My head broke the surface of the lake and I took in a breath of cold winter air. I hadn't realized how long my swim had lasted, but it felt like an eternity. I barely remembered I had to come up for air at some point. The sky was a shade of a white gray; heavy clouds were blocking the sun from appearing. In the distance, a rumble of thunder rolled and echoed through the trees. That was my signal to go home. I slowly swam to shallow water, my tail brushing against the dirty sand as I reached the beginning of the bank. The farther my torso removed itself out of the water, the more a violently sick feeling grew in my stomach.

"Monster." A familiar voice resonated. My eyes reluctantly peered up to see Stiles standing in front of me. My jaw dropped, stumbling to ask the question what he was doing here. I blinked drops of water out of my eyes and when they reopened, Scott stood beside my cousin. The two of them failed to look at me in amazement, but instead disgust.

"She's a sea monster."

"Please let me explain." I begged with my voice dripping in sorrow. I blinked once more, and then stared at two more figures standing beside my friends. This time it was Allison and Lydia, their beautiful facial features contorted into repulsion. Lydia was the first to take her phone out and snap a picture.

"This is going to get a ton of likes." She maliciously grinned. I turned around to look at my tail, hoping it was hidden under water. It was barely submurged by the murky liquid. The tail was obvious. I turned back around with teary eyes, seeing that Jackson, Derek, Peter, Danny, and Melissa McCall had joined the group of shocked onlookers. Melissa gasped, holding onto her angry son for comfort. Jackson gave a hearty laughed and Danny soon joined him.

"Secrets are no fun, are they dear?" Peter chuckled. I looked between him and Derek, who looked angrier than usual.

"We've got to tell my dad." Allison announced.

"Your dad's a werewolf hunter." Lydia corrected. How did she know about that?

"She's supernatural it doesn't matter." She concluded.

"No, please don't." I whimpered. Allison whipped out her phone and dialed her father.

"Dad, I just sent you a picture. She's a mermaid. We're going to be rich." She stated.

"Scott? Derek? Please help! You guys understand this more than anyone. Please."

"You're on your own." Derek grimly stated.

"Goodbye, Ella." Scott replied. I looked at the angry and disgusted crowd, seeing there was no backing down. As they inched closer to me, a blood curling scream erupted from my lungs.

I launched up in bed, gasping for air and putting a hand over my heart. I looked at my surroundings. It was just an empty bedroom. There was no lake, no tail, no angry mob. There was nothing. It was just my bedroom.

I laid awake in my bed, the house too cold from letting me get up and get ready for school. I had never been a cold person. Snow and cold temperatures failed to entice me. Sure, I could have just heated my body up a little with my powers, but that took effort. And in the mornings, there was none of that. A knock at my door startled me from my Australian warmth day dream.

"What?" I called loudly with a sigh. If its one thing I hated, it was being disturbed in the mornings. The knob turned and the door opened enough for Stiles to peak his head through.

"Hey." He greeted with a weak smile. I failed to return it.

"What do you need?" I immediately asked, getting straight to the point. After Stiles' episode with me last night, I wasn't in a talking mood to say the least. I needed to put space between us until he became less suspicious. He fully pushed the door open.

"I, uh, have you heard from Scott this morning?" I reached over onto my night stand, tapping my phone's screen and seeing the lack of messages I had. I returned to my comfortable position, irritated I had to leave it in the first place.

"Nope, not today."

"Right…" he sighed. "well, I want to stop by his place before school, so if we could leave a little earlier than usual that'd be great." Stiles awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

"On it." I simply replied

"Great." Stiles unenthusiastically replied as he began to walk away.

"Uh, Stiles." I stopped him.

"Yeah?" He immediately piped up and turned around on his heel, hoping I'd say more. I eyed him and then the opened door. "Oh, right. Right." He sighed, closing the door once more. I laid in my bed, nestled under my comforter staring at the ceiling. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and mocked Stiles' contagious sighs.

"Let's get this over with."

After a car ride filled with small talk about the weather, we arrived at Scott's much to my relief. Stiles was furiously knocking on the front door until a disheveled looking Scott answered it.

"Dude, why aren't you answering your phone?"

"He means, are you okay?" I corrected, seeing the worry in his chocolate brown orbs.

"You wont believe what happened last night." He gasped. Stiles and I both looked to the teen wolf suspiciously. He dragged us inside and shut the door behind him.

"The hunters attacked us last night. They took Derek!" Scott exclaimed in the midst of rushing up to his room. The volume in Scott's voice assured me Melissa wasn't home.

"Whoa, slow down there. Start from the beginning." I ordered, following close behind. It was too early to chase after him. I needed coffee more than I needed oxygen right now.

"Derek was going to turn Jackson last night and I intervened. And we got in a huge fight."

"And the hunters found you?" Stiles gaped. Stiles pulled over Scott's desk chair and took a seat while I opted for the bed.

"They were shooting at us from outside the Hale house. I got shot, but Derek…Derek saved me. He went out there and distracted them while I got away."

"You got shot?" I gasped. Scott stood in front of his full length mirror and lifted the hem of his shirt up. A bandage sat taped in the side of his stomach, the center of the crisp white fabric stained with red. Scott proceeded to peel off his bandage, revealing intact skin, as if he came out of being shot at unscathed.

"I'll never get over this whole healing thing." I muttered my thoughts aloud.

"Deaton saved me. He fixed me up somehow. It was a wolfsbane laced bullet so it was bad, guys." Scott tossed the bandage into the garbage.

"Deaton as in your boss?" Stiles repeated. Scott nodded.

"I can't find my phone anywhere, I don't understand! I had it last night!" He groaned in audible frustration while rummaging through piles of clothes.

"Maybe if you cleaned your room…" Stiles suggested, only to get glared at by Scott.

"Can you just call it?" Stiles dramatically rolled his eyes and followed Scott's orders. We failed to hear ringing.

"Call it again." Scott demanded.

"It's not here." Stiles states. Scott scurried up and began looking on the other side of the room and underneath the bed. "So you lost yours phone, why don't you just get a new one?"

"I cant afford a new one!" He cried. I hopped off the bed and got down on my knees, peering under the bed to see lacrosse gear cluttering the floor. "And I cant do this alone, we need to find Derek."

"A, you're not alone." Stiles frowned. I grimaced, taking one last look under the bed and standing up. "You have me! And B, didn't you say Derek walked into gun fire? He sounds pretty dead."

"Argents plan was to use him to get to the Alpha. They're not going to kill him." Scott informed from inside his closet.

"You know that for sure?" I wondered.

"Well, it, ,I—just let them do what they're planning! They use Derek to get Peter, problem solved." Stiles stammered.

"Not if Peter's going after Allison to find Derek!" Scott cried, emerging from his closet. "I cant protect her on my own, which means we've got to find Derek first. Just help me!" He sighed in defeat after searching the contents of his desk.

"You probably lost it while you two were fighting." Stiles dryly stated after Scott had tossed an orange stress ball in the air, and it had hit Stiles' face. "Remember that? When he was trying to kill you? After you interrupted him trying to kill Jackson? Are you starting to see a pattern of violent behavior here?"

"He said he was trying to kill Jackson." I defended.

"He wasn't going to kill anyone, and I'm not letting him die." Scott forcefully stated.

"Can you just think about letting him die?" Stiles pleaded with a frown.

"Stiles." I barked. He clearly was not seeing the seriousness of the situation.

"What?" He exclaimed. Suddenly, Scott's head lurched to the side and his body stiffened. "What?" Stiles repeated.

"My mom just got home from work." He announced, correcting his hearing to listen in. Scott's body deflated, like he had just got punched in the chest.

"Is she ok?" I spoke up with reluctance in my voice. Scott silently shook his head.

"What's she doing?"

"Crying." It took Scott a second to sadly admit it. Without a word, Scott pushed himself off the desk and sat beside me on his bed. His hands wrapped around each other, taking in the sobs of his mother. I could feel the sadness radiating off of him and onto me, and I felt horrible there was nothing I could do.

"Scott," Stiles gently nudged, "you cant protect everyone."

"I have to." He shamefully admitted. "She thinks her date from last night wont call her back just because he doesn't like her. She doesn't know who he really is."

"You can't tell her." I immediately said, thinking of the array of reactions that would come with spilling his secret. I think about mine all the time.

"I know, but it's getting harder and harder to protect her."

The school day came and went and I soon found myself in the backseat of Allison's car with her, and Lydia riding passenger. Allison had just finished telling us that out of the blue, and in the strangest way possible, Jackson wanted to take her to the winter formal tomorrow night, but just as friends. It was more than obvious Lydia was trying to contain herself from saying something she'd regret, but hearing that her ex boyfriend asked her best friend out made her blood boil.

"So, Ella, tell me. What's Australia like?" Lydia finally moved on from the conversation when we pulled into the Macy's parking garage.

"Uh, pretty awesome." I laughed. Getting asked the question was like asking Lydia what Beacon Hill's was like.

"I'm talking about details! The beaches, the boys…"

"It's physically impossible to sum up life there. Boys were cute, and the beaches…they were to die for. And the water, it's like nothing you've ever seen before." The three of us exited the blue Mazda and walked into the first floor of the store.

"We'll have to take a trip to San Fran one day! Or maybe even San Diego for a weekend. Like a girl-cation." Lydia mused.

"Girl-cation?" Allison chuckled.

"That sounds cool." I agreed, knowing it would never happen.

"We've also got a lake house right outside the city. It's got a boat and everything. We can spend the weekend!" She squealed. Now that sounded more realistic.

"Too cold." I shrugged off.

"Get a few drinks in you and the waters just fine." She winked. Just as we stepped onto the escalator, Lydia noticed Allison's lack of involvement in the conversation. The brunette looked deep in thought, worry lines creased across her forehead.

"What's wrong?" She pouted.

"Nothings wrong," Allison sighed, "I just, ive got a lot on my mind."

"You could smile at least. Have you ever heard the saying 'never frown, somebody could be falling in love with your smile'? Smile, Allison. I'm buying you a dress."

"I have to admit, as far as apologies go, that's more than I expected."

"Excellent."

"But…it's not as much as I'm going to ask."

"What?" Lydia paled considerably.

"You're going to cancel on whatever dumb, roided up jock you said yes to, and you're going to go with somebody else."

"Who?" Lydia and I asked simultaneously. Allison smirked, staring ahead at the perfume department where Stiles stood.

"Him." She smirked. Once again, Lydia grew so pale it looked as if she saw a ghost while she watched Stiles go into a coughing fit after accidentally spraying perfume in his face.

"Aww, don't frown Lydia! Someone could be falling in love with your smile!" Allison mocked, trotting off towards Stiles. Finally noticing us, Stiles waved. Lydia whimpered and stood in her place.

"He's my cousin, don't disappoint me." I warned with a smile, then following Allison's trail.

"Did she say yes?" Stiles eagerly asked my brunette friend.

"She doesn't have a choice." She assured with a grin.

"Yes!" Stiles cheered. "One step closer!"

"Let's go to dresses, chop chop!" Lydia scampered past us and grabbing Allison by the arm. Stiles and I followed behind and he continued to voice how excited he was.

"What did you do to get Jackson to go with Allison?" I finally asked. "And why wasn't I in on this?" To say the least, I was disappointed the boys failed to include me in on conversation.

"Scott's not allowed to go to the dance now, so we had to figure something out."

"Okay." I sighed. "So what's the plan for tomorrow?"

"We haven't figured that out yet. It's more of an in progress stage right now."

"Great." I sarcastically commented. "Will I at least be filled in this time?"

"You got it." Stiles grinned widely, throwing up his thumbs. My eyes narrowed and my brows formed a line.

"You're acting weirder than usual, dial it down."

"Right, sure, yes—"

"Stiles, help me!" Lydia demanded as she hung several dresses by her fingers.

"Coming!" Whiles Stiles was off being Lydia's human clothing rack, Allison and I shifted through an assortment of dresses.

"So," I dragged on, "Should I ask why Lydia's buying you a dress as an apology gift?"

"It's am 'I'm sorry I made out with your boyfriend when he wasn't really your boyfriend' present."'

"Ouch." I grimaced. "Harsh."

"Hence the dress buying." She chuckled. I plucked a strapless little black dress from the rack and examined it. "You should get that!"

"Me? No." I disagreed.

"Why not? You'd look great in it. It really goes with your figure."

"Well, I don't have anywhere to wear it. I wasn't going tomorrow." I admitted, which was soon followed by a nearby gasp.

"Not going? What is this nonsense. No friend of mine is not going. You're going."

"I've never been to a dance and besides, I don't really have the money." I shrugged, hoping my excuse would cut it. Lydia wouldn't take it.

"That's it? Put it on my card! Daddy's paying." She beamed. "You have to experience your first school dance with me. So are you going to go, or am I going to have to drag you?" For such a small person, Lydia was ridiculously powerful.

"I'm not going to say no to free clothes, count me in!" I laughed. Lydia clapped her hands together.

"Fantastic." She finally grabbed one last dress, threw it at Stiles, and disappeared off into the dressing room. "Ella! Try that on!" She demanded from afar.

"Okay! Okay!" I cried, rushing after her once I told Allison I'd be right back. I soon found myself in a dressing room beside Lydia's. While she was making comments I wasn't in the mood to listen to, I stripped my clothes to the floor and slid on the dress. I groaned in frustration as I straighten out the unruly layers of material that fluffed out the bottom of the dress.

"Did you say something?" Lydia paused from her fashion lecture.

"No, no." I quickly replied.

"How's it fit?"

"Perfect." I stared at myself in the mirror, twirling around.

"Great. Bring it to the register and tell them it's under my name." She instructed as she slid on another dress. I clothed myself once more after stripping of the formal dress and threw it back on the hanger. I opened the dressing room door and my eyes landed on Stiles, who was struggling to hold the dozens of dresses Lydia picked out.

"Good luck." I smirked. After exciting the dressing room, I stopped short in my place. Allison was talking to none other than Peter Hale. Every muscle in my body tensed and I could feel my blood begin to boil. I threatened to burst Peter into flames with the flick of my hand. My hand squeezed tight into a fist as I walked over to Allison while a message blared over the speaker system. I failed to listen to what the woman was announcing. Instead, I glared daggers at Peter. He smirked in reply.

"Oh my God, that's my car." She whispered. "I got to go, they're towing my car!" She began to rush forward.

"I'll come with you." I stated, still staring at Peter. I followed after Allison, grabbing her arm to keep her close.

"Haven't your parents ever told you to not talk to strangers?" I barked. I turned around one last time to see Peter waving his fingers at me, that nauseating smile still plastered on his face.

The sun shone brightly through the window when I awoke that Saturday morning feeling little than rested. My eyes opened and closed in attempt to blink the sleep haze away. Though last night was filled with a dreamless sleep, I found myself wanting to stay in bed for the rest of the day. I laid on my back staring at the ceiling, ever so often eyeing the plastic covered dress hung on my door. Tonight's plans were swirling around my mind. I'd never been to a school dance solely because it was too much of a risk. There was punch, there was water, there was carelessly dancing students…the fear of getting bumped and spilled on overwhelmed me. But the realistic chance of me getting spilled on was low. Did people even drink at these dances? They probably had drinks of their own before hand and left the punch tables untouched. I had to go to have a good time and to help Scott—if he even wanted my help at this point. I hadn't heard of a plan or anything, so I guess I was out of the loop for whatever reason. Either way, I needed to go tonight. Was I making a huge mistake? I needed to relax.

And the perfect remedy to relaxation was a nice, long swim.

I hopped out of bed and rid of my pajamas, throwing on a pair of jean shorts. Just as I zipped up the blue velour track jacket Lydia had let me borrow, my head snapped around at the sound of my phone buzzing.

"Ugh, what Lydia." I groaned while walking over to my night stand. I wasn't due to come over her house for 7 more hours, what could she possibly want? I opened the message to see it was from Scott, off the old crappy phone Stiles had let him borrow, and to come over his place so we could discuss tonight.

"Oh, now you want my help," I muttered under my breath as I typed back a quick 'ok'. After quickly slipping on some sneakers, I walked into the hallway, finding the house unusually quiet.

"Stiles, you up?" I called, padding to his room and opening the door to find it empty. My hand vibrated as my phone received another message.

"Stiles is here, by the way." I read aloud. I sighed, my lips pursing into a tight line. "Of course he is." Now I'd have to walk. Not that I wasn't planning to before hand when I was going for a swim, but I wasn't in the mood to walk to Scott's. I closed the door to Stiles' bedroom and took myself downstairs and outside, immediately shivering as a wall of cool air hit my bare legs. I silently groaned. I'll never get used to this weather.

What felt like forever later, I walked up Scott's driveway with my hands stuffed in my pocket. My legs were officially frozen icicles, and heating myself up hardly helped. Stiles' Jeep sat in the driveway while Melissa's car was no where in sight. I figured she was at work, per what seemed like usual. Without knocking, I opened the door and relaxed once I stepped in and out of the cold.

"Hey." I shouted, wondering where the two boys were at.

"Up here." Scott called. I trudged up the stairs, silently cursing them after that walk, and entered Scott's room to see the two pacing.

"Hey." I greeted Scott. "Why'd you leave without me?" I frowned, turning to Stiles.

"Scott and I had to talk." Stiles quietly stated, refusing to make eye contact. Behind me, Scott went to close the door.

"You could have woken me up." I scoffed, my brows knitting together at Stiles strange behavior.

"Yeah…" Stiles sighed. I walked past him and yanked my phone out of my jacket pocket and placed it on Scott's night table beside Stiles'.

"Listen, Ella, we need to talk." Stiles announced. I turned around with furrowed brows and a confused look plastered on my face.

"About what?" I sincerely questioned. Did something happen?

"What's going on with you." Scott said.

"What's going on with me? Did something happen I don't know about?"

"We know you you have a secret." Stiles forcefully stated. My heart skipped a beat and sank into my stomach. I could feel myself break into a sweat and a lump form in my throat. I contorted my confused poker face to seriously look at Scott.

"Did he have too much of that crazy medicine?" I asked.

"No, actually." He replied with a sigh.

"You're avoiding this, Ella. We know you you have a secret, and we know it has something to do with water." How did Stiles figure this out? I'd been so careful, I tried so hard.

"I told you why I have a fear of water." I strongly stated.

"You're lying." He disagreed.

"Just tell us, Ella." Scott begged.

"You two seriously think I'm hiding something from you?" I sarcastically laughed.

"Yes." Stiles stated.

"Your heart is racing, Ella. You're lying." Scott frowned.

"I'm not lying you two are just making me nervous!" I cried.

"You're hiding something from us. And it's about water." Stiles shook his head disapprovingly. Scott did the same.

"I can't believe you two. You both are being ridiculous and you're imagining things that aren't there. This whole alpha thing is going to your heads. I can't believe this."

"Stiles." Scott sighed, sympathetically looking to my cousin.

"You're right." Stiles sighed.

"That's what I thought." I muttered.

"But we have to make sure." Before I could react, Stiles whipped around and grabbed a water bottle sitting on Scott's desk. He jerked it forward, drenching me in the cool liquid. I gasped, feeling the water seep through my jacket and down my skin.

They set me up.

There was no talking about the plan for tonight, Scott and Stiles had invited me here to set me up for the inevitable.

"Are you serious?" I shrieked while frantically looking around for an exit strategy. Scott was blocking my only way out. Panic quickly bubbled inside me. Spotting a shirt crinkled up on Scott's bed, I quickly grabbed it and began scrubbing myself dry.

"Sorry Ella." Scott frowned, that same sympathetic look glued on his stupid face. My time was up, and my wet jacket was clinging to my skin. I threw down the dirty shirt and my arms fell to my sides.

"Ugh." I loudly groaned, feeling the familiar tingling sensation creep up my legs. Bubbles surrounded my body as it turned into water for a split second. I soon found myself falling forward, my tail flopping against the hard ground. I propped myself up, my chin rested on the heel of my hand, and I blew a piece of hair out of my face.

"Happy?" I huffed, hiding how truly furious I was with the two teens. They looked to me in utter shock. Their eyes were the size of tennis balls and they looked as if they just saw a ghost. The two screamed in unison.

"Shut up!" I barked. This was just as worse as I imagined. "The whole neighborhoods going to here you."

"That's not what I thought would happen…" Stiles stated, wide eyed and breathing heavy.

"What, did you think I'd melt?" I spat.

"Kinda!" He retorted.

"You're a mermaid?"

"She's a fish!" Stiles cried. "Holy—I'm so confused!"

"We've already established that none of us are normal here, can we please move on!" I yelled. Through our yelling, we barely heard the front door open.

"Scott! I'm home early!" Melissa called from downstairs. I desperately looked between my two obnoxious friends, anxious Melissa would find me.

"Uh, yeah! Just a minute mom!" Scott frantically looked to my tail.

"What do we do? Get rid of it!" He whispered.

"I don't want to touch it!" Stiles argued.

"God I hate both of you!" I shouted under my breath. I reached back and balled my fists over my body. Steam rose from my tail and clouded the room.

"What are you doing? What is she doing? Stop that!" Stiles urged. I rolled my eyes before feeling my tail tingle and finally have my legs replace it.

"What in the…" A pregnant pause took over the room until Stiles interrupted it.

"What the hell is going on?" Just then, a light knock came from the door Scott was guarding.

"Hey Scott?" Melissa curiously called. Scott quickly opened the door to see his mothers smile.

"Hey mom, I thought you weren't getting back for another hour." Melissa hovered in the doorway.

"Slow end of shift, they let me go. You guys excited for tonight?" She eagerly asked.

"Very." I answered the same times Stiles answered back "yes". Melissa eyed the three of us, still seeing Stiles frazzled expression.

"Everything okay in here?"

"Yeah we're just talking about a group project, mom." Scott shrugged off.

"Okay, well I'll leave you three to it." She nodded, before crinkling her nose. "Scott, crack a window in here, it's ridiculously humid." She fanned herself with her hand.

"Okay, okay. Sounds good." He rushed.

"Have a good time. Nice seeing you again Ella!" Melissa called while she walked down the hallway. Scott quickly reclosed the door and I soon found two pairs of eyes staring at me.

"Surprise?" I wearily smiled, my uncomfortable fake 'ha-ha' laugh filling the awkward, tense silence. There was no way they'd pretend like that never happened.

A/N: THE SECRET IS OUTTTTT. To Scott and Stiles at least. Now when oh when will Derek find out? And Allison? I was reluctant posting this chapter so soon since i didnt get the amount of reviews i wanted, but hell with it. i got too excited. Now next chapter? Saving Derek and Ella will have a part in taking down Peter. Reviews and comments please!AS FOR THE QUESTION OF WHO ELLA'S FACE CLAIM IS: Originally I was thinking Nixie from Mako Mermaids mixed with zoey deutch but now I chose Marie Avgeropoulos who plays Octavia in the 100. Her as a mermaid is now the story cover :] Much love xx