.

Come out upon my seas
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure?
Or am I part of the disease?

Chapter 26: Implications

She and Theo met the rest of the pack (excluding Liam and Mason) at Scott's house at seven o'clock sharp. Everyone else was already there, leafing through the pages of the photocopied book.

"My mom's book club usually has more wine," Lydia said, twirling a strand of orange hair around her index finger. She pursed her lips, scanning the room around her.

"Well," retorted Stiles, "They also probably didn't read books that cause violent hallucinations."

"That's why Malia's here," Scott said.

"So none of us go running into traffic?"

Scott stared down at the cover. "Or worse."

"Like what happened to Judy," Malia blurted. "Chapter 14."

Lydia observed them, a cynical expression on her face. She wasn't wearing as much makeup as usual, Sherry noticed. The stress must finally have been getting to her. She picked up the book from the coffee table between the sofas, passing her thumb lightly over the worn surface. "Maybe I should have my mother read it," she said sarcastically. "She might remember a girl with a tail leaping off the ceiling and attacking everyone."

"Yeah," Stiles agreed, "If it works."

"It has to."

Scott blinked. "What's that mean?"

"I think I saw them during my surgery. When I look at the cover of the book It's almost like-"

"A memory trying to surface," Scott finished. "Yeah."

"Isn't that what Valack wanted when he wrote it?" Kira wondered.

"If they did something to me," Lydia said decidedly, "I want to know what it is."

Everyone agreed, either out of curiosity or duty. Sherry, herself, was apprehensive. If she'd forgotten something that was dreadful, terrifying, or scarring, she honestly didn't want to remember. But she picked up a copy just the same, and went to perch on an arm of Lydia's claimed armchair. Lydia didn't react except with a tiny pull at the corner of her lips.

She read, and for a while wasn't quite sure what she was reading. The story was boring, if anything, and was filled with unnecessary extra details that seemed completely irrelevant. Her eyes began drooping not even a chapter in.

Half an hour in, Scott spoke up. "Anyone feel anything yet?"

Kira shook her head. "Tired."

"Hungry," Lydia added.

Theo stared. "I think he meant the book."

Lydia rolled her eyes, sighed, and went back to reading.

In the kitchen, Malia and Stiles began to talk as the werecoyote poured black coffee into cups. Smart. Sherry couldn't hear what they were saying, but Theo seemed to as he discreetly turned to look at them.

At the longer couch, Kira sighed, leaning over into the cushions to nap.

Scott frowned. "You're not giving up, are you?"

"Just resting my eyes," she muttered, pulling on the lamp string to darken her corner of the room.

An hour more of reading, and Sherry fell asleep too.

At midnight, rustling came from the house — the sound of socks moving lightly over old floorboards. Someone was moving about, and Sherry's skin prickled as she drifted awake enough to crack open her eyes. It was a boy, moving up the stairs. She thought she could barely make out the shape of Theo.

Groaning, she rubbed her sleep-crusted eyes, a side effect of sleeping with contacts on. She shivered, glad she'd changed earlier, and realized that she'd been moved from the arm of Lydia's chair to the seat where Kira had been. Kira was nowhere to be seen. On the floor, Stiles snored loudly.

Sherry painfully pushed herself up from the couch, rubbing her sleeves to keep from freezing. It felt like the heater in Scott's house was either off or not working. Was he facing financial issues or had he just forgotten to turn it on?

Theo came down then, and immediately noticed Sherry moving. He froze. "What are you doing up?"

She yawned. "You woke me up. You leaving?"

Sheepishly, he scratched the back of his neck. "I was planning to, yeah."

"You're my ride," she accused.

He smiled good-naturedly. "I forgot. Let's go."

Stretching out her limbs, she gathered up her stuff and followed him out the door, feeling very much like a zombie. "Do you know where Kira went?"

"I think she's upstairs," he said, shrugging. He tossed her a helmet, which she was too tired to grab. It bounced off her belly and rolled onto the grass, where she hefted it up and onto her head in snail-like movements.

"Oh," she said. She didn't ask, but she figured he'd passed by Kira on his way to a bathroom. It seemed the obvious explanation.

Theo dropped her off at home, where Parrish lay in front of the TV, perusing news channels and late night talk shows. Struck by a sudden panic, Sherry checked her phone again, worried that Parrish had called her wondering where she was and was still awake just to wait for her to get home. But she had no notifications, and when she greeted her uncle from the door, he called "Hello" with a lazy, benign wave.

She deflated. So he hadn't been worried sick about her, like her parents would have been. It was a little confidence-boosting, but she couldn't help but feel a little unwanted.

"You weren't wondering where I was? It's past midnight."

Parrish shrugged, turning around on the cushion to face her with a smile. "I trust you. You're mature enough to make your own decisions, and with all that's going on, I can't really be expected to treat you like a child."

"Oh." That was... reassuring. But still. "I'd worry about you, if you were gone a long time."

He chuckled, patting the sofa. "I'm watching David Letterman."

Shaking her head, she apologized, "Sorry, Jordan. I have school tomorrow. And don't you have a job?"

"Can't survive my job if I don't lighten up a little sometimes."

The double doors flew open, and in walked the coolest kids of Beacon Hills High. On any other occasion, Sherry would have been proud to be included as part of that group, but today she was too engrossed in conversation to notice the lingering eyes of jealous classmates as she walked amid Scott McCall, Kira Yukimura, and Stiles Stilinski.

"What if we need some kind of trigger?" Scott theorized. "Wasn't Malia driving when she remembered the crash?"

"Yeah," Stiles said, "But how are we supposed to trigger a memory that we don't remember?"

"Maybe it's a delayed thing. Maybe you have to wait a couple of hours to see what happens."

The hall lights flickered. The group stopped mid-stride, peering curiously up at the fluorescent bulbs. No one else around them seemed to notice.

Kira gulped. "That wasn't me. I swear."

"We'll keep an eye on each other today, okay?" Scott ordered.

"Yes, and keep an eye out for eight other potentially homicidal Chimeras," Stiles griped.

"And keep an eye out for the Dread Doctors," Kira sighed.

Stiles split off from the rest of them, going to his own class. "Starting to see the appeal of a third eye."

"So while introducing the African Cane Toad sounded like a good way to deal with Australia's infestation of the Grey-backed beetle," Ms. Finch lectured, "Unfortunately, the toad also decided to eat everything else in sight." She gazed around the classroom, like her stare was deadly enough to prove an example. "And everything," she continued, "That tried to eat the toad, from crocodiles to household pets, quickly died from the poison they secreted. A perfect example of an invasive species." She paused again, for dramatic effect. "102 toads introduced in 1935 became 1.25 billion by 2010. Once an invasive species is introduced, everything changes."

Sydney leapt from her seat with a scrape of chair-on-linoleum, pushing a slip of paper onto the teacher's desk. Ms. Finch gave it a cursory glance, then nodded. "Wise decision, Sydney."

Sydney fled from the classroom, immediately followed by Lydia.

"Lydia, you know it's for the best," Ms. Finch warned.

For a tense second, Lydia glared at her, then left the room. Sherry looked to Theo, Scott, and Kira to see if they knew what was going on, but they only shrugged.

Not even five minutes later, Scott and Theo bristled together, exchanging a glance to check if they'd both heard the same thing. They pushed themselves out of their chairs together, swinging their backpacks off their backs as they hastily excused themselves from class.

Sherry scrabbled to do the same, but the moment she and Kira stood up, Ms. Finch glared at them. "I can't have more than four students out of class at the same time, girls. They're already pushing it."

Kira hesitated and Sherry watched intently to see what she would do. Slowly and reluctantly, Kira sat down. Sherry, with a sigh, did the same.

During free period, Sherry went to meet with Mason out on the bleachers overlooking the practice fields. He wasn't there yet, so she pulled out her copy of The Dread Doctors to continue reading. The book was fairly short, so much so that she was just about be finished with the penultimate chapter. Then the bleachers creaked with weight, and Sherry looked up to see Brett Talbot, not Mason, sit down next to her.

"Mason said to meet him here," Brett said casually, smiling at her with bright green eyes.

"Yeah," she heard herself saying. "You don't even go here."

He smirked. "You're right; I don't." He plucked at his polo shirt. "I go to Devenford Prep. Our buddy Liam's old school." Brett pointed across the field, at a lacrosse player catapulting a ball into a net. "And there he is! He's pretty good." He laughed. "But he can't beat me, not even with his new wolfiness."

Nearby Liam, a girl with dark brown curls jogged onto the grass with a maroon tank top and a soccer ball rolling just ahead of her feet. Hayden smirked at Liam, then quickly punted the ball to the other end of the field. Liam, not one to back down from the challenge, tried to one-up her with a shot from his lacrosse stick. Sherry didn't quite know what to think. This was the first friendly interaction she'd seen between them ever.

"Aren't you dating Liam?" Brett suddenly asked, startling her.

Luckily, she didn't get much chance to answer before Mason plopped on the other side of Brett. "Hey Brett," Mason said, "Sorry I'm late. Have you noticed any of your classmates acting weird? Abnormally?"

Brett, with an amused glance at Sherry, answered, "I don't know, dude. Everyone at Devenford's pretty abnormal to me."

"Alright," Mason nodded, thinking.

"What else is there to look for?"

He knit his brows together, thinking. "There's heightened strength, smell, hearing, speed..." He trailed off, realizing those all defined werewolves. "Uh, able to see in the dark. Glowing eyes; eyes that reflect the light."

"Visible scorpion stingers protruding out of limbs?"

"Yeah. Or three foot lizard tails."

Brett nodded. "If I notice anything, I'll tell you. Anyway..." He pointed back in the direction Sherry had been staring. "What's up with those two?"

Mason winced. "Sixth grade. That wasn't the best year for Liam's anger management issues. There was a... this fight in the hallways." Sherry perked up, her ears new to this story. "Liam and this other guy. Hayden sort of accidentally walked into it."

Mason pulled out his phone, flicking through apps and pictures. "And this is her yearbook photo."

Sherry's eyes widened and Brett chuckled. "Ah, damn."

Young Hayden, still recognizable at eleven years old, had a black eye and a murderous expression. Not that different from the look she constantly threw at Liam nowadays.

"Yeah," Mason agreed. "Ow."

"What did she do to him?"

Mason pulled up another picture, of tiny Liam who looked like a classic juvenile delinquent. He had two black eyes, laughably worse than Hayden.

Brett chortled, and Mason joined in. Sherry, however, felt bad for both of them... and began to imagine a common romantic trope: rivals turned lovers. And as she stared back out at the field, the possibility didn't seem too far away.

It wasn't that she was jealous; in fact, far from it. But she'd seen this story play out before, time and time again. Hayden was her friend, and Sherry would never dream of setting up preventive measures. She just hoped that her worries were unfounded, and that soon the plausible romantic air between herself and Liam would evolve into an actual relationship — but still, there seemed to be something nagging at her mind, making her feel that today was the day things would finally start going wrong.

At that moment, some students came running into the field, shouting, "Does anyone have asthma? Anyone have an inhaler?"

She saw Liam bolt into action, running back the way the students had come. Sherry jumped up, tugging at Mason. "Scott!"

She ran, and made it to the AP Bio classroom not long after Liam had arrived. Scott leaned against a desk, his legs sprawled out on the floor. Ms. Finch stood by her desk, her hands clutched in worry.

"What happened?" Sherry exclaimed, avoiding the urge to attend to Scott as well. Liam was already there with the inhaler, and a crowd wouldn't help.

Ms. Finch rubbed her thumb in circles on the back of her other hand. "I'm not sure. He started to have trouble breathing out of nowhere."

Out of nowhere was up for debate, but Sherry kept that to herself. It was more than likely that this was the effect of the book they'd all been anxious for. Werewolves didn't get asthma attacks, Sherry knew. Something had to be interfering with Scott's basic chemical makeup.

She walked with Liam out to the parking lot, reviewing verbally the murky details of the day as they traversed the lively outdoor hall. To their right, the stucco walls were plastered with chatting teens and bright, painted posters advertising the upcoming school events. To the left, clipped bushes and miniature trees were illuminated by the white afternoon sun. The leaves whispered in the summer breeze.

"And something is going on with Kira," Sherry continued. She broke off, frowning, when she realized Liam was no longer listening. He had narrowed his eyes, an intent look on his face that showed he was eavesdropping on someone else's conversation. And as Sherry followed his line of sight, she saw whose.

Hayden and Deputy Sheriff Clark were talking together, several paces ahead of them. Sherry couldn't hear what they were saying, but judging by the enraptured attention of Liam, he could. She shoved her hands in her pocket, switching between watching them and trying to judge what was going on by studying Liam's face carefully. She didn't speak until Hayden and Clark had rounded the corner, and Liam had stopped in his tracks, a seeming revelation having struck him over the head.

"What were they talking about?" Sherry finally said. She hoped she wouldn't have to repeat herself.

"Her medicine," Liam replied, still glued to the spot. "Hayden works so her sister doesn't have to pay for all of her medication."

"Clark... is Hayden's sister?"

Liam nodded vaguely. "I've been trying to pay her back for all the drinks I spilled the other day, at Sinema. I didn't realize why it was so important to her."

"I'll help you," Sherry offered. "I can get some cash for you... her..." She shook her head. "You know what I mean."

Liam, at last, broke out of his stupor. "No! You don't have to! I owe her. You weren't involved."

"No, it's okay," Sherry insisted. Then, before she realized what she was saying, "That's what friends are for!"

Liam blinked, tearing his gaze away so quickly Sherry questioned whether he had even been looking at her to begin with. "Oh. Right."

Back inside the main education building, Sherry stopped by the library to return a few books. She'd checked out a few biographies two weeks ago, when she'd passed by the section and thought some titles seemed interesting. Of course, the problem with nonfiction was that she had no reason to keep on reading, especially when spoilers were a click away on Wikipedia. She stuck Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story, Malcolm X, and The Complete Works of Salvador Dali into the book return slot and turned around to leave. The library, one of her favorite places on campus, was full today, buzzing with discreet conversations and pencils scratching.

About a week ago, there'd been a prank call to the sheriff's station that had been traced back to the library. Parrish had been complaining about it afterwards, noting that teenagers these days hardly seemed to be considerate of law enforcement. He then admitted, with a sheepish grin, that that made him quite a hypocrite, considering his own misadventures before he'd gone to war.

After the prank call, the sheriff's department had noticed something off about the library, a mess of fallen metal rods that had to have been tampered with. Scott, at one point, had sniffed the air and noted that something smelled of blood beyond the patina of cleaning fluid.

Thinking back, that was the day that Donovan, the short-fused delinquent at the sheriff's station, had gone missing. And the next day, Stiles had started to be a little jittery. Then there was the trip to visit Dr. Valack that's no one had bothered to mention to Sherry. She shook herself, clearing her thoughts. So much had happened since the first day of school that it felt like almost a year had passed — but it hadn't even been a month.

Sherry closed the door to the library behind her just as the librarian began to announce the impending closing time, her lilting voice cut off mid-syllable. As the door clicked shut, the fluorescent lights above Sherry's head flickered for a moment. Then, along with the noise from the library, the lights died.

In the hall, the air was quiet except for the sound of clacking footsteps. She looked around in time to see Malia, rounding the corner with a frustrated look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Sherry questioned, running up to her tall friend.

Malia scowled. "My math teacher thinks I have to take remedial lessons. If I'm bad at math already, why does she think I want more?"

"So you'll get better?"

The girl groaned, stuffing her phone into the deep pockets of her frayed denim shorts. "I'm not going to get into college anyway. I don't see the point."

"College may not be for everyone," Sherry allowed, "But don't give up before you've even tried."

From the other end of the hall, Scott and Theo appeared. They had that look about them that Sherry was all too used to by now. Something was wrong.

A/N: Hey! So, what do you guys think of the Layden/Shiam dynamic so far? And what are your thoughts on Sherry? Relatable, annoying, boring? Let me know what your opinions are, either positive or negative :) Thanks for reading and don't forget to review, follow, and favorite! xx