Zoe was hurt because of her. Zoe was in the hospital because of her. White walls, white floors. Melody couldn't even see faces, she just saw scrubs darting past her, on their way to fix emergencies.

Her sister was in the hospital because of her.

She hated hospitals, since her mother, but for some reason her mind kept drifting back to the last time she'd been in one.

There was a knock at her door. Nobody knocked at her door—even people preaching things, because she was on the third floor and they usually didn't make it past the second. It could be Zoe, but she had keys and she wasn't supposed to be home from the coffee shop for another hour.

Frowning, Melody picked herself off the couch and went toward the door. She had no peephole—something she'd been hoping to remedy—so she opened it just a crack.

She saw his tired eyes first—the same brownish green that Zoe's were, but with more lines at the creases. His hair had started to gray at the temples, and stuck up in the back. He needed a haircut, and a shower. Melody felt her anger stick in her throat like a tangible object, the same way it always did when she saw his face.

"Is Zoe here?"

His voice was hoarse, and she vaguely wondered why. She rolled her eyes, surprised he'd even noticed her absence at all.

"Zoe's been living here for a week," Melody said, crossing her arms. "And she's going to stay here from now on."

"So she's leaving me too?"

"You left us a long time ago."

"My wife died."

"Our mother died. That's no excuse to give up," Melody argued. She felt her hands clenching into fists and clamped them down even harder.

"I'm trying now." His voice shook as much as his hands.

"You don't even have a job," Melody said, narrowing her eyes. "You barely buy groceries. You make small talk, but you mostly give empty promises and ignore her. She already lost Mom, she needs someone stable in her life."

"I'm pulling it together," her dad said, inching forward, "My buddy lined up a job for me."

"You got arrested a week ago!" Melody yelled. She thought of all the things swirling through her when Zoe had told her that he was led away in handcuffs. She thought about slamming the door, but for some stupid reason she wanted to see what he was going to say.

"I know," he said simply, looking at the floor.

"There's going to be a trial," Melody continued.

"I know that, too."

"Are you going to take Zoe to lockup with you?" Melody asked sarcastically.

"Zoe is all I have left." He sighed, running a hand over his face.

"What about me?" Melody asked. She could hear the quiver in her own voice and immediately clenched her jaw to stop it.

"What about you?" her father spat, waving his arms. "When have you ever needed me? When have you ever addressed me with anything except sarcasm? You talk down to me like a child. If you remember, I am your father!"

Melody raised her eyes to lock onto his.

"I don't have a father."

And it was then that Melody saw emotion on her father's face—something she hadn't seen in a long time. His features flickered with hurt, and then quickly turned into the sharpness of anger that she was so familiar with. Scowling he reared back. Melody flinched, expecting a blow, but she heard a sharp crack and saw that his fist had hit the wall.

Plaster shattered to the floor, sprinkling the dark brown carpet with white ash. Her father let out a sound of pain through his teeth, cradling his hand to his chest.

She was almost excited for a moment. Excited that he was passionate enough about something to actually exert some force, make a decision that wasn't placid and dull. But it was gone quickly—the spark in his eye—replaced with resignation.

He slumped against the wall. Blood had started leaking from his knuckles down his pale white hands. Soon it would reach the sleeves of his old, plaid shirt.

"Let's go to the hospital," she said, sighing as she grabbed her keys from the table by the door.

He mutely followed.


Zoe cast was purple and her brain was fuzzy, but at least her arm wasn't being stabbed with jolts of pain anymore. She focused on the purple and tried to convince herself it reminded her more of flowers than Barney, but she wasn't doing a great job avoiding the doctor's halted questions and Melody's stare.

When she came to in back of Mr. Argent's car, she had been informed to say she was in a car accident—Melody had swerved to miss an animal and hit a tree. She got scrapes and Zoe's wrist got jarred on impact.

Zoe nodded dumbly but Mel shook her to make sure she agreed, flaring up the pain in her wrist until she managed to croak out a reply. Like she was going to say they got attacked by a werewolf. She didn't need a pysch evaluation on top of everything, although she was starting to think she may need one anyway.

Melody had stooped like a vulture outside of her x-ray room, and now in the corner where she was being mummified, her eyes narrowed and her lips thin. Zoe wasn't sure if Melody was angry at herself or angry at Zoe, but she decided to wait until her mind was loopier to ask. It's much harder to care when they put the nice, soothing drugs in your system.

She had been thinking about the werewolf's hot breath and Allison's grim face beside her in the back seat, but faded back into awareness when the doctor addressed a comment toward her.

"Your shirt got pretty cut up," the doctor announced, looking at her with his barely-there blonde eyebrows raised. He was pretty young, as doctors go, and a little more suspicious than the slow moving technician that x-rayed her.

"She got it caught on a twisted piece of the door," Melody interjected.

"How many times?" the doctor asked, his voice not unkind but definitely not convinced.

"I was a little woozy," Zoe added, trying to sound a little dazed before realizing she probably didn't need to try.

"And it was a tree? Why did you swerve?"

"A deer. You know how those roads are, with trees all around," Melody supplied.

The doctor pondered this for a moment, his hands still. Zoe held her breath until he nodded.

"You should have called an ambulance," he chided, cutting off a hanging piece of gauze. Zoe read his ID—Dr. Murray. "That's what they're there for."

"Our friend was following us, saw the whole thing," Melody insisted, "It was quicker to go with him."

Dr. Murray pressed his lips together but didn't say anything else. Patting her good shoulder, he leaned away from her.

"Are you right handed?" he asked, pushing back his curls of light hair. He probably sensed that Zoe was a little shaken up, because his voice was considerably softer than it was when he was talking to Melody.

"Yes."

"Good. So you'll still be able to take notes in school." He paused for a moment, rubbing his forehead. "Did I really just say that? Like that is a teenage girl's biggest concern."

"Don't worry, you're talking to a very abnormal teenage girl," Zoe insisted, smiling at him. "There's been talk of kicking me out of the club."

Melody snorted in the corner, rolling her eyes as he smiled.

"Good to know." Dr. Murray smiled as he grabbed her file on the adjacent metal table and looked it over once before looking back at her.

"You'll have to keep the cast on for six weeks," he told her. "We'll take another x-ray then to make sure everything's healed properly. I'll also write you a prescription for the pain."

"Great," Zoe said, her arm a dull ache now. "Thank you."

"You have to get checked out too," he said, whirling around to face Melody. "Don't think I haven't seen those cuts."

"It's nothing—"

"—No arguments. Sometimes the injuries that seem small are the worst. Hop up."

Zoe would've taken satisfaction in someone ordering Melody around, but she was too tired to have a full appreciation. Plus, her mind was still swimming with curiosity and anxiety and you know, overall fear of the supernatural that was creeping from the pages of her books into her life.

"Wait outside, Zoe," Melody said, nodding her head toward the door.


Zoe and her purple cast found the waiting room. She had been hoping that Allison would be there to answer some of her questions, but all she saw was a tall, bearded man waiting in a small hospital chair. She was going to choose the furthest seat away from him when he grinned at her, gesturing her over.

"Hey." His voice wasn't as deep as she expected. "I'm your sister's friend, Mark."

He held out a hand for her to shake. Zoe's hand was small and pale against his skin, and she could tell he was strong even though he barely gripped her fingers. Melody had never mentioned him, but then again, she wasn't mentioning a lot these days.

"Zoe."

"I know."

Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Zoe nodded and took the chair beside him. Hopefully Dr. Murray would be quick with examining Melody. Zoe wanted to climb into her bed. It might not smell like home, but it was better than this hospital that was all washed out lighting and chemical smells.

"Purple," Mark suddenly noted, looking down at her cast. "Very royal, princess."

"Oh...uh, yeah," Zoe stuttered. She was unsure of what to say to this man who was treating her like he knew her and smiling at her in a way that she wasn't sure was sincere or not.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, twisting his body to face her.

"Not really," she said, looking at her arm. "They gave me some medication."

He nodded, twisting again so he was facing forward. They sat this way for a few moments, Zoe's nerves on edge. She just wanted to leave this place. If her sister was going to be entangled with monsters and the strange people that hunted them...fine. But she didn't have to be involved.

Zoe hoped the silence would remain, even if it was a bit awkward. She felt her eyelids drooping as more time passed without words. But Mark had another idea, and just when her eyes almost closed, he spoke.

"That was brave of you," Mark commented. "To go out there with no training. Stupid...but brave."

"Uh, thanks. I guess," Zoe said, shrugging her good shoulder.

"Have you ever considered it?"

"What?"

"Being a hunter."

Zoe's eyes snapped to his dark brown ones. His eyebrows were raised, giving them a humorous look, but this was anything but a funny conversation.

"Me?" she asked slowly.

"Yes, you." He paused, seeming thoughtful as he scratched the scruff of his beard. "A little young, but that doesn't seem to stop the Argents...and we need all the people we can get."

"Oh, no..." Zoe shook her head.

"If you're anything like your sister, you'd be a natural."

"Melody couldn't handle it today," Zoe pointed out, trying not to think of what would happen if the Argents hadn't showed up. "And I'm nothing like my sister."

Mark looked at her for a moment. He didn't say anything, so Zoe chose to elaborate.

"I'm not good...with coordination. I prefer art. And reading. You know—stationary activities."

"Sounds a bit like you're scared," he commented, smirking at her.

"Scared of werewolves? Yes, I am. I'd be insane not to be," she said, rolling her eyes. For some reason, she wasn't afraid to speak to him anymore. Maybe because she wanted him to drop that stupid smirk.

"They're not so bad when you learn how to deal with them," Mark said, licking his lips. "You know how he pinned you down? If you leveraged your weight—"

"Leave her alone, Mark," Melody's voice cut in.

Zoe looked up in relief to see her sister. Her stomach was turning. Mark's words were making images of yellow orbs and ragged hands flash on the backs of her eyelids and she wasn't really ready to deal with that yet. In fact, she was hoping she could pretend it had never happened.

Whatever Mark was saying was lost. He smiled up at Melody even though her voice held icicles, giving her a once over.

"I was just making conversation," he said, his voice dropping. "How are you?"

"Fine. Let's go," Melody said, already walking toward the exit.

"Great girl, your sister," Mark commented dryly, shaking out his legs as he rose from the chair. "Particularly elegant conversation skills."

"Oh, uh..." Zoe trailed off, getting up from her own chair. She cradled her sling close to her as she began to walk toward Melody.

"See?" Mark smiled, putting a hand on her back. "You do take after her."


Zoe was tired all night but she couldn't fall asleep without falling into nightmares. She tossed and turned and stared at the ceiling and even cried a little bit before giving up. She read as the sun was rising and then decided to try and make herself presentable.

It turned out this was pretty hard. She wasn't very good at doing her hair even with two hands, and with one it was almost impossible. She managed to make it lie flat on her head, but she was sure it would be frizzy in about ten minutes. Putting in her contacts turned out to be pretty hard too, so she stuck with her glasses for the day.

She almost cared, but she took a pain pill and decided to walk it off.

"My car is at the Argents," Melody said, looking up from a cup of coffee as Zoe moped into the room. "You can stay home from school today."

"I don't want to sit around all day," Zoe said, opening one of the cabinets. The knob was loose and she almost pulled it off in the process.

"Did you sleep?"

"Not much."

"I think you should just stay home, and rest...you can watch TV."

"We don't have cable," Zoe muttered.

"You can watch a movie," Melody insisted.

"I don't want to miss school," Zoe argued back. "I'm already behind."

"Fine," Melody said, taking the last sip of her coffee. "Good. Maybe it's better that way. Can you call Allison for a ride?"

"It's okay, I like walking," Zoe said, giving up on finding anything edible for breakfast and shutting the cabinet.

She began to walk away when she heard Melody's chair scrape against the linoleum.

"Zoe?"

"Yeah?" she asked, twisting back to face her.

"I'm sorry."

Zoe let the words hang in the air for a moment. She swallowed and nodded, figuring that Melody must have been mad at herself after all.

"I just don't want to live with Aunt Martha and Number Five," Zoe said, giving her a small smile.

"I'll be more careful," Melody promised, bowing her head.

Zoe nodded and grabbed her backpack from the kitchen chair.

The walk to school was quiet. She remembered what Isaac said, about not liking silence. She didn't really agree a few days ago, but now she did. Her mind was too loud...she needed a distraction.

She tried to think about school, and if she could finish her history homework at lunch, but that only depressed her more. So instead, she focused on the colors of the trees here, and her red sneakers, and imagined somebody drawing them.

Finally, she reached school, and as if someone heard her thoughts, Lydia appeared.

As good a distraction as any.

Lydia looked like she might walk past her, but she paused at the last minute, looking her up and down.

"Oh, New Girl, what are you doing to me?"

Lydia looked tired, but only in her expression. Zoe knew she looked tired down to her bones. Lydia was focusing on something above Zoe's head, causing her to frown and pat her hairline.

"What?" Zoe asked, frowning and trying in vain to look where Lydia was.

"Your hair...really?"

Zoe felt simultaneously annoyed and relieved—at least at school she wouldn't have to deal with problems of great magnitude. She felt her mood lighten.

"Hey, I have one hand if you didn't notice," Zoe pointed out. "On a scale of one to Hermione, how does it look?"

Lydia fixed her with a look that was the very opposite of amused.

"I'd say...Prisoner of Azkaban," a voice said from behind her.

Zoe grinned widely as Stiles came to stand next to her.

"I can live with anything past Chamber of Secrets," she told him, causing him to smile back.

"Oh god, there's two of them," Lydia said, rolling her eyes. "I have to find Allison. You two...continue talking about Lord of the Rings."

"Harry Potter," Zoe and Stiles corrected at the same time.

"Whatever!" Lydia called, already walking away.

"She's sweet," Zoe said sarcastically, turning back to Stiles.

"She knows what we were talking about," Stiles explained, shoving his hands in his pockets. "She just wants to seem like she doesn't."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, she's like that, sometimes. A lot. All the time. Well, most of the time," Stiles rambled a bit before taking a breath. "Sorry. I guess I'm just saying, don't feel bad. I actually think she likes you."

Zoe's mind was clicking into place as Stiles talked about Lydia, but she just smiled at him. She was sure she should probably hate Lydia on some level, but she really couldn't bring herself to. There was something about her bluntness that was refreshing. Something told her Stiles agreed.

"She calls me New Girl," Zoe reminded him flatly, a smirk on her lips.

"Yeah well—hey, what happened to your arm?"

In hindsight, Zoe realized purple was probably a bad choice. Her plaid shirt sleeve had bunched up, exposing the bright color underneath.

"Oh, uh, car accident, nothing major though."

Zoe's mood descended again. Stiles was always so nice to her. It seemed wrong to lie to him, even though the truth would probably send him running the opposite direction. She supposed she couldn't exactly go around telling every person secrets just because they would have a conversation with her.

"Yikes. You feel okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." As she spoke, the bell rang, jarring them both for a second. "Although I'm already starting to regret that I didn't just skip today," Zoe said, hiking her backpack up her right arm.

"We'll develop a signal," Stiles told her, as they both started walking up the stairs. "If you want me to make a distraction in chemistry so we can get out of class, look bored."

"I always look bored in chemistry."

"I know," Stiles said, "I wanted to make sure we'd have to use this plan."

Zoe laughed and followed him.


To add to Zoe's bad day of practically sleepwalking through school, Isaac was absent. To add a little more onto it, a story of how she broke her wrist had also spread through school. She only caught snippets, but so far it involved drunk driving, a fight with Jessica, and the boyfriend she'd had to run away from when she moved here.

She hated being new almost as much as she hated this day.

She ran for the doors after art class. It was hard for her to draw with one arm, but Mr. F had let her take it easy for the day. Shooting him a smile, she jetted for her locker, managed to avoid Jessica, and slipped out the front doors before the crowds got too heavy.

Allison intercepted her on the way home.

They didn't really have a chance to talk all day, and for some reason Zoe now felt awkward about it. Allison had saved her life and she couldn't even get one punch in.

"Hey, how are you?" Allison asked, bowing her head as if someone would even know what they were talking about.

"Well, one very good thing happened because of this," Zoe said, gesturing to her arm. "I get to sit out of gym. Kind of makes it worth it, if we're being honest."

Allison smiled at her but it was quickly replaced with a more serious look.

"I'm okay." Zoe assured her with a deep breath. "Except for the pain in my arm and the lying to everyone."

"Sorry." Allison bit her lip and started to walk forward. "It gets easier."

"The lying?" Zoe asked, following her.

"Yeah, I mean...obviously you don't want to lie. But it's not something you can really avoid."

Zoe looked at the field in the distance. The lacrosse team was going to be on it in a few minutes. She wished she was just a normal teenager whose biggest concern was winning a stupid game.

"I didn't sign up for this," Zoe said, glumly. "I'm not...good at it."

Allison was quiet for a minute.

"My parents...don't really tolerate weakness," Allison said. Her voice was quiet, and she pushed a piece of hair from her face. "When I started putting the pieces of everything together...I felt so scared."

"But now?" Zoe asked, a strange sensation bubbling in her stomach.

"Now it's normal for me," Allison said, shaking her head. "Now I'm getting prepared. You can only eliminate weakness if you learn how to be strong."

"Oh god, you're not going to suggest I become a hunter too, are you?" Zoe asked, running a hand over her face. Was this some sort of weird recruitment program?

"No, no," Allison said, the lightness in her voice filtering back. "I was just thinking I could teach you some self-defense. You're in this world now, whether you like it or not. So if there's a next time..."

"I'll be more prepared," Zoe finished, looking at the girl next to her. She seemed so prim and perfect on the outside, it was interesting to know the complexity underneath. "That would help, I think."

"Good," Allison said, smiling at her.

They had stopped walking near the lacrosse field. Zoe could see the team starting to emerge from the locker rooms.

"Hey Allison?"

"Yeah?"

"Did they..." Zoe swallowed. It was the question bubbling inside her all day. "Did they kill him?"

Allison's mouth opened for a moment. She shut it quickly before tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah," she nodded. "They did."

"Okay." Zoe breathed. She felt relieved and a little bit anxious. "Okay. Well at least I don't have to deal with werewolves for a while."

Allison was about to say something when a voice interrupted them.

"Hey guys!"

Zoe saw Scott wave at them with his lacrosse gloves on. She waved back but couldn't really muster a smile. Allison got a strange look on her own face before waving timidly.

Zoe was about to say good-bye to Allison when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a familiar tall figure.

"Isaac!"

Isaac grinned sheepishly at her. He had shadows under her eyes, but from her quick once over she couldn't see any other symptoms that would keep him out of school.

"Hey, I didn't know you wore glasses," he said.

"I went blind from an early age," Zoe said with a smile.

He smiled and glanced down for a second, and that was enough. His eyes grew wider as he pointed to her wrist.

"What happened to your arm?"

"You don't want to know," Zoe attempted to joke. If there was anyone she didn't want to lie to, it was him.

"Really," Isaac said softly, his hands reaching out. For a second she thought he would touch her, but he seemed to notice and pulled them back to his sides.

"Wolf attack?"

Allison sputtered a cough behind her and she gave her a wide eyed look as she inched away.

"Car accident," Zoe corrected, averting her eyes.

"I miss one day and you get yourself into trouble," Isaac said, giving her a small smile.

"Yeah, you really need to show up from now on."

Zoe didn't have time to be embarrassed. She wondered if the pills she'd popped at lunch were making her tongue looser.

"I will."

Before she knew what was happening, she felt Isaac's arms around her. She forgot how to use her arms...or any of her limbs, for that matter, but once his hands touched her back, thankfully her senses kicked back in.

She wrapped her one good arm around him. He smelled like shampoo and grass, and he was warm, and she was touching him, and her heart forgot the rhythm it was supposed to beat to.

He let go too soon, probably because an hour would have been too soon, and smiled down at her, a faint blush on his cheeks.

"Let's go! Is this lacrosse practice or social hour?"

They both turned to face the Coach, who was looking around at his players with a scowl. Zoe thought he had crazy eyes, and probably shouldn't push him.

"You should go," Zoe said, looking back at Isaac.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Feel better."

With that, he jogged toward the field where the rest of the team was already getting their helmets on. She watched number fourteen disappear into the huddle and was suddenly very angry that lacrosse existed.

She slowly turned away and saw her dark haired friend giving her a very knowing look. Whoops. Zoe had forgotten Allison was there at all. She was most definitely turning a nice shade of Carmine Red as Allison walked to stand in front of her.

"Who was that?" Allison asked, smirking at her.

"We eat lunch together," Zoe said quickly.

"Is that all you do together?" Allison asked, a smile forming on her lips. "I can't believe you've been keeping that from me! That hurts, Zoe."

"We're just friends," Zoe insisted.

"Uh-huh."

"We are."

Allison tilted her head back and laughed, linking arms with her as they started to walk away.

"Keep it down, Argent."


So this one wasn't super action packed, but it was necessary.

Thanks so much to poorxbrokexcollegexkid, WhatsGoingOn, dwarfgalaxy, LynZann and cheapxperfume for reviewing last chapter!

This one was way longer than usual. Do you guys like longer chapters?