[2x04; Abomination]
Stiles gritted his teeth, becoming increasingly annoyed as he listened to the whirling of whatever drill the mechanic was using. He'd been at the garage for two hours already and he was only supposed to be getting a starter. The mechanic had started installing it an hour and a half ago, so clearly something else was going on.
Stiles stomped out of the waiting area and into the garage, heading over to his Jeep, which was ten feet in the freaking air. As far as Stiles knew, the use of a jack wasn't needed to install a starter.
"Hey!" he called to the mechanic. "What do you think you're doing? All I needed was a starter."
The mechanic, a greasy-looking guy only a few years older than Stiles, didn't even bother to look at him.
"Yeah," he shrugged, continuing to tighten bolts on the Jeep. "but it looks like your whole exhaust system has got to be replaced here."
Stiles looked up at the bottom of his Jeep and scowled, seeing that the mechanic wasn't tightening bolts like he thought. He was actually loosening them to take down the exhaust system that looked fine to Stiles.
"Why do I get the feeling you're slightly over-estimating the damage?" Stiles scowled.
"It's probably gonna run you around, like, twelve hundred for parts and labor," the mechanic added.
"Are you kidding?" Stiles exclaimed angrily. "This thing doesn't even have a catalytic converter! And, yes, I know what a catalytic converter is."
The mechanic lowered his tool and turned to Stiles. "Do you know what a limited slip differential is?"
Stiles hesitated, wracking his brain for information, but eventually sighed. "No."
As soon as he admitted that, he regretted it. Hadn't his dad always told him not to admit low knowledge of vehicles to mechanics? They liked to prey on people who didn't know how to fix their own cars.
The mechanic proved his dad right. He turned back to the Jeep and said, "Yeah, it's coming on more like fifteen hundred."
"Okay, just finish," Stiles sighed, aggravated. He left his Jeep and started walking back to the waiting area. "I'll be back here, seething with impotent rage!"
As Stiles reached for the door connected to the waiting room, he found that the knob was covered in sticky goo. He grunted in disgust and wiped the goo off his hand.
"Oh, nice! That's real sanitary," he muttered angrily before raising his voice so the mechanic could hear. "Quality establishment you're running here!"
He opened the door and walked into the waiting room, rubbing off more goo that had gotten onto his hand. He went to sit down in one of the chairs to wait once again, but a framed photo on the wall caught his eye. Upon further examination, he saw that it was the mechanic wearing a lacrosse uniform.
Figures, he scoffed to himself, the dick seems like he and Jackson would be best friends.
Stiles moved on, walking over to the windows so he could see what the mechanic was doing to his precious Jeep. He pulled out his phone, preparing to text Scott to see how he was doing after his run-in with Derek the day before, but his fingers started cramping.
He grunted softly, trying to get his fingers to move, but they wouldn't. A numbing sensation was starting in his hands then and it wasn't long until his phone fell to the floor.
Panic pumped through Stiles' veins as more of his body seemed to go numb and his brain raced with possible explanations to why this was happening. As he started to lose feeling in his arms, he looked out the window to call to the mechanic for help.
Instead of calling for help, Stiles gasped when he saw something crawling around his Jeep. It looked like a disfigured lizard the size of a human being—just like Scott had described the lizard-thing in Isaac's house on the night of the full moon.
Damn it, he thought, this lizard-thing couldn't be here just to say hello.
"Hey," Stiles tried to yell at the mechanic to get his attention and warn him about the lizard. Unfortunately, his vocal cords seemed to be going numb. "Hey!"
The mechanic didn't hear him but the lizard took its opportunity to attack. It swiped its clear claws at the mechanic, slashing the back of his neck. The mechanic whipped around to see what had attacked him and Stiles saw that the lizard had left a straight cut at the top of his spine.
The mechanic fell to the ground below the Jeep and Stiles' lost feeling in his legs; he fell to the carpet, almost completely paralyzed.
Stiles inhaled sharply, trying to gather his wits. If both he and the mechanic were struggling to move, it probably had something to do with the lizard-thing. The goo he touched was some kind of secretion that was in the lizard's claws. But, since the venom wasn't in Stiles' bloodstream, it wasn't effecting him like it was the mechanic.
He gathered what strength he had left in his body and pulled himself across the carpet, trying to get to his fallen phone. Slowly, he inched himself closer to the phone, listening to the pleading of the mechanic and the whirling of something.
When Stiles got to his phone, which was near the glass door, he could see what the whirling was. The hydraulics on the jack seemed to have failed, and the Jeep was slowly lowering. The mechanic was paralyzed underneath the Jeep, watching as it got closer and closer to him.
Stiles struggled to reach out, his hands shaking severely, but managed to flip his phone over. He started to dial nine-one-one, his eyes on the panicked mechanic the whole time.
"Help!" the mechanic cried shakily. "Help me."
Stiles wished he could but there was no way his body would cooperate enough to get to the mechanic on time. The realization that this guy was going to die hit Stiles like a train and he squeezed his eyes shut as the Jeep landed on the mechanic and blood spurted everywhere.
He opened his eyes again when the jack stopped with a clang, his stomach rolling at the amount of blood on the garage floor where the mechanic's body had been. Stiles breathed deeply, trying to get his nausea to go away, and jumped when the lizard popped up in front of the lobby door.
The lizard roared at him, though it sounded more like a screech, and then scurried away.
Just as Stiles thought there was something familiar about the lizard, the emergency operator finally answered his call.
"9-1-1, what's your emergency?"
Across town, Olivia Martin woke from a deep sleep, breathing heavily.
"I told you," Stiles repeated himself, his eyes on the shiny pavement below him. "I just—I walked in and I saw the Jeep on top of the guy. That's all."
He made sure not to make eye contact with his dad, who was sitting with him at the back of an ambulance. He felt horrible having to lie about the mechanic to his dad but what he saw was making him more than a little jumpy.
His hands trembled, both from his nerves and from the leftover paralysis.
Noah noticed. "What's wrong with your hands?" he asked as Stiles curled them into fists.
Stiles shook his hands out. "Nothing," he said sharply, looking through the rain at the various police officers and paramedics. "Can I just get out of here now?"
"Look," Noah started softly and Stiles could hear the pity in his voice. "if there's something you don't think you can tell me—"
Stiles cut him off. "You think I'm lying?"
"No," Noah shook his head adamantly. "of course not. I'm just worried about you," he said sincerely. "Now, if you saw someone do this and you're afraid that maybe they're gonna come back and make sure you don't say anything about it—"
"I didn't see anything," Stiles lied, shaking his head. Images of the mechanic lying helplessly under the Jeep flashed through his mind and he could still hear his pleads for help. "At all. Can I go now, please?"
Noah hesitantly nodded. "Sure," he agreed. "but not in your Jeep. We're gonna have to impound it."
"Dad!"
"Sorry, kid," Noah placed a comforting hand on Stiles' shoulder as he stood up. "Evidence. I'll see you at home."
Stiles huffed and, as Noah walked away, he called, "All right, well, at least make sure they wash it!"
Twenty minutes later, after Stiles had called him for a ride, Scott drove up to the garage. The rain had finally stopped, so Stiles was soaked through when he jogged over to Melissa's car and slid into the passenger seat.
Scott gave him a sympathetic look. "You okay?"
"Yeah. You were right," Stiles told Scott, pressing his lips together. "It's not like you. I mean, its eyes were almost, like, reptilian," he recalled. "but there was something about them."
Scott raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"You know when you see a friend in a Halloween mask but all you can actually see are their eyes and you feel like you know them but just can't figure out who it is?" Stiles looked over at Scott, seeing the werewolf stiffen.
"Are you saying you know who it is?" Scott asked quickly.
"No," Stiles said firmly. "but I think it knew me."
The ringing of Stiles' phone cut through the tense atmosphere his statement had created. Stiles let Scott think about what he said and pulled his phone from his sweatshirt, seeing that it was Olivia calling him.
He answered her call but he wasn't able to greet her before she was talking his ear off.
"Stiles, are you okay?" she said rapidly. "I felt weird and I woke up and I needed to talk to you. What happened? Are you okay?"
"Livvy, hey," Stiles greeted her as Scott started the car and pulled away from the garage. "I'm okay."
"You don't sound okay," Olivia observed and Stiles was surprised she could hear the anxiety and fear that was hidden in his voice. "Tell me what happened."
Stiles sighed, wiping a hand down his face, and began to tell her about his night.
Olivia sighed, holding Sirius still as he squirmed all over her lap, and tried to adjust his collar. Sirius was growing steadily and he finally needed a bigger collar. Unfortunately, that meant that he was restless without the familiar weight around his neck and was acting out when Olivia tried to clip the new one around him.
"Siri, really?" she complained as she fumbled with the clip. "I know you don't like being naked but work with me here."
Sirius didn't work with her and he continued to squirm but Olivia was finally able to clip his collar in place. She huffed as her puppy happily jumped off her lap and ran into the kitchen where Natalie was making her morning coffee.
"Liv," Natalie turned to her as she entered the kitchen. "Can you wake up Lydia before Derek gets here? She's going to be late for her appointment with the school counselor."
"Sure thing, Aunt Nat," Olivia smiled and turned back out of the kitchen.
Olivia climbed up the stairs and went down the hallway, passing her room to get to Lydia's. She was surprised that her cousin wasn't already dressed and downstairs, ready for another day at school. Olivia was always ready before Lydia, but Lydia was always up by six.
Olivia glanced at the clock on her phone, noting the time. 6:20.
She knocked on Lydia's door and let herself in, sighing when she saw that Lydia was still in bed, wrapped up like a burrito in her comforter.
"Time to get up, Lyds," she announced, ignoring Lydia's sleepy moan of irritation. "You're late."
"Go away," Lydia grunted, shifting under her covers.
"Aunt Nat said to get you're gonna be late to meet with Miss Morrell," Olivia reminded her, making her way to her bed.
With everything that had been happening to Lydia—being bitten by Peter, having episodes where she screamed and cried out of nowhere, and attitude toward Natalie and Thomas—her parents had decided that Lydia either went to counseling sessions with Miss Morrell, or her car keys were being taken away. Lydia was not at all happy with the ultimatum her parents were giving her, but she decided that she wanted to keep her freedom.
Lydia groaned in distaste and Olivia sighed.
"You made the deal with them, remember?"
"And I told them I was fine, remember?" Lydia retorted.
Olivia rolled her eyes, knowing that her cousin was far from fine. She had been watching Lydia since her episode at the ice rink and nothing was fine. Lydia was constantly flinching and there were brief periods where she was out of it. Olivia didn't know what Peter's bite had done to her, but it wasn't anything good.
"Oh, please," Olivia grabbed Lydia's comforter and pulled it down. She gasped loudly when she saw a large amount of blood staining the white fabric. "What the hell?"
Lydia sat up, bewildered by Olivia's response, and that was when Olivia saw that Lydia's hands were covered in blood and her knuckles were cut up. Olivia pulled a confused-looking Lydia to her and wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug.
Natalie, seemingly having heard Olivia's exclamation, rushed into the room. She gasped when she saw the bloody mess of Lydia's bed and rushed toward her girls.
"Oh, my God," she held up Lydia's hands, tears coming to her eyes. "What did you do to yourself?"
Lydia didn't answer, her eyes stuck to the opposite side of the room. Olivia and Natalie followed her gaze and saw that her vanity mirror was shattered and blood was smeared around the middle.
"Lydia, sweetheart," Natalie looked back at Lydia. "Why did you do that?"
Olivia squeezed Lydia tightly as she started to whimper. As she rested her chin on Lydia's red hair, she was starting to think that something more was going on with her cousin than she knew.
When Derek had gotten to her house ten minutes after Natalie helped Lydia into the shower, Olivia spilled everything about what had been going on. She told him about her finding Stiles in the dumpster—and scolded him for injuring Scott and letting Erica hurt Stiles—Stiles seeing a lizard-creature at the auto-shop where it killed the mechanic, and how Lydia had punched her mirror in her sleep.
It was worrying her how everything was going to shit. Her confusion about what was happening to her was miniscule compared to how worried she was about Lydia, Stiles, and the situation with the lizard and the Argent family. It seemed like too much at once and she was struggling to keep up.
Derek was bewildered about Lydia, having never heard of the bite effecting someone in that way, and irritated about Olivia scolding him for Scott and Stiles. He was definitely worried about the lizard-thing situation—because they had no idea what it was and how it had killed another person—but he did have some news about Olivia's predicament.
"I did some research," he told her as he pulled up to the abandoned train yard. "and it sounds like purple eyes are pretty rare."
Olivia huffed, unbuckling her seatbelt. "Great."
"Don't worry," Derek consoled her. "I'm going to look for our bestiary to see if there's anything in there."
Olivia furrowed her eyebrows as they got out of the Camaro and walked into the station where Boyd, Isaac, and Erica would be waiting for them. "I thought you said you couldn't find it."
"I checked the vault and it wasn't there. Maybe it's at the house."
"Then it was probably destroyed."
Derek shrugged. "We'll see."
The abandoned train station that Derek and Isaac were currently living was always dark, despite the sunny days that were common in California. There was always water dripping from somewhere and there was a musky smell in the air that made Olivia's allergies go wild. Although she knew that Derek and Isaac couldn't stay in her pool house, Olivia wished that her cousin would just buy a house or condo to live in. The station was no place for anyone to live, let alone a teenager.
But, then again, Isaac was currently hiding from police and they were both hiding from the Argent family.
Boyd, Isaac, and Erica were already warming up for their training when Olivia and Derek walked down the stairs that led to the main area where Derek and Isaac lived. Vernon Boyd was the newest pack member and Olivia didn't know much about him, but she had managed to talk to him at school a couple of times. He was shy and built like a giant but he seemed really gentle and sweet.
Once they arrived, Derek immediately set to work, training Isaac and Erica. Boyd sat on the sidelines with Olivia, waiting his turn, and they made small talk, commenting on what they thought the others were doing wrong as they tried to attack Derek.
Derek would stand still on the opposite side of the room as Isaac and Erica ran toward them, trying to take him down. They had been at it for almost an hour and had used different combinations of tactics to catch Derek off guard. Derek had hardly moved a muscle, yet Isaac and Erica failed every single time.
Isaac crossed the room again, flipping over various obstacles and jumping on a column before lunging at Derek. Derek simply shoved him to the ground like he had been doing and when Erica jumped off the top of the train to get him, he threw her down, too.
Olivia and Boyd gave each other looks of amusement; they had both predicted that Isaac and Erica would fail again.
"Does anyone wanna try not being completely predictable?" Derek asked loudly, his tone very annoyed.
Out of nowhere, Erica crawled to her feet and jumped on Derek, wrapping her legs around his waist. She planted her lips on his and rolled her hips into his as they made out. Olivia, Boyd, and Isaac looked at them in shock and disgust, feeling uncomfortable with what was going on.
Derek abruptly threw Erica off of him and wiped his mouth. "That's the last time you do that."
"Why?" Erica asked scornfully. "because I'm a beta?"
No, Olivia mentally disagreed, it's because you're a minor, girl.
"No," Derek shook his head and gave Olivia a brief look that she couldn't decipher; he turned back to Erica. "because I have someone else in mind for you."
Olivia wondered what he meant by that and why had he looked at her first? Who did she and Erica have in common?
"Are we done?" Isaac spoke up as Erica gave Derek a confused look. "I got about a hundred bones that need a few hours to heal."
Derek cocked his head in sympathy and Olivia was instantly suspicious. Derek wasn't that guy who babied you when you were hurt—unless it was her or Cora when they were kids.
"Come here," Derek crouched down in front of Isaac and grabbed his arm. With one slick twist, Isaac's arm was snapped and he was crying out in pain. "A hundred and one."
"Derek," Olivia warned, giving her cousin a hard look. Isaac was a victim of abuse and while Derek did need to train them, he could do that without being sadistic and violent.
Derek rolled his eyes at her and looked back at his betas. "You think I'm teaching you how to fight, huh?" he asked them harshly, watching at their eyes were on anything but him. "Look at me! I'm teaching you how to survive."
Derek paced away from Isaac, Erica, and Boyd, leaving them to watch him fearfully.
"If they wanted us dead, why aren't they coming for us now?" Isaac asked Derek, eyes wide with fear and anger. "What are they waiting for?"
"I don't know but they're planning something," Derek admitted, turning back to Isaac. "and you, especially, know that's not our only problem."
He waved over to Olivia and she sighed when all eyes went to her.
"The thing that killed Isaac's father killed someone else last night," she told Isaac, Erica, and Boyd. "And we don't know what it is."
"So," Derek spoke up again. "until we do know, you all need to learn everything that I know. As fast as I can teach you."
"I'm so sorry about the other day," Stiles said, looking into Scott's eyes. "I'm trying. We'll get through this. I know because I love you. I love you more than—"
"Uh, did I just walk into something personal?"
Stiles and Scott jumped at the interruption and whipped around to see Olivia. She stood at the bottom of the staircase they were sitting on, clutching her chemistry textbook to her chest. Behind the book, Stiles could see the Star Wars t-shirt she had on and he could have sworn that he was dreaming because there was no way he was lucky enough that his dream girl liked his favorite movies, too.
Stiles, grimaced, pulling himself together, and shook his head. "No, no, no, I'm not confessing my love for Scott or anything," he assured her and turned back to Scott. "You and Allison just have to find a better way to communicate."
"Come on, you're the only one we can trust," Scott gave Stiles sad eyes before looking over at Olivia. "No offense, or anything. I mean, I'm pretty sure her parents aren't happy about her being friends with you."
"They're not," Olivia nodded. "so we message each other on Instagram."
"You have an Instagram?" Stiles asked her, wide-eyed.
Olivia rolled her eyes at him while Scott snapped his fingers at him to get his attention.
"Focus," Scott scolded him. "Is she coming to the game tonight?"
"Yes, okay?" Stiles scowled. "Message complete. Now, tell me about your boss."
Olivia didn't know whether to stay or go—she liked Stiles and Scott and she was pretty sure Scott wasn't mad at her anymore but she wasn't sure they wanted her to hear them talk about their pack business. Scott didn't seem to mind, though, because he didn't wait for her to walk away before he told Stiles about Dr. Deaton.
"He thinks that Allison's family keeps some kind of record of all the things that they've hunted," he said quickly. "Like a book or something."
That sounded familiar, Olivia thought.
"I think he's talking about a bestiary," Olivia spoke up, tapping her manicured nails against the cover of her textbook.
Scott gave her a confused look. "A what?"
"A bestiary," Olivia repeated herself, looking between Scott and Stiles, who had a look of realization on his face.
Scott snickered. "I think you mean bestiality."
Olivia wrinkled her nose in disgust while Stiles rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure she doesn't," Stiles said flatly. "A bestiary is like an encyclopedia of mythical creatures."
Scott's mouth dropped and he stiffened, looking incredulous. "How am I the only one who doesn't know anything about this stuff?"
"Because you never bothered to do research?" Olivia guessed, causing Scott and Stiles to give her annoyed looks.
"Okay," Stiles turned back to Scott. "you're my best friend and you're a creature of the night. It's kind of like a priority of mine."
"Okay," Scott nodded, trying to come up with a plan. "If we can find it and it can tell us what this thing it—"
"And who," Stiles added.
"We need that book," Olivia finished, thinking it over. The chances of Derek finding the Hale bestiary were slim to none, especially if it was in the fire. Getting the Argents' bestiary may be their best chance to finding out what the lizard was and how they could stop it.
Maybe I can talk to Derek and get him to work with Scott.
Scott and Stiles nodded in agreement.
"I'll go talk to Allison," Stiles jumped off the stairs and started running down the hallway.
In Stiles' absence, Scott and Olivia stared awkwardly at each other. Finally, Olivia spoke up, gesturing down the hall, "I'm going to my locker…so, uh, yeah. Bye."
She was halfway down the hall when Scott caught up to her.
"Wait," he said, falling in next to her. "Just so you know, I'm not mad at you."
"Oh," Olivia smiled slightly; she was glad that Scott wasn't mad because she genuinely wanted to be his friend. She hadn't wanted to at the beginning of this whole mess but she somehow ended up caring about him. "Thanks."
"Well, Derek's your family," Scott shrugged as they continued walking to Olivia's locker. "It was kind of a given that you're in his pack."
"Exactly," Olivia nodded. "And just because I'm in his pack doesn't mean that I can't be friends with you and Stiles."
"Right," Scott agreed. "So, how did you know about the bestiary?"
When they came upon her locker, Olivia spun in her combination and opened it. "The Hales have a bestiary," she told Scott as she put her textbook in her locker. "Right now, we don't know where it is. Derek's looking for it but I think it was lost in the fire."
"Damn," Scott frowned. "That would have been helpful."
Olivia nodded. "You're telling me."
Across campus, Stiles approached Allison where she was reading a book outside. He quickly explained what he, Olivia, and Scott had figured out and asked her if she had seen the family bestiary.
Allison giggled. "I think you mean—"
"No, I mean bestiary," Stiles interrupted her. "and the two of you, I don't want to know what's going on in your heads."
"Okay, um," Allison cleared her throat, pulling herself together. "can you describe this thing?"
"Uh, it's probably like a book. Old, worn…"
"Like bound in leather?" Allison asked thoughtfully.
Five minutes later, Stiles was running through the school, trying to find Scott and Olivia. When he finally spotted them next to Olivia's locker, talking about something he couldn't hear, he quickly approached them.
"Yes," he told them, breathing heavily. "She's seen her grandfather with a book like that."
"Well, where does he keep it?" Scott asked him.
Stiles shrugged. "How the hell am I supposed to know that?"
"Go ask her," Olivia suggested, giving him an innocent smile.
Stiles grunted in annoyance and took off, running back to Allison. After he asked her about the book's whereabouts, he went back to Scott and Olivia.
"She says—has to be—office—" Stiles panted, collapsing against the locker next to Olivia's. Olivia clicked her tongue and pulled a tissue out of her purse before dabbing his forehead.
Stiles couldn't even appreciate how caring she was being because Scott asked another question.
"Can she get the book?"
Stiles sighed heavily and grabbed Scott's backpack, opening up the pocket where he kept his no-longer-needed inhaler. He grabbed it and squeezed it into his mouth, breathing in the medicine, before going back to Allison.
"You know, drug dealers have been using disposable cellphones pretty successfully for years," he told her breathlessly, taking another hit from the inhaler.
Allison shook her head. "My parents check ever call, email, and text message I send," she explained. "Trust me, they'd find it."
"All right," he sighed and repeated Scott's question, "Can you get the book?"
Allison blinked thoughtfully. "Not without his keys…"
Olivia winced from her spot next to Boyd and Erica on the bleachers, watching as Number #42 on the opposing team tackled and injured yet another Cyclone. The referees did nothing about what was clearly excessive tackling and the home crowd was furious.
"Come on," Coach shouted loudly from the player's bench. "is that thing even a teenager? I wanna see a birth certificate!"
"I'm pretty sure that's the Abomination," Erica spoke up, shaking her head.
Olivia and Boyd gave her confused looks.
"What?" Olivia asked, looking back at the field. "They call that guy the Abomination?"
"Yeah, my cousin goes to that school," Erica informed her. "Apparently, he's been held back a few times."
"So has Greenberg but he's not that big," Boyd muttered, shaking his head. Both Olivia and Erica chuckled at Boyd's comment, making him smile.
Up ahead, Olivia's eyes landed on Stiles. He was braving the cold in a warm-up suit, likely because he expected that he wouldn't be playing, and had turned around to get her attention. She nodded slightly, not making a sound so she wouldn't get her companions' attention, and Stiles gestured to the other end of the bleachers with his head.
Olivia nodded back in understanding; Allison was ready with the keys.
After Stiles had come back from Allison the last time, he, Scott, and Olivia formed a plan to get Gerard's keys. Once it was decided that Allison would get them from Gerard and then hand them off to Stiles and Olivia, Olivia had sent Allison a message through their Instagram, which was promptly deleted from both party's accounts so Allison's parents wouldn't find it.
Apparently the plan had gone fine so far because now it was Olivia and Stiles' turn.
"I'm gonna go to the concession stand," she told Erica and Boyd, getting their attention. "Do you guys want anything?"
"We're good," Erica smiled. "Thanks."
"Okay," Olivia stood up. "Be right back."
She climbed down the bleachers, weaving her way through families watching the game, and hopped onto the ground. After seeing that Stiles had already left the player's bench, she walked around the bleachers and wasn't surprised to see Stiles waiting for her.
"Do you have them?" Olivia whispered as she walked over to him.
Stiles grinned and pulled the keys out of his pocket, twirling them around his index finger. "I'm James fucking Bond, baby!"
Olivia rolled her eyes and started walking to the school, not waiting for him. "If you're James Bond, I'm Black Widow."
Stiles narrowed his eyes as he caught up with her. "But you didn't do anything."
"Exactly," Olivia smirked at him as they entered the parking lot. She ignored Stiles' annoyed look and stopped when she saw Lydia's car parked a few rows ahead of her. "What the…?"
Lydia had told her that she wasn't going to the game tonight because seeing Jackson was going to be too hard. Olivia had protested, wanting her to come, but she was adamant about staying home.
So, what was she doing here?
"Livvy, what the hell are you doing?" Stiles hissed at her as she started walking over to Lydia's car.
Olivia waved him off when she heard Lydia crying. She was surprised; Lydia hardly cried in public since they were in elementary school. Usually she'd wait until she was behind closed doors and safe with Olivia.
Stiles scoffed and followed her, hovering a few feet away as she knocked on Lydia's door.
"Lyds, what's wrong?" Olivia asked her cousin, concerned; Lydia scoffed and rolled up her window but Olivia just knocked again. "Lydia, come on."
"Just go away!"
"What's wrong?"
"Look, I don't need you to see me cry," Lydia snapped, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.
"Lydia, I've seen you cry before," Olivia pointed out. "and I don't care if I'm the only one who has, okay? So, if you think it's a burden to listen to you vent, you're wrong."
Lydia sniffed. "why?"
"Because you're my sister and I'd do anything for you."
Lydia sighed and rolled down her window so she and Olivia could talk easier. "You're gonna think I'm crazy."
"Trust me, Lyds," Olivia reached into the car and grabbed Lydia's glove-covered hand. "I don't think you're crazy, okay? There is nothing you could do or say that would make me think that."
Loud cheering from the crowd echoed through the parking lot but Olivia ignored it, focusing on her cousin. Stiles, however, couldn't ignore it.
"Hey, hi, sorry to interrupt," he piped in, waving over at Olivia and Lydia. "but we have to go…Livvy?"
Olivia shot him a pointed glare.
"Look," Stiles spoke to Lydia now, ignoring the exasperated look on her face. "can you just give us five minutes? Just stay here, continue crying—or not crying—" he said quickly, seeing Olivia glower at him. "whatever works for you. Just stay here and we'll be right back and then you guys can talk."
"Stiles, just go," Olivia told him. She saw his anxious look and reassured him, "I'll catch up to you, okay? Just call me if you need me."
Stiles quickly looked from the lacrosse game to the school and then to Olivia. "Fine," he sighed. "hurry up, though."
Olivia nodded and Stiles reluctantly left her, running toward the school. Luckily, the school was already unlocked so the players could use the locker rooms, so it was easy getting to the main office. He used Gerard's keys to unlock the principal's office and started searching through the many shelves and drawers around the room.
He went through a whole bookshelf and a filing cabinet—finding nothing but a broad sword that was displayed on one of the shelves—before going through the desk. Unfortunately, there was nothing in those drawers, either, except pens, paperclips, and a boring dictionary.
"Book, book, book," he muttered absentmindedly to himself as he opened up the last drawer in the desk; it was empty. "Damn it."
He pulled his phone from his pocket and sent a message to Olivia and Allison.
Stiles: Nothing here.
A person coming through the door made him jump and yelp in shock but he quickly relaxed when he saw that it was Erica. She smirked at him and giggled.
"Hello, Stiles."
"Erica, hey," he greeted her awkwardly, trying not to give away the reason he had broken into the principal's office. "Whatcha doing?"
Erica grinned at him and quickly lunged around the desk, clamping a firm grip on the back of his neck. She pulled him out of the office and started to lead him down the hall, ignoring his struggles.
"Where are you taking me?" he groaned in pain as they walked through the school. "Why are you doing this? Oh, my God, are you going to kill me? I know you're violent but I didn't think you were a murderer."
Erica rolled her eyes and pushed him into the pool room where Derek was already waiting for them with a basketball in hand.
"Ah, yeah," Stiles grunted in realization as Erica let go of him and stood next to her alpha.
"Stiles."
"Derek."
Derek glanced down at the ball in his hand. "What'd you see at the mechanic's garage?"
"Uh," Stiles rubbed the back of his neck. "several alarming EPA violations that I'm seriously considering reporting."
Derek chuckled, as though he had expected Stiles' noncompliance, and let his claws grow from his nail beds. He pierced the basketball and Stiles watched with wide eyes as it deflated.
"Holy fuck," he muttered, knowing a threat when he saw one.
"Let's try that again," Derek suggested.
Stiles rolled his eyes, wishing that Olivia was here to control her irritating cousin. Derek seriously needed a leash.
"All right," he conceded. "the thing was pretty slick-looking. Um, the skin was dark and kind of patterned. Uh, I think I actually saw scales. Is that enough? Can I go?"
Derek gave him a pointed glare; Stiles groaned in annoyance.
"Ugh, fine," he continued. "The eyes were yellowish and slitted. It had a lot of teeth. Oh, and it's got a tail, too. Are we good?"
Stiles saw the look on Erica's face change from intimidating to fearful. Derek's expression was flat but the look in his eyes were determined.
"Wait, have you seen it?" he asked them. "You have this look on your faces like you know exactly what I'm talking about."
There was hissing behind him and he slowly turned around and looked up. Above him, on the staircase, was the lizard-creature, hissing at them. It suddenly screeched and Stiles jumped back so he was next to Derek.
The lizard lunged for them and Derek crouched, growling as his fangs slipped out. Stiles backed away in shock as the lizard threw Erica to the side as though she was a rag doll, immediately knocking her out.
Derek turned and pushed Stiles further out of the way. "Run!"
As Derek was turned away from the lizard, it lashed out and swiped its claws along the back of his neck. He turned back around to face it and Stiles saw the same straight line that the mechanic had before he was paralyzed.
"Derek, your neck!" Stiles warned him.
Derek reached for the back of his neck and started falling; Stiles rushed forward and grabbed him, wrapping his arm around his shoulder. "All right, come on," he pulled Derek into the pathways between the pools, looking around for the lizard. "Where is it? Can you see it?"
"No," Derek denied. "just hurry. Call Scott."
Stiles nodded and went to pull his phone out of his track pants but he dropped it on the concrete. As he bent down to get it, Derek flipped over his back and fell into the pool, rapidly sinking toward the bottom.
Stiles looked between his phone and Derek before jumping into the pool. He swam down a few feet and grabbed Derek around the waist, pulling him back up to the surface; Derek gasped for air while Stiles spit excess water from his mouth.
Stiles kicked his legs to keep him and Derek up while he looked around for the lizard. "Where'd it go? Do you see it?"
Derek looked around the best he could. "No."
"Okay," Stiles breathed, trying to keep them above the surface. "maybe it took off."
As if disagreeing with Stiles, the lizard screeched again.
Derek and Stiles exchanged a look. "Maybe not."
Stiles. Derek. Erica.
Stiles. Derek. Erica.
Olivia rushed into the school as their names were repeated over and over again in her head. She passed the main office—seeing no signs of Stiles, which worried her—and let her gut guide her around.
She had been finished up her conversation with Lydia about how she was seeing things and having night terrors—which really worried her because Lydia had never been one to have nightmares—when her body started tingling. Lydia had gasped, claiming that her eyes had gone purple and Olivia panicked and fell from the car.
The voices started then and Olivia quickly told Lydia that she'd explain later before running toward the school.
Stiles. Derek. Erica.
She couldn't explain it, but she knew something was wrong with them. It was like a gut instinct, like she knew they were in danger. She wasn't even thinking about where she was walking, she just went where the voices grew louder.
Olivia ended up outside of the pool room and when she burst inside, she saw Stiles and Derek swimming.
I could have sworn they were in danger, she thought.
"Olivia, get out of here!" Stiles shouted at her. "Go, hurry!"
Upon further examination, she saw that Stiles was actually holding Derek up in the water. She caught Stiles and Derek's worried gazes and then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something crawling toward her.
"Look out!"
Olivia turned to the creature full on and saw the lizard that Stiles had told her he'd seen at the auto garage the night before. It was terrifying and more than a little ugly as it sped up, screeching as it ran toward her.
"Shit!" she cursed as she turned to start running.
She tried to run to the doors but as she got closer to escaping, the lizard leaped around her, blocking the exit point. Olivia promptly whipped around and started running toward the pool where Stiles and Derek were floating. Ignoring their warnings, she jumped into the pool to get away from the lizard.
She thanked the school for regulating the temperature of the pool because at least the water wasn't cold. As Olivia broke the surface of the water, she kicked her legs to keep her afloat while shrugging off her coat with difficulty. She threw it on the side of the pool and watched as the lizard retreated from the water, hissing.
"Why is that lizard even here?" Olivia asked after she swam over to Derek and Stiles. She wrapped an arm around Derek's waist and took some of his weight from Stiles.
"How the hell am I supposed to know that?" Stiles snapped at her. He saw Olivia's frown and Derek's glare and sighed. "Sorry. Your cousin's heavy and we've been here for a while."
"It's fine, I know you have a temper," Olivia shrugged.
"I don't have a temper."
"Uh, yes, you do."
"No, I don't!"
"You're getting mad right now."
"Yeah, 'cause you said I have a temper—"
"Will you two shut up?" Derek complained, annoyed at finding himself in the middle of Olivia and Stiles' bickering yet again. "I need you to get me out of here before I drown."
Stiles gave him an incredulous look. "You're worried about drowning?" he asked sharply. "Did you notice the thing out there with multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth?"
"Did you notice I'm paralyzed from the neck down in eight feet of water?" Derek retorted.
Olivia rolled her eyes, finding it ironic that Derek scolded them for arguing just to start up an argument with Stiles himself. "Both of you shut up," she said as she looked around for the lizard. "I don't even see it."
"Okay," Stiles nodded. "Let's go, then."
Olivia and Stiles started working together as they swam toward the side of the pool with Derek held between them. They were only a couple feet away from the edge when Derek started objecting.
"Wait, wait, wait!" he called. "Stop, stop!"
Olivia and Stiles swam in place as they followed Derek's gaze; the lizard was pacing around the pool and had started walking back around to where they were headed.
Stiles groaned in frustration as the lizard hissed warningly at them. "What's it waiting for?"
The lizard slowly walked to the edge of the pool and cautiously placed one of its hands in the water. It immediately hissed in fear and backed away.
"Did you see that?" Olivia asked Derek and Stiles. "I don't think it can swim."
The realization that the lizard couldn't swim didn't make things much easier. Sure, they'd be safe in the pool from harm but they couldn't keep swimming for long without getting tired and they had no idea when Derek's paralysis was going to wear off. They couldn't do anything until Derek was better or if they somehow found a way to contact Scott.
A half hour passed with Derek still unable to feel his body from the neck down while the lizard paced around the pool, keeping its reptilian eyes on them. Olivia was worn out from swimming in place for so long while keeping Derek above water level and Stiles, who been in the water longer than she had but was more athletic, was just as tired.
"Okay," Stiles spoke up breathlessly. "I don't think I can do this much longer."
He went to take his arm away from Derek but the alpha and his cousin immediately began to protest.
"No, don't even think about it!" Derek warned him.
Stiles gave them dirty looks. "Would you guys just trust me this once?"
"I trust you, Stiles, but if you let go of him, he'll drown," Olivia told him. "I can't hold him up myself."
"I don't trust you," Derek said plainly.
Stiles glared at him. "I'm one of the people keeping you alive!" he argued. "Have you noticed that?"
"Yeah and when the paralysis wears off, who is gonna be able to fight that thing, you or me?" Derek replied scathingly.
"That's why I've been holding you up for the past two hours?"
"Yep," Derek tilted his head as he lowered into the water. "You don't trust me; I don't trust you but you need me to survive, which is why you are not letting me go."
Olivia saw the look of contempt in Stiles' eyes. She knew that he didn't like to be challenged and she understood that but she needed him to keep calm until Derek was able to move. If he left her by herself with Derek, he would drown.
"Wait, Stiles," she spoke up as he went to move. "Help me get Derek to float."
Stiles and Derek gave her confused looks.
"Derek can float on his back and I'll spot him," Olivia explained impatiently. "Stiles, you can go get your phone to call Scott. Sound good?"
Derek and Stiles mumbled their agreements, not looking very happy.
"Stop arguing for two seconds so we can work together, okay?" Olivia gave them stern looks. "Stiles jumped in to save you, Derek. Stiles, Derek's gonna fight that lizard for us. So, if you don't trust each other? That's fine but recognize that you need each other right now."
It seemed that what Olivia said got through to the stubborn boys because their scowls disappeared and they quit arguing. Stiles and Olivia worked together to help Derek lay on his back in the water and, when Olivia stayed close to him so he would drown, Stiles swam to the edge of the pool where he dropped his phone.
The lizard approached Stiles, hissing in warning, but Stiles quickly grabbed the phone from the edge and swam away. He dialed Scott's number as he made his way back to Olivia and Derek.
"Scott!" he yelled when Scott answered the phone.
"I can't talk right now."
Stiles gaped at his phone as Scott hung up and looked over at Olivia and Derek with wide eyes.
"Tell me you got him," Derek said as he began to sink.
Olivia grabbed him again to keep him afloat and Stiles swam over, grabbing his other side. Stiles groaned in response and Derek grunted, inferring that Scott wasn't coming to help.
Twenty minutes later, Stiles and Olivia were struggling with keeping Derek's dead weight afloat. Olivia was pretty sure she had swallowed a gallon of pool water and Stiles wasn't faring any better. Derek was no closer to gaining any movement back.
"I can't stay up any longer," Olivia gasped as she kicked her tired legs harder so her mouth was above water. "I need something to hold onto."
Stiles wearily turned his head, looking around for a pool ladder or something that could give their legs relief. To their luck, the diving board was perched at the end of the pool.
"Come on," he breathed, nodding toward the board.
They swam together, slowly toting Derek's body over to the board. Stiles reached for the handle but it was too far away as the last of his energy was spent. The three of them sank into the water.
And then they were flying through the air and landing on the side of the pool.
Olivia blinked rapidly, ignoring the sting of the chlorine, and watched as Scott roared at the lizard. The lizard leaped around the edge of the pool and lunged at Scott, tackling him to the concrete. When Scott rolled onto his feet, the lizard wrapped its tail around his right foot and threw him through the air.
Scott slammed against a large mirror and it shattered, glass falling to the floor along with him. Scott got back up and grabbed a long shard of glass, holding it up at the lizard; the lizard walked up to the glass—Scott ready to strike at it—and looked at its reflection, almost as if it was confused by what it was seeing.
The lizard screeched and jumped over Scott's head before climbing onto the ceiling and jumping out of the sky light.
Olivia, Stiles, and Derek sighed, relieved that Scott had been there to help.
It turned out that the Argent's bestiary was in the flash drive on Gerard's keys the whole time, so the whole night was basically for nothing. As Stiles, Olivia, and Derek got dry and woke up Erica, Scott went back to the main office and swiped Gerard's keys once again.
Once Scott's laptop was booted up and the bestiary was uploaded, Olivia, Stiles, and Scott studied some of the pages. None of the writing was written in English but the language did look a little familiar to Olivia.
"Is that even a language?" Stiles scoffed.
"I think it's some type of Latin," Olivia observed, narrowing her eyes at the text. "Maybe archaic."
Scott sighed heavily. "How are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?"
"It's called the kanima," Derek proclaimed as he and Erica walked over to them.
Olivia raised an eyebrow; she had never heard of a kanima but then again, she had never laid eyes on the Hale bestiary to do any research.
"You knew the whole time?" Stiles asked angrily.
Derek shook his head. "No," he denied. "only when it was confused by its own reflection."
"It doesn't know what it is," Olivia said thoughtfully, recalling the confused look in the kanima's eyes when he saw himself in the glass shard.
"Or who," Derek added.
Stiles pressed his lips together, still frustrated. "What else do you know?"
"Just stories, rumors."
"But it's like us?" Scott spoke up.
"A shape-shifter, yes," Derek explained. "but it's—it's not right. It's like an—"
"An abomination," Stiles finished for him, looking down.
Derek gave Stiles a thoughtful look but eventually nodded. He gave Olivia a look and she nodded back at him before walking over to his side. She, Derek, and Erica went to leave when Scott called out to them.
"Derek, we need to work together on this," Scott pleaded as they turned to him. "Maybe even tell the Argents."
While Olivia narrowed her eyes, Derek scoffed, "You trust them?"
"Nobody trusts anyone!" Scott exclaimed. "That's the problem. While we're here, arguing about who's on what side, there's something scarier, stronger, and faster than any of us and it's killing people and we still don't even know anything about it."
Derek pressed his lips together angrily. "I know one thing," he said lowly as he turned to walk away. "When I find it, I'm gonna kill it."
Olivia gave Stiles an apologetic look as she turned and followed Derek.