I yawned and continued my plodding down the hallways of Beacon Hills High School. That was the problem with holidays, I always stayed up late and slept in so when school and its early hours came round again I'd spend the first few days severely sleep deprived until I got used to waking up early.

'Aqua man returns for another year at school weird! Hey, do you know how many vehicle collisions last year involved deer? Two hundred and forty seven thousand.'

Stiles appeared seemingly out of nowhere, buzzing with energy as if he were the one with ADHD. I groaned and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

'I really don't need fun facts this early in the morning,' I said blearily, 'since when did you become so interested in deer, anyway?'

'Since one ran into Lydia's car last night.'

I raised my eyebrow and gave Stiles an exasperated look.

'Stiles, too early.'

He reacted with complete innocence.

'What? I'm serious – it full on head butted the winshield!' he insisted.

'And you know this how?

'I was there with Scott. We happened to be in the car behind them when I was driving Scott back from the tattoo parlor.'

'Scott got a tattoo?'

'Well, actually… he had a tattoo.'

'Huh?'

Stiles opened his mouth to reply but caught sight of his friend.

'Wassup Scott?'

Scott nodded a greeting to both of us and kept up with our pace.

'Hey Stiles. Nice to see you Percy, didn't know you'd be coming back.'

'Summer Camp finished,' I shrugged, 'and this school is pretty interesting.'

Stiles snorted.

'Understatement,' he muttered.

I rolled my eyes.

'Trust me, when you live in my world, it's not,' I told him before turning to Scott, 'so what's this business about a tattoo?'

Scott gave the vicinity a quick sweep for eavesdroppers before answering.

'One of the things about being a werewolf is that I heal really quickly. So when I got a tattoo, it kinda... faded away,' he explained.

'Right…' I nodded slowly not quite getting the gist of his statement.

'But I think I know how I can get one without it healing,' he piped up.

Stiles groaned.

'Your kidding – I hated that thing,' he muttered.

Scott shot his friend a condescending glare. Stiles noticed and dropped his exasperated expression.

'Sorry.'

Scott rolled his eyes and picked up where he had left off.

'I'm going to ask Derek to help me,' he explained.

Stiles snapped his head around to this friend.

'You want to ask Derek for help? Why? Why?'

'He's got the Triskelion tattoo on his back so there has to be a way to get one without healing, right?'

'Yeah but still, doesn't he have his hands a little full?' Stiles asked.

He motioned towards two 'MISSING – have you seen this person?' posters pinned to the school bulletin board. 2D paper Erica and Boyd stared back from their pictures printed on the posters.

'I thought they switched packs?' I asked, 'why're they listed as missing?'

'Technically, they did,' Stiles said reasonably, 'but not on their free will.'

Scott noticed my blank expression and took over Stiles explanation.

'They were tricked into thinking that there was another pack – long story,' he added when I opened my mouth for another question, 'basically, they've been kidnapped by an Alpha pack – do you remember what Deaton said last year about checking out Derek's front door?'

'Yeah,' I nodded.

'Well, the Alpha pack symbol was painted on it. Derek's uncle Peter said that it was a warning because Derek was a new Alpha.'

'Derek has an Uncle?' I asked incredulously.

'Don't worry, he only came back from the dead a few months ago so you should be able to take him down with a metal baseball bat if he's not looking… not that I've tried,' Stiles added unhelpfully.

I widened my eyes in exasperation.

'Ok, whatever I don't want to know about Peter,' I said, 'so what's up with this Alpha Pack?'

'Well for starters, they're a pack made up entirely of Alphas,' Scott said.

'Yeah, imagine us verses a whole pack of Derek's,' Stiles added.

I frowned.

'But how does that work? If they're a pack of Alphas then… how do they have an Alpha?'

'There's suppose to be some sort of leader – Deucalion,' Scott explained, 'Derek, Peter and Isaac have been looking for them for the past four months.'

'Looking for Erica and Boyd,' I concluded.

Scott nodded.

'Look, these are the application forms from the careers advisors – I need them sorted.'

Stiles exchanged a questioning look to both of us and walked tentatively towards the voice emanating from the Principal's office. We poked our heads around the wall and were greeted with a view into the Principal's office. A middle-aged man dressed in a blue shirt and red tie that would look habitual on Clark Kent interrogated his assistant.

'And whatever happened to the library while I was gone? I want it cleared up!'

He glanced down as something caught his eye.

'And what…. the hell… is this?' he exclaimed, lifting up Gerard's sword from where he had left it behind his former desk.

Stiles quickly turned his back to the office. Scott stared at the sword with a stunned expression.

'Go – go,' Stiles warned.

He ducked his head low and speed-walked away from the office. Scott trudged after Stiles in a daze and I grabbed his backpack, dragging him away from the open corridor before the new principal could spot him.

'C'mon, we gotta get to English,' I muttered, pulling him with me as we hurried after Stiles.


English.

One word: Dyslectic.

I sighed and drummed my fingers on the surface of my desk, staring at the back of Scott's head.

BZZZZ! Ding-Ding-Ding! BEEEP!

Around the class, students were reacting with surprise as their phones went of in a symphony of synthetic tones and pings. Unlike them, I didn't carry a cellphone since it acted like a hotspot for monsters so I leaned over my desk and craned my neck to catch a glimpse of the screen on Scott's phone.

I don't know why I even bothered; his phone was calibrated to English like every other mortal in the class. I slumped back into my seat with a huff.

'The offing was barred by a black bank of cloud and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky seemed to lead into he heart of an immense darkness. This, is the last line to the first book we are going to read.'

I cocked my head curiously as a young female dressed like a teacher clip-clopped into the room. Guessing by the other students alternating glances between her face and their phones, it seemed that the passage she had just recited was the cryptic text message.

'It is also,' the teacher raised her personal mobile, 'the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off, everyone.'

The students complied and she walked to stand behind the teacher's desk.

'Thank you; my name is Ms. Blake, please open your books to page nine.'

Ten minutes later we were reading passages from our textbooks while Ms. Blake dragged chalk across the blackboard.

Heart of Darkness

By

Joseph Conrad

Chapters 1-3

Due Friday

I sighed, there was no way I was reading three chapter of anything with my greek wired brain. Truthfully, I was surprised I'd even managed to read the homework Mr. Blake had chalked up. Nevertheless, as much as I sucked at English I couldn't just sit here looking like an idiot or I'd get reprimanded for 'not doing my work', so I opened up my notebook and started scribbling a note in Ancient Greek to Annabeth. At the sound of an opening door, I looked up from my book in time to see the new principal entered the room. He spoke briefly with Ms. Blake before walking out.

'Mr. McCall?' Ms. Blake called out.

Scott looked up from his desk and she beckoned him forward with her index finger. He packed up his books and followed her outside. Moments later, Ms. Blake returned to the classroom minus one teen wolf. I shot a questioning look at Stiles but he merely shrugged.

It was a shame neither of us had superhuman hearing.


THUD!

Everyone in the classroom turned simultaneously towards the large windows that covered the side of the room. A black crow slid down from a splatter of blood on the window, presumably where it had impacted the glass and caused the noise.

I narrowed my eyes as I noticed a fuzzy black haze approaching the window outside. As it neared, its features sharpened and I realized that it was an entire flock of birds. Cawing and screeching as they caused a shadow to creep up the window.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I jerked backwards in my seat away from the window as the first of the crows flew head first into the window.

BANG! BANG! CRASH!

Glass exploded as the second wave of crows smashed through the cracks caused by their predecessors. Everyone yelled and screamed as black birds swarmed the classroom. I didn't know how many there were but I'm pretty sure any more than twelve crows were bad luck.

'Get down! Everyone!' ordered Ms. Blake as the crows nose-dived, 'GET DOWN! GET DOWN!' she screamed when they only increased in number.

'Percy!'

I squinted through the cloud of feathers and spotted Stiles crouched protectively over Lydia, motioning me over. The crows were getting bolder now, flying lower with their claws so I dropped to the floor and scrambled my way over to them.

'Any chance this is one of your demigod things?' Stiles yelled hopefully.

In any other situation, I'd have berated him for literally yelling who I was to unknowing mortals but with the combined noise of screaming and cawing I don't think he really had a choice.

'No,' I hollered back, 'I thought this was one of your supernatural things!'

Stiles looked stumped for a second, thinking over my statement as if there weren't a hurricane of crows buffing against us.

'Technically, I'm not a wer-'

'You know what I mean!' I yelled irrationally.


The classroom appeared devoid of life. A layer of black feathers coated the entire room as if it snowed the stuff. Then, a head popped up from the sea of overturned chairs and tables.

Stiles Stilinski grasped the table edge, using it as leverage to pull himself up from the floor. He stared opened mouth at the classroom's recent makeover and his classmates soon joined him on the surface.

'First the deer and now this,' Lydia muttered.

I frowned and turned to her curiously.

'The deer that hit your car went in head first, right?' I asked her.

'How did you know that?'

'Oh, I told him about half an hour ago,' Stiles interjected.

Lydia sighed and nodded.

'Headfirst,' she confirmed.

Then she froze and turned to Stiles and I.

'What's that thing you say about three's?' she asked.

'Uh… Zeus, Poseidon, Hades?' I offered, 'sorry, that's all I got.'

Lydia slowly shook her head.

'No, not that…' she trailed off, 'once… twice…'

'The deer, Prada and now the birds,' Stiles said, his tone of voice suggesting that he was following along with everything Lydia had said.

Unfortunately, I didn't.

'Ok, look. I get the deer was weird and the birds were… weirder, but what does a handbag brand have to do with any of this?'

'Prada's my dog,' Lydia said as if it was obvious.

'You named your dog after a handbag,' I said slowly, wondering if I had heard her correctly.

'You've got a hellhound called Mrs. O'Leary,' Stiles reminded me, 'Prada's a Chihuahua.'

I raised my eyebrow.

'You still remember Mrs. O'Leary? You only met her once last year.'

'Considering that her eyes glow red… yeah, it's a bit hard to forget,' Stiles decided.

'Boys!' Lydia exclaimed.

'Right; Deer, dog, crow,' Stiles stated.

We stood in silence for a moment, the only sound were gossiping and crying.

'I have no idea,' Stiles flung his hands in the air, 'I'm calling Scott.'

He pulled out his phone and dialed the beta.

'I'm going to talk to Allison,' Lydia announced and left us.

Stiles nodded goodbye but she had already left. He checked his phone screen once more before sticking it to the side of his face.

'Hey Scott, we got a serious problem at school. Ms. Blake's class-'

Stiles stopped mid sentence, his phone glued to his ear.

'Ah, well, nope pretty sure this qualifies for immediate discussion.'

He paused.

'Derek's house? What? What the hell are you-'

I jerked my head towards him and waved my arms in front of his face to get his attention. He turned to me, still listening to Scott on his phone and I motioned questionably with my hands. Why? Stiles shrugged and mouthed I don't know. He listened for a few more seconds before ending the call.

'Scott wants us to meet him at Derek's house,' he said, 'and no he didn't tell me why.'

I sighed.

'What do we have to loose?' I muttered.

'Our throats,' Stiles suggested helpfully.

'That was a rhetorical question.'

'Well, that was a… rhetorical answer?'