The next day was a beautiful sunny day. Sarah already hated it. So she had to make the most of it by putting together a simple, but cute outfit. She tucked a blue and white striped v-neck into a navy blue lace skirt. The skirt was her favorite because it flew up when she twirled. It was a childish notion, but for some reason, that didn't matter today. She cinched her waist with a thin, brown belt and slipped on some brown ballet flats that strapped around her ankles. She twisted her bangs into a braid that tucked under the long waves and put on some light makeup that matched her outfit. Maybe a good outfit could change her mood on the day.
She and Stiles met up with Scott at school as per usual and they wandered into the library where Allison met them inconspicuously to hand them her Tablet with a translation of the Archaic Latin that was the Bestiary.
"I told her that we were part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures."
"I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures." Stiles deadpanned.
"Yeah, and you wonder why you're single." Sarah teased him as Scott laughed.
"Does it say how to find out who's controlling him?" The werewolf wondered.
"No. But Stiles was right about the murders. They call the Kanima a werewolf of vengeance."
"Ok, the Kanima can't become a werewolf until it resolves its human issues."
"So Jackson could use a thousand hours of therapy. I could have told you that myself." Stiles muttered.
"What if it has something to do with his parents?" Sarah wondered aloud. "His real parents."
"Yeah, does anyone actually know what happened to them?" Scott asked.
"Lydia might." Stiles supplied.
"Look, Jackson doesn't have a restraining order against me, so I'll talk to him myself." Allison stated.
"Be careful." Scott warned. "If he does anything…anything at all…"
"Anything evil." Stiles elaborated, poking his head through the space between the books. Allison grinned and forced his head back to the other aisle.
"And you have an exam to make up." Sarah told Scott, taking him to the chemistry classroom. "Remember, I helped you study for this because I made it up. Please don't screw it up. Your mom already has enough to worry about." She left him once he'd gone inside and headed to the cafeteria to eat something. She wasn't hungry, but her belt was on the smallest hole and still wasn't holding her skirt up to the best of its abilities. Sarah figured that with all this going on, she had to eat when she could.
She saw Isaac there in line, waiting to pay. Normally, she would have gone up to stand with him and then eat with him, but things weren't normal anymore. So she remained quiet. However, sensing someone staring, the young werewolf looked up to see his old friend. She looked so small now. Well, ever since the summer before this year, when he'd grown four inches, he'd been taller than her. But it was different now. Now she looked as though she were withering away. Isaac still found her pretty, but it was a different pretty. Her face looked sharper, her eyes focused and her mouth set firm. She was no longer that soft girl she'd been. He supposed she was a young woman now.
When Isaac paid for his food, he walked up to her, the tray separating them. Sarah glanced up at him with her almond shaped eyes, unsmiling. He bit his lip and then handed her his small bowl of tater tots.
"You really need to eat something." Slowly but steadily, a beautiful smile graced Sarah's features. It gave something Isaac to smile about to. And they sat together and ate in comfortable silence until Sarah had to go to her next class. There was a slight bounce in her step until she saw Erica talking to her brother.
"I had the hugest crush on you. I thought if I hung around your sister, you'd notice me. But you never notice me. Just like you're not noticing me right now." Sarah slowly approached the pair as they turned around to see a suspicious trail of water leading from the boys' locker rooms. Quickly, Jackson and Scott were thrown out, tossing each other to and fro, bouncing from wall to wall. Sarah tried to impose, seeing as Allison was kind of in the middle of it, but it did no good. It took one good hit from Jackson to knock her out of the way. She went flying into the wall, the impact leaving a sharp cut along her forehead, along with a bruise that would form later on. Stiles steadied his sister and Dr. Harris managed to break the two lacrosse players apart.
"You and you…actually, all of you. Detention at three." Some random guy had popped out of nowhere and was now involved in this, but he didn't protest at the glare that Dr. Harris was giving him.
The seven teenagers walked into the library at three o'clock, not really caring about it at all.
"Um, I have a restraining order against these tools." Jackson stated rudely.
"All these tools?" The chemistry teacher raised an eyebrow, demanding elaborating.
"Nope, just these tools." Sarah pursed her lips, pointing and Scott and Stiles.
"Fine. You two, over there." He gestured to the other table, to which the boys readily moved. Sarah was still stuck at the table with Erica, who only smirked at her. Sarah openly rolled her eyes at the girl's behavior.
"I'm going to kill him." Sarah could overhear the boys' conversation.
"No, we're going to find out who's controlling him and then we're going to save him." Sarah muttered, leaning over to Scott.
"No, let's kill him. I like Stiles' original plan."
"Maybe it's Matt." Stiles stated abruptly. Sarah looked over at the guy eating his chips innocently. "The whole thing comes back to the video, right?"
"Danny said that Matt's the one who found the two hours of footage missing." Scott provided.
"Exactly, it was to throw the suspicion off of him." Sarah pursed her lips.
"So he makes Jackson kill Isaac's dad." Sarah couldn't do this anymore. She quietly moved to the boys' table to immerse herself fully into the conversation. She didn't like the way Erica was looking at her. "And one of Argent's hunters-."
"Anthony Carnevale." Sarah told them.
"And the mechanic who was working on Lola?" Stiles rolled his eyes at the name but agreed nonetheless. "Why?" That stumped Stiles.
"Because he's evil."
"You just don't like him." Sarah pointed out.
"The guy bugs me, I don't know what it is." Stiles admitted. "Just look at his face." They turned to see Matt offering some chips to Jackson, who only shook his head.
"Any other theories?" Sarah put her brother's suspicions in the back of her mind. She trusted her own instinct and went along with it when she could prove it with facts and evidence. There was no way she would not trust her brother's instinct as well. She would have to do some digging around.
When Jackson got a headache and Dr. Harris left to see if he was all right, the boys moved to sit next to Erica to see how Jackson's biological parents died.
"It was a car accident." Erica stated simply. "Every time he drives around in that Porsche, my dad makes some kind of statement about the huge settlement he's getting when he turns eighteen."
"So not only is Jackson rich now, he'll be richer when he turns eighteen?" Erica nodded at Stiles' question. "There is something so deeply wrong with that."
The lacrosse player returned just as Scott had been called to the principal's office. Jackson looked sweaty and sickly and Sarah wondered if something about being a Kanima did that to him, or if there was some kind of illness that prevented him from becoming a werewolf, opposed to just psychological issues.
"Oh." Dr. Harris laughed as everyone began packing up their things as he did. "Yes, I'm leaving. But you aren't. You're not free to go until the shelving is done." He patted the stacks of books and walked out, leaving everyone to form groups. While Stiles talked about the report with Allison and Scott, Sarah was shelving the books with Erica in silence.
"Ok, I'll say this once and then I won't let it bother me." Sarah finally spoke up. "I think it's horrid that you were only hanging out with me for my brother. I mean, really? You're smarter than that, Erica."
"You're so pathetic, Sarah." The blonde laughed sadistically. "Hanging out with people younger than you. But I suppose they're the only ones who can tolerate you, so I guess that leaves you no choice."
"Hm. Maybe that's why your alpha and I used to get along so well." An insult at Derek got her.
"Yeah, well, your boyfriend is going crazy with this whole Kanima thing." Erica revealed. "It's not so fun anymore."
"It's never going to be fun." Sarah didn't even bother with insulting the younger girl. "Not with Derek barking orders at you and not with every little thing out to kill you." She stood upright after placing a few books where they belonged. "I'm sorry that you found out that way." Erica didn't know what to say to that.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash overhead. The Kanima was loose and destroying the lights, creating quite a commotion. Erica bore her fangs and roared, communicating with Scott. She threw Sarah to the side, getting her out of the way. The Kanima moved too quickly and soon swiped Erica across the neck, paralyzing her. Jackson, half transformed, moved in to swipe at Sarah, but Scott got her out of the way. He placed a hand in front of her, Stiles and Allison as they watched Jackson robotically write something on the chalkboard.
Stay out of my way or I'll kill all of you
And that was that. And Jackson leapt out of the library window. There was a muffled noise and Stiles rushed to Erica's side.
"I think she's having a seizure!" Sarah's eyes went wide at that thought. "We need to get her to a hospital."
"No, you have to take her to Derek." Sarah told him. She paused. "I have to take her." Scott lifted the girl up and they went to where Derek was staying with his betas. Sarah held her in her lap as Derek broke her arm. "You're going to heal. It'll be all right." Sarah brushed away the girl's hair out of her face. It was a soothing gesture that her mother had used when she was sick.
"It'll trigger the healing process." Derek explained as he made Erica bleed. The blonde finally relented to panting, as she couldn't scream anymore.
"Sarah." Erica panted. "I didn't hang out with you for your brother." She admitted. "I did it because you were the only one who would do this for me." The girls squeezed hands and Derek looked at his beta and then at Sarah, who finally look him in the eye since showing up.
Once Erica had passed out and had healed from the seizure, Sarah slowly followed Derek out of the tube. She played with the belt along her waist and shifted her weight from one foot to the next.
"You knew it was Jackson, didn't you?" Sarah asked quietly. "You just wanted Erica to confirm it for you." Derek nodded slowly. There was a brief pause as Sarah chose her next words. "We want to help you-." She cut herself off. "Well, Stiles and I can't do much. But we want to help you get the Kanima." Derek was surprised to hear those words. "But we're not going to kill Jackson."
"And?"
"And we do it my way." Scott said from the doorway to the tube. It took a minute, but Derek finally agreed to it.
"Thank you for helping her."
"Erica is a part of my pack. It's my duty to help her." Derek told the brunette. "And why do you care about what happens to her?"
"Because I'm not a bitch." Sarah stated flatly. "She was once one of my good friends. No matter what, that doesn't just go away." Then she added softly, "I care about her. I don't want bad things to happen to her."
"Is that why you're so against the three of them being werewolves?"
"Derek, life is going to be hard no matter what. Being a werewolf and having more isn't going to justify anything." She sighed. "It doesn't change anything. My feelings on the matter won't change the fact that they're werewolves now. It doesn't change the fact that you're one and that Laura was one and Scott's one. It doesn't change the fact that Jackson's supposed to be one but is stuck in the Kanima…stage…thing." Derek fought a grin at her last words. "I suppose it's my selfishness kicking in, saying that I can't protect my friends the way I used to because there are so many more factors now. It's not just making it through a school day or through the week so you can have a free weekend, it's making it through the day alive."
"I told you not to get involved."
"Yeah, well, I don't think it would have made much of a difference."
"Is this you being hopeless?" Derek's brows were furrowed. "Is this you giving up?"
"You know, my father may be one of my most favorite people, but there are a few things he never taught me. And one was how to give up." Derek gave her a smile at that. Not a full one, but it was something. It made her neck go hot and she pushed the bangs that had come loose in the commotion aside, revealing her wound.
"Come here."
"Oh. I forgot about that."
"How can you-?"
"Don't ask, because it hurts like a bitch now." There was that small smile again. Derek pulled out a first-aid kit and tended to her wounds. "You know, for someone who heals almost immediately, you do seem a bit prepared." Sarah commented as Derek put a bit of ointment on the raised skin.
"For someone who has a head injury, you seem to be talking a lot."
"For someone who wants to go after the Kanima so badly, you seem to be sitting on your ass an awful lot."
"For someone who hates me, you seem to continue to be talking a lot."
"For an alpha, you seem to have horrible comebacks." Derek's smile was bigger this time. Sarah even let out a gurgle of laughter. It made Derek frown because his insides were churning at that. He hadn't heard her giggle in a while. "Thank you."
"I'm surprised you don't want me to kiss it better." That brought another smile to Sarah's face.
"See, this was your idea, not mine." Derek raised a brow. "Yep. Now you have to do it."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Sarah winked and leaned the wounded area toward him. The alpha exhaled sharply before pressing his lips to the bandaged wound. "Happy?"
"Oh, I'm sure I'll manage for now." She grinned and went to go check on Erica. Derek's lips flattened into a straight line and he cursed himself for that whole scenario. He had to stop this. But Sarah's attitude made that very difficult. Well, Sarah in general made that difficult. Derek's line of thought was pushed away when he saw Scott smirking at him after Sarah had passed him.
"Don't even start." Derek warned. Scott only chuckled and shook his head.
And here is yet another chapter! This weekend I've been working and writing on Season Three, so I don't feel bad about posting a few chapters so closely in a row. I hate making you guys wait, but I hate having to make you wait for even longer periods of time while we wait for more seasons to air and then me playing catch-up and all that stuff. So here you have it. And the ending is for all you SAREK-loving readers of mine. Anyway, leaving lovely reviews and don't be afraid to critique me. I love knowing what you think.