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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"hide and seek"
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WHEN THEY SPRINTED into the animal hospital in the middle of the day, Lex was not exactly shocked to see Sheriff Stilinski and one of his deputys facing the empty reception desk. Stiles had explained the situation as he drove about twenty miles over the speed limit; and even with the momentary breaks in explanation for the boy to curse loudly and swerve around a bike or stop sign, she got the gist. Scott's boss had somehow been able to warn him before he was taken by the Darach - presumably for another sacrifice. Another healer.

 Lex shivered. Animal healers meet the Darach's standards - who knew what could come next? She could qualify if there was a round for snarky teenage girls, or artists, or people who could hold handstands for more than three minutes. Who knew what criteria this tree bitch wanted?

The Sheriff didn't exactly seemed shocked to see them, but his eyes drifted to Lex, and then to Stiles and Scott, and then back to Lex as if he wanted to know but additionally didn't have time to think about it. Scott's eyes widened, "how did you know?"

  "Stiles called me as soon as you left school." The man explained. It must've been during the three minutes conversation Lex and Scott had, which went a little something like this:

 Lex: are you okay?

Scott: yes.

Lex: that's bullshit.

Scott: no, it's not.

Lex: okay...

Scott: okay. I'm okay.

Lex didn't believe that he was okay.

She missed what the Sheriff said next, but was sucked back into the present when Scott slumped into the lounge chair behind them, breathing shakily and staring widely into space. Lex could sense the terror in his veins; and sat next to him, holding tightly onto his wrist as if it could provide any sort of consolation.

"Scott..." The older man was obviously trying to keep his tone as soft as possible, but Lex could tell that he was itching for information. She understood - if she was in his shoes, she would have quit long ago. Too many unexplainable things happen in Beacon Hills, she would lose her mind trying to chase answers that only existed if you knew where to look. "I need you to tell me everything."

  Scott turned to glance at Lex, and the two shared a look. How were any of them supposed to justify everything that they knew? Lex knew that it was impossible, and she felt so bad that she ducked her head and avoided eye contact with Stiles's father.

 Scott stumbled over an explanation. Stiles tapped his finger against his chair, the motion so distracting that Lex barely heard anything that the boy ended up saying. All she knew was that the Sheriff seemed satisfied enough, as he patted his shoulder with a small, reassuring smile. "We're gonna do everything that we can. Right now, the best thing that you can do is go back to school."

 Scott nodded numbly, and the two adults left with a sympathetic look toward the boy. Lex wished more than anything that she knew how to make him feel even a fraction of a bit better. But before she had time to dwell too intently on it, Scott gave the two a barely noticeable nudge with his chin, gesturing toward a small side door that said 'cat kennels'. 

 Lex scrunched up her nose, but followed the two as they ducked into the dark room and shut the door behind them. The kennels were mostly empty - but a few had small cats nestled inside of them that meowed at the disturbance. Lex could already feel her nose starting to itch.

 "We have to tell him."

 "You mean like... tell him, tell him? Or tell him something else that isn't telling him what I think you want to tell him?" Stiles demanded, immediately on edge. Lex stood awkwardly between them, feeling as if she really didn't have a place to input her opinion on the matter. She was incredibly focused on not sneezing; and wiped at her eyes as they started to water from the cat fur in the air. 

 Scott pursed his lips, stubborn. "You know what I mean."

 Stiles scoffed, seeming in disbelief. "You remember how your mom reacted when she found out? She didn't look you in the eye for like a week."

 "And she got over it. And it - it actually made us closer."

 Lex's sinuses felt like they were on fire. She tried to discreetly wipe the tears away from her eyes, grateful for the intense topic of conversation to divert the attention away from her intense allergic reaction that she was currently enduring. 

 Stiles seemed to soften, the defensive edge gone from his tone. He watched his father through the small window, shaking his head. "I don't know, dude," he said, seeming as if he couldn't decide whether to be upset or frustrated. "I mean, he's totally overwhelmed as is."

 "He's overwhelmed because he has no clue what's happening. He's got people dying in his town, in the town he's supposed to protect - and it's not his fault that he doesn't know what's happening. He's gonna find out sooner or later."

"Yeah, but is now really the right time?"

 "What if not telling him now gets someone killed?"

 Lex sneezed. The sound cut through the tense atmosphere, both of the boys whipping their heads around to look at her. She sneezed again, holding up a finger as she turned around to lean over, aggressively coughing as tears streamed down her face. She wiped at them furiously, her face bright red as she turned to give the two an embarrassed smile. "Sorry. Continue."

 "What the hell?" Stiles rolled his eyes, "seriously? Cats?"

 "You guys led me in here and I wasn't gonna-!" She trailed off with an annoyed stomp of her foot. "You know what-" she turned to Scott. "McCall. Stilinski doesn't want to tell his dad because he's worried that it's gonna put him in danger. Stilinski-" she turned to Stiles. "McCall wants you to tell your dad because he thinks that it will bring him peace of mind and help him prevent - slash - solve murders and disappearences linked to the supernatural. Sort it out." She pressed the sleeve of her shirt to her nose and turned to exit the room, still coughing until she made it to the fresh air outside.

 Wiping her eyes, she pulled out her phone and saw a missed call from Connie. She was probably wondering why she wasn't in class. She was about to call her back, when a shadow crossed over the skin, causing the girl to jump and look up.

 It was... Miss Morell. The school's guidance counselor. Lex had never actually had a session with her - her father believed that therapy was unnecessary and a scam for the government to take her money - but her face was familiar on account of how pretty she was compared to the other teachers at Beacon Hills' High. 

 Lex paused, holding her phone uncomfortably to her chest. "Miss Morell? Hi."

 "Lex," the woman scrutinized her like she was a particularly interesting essay on the human brain (or whatever it was that guidance counselors read). "Are you okay?"

 "I - I wasn't crying." She was suddenly embarrassed again. "I'm really allergic to cats. And I was in a room full of cat kennels. What - what are you doing here?"

 At that exact moment, Stiles and Scott exited through the main doors. Lex wiped at her face again, praying that her mascara wasn't smudged as the boy's shared a look. Miss Morell gave Lex a small smile as she walked over to the boys, lowering her voice. Lex frowned, feeling excluded, and took a step closer, straining her ears to hear the hushed warning. 

 "Listen closely: no sheriff, deputy, or detective is going to be able to find him."

 Lex held back a gasp - of course her guidance counselor knew about all of this shit.  

 "You don't have to ask us for help." Scott said, but the woman shook her head. 

 "I'm trying to help you." She said, crossing her arms and turning to look inside of the glass doors as the Sheriff paced back and forth across the linoleum tiles. "Because if you're going to find my brother, then you need to use the one person who might actually have an ability to seek out the supernatural."

 A look of realization dawned over the two's faces, but it was Stiles who spoke. When he did so, it was as if he had the blatant answer in front of him, but no desire to confront it. As if getting the information was somehow going to be more difficult now. Lex didn't understand until she heard the name of their best chance at saving a life. 

 "Lydia."

***

"HE'S GONNA BE OKAY."

 Scott turned to look at Lex, who kept her gaze forward as the two walked side-by-side through the empty halls. If she was being completely honest, Lex was feeling a little bit more useless than usual. C'mon - something huge happens and she has to leave because of her allergies. It was embarrassing, and she felt like she had been docked a point on some imaginary scoreboard. Bad fake girlfriend, bad supernatural support system. And don't even get her started on friend. 

 Lex could sense that something was about to happen. And not "sense" in some magical way, but in a way like there were eyes on the back of her neck. Like someone was watching her, scrutinizing her actions to try and decipher some code she had no idea was painted across her back. It was unnerving, and all she could think about was Aiden. His threat, his stare. "That's when people get hurt, people like Scott..."

 She risked a glance at him, noticing that his haphazard jaw was locked. He was worried. Afraid. Maybe angry. She had no idea. She wished that she could read him like a book, but most of the time it seemed like he was a blank slate and she was a messy splattering of acrylic. She frowned. 

 "He's not like the others who were taken," she reminded, running her hands through her hair. "He knows more - he's smarter. He'll be fine, he knows you'll find him."

 Scott was silent for a few moments. He broke the quiet with a soft sigh. "That's why I have to."

 "Scott-" Lex stopped, grabbing the boy's hand so that he was forced to look at her. She let go, letting her hands fiddle with her pockets as she did her best to look him in the eye. "It's not just you. If something goes wrong, it's not on you. It's on the person you're trying to stop. You're not a bad guy for not saving someone, when they shouldn't even need saving in the first place."

 He didn't say anything, just looked down at her - almost curiously. Like he suddenly realized her eyes were hazel not brown - or that her cheeks were flushed from the residule allergic reaction. She didn't feel observed, just seen. He reached forward and picked up her hand, squeezing it once; as acknowledgement or agreement, she wasn't sure.

 Tap, tap, tap.

 Lex froze, the hairs on her arms standing straight up. The tapping was subtle, from behind a closed door down the hall, but for some reason it activated every nerve in her body. It was a sign they weren't alone - that maybe someone was watching. Scott felt her tense, and stepped in front of her, leaning forward slightly as if to challenge the invisible noise. Tap, tap, tap - Lex hated it. It was like a horror moving trying to build suspense.

 "Scott -" she whispered, but he shook his head. 

 "Stay here." 

 She scoffed, and when she followed him as he began to move toward the door, he didn't protest; as if he had finally learned that it was fruitless. 

He door creaked open, although the tapping continued. It didn't take long to see where they were, as the giant piano and rows of trumpets served as an indication. Lex wasn't exactly familiar with the band room - but she was now acquainted with the cane-donning werewolf situated in the center of the room like a freshman pianist. 

  Lex put a hand on Scott's arm, feeling the muscles tense to a point that it must be painful. Her breath hitched, which must have been as telling to the blind alpha as seeing her face. Deucalion smiled. "Lex, Scott." 

 Neither of them said anything, but Scott shuffled so that he was covering Lex further. She appreciated the sentiment, but mentally berated Deucalion for being so dangerous, even though he was blind. You would think being blind would give you at least a slight disadvantage, but apparently not in the werewolf world.

  "Do you know what a metronome is, Scott?" He asked, finally ceasing the incessant tapping. "It's a tool to help you maintain a steady rhythm once you've set the tempo. Something tells me the tempo of your life has sped up considerably in the last few hours. If you'd like, I could help slow it down to a more manageable pace."

 Scott and Lex shared a look. On one hand, Lex knew that trusting Deucalion was like sticking your hand in a shark's mouth and trusting it to not get curious. On the other hand, he wasn't exactly wrong. So much had gone amiss in the past day that she still couldn't fully wrap her head around it. 

 It was Scott who spoke next. "How?"

 The man smiled, an action more eerie than anything. "By helping you find Deaton."

Silence fell over them. Lex had many things that she could've said in that moment, but decided against all of them. For the most part, she was confused. How the hell would Deucalion know about where Deaton is, unless he is somehow connected to the Darach? Apparently Scott's thoughts were in a similar place, as his eyes narrowed and a scowl began to tug at his lips. 

 Deucalion chuckled, as if he could see the expression on the boy's face. "Your heart's pounding, but it's not fear. It's anger."

  No shit. Lex almost rolled her eyes. 

 "I bet I know what you're thinking, 'does he have something to do with Deaton's disappearance?' I'll tell you what..." he hefted the cane in his hand, "If you can take the cane away from me, I'll tell you exactly where he is. Now, what do you think?"

 Lex scoffed, pushing past Scott to shoot the werewolf a dirty look. "Why should we trust you?" She demanded, taking a step forward, brushing off Scott's reach for her arm. "All you do is lie. Why would this be any different?"

 "The difference, dear, is that now you need me to be telling the truth." He drawled as Lex took another shuffling step forward. "If I'm lying, your friend dies. If I'm telling the truth, maybe he still does. The gamble is yours to take, either way you are in the same spot if you don't believe me."

 Lex scowled, but apparently the man wasn't finished.

 "And there is no way you're foolish enough to believe that you can sneak up on me." He laughed. "Try to be a bit smarter than that, Lex."

 Fine, he was provoking her. And fine, it worked. The insinuation that she was stupid triggered her more than she should have. She lunged for the cane, but the man jerked his head up and somehow twisted it out of her reach, spinning it around to knock the back of her knees. She hit the ground hard, grunting in surprise as the ceiling of the band room stared back at her. She heard Scott shout something, and then a crash. And then, of course, all hell broke loose.

 To be completely honest, it happened too quickly for her slow human brain to fully take in. All she knew was that Scott was not exactly doing a great job of getting that stupid cane. She shot to her feet, holding out her hands as if it would protect her as she tried to focus on the two long enough to find an opening to grab that stupid thing. She shot forward, reaching her hand out, but froze as Deucalion ripped the top from the cane to reveal a razor sharp blade. He slashed it outward, successfully cutting into Scott's shoulder - making him grunt in pain and fall to his knees. 

 Lex ran to his side, placing a hand on his back. "Scott-" she whipped her head around to shoot Deucalion a withering glare, not caring that he couldn't even see it. "Fuck you."

 "Now, there's no need for that." The man chastised. "You know I'm not the one slashing up innocent people, praying to ancient gods, or gathering herbs, or whatever the hell Druids are supposed to do." He paused, observing the blade as if he could tell how sharp it was. "I am part of a pack that wants Derek dead, though." He added, as if as an afterthought. He took a step toward the two, and Scott twisted to face him. Lex's eyes were drawn to where blood was leaking from his wound, turning his shirt crimson, and she grimaced. "Kali is coming for him." Deucalion continued. "So there's a difficult choice you're about to face, because someone is going to die tonight, and whether that's Derek or Deaton... that's up to you."

 "Just tell me where he is." Scott said, his ragged voice trying hard to not sound like he was begging. Deucalion turned away, re-capping his cane. The absence of the blade did nothing to ease Lex's nerves, especially since he turned to them before walking away, his words making chills rise on her arms. 

 "I'll give you a very important clue... let the current guide you."