Just as a reminder to all of those who are reading: When the text is written in bold and italicized lettering "like this," that is the part of the conversation had in sign language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf. I also have no claim on any pop culture references that I may use throughout my writings. I only own my OCs. Enjoy the read.

(o.o)

Chapter 2.04

I held onto Stiles' hand tightly as we made our way through the woods. The flashlight from my phone shined on the ground in front of me, watching every step that I took. Stiles turned his flashlight, aiming it up at the sky to enlighten our faces. He gained my attention and I grinned at the gesture. "You know, if my dad's right, that means there's another werewolf in town that we haven't met yet."

Scott nodded. "I know."

"If it turns out to be something, like, triplets that form into, like, a three-headed hound of hell, I'm seriously not up for that."

"Yeah, me either. Especially if I can't even control my own transformation anymore." Scott admitted.

"I think it'd be cool," I said. Both boys stopped, their eyes on me. "What? You can't tell me that you wouldn't be excited when you see a real, live Fluffy."

Scott furrowed his brow. "Like from Harry Potter?"

"Yeah," I said as if it were obvious. I looked at Stiles. "C'mon on, it'd be awesome!"

Stiles shook his head with a large grin on his face. "Harry Potter movie marathon on the books."

I smiled back at him in agreement.

Scott began his trek again, his phone leading the way with the GPS coordinates taking us to the crash site of the car the Tates were driving when they died. Stiles and I trailed behind him, only a step or two behind to make sure we didn't get separated from each other. I kept my eyes on my feet and didn't notice anyone stop, so I ran into Stiles.

Stiles had paused, holding onto Scott's shoulders as they stared down over a small cliff of rocks. There was more land only a couple feet down and when I peered over the edge, I saw Scott's phone shining up from a puddle below. "Sorry, buddy. I hate coyotes so much - they always sound like they're mauling some tiny, helpless little animal."

Scott turned away, jumping down the steep hill of wet mud and rocks.

Stiles went next, taking small, careful steps. He slipped on a bit of rock but caught himself before he could fall on his ass. I grabbed onto his hands so that I would have a smoother way down as he kept my balance.

Scott picked his phone out of the water and played with it a little bit. "It still works." He said with a happy smile.

Stiles grabbed the flashlight from his friend and shined it in front of us, walking forward.

I furrowed my brow and looked to Scott, and he gestured for me to follow after Stiles with him. After pulling my phone out and shining the light on the ground again, I followed after them. When I came upon Stiles, he was standing in front of an overturned car. It was practically destroyed; tires tore off and the metal corroded. "Holy shit."

Stiles stepped down from a rock and stood a couple of steps from the car. He shined the light against the metal, showcasing large slash marks that were deep in the side of the car. He looked back at me and Scott. "See those?" He asked. Animal claws would be closer together, right? A lot closer."

Scott held his own hand up to the scratches to compare. "Then it was a werewolf," he said, looking at Stiles.

Stiles nodded. "My dad was right." He knelt down, looking inside the car with the light.

It made me nervous not knowing what was inside the car, but there was no stopping Stiles, I was sure of that. "Anything interesting?"

Scott crouched and looked with him. He pointed inside and then Stiles moved the light in the direction of his finger.

Stiles reached in and pulled whatever it was out.

A baby doll. I used to have one just like it.

After holding it for a moment, Stiles jumped back, dropping the baby from his hand like it was on fire.

I furrowed my brow at him and shook my head. "What? Was there a bug?"

Stiles sat on a rock with his hand to his heart and looked up at me. "I think I just had a minor heart attack." He looked at the doll. "It talked."

I laughed at him and looked back at the car. "Well, if that's the most we'll find in the car, I think - " I stopped, my eyes catching on something in the darkness behind the car.

Scott's eyes left me and shifted in the direction I was looking for. He shot his hand out towards both me and Stiles. That's when I realized that it wasn't just something behind the car, it was an animal.

Stiles stood from his spot on the rock and moved next to his friend and a moment later, those eyes disappeared.

Then so did Scott. Stiles tried to follow him, but I quickly stopped him.

"Stiles, wait! We'll never catch up. We'll get lost going after him." I reasoned with him.

"We have to do something."

I pursed my lips, looking around. I shined my light down on the doll and let out a stressful breath. The car was somewhere someone died. Maybe I could see what happened. I reached for the doll and grabbed it.

As soon as I cradled the doll, I wanted to drop it, but I couldn't. Around me, the trees disappeared and the dirt under my feet turned to asphalt. I stood behind the car as it started swerving down the road. The car turned sharply and as it did, a coyote came out through the rear window. The animal looked in my direction before taking off after the car into the trees.

Just as easy as the forest disappeared from my sight, it reappeared with the fabric of the doll leaving my fingers. In front of me stood Stiles, looking at me with worried eyes. He had his phone out illuminating the space between us. "CJ?"

I met his eyes, confusion and fear surely playing upon them.

"Hey, are you okay?" He stepped forward, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

"It was Malia." I pulled myself from Stiles' grasp and took off in the direction Scott went after the animal. I kept running, not bothering to see if Stiles was behind me. I had to make sure Scott and Malia didn't hurt each other. "Scott!" I shouted as I ran, hoping he would come my way. "Scott!" I ran for another minute or two before I saw him running back towards me.

Scott halted to a stop, directly in front of me. "The coyote was Malia."

"I know," I said, sighing. "I touched the doll and I saw her mom and sister's deaths. She's the one who caused the crash. Or, at least, I think she was. She turned into a coyote and jumped out a window just as they were crashing through the trees." I thought for a moment. "Can you turn into an actual wolf?"

"No," Scott shook his head. "But I know of someone who could."

"Who?"

"Talia Hale." Scott looked at me curiously. "Have you heard from Derek since he left?"

I furrowed my brow, quickly realizing I hadn't. "That first week, yeah. But the last time was when he left Cora, a couple of weeks ago." I pulled up my text conversion with him and texted him with urgency.

"I tried that already. I got no answer."

"Right. And it's been a few minutes. That doesn't mean that anything's wrong. He just wouldn't get back that fast, right?" I looked at him, worry filling my stomach. "I mean, he wouldn't just not respond."

"He does have a habit of dropping off the face of the earth."

"Not with me." I snapped, brow furrowed. Realizing I was going off the rails, I took a breath. "The last time he did was when he left us in Baltimore. When his sister died."

"I'm sure he's fine, CJ," Scott said, placing a hand over mine. "But if he gets back to you, let me know." Scott furrowed his brow. "Where's Stiles?"

I looked around. "I...don't know."

Scott shook his head. "Alright, come on." We ran through the forest, back the way I came from.

I pointed towards the waving light coming through the trees. "There." We veered off of our straight path to go towards Stiles. The boy was parked outside what looked like a cave. I stopped next to him, catching my breath. "You found her den."

"So, it's definitely Malia?" Stiles asked.

Scott nodded, "Somehow, I knew it was her when I caught up to her."

Stiles went inside the den, with us following behind him. He picked up a blue jacket and turned to face us with it still in his hand. "You see this? This is Malia's. Remember? It's the same one she was wearing in the photo."

Scott looked around, grabbing a teddy bear before he shook his head. "We shouldn't be in here."

"What do you mean?" Stiles asked.

"She's not going to come back now. We just invaded her home." Scott realized. "Our scent's going to be everywhere."

"So, where will she go?" I asked, "She won't leave Beacon Hills, will she?"

Scott shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Can you track her now? Do you think you got her scent?" Stiles asked.

"Maybe." Scott said, "But I'm better at this when I'm a full wolf. And I'm still worried that if I do it, I won't be able to turn."

Stiles sighed. "Door's still open."

I checked my phone wondering if I received a text. I hadn't. "If we can't get ahold of Derek, we're gonna have to find someone else to help."

Scott nodded, furrowing his brow. "Well, this is basically a crime scene, right? But it's out of my boss' league."

"More in my dad's," Stiles said.

(o.o)

The three of us stood off to the side as we watched a few sheriff's deputies examine the inside of Malia's den. Stiles' father climbed out and made his way over to us.

The man looked at the three of us, very seriously. "You're sure it was her?" He asked, having been filled in on the supernatural side of this coyote den.

Scott nodded. I looked her right in the eyes, and they glowed, just like mine."

"It makes sense, Dad." Stiles backed up. "And CJ saw it when we found the car."

Sheriff looked at me with a raised brow. "You saw it?"

I scrunched up my face, wrinkling my nose. "It's better if we don't ask questions about how my stuff works." I signed.

Sheriff Stilinski shook his head, and I could tell he was having trouble grasping that the coyote might actually be Malia. "But it wasn't a girl. It was a four-legged coyote, right?"

"Well, okay…." Stiles started, "See that's the point that we don't exactly have figured out yet."

"But if it was a full moon, and she did change while her mom was driving, then anything could have happened."

"Horrible things could have happened!" Stiles said dramatically. "Ripping, shredding, tearing things!"

"Which is what caused the accident!" I said without a doubt. "That's what I saw."

Stilinski sighed, rubbing his fingers through his eyes.

Stiles wasn't giving up. "Think about it Dad, alright? They're driving. Malia starts to change. She goes out of control, the mom crashes, and everybody dies."

"Except for Malia," Scott added.

"She jumped out the window before the impact." I shared.

"She blames herself, alright?" Stiles continued. "Goes off running into the woods and eventually, becomes trapped inside the body of a coyote."

Sheriff nodded. "That makes sense." He paused. "In a Chinese folktale."

The three of us groaned, thinking that we had him.

"Guys, this is…" He shook his head. "This is insane." Sheriff looked around the scene. "Look, I need this kept quiet. The three of you? Not a word I don't want anyone hearing about this. I especially don't want Mr. Tate hearing about this." The sheriff looked at Scott. "Scott?"

Scott, who had zoned off into his own world, shook his head of whatever he saw. "Sorry."

Behind Scott, more flashing lights pulled up to the scene and two men approached. I looked up at Stiles, wondering who that was.

"Scott's dad." Stiles signed in response.

I nodded, sending the man in the suit a glare. This was the man who was forcing Stiles' dad out of his position of Sheriff. What an asshole.

(o.o)

After convincing Stiles' dad that my father had agreed to our sleepover and giving my dad's number to be sure, Stiles and I made our way back to his house to sleep. In the morning, I was showered and dressed for school before Stiles was even awake.

School went as normal and before our History class, Stiles and Scott met with Allison to tell her what we found. I sat at my desk, quickly finishing up an assignment that I had forgotten about. I finished it just as the warning bell rang and looked up seeing Kira standing next to my desk.

Kira stood in front of Scott, blocking his way to his desk. "Hey, I'm Kira." She lowered herself off of her toes. "You knew that. I knew you knew that. I don't know why I just told you that again…" Kira took a deep breath. "Anyway, I have something for you."

"For me?" Scott questioned, both of them unaware that I was a part of their conversation.

"Yeah, about the Bardo." Kira slid her backpack off of one arm and brought it to her front to dig through it. "My explanation was kind of all over the place, so I did some research and I printed it out for you."

Scott shook his head. "You didn't have to do that."

Kira shrugged. "It only took a couple of hours."

Scott's eyes practically bugged out of his head. "Wow, then you really didn't have to do that."

"I swear, I printed it out…" Kira mumbled, burrowing through her school bag.

Behind her, Mr. Yukimura came up, holding a giant stack of papers. "You forgot all the research you did for that boy you like."

I looked away from the pair and slammed my hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing out loud. I was embarrassed for her. My phone vibrated again in my lap signaling the start of class.

Mr. Yukimura knocked on my desk as he walked by it, gaining my attention before he walked to the front of the class. "Alright, everyone, let's get started! We were just talking about internment camps and prisoners of war. There's a passage in our reading that I'd like to go over in more detail. Who would like to come up and read-aloud for us?" The man looked around the room and apparently found no other volunteers because his eyes landed on Stiles. "Mr. Stilinski?"

Stiles looked at me, anxiety written all over his face. "Oh, maybe someone else could…?"

I shook my head quickly and raised my hand. "I'll do it, Mr. Yukimura."

The teacher shook his head. "Everyone participates in my class. That includes Mr. Stilinski." Mr. Yukimura gestured to the corner where his podium stood.

"Okay." Stiles took a deep breath and slowly came out of his desk, cautiously making his way to the podium. Once there, he gripped the sides of the wood to hold himself up. Stiles' eyes darted across the pages in front of them, but they definitely weren't actually reading anything. He started mumbling to himself and I could see the sweat forming on his forehead.

"Stiles?" I questioned, trying to pull him from his trance.

Stiles looked up to the class with a blank stare on his face.

I turned around to look at Scott behind me, but he was already getting out of his seat and making his way towards his friend.

Stiles' eyes rolled to the back of his head and he stumbled, before catching himself.

Scott rushed forward, grabbing his friend. "I should take him to the nurse's office," he said to Mr. Yukimura.

The teacher nodded and let them leave.

My eyes followed the two and stared at the door after they had left. A tap on my desk took me from following after them.

Mr. Yukimura stood over my desk. "Why don't you do the reading after all?"

I nodded. I got up to the podium and read aloud from the book, barely paying attention to the words coming out of my own mouth. Still, it was the only thing distracting me from Stiles being gone from the room. Once the passage was finished, Mr. Yukimura assigned some work that I couldn't focus on. I stared at the classroom door, waiting for Scott and Stiles to come back through it, chewing on my thumbnail. My phone was in my jacket pocket and I held it in my hand through the fabric, waiting for the class to end.

They never came back.

When my phone vibrated, signaling the end of the class, I shot up out of my desk, throwing my things into my bag. I grabbed Stiles' backpack from the desk next to mine and turned to grab Scott's when I saw that Kira already had it in her hand.

"Hey, CJ."

I nodded at her.

"Do you want some help?" Kira asked, pulled Scott's bag around her shoulder.

I smiled. "Thanks." As we left, I sent a quick text to Scott asking where he was. "C'mon. I know where they are."

We left the building in silence, but once we were outside and heading towards the field out, Kira reached over and tapped my arm. "Please tell me you've had something like that happen to you."

I furrowed my brow. "Like what?"

"My dad?" She rolled her eyes.

I chuckled. "I was trying really hard not to laugh."

Kira groaned. "That was the worst thing to happen. Ever."

"All dads are embarrassing," I admitted to her, shrugging. "I promise you don't have the only one."

"Thanks," Kira said. "It's good to know I'm not alone."

I nodded at her, debating on asking my next question. "So… You like Scott?"

A heavy blush filled Kira's cheeks. "I don't know. I mean, he's cute."

"He is cute. He's also a really nice guy."

Kira nodded, taking a quick step as we approached the field house where the locker room was Scott and Stiles were hiding out in. Kira pushed open the door, holding it open for me.

I smiled at her and walked through the open door, looking forward. My eyes widened when I saw a coyote in front of us in the middle of the hallway. Malia. "Oh, shit." I grabbed Kira's hand instinctively and ran into the closest door, shutting it behind us. I dropped the bags I was holding; Kira following my lead. "Back here!" I whispered, going to the last row of locker cubbies and sitting against them.

I knew that Malia could still smell us and know where we were. I only hoped that she wasn't here to hurt me. I was the only scent she probably recognized.

Kira sat next to me on the ground, her arm bumping mine as she shifted her feet underneath her.

I looked down at where our skin met and noticed a strange warmth be left behind.

Kira jumping pulled me from my curiosity. I looked up at her face watching her listen to whatever was going on behind us. Kira pointed over her right shoulder. It was right there.

I nodded, pushing myself back to my feet and trying to move in the opposite direction, grabbing her arm to pull her with me. As I walked backward, I ran into something, almost jumping out of my skin. I turned around and sighed in relief, seeing Scott towering over me.

Scott pushed me behind him and grabbed Kira's arm, pulling her back. With his free hand, he pushed the lockers over, either crushing Malia or scaring her away. Scott took slow steps back towards the entrance of the locker room, checking to make sure she was gone. He let out his breath and lowered his shoulders realizing she was gone.

I met his glance when he turned back at us and let out my own stressed gust of air. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you, Scotty." I rushed forward and hugged him with my arms around his neck.

Scott hesitated at my hug at first, but in a few seconds hugged me back.

That's when I realized we hadn't had this kind of contact before. I pulled away feeling embarrassed.

Scott gave me a reassuring smile before looking at Kira. "Are you okay?"

Kira looked at both of us with wide eyes. "What the hell was that?"

Scott and I both looked at each other before looking back at her and shrugging. We thought it best not to tell her the truth.