Concrete Angel

33

Emma was sitting on her bed with a book.

A knock sounded on her door and she glanced up to see her father. "Dad?"

Carson, in a tired tone, said, "Stiles is downstairs. He refuses to leave without you."

"What's he doing here?"

"I don't know, but if he honks that damn horn again, I'm going to call the sheriff."

Emma got up from her bed. "I'll talk to him."

"Good. Oh, whatever you're going to investigate, promise me you'll be careful."

"Always."

Carson nodded and left.

Emma put on her shoes and made her way out to the Jeep.

When Stiles saw her, he said, "Finally!"

Emma glared at him. "You woke my dad. This is the first night he's had off in weeks and you pull a dick move by repetitively honking your horn."

"Sorry, I didn't know."

"No. You didn't. Next time use your head. Where are we going?"

"Be nice. We're going to the school."

"I will be when you don't wake my dad. Of course we are."

They reached the school and Emma asked, "Where is she?"

Allison walked over to Lydia at the front of the building and said, "Over here."

"Lydia?" Emma called. "Lydia!"

Lydia appeared and said, "It's the same thing. Same thing as the pool. I got into the car heading somewhere totally different, and ended up here. And you told me to call you if there's a dead body."

"You found a dead body?" Stiles asked.

Lydia shook her head. "Not yet."

""Not yet?" What do you mean "not yet"? Lydia, you're supposed to call after you find the dead body."

She glared at him. "Oh, not, I'm not doing that again. You find the dead body from now on."

"How are we supposed to find the dead body? You're always the one finding the dead body."

"Guys," Scott said loudly. "I found the dead body."

Emma made her way over to him and noticed a deputy covered in blood lying on the Beacon Hills High School sign. "Oh, Dios," she mumbled.

In Jennifer's class the next morning, she talked to them about different writing tools. "Idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes. All tools the writer uses to tell their story. Lydia, I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents."

Emma snuck a quick glance at Lydia to see that she was drawing a tree; the exact same tree that she'd drawn when Stiles tried to get her to use automatic writing while they were looking for Deaton.

Lydia met Jennifer's eyes. "You and every guy I've dated."

Jennifer took a nervous step back. "Oh, um, well, that was an idiom, by the way. Idioms are something of a secret to the people who know the language or the culture. They're phrases that only make sense if you know key words. Saying "jump the gun" is meaningful only if you know about the starting gun in a race, or a phrase like "seeing the whole board.""

"Like chess," Stiles said.

Jennifer turned to him and nodded. "That's right, Stiles. Do you play?"

Stiles shook his head. "Uh, no. My father does."