I rode back to the hospital with Derek. Neither of us said anything. The tension in the car said it all. I think he felt he said too much, maybe did too much. It's not like he tried to kiss me. But he did try to make me remember, when I asked him to be patient with me. He probably thinks I'm mad at him. I'm not. I think. But I'm confused. This has been a crazy night.

Once we got to the hospital, Derek and Aiden then jumpstarted Stiles' Jeep. I'm sure the goal is to get it out of the parking lot. But, I couldn't help notice the tension between them. It was greater than that between me and Derek. The two men had a past, for sure. Not a good one. But Aiden's gunning for Scott's pack, and Derek doesn't like that.

The Jeep finally roared to life. Derek disconnected the cables from the Jeep as Aiden got out of it's front seat. He looked like he had something on his mind. He approached Derek and spoke. "So, do you think he was just sleepwalking, or is there something more to it?"

Derek sighed. "In this town, there's always something more."

"What if I told you I know something more?" His question intrigued me. What was he up to? I was leaning against the side of Derek's car with my arms crossed, warding off the cold as best I could. I strategically put myself near the front tire, right where the heat from the engine was coming off.

"I kind of overheard…" Aiden sighed and corrected himself. "Well, I listened in on Stiles talking to Scott." Not surprising, but okay. "How he thinks he was the one who left that message in the chemistry room. The message telling Barrow to kill Kira."

Derek didn't seem convinced. "You think Stiles, skinny, defenseless, Stiles is the Nogitsune? A powerful, dark spirit?" Well, when you put it that way.

"I'm not the only one thinking it; I'm just the only one saying it." Aiden was now if defense mode. He still stood by his words, but seemed border line embarrassed that he said it out loud.

"This thing wants to posses someone and it chooses Stiles?" Derek glanced at me. I just shrugged. I don't know anything about dark spirits. Foxes, yes. Evil foxes, no. "Why wouldn't it take someone bigger, stronger? Someone with a little more…" And then he trailed off. "Power."

I think he was thinking the same thing I was. Scott told me that Allison said that the Nogitsune feeds off of strife and chaos. Stiles would be perfect. From what I hear, he's like the heart of this whole thing. So, who better to cause the most strife than the person who holds everyone together?

(EMMA'S POV)

Kit and I came home completely exhausted. Searching for Stiles was harder than it should have been. Crazy, though, how the humans are the ones who found him. But I don't care. I grabbed Kit from Derek and then we went to the station to get Charlie and then went home.

Thankfully, Parrish was very nice about the whole thing. But I hope we don't have to ask him to do that again. That would've been hard to explain had he asked why we were helping in the search and were walking around like we owned the place.

I guess Stiles was just sleepwalking. But that's some pretty elaborate sleepwalking, if I do say so myself. He's currently at the hospital. The doctors are going to try and figure out why he did what he did. More power to them. But after that, I needed time to myself.

So I got about five hours of sleep and then I went for a walk. I needed to think. Mainly about what I want to do with my life. Like, should I consider the Pride lost? What do I want to do for money and a job? I can't live with Kit forever. What about my baby? That's just five short months away. And, I don't belong here, with these people. So why am I trying to get them to like me?

I was walking on the sidewalk, on my way home. I had been gone for a couple of hours. A silver car pulled up to the curb next to me. One look at the car and I groaned. I knew who that belonged to. I stopped and faced the car, the passenger window rolling down.

"What do you want, now?" I asked.

Derek smiled. "Actually, I need your help."

I was preparing an argument in my head for whatever stupid thing he was going to say. But 'I need your help' wasn't something I had a rebuttal for. "Um…why?"

"I need to hear your side of what happened when Barrow took Kira to the power station."

"Why me?"

"Because you pay attention to things the others don't."

"You mean Scott," I corrected. Then I sighed, "I didn't even see Barrow, or where he had her tied up."

"I know," he said. "I already spoke with Kira." He gestured toward the back seat. I walked up to the car and looked in the back. Kira was sitting behind Derek.

I looked at him with a scrunched up, confused look. "Then why do you need me?!"

He sighed, looking forward, almost like he had to tell himself not to over react. Maybe he did. Then he looked at me, calm and collected. "I'm not interested in what happened to Kira. I want to know what happened to Stiles." Again, my face screwed up. What the-

I stepped back and sighed. Why on earth does he want to know about Stiles? Then it clicked. Just as the words left my train of thought. I looked back at Derek. "You're kidding me."

"I wish I was."

"You think Stiles, scrawny, pathetic, Stiles is the Nogitsune?" I asked. He nodded, with a knowing smile. "I could snap him over my knee! And not in a good way."

"I know. So could I. But I think something happened to him that day," he said. "That's why I need your help."

Well, this is stupid. My mother told me to never get into a car with a stranger. Does that rule still apply if that stranger is your best friend's boyfriend she can't remember? I guess we're going to find out.

(KIT'S POV)

I sat on the couch, legs crossed. I just finished helping Charlie set up a large (very large) play house tent thing in the living room. All of the living room furniture is on the back porch. So…that's where I am. The sliding glass door is open, so I can hear him playing with himself.

He really needs someone to play with. Someone his age. And I need a babysitter. But I tried not to think about all of that. I was rereading what I (the old me) had writing in my bestiary. I can't help but wonder what the pages had written on them before. Before the pages were stripped, before I wrote over them with invisible ink.

Did I write my own tales of encounters with supernatural creatures? Had I even gotten to that point in my life where I had a bestiary worth story? How many Kirins were there before me? Did they write their stories between these covers? Did I read them all?

There are just too many questions. And not enough people who know the answers. I did, however, find a picture in the back of the book. It's a sketch. I'm not sure what it was drawn with. I don't think it was pencil. It was the picture of a rugged looking man. Middle aged, scruffy face, short hair but still kind of long.

He looked like the military type. Like he'd seen it all and nothing could faze him, because it all already had. I sighed, wishing I had the confidence that the man showed in the sketch. On the back was written "Romulus – 1834." That was a long time ago.

Who was he? Did I know him, or was he just another Kirin? Maybe he wasn't a Kirin at all. Maybe he was someone a Kirin knew, someone a Kirin held dear. I don't know how being a Kirin works. Maybe he means nothing. Maybe he's just a guy. A normal guy who did nothing.

I tucked the photo away a while ago. My eyes have been set on the part where I talk about my past life. The one where I had children. Does that mean I could have great-great-great-great grandkids? Is there someone out there, right now, who's a descendent of mine?

Or did they all die out? Am I the last one? I had toyed with the idea of looking up the names listed, the ones I went by. Maybe I could learn something. Like…if I have any relatives. I know it's stupid. But, maybe…oh, whatever. The kids were young when I last saw them. No one would be able to tell me anything.

And I don't have any leads to go on. But something tells me, I never told Derek. Everyone says that I kept secrets. Derek and I even kept things from each other and it was fine. Maybe this was one of those things from my past that I wasn't proud of and therefore didn't tell anyone. How many secrets did I have?

My phone buzzed across the coffee table. I picked it up, setting the book down. It was Emma. I answered it. "Yeah?"

"You busy?" she asked.

"Why?"

"Because…" she sighed. "We think Stiles is the Nogitsune."

"What? Who's 'we'?"

"Derek and I. But Aiden started it."

Yeah, I heard what Aiden said. "You and Derek? Where are you?"

"The hospital. Derek's explaining to Scott what I'm about to tell you."

I'm confused. "I thought you were going for a walk…?"

"Yeah, I did. It's a long story. Just listen," she said. "Kira's fox fire helped jumpstart the dark spirit inside of Stiles." I went quiet, thinking, processing. "Do you know what fox fire is?"

"The power created when foxes rub their tails," I spoke off of memory from what Emma's mom told me. "When did she use fox fire around Stiles?"

"Yeah…remember those two days you were gone, and you came back and asked what happened while you were gone? Well, that's what happened. Some guy escaped from prison and was after werewolves. Someone left a coded message on the chalk board to kill Kira, so the guy took her to the power station where she then fried the whole city. With fox fire. We didn't realize that Stiles was hit by it."

"How do you know he was?"

"Because his bat was magnetized."

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "And you know all this because you helped them stop the guy?"

"Yes. They were practically begging."

"You don't have to justify it to me. So what now? What do we do with this information?"

"Try to get the dark spirit out of Stiles? I don't know. We're working on it."

"'We'? You and Derek?"

She sighed. "Uh, jealous?"

I sat up quickly. "What? Of course not. Why would I be jealous?" There was silence on the other end. "But, thank you for telling me."

"Yep. And we were wondering if you'd like to join the party down here. Isaac and Allison are on their way. Stiles is getting an MRI. I guess they're testing to see if he had the same disease his mom died of."

"Does that even matter, since he's got a dark spirit in him?"

"I don't know."

"Alright. Let me find someone to watch Charlie." I ended the call and then called Aaron. I don't know where he is, but he's the only one who came to mind when I thought 'who's not currently busy dealing with evil Stiles?' Aaron picked up on the third ring.

"Yo!" he said.

"Hi, um, where are you?"

"Where do you need me?"

I smiled. "I was just looking for someone to watch Charlie, but if you're busy or too far away-"

"No, I got it. For you, girl, I'm only one call away."

"Are you ever serious?"

"Probably not. When do you need me?"

"As soon as possible."

"Ah. ASAP. I'm on it. Be there in ten." He then hung up the phone. Actually he was here in thirty, but who's counting. He was still the only one I could call. I then got in the truck and drove to the hospital. Since when did Emma become so involved with everyone?

I thought that she just wanted to hurry up and go home. Now she's helping save people and helping Derek find out who the Nogitsune is. And, no, I'm not jealous. I have no reason to be. If anything, I might be a bit bummed that no one included me sooner.

They probably didn't because everyone's afraid that I'll break. Like, I'm not some fragile egg. You don't have to tip toe around me. But since I'm not their Kit and I'm not my version of me, then I guess I haven't given them many options. They don't know how to act around me, just like I don't know how to act around them.

Night fell on the town shortly before I arrived at the hospital. I parked near the front, next to Derek's car. I was surprised to see Kira standing outside of his car. She looked like she was waiting for something. I got out of the truck and walked up to her. She seemed to shrink away, not too sure of anything. Or who to trust.

"Hey," I said. She didn't say anything. "I don't believe we've formally met," I held out my hand. "I'm Kit."

She shook my hand hesitantly. "Kit? Is that short for something?"

"That's everyone's favorite question." I smiled, trying to lighten the mood. "Yeah. My name's Beckett, but I'm usually called Kit."

"Well, which do you prefer?"

I paused. "Huh," I thought. "I think you're the first to ask that." But before I could answer her, we were interrupted. There was a loud sound like an explosion coming from the roof of the hospital, with sparks and flashes of light included. A cable fell from the roof, sparking the whole way.

Kira and I ducked to miss it. How did that happen? Who cut the cable? Kira backed away, the live wire getting between us. An ambulance drove right through it, crashing into a fire hydrant before coming to a stop on the lawn. The broken hydrant was now gushing water. Water that the cable was dancing in.

The pool quickly spread, doubling by the second. The ambulance driver stepped out of his truck and down into the pool of electrified water. I'm sure you can guess what happened next. Allison's car pulled up, she and Isaac getting out of the car as Kira started shouting for people to get back.

Great idea. But no one was listening. Even Allison. She was inches from the puddle, walking toward it. Isaac stepped in it by pushing her away. She was safe but now Isaac was lying in the puddle of electricity filled water. Not good for a werewolf. Really not good. Not good for me either, actually.

I backed up with the pool as it grew. More people were stepping in it, cars were driving through it. Kira jumped over the hood of a car to avoid getting hit by it, and in the process she landed in the pool of water. But she stood. It didn't electrocute her like the others.

I looked from her to the wire and the puddle. "Kira," I hollered to get her attention. She seems surprised that the electricity didn't do anything to her. She looked up at me. I glanced to the side and saw Scott, Emma, and Derek. They had come out of the hospital and stopped just before the water.

Derek had an arm in front of Emma as if protectively, to stop her from going any further. For a split second our eyes met, but I looked away. I stopped thinking about them and looked back at Kira. "You need to grab the cable." She shook her head, like I was being stupid. "Trust me, okay? Grab it."

And she did. Then her instincts took over. She put her other hand on the frayed end of the cable. And then her eyes glowed.