"Don't you understand my dear?

Hold on the end is near

There is nothing left to hide

When you're helpless, waiting to collide

Through the flames you're by my side

We'll go down together"

Immortalized by Hidden Citizens ft. Keeley Bumford

"You know, I'm surprised you want my help. Science is always your best subject," I said the moment I walked into Scott's room. Setting my bag down, I plopped down on the edge of his bed and began pulling out my textbook, notebook, and index cards. "And it's usually my worst, which isn't saying too much, but still."

Scott grabbed his book from his desk and sat on his bed on the other side of my study materials. "I just want to stay on top of things this year," he replied, shrugging his shoulders and curling one leg under the other. "I think it'll be easier if someone's holding me accountable. And you have way better study habits than I do." He gestured to the blank index cards that were waiting to be filled out.

Lifting an eyebrow, I smirked at the werewolf. "Oh, Scotty, just say you like my company."

He grinned and laughed, opening his book. "Alright, I like your company. Is that a crime?"

"Oh, no, just don't make a habit of it."

Scott peeked up from his textbook with a curious expression. "And why not?"

"Stiles might think he's being replaced." I playfully winked and he laughed again. "Although, I wouldn't be opposed to seeing his face contort in annoyance like a cartoon character. Always so much fun. Now, what d'ya want to start with?"

After a few hours of studying and cracking dumb jokes, Scott's stomach rumbled. I grinned and looked up from what I was writing on a blank card. "I thought you were part wolf, not part dying whale." He looked like he wanted to retort and even opened his mouth to try and say something, but nothing came out. "Oh, what, fifteen years of being besties with Stiles Stilinski and no comeback?" He shook his head, pursed his lips, and turned back to his notes. He definitely wanted to say something. "Scott?"

"Nothing, nothing," he mumbled, not looking up at me.

I gently kicked his shin. "Scotty. . ." I dragged out. His phone then beeped. I glared at him. "Saved by the bell."

Scott chuckled as he picked up his phone, looking at it. "Oh, right, I need to bring my mom dinner."

"Aw, and your tummy remembered before your phone did," I teased.

"Do you wanna come with?" he asked, jutting his thumb towards the door. "Get something to eat? The hospital will be a quick trip."

"Yeah, sure." I stood up and grabbed my coat, tugging it on when my eyes caught the spare helmet he had for his bike. "We taking my car or. . ." I pointed to the helmet.

Scott eyed the helmet for a moment. "Do you want to?"

Biting my lip, I looked back at the helmet. Do I? Never been on a motorcycle before. "Hell yeah." I snatched the helmet and followed Scott out of the room and outside. Once we were at his bike, he climbed on first and I immediately rethought my decision. Crap. Why am I doing this? Putting the helmet on over my beanie, I climbed on behind him and wrapped my arms awkwardly around his torso. Fuck me.

"You good?" Scott asked as he started up the bike.

Oh, right, he can probably smell my anxiety and worry and hear my quickening heartbeat. "Yeah, I'm good." I squeaked and my arms tightened around him as he sped off. Why did I do this? I felt him laugh but he didn't say anything. Thankfully, otherwise, I'd be tempted to set him on fire.

I forced him to let me pay for the food then we went to visit his mom at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. Outside the hospital were ambulances. "That doesn't look good," I muttered as I took off the helmet and fixed my beanie, still holding the food.

"Yeah, I wonder what's going on," Scott said, taking the helmet from me and putting both helmets on the handles of the bike. He took the bag of his mom's food from me and we went inside to find patients everywhere and nurses rushing about.

When Melissa turned around and spotted us, Scott held up the takeout. She immediately looked relieved and started walking towards us with a smile. "I'm starving," she said, foregoing all pleasantries. Melissa took the food and set it down on the counter of the nurse's station. "Oh, I'm sorry." She turned back around to us, where both Scott and I looked amused. "I'm sorry. Thank you for bringing me dinner." She embraced her son and gave me a half confused, half grateful smile. She was probably confused about why I was with Scott.

"Is everything okay?" Scott asked as they pulled out of the hug.

Melissa glanced around at the chaos that was the inside of the hospital. "Except for half the accident victims in a ten car pile-up being rerouted here from downtown, and the E.R. attending not answering any of his pages, yeah, I'm okay."

"What does not answering pages mean?" Oh, Scott, at least you're pretty.

"It means that nobody can find him, so now we have to wait for the on-call to get here," she explained.

A bleeding woman came up behind Melissa. "Miss," she said, grabbing Melissa's attention.

Melissa turned around. "Yes?"

"Excuse me, can I kind of please have something for the pain?"

Melissa gently put her hands on the woman's arms. "Okay, I'm sorry. I know. But, actually, giving you something could complicate things, so we really just need to wait for the doctors." Melissa escorted the woman to the waiting chairs then returned to the nurse's station. "How much longer on Dr. Hilyard?"

"Ten minutes," the older nurse answered while on the phone.

Scott glanced at me then moved to avoid a gurney and EMTs. I watched as he sat down beside the woman in pain. "Uh, you know, I think that I read online that sometimes human contact can help with pain," he said gently, trying not to sound weird. The corner of my lips curled up as I realized what he was doing. The woman continued whimpering then Scott placed his hand on top of hers. Black veins crept up his arm as he took away her pain. The woman gasped at looked up at Scott as though he was a gift sent down from Heaven. To be fair, that was a good definition of the wonder that is Scott McCall. Very little concern for himself, only for others.

"Someone-someone help me!" a familiar voice cried. I snapped my head towards the sound to see Ethan half-carrying Danny into the hospital. "Oh, I need help!"

"Danny," I gasped. I hurried over to Danny's other side, helping Ethan with his weight. Scott and Melissa ran over, too, as Ethan and I brought Danny over to a chair.

"Okay, gentle, gentle, gentle!" Melissa said as we set him down. Danny cried out in pain.

Scott grabbed Ethan and pulled him back so Melissa could figure out what was wrong with Danny. "What did you do to him?" Scott questioned.

"Nothing," Ethan replied. "He said he was having chest pains and trouble breathing, but it-it just kept getting worse." Based on Ethan's concerned look as Melissa used her stethoscope, I believed him.

"This is not good," Melissa said, pressing her hands on either side of Danny's throat. She looked up at the nurse at the counter. "How much longer on Dr. Hilyard?" The nurse shrugged. "His larynx has shifted to the side. I think it's a tension pneumothorax."

I jumped back as Danny surging forward, vomit rocketing out of his mouth. I would be more disgusted at the vomiting if I didn't spot what was in it. "Mistletoe," I blurted, looking up at Ethan and Scott. Ethan looked pissed as Scott looked confused.

A male attendee helped Melissa get Danny onto a bed and rolled him into one of the rooms, with Ethan, Scott, and I following them. "Can you three please go back to the waiting room?" Melissa requested.

"Where are the nurses and the doctors?" Ethan asked, ignoring Melissa's request as the bed was stopped in a spot between two others. The male attendee left to help other patients. "Where is everyone?"

"It's a full house tonight," Melissa told him. "They're tending to other patients."

"Okay, well, Mom, how can we help?" Scott asked.

"Honey, you can't. His lung is collapsed. His heart is being pushed against his chest cavity, so. . ." She trailed off.

"He's gonna die, isn't he?" Ethan did not look happy with Scott's words.

Melissa glanced at the door to the room. "No. No, he's not." She turned back to us. "Scott, you grab the tape." She pointed to the drawer by the bed then at Ethan. "You grab those scissors and cut his shirt open." Melissa turned around and opened a drawer as Ethan tore open Danny's shirt, not bothering with the scissors. Melissa grabbed a huge needle as Danny continued to grunt and groan. "Okay." She started massaging a spot on Danny's shoulder, looking for something.

"Mom, he's not breathing," Scott pointed out.

"I know, I know." Her fingers stopped on a spot. "Okay." Melissa then jabbed the needle into Danny. She did something with the valve and Danny took in a breath. Melissa pulled back on the plunger and then Danny exhaled slowly. "Okay, here we go." Melissa pulled the needle out of the human boy.

"Thank you," Danny muttered, looking up at her as she kept the pressure on the needle wound.

Melissa smiled. "No problem." She then looked up at us supernatural teenagers, all with varying expressions of shock, relief, and admiration. "What?"

"That was awesome," Scott told her.

She laughed a little. "It was no problem, you know? I mean, it wasn't a big deal."

"You're downplaying it," I pointed out. "That was badass, Mama McCall."

Melissa laughed some more. "Thanks for that assessment. You should probably get going. I've got it from here."

Scott nodded. "Right, yeah. Love you, Mom."

"Love you, too, sweetheart."

Scott and I then left the room. I spotted his expression as we walked. "You're mom's pretty great," I told him.

He smiled. "She is."

As we walked up to his bike outside the hospital and he grabbed his helmet, Scott noticed Ethan on his way over. Ethan held up his hands as he went around the other side of the bike. "I know you're not gonna believe me, but I didn't do anything."

"All I know is that the minute you got here, you went right for Danny, and your brother went for Lydia."

"Which none of us are particularly happy about, might I add," I chimed in.

Ethan shook his head. "We're not gonna hurt him."

"Why should I believe you?" Scott asked.

"Because we knew one of them was gonna be important to you, and now we know it's Lydia."

That doesn't mean we don't care about Danny. Danny's awesome. Everybody loves Danny.

Scott's head twitched to look past the alpha werewolf. I looked to see what he was seeing. A car was swerving as it drove through the parking lot towards us. Scott set his helmet back on the handle of his bike. With one final swerve, the car turned and crashed into a parked car. Dropping the bag of food I was still holding, the three of us ran over. Scott opened the driver's side door.

"What the hell?" I muttered. No one was in the driver's seat. Scott looked around then stopped, eyeing something on the seat. "What is it?" Scott picked something up and held it so Ethan and I could see.

It was a large, dead moth.

The Sheriff's Station and Stiles were called and Sheriff Stilinski was the one to take mine, Scott's, and Melissa's statements as Stiles stood next to us.

"Two missing," Scott said.

"Hang on, hang on," Noah cut in. "They were both in the car?"

"No, Dad, they're trying to tell you that it was two separate kidnappings, okay?" Stiles corrected. "Two doctors, both gone."

"So whose car is this?" Noah asked.

Melissa answered, "Dr. Hilyard, the on-call doctor. The E.R. attending is the one that never made it in."

Noah turned to Melissa. "Let me just focus on getting your story first, all right?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

The sheriff turned back to us teens. "Kids, give us a second."

We nodded and made our way towards Scott's bike. I sighed loudly as I pulled off my beanie to run my hand through my hair and rub the back of my head. "We were just supposed to go out for dinner."

"Wait, you what?" Stiles asked. Why does he seem so shocked by it?

"Never mind that," Scott said, waving his hand. "These are definitely sacrifices, right?"

That brought Stiles back to the matter at hand. "Yeah, it's one Deaton mentioned: healers."

"What about Danny?" I wondered. "He threw up mistletoe. Last I checked, he isn't a healer, but there's no way in hell it's a coincidence."

"And if he hadn't been with Ethan, he probably would've died," Scott added.

Stiles shook his head then looked behind Scott. "Can you hear that?" He pointed to his dad who was talking on the phone.

Scott turned and listened in then turned back to us. "They found a body."

A deputy gathered our witness statements because Noah went to check out the new crime scene, and then we were allowed to leave.

Scott groaned and fell back on his bed once we entered his room again. "Just once, just once, can we have a normal week?" he quietly asked, staring up at the ceiling.

I chuckled and set his spare helmet and the bag of takeout on his desk. "Not likely." I then began packing up the things that I had left scattered around the foot of Scott's bed. "I should, uh, probably head home."

Scott sat up with a worried expression. "Are you alright?"

I paused, looking at him. "Yeah, yeah, it's just. . . the Darach is after healers, right?" He nodded slowly. "My mom is a psychologist which is a doctor, and Riichi is a literal healer. I need to go check on them."

Scott frowned in concern. "Right. Well, if you need anything, and I mean it, anything, call, okay?"

I gave him a smile. "Thanks, Scotty. I hope I don't need to take you up on that." And with that, I left Scott's house, driving back to mine.

The moment I opened the front door and walked in, I yelled, "Mom! Riichi! Mom!" I tore off my boots, tossed aside my bag, and hurried further into the house. Almost running into my mom as I passed through the living room, I skidded to a stop and attacked her with a hug. "Oh, thank god."

"Whoa, is everything okay?" she asked, reciprocating my hug and probably shocked I was even hugging her. I couldn't remember the last time we had hugged.

Thudding footsteps ran into the room. "What's going on?" Riichi asked. I turned around and hugged my big brother, too. "Imōto, what's wrong?"

I pulled back and looked at him. "Two doctors were taken tonight." Riichi's jaw dropped open.

"What do you mean?" my mom asked from behind me.

Riichi and I turned to her. "Mom, we didn't tell you everything the other night," Riichi said, picking at his fingers. He took in a deep breath and looked at me then gestured to our mom with his head.

Glaring at him, I realized he wanted me to tell her. While we had successfully talked her down the other night from hating werewolves to only hating hunters, which she had been at before Riichi's supposed death, we hadn't told her everything that had been going on. We told her about the Alpha Pack that wanted everyone dead but not about the human sacrifices.

Sighing, I looked at Mom. "You know the Druids, right?"

She nodded. "Yes, Alan is one. They help other creatures as emissaries."

"Well, when one goes bad, it's called a Darach." I paused for a moment. "And one is currently in Beacon Hills committing human sacrifices."

"Wait, rewind," she said, shaking her head. "When did this start?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, thinking of when the first one happened. "Uh, the night school started. A girl named Heather. Virgin sacrifice. Two more virgins were killed after her, trifold death. Then three warriors. Now three healers. Two doctors have gone missing so far and a body was just found, so that might be one of them."

She raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. "And how do you know all of this?"

"With the combined effort of me, my friends, and Deaton, we figured out the pattern." She didn't look amused. "Mom, just focus. You're a doctor and Riichi is a healer. I wanted to check on you, make sure nothing happened. I'm worried."

Mom's shoulder's relaxed and she reached forward, pulling me into a hug. "Thank you, but we'll be fine. We're kitsune. We won't go down without a fight."

That night, Riichi and I barely got any sleep. Much to our parents' chagrin, we watched over Mom all night. I was also watching over Riichi. Our family was slowly becoming whole again. I wasn't going to let either of them disappear on me.

The following morning, running on about three hours of sleep, I got ready for school. To be fair, there were days I had gotten even less sleep because of finals or other reasons, so I didn't mind the lack of a good night's rest, just made sure to get coffee before school. I continued to wear my tail under my shirt, though, due to my continued sense of unease.

After my first class, Isaac stopped me in the hall. "Hey, I'm going to skip out on the rest of the day," he told me. "Boyd has an idea on how to protect Derek from the alphas."

"Okay, if you need help, call, okay?" I told him. "With anything."

He nodded. "Will do." Isaac placed a quick kiss on my forehead before scurrying off.

I slid into my spot in Physics in front of Scott and Stiles. "How are they?" Scott asked.

I shrugged and sighed. "Mom doesn't seem worried at all, but Riichi is gonna be spending the day with her, so at least neither will be alone, you know?"

"That's good. How are you?"

I smiled at the werewolf. "I'm fine, Scotty. Don't worry."

"I'm sorry, have you met me?" he blurted. I snorted and laughed, turning back around to face the front of the room.

In walked Ms. Blake, who set down a textbook on Mr. Harris' desk. "Good morning," she greeted awkwardly. "As you all know, Mr. Harris is still missing-I mean, sick." Oh, awkward. She folded her hands in front of her. "Anyway, I'm filling in while we all hope and pray for a more qualified substitute to take my place." Aren't we all? Honestly, something about her bugged me, but I couldn't place my finger on it. "Okay, so let's get started, shall we?"

As she walked around the desk to start writing on the board and figure out what to teach us all, I heard Stiles start whispering to Scott. "Hey, my dad said that the E.R. attending wasn't strangled but did die from asphyxiation. They just don't know how."

"Do you think the on-call doctor could still be alive?" Scott asked quietly.

"I don't know, but Scott, there's got to be at least twenty other doctors in that hospital-at least, you know? Any one of them could be next. And that's not including private practice doctors, therapists, other types of healers. . ." He trailed off.

"Hey, Doc," I heard Scott say. I turned my head to see that he had gotten a call. Based on his wording, I assumed Deaton, who was also a doctor. "Sorry, I'm in class right now. Can I call you back later?" Scott listened to Deaton's reply. "Doc, Doc, Doc, Doc? What's happening?" He put his phone away, probably not getting a reply. He looked up, making eye contact with me. "Deaton's next." He raised his hand, getting Ms. Blake's attention. "Ms. Blake, can I go to the nurse, please?"

"Oh, yes, of course," she said, waving her hand towards the door. Scott practically ran out the door with his things.

Stiles got ahold of his dad, telling him about Deaton, but waited with me until class got out so things wouldn't be suspicious with all three of us leaving at once. The moment the bell rang, Stiles and I rushed to the parking lot and to his Jeep. I climbed in the passenger side and Stiles started up the vehicle. He then drove us to the vet clinic.

When Stiles and I entered, Scott was finishing up giving his statement to Mr. Stilinski. The sheriff wasn't surprised to see us walk in. He patted Scott on the shoulder. "Alright, we're gonna do everything we can," he told the werewolf. "Right now, the best thing you can do is go back to school." He looked at all of us. "All of you." He then turned and took a few steps to talk to his deputy.

Scott looked at me and Stiles and motioned with his head to a door leading to where the animals were held when kept overnight. Stiles and I followed him into the room. Scott turned to us after shutting the door. "We have to tell him," he said.

"You mean, like, tell him, tell him, or tell him something else that isn't telling him what I think you want to tell him?" Stiles responded.

My face twisted up in confusion. "If I understood that correctly, the first one," I answered. "I've told you before. You need to tell him before something terrible happens."

Stiles leaned on the cages. "Remember how Scott's mom reacted? She didn't look him in the eye for, like, a week."

I rubbed my temple. "She was held hostage. Of course, she reacted negatively."

"And she got over it," Scott told him. "And-and it actually made us closer."

Stiles shook his head, looking out the window of the room at his dad and the deputy. "I don't know, I mean, look at him. Come on, he's completely overwhelmed as it is."

Scott was sympathetic but remained firm on his stance. "He's overwhelmed because he has no clue what's happening. He's got people dying in his town, the town that he's supposed to protect, and it's not his fault that he doesn't know what's happening. He's gonna find out sooner or later."

"Okay, but is now really the right time?"

"What if not telling him now gets someone else killed?"

"What if telling him gets him killed, huh?" My heart ached at his words. Of course, that's what he was worried about. He wasn't worried about telling his dad. He was worried about what would happen if he did. "I mean, okay, look, I get that Deaton's been like a father to you. I get that, okay? But this is m-Scott, this is my actual father. I can't. . . I can't lose both my parents, alright? Not both of them."

"You're right," Scott said.

Stiles sighed. "No, I'm not. I'm not right. I'll tell him."

"We'll help you," I said. "We can help ease him into it by shifting. Non-harmful proof."

Scott nodded, agreeing. He then started towards the door and we followed. Once we left the room, we stopped to see Ms. Morrell talking to the police. "Please, whatever you need, however you can help find my brother," she told them.

Scott, Stiles, and I glanced at each other. Wait, so not only is she working with the Alpha Pack, she's also Deaton's sister?

"Will you excuse us for a moment?" Noah requested.

Morrell nodded and watched the sheriff and deputy walk past the gate to the front of the clinic. Morrell then turned to us and walked over, a stern look on her face. "Okay, listen closely," she told us. "No sheriff, deputy, or detective is going to be able to find him."

"You don't have to ask us for help," Scott said.

The slightest bit of amusement showed. "Actually, I'm trying to help you, because if you're going to find my brother, then you need to use the one person who might actually have an ability to seek out the supernatural."

"Lydia," Stiles realized.

Before heading back to school, Stiles and I stopped at the store and grabbed a ouija board. I had given him a skeptical look, but he told me to just roll with it, so I shrugged. It wasn't like I had any clue on how to work Lydia's powers either.

We got to the school to find the fire alarm blaring. Knowing there was no actual fire because there never is one when the fire alarm goes off, Stiles and I went in through a side entrance to find Lydia, not having seen her outside. We walked through the boy's locker room to avoid a teacher and spotted Lydia in Finstock's office with Cora who grabbed Lydia's wrist.

"Let go," Lydia demanded. When Cora didn't comply, Lydia tried again. "I said-"

"Let go," Stiles interrupted, his voice sterner than Lydia's had been.

"Cora let go," I said, quirking an eyebrow at her. Cora begrudgingly dropped her hand from Lydia's wrist. "Come on. We need to talk." Lydia looked smug as she was about to leave Finstock's office from the other entrance. "You, too, Lyd." She scowled as she turned back to us.

With the fire alarm no longer going, the four of us made our way to the empty science classroom, explaining to Cora and Lydia what had happened with Deaton on our way. Lydia and Cora sat down at a lab table, and I pulled up a stool from the other side to face them. Stiles pulled out the ouija board from his backpack.

"A ouija board?" Lydia questioned, looking up at Stiles unamused.

"Also called a spirit board, and it's worth a shot," Stiles argued as he opened the box and pulled out the pieces.

"A shot in the dark."

"Could you just try it, please, okay?"

Lydia looked at me after fixing Stiles' set up of the board. "You're really on board with this?"

"Honestly, I've given up trying to argue with him," I told her with a shrug. "And I'm willing to try anything to help find Deaton. He's helped us more than enough to try and help him."

"Oh, wait, should we all do this?" Cora asked, gesturing to the board.

Stiles looked at it for a moment then answered, "Yeah, yeah." The four of us put our fingers on the planchette. "You guys ready?"

"Yeah," Lydia muttered, definitely not wanting to try it.

"Yes," Cora said more firmly, and I nodded along with her.

Stiles looked down at the board. "Where's Dr. Deaton?" When nothing happened, we looked up at Lydia.

"What?" she asked, glancing around at us.

"Aren't you gonna answer it?"

"Oh, I don't know the answer. I thought we were asking some sort of spirit."

"Well, do you know any spirits?" Cora asked seriously.

Lydia pointed at Cora while looking at Stiles and I. "Is she for real?"

Cora groaned, taking her hands off the planchette.

"Yes, she is," I answered the redhead, also taking my hands away. "Technically speaking, I'm a spirit. My mom and brother are spirits. Or at least we have spirits. Spirits are real."

"Okay, that's enough of that," Stiles said. He put the ouija board and planchette away then pulled out keys from his pocket and held them out. "Okay, these are Deaton's keys for the clinic. Close your eyes, and I'm gonna put 'em in your hand, and then we're just gonna try and see if you can feel out for his location." Cora turned to me with disbelief clouding her face. I shrugged and shook my head. "It's called psychometry."

"I'm not a psychic," Lydia corrected.

"You're something!" Stiles exclaimed, losing what little patience he had. "Okay? Just, Lydia put out your hand." Cora rolled her eyes at them, and I rested my chin on my hand as I watched Lydia close her eyes and hold out her hand. Stiles set them in her hand and she made a small noise. "What?"

She looked at him as she rubbed the keys in her hand. "They're cold."

"Lydia, concentrate, please? Trying to save lives here, for the love of God." His voice got quieter as he leaned on the lab table. The three of us watched the redhead intently. Her face morphed into frustration. "Yeah, what is it? What do you see?"

She opened her eyes. "Nothing."

I groaned and put my face in my hands. "This is hopeless. We'd have better luck getting some of Deaton's clothes and sending the wolves out to sniff for him."

"Not helping, Sara," Stiles muttered. "I've got one more idea. It's called automatic writing." He pulled out a notebook and pencil from his backpack, setting the paper in front of Lydia and holding out the pencil for her to take.

"Automatic writing?" she repeated. He nodded. Lydia grabbed the pencil, blew a raspberry, and turned to the open notebook. As she set upon the paper, Lydia immediately began doing something.

Moving closer, I noticed she was drawing something. "Lyd, what is that?" I asked.

"A tree." A well-drawn tree, too.

"A tr-" Stiles cut himself off, about to burst a blood vessel in his head. "Lydia, you're supposed to be writing words, like in sentences, something like a location, something that would tell us where he is."

"Well, maybe you should've said that." I snorted at her statement.

"Isn't she supposed to be some kind of genius?" Cora asked Stiles and me.

"Genius? Yes," Lydia agreed quickly. "Psychic? No. Honestly, I don't know why you're even bothering with me anyway. I mean, especially since it's obvious you should be talking to Danny."

"What?" Stiles questioned. "Why Danny?"

"Because," another voice said. I turned to see Scott standing just inside the door to the classroom, holding his shoulder. "Last night, he was a target. But he wasn't a sacrifice."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What's wrong with your shoulder?" Scott walked over to us, taking his hand away to show me. Blood covered his hand and his shirt. "Scotty, what happened?" I stood and peeled open his green flannel to get a look at the wound. It wasn't healing. "This is gonna hurt."

"Just do it," Scott said, gritting his teeth. Setting my hand on the wound, I burned it closed so it would stop bleeding. "Deucalion was here." That explained the wound and why it hadn't been healing as fast as it normally would.

"We need to go see Danny," Stiles said, not focusing on the Deucalion part and picking up his backpack. Scott pulled on his jacket and backpack as we left the classroom just as the bell rang.

"But isn't Danny still in the hospital?" Cora asked.

"Yeah, that's where we're going right now," Stiles answered.

"We'll meet you there," Scott said.

"What?" I asked, looking at him confused. Scott showed Stiles and me his phone. On the screen was a text from Allison. I think I found something. I looked back up at him. "Wait, so who's 'we?'"

"Well, unless you wanna go with them to the hospital," Scott said gesturing to Stiles, Lydia, and Cora. "Three people is already a lot."

I shrugged and shouldered my messenger back. "Sure, Scotty. I'll run interference between you and your ex. Lead the way."

He shook his head as we began walking away from the others. "That's not why I was inviting you." I didn't believe him but didn't say anything anyway, following him out of the school.

The drive to Allison's apartment building was quick on his bike. He rocked on his heels during the elevator ride up. I glanced over at him amused. "Relax, Scott. You're acting like we're on some sort of suicide mission."

"I'm just worried," he muttered.

"I know." I gave him a soft, reassuring smile. "We'll find him, okay? But you need to stay calm. Impatience is supposed to be mine and Stiles's thing."

Scott took in a deep breath and nodded as he exhaled. "You're right."

"Of course, I'm right. When am I wrong?"

Allison opened the door shortly after Scott knocked. "I'm so glad you got here fast," she greeted, leading the way into the apartment and to her room. "I've been a little suspicious of my dad for the past few days, so I was looking through one of his drawers and I found this." She picked something up from her dresser and held it up just as the elevator outside dinged. The three of us turned our heads. "He wasn't supposed to be back yet."

"What do we do?" Scott asked. "Where do we go?"

Allison turned and opened the closet door. "Get in." She shoved us inside and closed the door behind us.

Scott caught me before I could trip and fall. "Thanks," I whispered as he slowly let go of my waist as I righted myself. We were pressed up against each other in the small space with the door on my back and the potentially noisy hangars behind him. Outside the closet, I heard Allison crawl into bed, probably so she could pretend to be sick or something if Chris walked into her room.

For a few moments, neither Scott nor I moved, waiting and listening. I felt something moving below. It didn't take long for me to realize what was going on. Terrible time to be turned on, Scotty.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my voice a bare whisper.

He glanced at me then looked back up, continuing to stare at the door behind me. "Nothing."

I glanced down then back up at his face. "Part of you is doing something."

Scott looked at me, glanced down, and realized. "Oh, sorry." He didn't know what else to say.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. "Scott, I will stab you. With an actual knife."

"I kind of don't have control over that." I quickly brought my hand up to cover my grin and muffle the small chuckle that escaped. Scott couldn't help but smile while still slightly mortified. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be."

He raised his eyebrows. "Don't be?" I shook my head. "W-why?"

It's a natural body function. It's only weird if you make it weird. There are worse things. You're more embarrassed than I am which is enough punishment. The answer could be a number of things, but only one truly matched what I was thinking.

"Because I don't mind."

He didn't get the chance to respond as we heard footsteps and a closing door. Then another closing door. I opened the closet door to see Allison climbing out of her bed. She motioned for us to follow her and she brought us down the hall to her dad's office. Scott closed the door after we entered.

"See this map?" Allison asked, pointing to the map on her father's desk. Scott and I looked at it. It showed part of Beacon Hills. "Last time we were in here talking, my dad put a book over it. There was something about the way he did it. It was like-it was like he was trying to cover it."

"I don't see anything," Scott said, shaking his head as he studied the black and white map. It had no visible markings.

"Yeah, you can't until you use this." Allison held up the thing in her hand. Clicking it on, it emitted a blacklight. She waved it slowly over the map. "He's been tracking and marking everything. Cora, Boyd, and Riichi at the bank, the alphas in the penthouse above us, all of the dead bodies. He has a symbol for where someone was taken, and then a different mark for where the bodies are found, see?" The vet clinic had a circle while a mark in the woods was a box with an X. "Now here's the scary part. There have been six sacrifices, right?" Scott and I nodded. "There are twelve markings on the map."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Did your dad find the other bodies and not tell anyone?" Scott questioned.

She shook her head. "I don't think so. I think he knows where the bodies are going to be found, so one of these six locations, one of these, is where Deaton could end up. I mean, it doesn't tell us where he's being kept right now, but-"

"But it's close to figuring it out," he interrupted.

"Yeah."

Scott pulled out his phone and took a picture of the map just as the elevator dinged again. We hurried out of the office. Allison rushed to her room while Scott and I hid in the kitchen. Chris's footsteps passed by and we heard him open Allison's door.

"Hey," Chris greeted his daughter. "I, uh, didn't hear you come in." Scott and I slowly creeped out of the kitchen and down the hall while Allison kept her dad occupied.

"Yeah, I was just doing some homework."

The front door quietly closed behind us. Instead of taking the elevator, we ran down the stairwell.

Once at Scott's bike, he called Stiles and told him what Allison had found. "Deaton's got to be at one of the six locations, but they're all over town," Scott explained, holding his phone in front of him. "I don't know how we can get to all of them fast enough."

"Well, we might not have to," Stiles told us through the speaker. "Danny was doing a project on something for Mr. Harris's Physics class, and I think it actually means something."

"What project?" I asked, leaning against the front of the bike.

"Something on telluric currents."

"Did you say currents?" Scott pressed.

"Yeah."

"Meet us at the clinic." Scott then hung up. "Hop on." I climbed onto the bike behind Scott and he sped off quickly for the vet clinic.

Once at the vet clinic, Scott and I met up again with Stiles, Cora, and Lydia. Scott printed the photo he took of Chris's map on larger pieces of paper.

"Okay, so, what does this kid's homework have to do with finding Deaton?" Cora asked.

"Because it's not just homework, okay?" Stiles said. "It's a project on geomagnetic fields. They flow through the earth. They can even be affected by lunar phases, alright? Now, look at this." Stiles flipped to a specific page. "This is a note from Harris on Danny's proposal."

"'I strongly advise you to choose another subject,'" Lydia read aloud. "'The ideas here, while innovative and thoughtful, border on pseudo-science. Not suitable for class.'"

"What's another word for pseudo-science?" I pitched then gestured to Scott, Cora, and I.

"Harris wasn't just a sacrifice," Scott realized. "He knew something."

"Now, check this out," Stiles continued, pulling something out. "Allison's dad wasn't the only one with a map, alright? Danny had one, too." He unfolded the map, laying it out on the exam table we were huddled over. "Danny marked all the telluric currents, okay? Now, the weird thing about Beacon Hills is that it actually is a beacon. You wouldn't believe how much energy flowing through the earth is around this town."

My eyes followed the currents and I snatched one of the papers with Chris's map on it. "Look, they match." I lined the paper up with Danny's map. The current matched with one of the marks.

"Alright, there's three places, right?" Scott said, grabbing a pen. He circled a crossing point of two currents. "Where they're kidnapped, and then the place where their body was found." He circled another point.

"That's right on the telluric current," Lydia said, pointing at it.

"So, maybe where he was sacrificed is somewhere in between," Scott continued.

"Let me see that," Stiles requested, taking the pen from Scott. "You said there's six more bodies to be found. Deaton's one of them. Got to be somewhere in between, right?" He ran his hand along a current, following it.

Cora grabbed his hand. "Stop." We looked up at her and she brought his hand faster along the current, stopping the pen at the crossing point at Beacon Hills First National Bank. "He's in the vault. He's in the same vault."

"I can get there faster than all of you," I said, planning on running.

"I'm coming with you," Scott argued as Stiles and Lydia picked up the papers. We started towards the door.

"Guys, hold on," Lydia said.

Scott turned to them. "Lydia, we don't have time."

"It's Boyd," Cora said, looking at her phone. "The plan didn't work. They cut the power."

"It's just like he said," Scott muttered. "Go, we'll save Deaton. Go, and we can save both of them." Scott grabbed my hand, pulling me out the door.

"Call Riichi!" I called out before I left. I had a feeling they'd need a healer.

We hopped onto his bike and sped through the streets, making it to the bank in record time. Busting through the door, we ran up the stairs to the vault. The vault door was open and we skidded to a stop in front of it. Deaton was hanging from the ceiling by his hands.

Scott ran forward and was thrown back. Mountain Ash lined the floor in a circle around Deaton. I knelt by the werewolf. "Scott, you okay?"

"Yeah." He quickly stood back up, eyeing the ash. "How do we-"

"I don't know, but by the looks of it, he doesn't have much time." He took a few steps forward. I grabbed his arm. "What are you doing?"

"I have to try and break it." I was about to say something else, but he looked at me with his puppy dog eyes. "Sara, please. I need to try." I nodded and stepped back. Scott held up his hands to the barrier and pressed against it. Light emitted from where he struggled against the Mountain Ash. His groan turned into a yell as he continued forward against the barrier. It seemed to actually be working. The light grew brighter and then he was thrown back right into me. We both groaned in pain and sat up. Or not.

"Scott!" a voice called from behind us. We turned to see Noah Stilinski standing at the door. "Let me give it a shot." He pulled out his gun, aimed, and fired. The rope keeping Deaton up broke and the Druid fell to the floor.

Together, we sat Deaton up against the bars separating part of the vault and untied his hands. Deaton was covered in sweat, but he was conscious and breathing.

Scott turned to Noah. "How'd you find us?" he asked.

"The vials in the clinic with the Celtic symbols on 'em? I knew that one of 'em looked familiar." The sheriff pointed at the symbol on the floor. The logo for the bank. And Morrell said cops wouldn't be able to find Deaton. Ha.

"Sheriff, thank you for being one hell of a detective," Deaton said.

Noah grinned and patted the vet on the knee. "You bet." He stood up. "Let's get you an ambulance." He went to make a call.

Deaton grabbed Scott and pulled him closer. "Your eyes were red. Bright red."

"How is that possible?" Scott wondered.

"A True Alpha," I muttered. It all made sense.

"Paramedics are on their way," Noah said at the entrance to the vault. "I'll be back in half a minute." He then ran off, probably to lead the paramedics to us when they arrived.

Scott turned back to Deaton and me with a question mark written on his face. "It's rare," Deaton explained. "But Sara's right. It's something that doesn't happen within a hundred years, but every once in a while, a beta can become an alpha without having to steal or take that power. It's one who rises purely on the strength of character, by virtue, by sheer force of will."

Scott glanced between us. "You knew this would happen."

"I believed. From the moment I knew you were bitten, I believed."

"I saw it when you raised your voice at Isaac on the trip and at school," I told Scott. "But you know what this means, right?"

"Deucalion isn't after Derek," Deaton said. "He's after you."

Imōto - Younger sister

Reviews:

Captain Boshtet: She will at some point, yes, but it won't be for a little bit because of the hecticness of the season. She is also an independent person (as most kitsune seem to be) and has trouble realizing when she needs help, so she'll also figure stuff out on her own too, without the help of others. Glad you liked the chapter!

CourtneyDanielle: Thanks!

Momochan77: Someone had to call them out lol, and glad you ship Scott/Sara! Thanks for the review!