If Genie had ever doubted the existence of hell, the car ride to the Sheriff's station made her a believer. Her mother was rambling at a mile a minute, asking what had happened and practically screaming that she never should have let Genie go back so soon. She had never seen her mom so upset in her life, tears streaming down her face and her hands clenched tight around the steering wheel. Genie could do little more than stare straight out the windshield at the patrol car driving in front of them, humming in response to most of her mother's questions, not really listening to what they were. When they pulled up outside of the station, her mother locked the car doors, still sitting inside and staring at Genie with wide, frightened eyes.
"Genie, you've got to tell me what happened," she whispered, her voice cracking on the last syllable. Her eyes, usually so calming, were wide with panic and barely restrained fear. Genie curled her fingers into her sweatshirt in her lap, head twisting to look out her window. The squad car was parked next to them, Stiles climbing out of it with a drawn look on his face. Jerking his head towards the door, he took off after his father.
Genie reached her hand up to unlock the door, but Mrs. Cary locked it again just as quickly. When Genie turned to look at her, she felt herself grow cold. Her mother barely looked like herself, terrified and terrifying as she fixed Genie with a harsh look.
"Genevive Elise Cary, you tell me right now-"
"I have to go give a statement, mom," Genie breathed out tiredly, raising a hand to rub at her eyes and sighing loudly.
"Answer me!" her mother screeched. Genie snapped her head to the side, eyes wide as she watched her mother try to control her shaking. Never, not ever, had her mother yelled at her like that. She hardly ever raised her voice at all, but nothing had ever come close to that wild sound. Seeming to register the change in her daughter's demeanor, Mrs. Cary began to apologize, her voice shaking and high, speaking so quickly Genie couldn't even understand her. Mrs. Cary reached out to brush her hair from her face, but Genie shook her head and backed away, her hand fumbling for the lock again. Her mother didn't try stop her from exiting the car, and Genie heard a sob just before she shut the door with a harsh swing.
Stiles was waiting just inside of the station with Scott and Isaac, the three boys sharing frantic looks as Genie pushed through the doors. She froze, taking a breath and trying to shake off the panic that must have been clear on her face. It was obviously unconvincing, as Stiles swore and turned quickly to Scott and Isaac.
"Stall them, now," he hissed, clasping his hand around the bend of Genie's elbow and dragging her towards a more secluded corner. She twisted her head to see the other two rushing towards the Sheriff and Agent McCall, and she stumbled after Stiles. For a moment, he seemed almost at a loss for what to do, but he turned and practically launched them into a room, shutting the door quietly behind them. The blinds on the window and the door leading into the main desk area were open, but neither bothered to flip them closed. Stiles whipped towards her, ducking his head to try to look her in the eyes and clutching her shoulders. Before he could even speak, Genie interrupted him, speaking in a low, clear voice.
"He said he was taking me to quarantine, but when he had me in the locker room, he pulled a gun. And- And- And you had seen us in the hall and followed, and you pushed me back so that you were between us, so-"
Narrow his eyes, Stiles leaned closer before shaking his head. "What are you- Genie, what-" he stuttered, looking genuinely confused. Genie flashed her eyes up to him and then to the side, back out the window towards where everyone else was standing, and noticed that all of the adults, now including her mother, were staring in their direction. Her gaze shifted back to Stiles as she reached an arm up to curl around her stomach, making sure to look like she was growing upset. Stunned at the change, Stiles made a small, uncomfortable noise, but Genie sniffled loudly and shook her head before he could speak.
"Obviously, you need me to hide something about what happened in there," she started, her voice wavering as she scrunched up her nose. Stiles looked even more uncomfortable, gaping at her and nodding slowly. "So, it needs to not look like we're making up a story right now, and like we're just really good friends who are really happy we both got through a nightmare somehow."
With another sniffle, Genie shifted her eyes down to feet. Stiles's hands tightened on her shoulders before he pulled her close abruptly and wrapped his arms around her. She curled her arms around his middle instantly and ducked her head to rest her face against the top of his chest, letting out a muffled sob. Her hands spasmed and then curled into fists in the back of his hoodie. For a moment, Stiles stayed silent, seemingly baffled, but she felt him sigh in return against the top of her head.
"Okay- Okay, so I followed you into the locker room because it all seemed shady, pushed you out of the way which is why you were on the floor, and then he pointed the gun at my head. Just- Yeah, okay, yeah. Keep it as vague as possible, so there aren't any details that don't match up. Just get really upset. Agent McCall doesn't handle emotions well," Stiles instructed, shifting his head to rest atop hers more comfortably. Genie nodded a little, hesitating as she felt her hands shake against his back.
"Stiles, what's- What's going on?" she whispered, unable to stop the small sob that bubbled in her throat.
"Do you really not have a clue?" he muttered, his tone a little dark, almost disbelieving.
Genie let out another sob, shaking her head and fisting his hoodie harder in her hands. "A man just tried to kill me after telling me he didn't know what I was. I don't- Stiles- What the fuck-," she whimpered, her voice cutting off abruptly as she continued to cry. Her entire body was shaking, the reality of what had happened crashing through her all over again.
Stiles's arms around her tightened and she released another wrecked noise. "I- Shit. Okay. Okay, you're sure you don't know-? Okay, that makes things a little harder, uh…" Stiles rambled, keeping his chin pressed to the top of her head as she cried. He shuffled his feet and repositioned them a little so her face was pressing against his neck instead of his collarbone. "We can't really talk about this right now. Agent McCall is- Shit, okay, Scott's dad is walking over. We'll talk about this later."
Sniffling loudly, Genie bobbed her head as much as she could manage and gave another half-sob. A knock on the door made her tense, and she hesitated before pulling back from Stiles's hold to trail her bloodshot gaze over to Agent McCall in the doorway. At seeing how Genie was shaking, he did a rapid double-take.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but- Uh- Genie, are you ready? You're mother wants to get you home, so we were going to get your interview done first… but if you need a minute, we could wait?" he asked carefully, opening the door more fully so he could step inside. Genie shuddered, snapping her eyes shut and wiping roughly at them with her sleeve. Her lungs felt too tight and she wobbled on her feet, Stiles's hand steadying her by her arm.
"Yeah- I just- It's been-"
"It's been a long day," Stiles finished, his voice quiet but heavy in the air. She turned to shoot Stiles a small, broken smile, blinking back another wave of tears and sucking in as deep a breath as she could manage.
"Okay. Okay, I understand. Let's just- Let's make this quick, then, yeah?" he asked, gesturing for the two to follow him as he walked back out into the main area. Genie's mother was practically vibrating with nervous energy next to the sheriff, stepping forward and taking Genie's arm firmly to walk with her into the small interrogation room in the back. Her hand was tense, fingers digging into Genie's skin uncomfortably through her hoodie as Stiles stepped away to linger by his dad and the others.
Agent McCall sat across the table from them, opening up a small file with a sigh and sliding it towards Genie as she took her seat.
"Genie, I'm going to ask you a few questions, and then ask you to write down a statement on the paper I just gave you. You need to answer truthfully, and to the best of your ability. Do you understand?" he clarified, keeping his voice even and professional. Genie hesitated, looking over at her mother and feeling a sharp stab of resignation settling in her stomach. There was no going back once she started lying. She knew that whatever was going on, whatever had almost gotten her killed, wasn't going to just disappear once she acknowledged it was real. Whatever it was, her mother knew too, and hadn't told her. They could both keep their secrets.
"Yes."
The questioning didn't take long, sped up by Genie's increasingly shallow breathing and stuttered answers. Agent McCall seemed willing to get the bare minimum from her before telling her she could leave. Her mother pulled her from her seat, weaving their fingers together and leading Genie from the room while Stiles and the Sheriff moved to join Agent McCall. Scott was talking to a deputy across the room. When Genie spotted Isaac perched on the edge of a desk close by, her pace slowed and she tugged her hand free from her mom's grip. Her stomach twisted at the frazzled look in her mother's eyes as she twisted to face Genie and took a step towards her.
"I'll be right out, mom. I just want to- Just- I'll be out in a second," she stuttered, hurrying away before her mother could voice anything to the contrary. Isaac perked up at her appearance, pushing off of the desk and stepping forward. With a sigh, Genie moved close enough to hug him, breathing in deep and laying her temple on his chest. His arms rose to circle her automatically. He was warm, a stark difference to the current flush of cold through Genie's system as she watched her mother walk out of the building. When Genie pulled away, her hands were shaking and she blinked up at Isaac with tired, bloodshot eyes.
"Isaac, the guy who- He said-"
"Genie," he warned quietly, shaking his head in a short movement. Her lips puckered together, eyes narrowing as she breathed in shakily. The unsettled feeling in her stomach was growing more insistent, more uncomfortable, the longer she felt like she was grasping for any clue of what was going on and coming back with empty hands.
"Stiles told me one of you would explain. I swear to God, if one of you doesn't tell me what the fuck is going on, I'm going to-"
His eyes softened considerably as he pulled her back into a hug. "We're going to, but there isn't enough time right now," he reminded, echoing Stiles's words from earlier. Genie's eyes watered in frustration, her hands clenching into fists by her side, refusing to hug him back.
"Isaac," Genie begged, drawing in a ragged breath. She felt like she was vibrating in his hold, needing something to hold onto but unwilling to reach out for help until she got something in return. "You've got to give me something here. I feel like I'm going insane, and you guys are holding me at arms' length, and I almost got shot for two-hundred thousand dollars tonight. I don't- I don't even know what- He was disappointed I wasn't a dog, Isaac! What does that even-"
"Keep your- Shh, you've got to keep your voice down!" he hissed, holding her out in his arms to look her in the eyes. He shot a look over at the room where Stiles and the Sheriff were sitting with Agent McCall and looked back to her. When she stared back defiantly, he seemed to deflate and leaned back to sit on the edge of the desk again, hands dropping to cross over his chest. He bit the inside of his cheek and looked away towards the front window. "And it was two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars, actually."
Genie blinked at him, her mouth popping open in disbelief. He had the decency to look uncomfortable when he met her eyes again. A tremor ran through her, and her feet carried her a few steps back and away from him. "No one was in the room when he-"
"I know."
He sighed, reaching an arm out towards her and looking like he was about to drop from the sheer exhaustion of the movement. Sucking in a breath, Genie shook her head quickly and turned on her heel, her heart racing in her chest as the sudden urge to flee and get as far away as possible took over. A hand curled over her bicep and halted her so that Isaac could slide in front of her by the door, shooting an uncomfortable smile to the deputy raising an eyebrow at the pair by the dispatch desk. With a wave towards the man, Isaac ushered Genie backwards again, a desperate look on his face as he tried to explain.
"Genie, it's not like that. We didn't-"
"Did you know before I was almost killed tonight that someone was going to try to kill me?" she asked, her voice spiking in panic at the guilty look on his face. When he didn't answer immediately, Genie pulled her arm out of his grasp.
"We- Well- Look, you weren't the only one he was trying to kill. Actually, he wasn't even specifically going after you. He was going after us," he attempted to argue, his voice rough, but Genie felt a wave of righteous anger bubble in her chest.
"He wasn't specifically going after me? Isaac, he was disappointed I didn't get killed by whatever virus he infected everyone with," she hissed, flinching as her voice broke and trailed into a whisper mid-sentence.
Isaac groaned, rubbing a hand over his face and sparing a glance towards the front windows again. "Calm down, I'll- Give me a damn minute and don't tell me not to tell you to calm down; I'm trying to tell you something," Isaac demanded, his tone becoming a little more frazzled when he saw the growing anger on her face at being told to chill out. Genie's mouth shut with a clack of her teeth. "I'll tell you anything you want to know, but Genie, right now you have to go calm down your mom because she is about to lose her shit."
She tried to peak around him, to see if she could spot her mother, but the blinds were closed on the front windows. Her stomach twisted, unsure of what his seeming observation implied. Isaac looked back down at her, eyes softening when he saw the confusion and fear written plainly in the wrinkle of her brow and the tremble of her bottom lip.
"When?" she demanded, eyes watering as that familiar frustrating feeling of the unknown swallowed her whole.
"Tomorrow… Alright, okay, tonight. I'll come over tonight, after your parents are asleep, or something," Isaac assured. He cast another look at the blinds before turning his eyes on Genie and squeezing her shoulders. "I promise. I'll tell you everything."
After a moment's hesitation, Genie gave a quick nod and backed away to the doors. Her mother was just starting to get back out of the car. The tension in her shoulders seemed to recede when Genie came into her line of sight, but she looked like she was fraying at the edges. Wordlessly, Genie opened up the passenger door and slipped inside, picking through her bag as her mother started the car. She breathed in slowly, trying to ignore the way her mother kept glancing at her as she pulled away from the station.
"You could have died today, Genevive! You could have died in that school today and I would never forgive myself if something happened to you because I moved us somewhere that wasn't safe for you," Mrs. Cary whispered, voice quiet and strained. Clenching her jaw shut, Genie turned to look out the window, her hands curled tightly into her hoodie. Her mother shot her an almost desperate look, mouth opening and closing quickly. "You have no idea how scared I- Honey, I need to know what happened in that room."
Genie sniffled quietly, keeping her eyes trained forward and trying to ignore the pressure in her chest. She was torn between two sides. Part of her wanted to spill everything to her mother, all of her fears and the words that kept her awake at night and the eyes of the man who had tried to kill her on contract, but she couldn't say it. She couldn't say it because her mother was searching for an answer to a question she already knew the answer to. Her mother knew why Genie was a part of the equation, but at the moment, Genie couldn't rely on her to give her the full solution because she didn't know what was happening specifically in Beacon Hills.
"You already heard what happened, mom, when I spoke with Agent McCall. Don't make me talk about him again. Please," she replied in a quiet monotone, unwilling to take her eyes from their unfocused gaze out the window.
Mrs. Cary didn't speak again.
Her father broke down in tears the moment he saw her entering the house, drawing her into a hug tight enough to make Genie fear for broken bones. Behind her, her mother pressed close and sniffled into her hair. She stayed with them the bare minimum required of a reunion after one person had almost died, insisting that she wanted to shower away the day and then sleep until the end of the world. Both of her parents were reluctant to let her go, but Genie cited how bad she smelled as she ducked out of their embrace. She called out that she'd be going to bed immediately after she was done while she bolted up the stairs. After dumping her bag and hoodie in her room and grabbing a change of clothes, she scurried towards the bathroom, her phone clutched in her hand.
Laying her back against the door, Genie reached her free hand behind her to twist the lock. She glanced around the small bathroom quickly, eyes focusing on the cracked window. Hurriedly, she moved to tug the window shut and lock it as well. After taking a few breaths to steady herself and settle back on the edge of the tub, Genie raised her phone to look at the screen, thumbing it open to send a couple messages.
[To: Isaac Lahey, 9:47pm]
Please don't break your promise.
[To: Malia Tate, 9:47pm]
Are you okay? I didn't see you when we were leaving. Please tell me you're okay.
Genie bit her bottom lip, huffing out a breath through her nose in frustration. Her eyes drifted up towards the mirror and she stood up to look herself in the eye. The girl in front of her was almost unnaturally pale in the artificial light and her eyelids drooped heavily over bloodshot eyes. Strands of her hair were hanging in her face, oily and unkempt. Patches of skin on her neck were rubbed almost raw looking, settled beside the purple-brown bruise from several days prior. She looked like she had been through hell and come back on the other side missing a piece of herself. It wasn't an inaccurate assumption. Genie didn't know what to make of the mess that was lying before her, both in terms of her physical appearance and her life.
Never had Genie thought there was something different about her. Her life had been normal, at least as normal as a life of constantly relocating for her mother's job could be. She and her brothers had been normal, and now she had had two attempts on her life within the week because of, quote, 'what she was.' A man had been disappointed she wasn't a dog, and apparently her friends… were? Lydia's insistence on a need for a normal friend suddenly made much more sense to her.
After waiting impatiently for a few minutes for a message in return, she huffed out a breath and set her phone down on the back of the toilet. Genie moved mindlessly about the room, double checking the locks on the bathroom door and the window, before turning on the shower. The room filled with steam quickly. By the time she finally got out of the bathroom, she felt like she could hardly breathe from the moisture, and not, she told herself, from the anxiety bubbling under her skin. She poked her phone with a wrinkled finger, frowning when she saw that she had no new messages despite the fact that she had been in the shower for almost an hour.
Genie tried to force her breathing to even out as she walked back to her room in the dark, navigating half by memory and half by touch. Lingering by the door, she could hear her parents' hushed whispers, but found that the house was otherwise blessedly silent. After shutting the door quietly and locking it, she leaned her head against the wood and took a steadying breath before flipping the lights on with a sigh. When she turned, her knees buckled in fear as a figure rose from her desk chair and she opened her mouth to let out a terrified scream, only to stifle it with her own hand when she recognized them. Isaac held both hands out in front of him, a stricken look on his face as he realized just how badly he had scared her. Without a second thought, Genie bunched up her towel and lobbed it at him with a venomous glare.
"You asshole! What the hell were you thinking, you complete moron? Why would you-" she whispered in a hiss, leaning back against the wall and pressing her hands against her eyes as she cut herself off. Isaac was cycling through a series of apologies in an equally quiet voice, her towel curled in his arms. After taking a minute to try to breathe normally, she straightened up and walked towards Isaac to pull the towel from his arms. Genie set about toweling off her hair without looking at him. Wet trails slid down her neck and under the collar of her too-big t-shirt as she tossed the towel onto the hook on the back of her door, shivering at the shock of cold curling across her skin in the wake of her sudden panic. The tension coiled around her bones stayed taut as she paused by the window on the other side of the room, staring out at the night a moment before shoving it closed and twisting the lock. She checked another window and her door once more without word, Isaac having shut the window by her desk and gone silent. When she turned, he was nearly pressed into the corner, his shoulders hunched and his face downcast.
After rubbing at her eyes again wearily, Genie walked towards her bed and flopped down on it. She tipped her head back over the edge of her bed to look at Isaac upside down, catching his eyes and nodding towards the bed, but he didn't move from the corner. Strange. In the past couple weeks, Genie had seen a great many emotions on his face: that haunted emptiness, the worry for his friends, an uncertain and begrudging trust. This however, was something else entirely. He looked drawn into himself in a way Genie hadn't seen before. This haunted, empty look was unlike anything she'd seen on him, and the change made her nervous. Rolling over to tuck her legs underneath her and sit up, Genie reached out a hand to pat the bed in front of her before extending the same hand towards him. Isaac hesitated, a wary and exhausted look in his eyes, and Genie lowered her hand, suddenly uncertain.
Toeing off his sneakers, Isaac walked over quietly and lowered himself onto the blankets opposite of her, his legs crossed beneath him and his head ducked down. He looked up from under his eyelashes, but wouldn't maintain eye contact.
"Isaac?" she asked quietly, her voice breathy and unsure at this sudden change of behavior. Her uncertainty seemed to give him pause, and he let out a sigh before reaching out to twist his long fingers around her own.
"Did you know I live with Scott?" he questioned, eyes curious and face a little more open when he straightened to look at her. Genie shook her head quickly, furrowing her brows in confusion. "I lived with him before break, too. My dad died last year and my, uh, guardian kicked me out. Scott took me in without a second thought. When I came back this semester, I was expecting to live in a hotel for a while before I figured out something more permanent, but-"
"'McCall has a habit of picking up some interesting strays…'" Genie quoted under her breath, her voice half wonder and half nauseous disdain. The man with the pale eyes had told her that in the locker room, curious as to what made her special enough that Scott had decided to collect her. She glanced up, meeting Isaac's sharp inquisitive gaze. Her fingers tightened around his momentarily before drawing away to clutch at her stomach. "He said… He didn't know what I was, that I wasn't a dog, but that Scott had a habit of picking up strays…"
Isaac huffed out a disbelieving laugh, grimacing as he looked down at his hands. The sour face morphed into something a little more thoughtful, though. "Yeah, I guess he does."
Silence stretched between them, growing longer as they both refused to start the conversation they inevitably had to start. Genie's heart raced in her chest as she curled her fingers a little tighter in her shirt, keeping her eyes fixed on the blankets between them. Despite days of uncertainty and discomfort, Genie found herself unable to ask the questions that needed to be asked now that they had time. The moment was nearly identical to the one she found herself faced with earlier, when talking to Agent McCall. Once she started down this road, once she asked the questions and got her answers, Genie knew there would be no going back from whatever she found out. Her life had already changed forever, but for a moment, she wondered if she could just cling to her ignorance and make it all go away. When she looked up to see Isaac's concerned and conflicted face, she knew she couldn't run any longer.
"I don't know where to start," Isaac admitted, fingers fiddling with the edge of his jeans. Genie hummed in agreement before sighing and curling up on her bed. After a moment's pause, Isaac mirrored her movements and held out a hand. She curled her hand around his without a thought.
"So… I am not a dog," Genie started, voice shaking slightly. Isaac squeezed her hand tighter.
"You are, decidedly, not a dog," he assured, quiet but steady.
Genie sucked in a breath, trying to gather her courage and figure out how to phrase her next thought gently and with as little judgement or disbelief as possible. "But you… are," she said, not quite a question but not a sure statement either. Isaac looked away and gave a quick nod of his head.
"Yes."
"Okay…" she breathed, drawing her other arm around her middle and curling her legs in a little tighter. Isaac's knees brushed against her shins as she moved and she found herself shifting closer to keep the contact. "Okay, so you're… a dog. What does that mean, exactly?"
With a pained look on his face, Isaac drew away to roll halfway onto his back, covering his face with both hands and curling up tighter. "I am the worst person to give this talk. Scott or Lydia or, hell, even Stiles would be better at this than me!" he griped from behind his hands, scratching at his hairline without moving out of position. Genie furrowed her brows again, frowning at his reaction, but unable to fault him on it because of the absurdity of the situation. When he wouldn't remove his hands from his face or turn back to her after a few minutes, Genie reached across the divide to curl her hand into the side of his shirt and give a tug to try and shake him.
"Isaac… Isaac, come on!" she pleaded, giving another shake. "I have enough people keeping secrets from me, including my own mom apparently, so please just- I have to know. I have to know, with my life on the line, what is-"
Genie cut herself off with a startled gasp as Isaac rolled back towards her, a growl rumbling in his chest. His hands rose to frame Genie's face, but she couldn't care less. In fact, she couldn't do anything other than stare in blind shock when she found his eyes, his eyes which were normally so blue she could practically drown in them, were staring back at her and glowing an eerie golden-yellow. Her breath was caught in her throat and she was unable to focus even as Isaac started to speak in a low, determined voice.
"Nothing is going to happen to you. I'm not going to let-" he started, cut off when Genie's hand raised to cover his mouth. He blinked at her, a little startled, but didn't continue to talk.
It took Genie a moment to get her wits about her. "What the hell is going on with your eyes?" she questioned, her voice trailing off in a horrified whisper. Isaac shut his eyes tight, his face scrunching up in concentration, before he let go of her face and curled forward to duck under her chin. The hand Genie had over his mouth trailed up to cup the back of his head instead. He tucked a little closer in response to rest his forehead against her collarbone as he let out a shaky sigh. When he didn't start speaking again, Genie found herself growing impatient. "Isaac."
"So, do you believe in werewolves?"
A/N: And finally, the next chapter. Let me know what you guys think! Comments, suggestions, all of it welcome. I really appreciate all you readers, new and old, checking this out. All my love, till next time!