Back again with another chapter! Hope you guys enjoy. Gonna be leaving on a week long trip next week, so I might not get a chance to upload another for a little bit. I'll do my best not to leave you in utter suspense though XD XP

Scott's eyes scanned the faces of each and every student as they filtered in through the front entrance to the high school. Since Stiles left school early the day before, Scott had yet to hear from him. He sent his friend a few messages the previous night and even tried calling once, but he never received any response. It wasn't like Stiles to leave him wondering like that, even if they weren't on the best of terms. The whole situation just didn't sit right with Scott, and he was left with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Stiles had really been acting strange the day before. Not to mention, he fainted in the hallway before claiming to see a ghost. Maybe he was sick, or maybe it was just his overactive mind that got the better of him. Or… maybe Stiles really was just that upset with Scott that he'd go incognito for a day with no contact to any of his friends.

As simple as that last possibility would be, Scott somehow found himself wishing that wasn't the case. Hopefully any minute now Stiles would walk through those doors with a dumb grin on his face and a list of places for them hit once school was out. Scott didn't even really care about his grades at this point. He just wanted things to be right between him and his best friend. He'd skip the whole school day to investigate with Stiles if that's what it would take to regain his friend's favor.

As that last thought crossed his mind, Scott's eyes landed on a familiar figure coming through the doors. Stiles! There he was alright, though he didn't have that dumb grin as Scott might've hoped he'd have. But he didn't appear to be angry or sad either. In fact, he didn't seem to be expressing much of anything.

Scott frowned as he began to make his way over to his friend. There didn't really seem to be anything wrong with Stiles, but then again, there was something that just wasn't right.

"Stiles," Scott greeted as he came to walk alongside the teen. "Are you okay?"

Scott was surprised to see a small smile meet Stiles' face as he responded. "Yeah, Scotty. Of course, I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you haven't been responding to any of my texts since you left school early yesterday. I thought you might've been sick." Scott wasn't about to bring up the fact that he was also worried Stiles might not have wanted to talk to him after how the last couple days had gone.

"Right," Stiles gave what Scott would call a 'nervous chuckle," and… was that a hint of anxiety he was smelling on his friend? "I'm feeling fine now. Guess whatever was up with me just needed to be slept off."

"Okay." Scott wanted to dig further to find out more, but he knew if Stiles didn't offer more on his own, he likely didn't want to share more. That was one frustrating thing about Scott's best friend. He never wanted anyone to know the extent of his issues, mostly because he didn't want anyone to worry. But sometimes Scott wished Stiles would just let him worry a little bit.

"So," Scott began again, figuring a change in topic would be more appropriate. "I saw on the news that there was another animal attack yesterday."

"Oh yeah," Stiles replied. "It was at a park."

Scott waited a few awkward moments for his friend to continue telling him all about it. After all, Stiles never passed up an opportunity to rattle on about the latest case he's investigating. But when the seconds ticked by without any elaboration, a frown met Scott's lips.

"Well?" the darker haired teen eventually asked. "Do you want to look into it after school or something?"

"Nah, I already checked it out last night."

Again, there was that awkward silence as Scott waited for Stiles to explain. And yet again Scott was the one forced to break it. "What did you find out?"

Stiles simply gave a shrug of his shoulders, causing his book bag to bounce against his back. "Nothing really. It looked pretty much like the last one. Wasn't a whole lot left to look at." He sighed. "I think the police might be right on this one, Scott. Maybe it is just an animal. What else would hunt people down like that just to eat them?"

Stiles had a point. They had never experienced anything with that kind of predatory drive before. If it had been werewolves, there would've been signs of claws, and Scott would've caught their scent on the first body. But it still didn't make sense to Scott that Stiles was the one saying that to him. Just yesterday the teen was convinced there was something unnatural involved, and that was when there was only one body. What changed? Why was Stiles suddenly so uninterested in this case?

"I don't know, Stiles." Scott couldn't believe he was saying this. He was supposed to work on his grades this semester, not go off sleuthing on some hopeless case! Yet he couldn't help feeling like he needed to do this. For Stiles. "Why don't we go look at the scene a little closer after school gets out? I can take a look and see if I smell anything out of the ordinary, and we'll go from there."

Scott had been hoping for a smile or at least some expression of interest from his friend, but he received nothing but another shrug. "I don't think there's anything to find, Scott. We both went to the last scene, and this other one is just like it. Maybe we should wait for my dad to call us onto the case. Besides, don't you need to work on getting your grades up?"

Confusion was running rampant in Scott's mind as he attempted to process Stiles' words – well less the words and more whose mouth they were coming out of. What was going on with his friend? Stiles was never one to give up on anything so easily, much less a case. It left an uneasy feeling in his gut, but what could he do? He couldn't make Stiles go out there and investigate with him. If the teen didn't want to do it, he had that right.

Of course, Scott could always try to argue and convince his friend to change his mind, but if Stiles didn't want to go now, it wasn't likely he'd be easily convinced. All Scott could really do was nod his head and mumble a small "yeah" whilst making a silent note in his head to keep an eye on Stiles and make sure he was okay.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

A low groan erupted out of Stiles' throat as his eyes slowly began to flutter open. What happened? Where was he? Why was it so dark? Why did his head hurt so much?

He moved, intending to raise a hand to his aching skull, but quickly found his arms unwilling to obey.

"What the-" Stiles tugged harder, trying to get his limbs to do his bidding, but still they refused to move. It wasn't until the rest of his senses slowly returned to him that he realized the issue.

Crap.

He could feel a coarseness around both his wrists that could only be one thing: rope. The same material could be felt around his ankles as well, and a tightness against his chest told him that he was practically covered in the stuff.

"No, no, no, no, no," Stiles found himself mumbling as he strained against the rope. It held strong, however, keeping him bound tightly to what could only be a chair, though Stiles couldn't see it with how dark it was in the room. He could feel his ankles tied to each of the front two chair legs, and his wrists were secured together behind him. Another length of rope around his chest kept his shoulders and spine pinned firmly to the back of the chair.

"Come on, Stiles. We've been in tighter spots than this before," he encouraged himself as he proceeded in trying to loosen his bonds.

"I think you'll find struggling is pointless."

Stiles felt the blood drain from his face as that voice met his ears. He recognized it. Why did he recognize it?

"Hello, Stiles," the voice said, and Stiles found himself suddenly blinded as a bright, fluorescent light flicked above his head.

As his eyes adjusted and the world came back into focus, Stiles' gaze landed on a figure by the door on the opposite side of the room. It was only when he saw that familiar auburn hair that everything came rushing back to him.

O_O Whaaa? What do you guys think is going on here? Please leave a review or follow/fav if you're enjoying this! They do wonders in encouraging me to get these out quicker.