Molly stared at a guy tied to a tree and stared blankly, almost as though she was in shock.
Stiles immediately ran over to her. "Molly? Hey, Molly. Are you hurt? Are you okay?" He started checking her over.
Molly nodded slowly, stepping back. "I'm okay. That guy over there... Call your dad. I'll text my brothers."
Stiles called his dad and Molly sent a message to her brothers.
A girl ran up to the boy and started screaming hysterically. Molly smiled at her apologetically.
The sheriff, Sam and Dean appeared and the former said, "Hey, get out of the way. Get back. Get this area cordoned off before they trample every piece of evidence. Molly, Stiles says you were worrying him. Are you okay?"
Molly nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."
He turned to Coach. "Get these kids out of here!" He turned to his son. "Do me a favor. Go back to school, make sure your friend is okay. Coach, can you give us a hand here?"
Coach nodded and said to the other students, "You heard the man. Nothing to see here. Probably just some homeless tweaker."
"Coach," Scott said. "The guy was a senior."
Molly frowned, studying the guy, trying to see if she recognized him, but she didn't.
Isaac walked up to them and asked, "You see the way the twins looked at him?"
"Yeah, you mean like they had no idea what happened?" Stiles replied.
Isaac shook his head. "No, no, they knew."
Stiles and Molly shared a look and he frowned. "The kid was strangled with a garrote, all right? Am I the only one recognizing the lack of "werewolfitude" in these murders?"
Isaac scoffed. "Oh, you think it's a coincidence they turn up and then people start dying?"
"Well, no, but I still don't think it's them. Molly?"
"No, I'm pretty sure something else is going on," Molly said. "Scott?"
"How 'bout you?" Isaac added.
He let out a sigh and shook his head. "I don't know."
"You don't know yet?" Stiles asked hopefully.
Scott glanced to Isaac. "Well, he's got a point. Seriously, dude, human sacrifices?"
Stiles shot him a look. "Scott, your eyes turn into yellow glow sticks, okay? Hair literally grows from your cheeks and then will immediately disappear, and if Molly or I were to stab you right now, it would just magically heal, but you're telling me that you're having trouble grasping human sacrifices?"
Scott sighed. "That's a good point too."
Isaac narrowed his eyes. "I don't care. They killed that kid, they killed the girl that saved me. I'm gonna kill them too."
Molly shook her head. "No killing, Isaac. We have to figure out who's behind this, or we'll end up killing the wrong person." She looked at her brothers. "The same applies to you two."
Isaac met her eyes. "Molly, whoever this is has killed three people. We need to stop them before they kill us."
"Okay. Tell me who it is."
"I... don't know."
"Exactly. Which is why we should wait and figure it out before we go in guns blazing."
Isaac nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
Molly stared at Dean as she said, "I've had to learn. I need to stop by my locker before class. See you guys."
The blonde waved to her brothers, walked into the school to her locker and saw Lydia flirting with one of the Alpha twins.
"What about tonight?" Aiden wondered.
"Nope," Lydia answered. "Studying."
"I could help you."
"Do you have an IQ higher than 170?"
Aiden nodded in defeat. "Okay. You could help me."
Lydia scoffed and Aiden asked, "Tonight then?"
She didn't give him an answer, and Molly saw a knowing smile on Aiden's face.
Stiles grabbed Molly's arm and said, "Come on. We're gonna talk to the guy's girlfriend."
"Hey!" she protested, pulling her arm back. "If Sam finds out I ditched, I'm gonna get a lecture."
"Then you better hope he doesn't find out."
"God, you're annoying."
They reached the station and Stiles walked up to the girl. "Um, hi, Ashley. Hi. Can I talk to you just for one sec? Sorry. I just need to ask you something really quick, and it's gonna sound really unbelievably insensitive, so I apologize in advance. Um... Was Kyle a virgin?"
Ashley scoffed. "What?"
"Your boyfriend, was he a virgin, or did you guys... You know what I mean..."
Ashley slapped his cheek and a deputy took her away. She turned back and looked at Stiles. "No. He wasn't a virgin."
Molly narrowed her eyes at Stiles. "Like I said. Annoying."
Stiles frowned at her as Sheriff Stilinski walked up said, "Have you completely lost your mind? I've got four murders, Stiles. You see those men in there?" Molly glanced around and noticed several tall men in pressed suits. "That's the FBI. They're pulling together a task force to help because it looks like we've got a full-blown serial killer on our hands. You get that?"
Stiles nodded. "Yes, Dad. I get that."
"Then what are you doing? And why are you dragging your friend into this?"
"I'm trying to find a pattern. What makes you think I dragged her into this?"
Molly turned to face Stiles. "Maybe, because you did."
"You went along willingly."
"And now I'm regretting that decision. You didn't have to drag me to the station to ask a dead guy's girlfriend if he was a virgin! God, Stiles, do you even-"
"Yes I think!"
"Not enough clearly."
"You don't have to be mean about it."
Stiles drove them back to school before saying, "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I thought having someone that could be sympathetic could help."
She sighed. "I didn't have a chance to be. You went in words blazing."
"Probably should've left it to you."
"Yeah, probably."
---
Later, they found Boyd pinning an Air Force ROTC patch and a card with words to Kyle's locker.
Stiles said, "Whoa. Hey, Boyd! I didn't know you were back at school."
Boyd nodded. "Yeah, I would have told you, but we're not actually friends."
"Oh, yeah," Stiles said. "Hey, so did you, uh... so did you know Kyle?"
"Yeah, we were in junior ROTC together."
"So you two were friends, then?"
"I only have one friend. And she's dead."
"I'm sorry, Boyd," Molly said.
He gave her a nod. "Thanks."
Stiles cleared his throat and pulled her away.
They found Lydia and Stiles began rambling, "You know that there's a temple in Calcutta where they used to sacrifice a child every day? That's everyday a dead baby, Lydia, everyday! Hey, you want to know what today is? It's dead baby day. Oh, no, wait, that's everyday, because everyday is dead baby day, yay!"
Lydia frowned at him. "Why are you telling me this? Molly, what is he on about?"
Molly shrugged. "No clue. Stiles, what are you on about?"
Stiles let out a sigh. "Because Scott's dealing with the Alpha twins." Lydia shot him a questioning look. "You don't know about the twins?"
"Alphas?"
"Ethan and Aiden," Molly clarified.
She nodded, and Molly could tell she was lying. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, I knew about them."
Stiles didn't catch onto her lie. "Okay, okay, good. So look, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that the murders maybe come in threes. Ancient people love things in threes, right? Now, I don't know about the ancient Greeks, but most ancient people do. So maybe first it's three virgins, and then, I don't know, maybe it's three people who own little dogs."
Lydia narrowed her eyes and Molly frowned. "Lydia owns a little dog."
Stiles gave her a nod and let out an annoyed sigh as Lydia said, "I am not getting rid of my dog!"
He shot her a look. "Would you just think about getting rid of your little dog?"
"No. And by the way, you cannot discern a pattern by a single data point, so stop trying."
"Wha -- okay, so what, I'm just supposed to wait around for someone else to die, then? I'm just supposed to sit there and watch them die? Just wait for them to wither up and die right in front of me?"
"Wither?" Lydia and Molly repeated.
"You know what I mean. You most of all, Molly. Die, in a hideously awful, strangulating, head-bashing, throat-cutting kind of way."
Molly let out a long sigh. "Stiles, these people were strangled with a garrote. It's a very human way to kill people. Maybe we should leave the detective work to someone human."
He looked down at her. "You mean someone like my dad and your brothers?"
"No, she means your dad and her brothers," Lydia said, rolling her eyes. "The sheriff and Sam and Dean!"
---
Stiles and Molly headed to the Animal Clinic. Deaton gave them a look. "You're out of school early."
"Yeah, free period, actually," Stiles said with a nod. "Um, I was just headed home to see my dad and her brothers, dragged Molly along with me. They're, uh... you know, I guess you probably heard people are kind of getting murdered again. It's their job to figure it out."
"I gathered as much from the sheriff title and that seems to be Sam and Dean Winchester's job."
Stiles continued. "Yeah, um... You know, but it gets kind of hard for them to do his job when they don't have all the information. And we all know they're missing pretty much half the story here, right? So then I started thinking, and I remember someone who does have a lot of information. Someone who always seems to know more than anyone else around here. You."
He took a moment to breathe before saying, "All these symbols and things... the triskeles, the bank logo, the Mountain Ash... all of it is from the Celtic druids. And anyone who has looked up human sacrifice before knows that the druids had a pretty big hard-on when it came to giving up one to the gods. You ever hear of the lindow man? 2,000 year old body found in England? He was found strangled, head bashed in, throat cut. Threefold death. They also found pollen grains in his stomach. Guess what favorite druid plant that was."
"Mistletoe," Deaton answered.
Stiles nodded. "I'm just telling you everything you already know, aren't I? Then why aren't you telling us?"
Deaton frowned. "Maybe because we've spent every moment of the last ten years trying to push something away. Denying it. Lying about it. Becomes a pretty powerful habit."
"This mystery man. Is he a druid?"
Deaton shook his head. "No. It's someone copying a centuries-old practice of a people who should have known better. Do you know what the word "druid" means in Gaelic?"
"No. Molly?"
Molly frowned. "Doesn't it mean
"wise oak"?"
Deaton nodded. "The Celtic druids were close to nature. They believed they kept it in balance. They were philosophers and scholars. They weren't serial killers."
Stiles scoffed. "Yeah, well, this one is."
His phone started vibrating and he answered it. "Hey, I can't talk right now. Wait, what? Yeah, are you sure he's missing?"
---
They made their way to the school and listened to the chanting Lydia was hearing. As soon as it ended, Deaton asked, "Can we get a copy of this?"
Lydia gave him a copy and Stiles turned to Deaton. "Hey, doc, any help would be, you know, helpful."
"Each grouping of three would have its own purpose, its own type of power. Virgins, healers, philosophers, warriors..."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Stiles repeated. "Warrior, could that also be like a soldier?"
Deaton nodded. "Absolutely."
Stiles got jumpy, meaning he'd thought of something. "Kyle was in ROTC with Boyd. That's got to be it. That's the pattern."
"Where's Boyd?"
Molly checked the time on her phone. "At this time, I would expect home. Stiles I think has his number. Call him."
Stiles nodded and called Boyd.
Molly frowned, noticing the strawberry blonde's expression. "Lydia? What's wrong?"
She glanced at Molly and shook her head. "No, it was... I mean... I just thought of someone else with a military connection."
"Who?" Stiles wondered.
Lydia didn't answer, but instead, led them into Harris' room. "It's sitting right on his desk... the West Point Honor Code."
Molly walked inside the classroom, joining the others at Harris' desk. Deaton let out a sigh. "This is just one of many possibilities. He could have simply left for the day."
"Yeah, well... Not without this," Stiles replied as he held up Harris' bag.
"What?" Deaton questioned.
Stiles picked up a test. "This test is graded 'R'."
Lydia picked up another one. "This one's an 'H'."
Deaton turned to them. "Stiles, you remember Molly said "druid" is the Gaelic word for "wise oak"?"
Stiles nodded. "Yeah."
"If a druid went down the wrong path, the wise oak was sometimes said to have become a dark oak. There's a Gaelic word for that as well... Darach."
"Darach," Molly repeated. "That sounds sufficiently terrifying."
Deaton's gaze turned to Molly. "Yes, it most is."