To say that the announcement we were moving back to America was a surprise was somewhat of an understatement. It had come on an ordinary day, and I could still remember it as though it were yesterday.

It was nearing the end of the summer term, the doors and windows were open in an attempt to keep the house cool with the light breeze that was whistling through – it didn't do much though. Sounds of the neighbours sorting out a barbeque, mixed in with the local kids giggling as they had cold water fights and the odd ice cream van music reminding us that the holidays were looming ever closer kept drifting into the house.

Van was colouring on the kitchen table, babbling about something stupid that Roy Bryde had done during lesson that made the whole class laugh so hard 'we almost snotted milk out of our noses!' Teddy was working on some project or another, a scowl on his face as he rubbed the back of a hand across his forehead. He was picking at the intricate wires inside the radio, despite Mum's protests of not trying to make scientific discoveries on her kitchen table, smirking as she did so though. I was sitting to one side, trying to get the best of the breeze from the garden while reading Harry Potter once more.

Over the top of the book I'd seen Dad walk in, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. An awkward tension hung in the air, Mum stopped ruffling Teddy's hair, muttering something about needing to fill the kettle before hurrying over to the counter. I closed the book, keeping my thumb in place and eyeing Dad. Teddy hissed in pain, and I knew that Dad had caught his attention as well. Van was the only one who didn't seem to get it – though, at five I guess it was to be expected. She jumped up, her pencils clattering across the table, and ran to hug Dad around the knees.

'Hey, squirt,' he said softly, patting her lightly on the head. A weak smile played on his face as he picked her up, causing her to giggle, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

'What's up, Dad?' Teddy asked calmly.

Dad exhaled slowly. 'We're moving back to America,' he said simply, not looking over though, keeping his attention firmly on the bundle of excitement in his arms.

'We're what?' I asked, looking around at Mum for confirmation.

She merely nodded, her eyes darting quickly over to Dad before she turned to busy herself with the kettle again.

'America?' Van asked brightly.

Dad chuckled, a slight look of relief crossing his features. That was one of us on side at least.

'Yeah. Moving back to where we used to live, actually.'

'You brought it back?' asked Teddy, though the scepticism behind his voice was almost tangible.

'We never sold it.' Dad's response was sharp, his tone bringing the conversation to an end.

A look of irritation clouded Teddy's features, but before he could say anything Van cut across him.

'Can we go to Disneyland?'

While Van's excitement made Teddy's glowering expression deepen it seemed to bring Dad back to his usual cheerful self.

He sat down on the chair she'd left free, sitting her on his knee and bouncing his leg slightly. Then he started with the stories, the ones that Teddy and I had heard so many times before I was certain we could almost recite them now; the ones about growing up in Beacon Hills, causing trouble with his friends and running riot whenever they could; the ones about his old friend from police training, Richard Stilinski. And then, to round it all off, the one about meeting Mum on that blustery day when she'd hurried into the café he'd been working in, her best friend Oscar by her side.

Yet while Van ooohed and aaahed in all the right places, constantly asking Mum about the truth in the stories, Teddy kept casting sideways glances at me. An eyebrow always incredulously raised before he rolled his eyes and turned his attention back towards his radio's insides. But all I could do was shrug in response. How the hell was I supposed to know what was going on? I wasn't even sure about how I felt about the revelation, for crying out loud!

I'd sighed, turning my attention back towards the book. I couldn't concentrate though. Thoughts about going back were swirling around my mind. I'd get to see the boys again – in person rather than at awkward times over Skype, always too late or early for one of us, normally me though ('Hey, there are two of us, so it's only fair,' Stiles would always comment as I grumbled about another late night Skype call). We could go on adventures, though I was certain that they wouldn't be as daring or entertaining as our fights against dragons in Stiles' back garden when we were three. I'd have Lucy by my side, being my voice of reason before following along on our escapades to try and keep us out of too much trouble.

But it also meant uprooting again. Moving before was easy, I was about Van's age so everything was exciting. Well, it had been until I realised that Scott, Stiles and Lucy weren't just around the corner anymore. The American twang meant that making friends was easy, the constant barrage of questions about the place did get wearing eventually though. But settling into English life had been relatively easy, despite the whole colour spelling arguments – I knocked them down though, Mum always made sure we spelt it the English way, it had caused Teddy to get several detentions for telling teachers in America they were spelling it wrong, but that was the best it had spawned for entertainment.

'Night, Aim.' Van's soft voice pulled me from my musings, and I glanced down at her.

She was already dressed for bed, her eyelids were drooping slightly from tiredness and her light brown eyes seemed to be slightly duller than normal, not quite focusing on me. She stifled a yawn, trying to hide it behind a fist, causing me to smirk.

'G'night, Van. Sleep well,' I said, leaning to kiss her lightly on the forehead.

'Night, Vanessa,' Teddy said, smirking over at her as she plodded towards him.

'Hey!' she said indignantly, pouting at him while trying to hide another yawn.

Teddy lent over to ruffle her hair. 'Sweet dreams.'

'I'm gonna dream about America!' she said brightly, causing Teddy's face to drop, before Mum rubbed a hand over the five-year-old's head and led her off to bed.

Once we heard them moving around upstairs Teddy rounded on Dad.

'Why're we moving back to America?'

It was odd hearing my older brother snap at Dad like that. It wasn't something that normally happened, given Dad's laidback attitude and Teddy's preoccupation with finding out how things worked. But I knew why he was doing this. Cora. Years ago Dad'd taken a call from Richard about the Hale fire. No one was quite sure what exactly had happened, or who in the family had been there, but they were assuming the worst. Teddy'd always been close with Cora, she was one of the ones he tried to keep in touch with once we'd moved. He'd tried – man, had he tried to contact her since the fire, trying to find out that she was OK… if she was OK – but to no avail. And so, the prospect of returning there looming over us meant that Teddy just didn't want to go stirring up the past, and who could blame him?

Dad sighed though, wetting his lips as he gazed steadily at Teddy. 'More work's cropped up there. Your mum and I have decided that it's easier for all of us to be–'

'We're we really moving to America?'

Dad's pale blue eyes flashed with annoyance, he clenched his jaw once before sighing, leaning his elbows on the table. His gaze steadily scanned the two of us, as if making sure that we were paying attention.

'It's exactly as I said, Edward, Amelia-Jane,' he told us calmly, his eyes focusing on Teddy though. The use of the full fist names meant only one thing: he was annoyed – though, why I'd been dragged into this I wasn't sure. 'Car reckons Beacon Hills is the place to be again.'

Teddy snorted in irritation, leaning back in his seat. 'So you're uprooting us because of Oscar, again?'

'Exactly.'

Mum's arrival couldn't have been timed more perfectly. All attention snapped towards her, before Dad could shout and Teddy dig himself a deeper hole by trying to argue. I had the sense that the move was already all sorted, that there was no way of turning back even if we protested by chaining ourselves to the front of the house.

'Teddy, darling,' Mum spoke softly as she moved to sit at the head of the table, 'it's for the best. I promise.'

Teddy sighed deeply, pushing his chair out from the table so that it gave a horrible squeak against the tiles. 'I'm going to bed,' he said simply, before striding out of the kitchen, without so much as a backwards glance.

We'd left a short while after that, the school terms having drawn to a close and heartfelt goodbyes exchanged with friends and neighbours – our parents really had waited until the last minute to speak to us. We didn't go straight to the house though, as an apology our parents had decided to take us on a road trip, focusing on Disneyland for Van though.

It was nice, trying to forget about everything, trying to ignore the niggle of nervousness in the back of my mind at the prospect of going back to Beacon Hills, and the ability to text my old friends without worrying about phone costs was helping with that. Even Teddy seemed to lighten up slightly, sitting through Disney films with Van when we got back to the hotel rooms. It didn't stop him from wanting to take the DVD player apart though when the disc packed up ('No!' Mum had said shrilly when he twirled the screwdriver between his fingers and began advancing towards the thing).

But we all knew it couldn't last forever, and before we knew it we were back in the car, making our way towards Beacon Hills.

None of us really paid much attention to the scenery that flashed past the windows. Mum and Dad were talking in the front, the music from some happy radio station just loud enough for us not to hear quite what they were saying though. Van was playing twenty questions with Teddy, though neither of them seemed too happy with the final answer of the other, ('How was I meant to guess photo… photo… that thing?' 'Photosynthesis, Van, and surely they've taught you that by now?') Yet I remained curled in the corner, trying to sleep and not laugh too loudly at the arguments which were slowly raising to a level that might be the beginnings of World War Three.

'And, Van, welcome to…' Dad eventually said brightly, his attention flicking up to the rear view mirror so as to look at us.

The sky was growing a dark purple colour as the evening drew in. The odd star was already blinking to life, paling in comparison to the light of the moon though, when it wasn't hidden behind a dark grey cloud. There weren't as many as I would have liked to see, the lights from the buildings distorting them, but there were enough to keep my attention.

'… Beacon Hills,' Dad concluded as we drove past the sign telling us where we were.

Van cheered, bouncing in her seat as she tried to look out of the back window at the sign once more. Mum chuckled lightly, scolding Van slightly but not quite managing the seriousness needed. Teddy, however, looked slightly pale.

'Hey,' I muttered to him, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. His attention snapped towards me, and even in the relative darkness I could see that his eyes were shining. 'We'll visit somewhere, if you want. For a proper goodbye?'

Teddy exhaled slowly, as if attempting to calm himself down, before nodding. 'I'd like that, Amy; thank you.'

I shrugged slightly, sighing as I took my hand away from him and turned my attention to the suburban houses that were now flashing past the window. They all looked a lot bigger than the houses I was used to in England, though not as big as I remembered them being. Most of the front gardens were kept neat and tidy, it was as if no one had anything to do in this town other than mow the grass and plant flowers.

When the car finally stopped Van's attention flicked quickly between the houses as she babbled excitedly, 'Which one's ours? Is it that one – with the little gnomes? Do we have gnomes? Who're the neighbours? Are there kids 'round here?' Teddy, however, cut her ramblings short with a simple nudge before pointing towards the house just outside her window.

Van squealed excitedly, causing us to laugh as she jumped out of the car in her eagerness to get a better look. Dad followed her quickly, grumbling about being stiff from the drive. Mum clicked the CD out of the player as Teddy and I shifted out of the car, casting each other a questioning look at the sight of the house.

The stonework was a dark grey colour, flecked with sections of cream around the windows. The grass was longer than it should have been, looking more like a jungle in comparison to the close cut gardens either side of it. The bushes that scattered the edges of the garden, they looked like little guards, were a mess of tangled sticks and weeds; I couldn't remember if they were meant to be there or had simply popped up over the years, but there were a lot of them. There was a large apple tree in the centre, it looked about twice as thick as normal ones; there was a mix of full and partially eaten apples strewn around the garden, hidden amongst the patches of weeds.

'Welcome home,' said Dad brightly, looking around at us with a wide grin. 'Hey, why don't you three go explore and we'll sort out unpacking the last of the stuff? – Car and Pat sorted most of it out for us,' he added as I raised a curious eyebrow.

Van turned to face us excitedly, her eyes wide in wonder. I felt a smile slip easily onto my face as I moved forward to take her hand. 'C'mon you, let's see if we can't show you all the wonders of this place,' I said.

Despite my attempt to sound as excited as Van was about the prospect of going inside, I couldn't help but acknowledge the little bubble of anxiousness in my stomach. What if it looked different to how I remembered it? Would it still be as homely as it once was? Did it still hold all the memories that I'd grown up on?

'Hey,' Teddy said lightly, nudging my shoulder as we walked down the garden path, 'we gonna show her all the places the gnomes hide? Or should we leave it?'

I turned to look towards him, confusion slipping easily onto my face as Van began babbling excitedly about finding gnomes, questioning what other magical beast were hidden there, too.

'What? Why're you looking at me like that?' Teddy asked, his brow furrowing slightly as he unlocked the door, the keys jangling in his hand.

'It's just, I can't remember the last time you said anything about gnome hiding places, let alone finding them,' I said thoughtfully.

He shrugged, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth though as he let Van push the door open. She gasped in excitement, moving quickly into the darkened hallway.

'I'm gonna need your help remembering where they all are though, Amy,' he said, before stepping over the threshold.

My worries about the house fell away as we explored it. Everything felt the same as before, though with the addition of an excitable Van who kept rambling on about how she was going to decorate her room with flowers, butterflies and colour changing lights if Teddy could sort it for her. She seemed intrigued by our rooms, the array of mechanical equipment that still littered Teddy's floor making her ask about the gnomes and if they'd taken anything. Even he grinned when he saw the mess, it seemed as though his annoyance at Oscar for dragging us back here had dissipated slightly.

'Oohh,' Van squealed as we reached my door. She stood on her tiptoes in an attempt to get a better look at the name plaque, but she was still too short to see it. 'Did you make it?' she asked as I picked her up.

I smirked, memories flooding my mind.

'Kinda,' I said simply, shifting the plaque slightly so as to inspect it. 'It was kind of a group effort. I wrote my name–'

'It's very neat writing,' she piped up, causing me to chuckle slightly. It really wasn't. It was the untidy scrawl of a little kid who hadn't quite grasped the concept of writing. Stiles had tried to help, muttering advice in my ear before writing my name on a scrap piece of paper and irritating me with how much better he was at it than me.

'Lucy added the glitter – said something about making it sparkle at night. Claudia did the butterfly for me–'

'That was Stiles' mum, right?'

I nodded, frowning over at Teddy who was still lingering in his own doorway, a small clockwork robot in his hands. A lump formed in my throat, a knot of worry in my stomach, but I swallowed before carrying on with my explanation.

'Scott did the background. We had quite the little–'

I was cut off by a sharp knock on the door though. Without thinking I put Van down carefully and darted towards the banisters, leaning over them slightly so as to see the hallway.

'Who is it?' asked Van in a whisper, dancing beside me as she tried to look down between the railings. Teddy was on her other side, crouching down so as to peer over the handrail.

Dad opened the door and quickly moved out of the way so as to let our visitor in. The man that moved swiftly into the hallway was thinner than Dad and had a mop of messy black hair streaked with the odd bit of grey, it looked as though it was damp with what I assumed was rain – though for all I knew it could've been sweat. Even from here I recognised our guest though. It was–

'Oscar,' muttered Teddy, causing Van to fall silent as she moved to the top of the stairs.

'What's he doing here?' I asked, tearing my eyes away from the hallway so as to look over at Teddy, whose face was the picture of confusion. His brow was furrowed, his eyes darting across the hallway as he thought, and he moved a hand to push his dark brown curls off his forehead.

'Who knows. Probably telling Dad he was wrong and we should head back to England,' he said dismissively.

I rolled my eyes before looking back over the banister. The hallway was empty.

My head was reeling though. We'd not been here a day and Oscar had already found a job for him and Dad? Well, that seemed highly unlikely. So why was he here? Evidentially it wasn't a social call, or we'd've been called down by now. I furrowed my brow slightly, trying to focus my thoughts on the reasons Oscar turned up. But none of them were good.

'I'll be back in a bit,' I said absently, moving away from the others. 'I've got a call to make.'

'But we're finding pixies now!' said Van indignantly, but curiosity was coursing through me, making it difficult to concentrate on anything else.

As soon as I was in my room, sitting on my bed with my phone in my hand, I froze. Who would I call? I contemplated Scott or Stiles, but if something bad enough had happened to get Oscar over here in the rain then I didn't need them by my sides. I didn't want them being brought into that world – and I knew that if things got bad they'd only will me to go further.

No, I shook my head, trying my best to clear it. There was only one person who would help keep me slightly under control. The only person whose reason far exceeded their desire for an adventure. I found the number quickly and called.

It took three rings before Lucy picked up, sounding slightly breathless as she said 'Hello?'

I raised an eyebrow, despite knowing that she couldn't see me. 'Sorry, have I interrupted something?' I asked, barely keeping the chuckle out of my voice.

'Oh, ha, ha, Amy,' she said coolly. 'What's up?'

'You wanna go on an adventure?'

'What kind?' she asked carefully.

'An unexpected one?'

She groaned, and I was certain that she'd rolled her eyes. 'I'll come get you then.'

'Mind picking me up from the end of the road?'

'Whatever,' she said, though the note of exasperation in her voice told me that I was probably in for a moaning at when she saw me. 'See ya.'

'Yeah, see you in a bit,' I said, before hanging up.

My heart was thumping against my ribcage, excitement flooding through me as I glanced around my room. It wasn't as welcoming as my old one, though Oscar and Patrick had certainly tried with the array of teddy bears lining the top of the desk. It therefore wasn't hard to find a jacket in the top of my suitcase before darting out of the room.

Van and Teddy were still on the landing, arguing in low voices about something.

'Tell him to let me see the basement!' Van said, stamping her foot and folding her arms, a scowl crossing her face.

My heart froze though and I looked sharply up at Teddy. He shook his head ever so slightly. But he needn't have. I knew we couldn't let her see the training room, our parents had decided that she didn't need to know about that world. Not until she was older at least.

I sighed, stuffing my phone into my pocket before crouching in front of Van. I made sure that my face was level with hers, my hands lightly on her shoulders.

'Van,' I said slowly, my mind racing ahead of me, trying to think of an excuse while thinking about my adventure with Lucy as well. 'Look, you can't go into the troll's cove.'

The words escaped me before I had a chance to contemplate them. I saw her eyes widen in worry before she looked over her shoulder at Teddy. There was a small smirk on his face but he nodded firmly.

'We let them live there because we don't want them hurting anyone outside, but we've gotta steer clear of them, d'you get that?' I asked, my eyes darting across her face to try and see a hint of the curiosity that would make her go explore.

She nodded though, a certain amount of resolve flashing across her features. 'Yeah, I get it,' she said.

I grinned at her, shifting to kiss her lightly on the cheek before moving to go downstairs. Teddy caught my upper arm though.

'What're you doing?' he hissed, his back to Van.

'Finding out what's going on,' I said simply, moving my arm away from him. 'Behave while I'm gone.'

I shifted down the stairs, trying to be careful not to make the stairs creak – was it the third from the top or the fourth that squeaked if you stepped on it in the wrong place?

'I was gonna say the same to you,' I heard Teddy mutter before I was hallway down, causing me to smirk.

As I reached the bottom of the stairs I glanced quickly into the living room. I couldn't see any of the adults, meaning that the dash to the front door was a clear path. I took a calming breath before starting, swiping a set of spare keys off the table opposite the stairs as I did so.

As I reached the front door, my hand resting on the handle, I heard Oscar talking and froze, curiosity getting the better of me.

'Half a body in the preserve,' he said wearily. 'Pat found it, he was out jogging with a friend. Of course, he knew what it was but she called the police instantly.'

My heart hammered in my chest. This was bad. This was very bad. I shook my head though, wanting to see the thing for myself, see if there was anything I could do.

I wrenched the door open and stepped out into the rain. I slowly closed door behind me, desperately whispering at it to stay quiet. I squinted against the darkness, looking for Lucy's car as I pulled my jacket closer to me in an attempt to keep the rain off.

I caught sight of a car crawling slowly down the road, headlights off but wipers squeaking against the windshield. I grinned before darting off towards it, squinting through the window to try and see if it really was Lucy. Even in the dim light, however, I could make out her blonde hair, and I quickly pulled the door open.

'Wrong side, dimwit!' said Lucy shrilly as I went to slip into the seat, and right onto her lap.

'Sorry,' I said, smirking though as I darted around the front of the car and jumped in, shivering against the rain that was seeping through my clothes. 'Good to see you, Lu.'

She sighed, grinning over at me as she flicked the headlights on. 'You too, Amy. Anyway,' she said, focusing her attention on the road, 'where're we headed?'

'The preserve,' I said simply.

She quirked an eyebrow at me, her attention still on the road though as we went down a side road.

I shrugged. 'It's what I heard,' I said simply, causing her to give a grunt in response.

I knew that if I told her we were heading to the place to try and find a body she'd stop the car and turn around, telling me that it was the stupidest idea I'd ever come up with, one that was in league with Stiles'.

'So,' Lucy said, a lightly teasing tone to her voice, 'you looking forward to being the new kid?'

I rolled my eyes, a smirk slipping onto my face though. 'Do I count as new if I've known half of my classes from kindergarten?'

She chuckled, shrugging her shoulders and casting me a sideways glance. 'I dunno. Actually, I reckon it doesn't,' she said, a sly smile slipping onto her face as she flicked the indicator. 'If it did we wouldn't be able to tease you about being the Newbie.'

'Ha, ha,' I said sarcastically, turning my attention towards the scenery slipping past the window.

The streetlights were beginning to get fewer and further between as the trees began to thicken. The road was getting bumpier, the verges more overrun. Rain was buffering the car harder now, the wipers seemed to be in overdrive in an attempt to clear the view for even a second.

'Huh, why am I not surprised?' Lucy said we pulled up. Through the darkness her headlights fell across a blue, tattered looking jeep.

'Um, wanna illuminate the Newbie?' I asked as she killed the engine, plunging us into darkness.

'Stiles' car.'

I gaped at her, despite knowing she could barely see me.

'Hey, grab the flashlight out of the glove compartment, would you?' she asked.

'Flashlight? Why'd you have a torch with you?' I asked, shifting to get the thing out for her.

'I'm the prepared one, remember?' she said simply, taking the thing from me and flicking it on, shining it under her chin. Her green eyes were shining in amusement. 'Come on, let's get this over with.'

I beamed at her, being glad to have her by my side, before slipping out of the car. It was still raining, and my hood was doing very little to protect against it.

Walking through the woods was a quiet affair. Every so often Lucy would hiss at me about how stupid this was, before falling into a worried silence and moving the torch. She cut through the darkness quickly, as if trying to find something that would warrant making us turn back. I kept walking though, curiosity pushing me onwards.

We were winding our way up the side of a small hill when voices carried to our ears. I stopped dead as Lucy lowered the torch slightly.

'It's comforting to know you've planned this out with your usual attention to detail,' someone panted, the exasperation behind their voice made me smile slightly. It was Scott.

'Wanna have some fun?' I whispered to Lucy, smirking at her.

'Is this going to get us into trouble?'

'Define trouble?'

She shrugged. 'You'll do it if I help or not, so why not this once?'

I beamed, pulling her into a side hug before taking the torch from her. I clicked it off quickly, stuffing it up the sleeve of my jumper. I didn't really have a plan of action, but that made it all the more fun.

I snuck around the trees winding themselves around the path that I assumed the boys had taken. Lucy was close behind me, her hand gripping the back of my jumper so that she didn't get lost. Scott was the first one to come into view, leaning against a tree as he took a deep breath from his inhaler. Stiles was slightly ahead of him, practically lying on the floor and looking out between the trees.

As I jumped through the branches three things happened all at once. I clicked the torch on and shone it quickly around at the two boys. The two of them seemed to jump out of their skins, Stiles moving towards Scott while I raced to stand between them. And the sounds of dogs began to echo around the woodland.

'What the hell?' Stiles asked, breathing heavily as he glared between Lucy and I. His face, however, softened slightly when it clicked who I was. 'Amy!' he said brightly, moving quickly to pull me into a tight hug.

I chuckled, feeling Scott join in with the group hug.

'When did you arrive?' Scott asked, a tone of accusation to his voice.

'Only a few hours ago. What're you doing here?'

'Trying to find a body,' said Stiles simply, shrugging slightly. 'What about you?'

'Wait, you know about the body? How?'

'Dad,' said Stiles simply, pulling away so as to hug Lucy as well. 'How about you?'

'You're still listening into his calls?' she asked shrilly, looking up at him with wide eyes.

He shrugged, casting a slight look at Scott – it appeared he'd already been told off for that.

'Anyway,' I said, grinning around at the others and starting back up the hill, 'Pat's the one that found it.'

'Man, that's rough,' said Scott, sounding genuinely concerned about the older boy.

I shrugged. 'It's Pat, he'll get over it.'

'Anyway, let's go be the Scooby gang and find this body,' said Stiles, nudging my shoulder slightly.

'So you're Shaggy then?' I asked, grinning at him as we reached the crest of the hill.

'Wait, how comes?'

'Hey, hey you two!' Scott hissed, but Stiles and I were too lost in our own conversation to pay much attention.

A torch to the face however? Yeah, that caught our attentions, causing us to stop dead.

'Hold it right there,' an officer said sternly, flicking the thin beam of light between the two of us.

I cast a worried glance over my shoulder. Lucy and Scott were nowhere to be seen.

'Hang on, hang on,' came a familiar voice, though slightly sterner than I was used to. I groaned inwardly. This was bad.

I tuned back around quickly, trying for my best innocent smile as Sheriff Richard Stilinski stopped in front of us.

'This little delinquent belongs to me,' he said, his eyes narrowing at Stiles as he pointed towards him. 'And this one' – the accusatory glare turned to me – 'has worried parents looking for her.'

'Dad, how you doing?' Stiles asked brightly, rubbing the back of his neck though.

I downcast my eyes, a sinking feeling in my gut. Scolding by parents, not too bad, scolding by the Sheriff? Made you feel as though the earth opening up and swallowing you would have been easier to deal with. The disappointed look behind his eyes and the weariness of his expression was almost enough to make you promise never to do anything bad ever again. Only very almost though.

I let his words wash over me, slightly irritated that we'd failed to find the body. Now the police were here there wasn't a hope in hell that we'd get to look at it, to try and help solve the thing.

'Right, well,' the Sheriff said, making me look up sharply. 'I'm gonna walk you back to your car. And you and I are gonna have a little conversation about something called invasion of privacy.' He took hold of Stiles' collar before turning his attention towards me. 'And we're gonna talk about nicking keys and sneaking off.' He merely pointed slightly ahead of him, a stern look on his face replacing the disappointment for only a moment.

I sighed before walking ahead of him, a quick sideways glance at the trees where Scott and Lucy were hiding. I willed them to get going, to get to the car before we did, but I knew it was no use.

The walk back the car was exactly as the Sheriff had said, scolding us for our indiscretions and explaining why they'd been the worst things we could have done given the circumstances. He let go of Stiles almost as soon as we were away from his colleagues, but the stern frown remained on his face all the way back to the jeep.

My mind wandered, I only made the odd sound of acknowledgement of the conversation going on around me. My thoughts were plagued by worries about Scott and Lucy. We had this relatively easy – knowing the Sheriff and being frog-marched to a car was better than getting caught by officers who had no idea who you were, or why you were at the scene of a crime! I knew that they were the more sensible of us – well, Lucy anyway – but even then, would they be able to find their way back to the car without being seen? Would they be able to…

The thought stopped dead as we reached the edge of the preserve, and I gave a weak sigh of relief as I realised that Lucy's car was nowhere to be seen. They'd done it. They were probably both at home now, waiting for a text from us telling them about the scolding.

'Why didn't you tell me it was a body hunt? I would've told you how stupid it was and you wouldn't have got caught!' I could already see the text from Lucy, and it brought a weak smile to my face.

When we finally got into the jeep I looked around Stiles to look at his dad. Stiles began to drum a nervous tune on the steering wheel, his attention focused on the dashboard.

The Sheriff was wearing a slightly disappointed frown as he leant against the top of Stiles' open window. There were lines of stress creasing his forehead; his pale blue eyes had a weariness behind them which was slightly heart-breaking – how overworked was he?

'Right, make sure she gets home all right,' he said softly, leaning in to give Stiles' shoulder a slight squeeze. 'And then get to bed, you've got school tomorrow.'

He sighed deeply, patting the roof of the car as Stiles started the engine.

The beginning of the journey passed in an uneasy silence, Stiles checking his rear-view mirror more than he needed to. But, as soon as we were driving back through relative civilization he let out a long sigh of relief.

'Well, that could've been worse,' he said simply, casting a small smirk my way.

'Could've been worse?' I asked disbelievingly. 'Stilinski, you're messed up. Where was the shouting? The being told what a stupid idea it was?' I sighed.

'He'll be over it by tomorrow,' he said, making me scoff slightly. 'Seriously.'

We fell into silence once more, and I watched the scenery flicking by.

'So, how're you looking forward to tomorrow?' Stiles asked as we pulled up outside my house.

The honest answer? I was terrified. Despite the certainty that I knew a lot of the people there it had been over ten years since I'd been with them. And, while I had three friends who'd be by my side the entire time, I was worried that maybe the dynamic was one that just wouldn't work while we were at school, and they had to deal with me questioning things. I was worried that things wouldn't go right; that I'd suck because the school system was different. In short? I was definitely not looking forward to having to deal with life as a high schooler.

'Oh yeah,' I said, focusing all my attention on the house so as to avoid Stiles' eye. I began to bounce my leg. 'Totally cannot wait. Anyway,' I added hastily, looking over at Stiles and trying for a bright smile, 'I should go in and hear the death sentence that's been passed on me for sneaking out. See ya tomorrow.'

I fumbled for the door handle, pulling at it quickly in an attempt to get out of the car as fast as I could.

'Yeah,' said Stiles in a small voice as soon as I managed to pull the door open, 'see you tomorrow.'

I slammed the door with nothing more than a weak grunt in acknowledgment.

Fear for the next day became a horrible knot in my stomach as I made slow progress towards the front door. Maybe if I ran away…

I shook the thought from my head. I couldn't do that, I'd only get the disappointed look again. And then there'd be the explanations as to why I'd done it, trying to come up with a viable one that didn't scream 'coward'.

With a sigh I pulled the key out of my pocket, preparing myself as best I could for the shouting that was to come as soon as I pulled open the door. At least some things were exactly as they'd been in England.

So yeah, here's the redo. Please let me know what you think of it either here or on my Tumblr: