IRIDESCENT

CHAPTER | SIX

"I hate Christmas." Savannah muttered to Cheryl, "I hate it, I hate it."

"Well I love it." Cheryl said to her friend, swinging her hands by her sides. "It's festive and... it was JJ's favourite holiday."

"Sorry, Cheryl." Savannah paused to turn to her friend. "How are you doing? You know, with Jason and that scumbag -"

"Let's not mention his name." Cheryl cleared her throat. "I'm doing much better. I have my friends, and I just want to put it all behind me."

"I can do that." Savannah nodded and the two smiled at each other. "I actually have something to give you."

She paused to put her crutches against the wall, and dug into her backpack. She reached in for a very thin parcel that was wrapped in red wrapping paper, and tied off with a silver boy.

"Here." Savannah held it out to her, "I'm your Secret Santa."

Cheryl looked taken aback, but took the gift all the same. She started to unwrap the gift, holding the wrapping paper in one hand as she unraveled it completely.

It was a certificate for the naming of a star. Cheryl felt her eyes start to water as she looked at the name: Jason Blossom. Savannah had decided that it would be nice to name a star after him so that he was always looking out for her.

Cheryl looked up at Savannah, who was smiling as if waiting for her reaction. The red-haired girl threw her arms around her, an act that wasn't very Cheryl Blossom, and whispered into her ear, "Thank you."

"Of course, Cheryl." Savannah hugged her back tightly.

The two girls broke apart and made their way into the common room where everyone was starting to hand out their Secret Santa gifts. Cheryl sat down in the empty seat next to Kevin, while Savannah decided to throw herself down into Jughead's lap.

"Santa." She started looking up at the ceiling as if in thought, "This year, I want a pony, my own car, a brand new wardrobe... oh, and a really sexy, brooding, bad boy, Serpent boyfriend."

"Want me to set you up with Sweetpea?" Jughead joked, the girl looking at him and swatting at his arm. "Who was your Secret Santa?" He whispered into her ear.

"Wasn't you anyway." Savannah told him, looking at the sweatshirt that Kevin had given him. It was like one of his 'S' shirts but thicker and much more useful in the winter. "Nice idea."

"Mhm."

"I got Cheryl." Savannah told him, and they left it at that.

They watched as Veronica deflated at Archie's gift to Betty. He had found a record that they used to listen to when they were five years old, and she was ecstatic when she uncovered his gift. It was a meaningful gift, showing how long and strong their friendship was.

"Thank you, Arch." Betty smiled at him, the boy smiling just as widely back at her.

Kevin spoke up, clearing his throat. "Savannah, open yours."

Savannah locked eyes with Betty, the blonde's smile disappearing suddenly, replaced with guilt. She had been Savannah's Secret Santa, and had gotten her gift well before the whole showdown at the Whyte Wyrm.

The brunette leaned forward, feeling Jughead's hands slide down from her waist to her hips as she did. The gift was wrapped in gold paper, so neatly that Savannah almost felt bad when she ruthlessly tore it open.

It was a copy of 13 Reasons Why, the book.

The two girls linked eyes, both of them remembering how that day after Jughead left, they had binged the entire show. Savannah had willingly went back to the beginning of the season to watch Betty's reaction to the whole thing.

They had agreed to wait for the second season together and watch it all in the one day. They even pinkie swore on it.

Savannah's hands felt clammy against the book and her throat thick as she thanked the blonde, and quickly left the room.

"Savannah!" Betty went after her, leaving the awkward atmosphere behind her. The group sat quietly after the two left, all eyes on Jughead for some reason. He shrugged.

"Betty, please." Savannah sighed as the girl quickly caught up to her. "It was a really nice gift but it doesn't undo everything that happened."

"Please, Savannah." Betty pleaded with her, "I don't know what I was thinking, I can't think straight. I really need your help."

Savannah turned to the girl who had desperation in her eyes, and her heart melted. "Tell me the truth. Do you like Jughead?"

"No." Betty answered immediately, "I wasn't dancing for Jughead, Savannah. Please, just... just trust me on it. I have some things I need to figure out."

"Okay." Savannah agreed, "But please try to stop flocking around my boyfriend. I know he's your best friend but it's kinda killing me."

"Okay." Betty laughed, almost tearfully. "Thank you."

Savannah felt better that she and Betty had made up. It made her feel like everything was back to normal, except, she would really like to get out of those crutches. Luckily for her, she had an appointment at the doctor's to get her cast off the next day.

Her happy mood, however, didn't last very long as Betty caught eyes with the janitor.

"Betty?" Savannah asked, as the blonde strode right up to the janitor and asked who he was. "What's going on?"

"Mr. Svenson." Betty turned to the brunette, "Archie and Veronica figured out his story, his secret, and now he's gone."

"Do you think the Black Hood found him?" Savannah frowned.

"Maybe." Betty ran a hand through her hair. "Maybe they led the Black Hood right to him."

"There we go." Dr. Manstead said, finishing up cutting off Savannah's cast. "Did you feel that?"

"Just the vibrations." Savannah laughed, curling her toes. "It still hurts a little, but not as bad as it did."

"That's good." The doctor nodded, standing up. "Do you want to try walking without your crutches?"

"Okay." Savannah took a deep breath in, and pushed herself gently off the edge of the examination table.

Her feet touched the ground and she continued lowering herself until they were fully on the floor. As she took one step, her face scrunched up in pain just as she pushed off with her right foot.

"How painful, on a scale of one to ten?"

"About a four." Savannah told him, "Definitely manageble."

"As you keep walking with it, I imagine some of the pain is due to the stiffness in your ankle, not being able to move it for over a month."

"So... no crutches?"

"No crutches."

"EW!" Savannah cried out upon seeing the finger that the Black Hood had gifted Betty.

"Enclosed is a finger that belongs to the sinner Joseph Conway." Archie read the note that was sent with the gift.

Betty had asked Savannah and Archie to come over as soon as she opened it. Both Betty and Archie had paid a visit to Mr. Svenson's house earlier that day to see if he was okay, but there was no answer at the door.

They suspected that he hadn't been home. The receptionist at the school had left a pot of chicken soup at his door the other day, and it was still sitting there when they visited.

"Joseph Conway." Savannah repeated, "Is that Mr. Svenson?"

"Yeah." Betty nodded, staring into the mirror as one of her hands clutched at her throat.

"You have one final trespass to unearth." Archie continued, "Find the truth, reveal it to the town and you'll perhaps save his life."

"He kidnapped Mr. Svenson!" Betty snapped, growing frustrated. "And now he's mutilating him."

Just then, Betty's phone started to ring, showing an unknown number.

"Oh no." Savannah tugged her legs up onto the bed. "That's him, isn't it?"

Betty didn't reply, and Archie came up beside her, the two looking at the phone intently.

With a shaky breath, Betty slid her finger across the screen to accept the call, and put it on speaker.

"Betty, please!" A voice cried out in panic, a lot of shuffling muffling his voice.

"Mr. Svenson?" Betty looked between the two and back down at the phone with wide eyes. "Is that you?"

"It is, Betty." A distorted voice said. The Black Hood. "But his name is Joseph Conway. He's lost a lot of blood. Though it's nothing compared to the blood on the hands of this town. Exhume the past, find where the primal sin was committed, and you'll find the sinner Conway may be alive. And as always, don't -"

Archie suddenly grabbed the phone, "What? You maniac, don't tell Sheriff Keller?"

The call ended there with a beep.

"What sin? What can Mr. Svenson possibly be guilty of?"

"Veronica and I talked to him. His entire family was murdered by some crazy preacher."

"Maybe the people who adopted him know something we don't."

"Wait." Archie interjected, "Before he was adopted, Mr. Svenson lived as Joseph Conway at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy."

"Noooo." Savannah drawled out, "My worst fear is a creepy little nun woman, like in that movie, The Conjuring?" She looked between the two, pleadingly. "Please don't tell me you're going to ask me to limp through some crazy Christian rehabilitation center."

The look on Archie and Betty's faces said enough.

The woman sitting in front of them didn't look like the scary nuns in the movies. She looked relatively normal, with her hair tied up in a bun, dressed in black business attire.

"Joseph Conway, or Joseph Svenson, as you know him, was a troubled youth." She told the three teenagers sitting before her. "There was no saving him."

"Meaning, he was a sinner?" Archie interjected, feeling hopeful.

"No, he was a child, a victim."

"Did he suffer from survivor's guilt?" Betty asked the woman, she made to ask another question but the woman in front of them looked at the window.

"Oh!" Savannah clutched at her chest. "She's a scary, scary woman!"

A nun, with dark shallowed eyes and a scowl on her face, passed by the window. She paused, long enough to stare down the woman that was speaking to them, before moving on and out of sight.

"I've already said too much." The woman said to them and made to stand.

"No." Betty said bluntly, her two friends looking at her in surprise.

"Betty -" Archie started.

Betty held her hand out to stop him saying anything else. "Sister Woodhouse, when my sister escaped this dungeon, she told me all about the corporal punishment. So, please, help us with this, or I will expose the Sisters of Quiet Mercy for the house of horrors that it really is."

"She's scary when she's blackmailing people." Savannah whispered to Archie, who nodded, unable to take his eyes off Betty.

Sister Woodhouse looked troubled, but continued telling them about Mr. Svenson, "After his family was massacred, young Conway - young Svenson, identified the man responsible. Then a small group of Riverdale citizens took matters into their own hands... and, well, executed him."

"And he was sure it was him?" Savannah asked the woman, leaning forward on the table she was sitting on.

The sister looked conflicted, "Well, it wasn't until later that he admitted to us, that in his terror and shock, he may have pointed a finger of accusation -"

"At the wrong man." Betty finished for her, an unreadable expression on her face. "Oh my god. Svenson's sin was sentencing the wrong man to death." She turned from Archie to the sister once more. "Did Svenson - Conway ever talk about who carried out the execution?"

There was footsteps down the hallway and the sister didn't speak until they disappeared. "They came here once to see Joseph. It was a group of men and one woman. I don't know their names, and I can't remember what they looked like. Just that the woman had the most striking hair, it was white, save for a cherry red stripe.

"Nana Rose Blossom." Savannah said immediately, remembering the woman who lived with Cheryl at Thistle House, and before that, Thornhill. She'd been to Cheryl's a few times and met the woman, an odd character.

"Cheryl, we need to see your grandmother." Betty insisted, without even so much as a hello when the girl opened the door.

"Hi." Savannah added, looking at her blonde friend with a shake of her head. "She also meant to say hi."

Cheryl smiled at them, "Nana Rose seldom has visitors. She'll be pleased. Entree."

The three teenagers made their way further into the house and Savannah couldn't help but gape at the inside. Even though she had been there before, it wasn't at Christmas, and the decorations that Cheryl had put up were beautiful and impressive

"The house looks amazing, Cheryl." Savannah said to the girl, who beamed.

"Thank you, Savannah."

Cheryl moved to stand behind her grandmother, who was looking out the window in thought.

"Nana Rose." Betty started, looking anxiously at the woman and then at Cheryl. "We have some questions for you about something that happened in Riverdale a long time ago."

Archie took over, "A man killed his family and a group of people decided to take justice into their own hands."

"Oh dear. Here? In Riverdale." Nana Rose croaked. Her voice was entirely creepy, Savannah thought, the typical old woman in all those horror movies - along with the nuns - that gave her the heebies. This whole day seemed to be a step right into her nightmares.

"Yes," Betty answered her, "And you were part of that group, weren't you?"

Cheryl frowned at them, looking afronted that they would question her grandmother in such a way. "What is this? A Christmas inquest?" She waved them off and started to move her grandmother away.

"Cheryl!" Archie pleaded with her, "A man's life is at stake."

"We need to find him before he bleeds out... or worse." Savannah swallowed thickly at the thought of them being too late. She was new to the whole try and solve a murder thing. It was usually Betty and Jughead who did all the detective work.

"Where you with this group when they..." Betty broke off and took a deep breath, "When you killed this man for revenge?"

"Oh no." Nana Rose looked at them, one of her eyes clouded and white. "No girls allowed. They told me to stay at home while they took care of the bad man."

Betty and Archie shared a look and the former kneeled down in front of Nana Rose. "Nana Rose. This is so important. Where did they hang the bad man?"

"Oh, they didn't hang him." Nana Rose told her, as if this were just any old children's story. "Oh no, they gave him a proper burial. Buried him alive." Nana Rose loomed over Betty, causing Archie to take hold of her shoulder and pull her up.

Cheryl looked traumatised.

"Where? Where did they do that?" Archie asked her.

"Ask your grandfather, Polly dear, he was there."

"My - my grandfather?" Betty choked out, pointing to herself as if it couldn't be true. "Oh my god."

Savannah called after her as Betty ran out of Thistle house. She exchanged a look with Archie and he nodded at her, the boy staying and finding out the rest of the story as the girl chased after their friend.

"Betty, wait!"

Betty had just made it to the car and was leaning back against it, doubled over as if trying to catch her breath. Her breathing was heavy, she felt as if she was choking, drowning.

"Betty," Savannah held the girl's shoulders and looked at her with worried eyes. "Are you okay?"

It took a few moments until the blonde girl finally looked up at her, her eyes locking onto the brunette's and she seemed to take a little bit longer to catch her breath until she suddenly didn't need to anymore.

Savannah let out a squeak as she felt Betty's lips against her own. She hadn't expected it. Not at all, not in any way. It almost knocked her off her feet at how sudden it was.

Somehow, after all that they had been through, Savannah could tell that Betty needed this, she needed to feel something. And so, pleading that Jughead would forgive her, Savannah started to kiss the girl back.

It was different than kissing Jughead. Their kisses were always so fast, as if they couldn't get enough of each other quick enough, as if they thought one of them was going to disappear at any second.

Kissing Betty was slow, but it screamed all the emotions that they were feeling. Her lips were soft and Savannah could taste the flavoured chapstick that she was wearing, and almost instinctively, her hand moved up to cup Betty's cheek.

It felt like it was all too quickly when they heard the front door open, and the pair sprung away from each other. Their lips were red, the two looking at each other like a deer in headlights.

"Oh my god." Savannah clutched at her stomach, feeling sick that she had done that to her boyfriend.

Betty's eyes were wide and her mouth gaped, not quite believing that she had done it.

"I need to go." Savannah said suddenly, turning away from the two, ignoring Archie's questions as she made a break for it, running into the trees as if she had a destination and knew exactly where she was going.

It was when she was suddenly in the middle of the forest and had absolutely no idea where she was, that she realised what a terrible mistake she had made.

This made her a cheater. One hundred percent.

She hadn't just been the other woman, she was now a cheater, and that would stay with her for the rest of her life, even if she didn't stay with Jughead.

It made her feel even worse that she had gotten caught up in her kiss with Betty, her best friend, a girl. Savannah had never thought of herself kissing a girl before, never even entertained the thought that she could be into one.

She wasn't into Betty, she told herself. And she meant it. With all her heart, she could absolutely say that she was in love with Jughead.

While the girl was having a battle with her inner self, she didn't quite hear the snap of a twig behind her. The near-silent clomp of black boots against the forest floor. Of a man that was sneaking up behind her. The Black Hood.

Until it was too late.

He had been following them, it seemed. Following them as they tried to find the trail that led to Mr. Svenson, or Mr. Conway. Whatever they wanted to call him. He hadn't intended on going after the Clarke girl until he saw her leave the other two, giving him a perfect time and place, for an execution.

She heard him at the last second, just before a rope found itself around her neck, her hand slid up to block it, an instinct when she heard the rustle of his jacket near her ear. Her palm dug into the rope and she gasped as his hand circled around in an attempt to choke her.

Savannah couldn't believe that it was happening. She hadn't even seen the Black Hood, but she should have known that he would come for her. It was inevitable. Go for the ultimate sinner.

Thou shalt not commit adultery. It was one of the ten commandments.

Still, she wasn't ready to die. She wasn't ready to give in.

The girl mustered all the strength that she could in her good foot and stomped down on his, hearing him hiss in pain behind her ear. She remembered all the lessons that Kyle had given her, go for the weak spots.

In his pain, she managed to push herself further from his body, jabbing her elbow back right into his neck.

As he stumbled, Savannah slid under the rope and took off running. He recovered quick, she could hear that from the rustling of leaves behind her, he was chasing her down, and he would be faster.

Her foot still hadn't healed, and she was told to take it easy, not to push herself.

This was definitely pushing herself.

As she ran, Savannah looked around for a weapon, something to hit her attacker with, and then she saw it. A heavy looking log, it looked almost too heavy for her to lift but with enough momentum, it would do.

Savannah sprinted toward it and tugged at it, pulling and yanking until she was able to swing it in his direction, not watching to see if it hit its target.

However, by the oof that she heard behind her, and the sudden thud, she knew that the log hit its mark. She didn't stop running as she saw the street lights on a main road ahead of her, she was in the Southside.

The trailer park wasn't too far from where she was and she knew how to get there. Savannah just had to have hope that the Black Hood wouldn't catch up to her on the way.