x x
Coach Finstock trolled the halls of Beacon Hills High with a megaphone he'd stolen from the cheer coach's office, using its unnecessarily loud power liberally. "Class starts in five minutes," he projected. "Just because there's no power don't expect there to be no school."
Stiles winced slightly, Coach delivering the end of his speech into his ear. "That was a triple negative," he called. "Very impressive, Coach."
"Copy that," Coach replied through the megaphone as he walked by.
Briefly rolling his yes, Stiles pulled his chemistry textbook from his locker only to knock down a set of keys. He mumbled to himself, crouching down to pick them up. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked over the keys. "Hello. Where did you come from?"
The west wing door opened up to reveal Scott, catching Stiles' attention.
But Scott had stopped rather dead in the hallway, Kira Yukimura turning away and heading the opposite direction from him.
Stiles reacted quickly, catching Scott as he tried to bolt after her. "No, no stop. Stop."
"What?" question Scott impatiently. "I need to talk to her."
"No," Stiles countered, "you need to remember that someone left a coded message telling Barrow to kill her."
Scott slightly shook his head, watching Kira at her locker. "Which is why I need to talk to her."
"Scott, no way. Until we figure out if she's just another psychotic monster that's going to start murdering everybody, I vote against any and all interaction." He waved a hand ridiculously, trying to get his point across.
Scott gazed after Kira as she parted, wanting to go talk to her. "What if she's like me?"
"That girl walked through 1.21 gigawatts of electricity," Stiles point out. "She's not like you." He shut his locker, hesitating as Scott walked off. Glancing down too the unknown key, he ran his thumb over the speckled metal, curious of its origin.
But it would make sense soon.
Unless, of course, one of them lost their mind in the process.
x x
Elora sat reclined in her office, filing through a mass of papers, all of which were from the Beastiary. Classical music emitted softly from the speakers in her walls, her door cracked open.
Eichen House was dull on a Friday morning, everyone who was allowed was outside for their rec time.
Not only had she had an enlightening conversation with Chris, but she'd requested Isaac not to say anything to Scott or the rest of the gang about what he'd seen.
It had been questionable, but she'd done it on Chris' behalf.
Elora ran a hand along her jaw as she diminished her chances on finding out about the flies that had come out of Barrow, or better yet the plaguing sound that had tormented Lydia.
"Anything?"
"I wish," Elora flatly replied, recognizing the voice of her brother. "Still nothing."
Charlie carried in a bag of fast food and a drink tray, having bypassed the guards and apparated into Elora's office. He had a fry hanging out of his mouth as he let the food float onto her desk. "Hopefully brain food can change that."
"More like comfort food," Elora countered as she didn't hesitate to open the folded over bag.
"I don't see you complaining," said Charlie as he plopped down in the leather chair on the other side of Elora's desk. "So what do you think about what Chris said?"
Elora moved her attention to Charlie, leaving the vacant pages of the Beastiary. "I think that if it's what he dealt with, we're all in deep shit."
"What a fact," Charlie agreed with a sigh. "Why is it that Beacon Hills is always in deep shit?"
After sipping her drink, she lowered it from her lips. "Because it's Beacon Hills, Charlie."
Charlie hesitated, tilting his head in agreement. "Fair enough. Aunt T always swore by the place even though it was hell."
"Don't act like you really cared about Talia."
"Oh come on, El. Don't pick a fight. We just went our first twenty minutes without you calling me heartless." Charlie kicked up his feet on her desk, eating the burger he'd unwrapped.
Elora looked flatly at him, "You were gone for that long, Charlie."
He smiled, "Exactly."
"You're actually the worst."
Charlie rolled his eyes, "Surprise, but that's not the first time you've told me that."
"And it won't be the last," Elora bitterly replied as she opened her container of chicken fingers idly. "You have a knack for holding on to old habits. That includes not doing things for anyone but yourself."
"I bought you food, didn't I?"
El rolled her eyes, "I gave you the money."
Charlie shrugged, "Close enough. It's the thought that counts."
"Well Merry Christmas to me," she remarked with mild irritation.
"Stop being bitter and let's actually try to find a way to stop this."
El softly shook her head, "You can't stop them without knowing who controls them. We don't even know why they're here."
Charlie hesitated in thought, "And Argent just expects us to sit on our thumbs and do nothing?"
"We have to give him the benefit of the doubt. I owe him too much not to," Elora replied as she began to multitask, scanning her computer while eating.
"See, that's your problem, sis. You're indebted because you trust other people. If you take care of business by yourself, you don't own anyone a cent," mused Charlie as he kept his feet kicked up on her desk.
"Instead you just let everyone hate you or fear you." El smiled without emotion, "Or want to kill you."
Charlie tried not to laugh, "You don't want to kill me. I'm your brother."
"I don't see how those two things correspond, brother mine." Elora leaned back in her chair, setting down her food as her desk cleared itself of any supernatural evidence.
There was a knock on the open door of Elora's office, only the daylight revealing Morrell as the power was still out all over the county.
"Got a minute-" Marin, a woman of many trades, stopped dead as she gained the attention of both Danielson siblings. There was no fear, only surprise. "Shit."
Charlie offered a sarcastica wave, winking. "Good to see you, Marin. Always a pleasure."
Morrell cleared her throat, "Can I speak with you, Elora?"
Knowing Charlie wouldn't budge, El gave a small gesture for her to come in. "You might as well say it in front of him. He isn't going to leave."
"She's right," agreed Charlie with a grin that could annoy the devil himself, "I'm not going anywhere."
Marin, like most people, chose to ignore him and instead approached Elora. "They're trying to transfer Malia." She briefly hesitated, "To the special floor."
Elora eyebrows lifted, no longer paying any attention to her brother. "What? No, they can't do that."
"A guard said she saw Malia's eyes turn blue," Marin explained. "They told Fenris. She's under investigation."
Elora swore, getting up from her desk. "This isn't good." She briefly glanced back at Charlie with a warning eye as she headed towards the door. "Stay here."
Charlie held up his hand, "Yes ma'am."
Rolling her eyes, Morrell made a move to go back across the hall to her own office.
"You're not gonna stay and keep me company?" questioned Charlie with a devilish smirk.
"Schedule an appointment," Marin flatly replied, intent on getting as far away from him as possible.
Charlie cracked a smile, "You're not still made at me, are you?"
Marin stopped at the door, looking over her shoulder to him. "You burnt down a school."
"I was fourteen," he defended, as if it was good enough.
"People died."
"It's not my fault those kids were having sex in a janitor's closet and thought the fire alarm was just a drill, or that math teacher who though the unit test was more important."
"This is why you'll never redeem yourself, Charlie. You don't think you've done anything wrong."
Charlie opened his mouth to respond, but Morrell was already gone. Although looking minorly depleted, he shrugged it off quickly and sat back in his chair. Sighing, his attention was pulled by a vibration on the desk. His eyebrows furrowed, leaning in and grabbing Elora's phone.
Aiden: I've got a proposition for you, El. How does a blacklight party sound?
Charlie lifted an eyebrow with half a grin, typing a response that appeared to be from his sister.
I'm listening
"I'm always up for a party," he said as he held on to Elora's phone, waiting for the unknown Aiden to respond. "And Halloween happens to be my favorite holiday."
Aiden: Any chance we could use the loft tonight without Derek knowing?
Charlie grinned widely, "Oh, hell yeah."
Because what could go wrong, right?