** COMPLETED **
It's been years since the fire that killed most of her family, but Amara Hale has been able to move on as much as she can. But it seems like the past always has to come back at some point. Some times the past can come back slowly...
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Chapter Fifty-Four 💰 Orphaned 💰
"Your dad should be back within the hour. You want to wait in his office?" Parrish said as Stiles, Amara and Lydia walked up to him. "Actually, we wanted to talk to you." Amara said and Lydia nodded, "Privately." Lydia said making Parrish look back and forth between them before leading them into an office.
"This is a hit-list?" Parrish asked, looking down at the list in his hands, "We call it a Deadpool. Recognize any of the names?" Stiles asked and Parrish nodded. "Yeah... the Sheriff had me run a bunch of these through the system last night, but we couldn't find any of them." Parrish said looking up at them.
"Show him the other thing." Stiles said and Amara turned the paper over, Parrish looked down and stood up in shock when he saw his name. "Okay... That's kind of terrifying. What's the number?" He asked and Lydia pursed her lips, "That's how much you're worth..." She said.
"I'm worth five dollars???" Parrish said, turning around to look at her offended, "Five million." Stiles said holding up five fingers. "I only make forty thousand a year. Maybe I should kill myself." Parrish said making Amara chuckle, "Oh, you're so adorable." Amara said making Lydia chuckle quietly while rolling her eyes.
"I don't get it. Why... Why am I on this?" Parrish asked and Stiles sighed, "Honestly? That might be a question for another day. Right now, there's still another third of the list we gotta crack. We need the third cipher key." He said and Amara nodded, "But we need help getting it."
"From who?" Parrish asked and Lydia glanced around sheepishly, "Meredith..." She said making Parrish raise his eyebrows at her. "The girl from Eichen? The last time you saw her, you almost gave her a nervous breakdown." Parrish said as he walked over to the door while Lydia scoffed.
"Uh, almost!" She said making Amara sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose.
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"Oh, no. Not this guy..." Stiles mumbled as they were waiting for one of the Eichen workers to open the door. Amara looked up and over at where Stiles looked to see some mean looking old dude walking over to them. "Brunski?" She whispered and he nodded, "Yep." He said and she nodded slowly.
"What the hell are we running here, a bed and breakfast? We do not just open the door for anyone with a badge!" Brunski said, ripping the keys out from the other guy's hand. "We need to talk to Meredith Walker. It involves a murder investigation." Parrish said making Brunski turn to them.
"Well, you can talk to her all you want, but these three? Especially that one? They're outta here." Brunski said, pointing at Stiles making Amara raise her eyebrows, "They're crucial witnesses in an ongoing investigation. I wouldn't have brought them if it wasn't absolutely... crucial." Parrish said and Brunski chuckled slightly.
"Okay, Deputy. How about you come back with a court order, then I'll listen." Brunski said, slightly getting in Parrish's face before walking up to Stiles, "As for you, Mr. Stilinski... How about you come back with payment in full? That's right- Daddy may be the Sheriff, but he's late on the bills. I guess those government jobs aren't as reliable as they used to be, huh?" Brunski said and Amara cocked an eyebrow.
"Oh, look at you. Getting in a minors face, you're so cool." Amara said sarcastically making Brunski turn to her and he was about to say something but Parrish spoke up first. "But they do help when you need a favor... Like, how, a month ago, Canaan P.D. helped you get home after blowing 0.1 on a breathalyzer." Parrish said making Stiles gasp in amusement.
"All right... I'm not against a little quid pro quo... Not at all... Not at all..." Brunski said before slapping the keys against Stiles's chest. Amara and Lydia both gave fake smile as they flipped Brunski off when he walked away. "You! You. I like you. I'm gonna keep you." Stiles said, patting Parrish's shoulder while handing him the keys.
"Meredith, what do you mean, you can't tell us?" Lydia said as her, Amara and Stiles sat on the bed across from Meredith, "We just need the third key. You can give it to us in numbers, letters, hieroglyphs. Whatever you want." Stiles said and Meredith shook her head.
"I can't." She said making them sigh, "Then why did you give us the second key?" Lydia asked. "I wanted to help. That's what I want to do- I want to help." Meredith said and Lydia nodded, "Great! So help us now. Okay? Give us the third cipher key."
"Things have changed. I... I can't." Meredith said while looking down, "Why not?" Stiles asked and Amara could feel Meredith's nerves. "Hey, go easy on her." She whispered slightly, leaning towards Lydia and Stiles.
"I'm sorry. I can't. He... He doesn't want me to." Meredith said shaking her said, "He? Who's he?" Amara asked calmly and Meredith just looked at her for a moment. "Meredith, who doesn't want you to tell us the third cipher key?" Lydia asked and Meredith glanced between all of them, "The Benefactor." She said making the three look at each other.
"What's his name? You could just tell us his name." Lydia said standing up and Meredith just shook her head, "Okay, you're shaking your head... What's that mean? Does that mean you don't know? Or you don't want to help us?"
"I don't... I don't know... I don't know..." Meredith said anxiously, "How do you know about him?" Lydia asked and Meredith started breathing heavily and rapidly shaking her head making Amara slowly stand up. "Guys, I think we better stop..." Parrish said and Amara nodded in agreement.
"Meredith, a lot of people are going to die if you don't tell us-" Lydia said and Amara grabbed her shoulder, "Lydia, calm down." She said. "I don't... I don't know... I don't know..." Meredith said, freaking out, "Meredith, it's okay. You're gonna be all right." Parrish said calmly but Meredith just freaked out more. "I don't... I don't... I don't know..."
"Meredith-"
"I said I DON'T KNOWWW!" Meredith screamed making Lydia's hands fly up to her head as she stumbled back in pain. Amara grabbed Lydia and gently grabbed her face, looking at her worriedly. She gently moving Lydia's hair out of the way to see blood was coming out of her ear making her eyes widen.
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"Okay, well... We know one thing-- both of the first two keys, Allison and Aiden, they're both names of the dead. Right?" Stiles said as he paced back and forth while Lydia sat at in desk in front of her laptop, Amara sitting next to her. "But we've already tried every other dead person's name we could think of. And, if you haven't noticed, there were a lot of tries." Amara said and Stiles nodded, "Yeah I noticed."
"You okay?" Amara asked looking at Lydia, "The only other Banshee I've ever met... And I think I might have just drove her over the edge." Lydia said making Amara sigh softly as she grabbed Lydia's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. We were there, too. And you're probably not the only-" She started to say but Stiles cut her off.
"Hold on- Banshees predict death, right? So, what if the third key is someone who isn't dead." Stiles said making realization cross over Lydia's features, "But will be." Lydia said and Stiles nodded.
Lydia turned back to the computer and hovered her hands over the keyboard, closing her eyed before she slowly started typing. Lydia opened her eyes to see what she had typed.
DEREK
Lydia looked over at Amara who was staring at the screen with an unreadable expression. Amara took a deep breath and nodded slightly making Lydia press enter and names started popping up. "Parrish. We need to call Parrish." Lydia said as she read down the list.
"Lydia... Meredith's gone. They found her an hour ago in her room. She hung herself. I'm sorry." Parrish said after a few minutes of Lydia talking to him making her slowly turned to Stiles and Amara. Amara sighed softly before walking over to Lydia and pulling her into a hug making Lydia instantly wrap her arms around her.
