How The Mighty Fall {Sequel to NOTH} *editing*

{16} Know Your Enemy

Alice:

"They've been in there too long, Deaton!" I snap at the vet and storm up from my spot. "I knew I shouldn't have let you send my sister in there and now they've been dead for sixteen hours!"

I know the vet and scarf boy can tell how angry I am not only because of my shifted eyes, but from the pure anger radiating from my voice. Issac moves over to the next chair, Lydia looks at me with wide eyes, while Deaton stays put.

"Alice, you better then anyone knows that saving others does not come without a sacrifice." He tells me in a calm tone. I breath out through my nose and try to get my eyes back to normal.

These type of sacrifices shouldn't be made, if you're going to die for others then you should do it in the midst of a battle--one not involving a bathtub full of ice. A sharp collective intake of breaths fills the air and causes me to speedily turn toward said ice full bathtubs.

The three teens gasp for air as they lift themselves out, not knowing just how long they were in there. "I saw it. I know where it is." Scott quickly says.

"We passed it. There's--there's a stump, this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it's still big though, very big." Stiles informs us, letting out gasps for air every few words.

"It was the night we were looking for the body."

"Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter."

"I was there too, in the car with my mother. We almost hit someone."

"It was me. You almost hit me." Scott exclaims breathlessly. The three of them don't notice our worried stares, each one of them too preoccupied with telling their own experience.

"We can find it." Scott finally turns to look at the four of us. We share glance between us, nobody knowing how or who's going to tell them exactly what went wrong.

"What?" Allison asks, noticing or concerned looks.

I let out a small sigh and scratch my eyebrow with my thumb. "You guys were in there a long time." That earns the attention of the three of them as they try to warm themselves up again.

"How long is a long time." Stiles looks over at the one who came up with the idea in the first place, waiting for an answer.

"16 hours." Deaton replies, not beating around the bush.

"We've been in the water for 16 hours?" Scott questions, not believing that it's been that much time. To them it probably only felt like minutes let alone hours.

The vet nods his head, getting a urgent look in his eyes. "And the full moon rises in less than four."

Scott, Stiles, and Allison each look at eachother, neither one of them knowing what to say. Lydia is the first to move to get the three of them the towels we have aside. They each take one and sit on the edge of the tubs.

"We need to go back to Deucalion." Scott speaks up, directing the sentence to me despite saying it outloud. I run a hand through my hair, knowing just as well as he does that we're both stuck with the psychotic blind alpha.

"No, you guys aren't going back with them." Stiles tries to object. I honestly wish it was as simple as just saying no, and that I could stay with my sister.

"Well despite mine and Derek's best attempts Deucalion is still my alpha, especially since I just joined him. So I don't exactly have much a a choice." I keep my eyes trained on the ground, not liking the fact of the situation I'm in. "And Scott made a deal with Deucalion, a deal that's in his best interest not to break."