Chapter 6-

A Phouk-What?

Penelope shoots out of bed with a gasp, clutching her chest. When she composes herself enough, she scrambles to get a notebook out of her backpack and writes down every single detail that she can remember from her dream. When she's done she looks at the clock, seeing that she had overslept.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," she cursed, throwing on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, not having enough time to bother with anything else. She clips her hair back before rushing down the stairs and into her car.

No matter how much she sped, she knew she would already be late for first period, so she took the drive to collect her thoughts on the dream. Was she really entertaining the possibility that this was real? It certainly felt real. And how would she have come up with such an intricate storyline in the first place? She knew she needed to talk to Stiles and Scott about it before she full-on lost her mind.

"And that someone's usually me, or Penelope, hey! Nelly," she hears from behind her, turning to see Stiles and Scott.

"Woah, you look awful," Stiles says. Scott glares at him, shaking his head. "No, it's okay, I feel awful," she responds.

"We were just talking about Scott getting help from Derek. He wants him to tap into his anger."

"You're getting help from Derek?" she asked, wondering if there was anything the older man would be able to help her with.

Scott nods, "But I have to be able to control it, he doesn't know if he'll be able to teach me."

"How's he going to teach you to do that?

"I don't know. I don't think he does either," Scott tells them.

"When are you seeing him again?" Stiles asks.

"He doesn't want me to talk about it. He told me to act normal today. To just get through the day-" Scott starts but Stiles cuts him off, "When?"

"He's picking me up at the animal clinic after work."

"Okay. Then that gives me until the end of the school day," Stiles nods like he has a plan.

"To do what?" Penelope and Scott ask in sync, shocking each other.

"To teach you myself, but before that, we've all gotta have a talk," Stiles says, sharing a look with Penelope.

At lunch they sit at a table by themselves, her next to Stiles and across from Scott, who had his head in a textbook, trying to hide from Allison.

"I think the book's making it more obvious," Stiles tried to pull the book down, looking back at Allison, "besides, she's reading, anyways."

Scott tentatively puts the book down, "So what was it that we needed to talk about?"

After so much time had passed, it felt weird telling Scott about this now. She looked at Stiles, thinking of what to say. He spoke for her.

"Penelope was at the video store when the Alpha attacked."

"WHAT?" Scott exclaimed, drawing a few eyes their way. He lowers his voice, "How come you didn't tell me?"

"Scotty, we tried. You disappeared and weren't answering your phone," she answers, leaning back in her seat.

"So what are you saying? What happened?" his eyes widened.

"He-he bit me," she swallows the lump in her throat, looking down in shame. "But it was different than what happened to you."

She tells him about the voice she heard and the man she saw, and the Alpha's reaction afterward. Scott stares at her in shock still, "Nelly, I'm so sorry I wasn't there, I-I-"

"There's something else. The bite isn't healing. And I had a dream last night, with the same man," she explains, cutting Scott off. She pulls out the notebook she had written the dream in that morning, going over everything with them.

"A Phouk-what?" Stiles scrunches his face up at the word.

"I don't know, that's just what he said," she groaned, running her hands through her hair.

"We can talk to Derek, come with me to work, maybe he'll know something," Scott said, reaching out and touching her hand reassuringly.

"That's it?" she asks.

"What do you mean?" Scott tilts his head.

"I-I, I'm just surprised at how well you and Stiles are handling this. I mean, I'm pretty much going insane. I feel like my heads going to explode," she sighed.

"You're not insane, and this is hardly the strangest thing we've dealt with. Well actually, I think it is, but that doesn't mean we're going anywhere. You're our Nelly," Stiles tells her like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"So did you come up with a plan yet?" Scott asks Stiles about the anger control.

"I think so," Stiles says, taking a bite out of his apple.

"Does this mean you don't hate me now?" Scott asks hopefully.

"No. But your crap has infiltrated my life, so I have to do something about it. And I'm definitely a better Yoda than Derek," the boy next to her responds.

"Okay, good. You teach me," Scott agrees.

"Yeah. He'll be your Yoda," Penelope smiles.

"You be my Yoda," Scott nods to the other boy.

"Your Yoda, I will be," Stiles imitates Yoda, smiling. "I was saying it backwards like-"

"I know," Scott interrupts.

"Alright, you know what? Definitely still hate you. Uh-huh, oh yeah," Stiles laughs sarcastically, grabbing his stuff and standing. Penelope follows, sending Scott an apologetic shrug, knowing that Stiles needed her to get something from the track room for him.

The three walk out to the lacrosse field together during their free period, Stiles carrying his gym bag with the things they would need.

"Put this on," he tells Scott, handing him the strap from the bag.

"Isn't this one of the heart rate monitors for the track team?" Scott grins.

"And I'm on the track team, aren't I?" Penelope crosses her arms, "I paid my membership fees like everyone else."

"We're temporarily misappropriating it," Stiles chimed in. "Coach uses it to monitor his heart rate with his phone while he jogs, and you're gonna wear it for the rest of the day."

"Isn't that Coach's phone?" Scott asks.

"That we stole," Stiles nods.
"You stole it," Penelope laughs. "Only thing I'm owning up to is the heart rate monitor."

"Okay but why?" Scott questions.

"Your heart rate goes up when you go wolf, right?" Stiles asks and Scott nods, "During lacrosse, when you're with Allison, when you get angry. So maybe learning to control it is tied to learning to control your heart rate."

"So I'm like the Incredible Hulk?" Scott grins and Penelope chuckles.

"Kind of, yeah," she nods, agreeing. "But thankfully a lot smaller."

"I'm like the Incredible Hulk," Scott says, grinning at Stiles' annoyed expression.

"Would you shut up and put the strap on?" Stiles throws the monitor at Scott.

Once everything is hooked up, Stiles roughly duct taped Scott's hands behind his back. "What's this part for?" she asks nervously when Scott winces.

"So he doesn't murder us," Stiles comments.

"This isn't exactly how I wanted to spend my free period," Scott says sarcastically. Stiles picks up a lacrosse stick and glances down at his phone to look at the heart monitor. "Ready?"

"No."

"Remember. Don't get angry," Stiles drops a handful of lacrosse balls at his feet and picks up his lacrosse stick.

"I'm starting to think this is a really bad idea." A lacrosse ball soars right into Scott's leg. "Ow!"

Stiles pelts him for several minutes, Penelope standing beside him. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" she whispers while he's picking up another ball. Stiles throws it at him, hitting him in the face.

"Okay, that one kind of hurt."

"Payback for him ignoring us when you needed him," Stiles says nonchalantly, picking up another ball. "Quiet, remember, you're supposed to be thinking about your heart rate, all right? About staying calm," he tells Scott.

"I think my aim is improving," Stiles quips after a few more hits.

Scott grounds out through gritted teeth, "I wonder why."

"Don't get angry," Stiles warned.

"I'm not getting angry-"

Stiles throws another ball, hitting Scott again.

"Just breath, Scotty," Penelope calls.

He readies himself, nodding at her as she holds up a thumbs up. The pelting continues until Scott falls to his knees, groaning, "Stop, wait, just hold on-" But Stiles doesn't hear in time, hitting him again.

Scott doubles over, breathing heavily. He rips through the duct tape holding his wrists together, holding himself up on the ground, low growls coming from him. The beeping of the monitor climbs. "Stiles, stop!" Penelope tells him, walking closer to Scott.

"Stay back!" Scott growls. Then after a moment, he rolls onto his side, sweat dripping down his face.

"You started changing," Stiles walks over to them and says, as Penelope kneels beside Scott.

"From anger. But it was more than that. The angrier I got, the stronger I felt," Scott explained.

"So it is anger then, Derek's right." Stiles states.

"I can't be around her," Scott says, and Penelope assumes he means Allison.

"Why? Just because she makes you happy?" Penelope asks him.

"No, because she makes me weak," Scott said, not meeting her eyes.

Penelope is sitting in class when Scott and Stiles walk in, Scott taking the desk in front of her. Stiles moves to take the seat beside her, when Scott whispers to him, "Hey, Stiles, sit in front of me."

Stiles moves to hop over the desk into the chair, but Allison walks down the aisle and gives him a questioning look, placing her things on the desk. Stiles shoots Scott an apologetic shrug, and moves back besides Penelope.

"Hey," she hears Allison say to Scott, turned around to look at him, "I haven't seen you all day."

"Hey, yeah, I uh, I've been super busy," Scott makes up an excuse.

"When are you gonna get your phone fixed I feel like I'm totally disconnected from you?" she asks him.

"Uh, soon, real soon."

"I changed lab partners, by the way," Allison grins, and Scott asks her, "Oh. To who?"

"To you, dummy."

"Hey, we were supposed to be lab partners," Penelope whispered to Stiles, to which he rolled his eyes in agreement.

"Me? I mean, are you sure?" Scott stutters, turning his head slightly to the back, but then looking forward again.

"Yeah, this way I have an excuse to bring you home and study," Allison smiles, flirting.

"Oh," was all Scott said.

Allison's face fell, her eyebrows furrowing, "You-you don't mind, do you?"

"I just, I don't wanna bring your grade down, and I had said I'd work with Penelope…" Scott trailed off. Allison's eyes met Penelope's, widening. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I had no idea."

Stiles pipes up now, "That's fine, we'll partner together, so everything's worked out." Scott glares at him.

"Okay, good then. And maybe I can bring your grade up. Come to my place tonight. 8:30?" Allison reasons.

"Tonight?" Allison nods, "8:30."

Coach slams a pile of textbooks onto his desk, startling everybody. "All right, settle down. Let's start with a quick summary of last night's reading. Greenberg, put your hand down. Everybody knows you did the reading. How about... McCall?"

"Huh?" Scott asks. Coach sighs, "The reading."

"Last night's reading?" he asks, panicking.

Coach sarcastically responds, "How about the uh, the reading of the Gettysburg Address."

"What?"

"That's sarcasm, you familiar with the term 'sarcasm', McCall?" Coach asks.

"Uh, very," Scott says, eyes glancing at Stiles who nods proudly.

"Did you do the reading or not?" the teacher asks, fed up.

"I think I forgot," Scott admits sheepishly.

"Nice work, McCall, because it's not like you're averaging a D in this class. Come on buddy, you know I can't keep you on the team if you have a D." He waits patiently for him to respond. "How about you summarize the previous night's reading? No? How about the night before? How about you summarize anything you've ever read? In your entire life. Anything at all. A blog? The back of a cereal box? The adults only warning on your favorite website." Sweating, Scott stares blankly, not knowing how to respond.

The whole time Coach is berating Scott, she can hear the faint beep of the heart monitor rising from Stiles' bag. Penelope leans down at her desk, hanging her arm low, grabbing Scott's hand in hers where he had it hanging beside him. She pulled his hand back so they were concealed under her desk, rubbing circles on his knuckles trying to calm him.

"Thank you, McCall!" Coach slams his hands on the desk, "Thank you for extinguishing any last flicker of hope I have for your generation. You just blew it for everybody! Thanks. Next practice you start with suicide runs, unless that's too much reading."

The beeping lowers, him squeezing her hand under the table. He looks back at her, and she catches his eye. "You ok, now?" she whispers.

"Yeah, thank you," he squeezes her hand again before slowly letting go, having to retrieve his things from his bag.

Scott's POV

"See you guys later," Penelope calls, grabbing her bag and walking in the opposite direction towards her class. Scott watched after her, taking in her blonde hair and pale skin and short stature, committing to memory how she walked and held herself, little things he'd never paid attention to before.

"It's her," Stiles says to him when they step out into the hallway together.

"What do you mean?" Scott asks.

"It's Penelope," Stiles says. "Remember the first lacrosse game? You said you could hear her voice out on the field," Stiles says to him.

"Yeah. I did," he said, thinking back to what she felt like in his arms, and how badly he wanted to kiss her, which was something he'd never felt for the girl before, or at least never let himself act on it.

"That's what brought you back so you could score. And then in the locker room, you didn't kill her. At least not like you were trying to kill me. She brings you back," Stiles says. "Now we know how to work with this. And it's not like what you said about her making you weak. When she was holding your hand in class, it was different. I don't think she makes you weak. I think she actually gives you control. It's like she's a kind of anchor…"

"You mean because I love her," Scott says instantly, without even thinking about it.

"Exactly," his friend agrees, and Scott stops in shock when he realizes what he said, Stiles turning back to look at him, confused.

"Did I just say that?" he grins.

"We say we love each other all the time," Stiles shrugs, like it's no big deal.

"No. I really do. I think I might be in love with her," he tells him.

"You- what? You're in love with Nelly? You can't be in love with Nelly! And before you go off and write a sonnet can we figure this out? Because you obviously can't be around her all the time, not if the bite didn't affect her like you and she's still not healing," Stiles glares at him.

"Why can't I love her?" Scott glares back, getting upset.

"I just don't want things to be ruined between us, Scotty. She's our best friend. I care about her too, you know," he says gently, and Scott nods. He knows he can't just rush into things.

"You're right. Okay, what do I do?"

Stiles paces, then stops, thinking. Scott watched him, "You're getting an idea, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Could this idea get me in trouble?" Scott asked.

"Maybe," Stiles nods.

"Is this idea going to cause me physical pain?"

"Yeah. Definitely, come on."

Scott's POV

Scott follows Stiles around the school to the edge of the parking lot where several large dumpsters sit concealing a few older students. They hang out there laughing and talking while smoking, and one guy gets out of his truck to join them. "What are we doing?" Scott questions.

"You'll see. Okay, stand right here. Do you have your keys?" Stiles asks, and Scott takes out his house keys. "Hold them up. Like this. Now, whatever happens I want you to think about Penelope. Find her voice like you did at the game? Got it?" Scott nods.

"Good. Keep holding the keys," Stiles walks over to the Senior's truck and takes out his own car keys. Then in a quick few seconds, Stiles drags his key across the side of the Senior's truck, digging a huge scratch into the paint. As Scott watches in horror, Stiles pockets his keys and turns to him. "Dude. What do you think you're doing to that truck?"

The Seniors turn around to see Scott holding his car keys up. "What the hell?" Scott steps back as Stiles gives him a devilish smile. The Seniors are on him in a nanosecond. Scott puts up his arms trying to protect himself. But they have him on the ground and are all wailing on him. Stiles eyes his phone to note the rising heart rate while Scott crumbles to the pavement under the merciless pummeling.

Scott concentrates, listening for Penelope. He hears several voices before he finally pinpoints hers. Her soft voice makes his heart jump. "Hey mom, how's work? Good, yeah, yeah, school's fine. No, you don't need to come tonight, seriously. No, I'm not telling you what to do, sorry. I'll be there, love you." Scott wonders why her voice wavers, unable to hear the other part of the conversation.

Until another voice interrupts- "Stop! Stop right now! What do you idiots think you're doing?" Mr. Harris yells, causing the seniors to run.

Of course he gives them detention, because why wouldn't Scott get detention for being beaten up? Sitting in the room with Stiles, he checks the clock. Pulling a wad of tissues away from his nose, Scott turns to Harris, "Excuse me, sir, I know it's detention and all, but I'm supposed to be at work. And I don't want to get fired."

Harris ignores him, and Scott sighs, sitting quietly with Stiles. Then he turns to whisper to him. "You knew I would heal."

"Yep," Stiles says shortly.

"So you did that to help me learn?" Scott asks.

"Yep."

"But partially to punish me."

"Yeah, well that one's obvious," Stiles scoffs.

"You're my best friend. I don't want you or Nelly to be angry at me," Scott pleads with him. Now Stiles turns to him.

"You have something, Scott. Whether you want it or not. You can do things other people can't. That means you don't have a choice anymore. It means you have to do something," he tells him.

"I know. And I will." Harris eyes them over his newspaper, then puts it down. "All right. Both of you. Out of here." They don't think twice, grabbing their things, rushing to get up.

When he exits the room, he sees Penelope sitting on the ground in the hallway outside the classroom, a binder open on her lap, her head leaned back against the lockers, eyes closed. She looks over when the door clicks.

"Hey, sorry, we can go to the animal clinic now," he smiles at her.

"You're fine, I had to do some homework anyways. What'd you guys do to get detention?" she eyes the two of them.

"Uh," Stiles starts, "Scott keyed a car."

"You did what?" she exclaimed.

"Stiles, shut up. Come on, I'll tell you what actually happened on the way to work,"
Scott laughs, walking with her to the parking lot.

While she drives, he thinks about how to ask about the phone call. "How's your mom?" Is all he can think to say.

"Uh," she pauses, her heartbeat raising slightly, "she's good. Working a lot still."

"Yeah, Mom tells me that she's picking up extra night shifts now, too?" He asks her for confirmation.

"Yeah, she is," she says sadly, and they pull into the animal clinic parking lot, putting an end to that.

When Scott and her walked into the clinic, there was loud shouting. "Is that Derek?" she asked, eyes widening. Scott runs to the back, her following. He flips on the lights and they see Dr. Deaton tied to a chair, Derek holding him up off the ground, interrogating him.

"What are you doing?" Scott yells.

"Scott, get out of here-" the doctor tries to speak, but Derek swings his fist down on Deaton's cheek. A vicious blow, knocking the man out cold.

"Stop it!" Penelope screams, taking in the wild look of the man in front of them, feeling very scared.

"He can keep himself from healing when conscious. But unconscious…" Derek said, sounding completely unhinged.

"Are you out of your mind? What are you talking about?" Scott yelled, looking in between his boss and the other werewolf.

"You want to know what the spiral means? It's our sign for a vendetta. For revenge. It means he

won't stop killing until he's satisfied."

"You think he's the Alpha?" Scott says, and Penelope adds, "You really are out of your mind."

"We're about to find out." Derek holds up his hand, claws out. But as he swipes down, a small hand grabs him by the wrist. Whipping his head around, Derek looks at Penelope, bewildered. Her eyes are completely white, all color gone from them, her face is blank, as if she's in a trance. Her grip is unbelievably strong, and she crushes the bones slightly.

"You will not touch him."

He rips his hand out of her grasp, and Penelope feels faint, stumbling slightly until Scott catches her.

"What the hell was that?" Derek asks, bewildered.

"When you're not trying to kill my boss, we have other things to talk about," Scott glares at him, looking at the girl.

"Are you alright? Do you know what happened?" he asks. She shakes her head, "I just felt like I had to stop him." Scott nods, making sure she can stand alright before turning back to Derek.

"Hit him again, and next time you'll see me get angry."

Penelope sits in a chair by the wall, watching as Scott looks over his still unconscious boss, blotting his bloody cheek with a towel.

"You have a plan?" the brooding werewolf asks, walking up to the two other men.

"Just give me one hour."

"And then what?" Derek scoffs.

"Meet us at the school. In the parking lot."

Stiles's Jeep roars into the lot. He and Scott get out, the latter letting Penelope out of the back once he was.

Stiles groans, "This is a terrible idea."

"I'm inclined to agree with him," Nelly agrees.

"I know," is all Scott says.

"And we're still going to do it?!" Stiles exclaims.

"Can you think of something better?"

"Personally, I'm a big fan of ignoring a problem and hoping it goes away," their goofy friend answered, making Penelope laugh.

"Just make sure we can get inside," Scott tells him, and Stiles yanks out a set of bolt cutters out of his trunk. A pair of headlights approach as Derek's Camaro parks in a nearby space. Derek kills the engine and steps out from behind the wheel. Scott and Stiles approach him, Penelope standing behind the two boys.

"How's your wrist?" Stiles antagonized the man, the other two having told him what Penelope did at the clinic, earning a glare from Derek.

"Where's my boss?" Scott asks, ignoring him.

"In the back," he motioned to the car.

The three peek inside the Camaro to see Deaton bound, gagged and blindfolded. "He looks comfortable," Stiles quipped. Penelope bites the edge of her sweater sleeve nervously.

Scott and Stiles start for the school building, Scott grabbing her arm when they pass her, dragging her with them. "Where are you going?" Derek calls from behind them.

"You said I'm linked with the Alpha. I'm going to see if you're right," he replies. The three of them make their way through the dark halls, Scott's hand still on her arm, causing her to blush. When they find the office, he lets go, him and Stiles entering first.

"I don't know how much I like this plan anymore," Penelope whispers, "if I wanted to see this guy again I would've asked for his number. But I didn't have too much fun the first time." Her thigh gave an ebbing throb at that, the bite just now scabbing over. "Hey, I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Scott tells her, looking her square in the eyes.

"I'm not just worried about myself! Scotty, he's after you. You turned, I clearly didn't. He wants you, and what if we can't protect you?" she glances to Stiles, seeing his head hung down and shoulders slumped. Scott laughed at that, "It looks like you're even stronger than Derek, so I think you could protect me." He steps in slightly, their bodies now touching slightly, the ghost of what she desired. Penelope had always thought of Scott and Stiles as handsome, but looking at Scott now, the moonlight filtering in through the blinds and illuminating his amazingly hard-yet-soft features. His puppy dog eyes darkened, becoming serious, then a cough from Stiles drags them out of their reverie.

"One question: What are you going to do if the Alpha doesn't show up?"

Scott shakes his head, "I don't know."

"What are you going to do if the Alpha does show up?" Penelope asks now.

"I don't know," Scott repeats.

"Good plan," Stiles says sarcastically.

"You told me a wolf howls to signal its position to the rest of the pack. Right?" Scott asked their friend.

Stiles nods, "But if you bring him here, does that make you part of his pack?"

"I hope not," he replies, as Stiles pulls out the mic and places it on the counter in front of the werewolf. Scott pulls the PA microphone over to his mouth. As he presses the button on the base of the mic, Stiles gives him an encouraging nod, and Penelope rubs his back. Scott takes a deep breath, clears his throat, leans into the microphone and lets out the most ridiculous sound she'd ever heard. She couldn't help the chuckles leaving her mouth when he finished, covering her mouth with her hand. Stiles leans over the desk, rubbing his hand over his buzzed hair aggravatedly.

"Was that okay? That was a howl. Right?" he asks them.

"Technically," Stiles says at the same time Penelope says, "Not really."

"What did it sound like to you guys?"

"Like a cat being choked to death," Stiles tells him, Nelly nodding in agreement, her face set in a grimace. "Sorry."

"Well, what do I do? How am I supposed to do this?" Scott asks. Crossing behind the desk, Stiles takes Scott's shoulders in his hands and leans in close, eye-to-eye, full trainer mode. "You're calling the Alpha. Be a man. Be a werewolf. Not a teen wolf. A werewolf!"

Scott nods, grabbing the microphone. He takes a deep breath once again and his eyes glow amber. He lets out an extremely loud and deep howl, the lockers out in the hall shaking aggressively from the reverberations. When he finishes, he takes his finger off of the button and looks at the two of them expectantly. "Well? Better?"

"Dude! That was fucking awesome!" Stiles jumps in excitement, hugging Scott, almost throwing the boy off balance. Scott laughed at his friend's antics, hugging him back before patting his back. Penelope shouts, "Group hug!" before jumping onto the pair, her arms going around the two of them, squeezing. "To commemorate Scott becoming a real werewolf," she joked.

Scott shoved her, and Stiles laughed. They disconnected, and it just seemed to naturally happen, that they all held hands. Penelope stayed in the middle, and either boy took one of her hands as they walked out of the school and back towards the parking lot. They let go before they got outside, but she could still feel the warmth and weight of their hands in hers if she thought about it. It just felt so natural, so right, the three of them together. Derek is waiting for them, furious, when they exit the school.

"I'm going to kill the two of you myself!" He points at the boys, "Are you trying to attract the entire state to the school?"

"I didn't know it would be that loud," Scott shrugged sheepishly.

"How come you wouldn't kill Penelope?" Stiles asked curiously, motioning to the girl behind them.

"She's clearly got bigger issues," he said, making Stiles shout out a 'Hey!' in her defense, but she just patted his arm, and shook her head, "At least I get to live, even if it's because I'm fucked up."

But Scott is no longer paying attention to any of them. Instead he's looking at Derek's Camaro. The back door is open, ripped bindings lying on the pavement. And where Deaton had been laying is now just an empty seat. Derek steps forward, surprised. "What did you do with him?" Scott asks.

"I didn't do anything…" Derek says, turning back to them. Penelope sees the huge black figure running towards them, and only has a moment to let out a scream as Derek jerks forward, blood spurting from his mouth as he rises up into the air, held aloft by the claws of something dark and large behind him. Stiles almost falls over in shock, and Scott helps steady him, grabbing him and Penelope when he turns. They barely turn back, heading straight for the school doors. Derek's body is thrown against the school wall with a heavy thud, and her eyes glance there briefly, before Stiles yanks her by her arm into the school doors, slamming them behind them.