Courageous

27

Kinsey rushed to the pool and saw her sister. "Feeling?"

Lydia nodded. "Vision?"

"Yeah. What the hell is going on with us?"

"I don't know, Kins, but we'll figure it out."

The sisters noticed a dummy and slowly inched closer to it, hovering over it. Kinsey and Lydia looked up to see a body and screamed.

When she had gathered herself, Kinsey said, "Um, call the sheriff's station while I call Stiles. I think he can help."

She nodded and called the station. As soon as Stiles arrived, he asked, "Lydia? Kinsey? Are you okay?"

Lydia glanced to Kinsey. "I'm okay. Kinsey's okay. That, over there..." she pointed to a lifeless boy in the lifeguard chair, "Not okay."

Stiles nodded. "Yeah, all right. I'm gonna call my dad."

"I already called 911," Lydia replied.

Stiles frowned. "You called the police before you called me?"

"I'm supposed to call you first when I find a dead body?"

"Yes!"

Kinsey glanced Stiles. "I called you while she called 911. Was that... Was that okay?"

"Yeah, Kins, that was okay. It was good."

Stiles called Scott and relayed the information. He said after a moment, "Yep. Throat ripped out, blood everywhere. It's like the frickin' Shining over here. Two little twin girls come out of the woods, start askin' me to play with them forever and ever, I'm not gonna be surprised."

"Make sure it was them? Scott, who else is going around ripping throats out?"

Stiles hung up and Kinsey frowned as she asked, "Ripping throats out?"

He nodded. "More werewolves. Boyd and Cora. That's what Scott is thinking."

Kinsey turned to Lydia. "Can we go home?"

Lydia nodded. "That sounds like a great idea."

The police arrived and escorted Lydia and Kinsey home. Stiles insisted on following them. When they got inside, Lydia said, "Kinsey and I had a police escort."

Stiles shot her an innocent look. "I know the inner workings of that force, all right? They're not as reliable as people think."

Kinsey crossed her arms. "You still didn't have to follow me and Lydia to our house."

Lydia frowned. "Well, you also didn't have to follow us into my room."

Stiles glanced around the room. "Well, I... uh, yeah, I don't have an answer for that. I can leave."

Kinsey frowned. "What, Stiles? You look like you really want to ask something."

Stiles shook his head. "Well, I'm not... I haven't been dying to ask anything. I... no questions here for Stiles. Nothing."

Lydia narrowed her eyes. "Kinsey and I can see it on your face."

He shrugged. "Maybe my face just has, like, a naturally interrogatory exp... expression."

Kinsey shook her head and deadpanned, "No. It doesn't. Look, I just got a vision of the school pool area and headed there. And then, well, there was a body."

Lydia nodded. "The answer is, I have no clue how I ended up finding that body. I didn't even know where I was until I got out of the car."

Stiles frowned. "Yeah, but the last time something like this happened..."

Lydia let out a sigh. "I know. Derek's uncle."

"Peter," Kinsey realized. "That was you? So that's where you disappeared to at your birthday party."

She shrugged. "I didn't know I was doing so."

Stiles turned to Kinsey and said, "Melissa needs me at the hospital. Says she has to show me something. I'll call you. Or text you. Or both."

Kinsey nodded and Stiles waved goodbye.

When he left, Lydia turned to Kinsey. "Did you see how he was looking at you?"

Kinsey frowned. "No, what?"

"You always were oblivious, Kins. He likes you. Maybe even loves."

Kinsey's cheeks flushed. "Lydia, I really don't want to talk about this anymore. Did you take ibuprofen?"

She nodded. "Yeah. My headache is subsiding."

Lydia and Kinsey sat in a comfortable silence and Kinsey got a text from Stiles. Kinsey let out a sigh. "Heather, Stiles' friend, is dead. Why is he texting me that?"

"Maybe because he needs someone to talk to and he likes talking to you?"

"Maybe. I feel bad for Stiles though. This can't be easy for him."

"How are you, Kinsey? Honestly."

Kinsey shrugged. "I've been better. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole nightmare."

"You and me both."

Kinsey glanced at the clock. "It's late and we have school tomorrow. And I'm exhausted. So goodnight."

"Night."

Kinsey yawned as she made her way to her room. She got ready for bed and immediately face planted, falling asleep relatively quickly, which wasn't common for her.

---

At the hospital arrived and Stiles took Scott and Carter, who he'd picked up, to the morgue and showed them Heather's body. Carter noticed a dark line around her throat. Scott glanced up at his friend. "So Boyd and Cora might not have killed anyone?"

Stiles gave him a grim look. "You're gonna wish they did."

Carter stared at Heather as she asked, "Why?"

Stiles let out a sigh. "I'm not exactly sure yet. The other girl who was out in the woods. Emily? Eventually they're gonna find her. She's one of them. Emily, Heather... That 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 the threefold death."

Scott frowned. "So if these aren't random killings, then what are they?"

"Sacrifices. Human sacrifices."

"Oh, god," Carter mumbled.