A few minutes. That's all it was supposed to be. They'd go under, they'd do whatever it is they needed to, then they'd come out. A few minutes was all it was meant to take.
But it's been hours. They've lied under that freezing water, unmoving, unbreathing, for hours. But they weren't dead, not really, she would have known. They were just . . . . there. For hours.
"Why aren't they awake? They should be by now right?" Isaac rambled our in a hushed tone from his position on the floor next to her.
Adrianna shook her head, her hands fumbling with the rings on her fingers, her eyes not moving from the clock plastered on the wall. It was haunting, every tick it made, like it was just reminding them how long it's been.
"They'll come out. They will. They have to. Right?"
"I don't know Isaac." Adrianna snapped. She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes and resting her head against the wall. "I just don't know."
Adrianna and Isaac suddenly jumped to their feet at the loud noises of gasping and splashing of water. Their eyes landed on Allison, Stiles and Scott jumping up in their tanks, water pouring off them and their chests rapidly rising and falling.
"I saw it! I know where it is." Scott gasped out as he started climbing out from the freezing water.
"There's a stump, this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it's still big though, very big." Stiles rambled out in attempt for an explanation.
"It was the night we were looking for the body." Scott said.
"Yeah, the same night you were bitten by Peter." Stiles agreed.
"I was there too, in the car with my mother. We almost hit someone." Allison added.
Scott snapped his head to her, "It was me. You almost hit me."
Allison's eyebrows rose, shock clear in her eyes. They were all there, at the same time, on the same night.
Scott looked to Deaton and the others, determination in his tone and filling his features. "We can find it."
Adrianna felt like she had no breath, she couldn't--she didn't know what to say. Her eyes just kept moving between them. She couldn't process what they were saying. She looked to Isaac with a panicked expression.
"What?" Allison called out.
"You guys were out a long time." Isaac explained.
"How long is a long time?" Stiles wondered.
Adrianna looked back to them, her eyes softening. "It's been 16 hours." She answered.
"We've been in the water for 16 hours?" Scott pressed, he didn't understand how they were under for so long. It was impossible, how were they even alive.
"And the full moon rises in less than 4."
---
"No dude, you're not going back with them." Stiles argued, walking back over to them with a towel in his hands.
"I made a deal with Deucalion." Scott said, his voice was unwavering, he wasn't going to argue on this point.
"Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?" Stiles expressed. He was wired up and astounded that his best friend wanted to go back to that awful man, to those killers.
"Why does it matter, anyway?" Isaac asked.
"Because, I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help." Scott convinced.
"He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong." Allison said.
Adrianna sighed, her hands still fumbling. She was nervous. She was worried about her Uncle and about Derek, she wanted to kill Jennifer, she wanted to sleep peacefully for one damn night.
Isaac's eyes wondered to her fumbling hands, his eyebrows pulling together. He grabbed her hands and linked them together, caressing the top of her hand with his thumb. He understood her exhaustion and nerves but knew where the tree was now, they could find them.
Adrianna took in a deep breath, squeezing his hand gently in hopes to boost her own confidence. She would find him or she would kill everyone else.
"I'm not so sure he is." Deaton spoke up. "Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies."
"So we're gonna trust him?" Isaac questioned, moving his eyes from the girl he so very much needed. "The guy that called himself Death, Destroyer of Worlds? We're gonna trust that guy?"
"I wouldn't trust him, no, but you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait." Deaton explained.
Adrianna's head suddenly snapped up, earning a confused looked from every single person in the room. Her eyebrows drew together and she looked to Isaac.
The creaking of a door and clatter of something out in the lobby soon followed.
Deaton drew his eyebrows together and walked out.
"I'm looking for Lydia." Someone stated, a male voice. "And maybe Adrianna."
Adrianna looked to Isaac with a confused expression. She untangled their hands and got up from the table they sat at. She followed Lydia to the entrance where Deaton was.
It was Ethan. A bit quite desperate but pleading Ethan.
"What do you want?" Lydia asked in a wary tone.
"I need your help."
"With what?" Stiles questioned, suddenly appearing at Lydias side.
"Stopping my brother and Kali, from killing Derek."
---
"We know about the lunar eclipse, so don't think Kali's gonna sit around waiting for it to level the playing field. She's coming, and my brother's coming with her." Ethan attempted to convince, he didn't sound desperate, more pleading, like he was finally realising who's side he should be on.
"Good enough for me. Derek?" Peter agreed almost instantly when Ethan proposed the idea.
"You want me to run?" Derek asked, his eyes never leaving Adrianna's. She had come with them, she had stood on their side yet he hadn't heard her utter a word. He wanted her opinion. But she gave him nothing but a glare.
"No. I want you to stay and get slaughtered by an alpha with a psychotic foot fetish. Of course I want you to run. Sprint, gallop, leap your way the hell out of this town." Peter convinced, walking slowly around till he could look Derek in the face.
"If you want to fight and die for something, that's fine with me, but do it for something meaningful." Cora added. She didn't want her brother to have to run, he never was one to back down, but he coud loose, he could get killed. Especially now he was a beta.
"How do you know I'm gonna lose?" Derek asked.
"We don't. But I'll bet she has an idea." Peter looked to Lydia. "Don't you Lydia?"
"I don't know anything."
"But you feel something, don't you?" Peter pressed.
Derek looked to her, "What do you feel?"
"I feel like . . . . I'm standing in a grave yard."
Adrianna let out a stressed breath, pulling her lips into a straight line and looking back to Derek. "I know you don't want to run, you don't want to back down, you don't want to show you're weak. And you're not." Adrianna stepped towards her best friend. "But you're not strong enough either. You can't match her, not now. You need to protect yourself, you need to protect Cora. After everything, you have to."
Adrianna felt Derek's resolve crumbling inside of him as his listened to the words around him. He couldn't have another Boyd incident. He had to survive and if this is what the option was, he was going to take it.
.
.
.
.
( edited )
ah thankyou so much for all the attention this book is getting. it's so close to the re-editing ending. im so excited.
-a