A few notes before we begin:

(1) I've re-uploaded this chapter because I added more to it. When I first published "Idioms," something just didn't seem quite right. Now that I figured out why this was so, we have a newer version of the thirteenth chapter;

(2) The Rite of Passage now includes swearing. Don't worry! This will be occasional and mostly consist of minor curses;

and

(3) When I have the time, I will edit/fix any and all mistakes I come across in the previous chapters. I will let you know when this has been done.

And now, without further ado, I give you the new-and-improved "Idioms."

Enjoy!

"Always attempt to understand whatever you see, whatever you hear, and whatever you perceive. There is a hidden meaning behind everything, hence things are not always as they seem."

~ Tia Nnebo

Derek disappeared soon after Boyd's death. It was clear to all that the Alpha wanted to be alone.

Luna knew that his reaction was understandable. It had been a hard night for him - that much she could tell. She'd be devastated, too, if someone she cared about died in her arms. . . . But this was something way bigger than the death of a loved one.

She'd heard once that to lose a pack member was equal to losing a body limb. Luckily, she hadn't lost someone of that importance yet.

Because of what the Alphas had done to the poor Beta, they convinced Luna that she needed to get away and get away fast. . . . But how? She couldn't run away without someone she knew back home getting hurt - or worse, turned. Luna shuddered at the thought of Fred or Brandon being bit. Not to mention how the image of Ariel meeting the same fate she had made her feel ill.

No. She had to stay.

But she couldn't, wouldn't, return to her father's penthouse. Luna would go absolutely insane if she did.

The only problem was that she really had nowhere else to go.

Well, not entirely true. There was Aggie's place, but Luna didn't know where the blonde lived - let alone if she would be welcomed with open arms. The only other place she could think of was the abandoned distillery. Though it didn't have any indoor plumbing, she could rest there until she figured out what to do next.

Once Luna saw the abandoned building, she felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off of her chest. Being alone felt like the best option. She needed to figure out what to do with herself now that she was no longer living among the Alphas.

As she was about to enter, Luna saw that someone was already there. There, standing inside of her hiding place like a breathing statue, was Derek Hale. His back was to her so he couldn't see the startled she-wolf, but it was only a matter of time before he caught her scent.

Just as Luna was about to leave, she heard a deep, masculine voice say, "I know you're there, Luna."

Cursing herself, Luna spun around before calling out, "I don't want to intrude."

"You're not." Derek turned his head, his sight now set on the young werewolf. "How'd you find me?"

"Believe me, it wasn't intentional. I just. . . . This is the place that I. . . . I had nowhere else to go."

"Don't you live with your Alpha?"

"He's not my Alpha. He never was."

"Yes, but he is your father."

Luna felt her eyes widen, completely shocked. How did he know that she and Deucalion were related?

The girl quickly glanced away from Derek. "That's really none of your business."

"You're right. It isn't."

Luna nodded her head, satisfied with the older wolf's response.

When she turned towards the exit, she heard Derek say, "Don't tell anyone you saw me."

"Don't worry. I won't," promised the curly-haired teen.

As Luna left, she felt Derek's gratitude radiate off of him like the sun. And that made her night a tiny bit better.

Luna didn't know why, but she was somehow compelled to go to the next place she could think of.

Knocking on the front door of a towering home, Luna thought that she was indeed being ridiculous. Normal people wouldn't be up at this hour, so why should she even bother?

Just as she was about to turn and leave, someone answered.

"What are you doing here?" asked Lydia, both curious and aggravated.

Luna, having not thought this all the way through, glanced down at her feet. "I. . . I'm not sure. I just needed a place to stay. Clearly I'm not welcomed here."

Before Luna could get away, Lydia said, "The Alphas won't let you go back to your apartment?"

"Yeah," the she-wolf admitted. "Well, I could, but that would mean I'd be joining their cause."

Lydia, seeing how worn the Omega was, tilted her head slightly to the side and gave enough room for Luna to enter. Having seen this silent declaration of welcome, Luna entered. As she passed the younger teen, Luna whispered, "Thank you."

"Yeah. No problem," said Lydia as she closed and locked the door. "I'll show you to the guest room."

If there was one thing Luna never expected, it was one of her father's enemies to treat her with such kindness. She hadn't exactly been the warmest of people, nor was she someone many easily trusted. It was strange and very welcoming to feel like she wasn't the most hated person in the world.

Once she'd taken a shower, she lazily made her way to the guest room Lydia had led her to. Neatly folded on top of the queen-sized bed, she found an oversized T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants.

A few minutes after she'd changed into the clothes, someone lightly tapped on the closed door. Luna answered it. Lydia, who was now in her pajamas, gave her the once- over. "Glad to see that they actually fit."

Walking further into the room, Lydia plopped down upon the tan bedspread. There was a look of deep-thought on her face as she said, "We need to find you some clothes to wear for tomorrow."

"I could just wear the ones I wore today," Luna suggested. The strawberry-blonde gave her look that questioned the werewolf's sanity. Luna shrugged her shoulders in response. "They're being washed and dried as we speak, so it's not like I'll be putting on dirty clothes."

"You're not wearing the same outfit two days in a row."

"What other choice do I have? You and I are different sizes. There's no way I'll be able to fit into anything from your wardrobe."

"No. You'll be wearing something other than the outfit you have with you."

"Oh, yeah? Like what?"

Lydia got up, went to the giant oak dresser behind Luna, and opened the second drawer. "My mom's sister comes here every summer. She always forgets some of her things. You and her are basically the same size in every way you can think of."

So that's where these came from, Luna realized.

She'd just assumed Lydia had taken the biggest clothes she could find in her room.

"Thank you," Luna said, brown gaze fixed on the girl she thought hated her guts. "This is more than I deserve." And she meant it. Every single word.

Slightly taken aback by the older teen's words, Lydia said, "It's not that big of a deal." Seeing that they were done for the night, Lydia began the brief walk back to her bedroom. When she reached the doorway, Lydia turned and looked at Luna. "You're wrong, you know. You deserve more than you think."

Before Luna could respond, Lydia closed the door, leaving Luna alone to her thoughts.

"Idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes. All tools the writer uses to tell their story," said Ms. Blake, using this as the start of her first hour's lesson.

Luna watched as Ms. Blake weaved her way up and down the aisles. A stack of papers, still warm from being copied only moments ago, rested beside the TA's upper thigh.

It had been about four days since the night of Boyd's murder. Since then, another sacrifice had been made. The memory of how she'd found Deputy Graeme's bloody corpse remained fresh in Luna's mind. It was something that was near-impossible to forget at the drop of a hat.

Last night had been a long and difficult one.

While studying for their Economics test, Lydia went into a fugue state. Luna had been confused upon seeing this. That soon turned to worry when Allison told her that this was something far from good. This lead to them jumping into the brunette's car. Allison didn't stop driving until they pulled into their high school's parking lot.

Long story short, they met up with Scott and Stiles - both of who they'd called upon their arrival. Not long after Stiles and Lydia got into a squabble over finding dead bodies, Scott cut them off with grim news. He'd noticed that the unlucky deputy was splayed out on top of the school's fancy front entrance sign. That had shut everyone in the group up.

It was definitely one of the most unsettling nights Luna had ever experienced.

Now, here they were, learning about writing techniques from Ms. Blake. Like they always say: If you find a mutilated corpse, the best thing to do is return to the same place you came across it.

Ms. Blake, having noticed that one of her students was busy drawing in their notebook, said with a smile, "Lydia. I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents."

Having heard her teacher's remark, she looked at her with a bitchy grin. "You and every guy I've ever dated," Lydia replied, sarcasm evident in her tone of voice.

"Oh. Well, that was an idiom."

Lydia turned back to her work, the statement "Clearly" written across her forehead.

Ms. Blake's face fell as she flexed her neck and continued on with her stroll and lesson. "Idioms are something of a secret to the people who know the language or the culture. They're phrases that only make sense if you know keywords. Saying 'jump the gun' is only meaningful if you know about the starting gun in a race. Or a phrase like 'seeing the whole board.'"

"Chess," Stiles answered.

"That's right, Stiles. Do you play?" asked his teacher.

"Ah, no. My father does," said Stiles, tapping his pencil against one of his fists.

Ms. Blake, seeing that there was nothing further to discuss with Stiles, moved on to the next question. "Now, when does an idiom become a cliché?"

A girl with big, brown hair raised her hand. When Ms. Blake called on her, she gave a very detailed (and correct) answer.

Luna listened from afar as Stiles and Scott discussed if they should talk to Ethan about the Alpha Pack. The Omega strained her ears, listening in on every detail. Once the boys decided to give it a shot, Luna made the decision to join in on the possible conversation.

If the she-wolf wanted answers, she needed to take what she could get.

Luna then heard her name being called by Ms. Blake, bringing her back to reality.

Once class was over, Luna made her way towards Scott, Stiles, and Lydia. "I want to talk to Ethan, too," she stated before any of them could ask her what she wanted. When Stiles opened his mouth to protest, Luna added, "I want to know the truth just as much as you three do. Besides, you said I could help take down the Darach and the Alphas."

Noticing the look Scott gained whenever he gave into something, Stiles exclaimed, "No. Hell no."

"She's right, you know," argued Scott.

Seeing that neither Scott nor Luna were going to change their minds, Stiles released a heavy sigh. "I hate you."

Lydia was to distract Aiden while the others pulled Ethan aside to learn more of what they were up against.

Luna had raised a dark eyebrow when she heard the very basic plan. She acknowledged the fact that Lydia could take care of herself, but this seemed way too easy. Scott assured her that the plan would work.

Not wanting to get in an argument, Luna let it go, hoping that everything went according to plan.

Once Lydia had dragged Aiden away, Scott went up to Ethan, Luna and Stiles not far behind.

When the final bell had rung, they went to the stairwell where they dove into conversation.

"Why are you even talking to me?" asked Ethan, confused. "I helped kill your friend. How do you know I'm not going to kill you, another one?"

"Is he looking at me?" said Stiles, back resting against the brick wall. "Are you threatening me?" The brown-haired teenager took a few steps closer to the Beta Alpha. "You know what I'm going to do? I'm gonna break off an extra-large branch of mountain ash, wrap it in wolfsbane, and shove it up your freaking -"

Scott held Stiles back as he gave his friend an amused look. "Whoa. Stiles. Okay, we get it."

"No, no, no. Let him continue. It was just getting good," chuckled Luna, eyes twinkling with laughter.

Ethan gave her a glare through narrowed eyes. In response, Luna smirked as if to say, "Yeah, so? What are you going to do about it?"

Scott decided to ignore Luna's comment. Instead, he opted for the more mature route. He told Ethan, "We're talking to you because I know that you didn't want to kill Boyd. And if something like that happened now you wouldn't do it again."

"You don't know what we owe them. Especially Deucalion. We weren't like Kali and Ennis when we met him. We weren't Alphas."

"What were you?"

"We were like Luna: Omegas, only worse."

Luna raised an eyebrow but kept quiet. They were actual getting somewhere. She didn't want to spoil it.

"Worse how?" asked Stiles, speaking the question Luna wanted to ask.

"In an actual wolf pack, Omegas are like the scape goat. The last to eat, the ones who have to take the abuse from the rest of the pack."

"So you and your brother were like the bitches of the pack?" said Stiles.

Ethan shot his classmate a look. The expression he now sported was a mix between embarrassment and frustration. "Something like that."

A low whistle came from Luna. Scott fixed a warning glare on Luna who, in response, held her hands up in surrender.

"So what happened?" asked Scott once it was clear that the she-wolf would behave herself.

"They were killers. I mean, people talk about us as monsters, but they were the ones who gave us the reputation. And our Alpha was the worst of them."

"Why didn't you guys just fight back?" Stiles asked Ethan. "Form Voltron Wolf, you know? Kick everyone's butts?"

"We couldn't! We didn't know how to control it back then."

"I'm guessing my dad taught you and Aiden," piped up Luna for the first time in awhile.

"Yeah, and then we fought," confirmed Ethan, gaze locked with Luna's. "We took down the whole pack, one by one. And by the time we got to our Alpha, he was begging for his life." Ethan took a deep breath. "And then we tore him apart."

They small smirk he wore told them that he meant this in a very literal sense.

"Eh, so gruesome."

"What about your emissary?" Scott asked.

Ethan shook his head.

"They're all dead? Kali and Ennis', too?"

"All except for. . . Deucalion's."

"You mean Morell?" said Stiles.

"Yeah, that's right."

"Okay, so here's something I still don't understand: Why on Earth would Deucalion want Luna in his pack? I mean, no offense, but she doesn't exactly meet your pack's requirements."

"I don't know. But what I do know is that she wouldn't be here if there wasn't something in it for him."

"You mean something like I'm his daughter?" Luna said, trying to get a better answer.

"If that were true, your sister would be here, too."

When Luna opened her mouth to say something else, Ethan grunted in pain. He placed a hand over his upper chest. The other high school students became tense, wondering what was causing Ethan to act this way.

"What? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Scott rambled off.

"Not me," said the he-wolf as he shook his head. "My brother."

Luna had never seen Ethan run as fast as he did in that very moment.

After sharing a look, they took off after the werewolf. They didn't stop until they reached the boys locker room.

Cora Hale had been through a lot of painful situations, both physical and emotional. Getting hit in the head with a forty-five pound weight was one of the most painful things she ever had to endure. That was the last thing she wanted to admit to anyone, including herself.

Staring into a dirty mirror, the young werewolf dabbed at the bloody wound on her forehead. She hissed whenever she touched it the wrong way.

"You okay?" asked Scott.

"Does she look okay to you?" snapped Luna, the Alpha Pack's Omega.

Cora squinted her eyes, eyebrows brought downward. There was something about Luna that rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe it was because she constantly found a way to piss her off, or maybe it was because she'd failed to help save Boyd. . . . "I'll heal," she said, folding the dirty paper towel she'd used to clean away the gore her face now adorned.

Standing back to her full height, Cora felt faint, light-headed. As her legs began to buckle beneath her, Stiles reached for her. Quickly regaining her balance, Cora held up a hand. "I said I'm fine."

"Bullcrap," Luna mumbled beneath her breath.

Cora sent the Omega an annoyed look.

"Do you know how extremely suicidal that was?" said Stiles, referring to how she'd attacked Aiden only minutes ago. "What were you thinking, going after them?"

"I did it for Boyd," she growled. "None of you were doing anything. Especially her."

Luna knew that Cora had referred to her. If the she-wolf was bothered by this, she didn't let it show. Instead, she titled her head. Her brown eyes were curious, open. It looked like she was willing to hear Cora out.

Yeah. Like that would ever happen.

"We're trying," emphasized Scott.

"And you're failing," she snapped back. "You're just a bunch of stupid teenagers. Running around, thinking that you can stop people from getting killed. All you do is show up late. All you really do is find the bodies."

Cora turned, ending the conversation.

Stiles words followed after her like a gust of wind. "Well, she's defiantly a Hale. I'm going to make sure she gets home."

The youngest Hale rolled her eyes. You'd think she was a helpless damsel in distress.

Agatha Trolley was never one for gossip. She preferred keeping out of conversations that involved mindless chatter. But she could never ignore her curiosity. So when she saw a small crowd gathered in front of a classroom, she felt the strong urge to find out what was going on.

Because she was short for her age, and was among the last to come around, Agatha found herself at the back of the group. Standing on the tip of her toes, Agatha attempted to see into the classroom. From what she was able to see, she saw a couple of school's security guards, Ms. Blake, and Lydia Martin.

Ms. Blake and Lydia were talking, but Agatha was having some. . . difficulties hearing their conversation. Instead, she heard a couple of freshmen conversing about what was taking place.

". . . . Mr. Westover's missing, right?" asked a chubby blonde.

"From what I could gather, yeah," her friend answered.

"Whatta you think happened? I mean, why's he late?"

"I don't know. Maybe he decided to ditch and forgot to call in?"

"Or he finally ran off with Ms. Patterson," said the chubby blonde.

"Ew, Kayla -"

"What? You know it's eventually going to happen."

Agatha tuned out after that. She doubted any of the freshmen were even close to skimming the truth. It probably wasn't as big of a deal as everyone was making it out to be. But, then again, Mr. Westover was never late. He loved his job, and he loved his students even more.

She tried to pick her brain for memories of her ninth grade year, yet she couldn't remember him ever being absent.

Strange. Very strange, indeed.

Just as Agatha was about to continue on, she noticed Scott McCall - a boy in her year - the new kid, Aiden (or was it Ethan? Agatha could never tell the difference between the twin brothers), and. . . Luna pushing their way into the room. For a split second, Agatha thought, "Why didn't I think of that?" but quickly shoved it aside. The sight of Luna brought back unwanted feelings. She and her friend still hadn't made up since the day of their fight. In fact, they hadn't even spoken a word to each other since then, either.

To be honest, Agatha had long gotten over her anger towards Luna. She'd never been good at holding a grudge; it just wasn't in her nature. Hesitation was. Agatha had lost track of how many times she attempted to go up to her and apologize for being so moody. She was afraid that Luna would shoot her down and walk away before she could explain her harshness.

Maybe now's a good time, Agatha thought to herself. Better late than never, right?

Just as Agatha was about to push her way through, Lydia shouted, "I'm something!"

Agatha practically jumped out of her own skin.

Geeze. What's been up with everyone lately?

Before Agatha could continue on, the person she wanted to speak to left, Scott and the twin close behind her. Agatha's face fell. Would she ever be able to apologize to Luna?

Mr. Westover was missing, and Luna had a pretty good idea why. The poor teacher was to be the Darach's next sacrifice. And Luna thought her life was bad.

When they found Lydia in Mr. Westover's room, trying to tell Ms. Blake that he'd been taken, they knew what they had to do.

Though they were not packmates, they agreed that they needed to stop the Darach. If they didn't, who knew what else the dark druid could damage? When they parted ways, Scott and Luna stuck together, never leaving the other's sight. If they were going to solve this thing, they needed to figure it out together.

By the time school had let out, the sky had changed from soft blue to an ink black.

When Scott and Luna finished searching Beacon Hills, they returned to the school. They both felt slightly defeated, seeing as they were still as clueless as they had been earlier that day. At this rate, half of the town could be dead before the following morning.

While the werewolves wandered the school, Scott brought up out of the blue, "You have a sister, right?"

Luna, who'd been caught completely off-guard, said, "Huh?"

"When we talked to Ethan in the staircase, he mentioned that you have a sister."

"Oh," said Luna, avoiding eye contact with the Omega.

"I'm. . . sorry. I didn't mean to -"

"No. It's fine." Luna sighed. "Yeah, I do. Back home with my mother."

Silence hovered above the werewolves for a few short moments before Scott broke it. "Do you miss her?"

"More than anything," whispered Luna, so soft that Scott almost missed her words.

"I'm sorry, Luna. Really, I am."

Luna looked straight ahead. "I think we should split up. We'd be covering more ground if we did."

When Scott opened his mouth to respond to her statement, his phone rang. After checking his ID, he answered. "Allison."

"Philosophers, teachers. That's the pattern, Scott," said Allison.

"What?"

"Isaac, my dad, and I found Mr. Westover. He's dead, Scott. The Darach killed him."

Silence filled the air, but only for a moment.

"So that means that -"

"Two more teachers are going to die."

Scott and Luna shared a look filled with panic. If the Darach has their way, two more innocent people were going to die. And for what? It drove Luna crazy not knowing what the dark Druid's motive was.

"Scott. Are you still there?"

"Yeah. I am."

"My dad wants us to meet up. Where are you?"

"Luna and I are at school."

"Alright. We're on our way."

The line went dead. Scott hung up and placed the cell back in his jean's pocket.

"Teachers. . . ." Luna glanced at the entrance to the school. A recital was being held in honor of those who'd been murdered by the Darach. Teachers and students were entering the building. Each of them mindlessly took a program from Ms. Blake as they passed her. And then it slammed into her full force. Looking back at Scott, Luna said, "I think I know where the Darach's going to strike next."

Scott followed her line of sight until it landed on the school entrance. A sinking feeling filled the air as Scott came to the same conclusion that Luna had.

"The recital," they said in unison, a gust of wind twirling ominously around them.

"Lydia! Lydia!" called out Scott as he, Stiles, and Luna ran out the school's front doors.

The teenagers were frantic beyond all reason.

When Stiles had called his best friend, he told him that the Deputy had been a teacher at some point. This meant that there was only one philosopher left.

Luna couldn't speak for the others, but she felt like she was about to have a panic attack. Especially when Lydia hadn't responded to any of the texts or calls Scott had sent her.

Using her wolf sight, Luna scanned the area.

"Anything?" asked Stiles.

When neither she or Scott replied, Stiles looked back at his phone. "She's not answering her texts." He looked at Scott. "Whatta we do? Scott? Luna?"

Seeing that they hadn't made any progress, Luna tore her eyes away from the parking lot. Her face was contorted into panic and confusion. "I don't know. I can't find anyone. It's like she never left." And that's when it hit her. "Unless she never did."

The boys looked at her like she'd solved an impossible riddle.

Before either of them could add on to her theory, an ear-piercing scream filled the air. The intensity was so strong that it sent both Scott and Luna to the ground. They pressed their hands against their ears to block out the sound, their teeth clenched.

To Luna, it felt like someone had placed a megaphone over her ears before yelling a battle cry at the top of their lungs.

"Scott? Luna?" Stiles asked, concerned.

The werewolves could hardly hear him over the painful scream. It was of great relief when it finally ceased.

"Guys. . . . What just happened?"

Looking up, Luna said, "You heard it?"

The boy looked at her, puzzled. "Heard what?"

"A screaming woman. . . . You had to have heard it, too."

When nothing registered across his face, Luna got the feeling that only her and Scott could hear it. That's when something else crossed her mind.

Looking at Scott, she knew that he had the same thought.

"It was Lydia, wasn't it?" she asked.

In response to her question, Scott got on his feet and ran back into the building.

After sharing a brief look with Stiles, Luna followed the other wolf's example.

"Come on," said Luna before she and Stiles sprinted after him.

Luna focused on where the scream had come from, only stopping to regain her thoughts or wait for Stiles to catch up.

"Which way, which way?" Luna chanted, her now electric green eyes flicking around the halls.

Finally, they found the room which Lydia was being held captive. But the sight that she saw stopped her in her tracks. Inside the English room was Ms. Blake, an air of evil surrounding her.

That's when Luna knew.

Ms. Blake was the Darach.

Well, we made it to the end of the edited/updated version of The Rite of Passage. I'm honestly a bit more pleased with how the chapters now look.

Until the next chapter, see you later :)