*ARCHIVED* Truth Or Dare (Sciles | Dark Descent, Book 1)

Chapter 16

FEBRUARY 20, 2016
SATURDAY
9:10 P.M.

Slap. Slap. Slap.

Scott sat on the foot of his bed and tapped his cell phone against his palm over and over again, anxiously waiting, hoping, for it to ring again. Waiting to hear Stiles's voice again, to understand what he'd been talking about. Scott replayed the brief phone call in his head. It made his stomach twist into knots. Stiles had been so certain of his plan; what could have happened so quickly to derail it and bring him to such hysteria? Calling Scott risked everything, and Stiles knew that.

A soft knock on the bedroom door startled Scott. He dropped his phone to the floor but didn't bother picking it up. The door opened and Allison stepped inside, closing the door quietly behind her. She was still in her pajamas; oversized black-and-blue flannel pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt that may as well have been a dress. Thrown on over the pajamas was a black leather jacket. Her bottoms almost entirely covered her worn white sneakers. Her brown hair was pulled up into a tangled mess of a bun, like she'd been sleeping and hadn't bothered to brush it. But Scott knew she hadn't been sleeping. Even if she hadn't told him so, he would have guessed from the dark bags under her eyes.

"Thanks for coming," Scott greeted. "I know it's late."

"What's going on?" She moved to the foot of the bed and sat down beside Scott, like she had so many other times. This time it felt different, strange, yet still as familiar and comfortable as it always had. Her tense body immediately relaxed as she sat. She still seemed perfectly at ease in his house, his room, and he was glad about that. He didn't want that to change.

In their romantic relationship they'd balanced each other out, acted as buffers and lifelines, kept each other grounded. Scott hoped that even as friends they could do the same. Looking at her now, he still felt it, the strange, sudden sense of calm. He wanted her to feel the same. It felt different now, though, without all the romantic connotations. More innocent. Now he just felt like she was his best friend.

He told her of the phone call. She frowned. "What do you think happened?" she asked.

Scott shrugged. "With Derek, it could be anything."

Allison slid off the bed and onto her knees, reaching under Scott's bed and pulling out a large shoebox. She set it on the bed where she'd been sitting and flipped open the top. Inside were several stakes and vials of holy water of varying sizes and widths. She grabbed two stakes and slipped one into each pocket of her pajama pants, doing the same with two small vials of holy water into her jacket pockets.

"What are you doing?" Scott asked.

She stood. "Arm yourself. We're going to save Stiles."

"Okay, but how?"

"We'll go in, kill them, take Stiles and leave."

"You say that like it's simple."

"It is. We save him or we die trying."

"I'd do anything for Stiles," Scott said. "But he didn't want us to do this. He actually told us to do the exact opposite. What if he was right?"

Allison shook her head. "He isn't right. This is proof of that. I'm not trying to say 'I told you so,' okay? I'm just saying that if Stiles dies in there and we didn't try to save him...Look, you don't have to come with me. I'm not trying to guilt trip you. I'm not going to ask you to risk your life just because I'm risking mine. But I'm going."

"I understand. I would do anything for Stiles. I would gladly die for him. But we need to be prepared."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." A pause. She looked down at her feet. "Would you do the same for me? Do anything for me? Die for me?"