I'd dozed off during our parole around town. My phone rang, jolting me awake. "Scott? Did you find him?"

"Yeah, well my parents did."

"Is he ok?"

Scott hesitated. "Yeah, I think so. At least as good as he can be under the circumstances."

"No locked room? No psychopathic kidnapper?"

"He was sleep walking."

I remembered the missed phone call. "He knew," I mumbled.

"What?"

"He knew he was sleeping, at least some part of him did. He's been calling me after his nightmares and tonight before he called you, he called me. Maybe if I had just been awake…"

"He's fine, don't beat yourself up about it. If I were you I'd be more worried about figuring out what was up with your eyes."

"Yeah, alright. Well, goodnight, try to get some rest."

"You too, Ava." I hung up and looked at my phone.

"I should've been there for him," I mumbled.

"You can't be there for everyone all the time," Derek said. "You have to look out for yourself sometimes."

"Stiles is in trouble."

"He's okay."

"He's okay tonight. What about tomorrow night? What about next week? Something is wrong with him and I don't know how to help. I know that shouldn't be my burden, but he's my friend. I don't want anything to happen to him."

Derek grabbed my hand. "We'll figure this out. I promise."

"We always do eventually," I mumbled. "But at what cost?"

We drove past the hospital on the way back to the loft and saw Aiden in the parking lot trying to start Stiles's car. We pulled off to help. "The idiot left the light on, it's dead."

"He was asleep, he clearly wasn't thinking," I said.

"I'll give it a jump," Derek said. Aiden reached in the back of the Jeep and pulled out jumper cables and hooked it up.

"You really think he was just sleep walking?" Aiden asked.

"No, I don't, but I also have no idea what's really going on," I said.

"I might."

"Really?"

"I overheard Stiles and Scott talking. Stiles was telling Scott that he thinks he's the one that wrote that message on the blackboard, the one that told that serial killer to go after Kira."

"You think Stiles is the nogitsune?" I asked.

"Makes sense."

"No, it doesn't. Why would a powerful evil spirit chose the human kid over a werewolf?"

"I don't know but why else would he be acting like this?" Aiden asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know."

OoOoO

The next morning I woke up with a killer headache. When I opened my eyes the pain got worse and I groaned. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and felt my stomach lurch. "What the hell?" I moaned. I walked downstairs at snail speed.

"You look awful," Derek said.

"I can guarantee you, I can't look any worse than I feel. But thank you, that really makes a girl feel great. Can you get me some water? In like one of those massive gas station cups above the microwave?" He nodded and returned with a Mighty Mug printed with the Quik Mart logo. I guzzled the water in a minute. "Is this what a hangover feels like?"

"Werewolves can't get drunk so I wouldn't know."

"Succubi can't either," I told him. "Aiden might be on to something."

"You think Stiles is the nogitsune?"

"Maybe, why else would that spell have taken such a toll on me? It was obviously that spell, I was clearly not drunk last night. If I had been I can guarantee that I would feel a hundred times better right now."

"Are you going to school?"

I groaned. "I don't want to, but we all have to do things that we don't want to do sometimes."

OoOoO

After an awful day of classes I bumped into Lydia in the hall. "Hey, are you going to see Stiles at the hospital?"

She jumped and looked behind her. She turned back to me slowly. "No, I think I'm just going to go home. I'm a little sensitive to loud noises."

"You want me to drive you? You look a little pale."

She shook her head. "No, I'm alright. You should go see Stiles, he'd appreciate that."

I nodded. "Okay, call me if you start feeling any worse."

She jumped again. She nodded and quickly headed down the hallway. I'd barely made it a few steps when Scott grabbed my arm. "You're coming to the hospital right? Lydia isn't."

"I know. She just told me. Can I get a ride from you? Derek dropped me off this morning."

"Yeah, of course." We headed outside to Scott's bike.

"I've never ridden on your motorcycle," I noted as she handed me his helmet.

"Just hold on tight and don't fall off."

I rolled my eyes. "I have ridden a motorcycle before, I know how it works." He laughed and I climbed on behind him. I wrapped my arms around his waist. "Let's do this!"

OoOoO

I gave Scott a shove as I climbed off the bike. "I am literally never riding anywhere with you again, do you know how many times I almost died?"

"I was trying to scare you, since you acted like you were a pro at this."

I made a face. "Friends don't let friends almost get hit by buses."

"Oh come on, we were nowhere near that bus!"

"Never again, McCall."

"Come on, let's go in."

Upstairs Stiles was already prepared to get an MRI. "This may be a little loud, we can get you ear plugs if you want," the doctor was telling him.

"Nah, I'm okay," Stiles said. He looked up at us when we came in.

His dad patted him on the shoulder. "We'll be right outside, alright?" Stiles nodded and the sheriff and the doctor went into the hall. That left Stiles, Scott, and me alone.

"You know what their looking for, right? It's called frontotemporal dementia; it's what my mom had. It's the only form of dementia that can hit teenagers."

"But you might not have it," I said.

"It runs in the family."

"That doesn't mean anything," I insisted.

"If you do have it, we'll do something. I'll do something," Scott said. I knew he was implying he'd turn Stiles, but I hoped it didn't have to come to that. Stiles nodded and Scott hugged him. I felt tears bubbling up and tried to fight them back.

Scott stepped away and Stiles looked at me. "You're not going to start crying on me, are you, Bates?" I shook my head, but didn't trust myself to say anything for fear I'd burst into tears. He punched me in the arm lightly. "It's cute that you care so much."

"I don't want to lose you," I said, just as I feared as soon as I opened my mouth the floodgates opened. "I'm not a crier," I protested. Stiles hugged me tightly and I pressed my head to his shoulder.

"I'm going to okay, Ava. You don't have to worry about me."

After a minute I finally let him go. "We'll be outside."

He squeezed my arm. "See you in a while."

When we got into the hall Derek was waiting for us. "Are you crying?" He asked surprised. I shook my head and wiped tears from my cheeks. He sat me down and put an arm around me.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"I needed to talk to Scott about a few things," Derek told me. To Scott he said, "You know I left to take Cora back to South America, but I also needed to talk to my mother."

"Your dead mother?"

Derek nodded. "It wasn't exactly a pleasant looking event," I remembered.

"She told me that our family didn't just live in Beacon Hills, we protected it. This town needs someone to protect it. Someone like you."

"And someone like you to show me how it's done," Scott replied. He was quiet for a moment. "Stiles was trying to protect us from himself!" He stood up and so did Derek.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Wait here," Scott told me. He motioned for Derek to follow him and I stayed put. I crossed my legs in the chair and leaned my head against the wall; I had plenty of time to wait.

OoOoO

I must have dozed off for a little bit because I woke up to Melissa shaking me. "Ava wake up, we need to get out of here." The lights flickered.

"What's going on?"

"I'm not sure, but we need to go."

"Is Stiles okay?"

She hesitated. "He disappeared."

"That's not good."

"No, it isn't."

We hurried down the hall to the stairs. "What about his MRI?"

"It wasn't good either. His brain is showing signs of atrophy, he's has early onset dementia." I stopped walking suddenly and Melissa grabbed my arm. "We've got to go."

"Stiles is probably still in here somewhere."

"Scott can handle it," she assured me.

Melissa ushered me out of the hospital and into the parking lot. We weren't the only people fleeing from the building, and I lost her in the crowd. As soon as I was outside I started looking for Derek and Scott. If anyone knew where Stiles was, it would be them.

When I found them, Derek was kneeling beside Isaac who was in a puddle of water on the asphalt. "He's not breathing," Derek told Scott. I pushed my way past people to reach them. Derek grabbed my arm and held me back, while paramedics got Isaac onto a stretcher.

"What happened?" I asked.

"A power line got cut, and when an ambulance swerved to avoid they hit the fire hydrant. Isaac was electrocuted when we stepped into the water," Derek explained calmly. He turned me so I was facing him and not Isaac.

"Is he going to be okay?" I looked for him over my shoulder, but he'd already been taken inside.

"He's a werewolf, he has a pretty good chance. Are you alright, you're shaking?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Where's Stiles?"

"No one's seen him. I'm going to go out looking for him, but you should stay here with Isaac."

I nodded. "Okay. If you go by the loft can you bring me some things? I'll text you."

"Yeah, sure." He let go of me finally and Allison approached us looking shaken.

"Are you staying here?" She asked.

"Yeah, come on, let's go see what's going on." I offered Derek a weak smile, then took Allison's hand and led her inside.

OoOoO

Allison sat in the waiting room while I paced. We had been told we weren't allowed to see him because we weren't family. We hadn't heard anything from the doctors in hours. They'd told us they'd done all they could, the only thing we could do now was wait.

While pacing the waiting room, I heard a nurse say she was about to check on Isaac. I walked past her and tripped, falling into her. I apologized and returned to my seat next to Allison. "What was that?" Allison asked.

I pulled a clear stone from my pocket. "Planting one of these on her."

"A marble?"

I rolled my eyes. "Think of it like a tiny crystal ball. It'll let me know what she's doing in that room."

"So you're reading her mind?"

"No, I'm just…finding out if Isaac is okay. Now, shush." I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the stone. I could feel the presence of the nurse and Isaac, as if I was in the room with them, but I knew if I opened my eyes I would be in the waiting room. The nurse was refilling Isaac's IV, he had made no progress since his surgery. There was no sign that he was going to wake up any time soon.

I opened my eyes. "He's not getting better, he's not healing."

"It worked?" Allison asked.

"Yeah, it's just something I was testing out yesterday, after I realized I couldn't find Stiles the usual way." I waved it off. "The point is Isaac isn't getting better."

"Maybe its just taking time, I mean, if he was human he would have been dead," she suggested.

"I want to see him."

"They won't let us in, and they've been keeping an eye on us. We're not going to be able to sneak in."

"It's not fair. Isaac doesn't have family, all he has is us. Where's Melissa?"

"At home, probably asleep. You should try it. I'm sure they'll tell us if something changes with Isaac."

"I can't sleep!" I groaned.

"Okay, well, I'm going to try." She closed her eyes and leaning against the wall, ending our conversation. I knew that I should try to sleep too; I needed the rest after weeks of sleepless nights and midnight calls from Stiles. But instead of sleeping, I texted Derek.