CHAPTER NINE // THE SACRIFICIAL
LAMB AND THE EXECUTIONER.

The supernatural world and all its many intricacies was becoming difficult for Summer to keep up with. In one night alone, a multitude of complicated new events had unfolded.

     First was the slaughter at the community pool.

Lydia had been shaking when Summer and Stiles arrived; swallowed up in a bright green coat, fog coming off her breath in the cold night, tip of her nose icy and pink. But the weather wasn't why she had been trembling so violently. Slumped in a tall lifeguard chair towering over the still water, maimed and mangled and ensanguined with his own crimson blood, was the body of a young stranger. Miraculously and simultaneously hellishly, the Martin girl had entered some sort of odd trance and innately shown up where the brutal killing had taken place; unsure of how she'd even gotten there. Presumably, Cora and Boyd had been responsible for the throat-slashing.

     Cora— yet another huge discovery made last night. The girl who had been locked up in the hecatolite vault with Boyd for the past three months in place of Erica was apparently Derek's long lost little sister. One he'd believed was dead. Summer had rolled her eyes when she found out— she didn't need another Hale to hate.

Isaac, Derek, and Scott had been racing against the effects of the full moon all night, desperately trying to save the lives of anyone unlucky enough to wind up in Cora and Boyd's path.

Summer hadn't seen anyone since Stiles dropped her off at the McCall's house last night, and had been at home by herself, doing nothing all day while everyone else seemed to be out fighting evil or finding murder victims. Bored didn't begin to describe it.

She was lounging idly on the couch when the front door finally opened.

The girl didn't bother to lift her head from the armrest, uninterested eyes staying glued to the tv as she unenthusiastically delivered burnt piece of popcorn after burnt piece of popcorn to her lips; a blanket tangled around her sprawled legs. She never looked up, even when the tread of tired footsteps entered the living room and a person she recognized as Scott plopped down on the opposite end of the couch across from her; a heavy sigh tumbling from his lips. The exhausted boy threw his head back against the remaining armrest, one leg draped from the side and one propped on the back of the couch so they didn't intersect with Summers.

He allowed his weary eyes to shut, a long beat passing before he knitted his brows and opened them again; forcing his heavy head up as he glanced around. "What's that smell?"

Without peeling her dull gaze from the screen, Summer lifted the large plastic bowl of charred popcorn in response; soon putting another piece in her mouth.

He chuckled tiredly, lulling his head back once more. "Wow. You're about as good of a cook as I am."

     She lamely tossed a piece at him. "I think the real smell is you."

     "Yeah." he drew in a deep breath. "I don't disagree."

     Finally, she turned her gaze to him. His clothes were slightly tattered and bloodstained; the boy's eyes closed again. He looked like he'd had a long night. "What happened with Boyd and Cora?"

     "We got them." he lifted his head to talk to her. "Ms. Blake got caught up in it, but Derek helped her."

     The girl knitted her brows. "Our English teacher?"

     "Yeah."

     "Huh." She studied him blatantly for a moment longer. "Then why do you look like that?"

     "Like what?"

     "All . . ." she gestured towards him. "sad and stuff. Is it Erica?"

     "No. I mean yeah, that's awful," he quickly corrected himself. "but that's not what's bothering me."

Summer reached for the remote that Melissa had taught her to use a few days prior, aiming it at the television and pressing pause; the colorful movie flickering across the screen coming to a halt and the room falling silent. She scooted up on the couch, bringing her knees to her chest to face him; staring at him and silently waiting.

Scott sighed before sitting up too, staring straight ahead. "It's Allison."

The blonde trilled her lips, letting out a long puff of air as she did. "You really like her."

"I love her."

There was an uncomfortable beat, Summer not exactly sure of what to do or say before she settled on throwing another piece of popcorn at him; this time much more aggressively. A small chuckle passed his lips, the boy glancing over at her before looking back to the screen; only then noticing what was on it.

"Are you watching Tinkerbell?"

She shrugged, taking in a deep breath as she shimmed to sit forwards on the couch beside him; facing the TV again too. "Yeah. Peter said . . . never mind. I got that robot to play it for me."

"Robot?" he cocked his head before realizing and laughing again. "Oh you mean Alexa?"

"Yeah, that." her eyes flickered down to the bowl in her lap, something rueful in her tone as she gestured sheepishly to the tv. "At least these ones don't want to destroy the human race."

     "Neither do you, Summer."

     The girl glanced back up at the intent and encouraging look in his eyes, still not feeling very encouraged despite his efforts. Wordlessly, she offered him the bowl of popcorn; the boy setting it on the couch in between them while she pressed play again. Their eyes fell to the animated film, Scott's hand plunging into the bowl as he tilted his head back to pour it into his mouth.

     He grimaced slightly. "This isn't good."

     "I know." she said, scooping a few more pieces of her own up, Scott only waiting a moment more before shrugging and doing the same.

     Instantly, the two became engrossed in the movie, finishing the entire bowl of burnt popcorn as they silently watched it. It was nearly forty five minutes before either of them spoke again.

"I forgot how entertaining Disney movies are." Scott muttered, eyes still on the screen.

"What's a Disney?"

The ringing of the McCall boy's phone didn't pull either of them from their Tinkerbell trance, Scott reaching distractedly for it on the coffee table; gaze only briefly flickering down to the small screen as Summer reluctantly paused the movie.

     He brought it to his ear. "Hey, what's up?" Instantly, he was alert; head jerking to the side. "Wait, what? Stiles, slow down." Summer shared his look of confusion, watching with knitted brows as the boy listened intently and tried to dissect whatever his friend was saying from the other line. "Yeah okay, Summer and I are on our way." He hung up, shoving the device back into his pocket and looking to the muddled girl; already grabbing his keys. "We've gotta go."

The business of Beacon Hills High School paled in comparison to the business of the town's local hospital. Summer had never seen so many people rushing around at once; all tasked with deeply important work to do. She stayed close behind Scott as he marched through the halls, seeming to know the ins and outs of this place; the girl observing every inch of the buzzing atmosphere while she did.

The identical and seemingly never-ending hallways were made of large quadrilateral, polystyrene tiles; all so starkly white they made your eyes burn. Headache-inducing florescent lights lined the ceilings above; casting an unflattering glow on everyone in its path beneath it. Everything was sterile and glistening, the antiseptic smell overwhelming and inescapable. And everyone wore a familiar pair of matching, dark blue scrubs. It wasn't a relaxing environment, or a particularly friendly one.

"This is where your mom works?" Summer inquired, quickening her pace to join Scott's side.

"Yeah, she's a nurse." the boy smiled proudly, despite being distracted by the worrying reason they'd been summoned here.

"Move, move, move! Coming through!" The loud shout of one of these 'nurses' echoed through the halls, a focused cluster of them rounding the corner put of nowhere; running as they pushed a stretcher down the hall.

Summer and Scott immediately jumped out of the way, pressing themselves to the wall as the team rolled rapidly by. On the stretcher was a man's limp body, his lax arm hanging off the side; swinging along with the quick, tiny wheels. There was a woman in the blue scrubs, a nurse, on the gurney with him; straddling his torso and pressing her hands rhythmically against his chest.

The girl blinked and they were gone; off to another hallway with their patient. She stammered silently, hurrying after Scott when she realized he'd already begun walking again; unfazed by whatever had just happened. "What were they doing to that guy?"

"It's called CPR. Nurses use it to save people in cardiac arrest." he explained, the next hallway they entered into far quieter than the others; something more heavy and gloomy about its atmosphere.

Cardiac arrest? She scrunched her nose, but saved her question as they halted outside of a big metal door; Scott turning to face her.

"Have you ever been inside a morgue?"

     "I dunno." the girl shrugged. "If they have them in my dimension then maybe, I guess."

     "Okay, well just," he struggled to find the right words. "It can be . . . sort of upsetting."

     "Scott, I saw a dead person last night." she scoffed, as if she was a pro.

     "Yeah, I know. I just wanted to give you a heads up." he turned back around, lightly rapping his knuckles against the silver door. "Stiles, it's us."

     Only a few short seconds passed before the Stilinski boy was swinging the door open. His face looked pale, paler than usual beneath the tubes of fluorescent lights; dark circles beneath his fatigued eyes. They silently shuffled inside, airtight, metal cabinets lining the walls; ones big enough to fit bodies into. It reeked of formaldehyde, in place to mask the pungent stench of decaying flesh. They silently followed him until he paused at one of the autopsy tables, the body occupying it covered by a thin, pale blue medical sheet. The only thing visible was the deceased person's feet, peeking out from the bottom; their bright pink toenails the only pop of color to be found in the bleak room.

     Summer could immediately see what Scott had meant and why this place called for a heads up. Her palms grew sweaty, her knees a little wobbly. Seeing the maimed body at the pool last night had been ghastly, and she'd barely gotten a wink of sleep after it. The image was practically burned into the backs of her eyelids; there to be viewed every time she tried to rest her eyes. But there was something unsettling about a morgue; something a bit unbreathable and peculiarly sinister in the air.

Stiles leaned his palms against the edge of the cold table, shoulders forlornly slumped.

"So," Scott tentatively began when his friend said nothing. "Why do you think Boyd and Cora might not have killed anyone?"

With a final long beat, Stiles stood up straight again and inhaled a long breath; gingerly peeling back the medical sheet to the bottom of the victim's slashed neck.

Summer's heart dropped, her breath catching in her throat. She recognized the lifeless girl; an older version of the young, once happy one she had seen in framed photos on the walls of a home that would no longer be warm in her wake. It was Heather. Her eyes were shut, her slick blonde hair combed neatly back by the hands of a corner. A small chunk of her skull was missing and her skin was a little bit blue— but it was definitely her.

Instantly, her bewildered eyes shot up to Stiles' exhausted ones; her voice coming out small when she spoke. "Is . . . is that—"

"Heather." Scott breathed shakily, his eyes just as wide.

"Yeah." the Stilinski boy whispered. "Yeah, it's Heather."

Summer's chest was heavy as the look in her eyes morphed from shock into sorrow; watching as Stiles continued to stare despondently down at his dead friend. Stiles, who once took bubble baths with this girl who now wore a tag around her cold ankle. Nothing on his face held a sliver of surprise, and Summer wondered if it was because this wasn't the moment he was finding out, or because death no longer had the ability to surprise him. Silently, she wondered if he thought of his own mother, and how much he maybe missed her whenever something like this took place.

"I'm so sorry, Stiles." the earnest words spilled from her lips before she could think them fully through, the boy's eyes flickering up to her expressive blue ones. A pure kind of sincerity was swimming through them, her brows furrowed closely together in sympathy.

He stared at her for a moment before nodding halfheartedly in response, pulling the sheet back over Heather; as if they'd looked at her in her vulnerable state long enough.

For a split second, Summer considered placing a hand on his shoulder; the same way he had when he'd discovered her sleep-walking in the woods. It had brought comfort to her then, and perhaps it could bring comfort to him now. But she did away with the idea rather quickly, losing the courage or intent to do so when her hand merely twitched at her side.

     "So, Boyd and Cora might not have killed anyone?" Scott continued.

     Stiles gently smoothened down the sheet, not meeting either of their gazes. "You're gonna wish they did."

     "Why?"

     "I'm not exactly sure yet." the boy explained tiredly. "The other girl who was out in the woods, Emily? Eventually they're gonna find her. She's one of them. Emily, Heather . . . the guy Lydia found at the pool. All three were virgins. And they're all gonna have the same three injuries. Strangled, throat slashed, head bashed in. It's called a threefold death."

     "So if these aren't random killings, then what are they?" Scott begrudgingly asked, Summer's eyes filled with concern as they awaited a response.

     Stiles hesitated before finally glancing up to them. "Sacrifices. Human sacrifices."

HI MY BEAUTIFUL BAES!!
how is everyone?

sorry for such a short chapter! I know it's sort of a
filler, but the next chapter is going to be pretty
chaotic & packed so I wanted this episode
completed & out of the way before starting that!

all these wattpad bugs & glitches are going to be
the death of me. it's slowed my writing down so
much. also my notifs aren't working, and I keep
missing all my beautiful friends stories & updates!
apologies in advance if I ever miss something of yours.
also sorry if that ends up messing up the lay out
of this chapter!

I hope they fix this silly shit soon

love u all!
mwah!

xoxo,
cam cam

word count   2,499