"What?"
"What, what do you mean, "what"?" Scott asked, looking at his best friend as they walked to a birthday party that Stiles had been invited to. After hearing about the alphas from Derek, he hadn't really been up to coming with Stiles to this party but his best friend was persistent.
Stiles gave him a look. "I mean "what," and you know what."
His furrowed his brows. "What what?"
"That look you were giving." He said with exasperation.
"I didn't give a look."
"Oh, there was a distinct look, Scott."
"What look?" The teen wolf feigned innocence.
Stiles exhaled, "The look that says that the last thing you feel like doing right now is going to a party."
"It's not that." He glanced at him. "It just seems weird going to a different high school's party."
"What? Would you..." Stiles groaned. "God, one drink, all right? You'll be fine. I went to nursery school with this girl, okay? She promised to introduce us to all of her friends. So tonight, no Imogen, no Lydia. Tonight, we're moving on."
Scott could see how much tonight meant to his best friend and just went along with him. "You're right." He muttered.
"That's right I'm right." The human grinned cheerfully.
"Moving on." He echoed weakly, thought Stiles didn't seem to notice his tone. He had seen a missed call from Imogen and as much as he wanted to call her back, he knew that his best friend was taking the opportunity to move on and he was going to help him.
Stiles nodded. "Onward and upward."
"Let's do this." Scott sighed, forcing a smile onto his face.
"That's what I'm talking about. Now look at me."
They did their little handshake, "Okay." The two headed toward the house.
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"Are you sure about this?" Lydia questioned the witch in the driver's seat.
Imogen glanced at her, Allison was in the backseat. "That girl was looking for Scott and I don't know about you, but I don't think she wouldn't have left these bruises on us just to hurt us. It has to mean something."
"She did seem like it was life or death." Allison added, leaning up in her seat. "Did Scott pick up his phone?"
"No, but I left him a message." The witch muttered, trying to not sound too bothered that he didn't pick up.
"Then, how do you know where he is right now?" Lydia asked curiously.
Imogen exhaled. "I used a tracking spell. Thankfully, he isn't that far away." The other two remained silent as she drove.
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Scott was stunned as he watched his best friend being kissed by who he assumed to be the birthday girl. Then he watched his best friend being taken away by the blonde birthday girl who didn't seem to hide her intentions. It was honestly shocking to know that his best friend was more than likely going to get laid tonight.
He suddenly felt proud of his best friend. It seemed like Stiles was finally going to stop complaining about being the only virgin left in the school and was going to get his wish.
The teen wolf turned his look to the girl who seemed honestly done with her friends actions. He gave her friendly smile to which she replied with a look of disgust as she eyed him up and down. His smile dropped, feeling deeply offended.
He wasn't going to hit on her if that's what she thought.
Exhaling, he shook his head as she turned around and walked away. His phone buzzed again and saw it was message from Imogen. He glanced in the direction that his best friend had gone in and knew it would more than likely be a while before he saw him. He turned around, walking outside.
Just when he thought that they would finally have the long awaited talk, it seemed like it was never going to happen. "This isn't the talk we were gonna have, is it?" He muttered, eyeing Lydia and Allison who were standing behind the blue eyed girl.
"No, sorry." Imogen said softly, before holding out her wrist. "This is actually the reason why we came to talk to you."
Scott felt a growl rumble in his chest when he saw the dark bruise on her wrist. "Who did this?" He looked at her, catching the look on her face. "What?"
Allison and Lydia shared a glance.
"Nothing." Her cheeks warming slightly before clearing her throat. "This woman came looking for you at the school and grabbed both Lydia and I before she took off."
His brows furrowed. "A woman?"
She began to tell him what she looked like and how she thought it was something he needed to know. Scott told her that he would call Derek so they could talk to him tomorrow and she could show him the bruises.
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"I don't see anything."
Was the first thing Derek said after giving the bruises on the witch and strawberry blonde's wrists. "Look again." Scott insisted.
The alpha crossed his arms over his chest. "How is a bruise gonna tell me where Boyd and Erica are?"
"It's the same on both sides. Exactly the same."
"It's nothing."
"Pareidolia. Seeing patterns that aren't there." Lydia said smartly. "It's a subset of apophenia."
"They're trying to help."
"These three." Derek pointed to the three girls in front of him. He nodded to the genius girl. "This one, who used me to resurrect my psychotic Uncle. Thank you." Before turning his attention the huntress with distaste. "And this one, who shot about 30 arrows into me and my pack." The alpha then looked over at the witch who gave him a blank look.
"I really want you to say something about me." Imogen snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. "You and I both know that I tried to help you find both Boyd and Erica."
"And you failed." He reminded her, neither of them catching the surprised looks they got.
"I used the strongest tracking spell that I know and we both know what happened." She snapped right back, a look of frustration on her face. When she tried tracking his betas, it was like someone on the other side of the connection attacked her. Her nose had started to bleed and she felt sick to her stomach. It was obvious that they had a witch on their side and the only person she could think was Sylvia. "Besides, I didn't do it for you, Isaac asked for my help. And don't forget that the only reason they're in trouble is because you turned them."
"Okay, all right, now, come on. Don't fight." Stiles cut in through the obvious fight that was about to break out between the alpha and witch. "No one died, all right? Look, there may have been a little maiming, okay, a little mangling, but no death." He said, referring to the Gerard incident. "That's what I call an important distinction."
"My mother died." Allison whispered, glaring at the alpha.
Derek caught her expression. "Your family's little honor code killed your mother. Not me." He spat out in reminder.
The Argent girl clenched her jaw tightly. Imogen exhaled, "That girl was looking for Scott. I'm here to help him and both Boyd and Erica, not you."
"You wanna help?" Derek retorted, stepping back. "Find something real." He began to leave the room and Scott caught up to him.
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Imogen refused to let what Derek said get to her but she was going to prove him wrong. So, she had been spending majority of her time figuring out what the symbol could be.
"I want one." Lydia sighed, her eyes never leaving the twins who were standing by the bookshelves.
The huntress blinked. "Which one?"
"Seriously?" Imogen whispered, unsure of how Allison could miss the way one of the twins was staring at Danny.
The genius gave her a look. "The straight one, obviously."
Allison watched one twin eyeing Danny with a darkened loo filled with lust. "Oh." She murmured, sinking into her chair with embarrassment.
"What if it's not a symbol?" Imogen muttered, eyeing the coffee cup and the logo on it. "What if it's actually a logo?" She looked up when she got no answer from Lydia and glanced at Allison who pointed behind her. The witch turned her head, Lydia was flirting with one of the twins. She sighed. "Of course." She looked back at the laptop screen as she typed in Beacon Hills business logos.
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The following night, Imogen arrived at the bank that had been closed down. The logo for the bank looked exactly like the bruises she and Lydia had. She would have told Scott but, since it wasn't enough proof, she decided not to.
"Hey, Imogen."
She jumped at the voice, turning around and gave Allison a startled look. "What the hell, Allison? What are you doing here?"
"I thought you might need back up just in case." She said with a shrug.
Imogen sighed. "You know, it might not be anything."
"That's okay." Allison said.
The witch buried the guilt she had been feeling whenever she was around her friend especially since she had yet to tell her the real reason her mother died. But it seemed like whenever she brought up Victoria Argent, Allison would freeze up or start ranting about how evil Derek was. She wasn't sure exactly how to bring up that her mother had tried to kill Scott and that's why Derek bit her.
"Alright, come on." Imogen muttered, walking towards the locked doors.
The former huntress eyes the chains. "How are we going to get in?"
"Watch." The witch said smugly, raising her hand and murmured a spell under her breath. The lock unlocked and the chains fell to the floor. She grinned over at Allison who chuckled. The two walked inside.
It was quiet and dark inside. Everything around them was covered in dust or rubble. There didn't seem to be anything around that proved that the alphas were here.
They turned around the corner only to both suddenly be pressed up against the wall. "Ms. Morrell?" They choked out in surprise to the school guidance counselor there.
"Keep your mouth shut, and listen close." The older woman snapped in low tone. "You have no idea what you just stepped into. Right now you've got maybe 20 seconds to get both your asses hidden."
"What are you doing here?" Imogen asked once the woman let them both go.
She ignored her question. "Get in that storage closet over there .Lock the door.When you hear the fighting start, that's when you come out."
"What fighting?" Allison questioned next.
"You'll hear it. Now, go!" She commanded and the two teenage girls reluctantly hid inside the closet.
Once they were inside, Imogen pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight. The two girls stilled when they heard the sound of clicking and heavy footsteps. Allison saw the gallon of ammonia and opened it before tipping it over to block their scents. Imogen sent her a look that said good job and the former huntress beamed at the praise.
The witch realized that they really had found the alphas hideout. She whispered a spell under her breath and clicked her feet against the floor and no sound came out. She sent Allison a grin, the girl who had been ready to put her jacket on the floor so they wouldn't make noise looked grateful. The blue eyed girl shined her phone around the storage closet when the smell of something rotting wafted into her nose.
Both girls choked back screams and gasps of shock, there in the corner of the closet was Erica's dead body. Imogen covered her mouth, feeling as if she was going to throw up and looked away from the blonde's dead body.
Thankfully or not thankfully, the sound of fighting came just like Ms. Morell said it would. The two girls shared a look before practically rushing out of the storage closet and rushing towards direction in which the fighting was coming from.