwen. "You're not staying here anymore." Gwen only rolled her eyes and walked past him to join Allison's side. She was thankful for his concern, but she could protect herself.
Allison took a black light and started scanning it over the map, revealing boxes with an x in them at certain locations. "See the marks? There are five more bodies to be found but it doesn't say who the bodies are." The two females turned their head to look at Isaac who had his eyebrows furrowed, his mouth slightly agape. Allison exchanged a look with Gwen who shrugged before turning back towards the boy. "What are you doing?"
"Something I learned from my father." Isaac answered. "Take a step back. Look at the whole picture. Sometimes, you see things you wouldn't notice if you were up close when all you're looking at are the details." After a moment, they both took a step back.
"Look at that. You see that?" Allison ushered out, and took Gwen a moment before she caught on. Allison quickly stepped forwards, removing the map from the table.
"Whoa." Gwen breathed, taking a step towards the table. "What is that?"
"A five fold knot. It's a celtic symbol."
That's when Isaac stepped forwards, taking the hand that was holding the black light and moving it over one of the circles, revealing one word. "Virgins." And then, he moved Allison's hand to the next. "Warriors." And then "Healers." "Philosophers." And lastly, "Guardians."
Gwen sighed. "This just got a lot worse, didn't it?"
That's when they called Stiles, Allison putting him on speaker phone as she explained everything that they had just discovered. "Philosophers?"
"And guardians, which after last night has to mean something like law enforcement, right?" Allison paused. "Stiles, you have to tell your dad. Tell him whatever you need but you have to get him to believe. Tell your dad. Warn him."
"Okay, okay, okay, I know." And then he hung up.
Gwen crossed her arms over her chest, walking over towards the window and looking out of it whilst Allison sat there at the desk, Isaac watching her carefully with the occasional glance at Gwen. The sound of Allison's phone vibrating made Gwen turn her head, watching Allison grab the phone, sitting up a little straighter.
"What is it?" Gwen asked, walking back over to her. She showed Gwen the text that Lydia sent, saying that Mr. Westover is missing. The blonde closed her eyes as a sigh fell from her lips.
"I have to stop him." Allison whispered, glancing up towards the two wolves.
"Is that really a good idea?" Isaac asked. "I mean, if your dad is actually doing all this stuff―︎"
"If?" Allison looked at him in disbelief. "Look at this. He knows everything. He's-He's planned everything." That's when she pulled the map back out, unfolding it quickly.
Gwen watched her. "What are you doing?"
"If Mr. Westover was taken from the school, there's got to be another point on the telluric current."
"You mean where he'll be sacrificed." The two quickly walked around to the other side of the desk, Isaac picking up the black light and scanning it over the map before his movements stopped.
"There." Isaac pointed. "That mark's new."
Allison pulled out her phone, taking a picture. "Then that's where he is."
Before she knew it, the three were in the car with Allison driving, Gwen in the passengers, and Isaac in the back. They pulled up to the location, Allison stopping the car and putting it into park. Isaac leaned forwards, placing his head between the two before asking, "You really don't think we should call Scott?"
Her voice was a whisper as she looked between the two wolves, a knife in her hand as she said, "Stay behind me and stay quiet." And then she was getting out of the car, and before Isaac could make any protests to Gwen, she was getting out too. He muttered curses under his breath before getting out himself and following after them.
They quietly crept into the already open building, keeping their eyes alert whilst Isaac whispered, "Fyi, if your dad tries to kill me, I'm gonna defend myself."
"If my dad tries to kill you, you'll be dead."
"And so will I, because if he kills you I'll go after him for killing you and then he'll kill me." Gwen muttered.
Isaac scoffed. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Suddenly, Gwen stopped, grabbing both Isaac and Allison's arms, making them turn towards the girl. "I smell blood."
"Where?" Allison urged. "What direction?"
Gwen shook her head. "I don't know. I'm not good at this yet, and neither is he." She paused, their head snapping towards a noise. "But, I think it's that way."
That's when Allison started forwards, ignoring Isaac's calls for her to wait. She stopped, and both Gwen and Isaac looked forwards, towards the open door way where a man was struggling against his chains, a black hooded figure behind him. The figure looked up, it's scarred face and white eyes meeting theirs, and Allison ran forwards. The two wolves yelled after her, telling her not to do anything, but she ignored them.
Isaac chased after her, whilst Gwen stood there, watching Allison's father appear with two guns in his hands as he yelled, "Get down!" Isaac dragged Allison to the floor whilst Gwen stood behind Argent, watching him fire his guns. He ran into the room, changing his ammo before firing again. "Help him!" The three didn't hesitate to run into the room, stopping once they saw it was their teacher.
"We were wrong." Gwen realized, glancing at them. "It's not guardians as in law enforcement. It's philosophers, as in teachers." A message in which they were quick to relay to Scott.
Allison looked at her father with her jaw clenched, watching as he picked up the bullet cases. "You've been tracking the killer on your own this whole time?"
"Yeah, and I was this close. Could've caught him if the three of you―︎"
Allison stepped towards him, making the two wolves exchange a glance. "So it's my fault? That you've been lying to me for the past two months?"
"You wanna tally up the lies, Allison? I don't think you're going to come out ahead on that one."
"Hey, just a thought?" Isaac interrupted. "Maybe right now isn't the best time for a little family meeting? There's still one more teacher."
"We need to get to the recital." Gwen told them. "And it's about to start. So someone make a decision."
Allison pursed her lips in annoyance at her father before muttering, "Guess we're going after all." And then, they headed that direction.
When they got there they barely waited for the car to come to a full stop before the three teenagers were exiting the car and making a run for the building. Allison was in the leas as she threw the doors open, running towards the auditorium and being quiet when they entered seeing as the recital had already started. Scott turned to look at them as they entered and whilst Allison, Isaac, and Argent went one way Gwen moved to stand beside Scott.
"Anything?" The blonde whispered, but Scott just shook his head.
"Can I ask you something?" Scott asked. She nodded. "Have Isaac and Allison―︎"
"Been getting a little too close? Yeah. But, I trust both of them. Allison would never do that to me, and Isaac knows he'd probably die if he hurt me."
"Probably isn't the word I'd use."
Gwen managed a small smile at this, nudging his side and shaking her head before going back to observing the crowd. And then suddenly Stiles was standing on the other side of her. She offered him a nod of greeting, he nodded back. "Hey, uh, have you guys seen Lydia?" She looked between them, watching as they exchanged wide eyed looks.
"Stay here." And then Scott and Stiles were running out.
"Great." Gwen crossed her arms over her chest, glancing towards Isaac as he made his way over towards her. She offered him a small smile before their attention turned back to the recital. The band members were playing, and they started playing faster and faster, with the chorus members melodies getting more haunting by the second, their eyes were barely blinking almost as if they were all in a trance.
Suddenly a loud piercing scream entered her ears, causing both Gwen and Isaac to tightly cover their ears as they clenched their jaw in pain. When the scream was gone, she removed her hands, meeting Isaac's gaze. She knew whose scream that was. It was Lydia's. Without a second thought she was running from the auditorium, running towards the direction that sound had come from. But by the time she got there Scott and Stiles had gotten to Lydia, but Stiles' dad had been taken by Jennifer. Also known as the Darach.