"Smoke will turn your soul to black

If you let it in

So close the door, confess your sins

Oh, when I was younger, it was on roses

Now they're dead and gone away"

Cruel World by Tommee Profitt feat. Sam Tinnesz

"Any plans for tonight?"

My eyebrows pinched together, and I chuckled at Scott's question, shifting my phone against my ear. "Do I want to know what you have planned?" I asked, ignoring how the question sounded strangely like he was asking me on a date.

"Uh, well," Scott started awkwardly, probably realizing the same thing I did, "you know how you're always ragging on Stiles and me for breaking into the school at night?"

I rubbed my eyes and sighed, a small smile gracing my expression. "Yes, what have you done now?"

"You do realize what tomorrow is, right?"

I paused, looking up from my homework laid in front of me at the calendar hanging from beside my desk. October 30th. "Right, Finstock's birthday and Mischief Night." For any other circumstance, I'd consider knowing your teacher's birthday kind of strange unless you had a mentor-mentee relationship or were related to them, but considering Finstock's birthday fell on Mischief Night and so many students loved playing pranks on him, it was almost expected of people to remember. "And you need me why?"

"I just thought maybe you would stop getting on our asses about it if you'd actually tried it."

Nibbling on my lip, I thought about his offer. "I dunno, Scotty," I said hesitantly. "I mean, for one, I'm not much of the rebellious type, and two, I'd feel kinda weird about encroaching on your guy time. It's yours and Stiles' thing, you know? And you want me to gate crash that?"

"To be fair, you've been gatecrashing most of our things. Lacrosse practice over the summer, me getting a tattoo, going to a party, just generally hanging out," he listed. "What's one more thing?"

"You really want me to come with you, huh?"

"I've got an idea for scaring him, and I know you'd love to see his reaction."

I grinned broadly, not that he could see through the call. "Why didn't you start with that?"

His laugh just made me continue to smile. "I probably should've. He'll be expecting to meet me at the school around midnight. We need to get there before then, so we can hide in Coach's office and scare him when he calls me asking where I'm at."

"Can I video his reaction?" I asked, leaning back in my chair.

"By all means."

"Then I'm in." Anything to mess with Stiles. And I planned on sending the video to everyone.

"Great, I'll pick you up at eleven-thirty. It'll be easier to hide my bike from him than your car."

"Sounds good. See ya, Scotty." I hung up my phone and looked at the time. 10:07. Blowing a raspberry, I set down my phone. Now to wait and make sure my phone is fully charged in order to film the wondrous Stilinski reaction to Scott scaring the shit out of him.

Time passed way too slowly for my liking, but when the time came, I hurried out the front door to see Scott waiting outside with his extra helmet.

"Do we need anything or is that all on Stiles?" I asked, taking the helmet from Scott's outstretched hand.

"I have no idea what he has planned this time, so I'm going with it being on him," he answered. "Hop on."

Swinging my leg across the bike, I sat down behind Scott and wrapped my arms around his waist. He put up the kickstand, revved the engine, then drove off towards the school. The drive was quick as Scott sped through the streets and pulled into the lot with the busses to hide his bike from Stiles.

I looked at the building shrouded in darkness after climbing off the bike. "I can't believe you've convinced me to be a part of your delinquency," I said, glancing at Scott and handing him the helmet. The last time I was at the school at night, we were herding Boyd and Cora to keep them from tearing apart innocent people. At least this time would be more entertaining.

Scott chuckled and shook his head. "You didn't have to join. You're here because a part of you enjoys the delinquency."

"Unfortunately."

"Come on." Scott led the way up to the side door and easily opened one of the double doors.

"Were they not locked?" I asked.

"After how many times people have broken in, I think they've stopped caring enough to fix the locks."

I made a small humming noise. Couldn't say I was surprised. I melted one of the damn locks last time, so I could see why they stopped fixing it. Between Scott, Stiles, and the rest of them getting trapped in the school, us breaking in for herding werewolves, students generally pulling pranks, and who knows what else because I doubted it was only our group fucking shit up, the school district had probably given up on the school at this point. Same with hiring anyone for the nightshift cleaning gigs considering how many murders and break-ins have occurred.

The dark halls were eerily quiet as Scott and I made our way to the locker room. The hairs on my arms stood up on end, and the whole situation filled me with unease. The only thing I could hear was the sound of our footsteps.

It reminded me of a horror movie. Two teenagers of color wandering an empty school at night in a town filled with supernatural creatures on the day before Halloween. What could possibly go wrong?

Then my phone dinged.

I jumped, my heart pounding faster than it should've at the simple noise. Scott snorted and started chuckling. I hit him in the arm. "It's not funny," I muttered.

"It's kinda funny," he corrected with a wide grin. "You should probably put your phone on silent though."

I grumbled to myself as we continued walking, and I pulled my phone out of my back pocket, seeing a text pop up on the screen.

Booty Call: You up?

Sighing, I quickly sent a reply, put my phone on silent, then put it away.

Me: Can't talk. Breaking and entering.

If Scott hadn't dragged me into his schemes with Stiles, I'd be getting into my car and driving to Brett's house, but there were definitely more important things than getting laid, and one of those things was videoing Scott scaring the shit out of Stiles. And Brett likely wouldn't believe the whole "breaking and entering" part anyway, but it would make him laugh.

My nose twitched at the smell of the boy's locker room when Scott and I entered. "Smells like teenage boy."

Scott shot me an amused grin. "I would assume so."

We then entered Finstock's office, leaving the door cracked open so Stiles wouldn't hear us open it when he arrived. Then it was another waiting game.

I leaned on the desk. "So, what made you and Stiles even start pranking Finstock anyway?" I asked.

Scott smiled fondly at the question, leaning on the wall beside the door. "First semester freshman year, I don't remember how it started, but Coach and Stiles were getting on each other's nerves one day in class, blowing up at each other. Stiles was so agitated that he looked up Coach's birthday and somehow convinced me to help prank him. And it being Mischief Night just made it better."

I raised an eyebrow. "Was it you who put the air horn under his classroom chair?"

"And we filled his office with balloons," he added. "Then sophomore year we glued all his chalk to the chalkboard, even the chalk in the unopened boxes, and we saran wrapped the desk and chair in his classroom."

I laughed quietly. "Yeah, I remember that one. He hadn't had the time to undo it by second period." I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. 11:53. I was already starting to get impatient. "How long do you think before Stiles gets here?"

"Ten, fifteen minutes maybe." Scott shrugged. He glanced around the office. "Wonder what he has planned."

For the rest of the time waiting for Stiles, Scott and I messed with Finstock's things until Scott's wolf-hearing picked up footsteps. He immediately pulled out his phone, silently brought a finger to his lips, and pointed towards the door. I readied my phone camera, giddiness coursing through me. Scott answered his phone when Stiles called.

"Get your ass down here now," Stiles said, entering the locker room and skipping all pleasantries as he spoke into his phone. The eccentric human was using a flashlight in the locker room and talking louder than he should've been for trespassing at night. "We have a job to do."

"Dude, I'm already in bed," Scott replied, looking at me and trying not to laugh. "And aren't we a getting a little old for this?"

"We do this for Coach."

Scott's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought we did this to Coach."

"Whatever, okay? You know he needs this. He lives for this stuff, you know? He loves it."

"But it's the middle of the night," Scott continued. He gestured to the door, so I slowly cracked it open more.

I heard Stiles open his locker. "12:15 actually," he corrected. With him busy going through his locker, Scott and I inched out of the office, and I started filming. "Which means it's after midnight and officially Mischief Night/Day, and, by perfectly awesome coincidence, it also happens to be Coach's birthday." Stiles was so preoccupied scolding Scott, taking things from his locker, and putting them into his duffle that he didn't notice me and Scott behind him. "So if you are not down here in five seconds, I will destroy you. Okay? And I mean five, four, three, two. . ."

Stiles shut his locker door and turned around. He grunted and tripped backward, dropping his phone and bag as he fell to the floor. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

"One," Scott finished for him.

Stiles glared up at him. "I hate you." His eyes flicked to me standing behind Scott with my phone out, and he groaned, hitting his head against the lockers.

I winked at him. "Except you don't." I stopped recording, lowered my phone, and looked at the screen. The video was a little dark, but with the moonlight streaming in through the windows, it still captured most of it. "Okay, so who gets the video? Scott, obviously, and I'm thinking Lydia, maybe Isaac, definitely Derek. . . I've got Cora's number, too."

"I hate you both so much."

Scott laughed at his best friend's pain. "We love you too, Stiles."

"There's no reason to say no," one of the twins said.

Isaac and I glanced at each other as we joined Scott, Stiles, Ethan, and Aiden outside of the school. After spending the night helping Dumb and Dumber pull their prank on Finstock, I was a little tired and not really in the mood for any of the wolves hashing out their differences in the parking lot. And based on what the twin had said, I assumed they were asking to join Scott's pack. While I wasn't necessarily against the idea, everyone else definitely would be.

"I can think of one," Isaac chimed in. "Like the two of you holding Derek's claws while Kali impaled Boyd."

"If he had died, you'd be in even more hot water than you already are," I added.

"In fact, I don't know why we're not impaling them right now," Isaac agreed, glancing at Scott and Stiles. As sexy as that sounded, it wasn't what he meant.

The eyes of one of the twins glowed blue and his teeth shifted into fangs. I assumed, based on the hot-headedness and impulsivity, it was Aiden. "You want to try?" he growled.

Isaac grinned and took a step forward, but Scott grabbed his wrist, stopping Isaac from doing anything further. Isaac stepped down like a good beta, though I could tell it was a reluctant step-down. Leave it to Isaac to constantly be up for a fight, but we didn't need him suspended for fighting when the school day hadn't even started yet.

"Sorry, but they don't trust you," Scott told the twins. "And neither do I." Scott was the first to walk away, heading towards the school.

Before I followed, I glanced back at Ethan and Aiden. I didn't trust Aiden in the slightest, but Ethan? The calmer, more rational of the two? He tried to do the right thing. But the two were a package deal, so I turned back around and walked into the school with Isaac.

"I've gotta go to my locker," Isaac said. "You good?"

"I'll be fine, Izzy," I assured with a small smile. "Tell Allison hello for me."

His eyes narrowed at me as we walked down the hall. "I said I was gonna go to my locker, not to Allison."

"We both know you're finding her after." I patted him on the shoulder when I saw Kira opening her locker. "See ya later, Izzy."

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled, not pleased with me calling him out.

I shook my head and chuckled to myself, then made my way over to Kira who immediately fumbled and dropped some of her things on the floor. I knelt beside her and helped her put her things into her backpack.

"Thanks," Kira said sheepishly.

"It's no problem," I told her. "You okay?"

We both stood up, and she shouldered her backpack. "Yeah, I just didn't get much sleep last night."

"You and me both. Come on, let's get to class."

"Barrow went after kids with glowing eyes? He said those exact words?" Isaac asked as we hurried down the stairs with Stiles, Allison, and Lydia at lunch. I had no idea where Scott was, but Boyd was eating with Kira, like the adorable hulking werewolf he was.

Stiles had come to find us after talking to his dad in the hall. According to the sheriff, a felon named William Barrow had escaped custody during his surgery at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital where Melissa worked, and the stolen ambulance had been sighted three blocks from the school. Considering the guy had gone to jail for killing teenagers, they suspected he was at the school.

"Yeah," Stiles answered. "And no one knows how he woke up from anesthesia. Just that when they opened him up, they found a tumor full of live flies, which in any other circumstance would be all kinds of awesome."

"That's seriously morbid Stiles," I said, shaking my head and grimacing. "So disgusting."

"Did you say flies?"

We all paused in the halls and turned around to see Lydia and stopped walking.

"Lydia?" Allison said, looking worried.

"All day I have been hearing this sound," Lydia explained. "It's like. . . this buzzing."

"Like the sound of flies?" Allison suggested.

We inched back towards her as she nodded. "Exactly like the sound of flies." Whenever Lydia got a feeling, she was always right. Maybe not about anything super specific, but her hearing the sound of flies and flies coming out of a criminal had to be related.

I looked at Stiles. "We need to find Scott."

"Yeah, come on."

Stiles and I hurried away from them, running down the halls, looking every which way for Scott. We skidded to a stop when we found him down a different hall about ten minutes after we had started looking for him.

"Hey, dude, where the hell have you been?" Stiles demanded to know as we changed directions and ran over to him.

Before Scott had the chance to answer, Lydia, who had probably gone the opposite way Stiles and I had, walked over and said, "The police are leaving. Why are they leaving?"

"The police?" Scott repeated, looking at us confused.

"They must have cleared the building and grounds, which means he's not here," Stiles realized.

"Who? What are you guys-"

Lydia cut Scott's questioning off. "He has to be here. That sound. . . The buzzing I've been hearing? It's getting louder."

I sighed and pinched my nose. "Stiles, Lydia, go find the sheriff," I told them. "Try to convince him somehow that the police need to stay. I'll catch Scott up."

Scott frowned even deeper as Stiles and Lydia ran off. He shook his head slowly and looked at me. "What is going on? Why were the police here?"

"Okay, the short version is a criminal escaped custody while getting operated on at the hospital," I explained quickly, keeping my voice down so no one else in the halls heard me. "He shrapnel bombed students on a bus because he saw their glowing eyes."

Scott paled. "Oh."

"Yeah, and the police had reason to suspect he was here. Lydia's been hearing flies that burst out of his stomach during the surgery. But if they're leaving-"

"That's bad," Scott finished, nodding. "Alright, so if the police didn't find him, we might be able to."

"You might be able to," I corrected. "The most likely place for him to be hiding is in the basement since it's huge and has a lot of hiding places. If he was in one of the classrooms, the police would've found him since there aren't many spots to hide that aren't locked up tight. I'll gather the pups, but we need something of his so you guys can get his scent."

"I'll call my mom." He pulled out his phone. "Get Ethan and Aiden, too. I don't trust them, but we'll need all the help we can get."

I convinced Ethan, Aiden, Boyd, and Isaac to meet me by the "Authorized Personnel Only" door leading to the basement, and started explaining the situation to the twins and Boyd when Scott joined us carrying a plastic bag of what looked like clothes. We were running out of time with school coming to an end soon.

"Lydia thinks that he's still here even though the cops searched the whole school," I told the wolves.

"But they didn't have one thing," Scott said, opening the bag. He pulled out the hospital clothing. "Our sense of smell." He handed it to Boyd, who sniffed it and passed it along. "We'll split up, search the basement, and meet in the middle at the boiler room."

"I'll go with Ethan and Aiden," I said.

"What? No-" Isaac started to protest.

I raised a hand. "Stop. I'm going with them because I'm the least likely to rip their throats out. I'll be fine."

Scott took the clothing from Aiden, smelled it, then put it in the bag. "Alright, let's go. We've got until three to find him. You find a scent, call." Scott moved past the other werewolves and opened the basement door. We followed him down the stairs and split off into trios.

I walked a pace behind the twins, all three of us on high alert. After a minute of silence between us, Ethan glanced back at me awkwardly. "Um, thanks for, I dunno, trusting us, I guess," he said quietly.

"Okay, let's get one thing straight, I don't trust you two," I corrected, keeping my eyes forward as we walked through the long hallway. "But I do recognize that you're not all bad when you're not being used as attack dogs by psychopaths. You just need to slow down a little."

"Do you ever think we'll earn your guys' trust?" Aiden asked.

"It's possible. You think Isaac, Derek, me, and our combined hostility were immediately friends with Scott and Stiles? No, we earned their trust through working with them. It takes time."

That left the two silent.

We went down a different hall and Ethan tensed up, putting his back towards one of the walls and inching along it.

"You got something?" Aiden quietly asked as we followed close behind.

Ethan held up his hand, pausing at the corner. When he popped out, Aiden and I copied him, jumping out behind him. There stood Danny making out with his ex-boyfriend Steven. Danny separated and looked at us, looking like a deer in the headlights. Aiden and I started quietly laughing behind Ethan. I brought a hand up to my mouth to muffle my laughter.

"Oh, really?" Ethan remarked, staring at Danny.

Danny awkwardly looked from Ethan to his ex then away at the ground, bringing his hand up to the back of his head and rubbing it.

While still chuckling to himself, Aiden grabbed his brother by the shoulder and steered him away. I shot Danny a wink and a thumbs up, but before I could say anything to go along with it, Aiden grabbed my arm and pulled me with.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," I grumbled, stumbling over my feet.

Ethan was completely exasperated, his jaw and eyes tense as he glanced up at the ceiling while we walked away from the pair. Poor guy, but he had been away for a few weeks. Had he and Danny broken up or had Ethan just up and left? Both were terrible.

Then the fire alarm started going off. "That can't be good," I muttered. "Something's wrong. Let's go." The twins followed me as we ran through the basement halls, meeting up with Isaac, Scott, and Boyd at the stairs and running up them.

Once in the regular halls, we acted normally, blending in with the rest of the students as we walked out the front doors.

"Anything?" Scott asked us as we carved out our own little patch of grass together in the courtyard.

I shook my head. "Not unless you count finding Danny and Steven together." Isaac shook his head and chuckled, and Ethan glared at him.

Stiles and Lydia made their way over to us.

"We didn't find anything," Aiden told them.

"Not even a scent," Scott added.

"It's three o'clock, so school's over," Stiles said. "If there was a bomb, wouldn't he have set it off by now?"

"Does that mean everybody's safe?" Ethan asked, looking directly at Lydia.

We all turned to the banshee. "I don't know," she answered, eyes wide. "I just. . . I don't know."

Stiles was the first to leave the school, leaving with Lydia. Both were extremely put out, and I didn't blame them. A mass murderer was on the loose and we had what seemed like a good lead but turned up with nothing, leading to the sense of dread filling the group.

As I put a few of my things away in my locker, I sighed, which Scott obviously heard, standing next to me at his own locker. "You okay?" he asked, moving around my locker door to look at me.

I bit my lower lip as I closed the metal door. "Does it sort of feel like we failed?" I asked. "I mean, Lydia's usually never wrong, and there are ways to cover up someone's scent, so maybe we missed something." I hit my locker with my fist, frustration bubbling inside me.

"Hey," he said gently, grabbing my hand before I could hit the metal door again. "Don't be too hard on yourself, okay? It's possible he wasn't ever here, and we interpreted whatever Lydia heard wrong. Maybe the flies meant something else."

Arching an eyebrow, I looked up at Scott with a frown. "So that would mean there's something worse than a mass murderer on the loose considering banshee abilities are more often than not related to the supernatural."

Scott grimaced. "Yeah, I hadn't thought about that."

"Thanks for trying, Scotty."

"Sara! Scott!" We turned towards the sound of someone calling our names. There was Kira's dad Ken walking towards us. He weaved around some students and stopped next to us.

"What's up, Ken?" I asked, leaning back against my locker.

"Ken?" I heard Scott mumble, glancing at me strangely.

"Sorry to interrupt," Ken started with a smile. He looked at Scott. "I just wanted to thank you for saving my daughter Kira from the coyote and invite both you and Sara over for dinner tonight. It would mean a lot to my wife and me."

"Oh! Uh. . ." Scott trailed off, looking at me. If he was expecting guidance from me, he didn't get any. I wanted to see his own reaction first. Scott awkwardly turned back to Ken. "That sounds great."

"We'll be there," I said smoothly. "What time?"

"I have to stay at the school a little longer to finish grading some papers," Ken told us, "but I should be home at about five if that's when you'd feel comfortable stopping by."

"Sounds good," I said, grinning. "See you then, Ken."

Ken smiled and nodded then walked away, leaving Scott and me alone.

When Ken was out of hearing range, Scott turned to me. "What just happened?"

"That's Ken's way of embarrassing Kira and trying to get her to make more friends," I explained, shrugging. "I've been over a few times, and Boyd's been there too, but she still feels awkward and like an outsider. The moment she finds out he invited you over, she'll probably want to strangle her father. I'd probably want to do that too if my parents invited a stranger over for dinner to help me make friends."

Scott chuckled, glancing down the hall where Ken had gone. "It's going to be really awkward tonight, won't it?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely. But hey, free dinner."

I picked Scott up from work as it neared five since he didn't know where Kira lived and I did, so I offered to drive him there. He tapped his thumb on his knee while sitting in my passenger seat, nervous at the idea of the dinner party with people he doesn't know. He was less nervous when over for dinner at my house, but I chalked that up to being with me and Riichi and not a family he doesn't know at all with one of the adults being his new history teacher.

"Koinu, relax," I said while driving. "It won't be nearly as bad as the one at my house, I guarantee. Sure, you're having dinner with your teacher, but at least I'm right there with you, and you've met Kira, sort of, so it won't be all bad."

He laughed. "That makes me feel so much better."

"Oh, hush."

When I pulled up outside of Kira's house, Scott and I walked up to the front door, and I rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, Ken opened the door. Kira stood a short distance away, probably having been talking to her father.

"Hey," I greeted with a small wave. Kira awkwardly grinned and walked away. I looked at Scott and Ken. "I'll be right back." I followed after Kira, catching up to her quickly in the hall heading towards her room. I sidled up next to her. "What's wrong?"

"My dad keeps embarrassing me," she grumbled. Kira opened the door of her room and walked in. She made a beeline towards her dresser, probably because she was wearing something akin to pajamas.

"Could be worse." I closed the bedroom door. "He could've invited Boyd, too."

Kira groaned and threw her head back. "That would be so awkward." She pulled out some clothing and turned to me. "I guess it won't be too bad with you here. I probably would've died if it was just me, Scott, and my parents. I've never even spoken to him, at least not directly."

"But he did help us with the coyote," I pointed out. I then smiled and chuckled a little. "I love your dad though. This whole situation is hilarious."

"That's because you're not the one being embarrassed by him."

I took a few steps towards her and set both hands on her shoulders. There had never been a starker contrast of our height. "It'll be fine. Scott is the nicest person ever. Ever. I'm not joking. And now Boyd and I can start helping you become friends with our friends. Scott's the best person to start that with. He doesn't judge easily, he's always kind, and he's super helpful. And it's just one dinner. Everything will be fine. What could go wrong with one dinner?"

Turned out my rhetorical question was quite wrong.

After my pep talk for Kira and after she changed, we rejoined the others. Ken worked on dinner and Noshiko was asking Scott questions, getting to know him. We saved him as best we could, but Noshiko, being a mother, had a tendency to embarrass Kira a few times.

Once dinner was nearing completion, we sat at the dinner table. Kira sat next to her mother, and I sat across from Noshiko with Scott next to me. Ken's placement was at the head of the table by Noshiko and me. Small bowls of miso soup were on each placemat and cups for tea were set, too.

"So, Scott, I'm sure that as a native Californian, you've eaten at some pretty impressive Japanese sushi restaurants," Noshiko said, trying to make conversation in the silence after we sat down. Scott didn't get the chance to respond, though he did awkwardly smile and nod as Ken walked over with a few plates, which I immediately read as he had never had sushi before. Oh, no. "But I have to tell you that my husband is a superb chef."

Ken set down the platter of sushi in the middle of the table then sat down. "Okay, we have hamachi, uni, ikura, and hirame." Scott nodded along, looking at the sushi.

"Hamachi has yellowtail fish," I moved to explain, seeing the confusion blatantly written on his face, though he was trying to be polite. "Uni has sea urchin. Ikura has fish eggs. Hirame has flounder."

Noshiko made a small 'o' with her mouth, realizing the same thing I had. "You've never eaten sushi before, have you?" she said.

"Is it all raw?" Scott asked. A small smile graced my face, and I looked down. I wanted to laugh so hard, but I figured that'd be rude. It wasn't like I'd be laughing at any of them, just how amusing Scott's reactions were.

"Not the rice," Ken answered. Both he and Noshiko looked torn between being amused and feeling bad.

"Oh, my god, guys," Kira said, completely mortified at the situation. "We were supposed to have lasagna tonight."

"I was trying to impress him," Ken explained. "I didn't want to bring out the. . ." He made a few hand gestures. "You know what? I'll make lasagna."

"Oh, no, no!" Scott cut in before Ken stood up from the table. "It's okay. I can try anything." I made skeptical eye contact with Scott and he nodded at me. "Really." We all moved to pick up our chopsticks. "Okay." Scott cleared his throat, staring at the sushi as he adjusted the chopsticks in his hand.

"Try the hirame, the one closest to you," I told him. "First-time sushi goers might not like the ikura or uni much because of the texture." Scott nodded and started towards the sushi with his chopsticks. Oh, he's gonna drop it, I told myself while watching him hold the chopsticks wrong. "Uh. . . Wait, Scotty." I set down my chopsticks and brought my hands up to his. "Hold this one like a pencil, and this one goes under. Then you move the top one like this to grab things." I moved his fingers with the chopstick to show him how.

"Thanks," Scott chuckled then started towards the sushi again.

I readied my own chopsticks, still watching him intently. He was probably going to drop it even with my help, and he looked adorable when trying so hard. Scott struggled to pick up the piece of sushi and kept his mouth wide open when he tried bringing it up to his mouth.

It fell out of the chopsticks, and I caught it with my own before it hit the table. Scott looked at me stunned.

I slowly brought it up to him. "Here," I said quietly. I held it out expectantly, and Scott ate it from my chopsticks, chewing on the raw fish.

He nodded to himself, tentatively tasting the sushi, and we all waited for his reaction. He then smiled as he swallowed the bite.

"Sushi?" Noshiko asked her husband.

Ken nodded. He doled out some of the pieces of sushi for us along with the gari and wasabi while Noshiko poured us some tea. Kira started in on her soup while the rest of us focused on the sushi.

"So you guys moved here from New York?" Scott asked, starting up the conversation again.

"I have family ties here," Noshiko answered. "Several generations." It also helped they were here because of being drawn by Nemeton.

"Yukimura is Japanese, right?" Scott asked.

"Yes," Ken said, "but I'm actually Korean. When my wife and I married, I took her name, as she was the only surviving member of her family."

"You didn't want to take both names?"

"We were married in Japan," Noshiko explained to Scott, "where the law says that the couple must share the same name. To belong to the same koseki."

"Family registry," I automatically translated to Scott as I gingerly dipped a piece of uni in the small portion of wasabi.

"My wife's lineage is quite unique," Ken continued. "I was actually going to discuss it in class."

"Please don't," Kira pleaded.

"Kira, you should be proud of your heritage," Noshiko said.

"It was a profound honor to join your mother's family," Ken added.

I glanced away from the uncomfortable family squabble and at Scott only to see him making weird faces. I glanced down at his plate and saw the wasabi gone. Oh, no. "Scott, what happened to your wasabi?" I asked.

He exhaled sharply. "I thought it was guacamole." He downed the rest of his tea and Kira grabbed the cup from him to hold it out for her mother.

"That's the most Californian thing you've ever said," I told him, trying to keep a light mood. Noshiko finished pouring more tea for him, and Kira handed him the cup. Scott, at least you're pretty.

Kira was helping her parents clean up dinner and waiting for the pizza that she had secretly ordered before dinner had ended to arrive, I had just finished using the bathroom, and Scott was chilling in Kira's room, so I made my way to Kira's room and paused at the door to the room when I heard Scott's voice inside.

"Why didn't you. . . How come you never changed your name back to Delgado?" I heard him ask. He must be talking to his mom. I took a few steps back into the hall to give him privacy, leaning against the wall.

Kira came down the hall holding a pizza and three sodas. "Hey, what're you doing out here?" she asked.

I gestured to the room. "He was on the phone with his mom. Didn't want to disturb." I didn't hear any more talking from inside the room, so I motioned for Kira to follow me. I knocked a little then opened the door, Kira and I walking in.

"Oh, thank god," Scott said upon seeing the pizza and grinning. "No offense to sushi."

"Yeah, we probably should have started you out on California rolls," Kira said.

"And told you what the green stuff was," I added.

Scott let out a good-natured laugh. "Yeah, that would've been nice to know. What was the pink stuff? I didn't try it."

"Gari, pickled ginger." I patted him on the shoulder. "It's alright, you didn't miss much with it. It's supposed to be eaten between different types of sushi to, uh, cleanse the palate."

"I'm just glad you didn't put any gari on top of the sushi," Kira said, smiling. "They would've looked at you like you had grown a second head." She gently wiggled the box just enough to draw our attention to it without dropping the sodas. "So, pizza?"

"Pizza," Scott and I chorused.

After we had eaten the delicious Hawaiian pizza and drank the soda, Scott and I decided it was time for us to head out, and Kira walked us out of the house.

"Thanks for dinner," I said as we walked down the steps outside.

"For the sushi or the pizza?" Kira asked.

"Uh. . . the pizza was good," Scott decided on.

The three of us laughed and walked towards my car. Scott and I faced Kira. "So, lunch tomorrow?" I said. "Want to join us?"

"I'm sure Boyd would definitely like you there," Scott added.

A deep blush crept onto Kira's face, and she glanced between us. "Am I that obvious?"

"Actually, he's obvious," I said. "He can't really hide anything from us."

"Terrible bluffer," Scott agreed. "And even if you don't want to join just because of Boyd, you're still welcome with us."

Kira's expression melted into a grateful smile. "Thank you." She was about to say something else, but her eyes widened and my vision went black.

"Sara? Scott? Scott!"

I inhaled sharply and sat up, my head pounding and my vision blurred. I looked all around, seeing Scott on the ground beside me and Stiles and Lydia standing in front of us. And no Kira. Oh, no, no, no.

"Barrow, he took Kira!" Scott said, panic clouding his voice, and I winced at it. Ow, too loud.

"We know," Stiles said. "He was after her the whole time."

I brought a hand to my head, rubbing my forehead. "Did he use a fucking crowbar?" I asked no one in particular. My head hurt worse than the time I was drugged with wolfsbane. Actually, times. Plural. I'd gone through that twice. It's not a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

Lydia held out her hand and helped me off the ground.

Scott pulled out his phone and called Isaac to see if he and Allison had found anything about the flies. But Scott didn't sound too pleased when he said, "Alright, thanks," and turned back to us. "We have to think of something. He's going to kill her." So, I guessed that meant Isaac and Allison didn't have anything of use.

"I knew he was there," Lydia said. "How did I know that?"

"Because you heard the flies, right?" Stiles said.

"What do you hear now?" I asked.

Lydia hesitated, her expression pained and strained. "Nothing. . . I feel like I can do this. But I don't know what to do. It's like it's on the tip of my tongue, and I don't know how to trigger it. I just. . ." She ran her hands through her hair, and she took a few steps away from us. "I swear to god, it literally makes me want to scream."

"Okay, then scream," Stiles told her. "Lydia, scream."

Lydia let out a high-pitched wail. I brought my hands up to my ears, wincing at the sound echoing throughout the empty street. Once she stopped, she slowly looked upwards at the street light. "It's not flies," she realized. Lydia whirled around, and Stiles jumped back in alarm, nearly hitting me. "It's electricity."

"Wait a second, Barrow was an electrical engineer," Stiles said. "He worked at a power substation."

"Which one are they at though?" I asked. "There's multiple throughout the county."

"He'd probably go to the one he's familiar with," Scott said. "His comfort zone." He looked at Stiles expectantly because of course, Stiles would be the one to know.

Stiles nodded erratically. "Follow me." He crossed the street, hurrying towards his jeep with Lydia, so I sharply turned and unlocked my car, starting it the moment I climbed in. Scott climbed into the passenger seat, and I drove off after Stiles.

Shortly after, we pulled up outside the station, jumped out of my car, and ran inside, Stiles following us after talking to Lydia.

Scott looked around the halls, trying to pick up a scent or noise, then we heard a metallic clanging sound and went towards it, going down a different hall. When Kira came into view and we ran towards her, she yelled, "Sara! Scott! No! Look out!"

My hair stood up on end at electricity crackling behind me, and I flew backward, hitting one of the fences outlining the wires. I crumpled to the ground, my body shaking and twitching. I inhaled sharply and rolled onto my side.

"Don't. . ." Scott said nearby, also on the floor. "She's not. . . she's not the one you want." Barrow looked at him then turned back to Kira, walking towards her with cut wires.

I tried to push myself onto my knees. "No, don't," I said.

Barrow touched Kira with the wires and light exploded all around us, the machinery and Barrow frying. But one thing that grabbed my attention once my eyes refocused after the blinding light was all the sparks sailing towards Kira and into her hands.

Thunder kitsune.

Koinu - puppy

How's everyone doing? Hope everyone had a good time over the winter holidays, especially now that everything is a clusterfuck for us Americans. If any of you readers aren't in the US, I'm very curious to know what you think about the recent events in Washington, DC. I'm sure Canadians feel like they're living in an apartment above a meth lab.

Anyway, I hope everyone is staying safe, and hopefully, you enjoyed the chapter!