It had been a long time since Viveca Holmberg had spent her lunch period on the Beacon Hills High campus. Several months in fact. Back then, she was happy. Her parents were together, she had an amazing boyfriend and friends, and she and her siblings were getting along better than ever. Everything was basically perfect. But then another in a string of serial killers descended on Beacon Hills, and Peder was just one of the many victims.

Viveca hadn't really spoken to anyone since the funeral. Peder hadn't been just her brother, but also her best friend. He was only been a year older than her, and the two had been thick as thieves when they were younger. Though they'd grown apart a bit as they grew older, they still tended to confide in each other more than they did in others. Peder had been the first person Viveca told about her crush on her future boyfriend Conner Mayhew. Viveca had been the first person Peder told about his acceptance into the University of Washington.

But all that was gone now. Now, Viveca spent her free time at the Beacon Hills graveyard, desperate to be close to her brother whenever possible. Most people weren't exactly fond of hanging out in graveyards or of people who did such a thing. So Viveca didn't really have friends anymore. Once a bit of a social butterfly, she now find solace in silence. It didn't feel right, continuing to live her regular life when Peder no longer had one.

In all the months that she had been visiting, it was very rare that she encountered anyone in the graveyard, especially during her lunch visits. So she was suitably surprised to find a short woman in a long black dress standing at Peder's grave. She wasn't anyone Viveca had ever seen before, impressive in a town as small as Beacon Hills, and an unsolicited chill rushed down the teen's spine when the mysterious lady turned around.

"Hallo," the woman's voice was soft but deep, and a small smile graced her face. Rather than comfort, though, the smile added to the fear Viveca was rapidly developing. "You are Viveca Holmberg, ja?"

The girl nodded, too afraid to speak even if she wanted to. How did this lady know her name? She didn't have the greatest memory, sure, but she had a hard time believing she wouldn't remember a person as eerily concerning as the one before her.

"I am Ase Lund, and I have a proposition for you. I can help you be at peace with the death of your brother. All you need to do is follow a set of instructions I have laid out for you." The woman pulled a roll of paper out of her dress and held it out to Viveca. "Is this something you might be interested in?"

Viveca nodded tentatively, concern marring her attempt at a smile. This situation seemed a bit sketchy. She had no clue who this lady was, and how in the world was that roll going to help her find peace? It was just some paper! Unless it was a map to the location of Peder's killer, there was no way it could do anything for her. This was Beacon Hills, not Narnia.

"This is not the first time our families have met, you know," Ase interrupted her train of thoughts, the soft smile replaced by a wry one, "I knew your grandparents. Ronja and Joakin were good friends with my parents, Kirsten and Olav Lund. We lived next door to them for many years. I saw you at their house a few times, playing tag with your brother and your two sisters. You were quite fast. But Peder was always just a little bit faster, wasn't he?"

So even if Viveca didn't know Ase, it was clear that the older woman knew her. Ronja and Joakin were her dad's parents that had lived in Connecticut, and the family used to visit every summer. Tag in the giant backyard had been a favorite pasttime of the children, and she fondly recalled those memories.

"I did not think I would see you again, after Ronja died and Joakin moved here to live with you. But then I heard that Peder had passed, and I knew that I could help. So here I am."

This lady seemed to know a lot about her family. And now that she thought about it, Viveca vaguely remembered her grandparents mentioning the Lunds a few times, particularly an exceptional daughter. Maybe this woman wasn't so strange after all. Maybe she really could help. It couldn't hurt to try.

Viveca reached for the paper, but Ase pulled it back in the nick of time. "If you take this from me, you are agreeing to pay me back one day. Are you sure about this? You will not be able to change your mind."

She considered the question. After all, she didn't really know anything about this strange woman, this Ase, except that she used to live next door to Viveca's grandparents many years ago. But she needed to finally come to terms with her brother's death, and if this lady was offering her a way to do it... She nodded once more, and Ase handed her the paper.

"Good luck then, liten jente. You will be hearing from me soon enough," Ase said as Viveca unrolled the paper. When the teen looked up from the complex calligraphy decorating the page, the woman was gone. It was strange, but she was too intent on learning the paper's secrets to care about anything else. Besides, this whole encounter had been quite out there, so any sort of normal exit would have seemed out of place. Honestly, this was just another day in Beacon Hills.

The end of the school day was generally signaled by the ringing of the bell. Today, for the pack, it was a phone call from Derek during 6th period. Derek - who apparently still possessed some lingering Alpha tendencies - claimed to have some urgent information that required the entire pack to assemble at his loft as soon as possible. Of course, Stiles had released an exaggerated sigh when the message reached him, but no one argued. It didn't take anyone long to get to the loft, where they found Derek pacing next to the breakfast bar.

"What's up, Derek?" Scott asked as he approached the older man. The rest of the pack arranged themselves around the room, with the girls on the couch while the boys grabbed bar-stools or sat on the floor.

"There's a shadow in Beacon Hills."

"Wow, that's a great observation!" Stiles remarked, sarcasm filling every syllable. "Dumbass, there are shadows everywhere."

Derek was too wrapped up in his pacing to even snarl at the younger man. "It looked like...a giant bird is the best comparison I can think of. It was skulking around town while I was grocery shopping."

The pack shared looks of confusion, which mostly involved a lot of eyebrow-raising. They'd heard of a lot of weird things over the years, but...a skulking bird shadow? That seemed pretty bizarre, even for this town.

"Derek, are you sure? Maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you? I know Beacon Hills hasn't always been the kindest to you. Maybe..."

"I know what I saw, Scott! Maybe we should do some research, instead of questioning my sanity, or whatever it was that you were thinking!" Derek snapped, eyes glowing.

Scott held his hand up in surrender. "Yeah, sure. We'll see what we can find."

"You said it was a giant bird shadow, right?" The room's attention turned to where Lydia and Stiles were crouched over the coffee table. The two were looking at the laptop Lydia had pulled out of her bag.

"Yeah," Derek responded, "About as big as a car."

Lydia hummed acknowledgement, typing something as Stiles nodded next to her. The rest of the pack gave their resident researchers time to do their thing and made their way to another loft in the building. Derek had set up an enhanced supernatural gym for everyone to train in, so train they did. They spent about an hour in there before Stiles and Lydia came running in, eyes bright.

"We found something!" Stiles shouted without warning.

"Inside voice, Stilinski," Cora commented from the corner. She was benchpressing under Kira's watchful eye.

"What Stiles was saying," Lydia continued, briefly glaring at Cora, "is that we have an idea about the shadow."