The Awakening ²|Isaac Lahey

26. The Puppeteer

Veronica, Derek and Isaac were waiting for Scott to unlock the clinics door. He nodded his head to Isaac. "What's he doing here?"

"We need him." Derek said as they walked inside.

"I don't trust him." Scott said.

"Yeah well, he doesn't trust you either." Isaac said walking pass him.

Veronica rolled her eyes and turned around to look at them. "You know what. Veronica and Derek really don't care. Can you guys push aside whatever make believe problems you have? I trust Scott, and I trust Isaac. In my opinion that's enough because might I add we are doing this my way. My way involves both of you." Isaac sat down, he smiled at the girl,"Where's Deaton? Is he gonna help us?"

"That depends." Deaton said suddenly which made her jump. "Your friend, Jackson. Are we planning to kill him or save him."

"Save him." Veronica said at the same time Derek said to kill him. She turned around and glared at him. "Save him." She smacked his arm. Derek looked away unamused. "We're saving him."

Veronica stood between Scott and Derek with Isaac behind her, his arm was on the table. He reached forward to grab one of the jars that Deaton had put out, he had watched Veronica pick it up, but Derek grabbed his wrist.

"Watch what you touch."

Isaac wrapped his arms around Veronica and looked at Deaton,"So what are you? Some kind of witch?"

"No, I'm a veterinarian." Isaac nodded, slightly disappointed, Veronica put a hand on his back.

"Nothing you have here is gonna work against his venom." Veronica sighed. "Nothing is gonna be an effective defense."

"We're open to suggestions." Derek said.

"What about an effective offense?" Isaac asked.

"We already tried that." Veronica said.

"i nearly ripped it's head off. And Argent emptied and entire clip into it. The thing just gets back up."

"Has it shown any weaknesses?"

"It can't swim. And there are certain spells I can do... But my powers our very limited."

"Does the swimming go for Jackson as well?"

Veronica laughed,"No. This one we were- I mean no." She shook her head when she had remembered her boyfriend right behind her. "He's captain of the swim team."

"Essentially, you're trying to catch two people." he walked away before coming back, he showed Veronica a strange token,"A puppet.. And a puppeteer." He put it down,"One killed the husband but the other had to take care of the wife. Do we know why?"

Veronica stammered,"I don't think Jackson could do it. His mother died pregnant too, and she was maybe murdered. I think he couldn't let the same thing happen to someone else."

Isaac slowly let go of her,"How do you know it's not part of the rules?" He asked,"The Kanima kills murderers. If Jackson kills the wife, then the baby dies too."

Veronica smiled at him, but it quickly disappeared,"Does that mean your father was a murderer?" Scott asked. Veronica punched his shoulder.

Isaac pulled away from them,"Wouldn't surprise me if he was."

"Hold on. The book says they're bonded, right? What if the fear of water isn't coming from Jackson."

"But the person controlling him!" Veronica caught on. She couldn't stop the next words from coming out,"Which would mean that what affects Jackson.." She picked up the mountain ash and circled it around the token,"Also affects the master."

"Meaning what?" Isaac asked.

"We could catch them. Both of them." Veronica said. "Yes! I'm genius!" She said excitedly to Isaac before looking at everyone else. They were all giving her a weird look. She shrugged it off. "Neither Derek nor Scott had said anything helpful this entire time. Okay look, I'll take Isaac home with me and we'll look through the herbs I have, and my grimoire." She grabbed his hand and pulled him away.

"Veronica!" Derek said. Veronica turned around to look at him,"Is Selena working?"

"No why?" She asked.

"I need her help with something." He said. "I'll call her or something."

Veronica looked at him weirdly before she nodded and walked away with Isaac.

Stiles pulled into the school parking lot, with Scott, Veronica and Mattheo all in his car as well.

"There's got to be a way to get these tickets right?" Scott asked his friends.

"It's a secret show. There's only one way and it's a secret." Stiles said.

"Hey." They heard from behind them which made all four of the turn around. "Any of you guys know why no one's getting suspended after what happened the other day at school?"

Stiles glanced over at Veronica before looking back at Matt. "Just forget about it. Nobody got hurt."

"I-I had a concussion." Matt said.

"Well nobody got seriously hurt." Mattheo said.

"I was in the E.R. for six hours." Matt said incredulously.

"Hey, do you want to know the truth, Matt?" Veronica let out a sigh as she recognized the sarcastic sweetness to Stiles's tone."You're little bump on the head is about this high on our list of problems right now." He crouched down to the floor for dramatization.

Veronica pulled him up by his backpack and handed him her coffee cup. “He's grouchy because he hasn't had coffee this morning. Drink this and shut up Stiles." She turned back to Matt and put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now." He said looking at Stiles weirdly. "So you didn't get any tickets last night either."

Scott shook his head. "Are they still selling?"

"Uh, no, but I managed to find two online." He said looking at Veronica. And that's when she remembered she said she'd go with him. "You should keep trying. Sounds like everyone's going to be there."

Stiles watched him walk away. "I don't like him."

"You don't like anyone, Stilinski." Veronica said as she went to walk away.

But Stiles had gently touched her elbow,"Hey, are you sure about this?"

She sighed. "Last time, whoever's controlling Jackson had to kill somebody because he didn't finish the job. So what do you think he's going to do this time?"

"Be there to make sure it happens." Stiles's said.

Veronica nodded as they walked away,"look if you find just two tickets I can do a duplicate spell on them and make four."