Dark Side of the World // S.S. [Book Two]

Chapter 34

In my dreams, I see somewhere I've never been before. I hear a voice saying, "Do you see him? Where am I? What is this place?"

I jolt up and frown, wondering in Hades what that was. The voice sounds familiar, but I can't place it.

I walk through the halls mindlessly and stop in front of locker 1075, seemingly waiting for someone. After awhile, it gets awkward, so I head to class.

I walk into Mrs. Fleming's class shortly before she hands back tests. Mine is returned with a 75 on it. Malia gets a 'D-'. "I'm impressed. With most of you. It really speaks to your study habits and your commitment to your education. Everyone else, see me for extra help."

I study, but don't take tests well.

Lydia raises her hand. "Mrs. Fleming, um..."

The teacher shakes her head. "I already told you, Lydia. I don't give extra credit for alternate equations based on your own theoretical findings."

Malia's claws are out and Lydia whispers, "Malia. Claws. Claws, Malia." She glances at them and puts them away.

I hear the familiar voice again. "Will you forget me?"

Who is that? Malia notices my expression and asks, "Are you okay? What's with your face?"

I frown and say, "I'm trying to remember."

Malia texts me later and I meet her down in the basement. "Mal?"

"Over here." She says.

When I get to her, I see that she's chained one wrist to the wall. She looks up at me. "I've got a problem. I'm growling at people in class. I'm clawing at my desk. I tried turning the floor of my bedroom into a coyote den. Do these look familiar to you?" She holds up the chains.

I shake my head. "No. Why would it?" I take the chains from her hand. "Do you really think these will keep you safe?"

She shrugs. "They used to. Before the lake house, this is where I'd come for the full moon. But you weren't down here with me. Scott wasn't down here with me."

I frown. "If Scott wasn't..."

"Who was?" She cuts in.

I shrug. "No idea, but you couldn't have done it alone."

I get a text from Scott and Malia, Lydia, and I meet him in the woods. He looks to each of us. "I went to bed at home and woke up in the woods." He gives us all a flashlight. "About a mile out. I think there's a reason why this has happened. I've been out here before. It was the beginning of sophomore year...the night before tryouts for first line, I remember because it was all I could think about."

"What were you doing?" Malia asks.

"I was looking for a dead body."

Lydia scoffs in disgust. "That's morbid."

I nod. "Very."

Scott glances to Lydia. "So then, what was I doing out here all alone?"

Lydia shrugs. "I wish I could help you, but I didn't know you then."

"I was a coyote so I might've tried to eat it." Malia admits.

"I didn't know you then. I met you the next day." I reply.

Scott frowns a moment. "Deaton said that my subconscious is trying to tell me something. But I need you guys to help me figure out what it's saying."

Lydia glances to Scott. "Maybe you were just curious teenagers who heard there was a body."

"But how? I never watched the news. And I didn't have a police scanner."

"Your mom works at the hospital." Malia remembers. "Maybe she got called in and you overheard her?"

"My mom wasn't home that night. I live five miles away from here. How did I get here?"

"You drove."

Scott shakes his head. "I didn't have a car."

"You ran." I suggest.

He looks to me. "I couldn't have. I had asthma. I was hiding, but they knew that I was here."

"Maybe you made a ton of noise with your asthmatic breathing." Malia suggests.

Scott frowns. "How would they know that it was me? Why would the sheriff even think that I would be out here?"

"Because like most deaths in this town, it was related to the supernatural." Lydia says.

"I wasn't supernatural, okay? This was the night I was bitten. I wasn't a werewolf yet. And I wasn't out here alone. I know it sounds crazy. But I think I had a best friend. And I think he was out here with me that night."

"It doesn't sound crazy." Malia says. "I know that someone chained me up and I think they wanted me to stay human."

Lydia gives a slow nod. "Someone always knew how smart I really was. I got my test back in class and turned to show it to someone, but no one was there."

I bite my lip. "I struggle to read and someone always helped me. And I came to school this morning and I was sure I was supposed to meet someone. But I couldn't remember who it was supposed to be. I've been looking for them all day. Whoever it is, I think I loved him."

"What if we're all missing the same person?" Scott asks before pulling something from his pocket. A picture. He holds is so we can all see. "I think that he was in this picture."

Lydia calls attention to me. "Meg; you look like you were kissing someone. Maybe their cheek. And look how you're seated. It looks like you're sitting on someone's lap. He was sitting right there."

We make our way to Deaton's to see if he can help. He hangs a shard of glass from a car on a string in front of me. He lights it from below. Malia narrows her eyes. "Now she just magically writes down all the answers?"

Deaton shakes his. "It's not quite that simple. It never is. In automatic writing, the hand moves outside of any conscious awareness. But hopefully the silence, the darkness, and the light will allow you to find a more comfortable, relaxed, trance-like state. Megara, I want you to stare into the light. And let go of all thoughts."

I stare at the light and pick up the pen. Everything else is drowned out and I only hear pen scratching furiously on paper.

Moments later, the light is turned off and Scott meets my eyes. "Are you okay?"

Malia picks up the paper and stares at it. "What does "mischief" mean?"

Scott shakes his head. "That's not what she wrote." He turns the paper, revealing a name.

Lydia frowns. "What the hell is a Stiles?"

I shrug. "No idea, but it feels oddly familiar. I don't know how else to describe it."