Yeah, you can start over
You can run free
You can find other fish in the sea
You can pretend it's meant to be
But you can't stay away from me


Chapter 19: Confound


"You texted me to show up here?" Sherry pressed, looking around in concern. The school parking lot was deserted but for several stray school buses. At eleven p.m., she could hardly see anything; what she could was only dimly illuminated by yellowish lights.

"Yeah," Liam nodded. "I'm going to tell Mason."

"You're going to tell Mason you're a werewolf at midnight at the school," she reiterated dubiously. "Does that not strike you as a terrible idea?"

The weight room door opened, revealing an annoyed-looking Mason. Liam ran toward him apologetically. "Hey! Hey, sorry I'm late."

"Oh no, you're not late," Mason replied in a monotone, "You missed it. I worked out. For two hours."

"Yeah, I know, I forgot. I'm gonna tell you why." He paused, hanging his head. "Actually, I'm going to tell you a lot of things. A lot of hard to believe things. Really hard to believe..." Taking this as her cue, Sherry stepped forward, ready to back up whatever terrible plan Liam had.

Mason's eyes widened. "There's a wolf." Sherry, confused, followed his gaze and gulped.

"Yeah, I'm getting to that," Liam continued.

"No, idiot," Sherry nudged.

"There's a wolf," Mason repeated, "Right behind you."

Finally, Liam got the hint and looked. "That's a wolf," he squeaked, swallowing. The black canine growled, stepping closer to the trio as it stared at them with menacing eyes.

They burst into motion, pushing aside the double doors by the weight room, and tore down the linoleum hallway. The rubber soles of Sherry's sneakers slid on the recently cleaned tiles, leaving her scrabbling for a grip as she tried not to trip. As she sprinted away from the ever-closer wolf, she was reminded of a recurring nightmare she'd had when she was younger that played on her then-unreasonable fear of being eaten alive.

When she was little, she didn't know that the constant, soft pounding she heard in her head before she fell asleep was only her pulse. She'd imagined the rhythm to be lines of wolves padding down her street, herds of wolves stampeding to catch a sniff of her scent. She'd always woken up right before they caught her.

Except this wasn't a dream. The wolf's paws thumped on the floor, as metronomic as her heartbeat. There was a soft click and scratching, too, when the wolf's claws made contact with the linoleum. Sherry tried to turn a corner, to dash up a set of stairs after Mason, but her shoes were not meant for running on slippery surfaces. She slipped, her feet sliding out from underneath her as she skidded across the floor.

The wolf was only a few yards away. Then Liam stopped in his tracks, facing the black wolf with a feral roar. The canine halted, blinking innocently, and then turned tail and trotted away.

Mason descended the stairs, watching Liam's face melt from werewolf to human with rapt attention. "You're a werewolf," he observed, grinning. He didn't seem to find anything disturbing about that at all.

Sherry pushed herself to her feet, her tailbone aching and an annoying pain on her elbow skin. "And I now have mild abrasions on my elbows," she added. "Thanks for stating the obvious."

"Does it hurt?" Liam asked, rushing to her side.

"No." She pulled away from him. "But thanks for saving me. Are we even?"


"I'll be blunt. It's not what I was hoping for, but the DA's offer is still pretty reasonable."

"What's reasonable?" an annoyed voice interjected.

"Talk in the van, guys," another man chastised. Sherry looked up from her homework.

"Let's go," the first man agreed. He looked like a lawyer, shrewd and professional, with a binder and legal pad tucked under his arm.

"No! Just tell me! What's reasonable?" The guy looked young, like he was in high school or had recently graduated. Two deputies, Parrish and Valerie Clarke, escorted him by his elbows, his wrists cuffed together behind his back. He looked miffed and as though he were suppressing an explosion, his eyes wide with warning and mouth taut.

"Mr. Stewart, are we going to have trouble with your client?" Parrish said, lifting his eyebrows.

So he was a lawyer. "No, Deputy," Mr. Stewart replied hastily. Turning to his client, he answered, "They want you for three to five. So, why don't we get in the van and discuss a plea bargain that gets you out in two?"

At that moment, the delinquent's attention caught somewhere off to the side. "Stilinski!" he shrieked, "Stilinski! I'm going to kill you!"

The sheriff, dressed oddly nicely in a sandy blazer and tucked-in flannel, just stared stonily with his arms crossed. "Donovan, if you think that shocks me, remember it was well-documented in your Anger Expression Inventory." Behind him, Scott watched with an almost confused expression and Stiles glared, hovering protectively over his father. "Deputies, escort the prisoner out."

Donovan trembled with fury. "I'm not angry like I'm gonna throw a brick through your window," he said. "I'm angry, like I'm going to find you, I'm going to get a knife and I'm going to stab you with it until you're dead. And when you look at me and you ask me why, remember right now. Because this is why."

Stiles chuckled maliciously. "Wow, that was awesome. That was awesome. That was great. Can we do one more," he mocked. "Give us another one, maybe like Christopher Walken this time, you know," he challenged Donovan, who pressed his lips together with a murderous expression, not responding.

"Okay, you know what? It's fine," he continued. "You'll have plenty of time to work on it when you're in your tiny, little, cell, you know?" Stiles made box shapes with his hands to demonstrate. "Just stuck there. Forever."

"Get him out of here!" Sheriff Stilinski ordered.

As soon as Donovan was out of sight, Sherry scurried over, asking, "What's an Anger Expression Inventory?"

"It's a test you take when you're applying to become a deputy," the sheriff answered, sighing.

"That guy wanted to be a cop?" Stiles balked. "At least now he's getting the full law enforcement experience."

She shivered. "I wouldn't want him patrolling my city. He scares me."


It was barely an hour later that the station lit up again. A 911 call from Kira alerted them that she'd found Donovan's transport van, utterly ripped apart and blood everywhere. As the officers and deputies in the station scrambled to make it to the scene, Sherry saw that she had no way to get there herself - and for once she wanted to know what was really going on. She hastily stuffed all of her homework papers into her bag, zipping it up as she raced out the door. Luckily, a dull blue glint to the side caught her eye. Stiles' Jeep. The engine revved up and the yellow headlights flickered on, warning that Stiles and Scott were about to leave without her.

She hopped up and down behind the concrete parking block, waving her arms at Stiles. Halfway through backing out of the spot, Stiles slammed on the brakes. Sherry scampered over to the door and squeezed into the backseat, breathing, "Thanks!"

"Could you warn me next time?" Stiles bit out. "I nearly had a heart attack."

Her lips quirked up at one side. "Why, you thought I was Donovan?"

Stiles shook his head in frustration and backed out of the parking lot, speeding toward wherever the unfortunate van was. Sherry was almost certain that if the entire police force hadn't been crowding in on point in the city, they would have been pulled over at least twice for exceeding the speed limit.

After a minute or so, they neared a flashing, frenzied mess of cruisers and caution tape. Lights flashed blue and red, illuminating the wreck up ahead with eerie, unnatural colors. Past the police blockade, the van was tipped over on its side, two bodies prostrate on the ground beside it in pools of their own blood. The back doors were wide open, revealing another man lying inside. The flashing lights illuminated something clear Sherry could hardly see; it seemed to be a web of sticky goo dripping from the roof onto the unmoving man.

Stiles and Scott were out of the Jeep in an instant. They pointed at the wreck speaking urgently with the sheriff. To the side, Lydia, Malia, and Kira spoke with officers, presumably giving their witness statements.

Sherry caught up to the boys, where the sheriff was saying, "Scott, you saw this kid, Donovan. He wasn't like you, right?"

Scott shook his head uncertainly. "I don't think so." He hesitated. "Unless he knows how to hide his scent."

"Well, human or otherwise," Sheriff Stilinski said, "This kid might have just murdered his lawyer and mortally wounded two officers. We've got an APB out on him, but you think you can find him faster?"

He nodded quickly, already sniffing at the air. "I can try."

The sheriff, though strained, looked slightly satisfied. "Alright." He pulled a walkie-talkie from his pocket and tossed it at Scott as he started to trot away. "Keep it on channel two."

Stiles shifted uncomfortably. "Dad, what if itxx wasn't Donovan?"

"I'm guessing you've already got a theory?"

"Yeah, I think I do." His mouth twisted in anticipation.

It was barely a moment later that muffled screaming filtered through the walkie-talkie.

The sheriff jerked the black plastic device up and questioned, "Scott, is that you?"

He replied immediately. "Yeah, I found Donovan. He's completely freaked out. He keeps saying some name."

"What name?" Stiles blurted. He muttered something under his breath, a prediction that sounded like "Theo."

"Tracy," Scott said. "He keeps saying Tracy."

"Tracy who?" Sheriff Stilinski pressed.

"Stewart," Scott repeated. "Tracy Stewart."

"Who's Tracy?" Sherry wondered.

"Tracy wasn't just having trouble sleeping," he continued, "It was a real disorder. It was night terrors."

"Well, now she's the night terror," Stiles said. "Especially since no one can find her."

Tracy and Theo? How had she missed all this important information? She wondered how much really had happened over break. Maybe, she considered, she just hadn't been included in any of the important conversations since she'd returned from Hong Kong. She didn't know which was more disappointing.


Scott returned five minutes later, after he'd directed the police to where he'd found Donovan lying on the ground. Sherry yawned, ready to go home.

"Hey," Parrish said, stopping in front of her. "I need to go back to the station to fill out some paperwork. Do you need to go back to get your stuff?"

"No, it's in Stiles' car," she answered, happy to see him. "Can I come with you?"

"I don't want you to stay up too late," he insisted. "Ask Stiles to drive you."

"But-"

"Stiles!" Parrish called, flagging the boy down. "Can you take Sherry home?"

He looked as if he were about to complain. "Do I have a choice?" Parrish glared at him. Stiles sighed. "I thought so."

Scott passed behind him. "Are we going?"

"Yeah. Let's go, Sherry."

"But-"

"Sherry, I need you to go home now and get a good amount of sleep. Okay?" Parrish repeated.

She huffed. "Fine, Dad." And then she realized what she'd just said. "I mean Jordan," she backtracked, her face flushing in embarrassment. "I meant Uncle Jordan." She fled toward the Jeep in a hurry and yanked on the door handle impatiently, desperate to get away.

Several excruciatingly slow seconds later, Stiles unlocked the car and let her barrel inside. "Hey, don't worry about it," he consoled.

Scott fastened his seatbelt. "Yeah. In middle school I accidentally called my English teacher 'Mom' once."

"I just- he reminded me so much of my dad when he said that... I didn't mean to," she rushed. "Sorry. Sorry."


A/N: Sorry for the long wait! School has started and I've been busy! I've also had to reconstruct my entire plotline for part 2 because of the way Layden turned out. Like, I love Layden, but they're seriously getting in the way of #Shiam and ruining Sherry's love life here. I thought of completely cutting Hayden and replacing her with Sherry, but that's not my thing and unfortunate circumstances always means character development, right? So, since Theo so graciously brought Hayden back to life, don't expect Shiam to happen anytime soon. And I'll probably put this story on hiatus until Season 5b once I get to a certain point, so be prepared for that as well.

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