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sirens, sirens
( teen wolf. s3A )

chapter fourteen.
feeling useless

     QUICK to rush where both werewolves could sense Aiden was━━which turned out to be one of the locker rooms, for some unknown reason━━they hurried inside, desperate to stop whatever was happening. Both Ethan and Scott clung onto Aiden, hands and claws grasping at him with all their strength in order to halt his movements. He was holding a dungbell, Cora collapsed on the floor beneath him, Lydia nearby, crying out. Alani was glad they weren't even a second late━━she didn't want to think about what they could've walked in on if they had been.

     Nudging Stiles in the side, she hurriedly gestured to the other injured werewolf, who lay groaning against the floor. They collapsed down next to her, checking her over to understand how bad her wounds really were. Despite being a werewolf with heightened senses━━and, that did include healing a lot quicker than anyone else, no matter the extent of the injury━━she still seemed to be in pain, and would continue to be until her werewolf side of things finally decided to kick in.

     As Alani, Stiles and Lydia stayed crumpled on the floor next to Cora, behind them, they heard the drop of the dungbell, clattering against the floor and causing the trio of somewhat-human beings to jump within their skins. For a second, each of them thought Aiden had broken free from the restraints of the others, heading straight for them and tearing anything down in his path; even if that included the three of them. "Aiden," Ethan stood in front of his brother, eyes trained solely on his, "you can't do this!"

     "She came at me!" Aiden retaliated (like a five year old━━Alani would've chuckled quietly under her breath if they were under any different circumstances). He sharp teeth took an edge to his tone of voice, but the sound was still frighteningly threatening. Alani tried her hardest to look up at him, in case he suddenly decided to take his anger out on her.

     Ethan pushed his brother back, bringing the focus back to him. Scott stood behind the two of them, tense and ready to help if any of them needed him to. "It doesn't matter! Kali have Derek until the next full moon━━you can't touch him, or her."

     Silence eventually enshrouded the group as each of them took their surroundings in. Lydia looked up at Aiden, a look of guilt present behind her irises as the werewolf was hit with an ounce of realisation━━she had put him up to it. Alani wanted to reach out to her friend and comfort her, but knew there would time for that later. Now, they needed to focus on the moaning girl on the floor. Cora turned over onto her back, exhaling painfully. Her hair was sprawled across the ground like a halo of pain emitting from every pore in her body; blood seeped from a cut on her forehead she most likely received from the previous dungbell. The girl kept her eyes screwed shut━━no doubt too much light would make her head feel worse.

     Alani grimaced at the sight before, but she wasn't sure why. After everything she'd seen since moving to Beacon Hills━━and that included both in reality, and in her visions━━you'd think the sight of blood and wounds would be something she's used to by that point. Yet, he still made her feel just that little bit nauseous, so she tried not to focus too much on the same spot.

     Eventually, Ethan had forced his brother out of the locker room with one final look back to Scott. Alani couldn't tell whether they thought they'd put them up to this━━like it was their idea to have Cora go after one of them whilst they spoke to the other. Lydia was supposed to be their distraction, not Cora. But, Cora was impulsive; she didn't care about consequences, that much was clear. Alani wasn't too surprised to learn that, though, considering she was Derek's younger sister, after all.

     Looking down at the girl, they found her to be slightly losing consciousness as he eyes remained closed and her breathing started to calm down. A look of sympathy passed over Stiles' features. "Hey, guys," he called, grabbing even Scott's attention now, eyes glazing over the girl, "I think she's pretty hurt."

     Despite the situation being completely serious, it seemed as though even Alani couldn't help herself to her very own antics━━she blamed it on being around Stiles too much. She sighed, hanging her head low before looking back up at the boy. "No shit, Sherlock."

With a grumble falling unceremoniously from her lips, Cora forced herself up from the floor, not accepting help from the others, despite their hesitant hands as they left them outstretched towards her in case she suddenly fell. They couldn't be too careful━━even if Cora was a werewolf, meaning she could take pain a lot better than any normal human, it had taken her a little longer than they had expected for her to get standing again.

Alani wouldn't admit it, but there was something about the girl that the blonde admired. She was fierce, and strong, which was how Alani wished she, herself, was sometimes. Every now and again, Alani found herself shrinking away from opportunities being presented to her just because she didn't believe she was the right person for it, just because she didn't believe in herself. But, Cora did━━Cora believed in herself, and Alani looked up to her for that.

Even if every other time they were together, Alani felt intimidated by the girl, and some times she even wanted to strangle the girl for her offhand comments. Other than that, Alani wished they could've gotten along, even just to learn how she held herself so strongly the way she did. Maybe things would've been different for her, then. She guessed they'd never truly know.

The brunette stood situated in front of the mirror, grabbing a cloth━━that no doubt hadn't been washed if it was still in the boys locker room; Alani forced herself not to gag outwardly, and allowed the mental image of her doing so in her mind linger, just for a little relief━━before soaking it under the tap. The cut on Cora's head wasn't as bad as it should've been thanks to her ability to heal at such a rapid pace, and blood was no longer seeping from it.

Behind her stood the other three; Scott, leaning against the wall next to Cora, arms crossed against his chest as he watched and waited for her to finish, ever the patient boy he was; next to him was Stiles, the complete opposite of his best friend, as he continued to hop from one foot to the other anxiously, too many expressions to name flickering across his features; Alani, who stood, almost motionless in her body as she watched, her eyes almost completely glazed over and mind somewhere far off in the distance; then Lydia, hands fitted into her blazer pocket so she couldn't anxiously pick at them and concerned eyes trained on the girl in from of them.

     They were a weird group, but not one worked with the others.

     "You okay?" Scott questioned the girl when a wince left her furrowed lips. The blood had begun to dry, leaving its stain along Cora's forehead, therefore leaving a memory, too.

     Lydia's head tilted to the side; behind her, Alani, shaking her head unceremoniously, incredulously, her index finger finding its way into her mouth as she started to chew on her nail━━a nasty habit she could never really get rid of. "She doesn't look okay."

"Shocker." The word tumbled from Alani's mouth before she had even recognised it hanging on loose threads within the confines of her mind. Instantly, she went back to biting her nail, ignoring the shared looks of her friends around her.

The blonde girl didn't see it, and if she didn't, she most probably wouldn't have done anything about it anyway, but Cora rolled her eyes from in front of her. Whether it was Alani's sarcastic comment, or their incessant coddling, they didn't know.

One thing they had learned, however, that Alani used words to calm herself down when she was in situations that definitely shouldn't even be considered possible. It had happened before, and they knew it'd happen again. She liked jokes and sarcastic quips to bring her mind back to reality, before it could subconsciously wonder off to far and never bother to return. The group had gotten used to it by that point (well, that ones that mattered to Alani, anyway), so they took her comments with a pinch of salt, and knew anything misread shouldn't be taken to heart.

The others, however, weren't. Thankfully, Cora didn't bother retaliating. Instead, she rinsed the now blood-stained cloth under the tap, before turning it off, albeit a little harshly. "I'll heal," she informed them. She began to stand up straight, walking backwards a few paces but it seemed Cora had overestimated her ability to heal quickly. She stumbled on her steps, teetering backwards like she was about to fall back to the ground and end up cracking her skull open. Scott and Stiles moved forwards in her aid, Lydia held her hands out, prepared, and Alani just tensed, watching on with wide eyes. Despite the kind gesture, Cora didn't take it as such. "I said I'm fine," she snapped, forcing their hands away from her.

However, Stiles wasn't done. Even when Cora looked as though she was ready to kill, torture and rip anything to pieces, Stiles didn't care. Either he didn't get that vibe radiating off of her that Alani was━━which caused her to inch just a little bit closer to said boy; not like she'd do anything, seeing as there's no way she'd be able to go up against a werewolf when all she could probably do was tell them what the weather was going to be like tomorrow━━or, he simply didn't care. Alani didn't know whether to think him brave, or stupid. "Do you realise how suicidally crazy that was?" He shook his head at her, disbelieving. "What were you thinking going after them?"

Alani should've seen it coming before happened, she should've been prepared: Cora's shoulders tensed, hunched over her body just a little more, but it was noticeable; her fingers clenched around the sink, blending in with the white ceramic as the force of her hold made them change shade; the set of her features, firm lines and furrowed masses. But, even if she had been prepared, she knew it still would've stung.

In an instant, Cora had whipped around to face them, teeth gritted as she forced the words out and tears beginning to glisten on the darkness of her pupils. "I did it for Boyd." There it was; the inevitable. Boyd was something none of them had really spoken about since his tragic death, and unfortunately, that was something Alani was grateful for. She didn't want to talk about Boyd━━if it hurt for her, what was everyone else feeling, everyone else who had known much so much better? Cora's eyes held such gut-wrenching pain, it caused Alani to pause in her movements, slack as she took everything in. The brunette shook her head. "None of you were doing anything."

Cora was right━━no matter how much it pained her to admit, she was. At least, to Alani she was. The Alphas had practically killed Boyd themselves, forcing the teen's own mentor and Alpha to do it himself. They wanted revenge, justice for Boyd, because that's what they deserve, and that's what he deserved.

     But, right then, at that very moment, Alani couldn't exactly explain what they were doing in regards to the late Vernon Boyd. She knew they were trying to distinguish who this mysterious Darach was; who was the one behind all the human sacrifices. But, didn't any of that matter when Boyd had been killed so brutally, so mercilessly? Alani didn't want any of else to die from a sacrifice they had no idea they were partaking in, and maybe it was selfish of her to be thinking such things in the first place, but she couldn't help it. She'd much rather be getting back at the Alphas for Boyd than chasing clues that only led them round it circles.

     Alani could've done something━━should've done something━━for Boyd that night. She has the ability to see such brutal events happening within her mind before they did within their reality. What if she had seen Boyd's death so vividly in a vision? Would things have been different? Would Boyd still be alive? Would someone else had taken his place instead? Alani had no idea how the magic behind her ability actually worked, meaning she didn't know if stopping one person from death only fated to another to the same thing. If one person didn't go, maybe someone else had to.

     She knew she didn't have the knowledge regarding the extent of her true self, and she'd probably give anything for it, but she should've done something━━anything. Her visions had somehow been able to help every now and again for the group in regards to whatever could be coming next, or figuring something new out, leading them on to a different cue. But, nothing had come for Boyd. Why was that? Why hadn't anything come for Boyd when he needed it most?

Was it her fault Vernon Boyd had died that day?

Scott, clearly sensing the downfall that was taking place within the crevices of his friend's mind, unable to escape as her taunting thoughts screamed so loudly at her, looked her way. His own eyes were filled with pain as he watched her succumb to her spiralling thoughts. He knew he couldn't comfort her now, not like he would've wanted to. Coming up with the next best thing, he motioned to the girl instead, watching as both Lydia and Stiles took notice of her, too. No hesitation was found behind Lydia's actions━━her arm snaked around the blonde's shoulders, pulling her in closer, allowing her to crumble safely when she needed to most. They had all seen the sudden change within Alani Mordor when Boyd had died; they all knew she blamed herself the most. None of them believed it for a second, and hated the way she was feeling. Knowing she was being looked after, Scott turned back to Cora, finding her to be awkwardly looking anyway but at Alani. "We're trying," he nodded, desperate for the girl to see much they were, in fact, trying. 

Her supposed guilt for Alani hadn't lasted long━━as Scott's words resonated around the surrounding walls of the enclosed boys' locker room, she scoffed, shaking her head. Her eyes were sharp, cutting deep into Scott. "And, you're failing." A sneer came up on her lips, now, uncaring of how much pain she may cause them all. That was just who she was. "You're just a bunch of stupid teenagers," her eyes flickering from person to the other, questioning each of their previous actions, "running around, thinking that you can stop people from getting killed." Her words had began to impact the others, now━━Stiles brought his eyes to the ground, ashamed, Lydia flitted from one foot to the other, arm limply falling from Alani's shoulders, but making sure to stay close. "But, all you do is show up late. All you really do is find the bodies. And, even then," she paused, before her eyes drifted over to the blonde, settling themselves in on just her, judging, "some of you can't even manage that, despite being supposed to."

     With her last words cutting through each of them━━some definitely harsher than others━━Cora left, stalking away like she hadn't just ripped Alani's heart from her chest and squeezed as tightly as she could, before watching the blood and veins drip through the crevices of her very fingers. Alani stood still, unable to move, her mind continue to loop Cora's words over and over again until she could recite them off by heart. She crossed her arms across her chest, hiding within herself, desperate for the ground to just swallow her whole so she could crumble down without the possibility of anyone watching her.

Stiles was the one to speak up first. He hadn't yet noticed Alani's completely downtrodden expression. Instead, his eyes were completely fixated on the doorway to which Cora had just stalked out of. "She's definitely a Hale," he quipped. Alani looked up at him, forcing the tears to stay within her eyes, unallowing of them to trickle down her cheeks. She didn't want to be vulnerable━━she didn't want to be this. Stiles, too, looked taken aback by the brunette's words, and it seemed some form of humour was able to cheer him up, too. Alani only continued to find more and more that she liked about the boy. He cleared his throat, stretching his arms out a little awkwardly, before moving past the three of them. "I'll make sure she gets home..." His words trailed off, and it was only when he looked back at Alani did they realise why. They'd been doing everything together as of late; a duo; investigative buddies. He wanted her to come with him. "You, uh, wanna come with?"

     If it had been any other time, in any other circumstance, Alani would've been right next to him, following him out the door and starting whatever investigation they were processing next. She'd gotten used to it━━having Stiles next to her was almost a constant now, and it began to felt slightly weird whenever they weren't doing something together. It both made her feel safe, but anxious at the same time. Alani couldn't understand what she was feeling, why she was feeling that particular way.

     So, no matter how much she'd have loved to say yes, a derived scoff fell forwards first. Her arms remained crossed against her chest, and her flickered from Stiles to the ground in a continuous loop, like she felt guilty for turning him down. "After that?" she questioned, almost incredulous. "No, thanks. I think I'll stick with Lydia..." she trailed off, hesitant, as she realised she hadn't even asked the strawberry blonde if she could hang with her for a bit. She didn't care what her plans were━━she just needed to get away from Cora. "If that's okay?"

     A genuine smile fitted across Lydia's lips, her eyes expressing a slight look of disbelief, that she couldn't quite understand why it wouldn't be okay. They were friends, and in fact, Lydia really enjoyed hanging out with Alani. She was like a female version of Stiles, but way more tolerable. "Of course it is."

♡

Once everyone dispersed to do whatever they decided to do, Alani's soul clung on to Lydia's. Both girls thankfully had a free period during the time after such a fallout with the Alpha twins and Cora, and they used it to just relax.

Too much had been happening around them as of recently, and it felt as though none of them had any time to just breathe and take it all in. So, with that in mind, the two girls walked aimlessly through their school's hallways, listening to the sounds of their own footsteps and mumbled talking through closed classroom doors.

Alani kept her head down, watching as her feet placed themselves one in front of the other in a repeating motion, her mind faraway. She couldn't help but imagine what Cora had said over and over again, an endless loop that was set out to tortue her, rip her self-esteem apart piece by piece, no matter how long it took.

Because, Cora was right━━and, Alani hated her for it.

The blonde hadn't realised it, since her head had stayed hanging low whilst they continued their trek, but Lydia was constantly throwing uncertain glances in her friend's direction. Her eyes only held concern for her well-being, because she knew how much pain had been stabbed through her heart when Boyd had died, how much guilt she still continued to hold onto for not being able to save him. And, Cora spelling it out so brutally in front of her was just the tip of the iceberg. With a sudden leap of faith, Lydia decided to try and break the girl out of her downtrodden reverie, seeing as it seemed as though she wasn't going to say anything any time soon. "What she said wasn't true, you know?" Her words were a little hesitant to begin with, simply because she didn't want to step over any boundaries. The girl's were good friends now, but it still hadn't been that long since they'd met, meaning there were still things they didn't know about the other. "You've helped us a lot more than I think you realise."

     A small smile had begun to lift at the side of Alani's lips, before it fell back down again. Her head stayed low, eyes trained on the floor still. She sighed. "But, I could've done more━━"

     In an instant, Lydia was cutting the blonde off from her self-doubt before it could go any further. "We all could've done more," she shook her head, her arms thrown up in exasperation━━Alani had helped them massively since meeting her, and it was frustrating to her friends when they saw her kicking herself down, "but, we can't live by what if's, or else we're always stuck in the past." Her voice began to calm down from its slight frustration, stopping in the desolate hallway so she could force Alani to look up at her, a doubtful expression still clear on her face. Lydia expired. "Without you, Alani, I don't think we would be as close to understand what's happening as we are now."

     Alani shook her head, scrunching her nose up and looking down the hall, maybe out of slight embarrassment. "You're just saying that━━"

     "No, I'm not." Lydia denied, firm with her words. She brought Alani's full attention back to her when she shifted onto her other foot, wanting to be clear and precise; wanting Alani to know the complete truth as to how they all felt for her. "You've proved yourself time and time again that you're part of this..." her head tilted to the side in thought, pursing her lips, cringing at the words, "group-pack-thingy," a smile finally upturned Alani's lips, chuckling, and it made Lydia's heart flutter with happiness. "Okay," she laughed along with her friend, proud, "which means we all look out for each other." She paused, watching the blonde intently before solidifying her words. "You got that?"

Alani simply couldn't fight the smile tugging along her features now. She bit her lip in an attempt to hide it, but it ended up doing no good. So, she let it out━━she let the happiness overtake her body at hearing such words being poured out from a new friend she couldn't believe she had to the good fortune to have met. Alani knew they all cared for her in their own separate ways, but being able to hear it out loud was something special, something between them. And, Alani couldn't appreciate Lydia Martin more than she did right then.

Embarrassment was creeping through her veins, but her happiness wouldn't allow itself to be squashed. A hint of a blush rose upon her cheeks, and she shrugged her shoulders sheepishly, before nodding in response. She exhaled in relief, the weight of everything finally beginning to lift, slowly but surely. "Yeah," she breathed out, "yeah, I━━"

But, Alani never finished what she wanted to originally say, never got to express her pure gratitude and thankfulness to someone who deserved it. Because, from just a little ways away down the hall, through an opened classroom door, came a stalk of chalk, rolling through, until it unanimously stopped.

     An eerie feeling crept through both girls as they took notice of the random object. They shared a look of confusion, of apprehension, before Lydia decided it was best to investigate. Alani, on the other hand, would've been happy to ignore it, to turn in the other direction and pretend like it was just the wind having blown it off course.

     The blonde didn't move as she watched her friend bend down to pick it up, inspecting it with curiosity. But, even though she was only seeing the back of her, Alani could tell something changed. Lydia straightened back up, turning almost robotically and heading straight through the doorway of the classroom the chalk had come from. Alani paused in her breathing, brows furrowing in confusion as to what she had just witnessed. "Lydia?" Her voice was quiet at first, a hesitant whisper━━scared as to what was happening around her. When she received no response other than the sound of something scraping, causing a cringe of sorts to run through every crevice of her body, she began to feel the panic settling in. "Lydia?"

     The scraping noise only continued to sound throughout, filling her ears next to her rapidly beating heart. She hated this━━she hated everything about it. Lydia wouldn't have ignored Alani, the blonde knew that, especially after having called her name twice, the panic evident in her tone. By now, she'd have either walked back out, causing the blonde to have a heart attack, and call out for her, grabbing her attention and forcing her inside. But, none of that had happened.

     Alani wanted to run in the other direction, but knowing Lydia was somewhere in there, unresponsive, made her change her mind. A light patter of tears began to form within her eyes, her hands shaking slightly. None of this screamed safe.

As she turned the corner, her breath halted, relief swarming through her at the sight of Lydia looking fine, alive. A breathy chuckle fell past her lips, her body bending over and leaning down to rest her hands against her legs. "Oh, my god, Lydia, you almost gave me a heart attach." But, the scraping only continued, and Lydia didn't respond. Alani straightened back up, watching as her friend wrote something on the chalkboard. "Lydia?" Her panic was back now, and Lydia brought her hand down just to stare blankly in front of her. "Lydia━━"

     A scream like any other tore through the entire building, encroaching it within its atmosphere and claiming it as its own. Alani had heard one like this before━━when she had stayed over at Lydia's and in turn ended up finding a dead body, ritually sacrificed by the community pool. Dread flooded through her━━if Lydia was screaming again, it couldn't mean anything good.

     Thankfully for her, she didn't faint this time. No visions came to her, no words of whispers reverberating through her ears and into the backs of her subconscious. But, was that a good thing? Alani didn't want to faint and have something traumatising play out within her mind; she didn't want someone else's whispers telling her of death and decay. Yet, the last time she didn't want it, she'd needed it━━Boyd had died because of it.

Alani couldn't do anything about it, though━━either she had one, or she didn't. She couldn't control it, and she wouldn't even know where to start. There were triggers that could help, and Lydia's screaming had been one of them, and if she wasn't falling into one now, that simply just meant her third eye didn't have anything to show her. She'd watch the events of her decimated reality play out before deciding whether that was helpful or not.

Clamping down her hands against her ears, Alani tried her hardest to drown out the gut-wrenching, ear-splitting scream that was desperate to break through. Her face contorted into one of complete pain, scrunched aimlessly until pain filtered through every pore upon her body.

It didn't last long━━thankfully━━and Lydia had stopped screaming. In just a few seconds, people had ran to see what the source of such a scream was; teachers and students alike, crowding around the doorway, the few formers struggling to push their way through due to the amount surrounding the room. Lydia and Alani stood still, motionless as they watched their heads turn to each corner, searching for a horrific sight that might potentially catch them off-guard, but then their expressions only turned to confusion. Nothing was there; nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing that could've elicited such a scream.

     Ms. Blake━━their English teacher, who, unfortunately for Alani, she still felt a little creeped out by━━made her way over to the two girls, hesitant in her steps, not wanting to startle them like they were just scared fawns and she was the starving wolf. As soon as the woman stopped in front of them, thinking over what she should say that didn't seem too condescending, Lydia had burst out that their teacher of that particular classroom was missing━━to search for him, because he could be hurt, or already dead, they feared.

     Alani looked up at her friend when she revealed such vital information. Lydia must've gotten a feeling when she screamed, or that's why she screamed. Something in the back of her mind told her someone else was gone, about to become another human sacrifice. But, then her eyes fluttered behind her friend, finding the scrawled number 2 ensconced in a diagram of circles. What did any of this mean?

     More teachers began filing in, some talking over radios and some walking around, looking for any signs that could tell them anything (at some point, Aiden had trickled in, too, after hearing his... whatever they were... scream bloody murder, now standing beside her as a show of comfort. Alani made sure to keep a few paces away from him). Both girls knew they wouldn't find anything, at least not yet. No, whoever was committing these sacrifices enjoyed making a spectacle over their murders━━it'd be a short while before anyone found his body. Bile rose in the back of Alani's throat, and she fought to keep it down.

Looking around herself, Lydia found that no one was really in a state of panic, not how she knew they should be. She had just revealed that their teacher was missing, about to become murdered, and nobody really acted the way one should be when in such a situation. She scoffed. "I don't get why no one's calling the police."

     Their English teacher's voice was calm, something she knew they needed at that moment, when she spoke. Alani only looked at the woman apprehensively, her arms hugging around her figure as if to protect her from a danger she couldn't pinpoint. "They're gonna make an announcement over the P.A━━"

     "That's not gonna do anything!" Lydia snapped back, frustrated that no one seemed to be actually listening to her. Alani jumped a little when the words broke free when her mind, and she watched as Aiden placed a hand meant to comfort her along her arm. "I told you━━he's gone. Like the others... taken." The blonde hated how ominous her words sounded.

     Ms. Blake breathed shakily, her hands being held out as if in surrender. "Okay. Look, we're just trying to understand, okay?" From the corner of her eye, Alani could notice more people crowding around the doorway, eyes trained on their conversation and wondering what had happened when they were all in their own lessons. She didn't look over at them though━━her mind told her to continue watching their teacher. She couldn't shake that feeling from earlier in the morning. "All we know is that Mr. Westover didn't show up for class."

     A scoff escaped Lydia's lips, incredulous. "And, the last time that happened was Mr. Harris." Her words were filled with venom as she sniped back at their teacher, not caring how rude she may have sounded━━all she knew was people needed to act, and preferably now. "Anyone heard from him lately? He's gone." Lydia broke out of Aiden's grasp, stalking past Alani to point at the blackboard behind. "And, he's going to be the second number."

"Lydia," Ms. Blake sighed, exasperated, "you wrote that number."

"Okay, fine." The strawberry blonde threw her arms up into the air, stalking forwards. She looked around, looking as though she was figuring something out, before pursing her lips. "I'm psychic."

Alani stifled a laugh, albeit it definitely not being the time or place to find something funny. The blonde remembered when Stiles had been trying to see if either Lydia or Alani could use whatever abilities they possessed to find Deaton. Back then, Lydia had demanded she wasn't a psychic. But, she supposed that was the best way to describe the fact she knew things she shouldn't. Maybe Alani should consider doing the same, if anyone asked her about it.

Ms. Blake looked far from impressed. "You're psychic?"

She wasn't sure what it was━━whether it was the urge to care and protect one of her closest friends who had been there for her just minutes ago, or how Ms. Blake only continued to crawl deeper under her skin until all Alani wanted to do was rip it off and drag her out━━but she snapped. "She's something!" Alani gestured back over to her friend, then the board behind them, as if those actions alone were enough proof that people should believe them.

     Their English teacher, on the other hand, only continued to look disbelieving. Alani wasn't sure whether she was putting it on for the sake of everyone else around them━━they knew she knew about werewolves, and she knew that they knew; so why would believing in something like this be too far-fetched.

     The girls shared a look of indignation, of defeat━━no one of enough importance to start a quick professional investigation would believe them until they had solid evidence; and even then, Alani would bet it'd be too late. They wouldn't end up believing them until their teacher's body was lay lifeless in front of them.

     When Alani looked away, she caught sight of Scott and Ethan, both standing at the front of the curious crowd. There was an expression across his features, one she couldn't quite place━━concern, fear, anticipation, confusion━━and in just seeing him, just having his presence near, Alani almost felt calmer about everything. He nodded his head to her, a clear question forming between the two of them━━did you see anything?━━and Alani could only shake her head as a forlorn response.

     Alani hated this━━she hated everything about it. She hadn't seen anything, and now, someone else might die.

♡

After their whole fiasco of finding out another one of their teachers was going to be ritually sacrificed, Alani made sure to stick as close to Lydia as she possibly could. There was some form of semblance they shared━━both girls found comfort in one another's presence, and after another eerie encounter, neither one of them wanted to part any time soon.

     They went about the rest of their day together━━thankfully, they only had one class left, which was one they happened to share. It brought great comfort to the both of them knowing their friend was only a table or two away. If anything were to happen so suddenly, they'd be there for one another.

     After their final class, most students had decided to stay within the school until the music recital begun. Seeing as it was only an hour away, both Alani and Lydia deemed it pointless to go home and then come straight back. So, the two of them found themselves in a corner of the library, surrounded by many other students talking most animatedly about their missing teacher.

     Their words continued to reverberate through Alani's ears, and she knew she needed something to distract herself. She could try to talk to Lydia, but both girls knew the only thing they'd be able to talk about was what they didn't want to talk about, and something potentially happening that night at the recital, thanks to Scott informing them about another teacher potentially being targeted.

     Instead, Alani sent a message to her mother, explaining that she would be home later than expected due to staying behind at the school alongside everybody else. A chuckle broke past the blonde's lips━━her usual routine had been completely demolished since turning up to Beacon Hills and making friends which a group of potentially supernatural teenagers. Alani was someone who valued her sleep, but as of lately, it seemed it wasn't something she was so set on focusing on. Alani was constantly out and about━━mainly with a particular Stiles Stilinski━━and slowly disregarding her classes. Alani Mordor was slowly turning into a different girl; something she was learning to enjoy the longer she spent time with her new friends.

When the time came around, Alani and Lydia made it to the theatre, watching as people filed in and students set up on stage. The girls were situated at the back of the room, standing aimlessly as their eyes roved over everyone there, watching for anything suspicious or out-of-the-blue. Scott appeared beside them, a look of disbelieving confusion written on his features. He looked between the two of them. "I thought you were going home?"

"I can't," Lydia's voice was just a quiet whisper, and Alani had to strain her hearing a little more in order to hear her words. Terror was clear on her features. "I don't know why I'm the one that keeps finding the bodies," she gestured to Alani, whom Scott sent a reassuring look to, "Alani, too━━but, maybe if we just stopped trying to fight it, we'd find them before it happens, maybe with enough time for someone like you to do something about it."

The werewolf appeared determined, proud. "You get me the time, and I'll do something about it━━I swear to you both, I will."

     The moment shared between the three impossible teens was palpable, filling their surrounding atmosphere with such warmth, such love, that they all suddenly felt as though they could conquer the world. If they worked as a team━━as a pack━━they could potentially save someone's life; so long as both Alani's and Lydia's abilities worked the way they were hoping they would. So, each of them stayed perched at the back, spines straightened and on alert, eyes trained on everything they could around them, waiting impatiently for something to suddenly happen.

     When everyone was ready and prepared, silence enshrouded each corner of the theatre, before the conductor began the performance. All types of music instruments began playing, creating an orchestration that Alani couldn't help but feel was somber, eerie, disturbing. Something about the song they'd chosen for in perfectly with how the group were feeling at that very moment, and all they wanted to do was get it all over with, and hope they could save someone else's life.

The orchestra had begun to tighten its crescendo, on the step of reaching a climax before it withered down slowly once more. But, the sound of a vibrating phone turned her attention away and allowed her to feel at least a little normal again. It was Lydia, receiving a message from someone she couldn't quite make out. The strawberry blonde sighed, exhausted. "It better be." She turned to Alani, watching her confusion set in, and smile tightly. "I'll be right back."

Alani didn't like that Lydia was going somewhere they didn't know, completely alone. She wanted to stop her friend was leaving their side━━they were better in numbers, they always would be━━but before anything could be said between the two, Lydia had already left, storming out the back doors.

The blonde girl sighed, on edge from everything that could technically go wrong in such a short space of time. She kept her arms crossed over her chest like they could help protect her from something scary, when she knew the one who could protect her was just a few paces in front. As she walked up to stand beside him, they took notice of Allison, her father and Isaac walking through the doors, grim and expectant expressions on each of their faces.

     "You feel anything?" Scott questioned, causing Alani's head to snap back to the front, finding his eyes casted down to her.

     Guilt washed over her when she realised she was useless to them once more. She hadn't seen anything, and because of that, someone else might die. "Nope," she pursed her lips, slightly distraught, "not yet." Noticing her anxiousness, Scott nudged her shoulder gently, hinting that everything was okay, she'd get there, she was still knew at this. The girl had to admit it━━his actions did make her feel a little better.

At some point during the recital, Stiles had turned up after having attempted to convince his father about the world of supernatural, before Cora had suddenly fallen ill. Alani couldn't say she felt too sympathetic for the girl━━she wouldn't want her to die, but at the same time, she wasn't too worried. Alani turned, taking notice of the new presence around her and felt a sense of comfort wash over her, knowing Stiles was there and counted for. They smiles to one another, before turning back.

     Stiles took a second look around the group, then around the room, before noticing one of them was missing. He questioned Lydia's whereabouts, and Alani briefly explained that she'd received a message from someone and would be straight back. The blonde had tried to keep her voice somewhat level, but by the way the Stilinski boy was looking at her, she could tell it hadn't worked.

     The mention of Lydia suddenly had Alani feeling... off. Her throat tightened up and her eyes began to water. For a second, she thought she was going to be sick. She stumbled back a couple paces, her arms coming out to grab onto something. "Hey, hey," Stiles panicked, both him and Scott keeping her upright as they looked down at her with concern. "What's happening━━is it what we think it is?"

"Yeah," Alani nodded. Despite not having seen anything, she knew this feeling was trying to tell her something, and Alani was terrified about what it was. "Something's... something's wrong━━I think━━" And, suddenly she's somewhere else entirely. A picture looms within her mind's eye, of Lydia, tears streaking down her face and terror evident in her eyes. She's screaming, her voice shaking each and every crevice in her mind until it feels like it's about to explode. She was glad it didn't last long. Her eyes focused back in on their reality, and her lips trembled when she spoke. "It's Lydia."

     That was all she needed to say before the three of them were rushing out, pushing past people they didn't give a second glance and storming outside. Alani tried to keep the bile down at the back of her throat, keep her legs steady and her eyes focused━━it wasn't the time to suddenly pass out and distract the boys from what they needed to be doing. Lydia was the priority━━something was happening to her, she was in danger, and they needed to get to her immediately.

     "Lydia!"

     "Lydia!" Both boys scream out her name, looking around the empty school's courtyard for any sign of their friend. But, it was completely empty; just the wind blowing through and leaves rustling around.

     "Anything?" Stiles looked back at both his friends, hoping one of them would say something helpful. But, neither of them came up with anything━━they were both stumped, useless, terrified. Stiles pulled out his phone, fingers moving at a rapid pace as his panic began to seep in more and more. "She's not answering texts," he informed━━he'd messaged her beforehand to see if they could maybe get a response. "What do we do?"

Scott didn't answer━━he clamped his hands down upon his ears, eyes scrunched shit in pain as he began to grunt outwardly. He bent over, desperate to hide from the noise. Stiles was confused as he question what was happening, looking to Alani to see her looking around in confusion━━she had heard it, too, but only faintly, and not enough to hurt her the way it had done in the previous times. It was Lydia again, screaming.

Her mind's eye opened, whispering words she couldn't quite make out.

It's her.

It's been her this entire time.

Alani scrunched her face up, trying to shut them all out, but they were desperate, too; desperate to rip through the seams on the blonde's eyes and warn her.

Jennifer━━

━━Blake.

"Lydia," Scott moaned, slowly coming back to his senses.

Alani's eyes opened wide, realisation dawning on her as her mind suddenly shut off. There was a tremble in her words when she spoke, full of fear. "The Darach..." her voice was quiet, just about catching the attention of the boys. "...it's Ms. Blake."

     An epiphany spoke through each of them, taking in her words before Scott suddenly shot up, speeding off in the direction he knew where Lydia would be thanks to her scream. Stiles was anxious to follow, too, but one look at Alani's fatigue from having two vision-like states in a short amount of time compared to usual, caused him to stop. He held his hand out toward her, letting her breathe for a moment, before they, too, dashed off after Scott.

If it wasn't for Stiles, Alani doubted she would've made to the correct place. They were too far behind Scott, but she still would've ended up lost, somewhere completely different and unable to help.

Clatters of noises were sounding out from the corridor ahead of them; sounds of roaring, chairs clattering and grunts of pain. Rushing forwards, they found one particular door wide open, and they stopped suddenly, shoes squeaking against the floor. What they saw halted Alani's breathing almost completely. Lydia was tied to a chair, distraught and slightly in pain, with their English teacher, Jennifer Blake, stood in front, protective of what she believed was rightfully hers.

Neither of them could see Scott, but the panic of their friend being in such paramount danger sent them surging forwards. But, before they could get anywhere inside, Jennifer slammed the desk into the door, concealing it there somehow so they were able to open the door.

"No!"

"Lydia!"

Stiles tried as hard as he could to force the door open; Alani, too, forcing her body against it, hoping against everything that someone would work in their favour. Alani realised nothing was going to work, and went back to banging on the door in protest as Stiles continued on, screaming their friend's name.

A chill crept up through Alani's spine as their teacher continued looking at the pair, before focusing her eyes solely upon Alani. A smirk appeared on her lips, and Alani could just about make out her words. "Who would've thought?" She questioned rhetorically, watching as both teens stuck outside stopped in their movements, listening intently. "A dreamwalker."

     Everything within Alani felt as though it had collapsed. That name━━dreamwalker━━she hadn't heard it before, she hadn't needed to. It made sense to her, somehow. Something within Alani's mind reacted to the word, before her eyes glazed over and she was seeing things again.

A forest━━

━━one particular place; a tree stump━━

━━lay bare in the middle━━

━━someone standing beside it━━

━━ominous, dangerous━━

━━familiar━━

A gasp tore from the blonde's lips, her eyes pulsing back to their original state and breathing heavily. Whatever had happened just then, had been because of that one particular word, had been because she was finally exposed to the truth, she knew that, but she couldn't tell whether she liked it by the way Jennifer was looking at her. "Huh," she chuckled, "what a guess."

Their teacher looked away, leaving both teens breathlessly staring at one another before they jumped back to desperately trying to get the door open. It wouldn't budge, but they wouldn't let that stop them. From outside just one small door window, they could see Scott lying helplessly on the floor, Lydia continuing to cry, and someone standing up defiantly against Jennifer Blake━━Sheriff Stilinski, Stiles' dad. She felt the boy tense beside her, and knew he'd noticed everything, too. Their movements only sped up from there, his desperate turning ten-fold and panic seeped through each and every pore in his body.

A gunshot went off, and Alani assumed the worst. Her eyes immediately flickered over to Lydia, who continued to breath deeply, trying to contain her disdain, but still trapped, and still alive. Then her eyes flickered over to Noah, who had a gun in his hand, pointed straight at Jennifer, who was now sporting a bullet wound on her leg.

     Hope flared up inside her, but then it was distinguished and put out almost immediately. For a second, it seemed as though the woman was in pain, before she straightened out and walked forwards like the pain was nothing. She pushed Noah to the back of the classroom, and the teens outside could no longer see anything.

     They continued to push, hearing the grunts of pain emanating through. A creak sounded, and they realised they'd managed to move the door open, even if it was just a little━━progress was progress. It caused determination to flood through the both of them, pushing harder than they ever had to force it all the way open before anything terrible happened to those they cared about inside.

But, they were too late.

Glass shattered as they finally made it inside, Alani immediately going over to Lydia to check her over. The strawberry blonde nodded frantically to her friend, grateful for her presence. Once she was deemed somewhat okay, Alani turned, finding Scott standing up, Stiles in front of him as they looked towards the newly-broken window.

     For just a split second, Alani was confused. Until, she realised two people she expected to find inside were missing.

     "Dad?" Stiles questioned to no one, broken and pained.

     That could only mean one thing━━Jennifer had taken Noah... the Darach had taken another sacrifice.

NOTE.
wooh a lot happened in this chapter━━alani v cora, alani's guilt over boyd, alani and lydia being the loves of my life && finally a name drop as to what my bby alani is!!! for now, it is just a name drop, but i will be coming back to it soon 👀👀