Secrets in the Hunt (Book 2)

It Can't Get Worse, Right?

  "I need you to promise that you won't say anything about what just happened." Allison says to Lydia after a long moment of silence as we sit in front of Lydia's house in Allison's car. This isn't going to go well.    
   "I'll promise not to say anything about what just happened if you can tell me what the hell just happened." Lydia snaps, her bottom lip quivering.    
    "It's - it's kind of complicated." Allison says, trying to avoid talking about the supernatural. Yeah this is so not going well.    
    "Well, how 'bout you start with why was Derek there? Or where Jackson went, or what is wrong with Erica? Or why Tori was holding a knife with blood on it? Oh, do you two need a minute to come up with a plausible lie?" Lydia asks, spinning around and sending me a glare.            "It's a long story." I start, but Allison cuts me off before I can say anything else.    
|    "Part of the reason why I'm asking is because Scott and I aren't supposed to be seeing each other, okay? So, it's better if you just keep what you know to yourself." Nice going Allison, what a way with words.    
    "Fine. I'll keep what I know about you and your boyfriend - which is nothing - to myself." Lydia snaps, grabbing the door handle and starting to open the door. Allison grabs her wrist, stopping her from leaving.    
    "Alli-" I start in a warning tone. There's no sense in hurting Lydia.    
    "Hey. He's not just my boyfriend. You get that, right?" Allison says, still holding onto Lydia.               "Let me go." Lydia says with narrowed eyes.    
     "Just for one second, please, try and remember -" Allison pleads.    
    "Remember what?" Lydia cuts her off.    
    "Remember what it feels like. All of those times in school when you see him standing down the hall, and you cannot breathe until you're with him. Or those times in class when you - you can't stop looking at the clock because you know that he's standing right out there waiting for you. Don't you remember what that's like?" Allison rambles and I feel my chest hurt. I wanted that. I wanted to be able to be normal and have a boyfriend and just be a teenager for once. But instead, I'm trying to figure out how to survive this fucked up world that I was born into.    
    "No." Lydia mumbles and I turn to her, my eyebrows raised.    
    "What do you mean "no", you've had boyfriends." Allison insists and Lydia shakes her head.            "None like that." She says before storming out of the car, slamming the door shut behind her. Allison lets out a frustrated sigh, dropping her head onto her steering wheel.    
   "Why wouldn't you let me tell Lydia?" I ask after a minute of silence, the car not moving. Allison shoots back up, whirling around to stare at me.
    "Are you serious?" She asks, and I nod.
    "You didn't even tell me and you live with me." She reminds me and I scoff.
     "In case you forgot, I was only living with you to protect you from the supernatural world while my brothers helped your dad get rid of the alpha. The whole point was to not tell you." I say. Allison huffs before pulling away from Lydia's house, driving towards her house.
     "Lydia deserves to have something normal in her life. Ever since she was attacked-" Allison starts and I cut her off.
     "Exactly! She was attacked. She deserves to know. I'm sure she thinks she's freaking crazy, and she deserves to know she's not." I say, but Allison shakes her head.
     "We can't, Tori. It would hurt her more than help her." Allison insists and I huff before slumping down in my seat, waiting for the drive to be over so I can go do something productive. ***
I frown as I walk into Gerard's office, noticing Allison sitting in there.
     "I was called to your office?" I say, more like a question. He nods and gestures to the second seat.
     "Please, have a seat. I have to talk to Allison first, but there's no reason you can't be in here." He starts, before turning and giving all of his attention to Allison.
    "So, who did you say you were studying with tonight?" He asks and her eyes widen slightly before she nods.
    "Just Lydia. We're prepping for our world history midterm." She says, and I keep my face straight, knowing she's lying. She's meeting up with Scott tonight. Scott, who apparently kidnapped Jackson, with Stiles, and is holding him hostage in the woods. This is why they shouldn't be allowed to make plans.
     "History was one of my favorites. Especially military history. Ever hear the phrase, "know thy enemy"?" Gerard asks, his face void of emotion.
     "It's from "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu." Allison says with a small smile. Gerard nods.
     "Very good. Know what it means?"
     "In order to win a battle, one must know everything they can about their enemy." Allison answers without hesitation.
     "Right again. Your father and I happen to be having that very problem. We've got an enemy about which we know next to nothing. It's killed one of our own, among others." He says with a frown.
     "I've heard." Allison says softly, looking down at Gerard's desk.
     "Did you hear Jackson Whittemore didn't show to school today?" Gerard asks and I feel my blood run cold. Of course that's what this is about. He wants information on Jackson.
     "He didn't?" Allison says, shifting in her seat. I bite back the slight panic. She's a horrible liar.         "His parents called and so did the police. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" He asks, and Allison shakes her head. He turns to me. "And you, Victoria, do you know anything?" I shake my head, hoping that my face is as flat and emotionless as I'm willing it to be.     "Well, let me tell you what I know. I know that a teenager's first instinct is to protect their friends. And I believe my granddaughter would always want to protect her friends, even if it meant lying. And I'm certain that Victoria would as well." Gerard adds, standing up and walking behind us. "So, I want to ask one more question, and this time, with a small advantage. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to get a sense of your pulse. Think of it as a game. All you have to do is tell the truth." He adds, pushing my ponytail to the side so that he can put two fingers on my neck to take my pulse "Do you know anything about Jackson being missing?" He asks.                   "No." I say.
     "Does it have anything to do with Miss Martin's attack at the dance?" He asks.
     "No." I say, wishing he'd move away.
     "Are you friends with Scott McCall?" He asks, and I feel my stomach drop.
     "No." I say, letting out a sigh of relief as he steps back from me. He moves to Allison, and her eyes widen.
     "Do you know where Jackson is?" He asks.
     "No." Allison says firmly.
     "Is he in trouble?" Gerard asks and Allison starts to crumble.
     "I - I - I - I don't know. I don't know." She stutters out. I try not to fidget around as I stare at Allison, silently begging her to lie better.
     "Does this have anything to do with Scott?" He asks and her face drops immediately.
     "No. I mean, I don't - I don't know." She says quickly, rushing through her sentence. We're screwed.
     "Your pulse jumped." Gerard says roughly.
     "It's because you're scaring me." Allison snaps, jumping from her seat.
     "Oh, I'm sorry, sweetheart. That was definitely going way too far." Gerard apologizes, stepping back.
     "No kidding." Allison huffs. I stare between the two, trying to calm my nerves .
    "It wasn't right for me to use tactics like that. I'm sorry. You can go back to class. Both of you." He says and I stand, grabbing my bag and following closely behind Allison. She stops right outside Gerard's door and I almost run into her. I peek around her shoulder, eyes widening at the camera that the man is installing. Allison turns back towards the office and Gerard smiles at us.     "Go ahead." He says. I follow behind Allison quickly, looking around the hall at all of the cameras. They're all new. There were never cameras like this at the school before. I follow Allison into class, taking the desk next to hers. I pull out a notebook, prepared to take notes. I start doodling in my notebook, glancing up when I hear Allison calling to Scott. My eyes widen as I look at the front of the class, Mrs. Argent walking in and leaning up against the desk.
     "I'm afraid your teacher was feeling ill today, and had to leave early. So, unfortunately, you're stuck with me as a substitute. Can anyone catch me up to speed on where we are? Mr. McCall, how 'bout you?" She says, smirking. This can not get any worse.

***

DOUBLE UPDATE! I'm really pleased that I had two chapters ready at the same time, so here they are. Tori's inner monologue in this killed me, it really did. There will be some more Stori in the next chapter, so be prepared! (Also, spoiler, it can get worse. Sorry Tori)

LydiaRoseMartin