157 CHAPTER 153

It has been two days since the day Derek was attacked and almost put out of commission and made to change his location of permanent residence from the land of the living to that of the beyond.

For the past two days, Tristan and Malia had used all the time they could get to search around for the Nemeton but so far they had nothing to show the progress of their search, not a single redundant clue.

They also made sure to visit Boyd everyday, at least Tristan did, and from what they got from the doctor in charge of Boyd's ward, he was doing fine and he'll be let out in a day or two.

Everything so far was going well, even Scott's mother, who they saw during one of their visits to Boyd, looked calm without any of her emotions going haywire like someone whose only son was kidnapped.

It likely meant that either Stiles or Derek were able to successfully convince her that Scott wasn't in any danger.

She was taking it rather well for a normal human having a werewolf as a son more than Tristan and Malia had expected.

Since they were yet to find the Nemeton, they had no choice but to sit down and wait for the next person to be abducted.

Luckily for them, they knew the order of how the sacrifices were to be carried out so they weren't completely out in the wild chasing ghosts.

Walking down the hallway, a heavily tired Malia leaned against Tristan after going through 3 extremely boring classes. Just because they were getting better with results and being solid average students, ie. C-, in no way correlates to them slowly coming to liking school and the subjects taught.

"I'll flip out if I have to go through another day of Differentiation and Integration. It just doesn't make sense."

As they walked, they came across a gathering of students in the front of a classroom.

"Malia! There you guys are!" Allison called out as she made her way towards them.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. I only heard someone say Lydia was having another breakdown episode so I rushed over." Her breaths were a bit labored, showing that she had run over as soon as she heard the budding rumor about Lydia.

They managed to push their way through the obstructing crowd and saw Lydia having a little argument with their Literature teacher, almost shouting hysterically.

"That's not gonna do anything! I told you, he's gone. Like the others—taken."

Ms. Blake waved her hand slowly for Lydia to calm down, not wanting her to blow this more than the attention of the student body they've already drawn, with practically all of them looking weirdly at Lydia.

She tried calming Lydia's growing hysteria with logic and reason. "Okay, look, we're just trying to understand, okay? All we know is that Mr. Westover didn't show up for class."

Lydia retorted sarcastically at that. "And the last time that happened was Mr. Harris! Anyone heard from him lately?" She looked around at the silent watching crowd, before pointing at the board where a series of circles was drawn. One in the middle and four rings on its cardinal points, and in one of them was written the number 2.

"He's gone. And he's gonna be the second murder."

Tristan and Malia turned to Allison with the latter inquiring. "Was there another murder?"

Allison nodded. "Yes, yesterday night. It was a female cop."

"Cop?" Tristan frowned, remembering what he heard from Deaton. A cop no doubt fell under guardians and it could be that the dead cop was a teacher at one point in the past. "You might want to get Lydia out of there before she causes more of a scene."

Seeing the clear signs of Lydia about to lose her shit and go on a lecturing tirade, Allison pushed through and grabbed Lydia. "I'm sorry, Ms. Blake, if she offended you."

She drew Lydia along after a quick apology, embarrassed as she walked through the path the students made for them.

She led the four of them to the library as that was one of the most private and quiet places on school grounds.

"Are you guys also going to ask me how I know that?" Lydia crossed her hands with an offended look on her face.

"I think we're long past asking you that. As far as we're concerned, Mr. Westover is as good as gone." Tristan commented idly as upon slipping into his seat behind a desk.

He turned around to see Stilinski hastily making his way over them, even slipping into a seat near Lydia and staring intently at her as if waiting for her to give him some answers.

Ignoring Stilinski's actions, he sought out confirmation from the boy who should be clear on the information of the cop who died.

"The cop? Do you know if she ever was a teacher at one point before becoming a cop?"

Stiles raised a brow at the weird question but nodded. "Yeah, she was a teacher when we were in middle grade-"

"Yes, it's still Philosophers." Tristan confirmed. "This means that another teacher might probably die tonight. It's impossible to keep an eye on that."

"Not necessarily. There's a recital tonight and all the teachers will be there, parents too, even my dad is coming." Allison pointed out.

"Then what about Mr. Westover? How do we find him?" Stiles looked around them and asked.

Malia leaned against the backrest of her seat and let out an uncaring shrug. "The chances of catching them are very slim."

"Then how did you guys find out about Scott's boss? There should be a clue there." He asked Tristan and Malia, refusing to give up. An admirable trait Tristan noticed both he and Scott had.

"The murder yesterday, where was it carried out?" The bored vampire asked.

"Right here on school grounds."

"Then you mark it on the mark and do a simple triangulation. I doubt it'd work though, given that this is the first sacrifice." Tristan remarked, making both Stiles and Lydia's shoulders drop in dejection.

Allison, seeing how they looked and understanding the helplessness they were feeling, opened the picture of the map on her phone, spoke despondently. "They could be in a number of places and we might not be able to cover all of them."

"We might have a chance if we go now." Tristan suggested but Allison and Stiles shook their heads.

"My dad would have my head if he finds out I'm skipping school to look for serial killers." She said dejectedly.

"Me too. My dad is already facing a lot of heat for the recent killings in Beacon Hills. It's already hard catching normal criminals but this time he's absolutely clueless." Stiles stated. "Sometimes I think telling him would be a lot better. At least that way I can help him and he'd actually be willing to listen rather than saying what I'm spouting is fantasy."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Can he handle such a thing?" Allison asked worriedly, knowing just how huge such a revelation could have on one's worldview, most especially on an elderly man like Sheriff Stilinski.

"It's not like I have much of a choice. He'll keep going after these werewolves and druids, not knowing that he could very well lose his life the moment he confronts them."

Exactly like one would expect from a person without nonsense for tact or general consideration, Malia brushed aside Stiles' concern and offered her help. "You do you, man. Aside from his family issues, if you guys are going to be looking through the telluric marks then count me in."

"What about you, Tristan? Are you coming?"

Tristan nodded. He still had to find a way to get back at the ritualist for poisoning Boyd with mistletoe. He understood exactly what that was – A warning.

Just based on Deaton's words about vampires being abominations of nature, she might as well be after both him and Deucalion based on her job description as a keeper of balance.

"I'll go with Stilinski, you girls go together. If you come across the Darach, run the other way instead of fighting her – I'm talking to you, Malia." Tristan warned, staring pointedly at Malia as he did so.

"Can you stop calling me, Stilinski? Stilinski is my dad and hearing you call me that sounds weird for some reason."

Tristan merely shrugged at Stiles' complaints, paying it little to no mind.

Stiles was a little surprised that Tristan would want to go along with him, given how strictly antisocial the teen was on every normal day, but he refrained from making a fuss out of it.

He was just thankful that he wouldn't be searching through telluric marks alone but instead with a strong Alpha at his side, his safety being practically ensured.

"We'll be leaving as soon as the bell rings. Meet me at the parking lot, and try not to be late."

He needed someone smart to help make sense of his thoughts along the way and he wasn't in any state of mind to deal with Lydia and her extremeness.

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