Chapter 9: Restraint

Hello, readers! Here's another installment of Royals and I hope you guys enjoy it! Also if anyone can think of a face claim for Charlie, that'd be great. I've been racking my brain trying to find someone since I've started writing this story, but no one come to mind :| Anyways, read on!

I knew it. I fucking knew it. I always knew since the day Scott got bit that one day the boys would finally get caught. Unfortunately it was something as severe as kidnapping, but at least all they got were restraining orders. Which I'm surprised is the group's first. I always thought they would go down for something like trespassing, but no.

Here I was en route to the sheriff's office to bear witness to the restraining orders Scott and Stiles were about to receive. Granted I was here for moral support and as an extra ride in case they lost their driving privileges, but still.

Is it true Stiles and Scott kidnapped Jackson?

Is it too soon to call it kanima-napping instead? Rolls off the tongue better.

Do any felonies roll off the tongue?

You tell me, jailbird.

I tucked my phone in my back pocket. Updating Isaac could wait. I walked into the building and was met with a smug Jackson. We silently stared at each other as the muffled speech came from Sheriff Stilinski in the room next to us. "You must be pretty proud of yourself?"

"You'd be doing the same thing if someone kidnapped you and told you're a psycho thing with a tail."

I pursed my lips silently in thought. Honestly, he had a point. I mean, yes, his reaction was a tad exaggerated, but not unexpected. "I don't get it," I blurted. Jackson stared at me in response, his smug façade disappearing. "Why don't you hate me as much as you hate Stiles and Scott? I mean I would hate me if I were all up in my business. You didn't even rat me out," I rambled. With the same dead reaction from Jackson, I continued. "If I kidnapped me and claimed I was a killer psychotic lizard, I'd definitely kill me. Bu-"

"I don't, Marley. I wish I could hate you. Oh, how I wish I could—but I can't, so I don't, okay? So just leave it at that."

I opened my mouth to question him once again, but was cut off with a glare. Jesus, that boy could glare. I silently gave him a thumbs up and promptly left him alone with his (raging) thoughts.

Mrs. McCall appeared around the corner with a several emotions etched on her face. "Hi, Charlotte," she quickly greeted as she continued walking. I waved silently as she headed outside and went in the same direction she had come from to find Stiles and Scott. "So, what's the verdict?"

"Fifty feet at all times," Scott announced. He was silent for moment before he tilted his head. "And I think I'm grounded."

"No, he's definitely grounded," Stiles confirmed with a sigh. "Grounded from me."

"Sounds more like a good thing," I quipped. I didn't even need to measure up Stiles's face to know he was offended. "Kidding."

"I'm the worst son ever," Scott deemed.

"Well, I'm not exactly winning any prizes either," Stiles added.

Both boys turned to look at me as if I were supposed to say something. "Uh...I'm the worst son ever?" The guys shared equal expressions of guilt on their face and I sighed softly to myself. "Look, you guys only did what was right—sorta—but we did it with intentions of protecting everyone. I mean, yeah we—you guys got caught but, hey, at least Jackson didn't go apeshit and kill anyone else, right?"

Scott looked a bit thoughtful before hesitating with his answer. "For now anyway."

"See? And besides, who knows if you have to kidnap someone again? Now we have experience so put it on the resumes, boys."

My less than stellar grades should be all the reason why I shouldn't be sitting in the back of class. But this year was riddled with late nights which led to micro naps during class. Even though the bulk of Geometry was plugging number into formulas, I still managed to find a way to make it more complicated. This is how I found myself glancing to the desk on the right of me to see if we were getting the same answers.

"You could at least try to be a little less obvious about cheating," a voice deadpanned. A surprised look panned over my face when I realized it was Boyd.

"Hi, Boyd," I greeted with a smile, glancing down at his paper again. "Could I b—"

He wordlessly handed his classwork over to me but snatched it away before I could take it. "Tell me about Jackson first."

I frowned and reached out for the sheet of paper again and almost face planted when he moved it out of my reach again. "I bet you fit right in with Derek's pack, huh?" In a typical Hale pack fashion, he didn't say anything and simply continued to look at me expectantly. "Honestly, I know just as much as y'all do. No one can read the bestiary," I admitted, looking up to the front of the classroom to see if the teacher had noticed us.

"Is Scott planning something with Jackson?" He shot back.

Honestly, Boyd talked more than people gave him credit for. Not that comes as a huge surprise after the bite. Isaac and Erica were perfect examples of unearned confidence post-bite. "Maybe."

"F—"

"Maybe not—we don't know anything with the bestiary," I clarified. Boyd, to my demise, had a face that I could trust. Derek? Not so much. And I knew any information I was willing to give up would go straight to him. I would hate for Derek to get pissy with Boyd because of me. "If Scott were planning anything, it would in favor of Jackson's life."

That seemed to satisfy Boyd for now. Sure, his face still looked skeptical, but I knew that he knew that I was telling the truth. He handed over his classwork and dug out his cellphone.

The bell rang to signal the end of Geometry and turned to Boyd with a promise to return his work later that day. He was already out the door before I even had the chance to open my mouth. I didn't dwell on his strange behavior for too long as I knew Allison was waiting outside the room for me. "Ready?" she asked. I nodded once begrudgingly and followed her to the library where we going to meet the Scott and Stiles. You know this whole Scallison is secretly dating thing is getting a little to Mission: Impossible for my taste. Super-secret library meetings where we were forced to split up and whisper. Yeah, totally not suspicious at all.

Once Allison and I arrived in the library, we headed to the agreed upon section to where we would meet. My phone vibrated to signal that I had received a next text message.

Is Scott planning anything for Jackson?

I frowned to myself when I saw it was from Isaac. I had expected it to the from Derek considering the conversation Boyd and I just had. Was Isaac trying to get close to me for information?

Allison grabbed a book of the self in an attempt to look inconspicuous while I just stood there keeping an eye out. "The translations are in my bag right on the outside pocket."

Allison nudged me with her elbow to get my attention. I looked around with a frown on my face until I suddenly remembered the task at hand. "Oh! Yeah, my bad," I merely said as I dug through to grab the tablet with the translations. I handed them off as if I were placing a book on the self and waited. "It's everything Lydia can translate. And trust me, she was very confused," Allison began to explain.

Scott's disembodied voice and Stiles's shuffling could be heard from the other side of the book shelf. "Yeah, what'd you tell her?"

"That we were part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures."

"I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures," Stiles defended, not skipping a beat.

I rolled my eyes at his slightly offended tone. "Yeah, and you'd think you'd be better at this whole thing," I shot back as I typed a reply to Isaac.

Who wants to know?

"Offensive."

Scott shushed Stiles and turned his attention back to the tablet. "Does it say how to find out who's controlling him?"

"Not really. But Stiles was right about the murderers."

"Yes!"

"Not really something to be excited about, bud," I quipped, eyeing the security camera around the corner.

"It calls the kanima a weapon of vengeance. There's a story in there about this South American priest who uses the kanima to execute murderers in his village—" Allison began.

"All right, see? So maybe it's not all that bad," Stiles tried to assure.

"Until the bond grew strong enough that it killed whoever he wanted it to," she finished, flipping through a random book.

"All bad, all very, very bad."

"Here's the thing, though," Allison continued. "The kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf. But it can't be—"

"Until it resolves that in its past which manifested it," Scott finished.

"Okay, so what does that mean?" I asked with a confused expression etched on my face.

"It means that Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy," Stiles answered.

"What if it has something to do with his parents? His real parents," Allison suggested.

"Yeah, does anybody actually know what happened to them?" Scott asked, looking to Stiles.

"Lydia might," Stiles said.

"I don't know," I began slowly. "Haven't we hassled Lydia for information enough already. I mean, she probably thinks were all crazy at this point."

"Why can't we just ask Jackson ourselves?"

"Because he's evil!" Stiles accused in a whisper-yell.

"That's not a real reason, Stiles."

"Well, he doesn't have a restraining order against me or Charlie, so we'll talk to him ourselves."

"Okay, what do I do?"

"You have a make-up exam, remember?" Allison gently reminded. She glanced around before taking Scott's hand through the bookshelf. "Promise me."

Oh, god more Scallison. I'm not bitter, I swear.

Me.

Is that code for Derek?

Derek is code for Derek.

Boyd and I already played 20 questions about Jackson. Except he didn't feel the need to lead me on to get information.

"Charlie!" Scott whispered-yelled. I jerked my head and locked my phone defensively. I didn't bother to hide the irritated look on my face. If Isaac was only getting close to me to fish for information, I could probably convince Scott to kick his ass. "If he does anything, you run the other way," Scott began. "Both of you."

"I can take care of myself."

"I am really good at running."

Allison and I answered in unison.

"Allison, if you get hurt while I'm busy with some stupid test, someone's going to need to take care of me. If he does anything—"

"Like?"

"Anything. Weird, bizarre. Anything."

Stiles roughly pulled Scott out of the way and popped his head through our make shift hole. "Anything evil!" Allison and I shared a small smirk before she placed her hand on Stiles's face and shoved him back to his side of the bookshelf. She walked in the opposite way we came in and waved good-bye.

I looked back over to Scott while Stiles was clumsily placing a fallen book back on the shelf. "Promise me you'll yell, scream, or anything if something happens," Scott said, worry plastered on his face.

"I promise."

Instead of going to class, Allison and I decided to go ahead and catch Jackson during his free period. We ended up borderline stalking him until he finally ended up in the boys' locker room. Allison took off her heels and instantly lost four inches. "Huh, so that's how tall you really are," I whispered thoughtfully.

"Yeah. Totally not worth it though. These shoes are a killer," she whispered back. "You ready?"

I nodded once and checked the halls to make sure they were still clear. Allison took the lead and followed closely behind. As we tiptoed Scooby-Doo style down the hall, I checked and double-checked for any missed security cameras. Unfortunately, Allison was feeling particularly jumpy and elbowed me right in the nose. "Charlie, I'm so sorry!" Allison quickly apologized. "He scared the hell outta me."

I waved off her apology as I pinched my nose accordingly and looked past Allison to see who cause the accident. "Why am I not surprised?" I scoffed, narrowing my eyes at my brother.

"Seriously, it was an accident," he assured. He walked over and moved my hand to inspect the damage. I already felt the blood running and knew what was about to come next. "Maybe you should go to the nurse, Charlie," he suggested.

"No," I denied shaking my head quickly, making feel a bit dizzy. "I'm fine, trust me."

Unfortunately, the sound of blood dripping on the floor was not helping my case.

"Fine, fine. I'll go to the nurse," I caved. "But alone." I pinched my nose and held it back as I began making my way to the nurse's office. I turned the corner and stood there until Matt left so Allison and I could continue with our original plan.

Once Matt (and his embarrassing flirting) had disappeared, Allison put her back to the door and spoke out loud. "Charlie, I know you're out there so stay here and keep a look out, okay? I'll yell if I need you."

Reluctantly, I stretched my arm out and held up the universal "OK" symbol. Once she had made her way inside I went to go prop the door open with my foot to keep it open so I could hear. In the meantime, I decided to wipe my nose clean from the still steady stream of blood. Most of it was smeared all over the too big gray v-neck I was sporting. God, it looked like I just slipped and fell right into a crime scene. I let the locker room door shut and tried to use the blacked out glass as a mirror to check out the damage that was done to my nose.

Hey man, Allison's got some pretty sharp elbows.

"Charlie!"

I jumped at the sound of my name but swung into action when I remembered the task at hand. I grabbed the door to swing it open, but was met with it being snatched and slammed shut. I heard the lock click and tried futilely to open it once again. I could hear Jackson spewing words at Allison so I wasted no time running to the general direction to go get Scott.

"Scott!" I yelled down the hall as I was running, I was looking up for more cameras until I collided right into the person I was looking for. I landed on my butt and let out a small groan.

"What the hell happened to you? Was it Jackson?" Scott yelled, setting into a small panic. He yanked me up to my feet as quickly as I was knocked down. His eyes flashed gold for a brief moment until I shook my head no. "Don't worry about this," I said gesturing to my face and bloody shirt. "We gotta go help Allison."

He growled and grabbed my hand as we took off in a sprint back to the boy's locker room. I was struggling to keep up until we thankfully skidded to a stop at the locker room. Scott unceremoniously ripped the door open. He wasted no time attacking Jackson while I stood idly by a slightly terrified Allison. "You okay?" I asked. She nodded quietly and blinked the tears out of her eyes.

"You?"

"Me?!" I asked incredulously. As if I were the one locked in the locker room with a killing machine. I watched Allison as she grabbed a clean towel and wet it using the sink that wasn't in pieces on the ground.

"Here."

I took the damp towel and gave her a small thanks. "So, I take it you didn't find anything out?" I asked over the noise of the ongoing fight. Allison only managed to open her mouth before Scott and Jackson came rumbling out. "Should we do something?"

"What? I don't have my crossbow."

I wasn't a fighter and I definitely didn't have any other experience with real weapons. How did I get myself into a another situation where I was less than useless?

"Doing something is better than doing nothing."

As corny as that was, it was true. With Stiles's words in my head, I threw my self onto Jackson's back and attempted to wrap my arms around his neck. I at least had decent upper body strength to hang on from his attempts to throw me off. Stamina? Not so much. The distraction lasted long enough for Erica and Stiles came to subdue the rest of the fight. And unfortunately Mr. Harris was right behind them.

"What the hell's going on? What do you idiots think you're doing? Mr. McCall, you wanna explain yourself?" Mr. Harris shouted, still taking in the scene around him. "What the hell happened to you, Charlotte?"

All five pairs of eyes turned to stare at me and eyed my blood stained shirt and now red face from my impromptu spider monkey performance. "We were playing…Chicken," I explained in a less than convincing tone. "Without the pool. Street rules. Got a little out of hand."

"You dropped this," Matt said from behind Mr. Harris. Seriously, when did he get here? At this point, I'm just gonna assume that Matt's always around.

"You and you—actually, all of you. Detention. Three o'clock."

Hey, I'll take it. It's way better than a restraining order.

"Oh, uh, we can't be in detention together. I have a restraining order against these tools," Jackson announced as everyone settled into different tables for detention in the library. I took a seat across from Allison and next to Jackson who was sitting across from Matt.

"All of these tools?" Mr. Harris asked.

"No, just us tools," Stiles confirmed.

"Fine. You two, over there," Mr. Harris pointed. He promptly left to go sit at the librarians desk behind a mountain of books.

I had eventually made it to the nurse's office that day and was now sporting a bloody shirt, swollen nose, another disgusting bottle of Emergen-C, and an ice pack. I am the picture of health.

"Kanima," Matt mumbled under his breath. Allison and I shared extremely confused looks before I sat up to give my twin a Spanish Inquisition.

"Psst! Charlie," Stiles poorly whispered, interrupting my goal.

I looked over at him with an annoyed look on my face. "What?"

He flailed his arms in a manner that signaled that he wanted me to come over to his table. I looked to Scott who was staring past me and at Allison. With a huff, I gathered my stuff and plopped into the chair next to Stiles. "New plan; we're killing him," Scott informed in a determined tone.

"Well, that escalated quickly," I sighed. "Where's this coming from?"

"Seriously?" The two asked in unison. I shrugged silently and placed the melting ice pack back on my nose. "I was trying to give you two the benefit of the doubt, okay? Especially you Scott."

"Hey, I never got to ask," Stiles began. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't know Allison could hit that hard," I chuckled, sending her a small wave which she returned.

"Wait," Scott said. "Allison hit you?"

"Yeah, I thought it was Jackson," Stiles agreed.

"Nope. My brother scared the crap outta her when we were sneaking to the boys' locker room and bam," I finished, recreating the move that lead to the demise of my favorite v-neck.

"Oh," Stiles said, clearing his throat. "Good, now I don't have to kick some ass."

I sent Stiles an apprehensive look. "Really?"

"Don't look so doubtful, Daehler. Have faith, okay? You don't have to call Isaac for everything. Besides, I could totally kick Jackson's ass, right Scott?" Stiles asked for reassurance. He flailed his arms around again in a manner that I think that was meant to be punching. "Scott? Scott?" He repeated trying to get his attention.

"Doesn't your brother have the hots for Allison?" Scott asked once he came back to earth.

"Ew," Stiles and I said in unison. "But yeah, what's your point?" I confirmed.

"Nothing," he simply said.

After a beat of silence, Stiles spoke up. "Hey. What if it's Matt? I mean, this whole thing comes back to the video, right?"

"No!" I defended loudly, earning looks from everyone. I rolled my eyes from embarrassment and started again in a lower voice. "This whole thing comes back to Jackson—the Kanima, and Derek—the local werewolf preying on high students."

"Danny did say that Matt was the one who found the two hours of footage missing," Scott answered.

"Exactly! He's trying to throw suspicion off himself."

I scoffed and moved the ice pack to warm my nose up. "I doubt it. He's not that clever."

"That's exactly what he wants you to think, Charlie. He's fooling all of us!"

"I think I would notice my twin freaking brother being evil, okay? Not everything is a conspiracy theory, Stiles."

"Come on, don't be so naïve you guys!"

"So, he makes Jackson kill Isaac's dad, one of Argent's hunters, and the mechanic working on your jeep?" Scott asked, not falling for Stiles's poorly supported theory.

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because…he's evil."

"How do we know it's not Derek controlling the Kanima?" I shot back. "Or Mr. Harris? Or Danny? Or Greenburg? Maybe he's fooling us all and he's actually a genius who knows all about this supernatural shitshow but he's waiting for the right time to strike. Oh! What if it's Coach Finstock. He's like certifie—"

"Okay! Okay, okay, okay, I get it!" Stiles interrupted defensively with his hands up. "So, maybe your brother isn't completely evil."

I scoffed once again and rolled my eyes. I let my head roll back and balanced the ice pack on top of my face to put frustration into something that was easier than words.

"You just don't like him," Scott said, stating the painfully obvious.

"The guy bugs me. I don't know what it is. Just look at his face," he argued.

"Hey, we share a face, jackass," I mumbled with a face full of ice.

"Yours is different, Charlie," he assured. "It's nicer, cuter in a sense—much easier to look at. "

Thanks, Stiles now my ice pack is gonna be a bag of water if you keep complimenting my face. "Suck up."

"The real person we need to talk to is Erica," Scott said in an attempt to get us back on track.

"Why? I thought we were beefing with Derek's pack?"

"Is that what you and Isaac are calling it?"

"We're calling it none of your business."

At this point, Jackson rushed out of the library to go to the bathroom. Harris went to go after him, but not before declaring that no one was allowed to leave their seats. As soon as the doors shut behind him, Stiles and Scott wasted no time to go corner Erica.

I decided to take this time to get some work done. And by work, I mean I stole assignments from Stiles's locker and had every intention of getting them turned in by the end of the week. Who knew detention would actually do me some good?

Scott? Not so much. There was an announcement overhead for him to report to the principal's office. Getting that announcement wouldn't be good for anyone—especially Scott. I watched him reluctantly leave the library with anxiety on his face. He bumped into Mr. Harris on his way out which gave Stiles just enough time to go back to his correct seat at my table.

"It was a car accident. Erica's dad was the insurance investigator, and apparently he's going to be even richer after he turns 18," Stiles spat out in a low voice.

"Really," I mused, not lifting my pen from my paper. I was halfway there and I refused to be distracted again.

"Isn't there something deeply wrong about that?"

I shrugged in response as I flipped both pages over to copy the other side. "Why is he going more money?"

"Is that my homework from last week?" Stiles asked as he reached out to grab his sheet. I slammed my hand down on the table to keep him from taking it.

"Remember that time I got elbowed in the face the same week I jumped in a pool after you told me to?" A guilty look crossed Stiles's face and he soon let go of the sheet. Maybe Matt's bad mood was rubbing off onto me. Or maybe twin telepathy was real. Or maybe it was that time of the month getting ready to start. Or maybe I just wanted someone to cut me another break. Or maybe I was just tired. "Sorry, I think I'm just…tired or something."

"It was a car accident," he explained, ignoring my apology and looking away from me. "Jackson was pulled out of his dead mom's body," Stiles explained in a soft voice.

I cringed and glanced over to where Jackson had returned from the bathroom. "I thought I was having a bad day."

"You do look like you murdered someone and lost," he quipped, keeping his eyes on anything but me. I watched as he peeled off his jacket and offered it to me. I took it wordlessly and immediately tucked it over the mess that was once my shirt.

"Are you gonna want this back?" My question was left unanswered when Mr. Harris stood to gather his things and leave.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. Uh, yes, I'm leaving. But none of you are. You may go when you're done with the re-shelving. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

That smug bastard.

Matt and I were diligently working together as we re-shelved book after book. Every now and again the library would be filled with the sounds of Jackson mumbling and seething to himself.

"You look mighty comfy," Matt quipped, eyeing Stiles's jacket.

"It's a pity jacket." I stretched up to place a book on one of the higher shelves and shrugged in an attempt to not look suspicious. "Besides, I look less like a murderer this way." I left Matt to his thoughts and began shelving on the same aisle Allison, Scott, and Stiles were gathered and talking lowly.

"We have to tell him!" Was the only thing I caught as Scott brushed past me. I frowned at the rest of the group who were gesturing that I go after him. I promptly went after Scott to find my brother on the ground not moving and a cut on the back of his neck.

Jackson was nowhere to be found and it only to half a second for Scott and I to figure out what happened. "Matt," I called out. I kneeled down next to him. I checked to see if he had a pulse and was relieved when I felt the soft beating. I blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill over.

"Where's Jackson?" I asked. My answer came in an obnoxious form of ceiling tiles landing around us as the Kanima hopped from shelf to shelf. Between the locker room and the library it was needless to say, we're done after all this is over. I folded my legs under me and sat on my knees. I kept my fingers on Matt's pulse point to make sure he wasn't slipping on me. Granted, he's not allowed to die on me because I'd kill him if he died. And yes, I'm ready to test that theory.

Once Jackson had finished hopping around, he paused at the chalkboard where he began scribbling something on the board.

STAY OUT OF MY WAY OR I'LL KILL YOU ALL

That's always comforting to read as your brother lies unconscious and paralyzed.

Everyone watched in awe as Jackson dropped the chalk and crashed out of the library using a closed window. I'm not 100% sure if that's the most effective way to exit a library but whatever.

"I think she's having a seizure!" I heard Stiles yell from an aisle over. Under any other circumstances I would have helped. Not that there was much I could do.

Scott had joined us and reassessed the situation. All that I could catch was that Erica didn't want to go to a hospital and only wanted to be taken to Derek.

"I'm staying here with you," Scott argued.

"Stiles can't take her alone and Charlie can't take Matt alone. Not like this. Just go," Allison assured.

"This doesn't feel right."

"It's okay."

"No, we've been saying that all day, but look at you, Matt, Charlie, and now Erica. This doesn't feel right, Allison."

"It doesn't," she began. "It doesn't mean anything.

"But it feels like it does."

"Scott, go." He sighed and placed a kiss on her forehead before standing up to leave. Once Scott, Erica, and Stiles had left. Allison handed off her phone to me. I swallowed thickly and tried to dial 9-1-1. My hands weren't steady enough to dial the three numbers so I cursed under my breath while Allison took the phone away from me. I took one of Matt's still hands to calm me down. After she hung up the phone with the operator, I sighed deeply. "Scott's right, you know?"

"I know."

And there you have it! Leave any FC ideas in the reviews or just PM me. Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! Review please because I think people are starting to lose interest.