Chapter 4: Parasomnia

The woods were quiet with the light of the full moon giving a decent amount of light through the trees. Stiles was running through the trees, moving as fast as he could. He found a small gorge up ahead and he leapt hard at the edge and he flew off into the air for the other side. Time seemed to gradually slow down for Stiles as he was in the air until it seemed to fully stop when his landed firmly on the ground. He was kneeling on the ground, inhaling the deep smell of the earth beneath him.

He then stood up and was about to keep running off, but he nearly fell when he felt something suddenly pierce his shoulder. He grunted as he straightened up and looked to see an arrow sticking out of his shoulder. A hard swish sounded in the air as another arrow flew from the trees and stuck itself in his other shoulder. Stiles gasped out in pain but managed to stay on his feet. He then rose his head to the sky and let out a hard predatorial roar that seemed to vibrate through the forest. As soon as he roared, he then felt as three more arrows moved to stick themselves into his chest, one after the other. Stiles' breath was caught his throat as the pressure of the arrows pressed into his chest. His knees were shaking but he still stayed on his feet, barely. He looked down and grasped the shaft of one of them yet seemed to lack the strength to pull it out. He then heard a sound ahead of him and he looked up to see the one who he called for with his howl.

"Scott!" he gasped out as he rose a shaky hand out to him.

Scott stood there, looking horrified for him, but also torn and hesitant. His friend then turned to look off into the shadows and Stiles saw the dark shape of someone standing there with a bow raised on hand. An outline of the girl and she moved to grab an arrow from her quiver and readied it into her bow as she aimed it at Stiles. Scott was turning his gaze back and forth, as if wrestling with a choice. Stiles or his attacker.

"I'm sorry," Scott mumbled before he turned himself firmly at the archer's direction, making his choice.

She then drew the arrow on the bowstring and Stiles could make out her jawline tightening before she then let go and fired. The arrow came flying for Stiles' head in what felt like slow motion. Stiles blinked as it moved right for him.

Stiles then gasped out as he found himself not staring at Death's door but the ceiling of his room. He was breathing rapidly, his body stiff as a board from the pressure in his chest. After a moment, Stiles found himself able to sit up and he looked down at his chest to find them free of arrows. He was still breathing hard, and sweating a bit, as he looked down to find Malia sleeping soundly right next to him. She was facing in his direction and the sight of her peaceful expression began to calm his hard breathing. He lightly moved the blanket off and sat straight up at the edge, making sure to not stir and wake her up. He wiped the sweat from his brow and his heartbeat began to settle. He soon found himself over his bathroom sink and was splashing cool water on his face. After a while, he moved to wipe himself clean with his towel, but his eyes stayed on the mirror.

When he finished, Stiles moved back into his room and saw the alarm clock by his bedside read that it was a quarter to five in the morning. Malia was still sleeping peacefully and he took a moment to look at her gentle face before he made way for his window. It was still raining somewhat so the full moon wasn't visible but Stiles could still feel it through the clouds. He sighed as he let his forehead bump against the glass. He was wishing he could see it right now, to take his mind away far away from that nightmare.

"Ah boy," he mumbled as he stared out.

Stiles wasn't a stranger to nightmares, especially this one. Getting shot by arrows in the woods with him calling out to Scott, it wasn't the first time he'd had that nightmare. And it wasn't just once before but dozens of times over the last year, starting after that night he had been in the Argent's basement. It would always play out the same way and he'd always wake up like he just now; in a cold sweat and feel paralyzed for about two or three seconds with a hard pressure in his chest. While it wasn't his only nightmare surrounding Allison, it was one of his stronger ones. But it had been a good couple of months since he suffered from this nightmare; since Mexico actually. A part of him thought he'd seen the last of at least this one but he could only guess that seeing Scott write in Allison's initials earlier stirred it back up again.

"Damn." Stiles drew his head back and let his forehead bounce against his window a little harder than he expected.

"Stiles?"

Stiles jerked a bit as he looked over to see that Malia was sitting up in his bed.

"Malia," his voice cracked out before he cleared his throat. "Uh sorry, did I wake you?"

"Are you okay?" she asked him, disregarding his question.

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, just a little bad dream, that's all. I think I'm just a little agitated."

Malia gave a nod. "Well, it was a crazy night."

Stiles let out a breathless chuckle. He thought that couldn't be more of an understatement. On top of all the emotional issues, they just had a werewolf with some kind of super claws come and try to kill Scott and a kid from their past suddenly show up and was a werewolf. He would need to talk with his dad about that last one. Something about that last one didn't sit right with him.

He then sighed. "I'm sorry I woke you, but you should try and get some more sleep. You don't want to be tired for the first day back at school."

"What about you?"

He shook his head. "I don't think I can get any more sleep now."

"Let's see if I can help with that." Malia then sat up and scooched over to the side of the bed and then patted the space next to her.

Stiles rose his eyebrows at that one but Malia just patted the mattress again. He shrugged and headed over and moved to lay back down. He turned to face her but she pushed at his shoulders to turn him over so that his back was facing her. She then moved to lay down and scooched closer to him and wrapped her arms around him. She then moved to let her cheek rest on the side of his head as she moved to spoon him.

Stiles couldn't help but let out a small content moan as she began to rub her hand along his arm and let her bare leg graze against his bare feet affectionately. He let himself lean back into her hold and he closed his eyes when Malia's nose began grazing the edge of his ear. "Thank you," he mumbled.

"Sleep," she told him.

Staring at his face, she could see that Stiles was still feeling tense and anxious over what had woken him up but the anxiety she was picking up from him was slowly ebbing away as she kept rubbing herself against him. As she let her nose graze against over his temple, she noticed that his hand that was resting on his pillow was slowly and softly making left and right spiral movements as he tried to relax. Malia kept holding and rubbing him for a while, and soon she began hearing some light snoring. She broke into a small smile as she rested her head on his shoulder and went back to sleep herself.


Natalie Martin was calmly sipping some morning coffee from her mug as she watched the morning news. It seemed like it was going to be a nice day after that big storm they had last night. She turned away when she heard her daughter's footsteps as she came into the kitchen. She was fully dressed and prepared with her bag already strapped over her shoulder.

"Morning sweetie," Natalie said as she moved over for her.

Lydia looked her mom up and down. She was a wearing her glasses and had her favorite pearl necklace on with matching earrings, which was all complimented by a business dress. "Someone's dressed to impress today."

Natalie looked herself down for a moment before she smiled at her daughter. "Well, I felt like dressing up a bit more than usual. It's not just the first day back but it's my first official day as the school's new guidance counselor. I have my first appointment today."

"Oh yeah," Lydia nodded. She had almost forgotten. Ms. Morrell had left and her mother decided to try applying. She had to go to some seminars during the summer but she was given the green light for it. "My fingers are crossed for the one to first get your sage advice." She then lifted her hand to show her crossed fingers to her mother.

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Thank you for your support Lydia."

Lydia tilted her head. "You're welcome," she said simply to her.

Natalie smiled at her and Lydia smiled back.

"What about you? You only have one class in your schedule, right?"

"Don't worry mom, I have something to occupy my time."

"It wouldn't have something to do with a certain young deputy, would it?" Lydia rose her eyes a bit and Natalie narrowed her eyes. "Don't look so surprised. I do pay attention to some of the things my daughter does in her free time, and with who."

"Oh, if you only knew," she mumbled a bit to herself. She had a feeling that if her mom knew all the things that she had been involved in the last year and a half she wouldn't let her out of her sight ever again. But then Lydia rose her tone back up. "It's not what you think mom. Jordan and I are just friends."

During the last six months, Lydia had been spending more and more time with Jordan to try and help him crack the mystery of what he was. They had gone through as much lore as they could find in order to try and find answers. But they hadn't had much luck. The Argent's bestiary didn't have answers so they tried going off to the nearest university library though it turned out to be a dead end. When Lydia learned that Stiles and Liam had been meeting with Satomi and her pack to help the young beta learn control, she thought that she might have some answers. Satomi had a good collection of lore in her study and she allowed Lydia to borrow some. She and Jordan were still reading some of them but they worked together to try and make sense of it all.

Natalie held a hand up to her. "You don't have to be defensive, I understand. You're 18, a young woman now, and Deputy Parrish I admit is quite the attractive young man. If I were ten years younger I'd might also-"

Lydia quickly cut her mother off there. "It's not like that. We're just working on something, that's all, I swear."

Her mom nod but she still had a mischievous smile on her. "Okay. Just know you can still talk to me. I will understand. I know how easy it is to fall for a guy in uniform."

"Oh really? Is that a clue about this mysterious date you have planned Friday night?"

"The point is," Natalie said sharply. "I just want you to be careful honey."

"It'll be alright mom. Jordan's a really sweet guy. If anything, you should probably be more worried for him than me. Now go and get to work."

Natalie laughed as she moved to grab her purse. "Be good."

"You too," Lydia called back.

When Natalie got to the school, she waited in her office as her first student walked in. It was a senior girl by the name of Tracy Stewart. She'd been having some problems with sleeping and was starting to suffer from an emerging case of insomnia. Her father had signed her up for counseling when they started escalating into delusional and screaming fits. Natalie sat and listened as Tracy started talking about one that happened to her just last night.

Tracy began telling the story of how she had been in her bed when suddenly some ravens and crows woke her up. The storm was raging on outside and they were fluttering around her skylight window, pecking at it and cawing. They were trying to get in and Tracy had moved to try and close and latch it shut to keep them away. She managed to do it but the chair she was standing on was grabbed by something and she fell.

"My dad found me on the floor, lying beside the chair," she finished.

"What about the skylight?" asked Natalie.

"That's the thing. It doesn't actually open. It was sealed shut a couple of years ago to weather proof it."

"So, some of it was definitely a dream."

Tracy leaned in desperately. "And some of it wasn't."

"Honey," she said gently. "I'm going to propose that most of it was. You know, there's a theory that one of the biological functions of dreaming is to simulate threatening events. It's a way for our brain to rehearse dealing with them. I think you're dealing with normal anxiety Tracy. The kind that's very common to seniors."

Natalie was guessing that the pressures of what was to come after high school was doing this to Tracy. She knew that hers, as well as all other seniors, were about to lose their comfort zones when they left to head out into the world. She remembered how it was at her age. Like most, she couldn't wait to finally leave high school and being a kid behind and go out and enjoy her freedom out there. Only after did she realize that this all had been the easy part. And there were some out there that knew or felt that before they left high school. She could feel that Tracy might be one of them.

Tracy sighed. "I better go. Class is going to be starting soon."

But as she got up, Tracy began to cough. And it started escalating where she had to hold the desk for support. Natalie quickly got up to help her as the girl started coughing louder and harder. It was as if she had something stuck in her throat. Tracy suddenly bent over and hacked out a black mess of goo on her desk.

"God," Natalie gasped out as she eyed all of it.

Tracy then moved to pick up what seemed to be a piece of a black feather. "Is this common?" she slurred out.


Scott was at the clinic for a quick session before he had to head over for school, and he needed to talk to Deaton. Right now, Deaton was giving him one of the run throughs for the techniques of giving injections proper injections to the animals. Scott held the needle over the point where he had to stick it into the dog.

Deaton was at the side, calmly talking him through it. "Remember, for intramuscular injections in the hind leg-"

"Stay clear of the sciatic nerve," Scott finished. He then started to move the needle in to perform the injection.

"Excellent. Aspirate back to make sure you haven't hit a vein. Then just keep the needle still."

Scott then stuck it in and pushed on the plunger. Just as he moved to take it out, the dog bared its teeth and growled at him, startling them a bit. Scott quickly moved to try and settle him down.

Deaton let a laugh escape him. "He's a little one but his teeth are still sharp."

"Sorry buddy," Scott said as he moved to help him off the table. He then brought him to the little girl who owned him. "Here you go Stephanie," he said, handing her the dog.

"Thank you, Dr. McCall," she said meekly.

That made both Scott and Deaton give her a look.

Scott shook his head. "I'm not a doctor yet," he told her. Though, he knew that's what he wanted. Working at the animal clinic, and working his internship at the hospital, he really enjoyed it.

The girl took her dog away and Scott went back over to Deaton as he was back to analyzing the long claws Scott ripped off his attacker.

"Find anything yet?" Scott asked.

"Maybe, are you sure this guy was a werewolf? As far as I can tell these claws are actually talons. In fact, they're the talons of a harpy eagle, one of the largest known birds of prey."

Scott narrowed his eyes. "How does a werewolf get talons?"

"Personally, I'm more interested in how these talons somehow were able to absorb your power. The only one who should be able to do that is a Beta of your own making."

"Someone like Liam?"

"Exactly."

Because he was a True Alpha and he didn't get his power by killing another Alpha for it, it couldn't just be taken away like other Alpha's powers could.

"What about Stiles? I didn't turn him but Peter thought he could do it since he turned the two of us together."

Deaton resisted the urge to flinch at that. He didn't share the revelation he had discovered over six months ago about how Stiles truly became a werewolf. He had discovered the truth when he went to Eichen House and spoke to Valack to induce himself into a special meditative state. In that state he learned that before Stiles had been bitten by Peter Hale, he had fallen into a puddle of a wolf's pawprint and had accidentally ingested water from it. And not any normal wolf either, but a print that had belonged to Laura Hale. In truth, it was that which turned Stiles into a werewolf, not a bite from Peter.

"Stiles is…a special case. His situation is quite unique. He was turned into a werewolf but then had been made human again and then was turned back into a werewolf. In a sense, his second turning was through you. Not to mention you two share a strong connection so it might not have been impossible. Though, now that you proclaimed him your Second, that's all a mute point. He would take in your power upon your death, so long as no one steals it. That's not a position to be given or taken lightly."

Scott couldn't help but feel that Deaton just gave him a warning.

"And what about if I were to let another Beta join my pack?" he then asked, the thought of Theo asking if he could join him coming to mind. "Could they do it?"

"Well, normally I would say no but I'm starting to wonder if the rules of our supernatural world aren't as rigid as I once thought." He then took the talon out for them both to examine it. "Or maybe someone's trying to change those rules."

Scott began to detect that there was some fear coming from Deaton. Something about this thing was scaring him. He always felt Deaton was one of the bravest people he knew. Even when facing angry werewolves or sword wielding Oni, his boss never lost his cool. For him to be reacting like this, he couldn't help but feel his insides start chilling a bit.

When Scott told him that he had to head out, Deaton watched him solemnly as he left before turning back to the talons on his desk, a bit scared. He was sure Scott must've detected it, but he wouldn't know why. Deaton didn't tell him the most important thing that he discovered about the talons, he had seen them before. It was roughly ten years ago. What was scaring him was the one these talons had belonged to was dead.

"Riley Astor," he mumbled to himself. The young garuda that had come to Beacon Hills over ten years ago and had formed a bond with Laura Hale.

He would have to do some further digging before he could even bring this up to Scott or the others. They didn't need to know about this, at least not yet. There was enough on their plates already.


Stiles was following his dad into his office. He was pestering him on his suspicions of Theo's sudden return to Beacon Hills as a werewolf.

Stiles closed the door behind him. "I know his family left town around the time Theo was nine or ten. His older sister got into an accident when he was eight."

"Please go to school," Noah meekly sighed at his son.

But Stiles didn't budge. "Dad, this kid's a werewolf."

"You are a werewolf," he argued. "Your best friend is a werewolf. You're dating a werecoyote. I still don't know what Kira's supposed to be. When the flying monkeys come soaring through this station you will have my undivided attention. Until then, just go to school," he pleaded to him with a tired gesture.

Stiles then pointed at him. "What did you do?"

"What do you mean, what did I do?"

He then began looking his dad up and down. "There's something different about you." Stiles could sense it. Something was off with his dad. Something wasn't the same.

"What are you talking about?"

Stiles suddenly walked over to be right in front of him. "What is it? What's different?"

He started to sniff the air and scan every inch of him from top to bottom. But Stiles quickly got pushed away.

"Oh for the love of god Stiles," his dad cried out. "You've been spending too much time with Malia. Okay, would just stop and go to school."

"I will go if you promise to do a full background check on the Raekens."

He shook his head. "No. You know, just because I'm the only law enforcement officer who knows about this does not make it my responsibility to do something every time you have a minor suspicion."

Stiles tilted his head a bit. "Except, you're not the only one." He then looked over to see Jordan Parrish sitting at his desk.

Noah then huffed before he moved to open his door. "Parrish," he called out to him. "I need you to help my son out with something."

Stiles gave the deputy a wave as he stood behind his dad. A few minutes later, Jordan was handing Stiles some printed sheets.

"This is all I was able to get," he said as he gave them to him. "This Theo kid, isn't he a werewolf like you? Doesn't that make you guys brothers or something?"

Stiles resisted a smirk at that phrase. "And Haigh was a deputy like you. Shouldn't that have made you brothers?"

"Touché," he breathed. "But, what I found on Theo isn't much."

Stiles began flipping through the papers. "No, but it's something."

"What's your deal with this guy anyway? You only just met him last night and didn't he help Scott?"

He shook his head. "I don't know, call it a gut feeling. Theo…I can't but feel like my instincts are telling me that something is not right with this kid."

Jordan nodded. "And, what do those instincts say about me?" he asked making Stiles look back up at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, last night I had no control of myself. One minute, your dad is rushing to try and help me and the next thing I know, I'm at the hospital staring him down as his gun is pointed at me because I was close to attacking him and Melissa. I had no idea what was going on or what I was doing."

"Like after Haigh tried to kill you," Stiles said as the memory of Parrish that night came back to him.

Jordan let his gaze wander. "These last six months, Lydia and I tried but still haven't been able to find any answers."

"You two had no luck with the texts you borrowed from Satomi?"

He shook his head. "We haven't finished looking through them all yet, but nothing so far. Just like everything else." He then let out a puff of air in frustration. "I don't know what I am or what I'm capable of. Even the guy who attacked me said I wasn't a normal creature, like him." When he got up that morning, he had looked in the mirror to find that he didn't even have a trace from that guy's attack on him last night. Not even a scar, as if it never happened at all. "Maybe that's why the Sheriff doesn't trust me."

That made Stiles get taken aback. "Are you kidding Parrish? My dad does trust you, a lot."

The thought of the Sheriff having him do every low down job known to law enforcement came back to Jordan. "Well then he has a funny way of showing it."

Stiles felt some resentment leak out of the deputy. He then looked towards his dad's office where he was sitting at his desk looking over some papers. His dad was giving off some anxiety and stress that he could smell all the way from here.

"Look I don't know what's going on between you and my dad right now, but what I do know is that I don't feel any bad vibes from you." Stiles could see the doubt on Parrish's face. "And I'm not just saying that. I think its clear that I don't normally trust people," he said holding up the files on Theo.

That got Parrish to crack a small smile. "Yeah."

Stiles face then began to fall a bit. "But, just so you know, if you do ever hurt my dad, Lydia, my friends, or any innocent people then I'll make sure you never do it again, ever."

That made the deputy move to catch Stiles in the eye. It dimly registered to Stiles that he technically made a threat to an officer in a police station but he batted it away. He said what he felt and he meant what he said. They stared at each other for a few more seconds before Jordan sighed.

"Weirdly enough, that actually makes me feel a little relieved. Thanks Stiles."

"Yeah, anytime," shrugged Stiles before he moved to leave.

Jordan just let his gaze drop as he felt himself settle a bit.


Maggie Carson was preparing a herb order for a client when she heard the doorbell ring. She went to wipe her hands on her smock before she headed off for the front door and opened it to see Charlie Harris, Oscar's beta of six months.

"Hi Maggie," he said as soon as she finished opening the door.

"Charlie." She ushered him inside and quickly closed the door. "I have to say that I wasn't expecting you."

"I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time," he said as he walked further into her home. "It's my lunch hour so-"

"No, no it's okay. How was your full moon last night?"

"Good. I kept my bearings for the entire night and didn't feel any slips of control. I think I got the full hang of this now."

"My, that's really impressive." The man had only been a werewolf for half a year but he was starting to carry himself like someone that had been at it for a while now. Typically it took new werewolves around a year of training before they could carry out that normally on a full moon, with an Alpha. Lycanthropy seemed to fit Charlie well. She wondered if it was due to his military training before she shook out of it. "But something tells me that you didn't come here just to tell me that."

Charlie sighed. "No. I wanted you to know that I overheard something last night. Oscar had mentioned those three again. The Hales."

Maggie tensed up. "What did he say?"

"He knows that they've decided to stay in Green Ridge. And it sounds like he wants them to stay where he can keep watching them."

Her jaw tensed a bit. "Anything else?"

"Well, Oscar knows that the Hales are still talking with you."

"Really? What does he feel about that?"

"He didn't seem too bothered by that. He sounded relieved that you were since it meant they would stay close."

"I see." That meant that Oscar might decide to begin watching her, if he wasn't already.

"Do you want to tell me what this is all about?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry Charlie but I can't tell you that."

Charlie straightened up a bit. "You can't? You mean you won't."

"Charlie, it's just not that simple" she tried to explain.

"Of course, asking someone to spy for you rarely is. Especially when the person you want them to spy on is their leader." His face was poised as he stared at her and it made Maggie look away from him. He then sighed. "Look, I may be only six months into this whole supernatural werewolf stuff but I'm not an idiot. These Hales…I don't know why they're so important but I can tell it must be something big for Oscar to want to keep them in his sights and for you to need to spy on him as he does."

"I think you're farthest thing from an idiot Charlie. It's for your own good."

"Really? Is that why you asked me to be your spy? Out of everyone in the pack? For my own good? Now, I might not too crazy about Oscar, the guy did bite and turn me into a werewolf without my permission, but whether I like it or not he is my pack's Alpha. He's a hardass but so was my CO and I learned to respect and follow him and it might be the same thing for Oscar. I don't know if it's this werewolf pack thing or if it's from my time in the service but I can't help but feel like you're making me betray my whole unit."

"I'm…I'm sorry."

"If you're really sorry then you'll tell me what this is about. If you're asking me to spy on Oscar for you and risk myself for you then I think it's only right that I know why."

Maggie was starting to wonder if she might've made a mistake. It was a beta's natural instinct to feel a connection to their Alpha, especially if it's the one that turned them. But Charlie was recently turned and didn't seem to be too fond of him, so she felt that he was the best way for her to gain insight into what Oscar was planning. She could feel the man was up to something as he was trying to expand his pack's power and was starting to take too great an interest in the Hales, particularly Jason. Maggie feared that Oscar might just suspect the truth about the boy's father and she dreaded to think about how he might use that if confirmed. Yet, it looked like even someone like Charlie wouldn't fight his natural instinct to have loyalty to the one that bit and turned him. If he wanted to then he might just go straight to Oscar about what she was doing and it might actually make things worse.

"The truth is that I just want to protect the Hales. Derek is my friend and he's been through so much already. He lost his first love in his arms, then was betrayed by another who destroyed his family, then his older sister was killed and soon after he lost his whole pack. He thought Cora was long dead but she came back and he got a new nephew too. I don't want anything to happen to them either."

"I get that, but why would Oscar be a threat to them. They might be werewolves but it sounds to me like they're just trying to start their lives over."

"They are."

"So why all this fuss over them?"

"It's a long story."

Charlie gave a nod before he moved to grab a nearby chair. "Well, seeing as how I still have a little over 40 minutes before I have to get back to work, I've got some time."

Maggie sighed. "Okay."


Stiles was explaining to Malia everything that had been found at the station as they walked down the front courtyard of the school that was filled with dozens of other students.

"So you ran a background check and all you found was a speeding ticket?" she asked him.

"A speeding ticket signed by Theo's dad eight years ago."

"Which means what?"

Stiles then stopped to look at her. "Who speeds? People trying to get away from something," he said before she could answer.

"Well how many tickets do you have?"

"None."

"How many would you have if your dad didn't get you out of them?"

"Uh, seventeen," he grumbled.

Malia shook her head. "I don't know Stiles. I mean, I can see why you're worried. He is really hot. He's got like great hair, perfect body. You should definitely feel threatened."

He shook his head at her. "Thank you, because I do. Now, more than ever."

"Are we going to torture him?"

"What, no, we're not going to go torture him."

"Really because if you don't want to then I can take him," she said not missing a beat.

"What, you think I can't?" he asked, feeling a bit defensive all of a sudden.

"I didn't say that."

He narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying?"

She narrowed her eyes back. "What are you saying?"

Stiles sighed and let his head fall a bit. "Look, I have a plan. There's a way to handle this, a process. First, you need to get his story. Verify the facts. You find the piece that doesn't fit and then catch him in the act. That's how you-"

But he stopped when he noticed Theo getting out of a car that was pulled up in front of the school. Malia turned just in time to see him close the door and send a look over at his parents sitting in the front. They could see them wave back before they started taking off. Theo turned and caught sight of the two of them. He smiled and gave them a wave.

"Why are you so suspicious of this guy?" Malia asked him as she kept her eyes on him. Theo seemed like a pretty good guy to her.

She turned to look back at Stiles but he had a hard look as his eyes followed Theo as he started to walk for the front entrance.

"Because I remember Theo from fourth grade," he explained. "And that's not Theo."

Theo had been listening in on them, even through all the sea of talking people.

It seemed as if he was already starting to gain a hold on Malia. The coyote part of him was subtly beginning to influence her. He had to admit, he thought she was as hot as she seemed to find him. Perhaps the coyote in her was starting to get to him as well. He definitely wouldn't mind it, especially if it helped him get what he truly wanted in the end.

And Stiles, he was following his reputation well. Smart, instinctual, and relentless when it came to the protection and safety of his family, pack and territory. But, he would use that against him. When it came time, he would give Stiles his story and when he conducts his 'process', he would be ready for it.


Scott pushed through the doors and went into the hall where he found his classmates in high spirits. The happiness and excitement that was pouring out of them was almost intoxicating. It made Scott smile, which only grew wider when Kira came over to him.

"First day of Senior Year," she said before Scott moved to hook his arm around her.

"Last first day ever," he happily grunted out.

They then moved to head off to their first class of the year together. Right after they left, Liam and Mason were passing through where they had been standing a moment ago. Mason had a book in his hands and was trying to show it to Liam but he was trying to stay a step ahead of him.

"This is the one I was talking about. I got it from a rare book dealer in Germany. Cost me 200 bucks but it was totally worth it."

"Still reading about this stuff?" Liam couldn't believe it. Six months and Mason as tenacious as ever.

"I was attacked by an armor-plated giant wearing a bear skull. It left an impression. Look, have you ever seen anything like this?"

Mason was pointing to an artist rendering of what seemed to be a very accurate depiction of a Berserker. Too accurate for Liam's taste.

He just shook his head. "Uh, no. Never."

He tried to take off but Mason didn't let him get a foot away before he persisted.

"And then there's this whole section about the Nagual. Have you ever heard of the name Tet, Tetaca,"

"Tezcatlipoca," Liam said flawlessly. He shook his head. "No, never heard of it." He then moved to disappear into the classroom.

Mason sighed but closed the book as he moved to get to his seat while Liam got to his. Mr. Yukimura was up front and finishing the last parts of getting himself settled before he told the class to settle down and get into their seats.

Liam was about to sit down but did a double take when he saw who was sitting next to him. It was Hayden Romero. He had half forgotten that she went to this school. When he transferred to Beacon Hills he hadn't had one class with her. Now, she was in his very first one. She turned to look at him and it was plain to see that she didn't seem very happy to see him.

"Great," he mumbled, very audibly.

That just made Hayden blow a hard bubble of her gum out at him before she turned to look over at their teacher. He quickly looked for another seat but he saw that every other one was filled. The only empty seat was the one next to her. And he saw that he was the only one that was still standing, so did everyone else, including Mason.

And Mr. Yukimura. "Liam," he called out. "You're not just going to stand there, are you?"

"Maybe," he sighed.

"The whole semester," Yukimura quipped.

Liam nodded. "Maybe," he said, still standing in place.

Yukimura couldn't help but smile as he amusingly thought that maybe the kid was spending too much time with Stiles. "Liam, have a seat."

Liam then sighed as he resigned himself to this uncomfortable situation. As he sat down, he thought that it was just for the length of one class. If he could bare a whole night of the full moon, he could bare 45 minutes of sitting next to Hayden. But as he sat, he felt something weird and looked down to realize he was sitting on fresh gum. He looked up to see Hayden blowing another bubble at him, with a smirk plastered on her face. Mason noticed too and fought hard to not outright laugh then and there.

"All right, welcome to History 103," Mr. Yukimura addressed the class.

Liam huffed to himself. He'd bare the full moon any day compared to this.


In AP biology, Scott moved to sit next to Kira who smiled at him for a moment before her face fell. She then looked over at Lydia and she was looking back with a similar bewildered look. They were thinking the same thing. What was Scott doing in AP Biology? He was far from the…studious type. Kira silently asked for Lydia to ask him the question they both wanted to ask but she shook her head. Scott was her friend but was Kira's boyfriend. That left the dirty work for Kira, not her. Kira just hoped she didn't offend Scott in any way.

"Scott," she coughed out lightly. "Are you in the right class?"

"AP Biology?" he asked a little dimly.

"Uh, do you know what AP stands for?" Lydia then asked him.

"Advanced placement," he excitedly smiled at her.

He then opened his book to reveal there were colored tabs, filled sticky notes and fully highlighted sections decorating his whole textbook. That made Lydia and Kira share another look before they shrugged. They hoped Scott knew what he was getting into.

"Welcome to AP Biology," their teacher said to all of them. "Let's see who's awake? Can someone tell me what plasmids are?"

"Circular self-replicating DNA molecules often used in cloning proteins," answered Lydia.

Their teacher nodded at her. "Nicely stated Lydia. Now, can you tell me what vitamin is absorbed in the stomach via parietal cell production of a glycoprotein?"

"Uh?" Lydia was drawing a blank.

"B-12," their teacher told her. "Mr. McCall," she called to him, making him look up from his textbook. "Did you know the answer?"

"Um, no," he said, shaking his head.

"It's a common test question. What's your number one college pick?"

"Um-" he started but she cut him off.

"Stop saying um."

He quickly apologized. "Sorry. UC Davis," he said more confidently.

"Good choice. It's the best school on the West Coast for biological and physical sciences. You're in the right class if that's what you're hoping for. Who else thinks they're in the right class?" she called out to everyone else.

Scott looked back and saw that Theo was behind him and was the first one to have his hand raised. Then he, along with everyone else rose their hands.

"Good, then you should all be prepared for the test tomorrow." That made hands drop with shocked and dejected looks appearing on most of their faces. "Don't be so disappointed. This test is specifically to help you determine whether you should actually be in AP Biology. You have two weeks to drop. Tomorrow's test will just weed out the ones who shouldn't be here. And that could be any of you."

The teacher then moved to let her gaze drop down on Scott. As if one of those could likely be him. That made his heart sink.


After class, Liam waited until everyone left, save Mason, before he got out of his seat and quickly moved to yank the gum off. But there was now a very noticeable stain on his jeans and he couldn't go around wearing them for the rest of the day. He moved for the locker room and found a pair of shorts he could borrow and moved to put his dirty jeans in his locker. But, as he did, Mason went back to his arguments that something unusual was going on and Liam went back to trying to block them out.

"Look, I'm not saying I believe all of it a hundred percent but people around us seem to know things. Like Lydia, she knows things. Then there's Stiles, I tell the guy about how you disappear and think you were kidnapped, he doesn't blink. And his dad, at the rave I found him knocked out and when I wake him up, he tells me to stop some music. Not to mention, finds me and Lydia trapped and helps blow up the thing holding us there. All that doesn't seem strange to you?"

"Dude, it's the first day of school. Shouldn't you be thinking of other things like…the soccer team," he blurted when he noticed them passing down the hall.

Mason looked over at them for a moment. "What do you think I'm going to do? Follow them out to the field and watch them practice while I pretend to study?"

Liam shrugged. "It's warm out. They'll probably be shirtless," he said suggestively.

Mason looked back at them and one of the team members looked back their way and he seemed to send a smile his way. "I'll see you in Physics," he said before he moved to go on after them.

Liam let a chuckle loose but felt relief that he made Mason stop with his probing. His best friend was getting too close for comfort. If he kept this up, he just might end up learning something he didn't want him too. About the others…and himself. He moved to throw his jeans in the locker when the one next to him slammed shut to reveal Hayden.

"Nice shorts," she smirked at him.

Liam bit down his aggravation. "Thanks. You know, I was wondering if you were still pissed off about the sixth grade but I guess you cleared that up."

Hayden smiled. "I'm not pissed off Liam." She then dropped the smile. "I'm vengeful."

She then left and Liam moved his jeans up to his locker to cushion his head as he slammed it against the door. This was going to be a long first day.

But as he was stressing, Tracy Stewart moved off passed him with a troubled look on her face. She was wondering what happened to her in Ms. Martin's office earlier. The black gunk she spat out, as well as the feather she coughed up. She moved to her locker but froze when she felt something off. It seemed quiet all of a sudden and everything around her seemed to get darker. She then started to hear heavy footsteps, moving for her. The person's shadow started to overcome her and there was the thick sound of electricity crackling through air, as well as some kind of heavy breathing. It freaked her out and she moved to open her locker so she could get out of there but as soon as she did, it all seemed to stop. But it was for only a moment before the lights shut off and everything got dark and empty again. She looked over and saw black goo, bleeding out of a locker before it opened. A metal clad hand soon came out, followed by a man in a mask. He was crawling out of the locker and moving for her, slowly.

"There's nothing there," she chanted over and over to herself as it kept getting closer.

"Tracy?" she heard dimly before a different hand reached and touched her shoulder. When it did, everything seemed to return to normal and she saw that it was Lydia Martin. "Tracy, are you alright?" she asked her. Tracy didn't answer her, too freaked out by what happened. "How about we go outside?" Lydia suggested to her gently.

Tracy found herself nodding before she closed her locker to leave with her. She took a moment to realize that there were some claw marks right down the middle of the door but brushed it off as another hallucination.


Scott was sitting outside on some steps as he tried to keep his composure. His first AP class had dropped his high spirits a bit. He worked so hard and studied to be able to make the course but he wondered if it would be enough. Even Lydia had been stuck on something. He was starting to wonder if he could really do this. But his thoughts were interrupted when he heard Stiles call out for him.

"You're coming with me," Stiles told him.

"But I've got a free period."

"Yeah, so do I. And so does Theo Raeken. Let's go."

Scott could see that Stiles was eager to get the story behind what happened to Theo since he left Beacon Hills and he had to admit, so was he. They found him sitting off by himself in the quad, pouring over his textbook. He seemed to sense them because he looked up from it before they had gotten to him. He smiled at them and seemed to already know what they wanted. They decided to head for the locker room, which would be empty right about now.

"So, what do you want to know first?" he asked them.

"How about you start with how you got turned?" Stiles asked him, folding his arms.

Scott gave him a look but Theo held a hand up.

"It's okay. I don't mind." He then settled back as he began to tell his story. "I was skating in a neighbor's empty pool, trying to do a handplant. Nobody was home and I'm not that good of a skateboarder but I guess I was feeling pretty determined because I completely lost track of time. I didn't even realize that it was night until the yard lights came on. Like I said, I wasn't very good. On my last try I went down and hit hard. Really hard. I was sitting there at the bottom of the pool, and I realized something. I never heard the board come back down. I looked up and I saw it. It came at me fast and I barely turned around when he came right along and bit me. He then lifted his shirt to show his side. "Right here."

Scott looked at the spot and couldn't help but relate to what happened to Theo. The same thing happened to him. "It wasn't an accident. He wanted to turn you."

"Right, so why aren't you a part of his pack then?" Stiles pressed on. "Why didn't he come back for you?" After all, that's what Alphas do.

"Because by the time of my first full moon, he was dead."

"How did you know that?"

"I met another one of his pack a couple of weeks later. He told me the Alpha that bit me was killed by two of his own Betas. They were twins."

Scott and Stiles shared a look. That had to be Aiden and Ethan. Stiles had a look of disbelief on him while Scott seemed to not know what to think or feel.

"Scott, listen to my pulse. I'm telling you the truth," Theo pleaded out to him.

"Right, or you just know how to steady your heart rate while you're lying your ass off," Stiles countered.

Scott tried to throw him a look to quietly tell him to ease up but Stiles wasn't about to back down.

"Why would I lie?" Theo asked him.

"Because you aren't who you say you are."

"Okay." He then turned to Scott. "In the fourth grade you had an inhaler. I had one to. I remember this day where I ended up in the nurse's office with an asthma attack. A bad one. I was waiting to be taken to the ER. You were waiting for the principal. You told me what would happen when you go to the ER for asthma. How they give you oxygen, an IV of Prednisone. You made it sound easy. Like everything would be okay."

Scott's expression softened a bit while Stiles rolled his eyes. But Theo kept his gaze on Scott.

"I've been by myself this whole time. Everybody knows that lone wolves, they don't make it on their own. I swear I'm that same kid from fourth grade. I was hoping you are too." He and Scott stared at each other for a moment before the bell rang, breaking their gaze. "I better get to class. You're not the only ones I need to make a good impression on."

That made Scott crack a grin but Stiles just narrowed his eyes. Theo then left with Scott and Stiles watching him with opposing expressions on their faces.

Scott was captivated by Theo's story. He was just being a normal kid when his whole world just flipped on him, without warning. Then he had to face what happened to him and deal with it all on his own. When Scott went through it, he'd had Stiles, Derek and everyone else to help him through it but Theo had no one. He didn't ask for this to happen to him anymore than Scott had asked for it. Now he was forced to have to defend himself when he came looking to have some friends and not be an Omega. He couldn't help but sympathize and feel sorry for the guy.

The same couldn't be said for Stiles. He felt that whole thing, the story of his history both with them and after was rehearsed. Almost like Theo had practiced the whole thing in front of the mirror until he had gotten it right. Bringing up a past moment between him and Scott in the fourth grade, that felt fishy. And off. Theo made it seem like he pulled it out at random but the way he explained it so perfectly, everything that happened and what was said, it was like Theo had it ready and waiting to use for this very moment. The guy had to be up to something. But as he turned to look back at Scott, his friend didn't look like he shared his cynicism.

Scott could see that Stiles was being stubborn about his mistrust. He wasn't too surprised. Stiles always seemed to be like that with everyone they met. He was that way with Kira and Liam when they first met them and now they were his friends. He hoped he would get over it and quick.

"Don't give me that look," Stiles told him.

"We have to give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes."

"Not this time. Okay, I'm right, there is something off about him. I can feel it. He is not who he says he is."

Scott shook his head. "Lydia's the psychic. Not you." He then turned to leave for his next class.

"Lydia's not a psychic. She's a banshee. Okay, there's a difference," he called out after him.

But as he was left standing there, he was resolved to not give up. Something wasn't right here and he knew. Felt it but it seemed he might be the only one that did. He would keep trying but if he couldn't convince anyone else, he might have to see to it alone. As he usually had to. He shrugged to himself as he headed out of the locker room.

As Stiles headed off to go after Scott, around the corner, Theo stepped out. He watched after them with a small smirk on his face.