Tether ⌲ Stiles Stilinski [2]

thirteen

"Eleanor..."

The sound of my own name being called lulled me back into consciousness. There was a violent throbbing in my head, and a tingling sensation still stung down my arm. My breathing came out in slow, shallow puffs of air.

"El..."

Someone was holding me, I could feel their warmth around my shoulders and the strength in their arms which cradled my head, most of my weight being held off the floor.

"Wake up, okay? I need you to wake up for me."

With much effort, I willed my eyes to flutter open. The world's colour was jarring, shifting into focus gradually. I gazed up into the brown eyes I knew so well. It was Stiles. I was safe.

"Stiles?" I murmured, my voice barely rolling off of my lips.

"It's me, I'm here, I'm here." I could tell now that he had been crying. His cheeks were ruddy with emotion, and there were a few tears still clinging onto his eyelashes. "We're gonna get you to a hospital, it's okay."

Suddenly, memories of the night flooded over me. I was still on the cold linoleum of the classroom, which meant it couldn't have been long since I lost consciousness. But, with a frantic jerk of my head, I took in the sight of an empty room. There was nothing else filling the space but a cold breeze spilling through the broken windows. Panic rose in my chest.

I squirmed in Stiles' arms. "Lydia -"

"She's okay," my boyfriend shushed me, running a soothing hand over my forehead. "She bled pretty bad and will definitely be bruised for a while around the neck. But honestly, she's looking better off than you at the moment, at least she doesn't have a full-on stab wound to worry about."

At his words, I was suddenly reminded of the gash in my shoulder. The bloody steel blade Ms. Blake had lodged into my skin was lying on the floor a few feet away. I wondered if it had been dislodged by my fall, which I took a moment to be grateful for, much rather preferring the knife to release and leave a wound behind than hit the ground with me and impale me even further.

Now, I could trace the feeling in my arm to the bleeding marks which had since seeped down my sleeve. The reminder of the stabbing came with a reminder shock of pain in my chest. I clenched my teeth and groaned. Stiles continued to hold me.

"Where is she now?" I asked quietly.

"Lydia? Scott's escorting her to the front of the school," Stiles explained. "We've called her mom and she's gonna come and drive her to the hospital. The ambulances are stretched to the limit at the moment, they've all been called back to the hospital, and one of the few remaining ones still patrolling this side of town is en route to pick up the body."

At my look of alarm, Stiles clarified sadly, "It was the music teacher. The piano, it broke a string and slashed her throat at the end of the finale."

It was becoming impossible to process everything as it happened, but I noted the information anyway. Glad to know that at least my friends were alright, I had a pressing urgency to find the answer about someone else. "Okay, but where is she?"

Stiles went notably quiet, the last trapped tears falling down his face. One dropped gently onto my cheek, and he wiped it away with a soft apology.

"Stiles," I grabbed onto his arm. "What's wrong?"

He hung his head, closing his eyes.

I tried again. "Stiles, what is it?"

"She took my dad."

The words hit my chest like a fresh stab wound. "What?"

"She took him and I- I don't know where he is."