"I am the unknown fighter

A dark horse coming for you

I'm gonna push up higher

I'm gonna do what I do"

Born Ready by Zayde Wølf

I barely noticed as Scott grabbed my keys from my jacket pocket and drove us to Derek's loft. My head pounded the entire way, burning enough to catch on fire. Nauseating pain shook my entire body as the words from the nogitsune were repeated.

Sara, help me!

Come save me!

They're going to get me!

Scott parked outside of the loft, and as we climbed out of the car, we heard gunfire coming from the penthouse. At first, I almost didn't hear it over the throbbing pulse ringing through my ears.

"Stay here," Scott said as he started forward.

But I didn't want to listen, despite the pain, so I gave him a look. "No."

I pushed myself toward the building, following after him with Kira by my side, but the moment we reached the midway point on the staircase, the pain in my head dulled, the repetitive voice ended, and the gunfire from above ceased. At any other time, I would've been happy to have the pain subside and not hear a shootout involving our friends, but it only filled me with a sense of urgency. So, I raced faster up the stairs with Scott and Kira.

We entered the loft to see Allison, Chris, Boyd, Derek, and Noah, with Noah and Chris quickly raising their guns at us. We skidded to a stop just inside the industrial door, and Chris and Noah lowered their guns, relieved to see it was us. It was also good to see Chris and Derek out of jail.

Despite the darkness of the loft, I could see the slash wounds on Derek's shoulder and Boyd's torso, indicating that the Oni had been there. But where were they now? And where was Stiles?

"What happened?" Scott asked.

"They disappeared," Allison said, breathless. "They literally just vanished."

Noah looked the most forlorn out of the group as he said, "And so did Stiles."

"You sure you're okay?"

My head twitched up, and my eyes focused on Scott's worried gaze. We stood outside Derek's loft at my car as the rest of the group was disbanding around us. Kira was fussing over Boyd's wound from an Oni's sword. Allison and Chris were piling into Chris's car. Noah was rubbing his face as he got into his squad car. Which left Scott to check in on me.

I carefully nodded, fully knowing he wasn't going to buy it. I didn't blame him. He felt the pain from me just as clearly as I had, and I'm sure he could see and sense the fatigue that remained.

"It won't last forever," he reassured quietly. "We'll figure it out."

"I know." My mouth upturned as much as it could to offer a smile even if it wasn't as sincere and hopeful as I would've liked it to be. "We're going to save him. We'll figure it out."

"I know," he repeated, his own smile quirking up as we mimicked each other's words.

I drove Scott and Boyd home, ignoring Scott's skepticism that I was even okay to drive, but before I could drop Kira off at her house, she asked if she could stay with me. While a surprise, I understood her reasoning without her needing to say it, so I brought her to my house. With everything her parents had been hiding from her finally coming to light, she didn't want to go home and be with them.

As I unlocked the front door, Kira said, "Thanks for letting me stay here. I just didn't want to go home yet. I feel like I don't even know them anymore."

"I get it," I told her, closing the door behind us. "It's alright."

"Are you okay, though?" she asked. "What happened with your head?"

I glanced around the foyer of my home then answered, "I'll explain later." The bottom floor of the house was too open to talk about things that I had been keeping hidden from others. While I had been careful with telling Scott, or as careful as I could during that tense conversation, I didn't know who was home yet. "Dinner might be ready. You hungry?"

Kira nodded, and we took off our shoes before going further into the house. I led her to the kitchen where my mom looked to be making a salad with Riichi sitting at the island with Simba in his arms. The damn cat seemed attached to him now more so than he used to be. I guess disappearing for years did that.

"What happened to you?" Riichi asked the moment he spotted me.

I glared at him, shifting my weight. "Excuse you, nothing happened." I didn't think my former pain was that obvious. Maybe I should look in the mirror.

Mom laughed and turned around, picking up the salad bowl as she faced us. "Oh, you've brought a friend," she said at the sight of Kira next to me while setting the bowl in the center of the island counter.

I motioned to my mom while looking at Kira. "This is my mom Tamae, and you've seen Riichi," I introduced, then I focused on my mom. "Mom, Kira is a kitsune, too."

Kira looked at her skeptically, which I thought was odd, but my curiosity was assuaged after a few moments. "You were over at my house a few times," Kira said. "You're always playing Go with my mom."

Mom smiled at her. "So, you're Noshiko's daughter. I was wondering when we'd meet. I think she had been putting it off."

I raised an eyebrow. "You know Noshiko?"

She mimicked my expression. "Do you know Noshiko?" Riichi snorted at the back and forth as he grabbed a cherry tomato from the salad bowl and retracted his hand before Mom could smack it.

"You didn't answer my question," I said.

"And you already know the answer," Mom countered. She leaned forward on her hand. "Yes, I know Noshiko. I was the first one she told when she decided to move here."

Frowning, I didn't like what that meant. "So you've known about the nogitsune the whole time?" The add-on question of her not telling us was silent but still ever-present.

"Yes and no." She shrugged. "I knew of the possibility the moment the Nemeton was active again but wasn't certain until Noshiko told me it decided to inhabit a teenager."

I gaped at her. "And you didn't want to tell me?"

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't think you're on the moral side of truthfulness." I supposed she had a point there. "And who do you think referred the Yakuza to Deaton after Argent sent him that way? Deaton's not the only specialist they could have called after he paralyzed the pet wolf, and I've made many connections over the years."

I scoffed and folded my arms. "I thought after the Alpha Pack that we decided to be more honest with each other."

"I will be when you are."

Oh, how I wanted to strangle her sometimes. "What about when Scott came over and we asked you about nogitsune? Why didn't you say anything then?"

"You asked how to get rid of a nogitsune and I answered."

Groaning, I pinched the bridge of my nose. "I'm getting really sick and tired of fox games."

She shook her head at me. "I sometimes forget you're part human."

"What does that mean?" Kira asked.

Both Mom and I snapped our heads toward her. I almost forgot we had company. We were just amazing at getting into petty arguments with other people present, though at least the one time with Scott over for dinner was Riichi's fault for a change rather than either me or Mom starting it like usual.

Mom donned a simple smile. "Human morality and motives aren't quite the same for kitsune, even half-kitsune like you three though to a lesser extent," she explained.

"Please don't psychoanalyze right now," I said with a roll of my eyes.

"At least now I know who you get it from," Kira said. My face scrunched up. "You psychoanalyze everyone, too."

"I told her she should go into Psychology," Mom pointed out.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "And you know exactly why I won't. Is dinner ready?"

After dinner, which included Dad making a joke about him being the only human in a fox den, Riichi, Kira, and I ended up in my room with me and Riichi catching Kira up on some things she needed to know about kitsune and the supernatural as a whole, as well as me and Kira catching Riichi up on the latest developments regarding the nogitsune, such as where it originally came from.

Riichi grimaced and shook his head. "It makes me want to tell Cora to never come back here."

"It's cute that you still keep in touch," I said with a lilt of teasing in my voice.

He narrowed his eyes. "Shut up."

"Who's Cora?" Kira asked, stretching out her legs on my bed.

"Derek's sister," I answered.

Her eyes widened, stunned. "He has a sister? Didn't someone say something about his whole family being dead?"

Chuckling, I waved my hand and shook my head. "It's a long story. But the gist is, yes, most of his family is dead, leaving only Derek, his little sister Cora, and their uncle Peter. We all thought Cora had died, but she and this one," I gestured to Riichi who mouth shrugged, "escaped the fire and ran away to South America for years."

Kira opened her mouth, raised her hand, then slowly lowered her hand and closed her mouth. "Never mind," she said. "I think I'm okay not knowing more."

"Yeah, it's a real head-scratcher." I then turned back to Riichi. "But anyway, as we were saying, now Stiles is missing again, and no one knows why the Oni left."

"Is it possible Noshiko called them off?" Riichi wondered, leaning back on the beanbag.

I shrugged. "I guess, but when she was telling her story, she was very adamant about letting Stiles be collateral damage, so I don't understand why she would. I doubt what we said was enough to sway her."

Riichi looked down at his hands where he was picking at his nails. For a few moments, he was quiet, avoiding my questioning gaze. The sudden demeanor change made me uneasy, and when he spoke again, I realized I had every right to feel uneasy.

"What if she's right?"

His voice was just above a whisper in the silent room, but Kira and I heard him perfectly.

"The hell does that mean?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

Riichi met my hard gaze, and he immediately grew wary, holding out his arms as he went on to explain. "I'm just saying. The options Mom listed aren't viable. Noshiko is literally the one who summoned it in the first place and has no other options for us to consider. And. . ." He sighed, gaining a concerned frown. "And with what you keep hearing, with the nogitsune inside your head." I stiffened, sitting up more in my chair. "I overheard you tell Scott the other day. I get why you haven't told anyone, but it really only makes things worse."

"What do you mean?" Kira asked, her voice shaky as worry showed through.

Riichi looked at Kira, and when I didn't say anything, he explained, "Sara's been hearing the nogitsune in her head, and he had told her fire and dark kitsune have a sort of connection. The nogitsune is who knows how old, likely at least as old as your mom if not older. It's lived too long to play by human rules and probably knows more about kitsune than either of our moms. If it comes down to the psychological torture or maybe even takeover of Stiles or Sara, I don't think either would come out on top."

My blood chilled.

Kira quietly gasped. "That could be what my mom meant when she said it's too late for one friend but not for another."

Riichi looked shocked. "She said that?"

My pulse quickened.

"Yeah. I didn't know what she had meant at the moment, but the idea of not just Stiles but other kitsune being in danger of whatever the nogitsune is capable of. . ." She quickly shook her head, grimacing. "But how do we stop his plans then? If he's powerful enough to possess Stiles, get into Sara's head, let a mass murderer on the loose, be unaffected by tazing. . ."

My fingers twitched.

"If there's no way to save Stiles without causing him harm, then the only possible action we can take in his sick, twisted game is to go on the offensive. We have to at—"

"Stop! Just stop!" I exclaimed, jumping up from my seat.

The two winced in place as they looked up at me. For a split second, I felt bad lashing out, but I couldn't take it anymore. They were talking as if everything was a lost cause. But that couldn't be the case. It just couldn't. Not when Scott seemed so sure. Not when it was Stiles's life on the line.

"It can't be too late for Stiles," I said, voice strained. "Scott hasn't given up, so we can't give up. We have to save him." I took in a deep breath, trying to will my pulse to slow back down. "I have to save someone. For once."

Riichi stood up and held out his hand, making like he was going to try comforting me. "Sara. . ."

"I can't be what he wants me to be." My voice dropped down to just above a whisper. "What he keeps saying I am." Tears pricked at my eyes, and I wiped them away as quickly as they sprouted. "I can't be the destroyer. I can't do that to Stiles. He's one of the few people I've never hurt with my flames. I can't, I can't start now." Running my hands through my hair, I took another slow breath then held my chin up high. "I'll do anything I have to against the nogitsune, but Stiles is innocent, and he is our friend. He's not the monster. He's not Peter or Kate or the kanima or Gerard or Deucalion. He's Stiles."

The corners of Kira's mouth lifted into the makings of a smile as she nodded and stood from the bed. "I'm with you," she said. "I may not know much about being a kitsune or fighting or who those people you listed are, but I'll try my best. We can finish what my mom began."

The two of us turned to Riichi who stood there with an expression that seemed like a mixture of annoyed and dejected, then he sighed. "Alright, what the hell?" he muttered with a flick of his wrist. "Can't say I feel anything for Stiles, but I know I'd be reacting the same if it was Cora or Boyd." He shrugged. "And if I don't help, someone's going to lose a limb."

Kira and I laughed, and I said, "Good to have you on our team, nīsan."

Wonder Pup: Lydia found Stiles

Wonder Pup: My house

After receiving the texts from Scott the following day, Kira, Riichi, and I drove over to his house and made it just in time to see an unconscious Stiles on Scott's couch being checked over by Deaton as Scott, Melissa, Lydia, and Aiden were watching. We joined them as Deaton deemed Stiles to be unconscious but in decent health, despite the slash across his stomach that seemed to be healing quickly, well, quicker than a human at least.

"Well, if we're not going to kill him, why aren't we at least tying him down with really big chains?" Aiden asked.

I scoffed and folded my arms over my chest. "Just because kitsune aren't usually as strong as werewolves, doesn't mean a kitsune with nine tails won't be able to break through something as simple as chains."

"Sara has a point," Deaton agreed, straightening up. "And I might have something more effective." He lifted his go-bag and pulled out a small vial with a clear viscous liquid.

"What is that?" Kira asked.

"Kanima venom," Riichi told her, recognizing the vile from how often he spent working with Deaton. "It's a powerful paralytic."

Scott and Aiden nodded at Deaton and moved to Stiles, holding up his head and prying open his jaw for Deaton to use the dropper to place a few drops of kanima venom on his tongue. The thin membranes throughout the mouth would allow for the venom to work faster than if applied on the skin, hence why the kanima would use its claws to apply its venom directly to the spinal cord to work within seconds.

Stiles' eyes snapped open the moment Deaton finished applying the venom, and he grabbed Aiden by the throat. Kira, Riichi, Lydia, and Melissa jumped back in alarm, and I surged forward to grab Stiles' wrist as Scott grabbed his upper arm, both of us trying to pry him off Aiden.

Then the venom set in, and Stiles' hand began to shake as he fought to continue to move it. But it wasn't Stiles, was it? Not with that dark look in his eye, nor the immediate attack on Aiden. It was the nogitsune in control. It was Void.

Void began slouching against the couch as his hand fell, realization settling in as Scott, Aiden, and I stepped away. "Kanima venom, nice touch," he said, glaring up at Deaton who stared down passively. Aiden bared his fangs with a growl, stepping toward Void again in his anger, but both my arm outstretched in front of him as well as Void's voice stopped him. "You know how they say that twins get a feeling when the other one's in pain? You didn't lose that power too, did you?" Everyone in the room tensed. "Oh, I hope not. You're going to need it." He waited for his words to set in before continuing, loving to hear the sound of his voice. "Okay, I'll give a little hint: Ethan's at the school."

Aiden met Scott's eye, and Scott said, "Go!"

Void began laughing as Aiden hurried out the door. "Oh, I hope he gets there in time," he taunted. "I like the twins—short tempers, homicidal compulsions." He picked his head up to look at us, or more specifically, at Scott. "They're a lot more fun than you bakemono trying to save the world every day."

"What did you do?" I asked after my jaw twitched.

He gave me a playful grin though his eyes raged with a cold fire. "Something I'm certain you can learn one day, kogitsune, well, with a few changes." He shook his head, eyeing me up and down. "Fire kitsune, such delicious destruction, burning everything you touch." My fists curled, knuckles whitening. His eyes then moved to Riichi and Kira who stood behind me. "More fun than pathetic river or thunder kitsune. You can do with a lot better company, hakaimono-chan."

A growl escaped my lips as my eyes flashed orange, and Scott immediately grabbed me by the waist and Riichi snatched my wrist before I could rush forward, both keeping me restrained. Void simply laughed while I shook with rage, glaring at him. My blood burned just looking at him.

"Doc, you brought something to paralyze his body," Melissa said. "You got anything for his mouth?"

"Yes, I do," Deaton said and ripped off a piece of tape. He placed it over Void's mouth who glared and shouted through the tape before laughing again.

Nothing about what sat there in Scott and Melissa's living room was Stiles. Just his body completely taken over by a psychotic nogitsune.

Deaton simply turned around and walked into the kitchen. Scott slowly removed his arm from around me, watching me carefully to make sure I wasn't going to attack, though Riichi's hand still gripped my wrist, likely making sure I went with them into the kitchen despite the heat coursing through my veins and my fox-spirit wanting to do something about the threatening presence nearby.

But Melissa didn't follow us. Instead, she grabbed Deaton's go-bag and stayed in the living room, so I assumed she intended to treat the wound on Void's stomach. It was odd he wasn't healing as fast as a regular kitsune. If he did use his power to do something to Ethan though, then it could have siphoned enough of his power and made him heal slower as a result. Especially if that wasn't the only thing he had done. And why was his stomach slashed anyway?

"How much longer do you think we have?" Scott asked as we all moved to stand around the island counter.

I set my hands on the surface, gripping the edge of it tightly as my pulse continued to race. Taking slow, deep breaths, I tried to slow my pulse down.

Deaton shrugged. "I wish I knew," he answered. "On humans and animals, it can last hours, even days if enough is applied. Werewolves, two to three hours. A nogitsune? I have no idea. But if we don't figure out something soon, we're going to need to find a better place to keep him."

"Like Eichen?" Riichi asked.

"He tried that," Scott said, not quite understanding Riichi's true meaning. It made sense that he didn't know about the other side of Eichen House's business: the side that could handle the supernatural. Sometimes I forget things that Riichi, Derek, Deaton, and I take for granted, the rest don't know about.

Deaton seemed to agree with Riichi at least slightly, as taken by the tilt of his head, though he didn't seem too keen on the idea. It made me wonder if he questioned whether or not the cells made from Mountain Ash in the lower level of Eichen could even hold a fully powered nogitsune. Not like Scott would like the idea anyway since it would mean his best friend would be trapped as well.

"I think we're grossly underestimating the danger here," Deaton said. He gestured to Void in the living room. "He might be paralyzed, but it still feels like he's got us right in the palm of his hand."

"He did imply that he had a hand in something with Ethan," Riichi said, shifting his weight. "We don't even know the complete abilities of nogitsune. He could've done anything."

"What abilities do you know?" Lydia asked.

Riichi sighed and shook his head, trying to recall the few things we had been taught as kids about nogitsune. "They can drain life energy, cause blights, uh, and their foxfire is lightning-based. I think Mom said it's green."

Lydia raised a brow. "Blights, like diseases, right?" he asked.

"Well, anything that causes death, I think, but there are a few records of diseases wiping out villages that nogitsune visit."

Lydia's face fell, and Scott asked, "What is it?"

"Flies, remember?" She looked around at all of us but based on my own expression and everyone else's, none of us knew what Lydia was getting at. "This all started with William Barrow having a tumor filled with flies. Flies carry loads of diseases easily transmitted to humans, and if he can control a human with them, what else can he do with them? And green lightning?" We looked at her expectantly, not quite sure where she was going with the second part either. "Green lightning bugs. Fireflies."

Nausea filled my stomach. "Does that mean they can control Oni without having to be the ones to summon them with tails?" I asked.

"I don't understand how that relates," Deaton said carefully.

"Something happened with that Oni you killed," Scott realized.

"Killed?" Riichi repeated, turning to me. At least it was good to know he hadn't heard everything I had spilled to Scott that day.

"You what?" Lydia blurted, eyes bugging out as she leaned forward on the island. "When was this?"

"It was that night outside of the clinic, wasn't it?" Kira asked from beside me. "You stopped and the Oni in front of you disappeared. I almost forgot about that with everything that happened after."

I held my hands up, feeling defensive walls build up around me. "I don't know how I did it. It was instinct," I explained. "I didn't mean to do it at all." Lowering my hands, I held my right in my left, looking over my knuckles as I clearly remembered them encased in red flames. "My hand covered itself in foxfire as I hit the Oni, and instead of making contact, my fist went inside its chest. And when I pulled my fist out, I was holding a dying firefly that turned into a shadow along with the Oni."

"Like it was its heart," Riichi said. "Your foxfire cut through the Oni and killed the firefly, which might be a source of foxfire, and the Oni died with it."

"So only a kitsune can kill an Oni then?" Kira asked. "But if we can't even use foxfire intentionally. . ."

"The Oni, as of now, are still on our side," Deaton said, his expression strained. "For the most part. Our main concern should still be with him." He gestured to Void again.

I looked past Scott to see Melissa wrapped Void's stomach in gauze, but he was uninterested in her and met my wandering gaze with an uptick of his eyebrow and a malicious smirk. It filled me with unease and the instinct to run. Fight or flight. I turned back to the conversation and the problem at hand.

Scott glanced back at Void and his mom then looked at me and Riichi. "What's a baka-mono and a hack-a-mono? Did I say those correctly?" he asked.

"Bakemono and hakaimono," I corrected, though I gritted my teeth on the second one. And the meanings aside, Scott trying to say Japanese words sounded weird and verged on painful. "Hakaimono doesn't matter, but a bakemono is a shapeshifter." I didn't miss Scott's skeptical gaze at me brushing aside hakaimono.

"He said it like it's an insult," Kira said.

I nodded with a slight shrug. "It is sort of. I'm assuming he used it to refer to a shapeshifter that takes on a scary form, like werewolves. They're often depicted as untrustworthy and monstrous. But technically kitsune are bakemono, too, so I don't know why he'd choose that one."

"Maybe because he's in Stiles who is human," Riichi said. "The only human where the rest of us are something or other."

Deaton made an unconvinced sound. "It'd probably be more hurtful if he just called Scott a monster with Stiles's face instead of a bakemono with only a few of us knowing Japanese."

"Or maybe it's a threat," Lydia pitched. We focused on Lydia again, each with questioning gazes. "If he knows Scott turning Stiles into a werewolf will kill him and maybe Stiles. . ."

Deaton nodded. "I'd say it's likely a threat," he agreed. "But we're looking for a cure in something that might actually be nothing more than a proverb or a metaphor."

"He might not want the bite anyway," Scott said. "He's never asked to be a werewolf."

"And put you in the difficult position of biting someone?" I gave him a look. "Even if he did want it, I doubt he'd say it unless you first offered it."

"What if it saves his life?" Lydia asked.

"What if it kills him?" Deaton countered.

Scott, even though he already knew the other potential outcome, didn't seem pleased with Deaton's addition. "I've never done this before," Scott said, leaning on his elbows. "I mean, what if I bite him and accidentally hit an artery or something? Or he doesn't take to the bite?" That wasn't all there was to his worries. He didn't want to be the one responsible for Stiles dying. His best friend. His brother. That would kill him.

"Whatever we're doing, we need to decide," I said, moving the conversation along. "Like now."

"The venom is not going to last long," Deaton added. "Something needs to be done sooner rather than later."

Scott didn't look too sure when he spoke and pulled out his phone. "I can try calling Derek again."

"Is there someone else we can call?" Kira asked, and she turned to me and Riichi. "Like your mom, would she be able to help?"

"Tamae isn't the most knowledgeable on werewolves," Deaton told her carefully. "Nor their biggest fan."

Lydia straightened up, not looking too pleased with her own idea. "But Peter is."

Scott's mouth opened as he tilted his head to the side, as though any other option would have been preferable to the one Lydia posed. But she wasn't wrong. If Scott had already tried to get ahold of Derek, likely before Kira, Riichi, and I arrived, then the only other person highly knowledgeable about werewolves was Peter, considering Aiden had gone to find Ethan at the school, Boyd was newer at being a werewolf than Scott, and Isaac was in a coma.

As Lydia moved off to the side and called Peter, my phone rang in my pocket. Pulling it out, Allison's name for caller ID was what popped up. I answered it and held it up to my ear. "Allison?" I greeted, confused as to why she was calling me of all people. Even Scott looked confused from across the island.

"How quickly can you get down to the school?" Allison asked, wasting no time on formalities. "Something's wrong with Isaac."

"What?"

"He woke up and left the hospital last night and was acting strange when he came over," she quickly explained, "and then when I woke up, he left me chained to my bed carrying a bag full of weapons. I think he went to the school. I'm on my way there now."

Oh, we were definitely going to have a conversation later about him even being able to chain her to her bed as well as him going to her when leaving the hospital, but that wasn't the most concerning part of her explanation.

"You said school?" I asked, my hand tightening around my phone. "We have Stiles, well, the nogitsune, and he said Ethan was down at the school, too. Taunted Aiden about being able to feel his pain. If Isaac is going there too and something's wrong. . ."

"Oh, no," she muttered. "Please hurry."

"On my way." I hung up my phone and slid it into my back pocket, only to be met with worried gazes from the others, even Lydia who caught the last bit of my conversation.

"Go," Scott said. "We'll deal with things here."

"Be careful," I told him.

"I will."

I sped toward the school with Kira and Riichi in my car.

"He's not answering," Riichi said, putting his phone away. "Boyd always answers his phone. He's very attentive with it."

"Does that mean whatever is happening with the twins and Isaac is happening to Boyd, too?" Kira asked, leaning forward between the two front seats.

"And Derek," I added. "Remember, Scott wasn't able to get ahold of him either." I turned onto a different road. "It's like it's all the werewolves."

"But what about Peter?" Kira wondered. "Isn't he a werewolf, too? And Scott is fine."

"Peter is a special case," I slowly explained. "He's not back at full strength. We never got around to explaining this, but Peter was killed a few months ago and used Lydia's banshee-ness to resurrect himself. I don't know if he can even shift. At this point, he's just stronger than humans with slightly faster healing. But for Scott's case, it could be because he's around the nogitsune. He's already occupied."

"That could be it," Riichi agreed, drumming his fingers on his knee. "He's taking all pawns pieces off the chessboard."

"Chessboard?" I repeated. It seemed like an odd analogy to use at this time considering Stiles liked to play chess. Or rather, he liked to lose at chess.

"It's something Boyd told me yesterday." Riichi pulled his phone out again. "When they went to go find Stiles at Derek's loft, the nogitsune was first in Stiles' bedroom. The sheriff knew because he has a camera in there, so they went there first. When they got there, they looked at Stiles' chessboard which had a lot of the pieces labeled with us."

I remembered why. "Stiles used his chessboard to explain the supernatural to his dad," I explained. "It didn't work so well at first since Noah didn't believe and Cora passed out, but Stiles was trying to explain to him what everyone was with it since that's their game together. He thought it would connect them."

"Well, the nogitsune used it to send a message." Riichi held out his phone, showing Kira something on it. I couldn't look at it since I was driving. "This is what the board looked like. It isn't what it used to look like, according to the sheriff."

"Derek is on the king and surrounded," Kira remarked, staring at the photo. "That must be how they figured out Stiles was at his loft."

"Especially since he's one move away from checkmate," Riichi said. I glanced over to see Riichi pinch the screen, zooming in. "Specifically, by Sara."

"Me?" I said, frowning. My fists clenched around the steering wheel. "How?"

"You're on the white bishop," Riichi explained as both he and Kira analyzed the photo. "So is Kira, but she's by the white king. You, however, have a direct path to taking Derek as the black king. But we don't know whose move it would be. Either it's white's turn and you take Derek, or it's black's move and the only piece who can save Derek is Peter as the black knight."

"Why do I feel like that was intentional?" I asked. "Peter is notoriously known for doing things his own way. To save Derek, he would have to act in someone else's favor."

"It isn't just that," Kira pitched in. "If the black knight moves to take the white bishop, then he gets taken by the white queen. That has my mom on it."

"Then the nogitsune added her name," I said. "And yours. Stiles didn't know about you or your mom when he labeled the chess pieces. And there's no reason to have me on the opposing side against Derek. I was only ever against him once, and that was to save Lydia." I huffed. "So, it isn't just Peter playing with the team, but it would be him sacrificing himself, something he would never do. What are the other pieces labeled as?"

Kira focused on the photo again. "Isaac is off the board, probably meaning his coma. But he's woken up from that now."

"And all the werewolves except Derek are on pawns," Riichi added. "Meaning the nogitsune probably sees them all as expendable."

"And Scott's piece is not only in a stalemate with Allison, but he's also in danger of Argent's white knight." Kira looked up. "That's Allison's dad, right?"

Riichi nodded. "Yeah. Also, Aiden's pawn and my black bishop are keeping Derek's king from moving. We have him trapped." He took his phone back from Kira to look at it closely again. "But I don't understand who this Jackson and Kate are. I know Deaton and Morrell. They're on on the rooks off to the side. Not useful in this setup."

I made an indignant noise by accident. "That doesn't make sense. Jackson is in London, and Kate Argent is Chris's younger sister. And she's dead. She might be a leftover piece from Stiles' explanation, just like Jackson, especially if they're not in a position of attack or defense."

"I guess that'd make sense," Riichi mumbled, staring at his phone. "I'm curious why Mom and I are on the black bishops though."

"Maybe Stiles used the bishops for kitsune," I pitched, not completely sure. "It would make more sense to put Mom on a white bishop though, and me on a black bishop."

Riichi locked his phone and put it back in his pocket. "We might be reading a bit too much into it. We know the nogitsune changed some aspects of the board, he probably just didn't change all of it. It's a lot more threatening to have you on a piece that can immediately take the king than a random piece." He looked out the window, watching the buildings pass, and his voice lowered. "Especially if he wants you on his side."

That didn't help my unease, especially as Stiles' voice echoed throughout my mind again with what Void had said earlier.

You can do with a lot better company, hakaimono-chan.

I could do without the ridiculous, sarcastic, taunting honorific tacked onto the end, but the word itself wasn't any better.

Destroyer.

I was well aware of what the nogitsune viewed me as. Nothing but destruction. Someone who burns everything she touches. Maybe he was right. He was probably right. But I didn't need to hear that from him, especially not using Stiles' face. The least I could do was try to direct that destruction into doing something productive, like saving my friends.

I pulled into the school parking lot, thankful that it was empty. No one in their right mind would be at the school on a Sunday in the late afternoon in this chaotic town. Well, except for us. Regardless, it would suck if there were people there while we're about to potentially fight werewolves.

Riichi, Kira, and I ran toward the building, Kira pulling out her katana on the way. As I pulled out my chain, I looked at Riichi who didn't seem to have anything except his fists and spirit.

"Do you have a weapon?" I asked my brother as we got to the door.

"No!" he said incredulously. "I don't get into fights nearly as often as you do."

"You're in Beacon Hills, it doesn't matter!" I groaned and pulled out both of my kunai from my jacket pockets, tossing him the extra. He caught it by the handle. "I want that back." After attaching the first kunai to the end of the chain, I pried open the door and led the way inside.

"Where would they be?" Kira asked, looking around at the empty hall.

"I don't hear anything," Riichi said.

My eyes flitted around, thinking intently. Where would they be? Then it hit me. "Where does everything seem to go wrong in this school?" I asked rhetorically. "The locker-room."

We ran through the halls then down the stairs, bursting into the boy's locker-room in time to see Isaac leaving Finstock's office holding a liquor bottle stuffed with a burning cloth, a homemade Molotov Cocktail, while Boyd stood menacingly over a downed Ethan and Aiden near the sinks. Any other time I would've been happy to see Isaac up and about again, but not when he's about to murder Ethan and Aiden by setting them on fire.

I lowered the weighted end of the chain and swung it as hard as I could, hitting Boyd upside the head, while Kira zoomed forward with her sword to extract the burning rag from the liquor bottle. Isaac and Boyd turned to the three of us, but something about their eyes seemed off. Rage burned in their eyes, like when they're forced to shift from anger without actually shifting.

Isaac's eyes zeroed in on Kira's katana that had swiped the rag away. "Nice sword," he snarked, his upper lip pulling up in an amused snarl. Then he dropped the bottle, letting it shatter against the hard floor, spilling the liquor.

No fire, I reminded myself.

When Isaac took a step toward Kira, before I could jump between them, a crossbow bolt sailed between me and Riichi, hitting Isaac in the shoulder. He growled as it hit, and Riichi took the moment to grab him and kick him in Boyd's direction, and the two hit the floor by the twins.

Allison joined us, brandishing her crossbow, as we all watched the four werewolves begin picking themselves up from the floor, glaring at us with eyes glowing bright yellow and blue and their fangs bared.

Dread set in as four menacing werewolves glared at us, and we quickly piled into Finstock's office, closing the door as if that was going to do anything other than buy us a few seconds.

"Was that a good idea?" Kira asked.

"Probably not," Allison said while she and Riichi shoved the desk in front of the door.

Then Boyd and Isaac seemed to hear the twins snarling behind them, and they turned around. Ethan attacked Boyd, and Aiden attacked Isaac.

"They're not going to kill each other, are they?" Kira asked, watching the wolves fight, with Isaac being thrown against the office window, breaking it.

My hand tightened around my chain. "They're definitely going to try."

"We're going to have to try and knock them out, aren't we?" Riichi asked, not sounding happy.

"I don't like that plan," Kira said.

Allison readied her crossbow, loading another bolt. "We can't let them kill each other though. Whatever's going on with them, we have to stop it."

"But what is going on with them?" Kira asked, gesturing to the broken window.

"It has to be what we were talking about earlier," Riichi said, "you know, with the flies?"

"You mean how the nogitsune used William Barrow?" Allison asked as she hadn't been at Scott's for that conversation. "You're saying the nogitsune is using flies to control or influence the wolves?"

"Seems like it," I said. "We need to get in there."

Allison took in a deep breath as she nodded. "Right, let's go around." We followed her out the other door of Finstock's office, going outside of the locker room to the two hallway-access doors. Each of us readied our weapons. Allison looked around at us, standing with Riichi at one door while I was with Kira at the other. "Remember, try not to kill them."

"I was just going to try to stay alive," Kira said, and I noticed a slight tremble in her grip.

"If it comes down to it," Riichi said, "leave them to Sara and me. We're the ones with supernatural healing and speed."

"Nice try, Riichi," I told him. "That won't work on them." I readied my stance, wrapping my wrist with my chain, then burst through the door with Kira at my side.

The wolves separated from their brawl as we advanced on them, and they were eager to take us on.

I went straight for Boyd. He was the largest. The strongest. The one the others would have clear trouble with incapacitating. I knew neither Riichi nor Kira could bring themselves to hurt him, so they attacked the twins. They didn't feel anything for the twins. And Allison went straight for Isaac. She had taken him down before with her knives. She could handle him and keep her feelings out of it.

With a swing of the weight, I aimed for Boyd's head again, but that time he saw it coming, catching it before it could land, so I sent two loops down the chain the moment he caught it. The chain wrapped around his wrist, and I ran toward him, sliding under a swipe from his free hand. Using the other end of the chain, I sliced the back of his knees with the knife, and he howled in pain. Then I kicked them, forcing him down to the floor.

Finishing wrapping his body in the chain, I said, "Boyd, please tell me you're still in there," holding the chain tight.

"It's me," he growled. "It's always been me." Boyd turned his head, meeting my eyes with his bright beta gold ones. "You brought me into this world. I'll take you out of it." As if I didn't already feel bad about giving his name to Derek to turn.

I slammed my fist into his head, hoping it would knock him out, but that only seemed to fuel his anger. He flexed his muscles, and the chain links began to bend.

"Shit," I muttered, and my chain snapped.

Boyd raised his arms and shoved me into the lockers, knocking them over in the process as well as the air from my lungs. The metal hit a body underneath, and I looked up to see Kira holding out her blade. Me getting shoved to the side seemed to take out her own problem wolf.

"Thanks," she said breathlessly and wide-eyed.

"Don't mention it." I looked back at Boyd who stopped in his tracks.

For a second, he didn't move, then black blood spilled from his mouth. Boyd reached up, wiping a few drops of the liquid from his lips, looked at it, then he collapsed, hitting the floor with a loud thud. Two other thuds reached my ears.

Kira glanced from Boyd's unconscious form to me still laying atop the lockers, and she asked, "What just happened?"

"I think Scott and Lydia did it."

Nīsan– Older brother

Bakemono – Literally "a thing that changes", monster, a class of yōkai, preternatural creatures

Kogitsune – little fox

Hakaimono – destroyer, "hakai" means "destruction" and "mono" means "person"

Chan – honorific used for people who the speaker finds endearing or is genial with (close friends, children, grandparents, etc.), can also be condescending or insulting depending on when/where/how it's used and the tone of voice