"Who's in the shadows?
Who's ready to play?
Are we the hunters?
Or are we the prey?
There's no surrender
And there's no escape"
Game of Survival by Ruelle
The following day at school, Allison met Scott, Stiles, and me in the History classroom before class started. Stiles held out his tablet for Allison and I to see and said, "Here's where we found the den. It's right in the middle of the hiking trails."
"Well, that could narrow it down," Allison said. "Coyotes travel in fixed trails."
"Hm, you'd think for dangerous predators, they'd be a little less predictable," I mused, adjusting my bag on my shoulder. "But anyway, you're probably right about her not going back to the den since you and the cops invaded her home."
"Also, coyotes don't like wolves," Allison added. She turned to me. "Or foxes."
I nodded, thinking, Of course, why am I not surprised? "That breeds confidence about helping her, thank you."
"And they're really smart," she continued. "If they don't want to be heard, they actually walk on their toes."
Stiles looked up from his tablet. "Coyotes tip-toe?"
Allison seemed completely done with him. "They tip-toe." The school bell rang overhead. "I got to go, but send me the pinned location." Allison hurried out of the room.
Us remaining three moved to sit down, Scott following me towards the nearest row which had two open seats while Stiles went to the front. Before we sat down, Kira stopped in front of me, smiling. "Hey, sorry, real quick. I have something for you," she said.
"You do?" I asked. I glanced back at Scott who was taking his seat while Kira pulled her backpack from her shoulders and opened it.
"Yeah, about the bardo," she explained, digging through her bag. "I realized after you and Boyd left that my explanation was sort of all over the place, so I did some research and printed it out for you. Thought it might help with what you two were working on with your friends."
"Oh, uh, you didn't have to do that," I told her, growing more awkward by the second. I glanced at Scott again who looked like he was both flattered and wanted to laugh.
Kira looked up from her bag search. "It only took a couple hours."
I reared my head back with a slight shake. "A couple hours? How late did you stay up? Boyd and I left at nine-thirty and you still had quite a bit of homework to do."
She didn't seem to hear me. "I swear I printed it out."
"Kira," a voice said. Kira and I looked up to see her dad coming up behind her with a stack of papers. "You forgot all the research you did for Sara and that boy you like." Ken gave her a smile as she took the papers, knowing he just embarrassed her again, then walked away.
Kira slowly turned around and handed me the research. "Called it," I sing-songed, then winked before taking my seat in front of Scott. Kira quietly groaned as she moved up a seat and sat in the next row over. Scott tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the research on bardo, so I handed it to him to look over.
"Alright, everyone. Let's get started," Ken announced to the whole class. "We were just talking about internment camps and prisoners of war. There's a passage in our reading that I'd like to go over in more detail. Who would like to come up and read-aloud for us?" Ken looked around as he set the textbook down on the podium up front, his eyes stopping on Stiles in the front row. "Mr. Stilinski, how about you?"
"ChikushÅ," I quietly cursed, bringing my hand up to my forehead. This is going to end badly, I thought.
"Oh, maybe someone else could," Stiles tried.
"Everyone participates in my class, Mr. Stilinski."
Damn you, Ken. Any other week, calling on Stiles would be fine. And he actively participated in most of his classes. But no, Ken had to choose the one week where Stiles couldn't read for shit.
Stiles got out of his seat and walked up to the podium, Ken moving out of the way. Stiles looked down at the book in front of him, blinking a few times, but his breathing only began to pick up. When he gripped the sides of the podium, I looked behind me to see if Scott was watching, too, and his face had worry written all over it. Stiles's breathing began to quicken when he looked up from the book.
Scott stood from his seat and asked, "Stiles, you okay?" Stiles didn't or couldn't say anything. Panic attack. Scott rushed over to his best friend and looked at Ken. "I should take him to the nurse's office." Ken nodded, and Scott grabbed Stiles's arm and led him out of the classroom.
The moment the bell rang, dismissing classes for lunch, I quickly packed up my things, haphazardly shoving them into my bag.
"Do not forget the chapters on President Carter and the Commission on Wartime Relocation," Ken reminded as students began leaving the classroom.
I turned and grabbed Scott's backpack and noticed Kira pick up Stiles's. I joined Kira's side and she said, "Hey, do you think Stiles is okay?"
I shouldered Scott's backpack and looped my free arm with Kira's. "I'm sure he is," I reassured as we walked out of the classroom. "Scott's usually pretty good at helping him out and knowing what he needs. But come on, let's go find them. They're probably in the boy's locker room."
"You want me to go with?" She looked up at me sheepishly.
I raised an eyebrow and smirked at her. "Well, I can just ditch you if you so truly wish, or you can come with me and try to make some more friends. Boyd and I feel kinda bad keeping you separate."
And she was probably going to come into her powers soon if she hadn't started to already, so having friends who understood and could help would be good for her. I had come into my powers at age fourteen, Riichi told me his started shortly before he turned sixteen, and Kira was currently sixteen, so if she didn't come into her powers sometime this school year, I'd be very surprised. Although, that did all depend on if she would have powers at all as it wasn't a guarantee with only one kitsune parent.
"You don't have to feel bad about that. They're your friends, not mine."
"We are literally a clusterfuck of people who probably never would have become friends if we weren't thrown together by strange occurrences," I told her while we turned into a different hall. "Before last semester, none of us really talked to each other. Allison had just moved into town. Scott and Stiles were best friends and bench warmers. Lydia was the most popular girl in school. Isaac and I were off in our own little world. And Boyd had no friends at all, keeping to himself. Then Lydia befriended Allison, Allison started dating Scott, Boyd joined Isaac and me, and I started befriending Scott and Stiles. Then we sort of melded together. Having another person around won't be bad."
I gently hip-checked her then opened up the door leading into the hall towards the locker rooms. We slowly came to a stop in the hall when we spotted a coyote at the top of the stairs. Malia. She started snarling at the sight of us.
"Oh, my god," Kira muttered.
I grabbed Kira's arm when the coyote began running towards us and pulled her into the boy's locker room, shutting the door behind us. We dropped our bags and hurried further into the room. I pulled her behind some lockers and grabbed my phone as we heard the glass window of the door shatter. Quickly texting "locker room" to Scott, I put my phone away and tried to quiet my breathing with Kira silently freaking out next to me.
Worst comes to worst, I could fight the damn coyote.
I heard the quiet steps of the coyote draw closer, then a low growl. Peeking out from the lockers, I spotted the coyote nearby. Standing slowly, I pulled Kira up with me, keeping her behind me as I inched backward away from the animal. Even if I decided to fight the coyote, I needed to keep her safe.
I jumped at a hand landing on my shoulder and turned to see Scott. He nudged Kira and me behind him then pushed the rows of lockers. The coyote growled as the metal lockers landed on the floor. But after a few moments, we didn't hear or see anything else.
Cops and Animal Control responded quickly and took mine and Kira's statements. Kira and I were joined by Ken the moment he heard about what had happened, and Scott went to find Stiles when he knew for certain we were okay, though they both went back to the locker room soon enough.
Kira and I leaned on the wall of the locker room with Ken next to us. A few cops were combing the room. I wasn't exactly sure what they were looking for considering the coyote was gone.
"Dad, seriously, I'm okay," Kira told Ken.
"Why were you two not headed to lunch like everyone else?" Ken asked.
"Scott and Stiles left their bags in the classroom, so we went to find them," I answered, looking Ken straight in the eyes. "If I had known we'd come across a wild coyote, I never would have brought Kira with me." I needed him to know I hadn't meant for Kira to almost get hurt.
"Where did you get that?" a harsh voice said. "Where did you find this?" Kira, Ken, and I looked to see a man walk into the locker room and grab a doll from Stiles's outstretched hand. He looked at the doll sadly. "It belonged to my daughter." He must've been Mr. Tate, Malia's dad.
Sheriff Stilinski came in between the boys and Mr. Tate. "Mr. Tate, I don't know how you heard about this," Noah said. "If you got your own police scanner or what. . . But you can't be here." Noah started to escort the man out but paused when he set his hand on Mr. Tate's hip. Noah lifted open Mr. Tate's jacket, and I noticed a holstered gun. My eyebrows skyrocketed.
"I have a permit," Mr. Tate tried to justify.
"California schools are gun-free zones, permit or no permit," Noah explained. "You need to leave, Mr. Tate. Now." Mr. Tate started to try and say something, but the sheriff motioned for one of his deputies.
"You find that animal," Tate said. "You find that thing."
That thing is your daughter.
After school, I went with Scott, Stiles, and Isaac to the animal clinic. Boyd went to my house to hang out with Riichi, both on standby in case we needed help. Allison went to her apartment to get a tranquilizer gun; although, I wasn't sure how she'd be able to shoot it since her steady hand wasn't so steady anymore.
"Xylazine," Deaton said, walking into the room. "It's a tranquilizer for horses." He set three bottles of the tranquilizer on the exam table we were surrounding. "For a werecoyote, expect it to work within seconds. I only have three, so whoever's shooting needs to be a damn good shot."
"Allison's a perfect shot," Scott told him.
"She used to be," Isaac corrected.
"She can do it," Scott affirmed.
"If we manage to find the thing," Isaac added, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Okay, what is the point of him?" Stiles asked, pointing across the table at Isaac. "Seriously, I mean, what is his purpose? Aside from the persistent negativity and the scarf?" I gave Scott a look across from him, and he seemed about just as done with those two. "What's up with the scarf anyway? It's sixty-five degrees out. It's like Sara and her freaking beanies." I raised an eyebrow at Stiles. He wanted to insult our style choices when he had a buzzcut last year?
Isaac looked like he wanted to strangle Stiles. "Look, maybe I'm asking a question no one here wants to ask. How do we turn a coyote back into a girl when she hasn't been a girl for eight years?"
"I can do it," Scott said quietly.
"You can?" Stiles asked, a little surprised.
"You remember the night that Peter trapped us in the school?" Scott said. "In the gym, he was able to make me turn using just his voice. Deucalion did the same thing in the distillery."
"And Derek was able to get Isaac to shift back before hurting you at the Sheriff's Station," I added helpfully. "It's an alpha thing, being able to use your voice to control betas and omegas."
"This is a werecoyote, Scott," Deaton reminded. "Who knows if it'll even work if you can find someone who can teach you."
"That's why you called Derek first," Stiles said in realization.
My eyebrows furrowed together. He called Derek? When did he call Derek?
Scott sighed. "Yeah, I could try it on my own."
"You have done it before, Scott," I reminded him, my eyes soft as he turned to me. "When the twins trapped Isaac and Allison, remember? That's how I suspected you were a True Alpha because you had the alpha voice, even just a small bit of it. But it might still help if someone was able to teach you how to do it when you want to use it."
"Right now, I'm too scared to even change into just a werewolf," he said.
"We need a real alpha," Stiles said, rubbing his jaw. Scott snapped his head towards his best friend, a look of mild offense on his face. "You know what I mean. An alpha who can do alpha things. You know, an alpha who can get it going, you know, get it-"
"Up?" Isaac pitched in with a smirk. For once, Stiles seemed to agree with Isaac.
"Great, I'm an alpha with performance issues," Scott said dismally.
I smirked in my spot. "Depends on the performance. I'll never forget the closet."
Scott groaned, pinching his nose and remembering the time we had to hide in Allison's closet to hide from her dad. "Oh, my god, no."
"Closet?" Isaac repeated.
"What?" Stiles asked.
"It's not important," Scott replied, waving his hand.
"I beg to differ," I murmured.
Scott looked at me, completely exasperated. "Sara!" I shrugged, still grinning. Messing with Scott had to be one of my favorite pastimes, especially since I hadn't given him any shit about the closet since it happened.
"Is there anyone else besides Derek who could help?" Deaton asked, bringing the conversation back to the main point.
"I wouldn't trust Peter," Isaac said.
"Seconded," I added. "Everything he says and does benefits him, not anyone else even if it seems like it does."
"Maybe the twins?" Stiles suggested.
"They're not alphas anymore," Deaton said. "After what Jennifer did, almost killing them? It broke that part of them."
"Yeah, but what if they know how to do it?" Stiles asked.
"Nobody's seen them for weeks," Scott said.
"Well, actually, that's not totally true."
We all turned to Stiles, looking at him confused.
"Lydia."
Stiles got a hold of Lydia who, in turn, got a hold of Aiden, telling him and Ethan to meet at Derek's loft. Stiles opened the large door to the empty loft, and I entered by Lydia's side, looking around the room and not seeing either of the twins.
"They said they'd meet us here," Lydia said, Stiles coming up beside her.
We heard a loud thump and grunt, and I turned just in time to see the other twin hit Scott in the face. Ethan and Aiden grabbed Scott by his arms and threw him forward. Stiles, Lydia, and I scurried out of the way, watching the scene unfold.
Are you fucking kidding me? I thought to myself, watching one of the twins flip down the stairs. That's their plan? To beat him up? What is up with them and violence being the answer? To be fair, violent tactics were usually more fun, but Scott didn't usually respond to violence or anger, seemingly only in highly stressful situations.
As Scott clambered to his feet, he was punched in the face again. I winced at the impact. The twins took turns beating up Scott until he fell to the floor. Based on the varying levels of ferocity, I assumed the twin in the tank top was Ethan and the one in the t-shirt was Aiden.
Scott groaned and said, "I thought you guys were gonna teach me to roar."
"We are," Aiden said harshly. "You do it by giving in."
"Giving in and letting go," Ethan expanded. "That's how Deucalion taught us control." That was exactly how I learned control, too, but if they really knew Scott, they'd know it likely wouldn't work. Ethan grabbed Scott by his shirt and picked him up off the floor.
"Hey, you know, that's funny," Stiles cut in. "I've actually tried something like this one time using a heart monitor and lacrosse balls. But you're right, beating the living crap out of him is probably a lot better." Wish I had seen that.
Scott looked at Ethan and Aiden incredulously. "That's actually the plan? You kick my ass?" Scott, at least you're pretty. We all picked up on that before you did.
"You're afraid to turn," Aiden explained. "We're going to make you." I supposed that made sense. A rise in heart rate was linked to shifting.
"You turn, then you kick our asses," Ethan said.
"And then you roar." Aiden shifted his eyes and teeth then roared before letting his werewolf features retract.
"I like that part of the plan," I chimed in with a grin. "Go Scott!" I shot him a thumbs up. "You've got this." He just kinda grimaced in my direction as though he was trying to stay positive but didn't actually feel it.
"You don't think you can let go with us?" Ethan taunted, trying to make Scott angry.
"You think you're going to hurt us?" Aiden came up behind Scott and pushed him towards Ethan. Why do I get the feeling Aiden is enjoying this a little too much?
Ethan pushed him back towards Aiden. "Come on, McCall. Give it your all. We can always heal." Scott took a swing towards Aiden who easily blocked it then punched him. Ethan then hit him again. I was hurting just watching them.
"You're an alpha," Aiden said. "You want to roar like one, you've got to give in full throttle. You've got to be the monster. Become the beast. Become everything you're afraid of."
"That's what gives you power. It gives you strength."
Scott tried again, but Aiden dodged and elbowed him in the back, knocking Scott to the ground. "Giving into it doesn't make you the bad guy."
"So long as you can control it," Ethan said.
"Sometimes control's a little overrated." Aiden kicked Scott in the stomach. I winced. Okay, this is getting a little much.
"Come on, Scott," Stiles muttered beside me. "Fight back."
Scott pushed himself onto his knees to look up at the twins. "What if I can't control it?" he asked. "What if I can't turn back?"
Ethan shakes his head. "Then it takes over. You become Malia. You get further and further away from being human. You turn into an animal. Or worse."
"You turn into Peter," Aiden added.
"You can do this, Scott," I whispered as Scott climbed onto his feet and stood, glaring at the twins.
He wiped the blood from his mouth and charged them. Aiden dodged and picked Scott up, flipping him onto the table. Aiden hopped up above Scott and began wailing on him, doing way more harm than good.
No.
Anger bubbled inside me, and I surged forward. "That is enough!" I exclaimed. My eyes glowed orange as I shot a ball of fire towards Aiden, knocking him off of the table.
Aiden jumped up, patting his shirt to make the fire dissipate, and started towards me for throwing fire at him, but Ethan held his brother back. "What?" Aiden asked. "I thought we were helping him."
"You help too much," Ethan said.
I leaned over Scott as he breathed heavily. He looked away and spat blood out of his mouth. I looked back at the twins. "I think we're done here," I told them sternly.
Ethan seemed far more apologetic than his brother. Ethan nodded, muttering, "Yeah." He dragged his brother out of the loft.
I turned to Scott who was looking up at me. He slowly nodded as his breathing slowed to a more reasonable pace and his body relaxed and healed. I rubbed his arm and smiled softly. "We'll figure it out, Scotty. We always do."
"I hope you're right," he murmured, eyes heavy.
Giving him a small smile, I gently patted his arm. "Hey, you're supposed to be the optimistic one, remember? Don't be giving up on me now."
Stiles's jeep skidded to a stop at the entrance to the trail in the Beacon Hills Preserve. Stiles parked next to us on his dirt bike. Lydia, Stiles, and I climbed out of the jeep as Allison and Isaac pulled up in Allison's car. We all glanced at each other with varying levels of surety and preparedness.
"Anyone else think we might be doing more harm than good?" Lydia asked, breaking the silence.
"We're trying to keep a father from killing his own daughter," Scott reminded.
"Actually, we're trying to keep a guy from killing a coyote who is actually his daughter, who we don't know how to change from a coyote back to his daughter," Isaac elaborated. I pinched the bridge of my nose while quietly groaning.
"And again with the not helping," Stiles called out, looking particularly annoyed with the tall werewolf. Isaac gave him a sassy grin.
Scott sighed and turned to Allison. "Did you bring it?" he asked. Allison begrudgingly opened the trunk of her car and pulled out a tranquilizer gun, taking in a deep breath as she held it.
A gunshot echoed throughout the forest, and we all snapped our heads towards the sound. Scott immediately sprung into action, hopping on his bike.
"Scott, wait!" I cried out, jumping on his bike behind him right before he drove off, Stiles calling after us. I clung to Scott as he sped through the trees. "You're insane, I hope you know that."
"I have to do this," he said. "I can do something." I barely heard him over the roaring of the bike and the wind in my ears.
"I know, Scotty. I know."
He drove through the forest, towards the sound of the gunshot we had heard until something distracted him. He brought his hands up to his helmet and the bike wobbled.
"Scott-" I started to say, but the bike tipped, and we were thrown off of it. Pain shot through my arm as I landed on it first, tumbling through the dead leaves on the forest floor with my body scraping and bruising until I came to a stop. I whimpered, rolling onto my back and cradling my arm. Picking up my head hurt when I tried to look at it, and black spots danced through my vision. I took in a few slow breaths, focusing on my body healing itself. One of my bones popped in my arm as it reset.
After a minute, I rolled onto my side and looked over to where Scott had landed. His arms moved slowly up to his helmet. Pushing myself onto my hands and knees, I crawled over and gently pulled his helmet off. The dazed look in his eyes disappeared as he focused on me.
"I-Isaac's hurt," he muttered.
I shook my head. "Don't focus on that, focus on you. You can do this, Scott," I said quietly. "Give in to your instincts and let them guide you. Be the alpha. You've done it before, and you'll do it again. Your pack will be fine, but we need you." He nodded, pushing himself up as best he could. "Now, be the alpha."
Scott took off running, and I watched him go, pulling myself up against the nearest tree.
"You can do this, Scott," I whispered, mostly to myself. The scratches on my bare arms disappeared as the skin healed and my head stopped pounding as I sat there.
Then I heard a roar.
There he is.
Always knew he had it in him.
ChikushÅ- Damnit, oh shit, oh hell
Do y'all like the lyrics I put at the beginning of each chapter? Like, do they introduce you to new artists or songs at all? Do you like how they tie into the chapters or characters? Do you just think they're neat? Are they just sort of there for you? Do y'all hate them? I'm curious since no one has brought them up even in the slightest.
Reviews:
RubyGemGreen: Thanks! And I like to imagine that in the scene where Melissa is helping talk Scott down from shifting in front of his dad, Scott thinks about Sara and that's why he ends up going to her after going into the woods with Stiles.
Captain Boshtet: I'll be honest, Scott still isn't quite over Allison in this yet either, since as she was literally his anchor it always made sense to me how long it took for him to move on even with a new love interest. Noshiko definitely knows Boyd is something, mostly because of his friendship with Sara as well as the general tension between foxes and wolves. I've always assumed that since she's an older kitsune. her instincts are excellent but not precise. Your poor pup lol.