CHAPTER TWO

INSTINCT

"Remember, for intramuscular injections in the hind leg..."

Jessie watched with a wistful smile on her face as Deaton walked Scott through giving a little dog an injection. But Scott needed little direction, knowing exactly what he was doing.

"Stay clear of the sciatic nerve."

"Excellent," Deaton said as he watched Scott's work. "Aspirate back to make sure you haven't hit a vein. Then just keep the needle still."

Scott began to pull back the needle when the dog yelped and bit at his hand. Scott pulled his hand back with a quiet, "Ow," as the dog growled at him.

"That did not hurt," Jessie denied with a grin, causing Scott to playfully pout at her.

Deaton laughed. "He's a little one, but his teeth are still sharp."

"Sorry, buddy," he told the dog as he picked him up off the steel table. "Come on. Good boy!" He walked over to the doorway where a little girl was anxiously waiting for her pet. "Here you go, Stephanie."

The girl gave him a toothy smile as she took her dog in her arms, saying in a cute little voice, "Thank you, Dr. McCall."

Scott paused, but smiled bashfully. "I'm not a doctor yet."

Jessie smiled at the interaction. She was so proud of Scott when he told her he would be going to school to become a veterinarian. Like Deaton. Deaton was even on board and promised Scott a job at the clinic when he graduated or a recommendation to any job he applied for. Scott was so at ease with the animals, helping them, healing them. It fit him so well.

After Stephanie left with her dog, Deaton pulled out one of the talons Scott had broken off of his attacker last night, inspecting under a magnifying glass.

"Find anything?" Scott asked as he returned to the table.

"Maybe," Deaton murmured. "Are you sure this guy was a werewolf?"

Jessie huffed. "Can we really be sure of anything this early? He had werewolf features, but I've never seen a werewolf or blutbad with claws like that. They don't even look like claws to me."

"I would have to agree," Deaton replied. "As far as I can tell, these claws are actually talons. In fact, they're the talons of a harpy eagle, one of the largest known birds of prey."

"How does a werewolf get talons?" Scott asked, brow furrowing together in confusion.

"Personally, I'm more interested in how these talons somehow were able to absorb your power. The only one who should be able to do that is a Beta of your own making," Deaton said.

Scott turned his eyes down. "Someone like Liam."

"Exactly."

"That would never happen," Jessie said. "Liam wouldn't turn on Scott."

Scott was inclined to agree, but still he asked, "And what if I let someone into my pack? Like another Beta?" He looked up to lock eyes with his girlfriend, remembering their conversation about Theo last night after he showed up out of nowhere.

"Obviously, I don't trust him, Scott," Jessie told him as they got home after Senior Scribe night, sneaking into the house quietly to avoid waking Gavin and possibly Melissa if she was home from work by now. "Didn't the timing seem too convenient for you? He and his family move back to town the night before Senior year, he's a werewolf, and he just so happens to show up right when you and Stiles are attacked by some creature we've never seen before?"

"I know what you mean," Scott sighed. "I just don't want to jump to conclusions."

"It just all seemed choregraphed somehow," she said as she followed him into his bedroom. "Like it was planned to make him look good. What better way to make a good first impression than to show up and help you fight off a power hungry, bloodthirsty villain?"

"I see your point," he admitted. "And I'm not letting him into the pack. If both you and Stiles are this sure that something's not right, then I definitely believe you. I just don't want to start a fight with him if I can avoid it."

"I'm not saying we should take him out," Jessie said as she pulled off her clothes to change for bed while he did the same. "We just don't need to take him in like some stray unless we truly know that we can trust him. We've been burned before."

"I agree," Scott said as he wandered into his bathroom to wash up. "We'll just humor him, keep our distance, see what happens. We'll act if we need to."

Jessie followed him in and started brushing her teeth as he did. They made funny faces at each other in the mirror as they did so before they were done and crawled into bed. Jessie laid her head on his chest, burrowing under the covers. "Thank you for taking me seriously, Scott. I know it's your first instinct to give people the benefit of the doubt. I love that about you. And maybe I've just been burnt out by all we've been through. But my gut feeling says not to trust this guy and those feelings I get have never been wrong. And I don't want anyone to get hurt because we weren't as careful as we could have been."

"You don't have to thank me," Scott said as he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "I trust you more than anything. Well, you and Stiles. And my first priority is the safety of our pack. I won't let anything happen to you." I would die for you, went without saying.

"And I won't let anything happen to you." I would kill anyone who was a threat to you, went without saying.

"I would normally say no..." Deaton's voice brought them back to reality, "...but I'm starting to wonder if the rules to our supernatural world aren't as rigid as I once thought. Or maybe someone's trying to change those rules."

"Thank you for the ride, again," Lydia told Alex as she got into his truck.

"No problem," he answered gruffly. "You're not far from the loft."

Now that Jessie was living with her family again, Alex started staying at the loft she had with Connor. The men seemed to get along well enough as roommates, even if Connor was a bit put off when Alex accidentally moved the couch across the room while training at the in-loft gym.

"I'll get a mechanic to look at my car, figure out what's wrong with it," she murmured, setting her school bag on the ground.

"I can take a look at it," Alex offered. "Took odd jobs when my dad allowed me to act my actual age when we moved around. Construction, cars, handy man. Stuff like that."

Lydia was a little surprised at the offer. Since being back, Alex wasn't as friendly or as open as he used to be. But in his core, he was still the same Alex – sauberbiest or not. "That'd be great. Maybe after school gets out."

He nodded absentmindedly. "Want me to pick you up?"

She nodded as they neared the school. "I'll text you."

"I know his family left town around the time Theo was nine or ten, his older sister died in an accident when he was eight," Stiles said, trailing behind his dad into his office at the station.

"Please go to school," his father begged.

"Dad, this kid's a werewolf," Stiles hissed.

"Your best friend is a werewolf," Stilinski whispered back. "You are dating a witch. I still don't know what Kira's supposed to be. When the flying monkeys come soaring through this station, you will have my undivided attention. Until then, just go to school."

Stiles suddenly pursed his lips at his dad. "What did you do?"

Sheriff Stilinski frowned. "What? What do you mean, what did I do?"

"There's something different about you," Stiles murmured, eyeing his father.

"What are you talking about?" he scoffed.

Stiles stepped forward, prodding and sniffing his dad. "What is it? What's different?"

"For the love of God, Stiles, just go to school," he said, pushing Stiles towards the door.

"I will go if you promise to do a full background check of the Raekens," Stiles 'compromised'.

"No. You know what? Just because I'm the only law enforcement officer who knows anything about this, does not make it my responsibility to do something every time you have a minor suspicion," he reiterated.

Stiles frowned, but then suddenly perked up. "Except you're not the only one."

Stilisnki let out a forlorn sigh before calling his deputy, "Parrish!"

"I can't believe Alec let Parrish bend to your whims," Georgie muttered as she and Stiles met Malia and Kira at the front of the school and ran them up to speed.

"So, you ran a background check, and all you found was a speeding ticket?" Malia asked.

"Speeding ticket signed by Theo's dad eight years ago," Stiles said.

"What's so significant about that?" Kira asked, confused.

"Who speeds? People trying to get away from something," he insisted.

Georgie scoffed. "Stiles, you'd have like seventeen speeding tickets if your dad didn't get you out of them."

"I don't know, Stiles," Malia muttered. "I mean, I see why you're worried. He's really hot. He's got like great hair, perfect body. You should definitely feel threatened."

Stiles stared at her, grabbing Georgie's hand and pulling her closer. "Thank you. Because I do. Now more than ever."

"Oh, your hair's better than his, babe," Georgie cooed, kissing his cheek.

"I have a plan. All right?" he told the girls. "There are steps to doing this right."

"And those steps are?" Kira prompted.

"We get the story. Verify the facts. You find the piece that doesn't fit and... and catch him in the act," Stiles told them. "That's how you do it."

They noticed Theo himself getting out of a car at the drop off, meeting their stares with a friendly expression.

"Why are you so suspicious of this guy?" Malia asked.

Stiles hand tightened around Georgie's as he stared at the foe. "Because I remember Theo from fourth grade. Okay? That's not Theo."

Beth couldn't keep the amused grin off of her face as Mason eagerly trailed after her and Liam with a large book.

"This is the one I was telling you about. I got it from a rare book dealer in Germany. Cost me two hundred bucks, but it was totally worth it."

"You're still reading about this stuff?" Liam lamented.

"Let him be curious," Beth whispered.

Mason gave him an incredulous look mixed with his excitement. "I was attacked by an armor-plated giant wearing a bear skull. It left an impression. Look. Look. Have you ever seen anything like this?"

Liam blanched at the detailed drawing of the beserkers he'd rather not be reminded of. "Uh, no. Never."

"And then there's this whole section about the Nagual. Have you ever heard of the name Tezcat..."

"Tezcatlipoca," Liam flawlessly pronounced without thinking. Mason looked at him and he backtracked. "No. No, never heard of him."

They finally made it into class and into their seats and Mr. Yukimura started, "All right, welcome to History 103."

Jessie felt a swell of pride in her as she walked with Scott into AP Biology class. They took seats at a lab station next to one Lydia and Kira were sitting at. Jessie could see out of the corner of her eye them sort of going back and forth before Kira finally leaned her head forward to ask, "Scott? Are you in the right class?"

"AP Biology," he told them.

Lydia slowly asked, "Do you know what AP stands for?"

He amusedly smiled at them. "Advanced Placement." He and Jessie both grinned as the girl's eyes widened as he opened his book and notebook, filled with organized and highlighted detailed notes.

Mrs. Finch stood at the front and immediately dove into course work. "Welcome to AP Biology. Let's see who's awake. Can somebody tell me what plasmids are?"

Lydia immediately answered, "Circular, self-replicating DNA molecules often used in cloning proteins."

Finch nodded. "Nicely stated, Lydia. Now, can you tell me what vitamin is absorbed in the stomach via parietal cell production of a glycoprotein?"

Finally, the genius blanked. "Uh..."

"B-12," Finch said. She turned her attention to Scott. "Mr. McCall, did you know the answer?"

Scott tensed a bit at being singled out. Maybe he and Jessie shouldn't have sat at the front. "Um, no."

She frowned as if he'd personally disappointed her. "It's a common test question. What's your number one college pick?"

"Um..."

"Stop saying um," she cut him off.

He took a breath. "Sorry. UC Davis."

She now nodded in approval. "Good choice. It's the best school on the West Coast for biological and physical sciences. You're in the right class if that's what you're hoping for." She turned to the room. "Who else thinks they're in the right class?"

A confident hand rose immediately in the back, and they could see Theo grinning in the back. Slowly, the whole class raised their hands. Even as Scott and Jessie shared a wary look over Theo's presence.

"Good. Then you should all be prepared for the test tomorrow."

The class that was confident now all groaned.

"Don't be so disappointed. This test is specifically to help you determine whether you should actually be in AP Biology. You have two weeks to drop. Tomorrow's test will just weed out the ones who shouldn't be here. And that could be any of you."

Jessie didn't like the way her eyes landed on Scott as she said so. They carried through covering the syllabus and the general information that would be covered on the first test before class let out. Jessie lagged a bit behind Scott and the others and stared at Mrs. Finch. "Bullying. Never seen that approach to teaching before."

Mrs. Finch lightly frowned. "Excuse me?"

Jessie just stared, and deadpanned, "No," before leaving to catch up with Scott. She grabbed his hand as he headed outside for their free period – for her it was a free day really – and said, "Don't let her get to you. You've worked so hard to get here; you'll be a terrific vet. You're so good with the animals, and you already know what you're doing most of the time. She must want people to fail so she can seem like such a hard ass or something."

Scott sighed as he sat down on some outdoor steps, setting his pile of books aside. "If I didn't have my genius girlfriend helping me study, I probably wouldn't have been able to sign up for AP Bio."

"Yes, you would have," she said, bumping her shoulder into his before laying her head on it. "You started your academic turnaround before we got together. And you know what you want this time. You have a passion for your future, you just have to put in the work. And this is work worth doing."

"Have you thought about your future career?" he asked curiously.

"I know I'll major in history, just don't exactly know what I'll turn that into," she murmured before they were interrupted by a spastic Stiles coming over.

"Hey! You. You're coming with me. Come on."

"We've got a free period," Scott complained.

"So do I. And so does Theo Raeken. Let's go," he said, pulling them along. They tracked down the sketchy new werewolf and dragged him to the locker room.

"I was skating in a neighbor's empty pool, trying to do a handplant. Nobody was home. I'm not that good of a skateboarder, but I guess I was feeling pretty determined because I completely lost track of time. I didn't even realize that was night until the yard lights came on. Like I said, I wasn't very good. On my last try I went down and hit hard. Really hard. I was sitting there at the bottom of the pool and I realized something. I never heard the board come back down. It came at me fast. I barely had a chance to turn around before it bit me. Right here." He pointed at his side.

"It wasn't an accident. He wanted to turn you," Scott said.

"Right. So why aren't you part of his pack then? Why didn't he come back for you?" Stiles interrogated.

"Because by the time of my first full moon, he was dead," Theo said.

"How did you know that?"

"I met another one of his pack a couple weeks later. He told me the Alpha that bit me was killed by two of his own Betas. They were twins." Scott, Stiles, and Jessie all shared a look, remembering Aiden and Ethan. "Scott, listen to my pulse. I'm telling the truth."

"Right. Or you just know how to steady your heart rate while you're lying your ass off," Stiles insisted.

"We've seen people do that before," Jessie added, reminding Scott with her eyes – Gerard.

"Why would I lie?" Theo asked, frustrated.

"Because maybe you're not who you say you are," Stiles almost yelled.

Theo sighed through his nose. "Okay. In the fourth grade you had an inhaler, I had one too. I remember this day where I ended up in the nurse's office with an asthma attack. A bad one. I was waiting to be taken to the ER. You were waiting for the Principal. You told me what would happen when you go to the ER for asthma. How they give you oxygen, an IV of prednisone. You made it sound easy. Like everything would be okay. I've been by myself this whole time. Everybody knows that lone wolves, they don't make it on their own. I swear I'm that same kid from fourth grade. I was hoping you are too." The bell rang above their heads. "I better not be late for class. You're not the only ones I need to make a good impression on."

"I don't trust him," Stiles muttered.

"I know," Scott said. "I can't really put my finger on what's wrong though."

"Leave that to our resident detective," Jessie said, giving Stiles a look.

Stiles perked up. "Maybe I'll bring in my apprentice too."

"Where's Georgie?" she asked as the three of them left the locker room.

"Lydia dragged her off to help Tracy with some nightmare problem," he said. "Luckily, all of our girlfriends are way smarter than we are."

Parrish looked around Tracy's room after hearing descriptions of her nightmares about an intruder in her skylight. "I don't see any signs of an attempted forced entry. The latch seems okay. You said something about birds, Tracy?"

"The bird was at the skylight. The one that woke me up," the shaken girl said, gesturing up to the window in her ceiling.

"Can I take a look?" he asked. She nodded and he pulled out a chair to stand up and inspect it as the three girls watched. "Tracy, you said the skylight was sealed for weatherproofing."

"Yeah. Why?" the girl asked.

He wordlessly pushed the skylight open with ease. Tracy frowned in fear and looked down. Parrish pushed his head up and peaked out.

"Do you see anything?" Georgie asked as Lydia comforted Tracy.

He started getting down, closing the skylight. He took his Tracy's shaken form. "No. Nothing."

Once they left the house, Jordan told them the truth about seeing a group of dead birds on the roof that looked like they'd been trying to peck their way into Tracy's room. Georgie shivered at the image, remembering an army of birds attacking their classroom last year. She could feel the shattered glass falling around her.

"I can't do anything official right now, but I can come back after my shift tonight and watch the house for a couple of hours," Jordan offered.

"Okay, I'll meet you here," Georgie said. She didn't want to risk anything happening to him before he could help free her sister, Sonia, from the Nemeton where the witches' council had banished her. And she also figured it was time to tell him about all of that.

Jordan gave her an indulgent smile, looking like a big brother to her. "I think I'll be okay."

"But this is your own time," Lydia pointed out.

"I wouldn't do it if I didn't think something strange was going on," he told them. "I also owe you both."

"For what?" Lydia asked.

"Three weeks of digging through every piece of old literature and mythology trying to figure out the something strange going on with me," he told them, as if was obvious.

"But we never figured it out," Lydia pointed out.

"I don't have to worry about school," Georgie said. "I can bring you coffee and conversation. There's also something I'd like to talk to you about."

Parrish let out a not-so-frustrated sigh and said, "Medium Americano. Black."

"So, you think something's up with this Tracy girl?" Alex asked Lydia as he looked under her hood. And that was not a euphemism.

"Parrish found dead birds littering her roof outside a skylight that's supposed to have been sealed for weatherproofing years ago," the genius strawberry blonde pointed out, sitting off to the side in her garage. "Given what happened on scribe night, I'm not willing to count these things as coincidences."

"As you shouldn't, there's no such thing," he agreed, his eyes carrying on their inspection. "Especially not in a place like Beacon Hills. The problem is, how do we put all the pieces together before the big bad picture emerges?"

"With our usual pluck and tripping around in the dark," Lydia quipped.

"Hand me that," he changed the subject, gesturing to a tool he'd laid out on a towel on the ground.

Lydia pursed her lips and picked it up, handing it over. She watched curiously as he worked. "How'd you learn this stuff anyway? On the job?"

"Mostly," he grunted as he worked. "Had to know the basics before getting a job. Used to work on the family cars back when we couldn't afford to take them in or anything. I think."

"You think?" Lydia repeated dubiously.

"Hand me that one," he said, switching out his tool for another.

Lydia wisely didn't push the question again. "Do you think it's possible that Tracy isn't really dreaming? Or that her dreams are becoming real?"

"I'd say anything's possible at this point," he said. "Except for Father Christmas – sorry to break it to you."

Lydia rolled her eyes with a smile.

"So, you found something?" Malia asked as Stiles found her, Scott, Jessie, and Kira at a table in the library.

"Another signature," he said, slapping two pieces of paper on the table. "This is Theo's dad's signature on a speeding ticket from eight years ago. And this is his dad's signature on a transfer form to Beacon Hills High School from just a few days ago."

"How did you get his transfer form?" Kira asked.

Scott gave his friend a look. "Did you break into the Administration Office?"

"No, I did not break into the Administration Office," he denied. But by all their looks of disbelief, they weren't buying it. "Okay, I might have broken into the Administration Office. Can we just focus on the signatures, please? They're different."

Jessie and the others peered at them. "Stiles, we didn't grow up analyzing signatures. Tell us what you're seeing."

"They're completely different," he insisted. He pointed out the differences with his fingers. "Come on. Look. The garlands don't match, the undulations of the sinuous stroke are totally off. And look, look at this. Perfect example of the Criminal Tremor."

"So now, Theo is Theo, but his parents aren't his parents?" Kira asked.

"Someone's not someone," Stiles said. "And when I figure out who that someone really is, someone's in big trouble."

"We can't do anything until we know all the facts, Stiles," Jessie cut in. "If we act blind, who knows what contingency plan there is."

"You really think Theo is bad?" Kira asked her.

"I know I get a bad feeling from him," Jessie told her. "And my feelings have been stronger and more accurate since I turned. I can't ignore them. And none of us should ignore Stiles. He's figured out basically everything when it comes to the enemy. Matt being evil, the trifold deaths being sacrifices, the importance of the Nemeton… Hell, he even figured out Scott was turned into a werewolf before his first full moon!"

Stiles gave Jessie a glowing smile. She was right.

"Jessie's right," Scott said in complete agreement. "Stiles and Jessie are my best friends and have never steered me wrong. I trust both of them completely. I may not have Stiles' investigative mind or Jessie's feelings, but I have them for that. But I don't think we should let on too much that we don't trust Theo until we know what he's planning. Jessie's right, if we go in blind, he could have a backup plan that leads to us getting hurt."

"Okay, but I'm not gonna stop trying to figure this out," Stiles insisted.

"Good, don't," Scott told his friend. "Just be careful."

"Just tell him," Beth told her boyfriend as he got ready to meet Liam at the school gym to work out. "You've been putting it off for way too long. I know you're worried he'll freak out or won't want to be your friend anymore, but you've seen how excited he is about reading about this stuff."

"It's not easy to just come out and say it," he countered.

"He watched the Sheriff blow up a beserker in the school basement, I highly doubt he won't believe you," she pointed out. When she saw how worried he still looked, he stepped forward and took his hand, squeezing. "Liam, I promise it's not going to be that bad. Jessie and the others, they've been through this. With me and others. It's always better when we know."

"Let's go before I change my mind," he said. They quickly made it to the gym just in time to meet Mason in front of the school.

The teen smiled gracefully. "Hey, Beth, you joining?"

"I'm here to enjoy the views," she said teasingly. She shoved her elbow into Liam's side, signaling him to get on with it.

"I have to tell you something," Liam said, clearing his throat. "Actually, I have to tell you a lot of things. A lot of hard to believe things. Really hard to believe."

While he spoke, Mason's eyes had widened at something over his shoulder. "There's a wolf."

"Yeah, I'm getting to that."

But Beth looked behind them to see a real wolf, black fur and blue eyes, behind them. She shoved her elbow in Liam's side again. "Liam…"

Liam turned to see what they were seeing. "That's a wolf."

The wolf growled and snarled at them, baring its teeth. The three of them took off for the school, running away from the beast. Mason and Beth took up the lead, getting up some stairs, when Liam stopped. Liam turned towards the wolf and transformed, letting out his claws and fangs as he roared at the canine.

Mason and Beth watched as the wolf tucked tail and ran away. Beth could feel Mason's eyes widening as he watched his friend transform back to human.

Liam inwardly cringed at what Mason witnessed and what he must be thinking. "There's something I gotta tell you."

Mason adopted a big grin. "You're a werewolf."

Beth hummed, "That was easy." She gave Liam a smug grin. "Told you so."

"How's the stakeout going?" Georgie asked as she handed Deputy Parrish his coffee.

He took a sip. "As far as I can tell, no one's gone in and no one's come out."

"Sorry this has been a waste of time," she apologized, eyeing the dark house.

"I'm just glad Tracy's okay," he assured her.

"There is something I have to talk to you about…" she trailed off, wondering where to start. Witches, her sister trapped in a tree stump, or the concept of soulmates. "I just wanted to wait until the time was right. It's probably more unbelievable than everything else you've already seen. Especially when I have no way to prove it to you."

"Considering everything I've seen with you guys, I think I can keep an open mind," Jordan told her with an encouraging grin.

Georgie let out a slow sigh and geared herself up for the whole conversation. "So, you know I'm a witch. And so is my sister."

"I didn't know you had a sister," Jordan frowned.

Georgie looked down, tears welling in her eyes. She really missed Sonia. She hoped Jordan was the one who could bring her back. "A while ago… we got in some trouble. Sonia was trapped in this tree – well, stump – called the Nemeton."

"I'm sorry," Jordan said, putting an arm around her shoulder. "Nemeton… I've heard that word before."

"It used to be the center of a grove of trees. A sacred meeting place for Celtic Druids. They were scientists and healers thousands of years ago. It's also sacred to witches," Georgie explained. "Sonia protected it. That's why it was chosen as her prison."

"There's no way to get her out?" Jordan asked.

Georgie brushed away a tear on her cheek. "Nothing I can do. She can get herself out if she's strong enough. But the nemeton takes power. I don't think just her powers would be enough to free herself. The only thing that could possibly be strong enough to free her is her… unum."

Jordan was puzzled. "Unum?"

"It's means 'one'," Georgie looked up to him. "Witches, we… have soulmates. That's the easiest way to explain it. An unum bond is the most powerful thing in the world. Our world anyway. It can't be severed by anything."

"So, your sister's soulmate could free her," Jordan surmised. "Do you know who they are? Was she dating someone?"

Georgie shook her head. "My sister's basically raised me since I was four. She hasn't done anything for herself, let alone date. But… I'm pretty sure I know who her unum is."

"Who?"

"Um… you…" Georgie murmured, awkwardly blushing.

Jordan couldn't hide his shock, brows furrowed and mouth agape. "Me?"

Georgie mentally planned how to explain her theory to him. "The moment you and I met, you felt like family. Like part of my coven. We're linked together. It's not like my bond with Stiles, but it's strong. And the only explanation is that you'd be my sister's one, thus part of our coven. I know it sounds absurd—"

"No, it doesn't," he cut her off softly. "I thought it would be creepy to say so, but I kind of felt close to you too. Just figured it was another unexplainable thing about Beacon Hills. But if what you're saying is true… then it makes sense."

"You're not freaked out?" Georgie asked him.

Jordan made a face. "Maybe about the soulmate part. If I'm being honest. I haven't really been in the dating game. Married to the job and all that."

"You sound just like her," Georgie quipped. "I could tell you all about her if you like. Until we get her back."

"I'd like that," he murmured quietly. His face was thoughtful for a moment before he asked her something. "This stump… is it, really big? And looks like it's a thousand years old?"

Georgie gave him a look. "Yeah, why?"

Jordan pursed his lips. "Just, there's this dream I have. I've had it here and there for about six months. I'm walking in the woods, carrying a body. But it's completely burned. I can't see who it is or who it was."

"Where are you taking the body?" Georgie whispered.

"A clearing," he told her. "There's a huge tree in the middle of it that's been cut down. It's just a stump. I've never seen this place."

"The nemeton," Georgie supplied. "It drew you here. That's what it does. It's a beacon for supernatural creatures. It might even make them more powerful. What happens when you get to the stump with the body?"

Jordan stared off into the night as he told her, "I put the body down... I... I lay it down on the rings of the trees and..."

"What?" Georgie asked when he paused.

He lightly shook his head and turned back to her, seemingly normal. "Nothing. That's it. That's the end of the dream."

The Sheriff trudged tiredly through his house on the way to his room, stopping at his son's open door. It was past midnight and Stiles was up at his murder board, writing down Theo's name.

"Usually, we wait until they do something wrong before we declare them guilty."

"Well, he's guilty of something," Stiles said, certain.

"Accusations require proof. And proof always trumps instinct. It has to," the elder said wisely. He had his instincts too. But he could never act on them without actual proof.

"I know, Dad."

"Let it go, Stiles. Get some sleep," the man begged, starting to leave for his own bed.

"Hey, Dad," stopped him in his tracks.

"Mmm-hmm."

Stiles slowly approached his father. "I got it. There's something different. I know what it is."

"Okay."

"You're not wearing your wedding ring anymore," Stiles said softly, gesturing to his father's bare hand resting on the doorframe.

The Sheriff slowly followed his gaze, taking in the tan line around his ring finger. It had been time. And it was also such a small thing for Stiles to notice the way he did. "You're sure this kid's guilty?"

"Absolutely."

"Then all you gotta do is wait," he said. "If they're really guilty, eventually, they make a mistake. They always make a mistake."