Mischief Night

Chapter 9

"What do you remember?" Derek asked, letting Stiles catch his breath.

"I remember Jackson pressing the button for the emergency doors even though the label was scratched off. Clearly it was the right one. Then an emitter got chucked our way and I got hit on the back of the head. Again." His expression was sour. "That's it. Why are we in the pool area?"

"The person tormenting us took you and Lydia and chained you guys to boards, suspending you over the deep end. They forced us to play a shortened game of 20 questions and every time we answered a question wrong, they dropped you guys. Until you were dropped into the pool." Allison explained.

Stiles sighed. "Well, that's just great. At least we know they're definitely trying to kill us now."

"What the hell do they want from us?" Jackson sighed, holding Lydia.

"I don't know but we need to get out of these clothes." Derek said and helped Stiles stand. "We'll go to the boys' locker room first. Then we'll go to the girls'."

"Why are you burning?" Stiles suddenly asked, growing worried as he took in the appearance of the others.

"The pool's infused with wolfsbane." Derek explained. "They know exactly what they're doing which means they could be a hunter. We need to be careful." The rest nodded. "Let's go. The sooner we're out of these, the better."

The rest of them followed Derek as he held Stiles up, still supporting him. They stuck to what Derek said, entering the boys locker room first. "Ugh, why does it always reek in here?" Lydia grumbled in disgust, wrinkling her nose.

"Poor ventilation and boys being boys." Stiles smiled and patted her on the back before he headed to his locker, the other three boys doing the same. Seeing as they had gym class so much, they always had spare clothing stashed away and now was a perfect time to use them.

"You guys might want to shower." Allison said. "It won't be enough for you to change clothes, the water will still be on your skin and in your hair. Not to mention, the smell of it will drive you crazy."

"She's right." Stiles agreed, looking between the other three.

"Then we shower." Derek said and headed to the shower area.

"Together?" Jackson looked unimpressed.

"Yes, jackass, we're not waiting for whatever royal routine you do." Stiles rolled his eyes as he followed Derek. The girls stayed by the lockers while the boys showered (all standing in separate directions so they wouldn't catch a glimpse of one another) and changed before they went to the girls' locker room so they could do the same. Soon, they were all changed and free of the pool water save for their shoes.

"We can't go back to the pool." Stiles said. "Who knows what else they'll have done to it, not to mention those cinder blocks." He had seen them before they left. "If they manage to hit one of you over the head with it, I don't want to think of the damage it could do."

"So, what do you propose we do, Stilinski?" Jackson sneered.

"Find a way out of here, like our original plan." Stiles glared back at the snarky wolf.

"Oh, brilliant idea, let's just walk out the front entrance!" Jackson's voice echoed in the hallway.

A sound of a locker door slamming shut echoed a little further away from their location, accompanied by footsteps inching their way closer to them.

"Run!" Derek said and the group ran. They headed to the stairs and ran up it, the footsteps behind them getting fainter and fainter.

"Can we get to the roof?" Scott asked. "Maybe we can get out through the fire exit there?"

"Then how do we get down to the ground, dumbass?" Jackson sighed.

"There's usually a ladder connected to the fire exit, dumbass." Stiles countered, rolling his eyes. "But don't they usually have an alarm? Unless we can somehow make a fire in the school to trigger it so we can escape, I don't see that working."

Derek suddenly frowned. "That actually might be our best shot. Some of us create a fire for a distraction while the others go get help."

"How do we know they won't go after the ones who escaped?" Allison asked, terror etched into her face. She hated feeling so scared and having to rely on other people to keep her safe.

"We arm ourselves. Break into Coach's office and get the key to the equipment cupboard. Get any weapons we can find." Scott explained. "I'm pretty sure he has a bow and a quiver of arrows." He looked at Allison.

'Of course she'd be good at archery.' Derek silently cursed.

"What the fuck are those gonna do for us, McCall?" Jackson rolled his eyes.

"I know how to use them." Allison said. "I used to compete. Won first place every time."

Jackson stared at Allison. "I didn't know that."

"It's not something I like boasting about." For someone who tended to be extroverted, Allison could act extremely introverted sometimes.

"Well, we have a plan. Why don't we make good on it and get weapons to protect ourselves?" Derek suggested.

"Wait. There's not just the equipment room. There's also the cafeteria. And the storage cupboard, even the chemistry labs." Lydia suggested, looking at the group.

"How are we going to get into the storage cupboard?" Scott asked Stiles.

"Master key?"

"Do you still have them?"

Stiles patted his pockets, cursing when they were empty. "No. They must have taken them."

"Dammit." Derek sighed. "Well, we can break the locks."

"True." Scott nodded. "So what should we do? Split up again?"

"Might give us a better chance if we're all in different locations. They won't know who to go to and the rest of us can fight if they get to us." Derek explained.

"And if we go with a wolf each, that's an added layer of protection." Stiles looked at Derek.

Derek nodded. "Then we split up. But keep each other in close contact, don't let go. They have less of a chance to split us up."

"Who goes where, though?" Allison asked. "I mean, Scott and I can go to the equipment cupboard because of the bow and arrows but what about you guys?"

"Jackson and I can go to the labs." Lydia said. "What? I take AP chemistry." She explained when everyone looked at them.

"Then Stiles and I will go to the storage cupboard. See if you can also make it to the cafeteria, we might all be able to grab something from there. We'll regroup there." Derek said.

The others nodded and partnered up with a wolf before they set off on their individual journeys. Some relief was provided to the humans due to their wolf partners being able to see far better than they could in the dark given they had lost the flashlights earlier.