Chapter 5: Parasomnia part 2
Lydia helped Tracy over to her mother's classroom, which was thankfully empty right now. Natalie saw that Tracy was upset and asked to wait outside while she and Lydia spoke. She explained to her daughter about Tracy's latest sleeping issues and what had happened earlier that morning in her office. Natalie thought it was just simply an extreme case of parasomnia. They couldn't see that Tracy was listening in on them from just around the door.
"I know what parasomnia is, mom," Lydia told her. She'd been through too much to believe that it could be that simple. "What about the feathers?"
"People with night terrors have done far stranger things than…eating their own pillows." Lydia rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I already told her to take the rest of the day off but she didn't want to miss the first day."
"Let me try." This time, Natalie rolled her eyes. "I don't have anymore classes. I can take her home and talk to her."
"Lydia, she's having trouble sleeping. Is she needs help beyond that, we'll get her professional help. Got it?"
Lydia sighed. "I couldn't agree more."
Natalie seemed confused at that but Lydia just smiled at her. She then moved to leave the room and took Tracy by her hand as they headed off for her car. As they walked, Lydia went for her phone and called for Jordan.
Jordan had been on desk duty at the station when Lydia's call to him came in. When she asked for his help in investigating what might be 'their' kind of problem, he didn't have to spar a moment to think. Sheriff Stilinski wasn't around at the moment so he dropped word that he was heading to respond to a disturbance call, which was technically true by what Lydia just told him. He met them at the address and the girl Tracy led them up to her room.
Lydia was pacing around the room, looking at the drawings plastered on the walls, while Jordan checked around the windows.
"I don't see any signs of an attempted forced entry. The latch seems okay." Jordan then looked over at the girl. "You said something about birds, Tracy?"
"The bird was at the skylight. The one that woke me up."
He looked up at the skylight. It seemed okay too but he wanted to make sure. "Can I take a look?" Tracy nodded and he moved to grab a chair and climbed up to it. As he studied it, he noticed something. "Tracy, you said the skylight was sealed for weatherproofing?"
"Yeah, why?"
Jordan then unclipped the latch and pushed on the skylight to show that it could easily open. He pushed himself up to look outside and his face fell a bit.
Below him, Lydia noticed how he just stopped moving. "Anything?" she asked.
He brought his gaze down to her and caught her eyes. They stared at each other for a moment and Lydia got her answer. Jordan then looked over towards Tracy.
"No, nothing," he said assuredly at her.
Tracy let a small sigh escape her and Jordan nodded. He then moved to close the skylight and replace the latch. He had lied of course. There was something there. A small flock of dead ravens and crows and scratches all over the skylight. It was as if something was trying to force its way in.
After they left her to try and get some rest, Lydia and Jordan stepped outside where he told her exactly what he saw from the skylight.
"So, what are we going to do?" she asked him.
"I can't do anything official right now, but I can come back after my shift tonight and watch the house for a couple of hours."
"I'll keep you company," she offered.
"Uh, I think I'll be okay."
"But this is your own time," she pointed out.
"I wouldn't do it if I didn't think something strange was going on. I also owe you."
"For what?"
"All these months of research, searching through countless bits of lore in that thumb drive and digging through university literature, trying to figure out all the strange things going on with me."
"But we never figured it out. Besides, we're still not done. We still have some of the books that Satomi lent us. We were supposed to keep looking tonight anyway. Well, we can do it here while keeping watch. I'll bring coffee."
"Don't you have school tomorrow?"
"One class."
"What? How can you only have one class?"
"I had enough credits to graduate last year. So, how do you take your coffee?"
He let a smile creep up on him. Lydia was smart and generous, yet aggressive and unyielding. He liked that about her and he found himself just giving in. "Medium Americano. Black."
She smiled back at him.
Mr. Yukimura was bumping back and forth as he was trying to coach Malia in how to control the car. He was uncomfortable while Malia was exhilarated. She had signed up for Driver's Ed class as it seemed that everyone else around her knew how to drive. Yet, it felt more complicated then she was expecting. She kept alternating between giving the car gas and hitting the brake, every other second. Mr. Yukimura tried to go with the flow, but it wasn't proving easy.
"Ease into it, Malia," he tried to tell her right before he made a sudden stop. "Easy does it."
Malia then found the course going straight for a bit and picked up some speed, but she blinked and found herself looking at the woods at night instead of the parking lot. She then heard a child like scream as the car was heading off road. Malia sped the car off and it started to plow past the pylons on the course, straight into a school bus. Malia snapped out of it just in time to notice and stomped both of her feet on the brake, making her and Mr. Yukimura's bodies thrust forward and press into their seatbelts.
"Okay," Yukimura huffed when the car came to a stop. "I think we're all good for today," he tried to say gently.
Malia nodded. "Yeah." She then put the car in park and moved to get out. "How'd I do?"
"Uh, there's room for improvement."
The two of them then looked back at the course to see that she had knocked over a half dozen pylons as well as on of the test dummies. Their eyes met again and Mr. Yukimura gave Malia an awkward smile before calling the next student up.
The students all around were looking a bit bemused at what just happened. One of them had found the whole thing a little amusing but he sensed that there was more to what happened than a loss of control. He wondered if it was the opening he needed to get to her.
The bell rang and Liam sighed out in relief as it was the last class of the day. He was thankful at least that Hayden wasn't in this class with him. He started to make his way through the crowded halls when he heard his name called out, and he turned in time to see Mason jogging for him.
"Hey, glad I found you," he breathed as he got beside him.
"Why, one the soccer players pass you a note after practice?"
"Oh, if only. But no. As they were heading for the field, one of the guys on the team fell and hurt his leg."
"He alright?"
"He had to go to the nurse but I heard one of the guys say that he just sprained it."
"Bummer man. Better luck next time."
"No, that's not what I wanted to tell you. It's how he fell. He stepped in some kind of small sink hole out in the courtyard close to the field, underneath the terrace. It looked like an impact crater. Like something small crashed right there into the pavement. Seemed fresh too. Maybe a day or two."
Liam then had a flash of memory where Stiles slammed his foot into the pavement as he threatened that werewolf who attacked Scott and Kira last night. "Oh yeah?" he mumbled.
"Yeah, and not only that. I could swear I saw some marks on the walls close by. They kind of looked like scratches. From claws."
Liam throat seized a bit and dropped his head a bit. "Claws huh," he mumbled.
Mason nodded. "Yeah. Well, I went do some digging in the local news archive. Did you know that Beacon Hills has had increase in animal attacks over in the last two years? Bodies found mauled with claw marks all over them, even around school."
"Yeah," Liam perked up a little loudly. "That's great Mason but I got to go do something real quick." Liam then picked up the pace and headed off in a different direction.
"But wait, dude," Mason called out after him but Liam just kept heading off.
Liam didn't like this. Mason seemed closer than ever before and he was still trying to pull him in, when he was already in the center of it. He wondered if Scott and the others would know what to do.
Malia walked into the library to meet with the others, a little downtrodden after her disastrous Driver's Ed class. It wasn't too crowded so she spotted them easily but saw only Scott and Kira were there waiting.
"Where's Stiles and Lydia?" she asked them.
"Lydia only had one class today," said Kira. "She left a while ago."
"And Stiles said he would be running late," Scott finished. "Needed to do more checking."
"On Theo?" asked Malia. He nodded.
Kira looked over to him. "I thought you guys spoke to him already?"
"Yeah, we did," he sighed out. "Theo told us everything, and he wasn't lying. His heart was steady the entire time, but Stiles still thinks he's not telling us truth."
"So, how was Driver's Ed?" Kira asked Malia with a smile.
Malia didn't answer. She just sat down and went to pull out her textbook.
Scott narrowed his eyes at her. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, totally fine," she nodded before opening her book.
Kira and Scott shared a look before bending their heads back down to continue studying. Both of them had their Biology textbooks out and were trying to study and prepare for the test their teacher was giving tomorrow. Scott still couldn't shake their AP Biology class that morning, how their teacher verbally drilled at him in front of everyone, and her speech to them about the test showing who didn't belong there with her casting a look his way.
As for Malia, her mind was barely on the words in her book. It was on what she saw when she had been behind the wheel. What happened to her back there? What did she see, and why did it scare her?
In the midst of it, Stiles walked into the library and headed right for them. He slammed two forms right in front of them.
"So you found something?" Scott said, half interested.
"Another signature," he told them. "This is Theo's dad's signature on a speeding ticket from eight years ago. And this is his dad's signature on a transfer form to Beacon Hills High School from just a few days ago," he explained as he pointed the marks out on each form.
"How did you get his transfer form?" Kira asked him.
Scott huffed. "Did you break into the Administration Office?"
"No, I did not break into the Administration Office." Scott, Kira and Malia looked at him disbelievingly and Stiles rolled his eyes. "Okay, I might have broken into the Administration Office. Can we just focus on the signatures, please? They're different."
Malia tilted her head a bit. "They're, sort of different."
"No, they're completely different. Look, the garlands don't even match. The undulations of the sinuous stroke are totally off. And look at this." He then ran his finger across the signature on the transfer form. "The perfect example of the Criminal Tremor." Stiles could see it. The one that signed the speeding ticket is not the same person who signed the transfer forms.
Scott closed his eyelids so he wouldn't show he was rolling his eyes, Malia just stared at him and Kira blinked as she looked at the papers.
"So, now Theo is Theo but his parents aren't his parents?" she asked him.
"Someone is not someone. And when I figure out who that someone really is, someone's in big trouble."
"But no one's done anything wrong," Scott tried to point out to him.
"Yet," Stiles pressed at him. "And if Theo's parents are both psychotic killers, then obviously, we should not trust him, right?"
"My parents are Peter and the Desert Wolf," Malia pointed out.
That made Scott and Kira give him a look and Stiles went to rub at his eyes furiously. He didn't need his senses to know that they were all full of doubt and disbelief.
"Okay…it's fine. Forget it. I'll figure it out myself. Alright." He went to gather up the papers. "I don't need you, or you, or you," he said impatiently, pointing to each one. "I don't need anyone," he huffed out before he stormed off.
This left the three of them staring off after him, awkwardly.
"What do you think he's going to do?" Kira asked as she looked over at Scott.
He let out a deep breath. "I think I have an idea."
Stiles had walked two steps passed the doors when he heard someone call out to him.
"Hey." It was Liam. "Want some help?" He had found them a while ago and had listened in on them.
Stiles let out a deep and stressed sigh. "Come on."
Mason was roaming through the halls, trying to find where his best friend ran off to in such a hurry when he noticed him on the other side of it, following after Stiles. He watched after them, curiously.
Stiles led himself and Liam out of the school and to his jeep. Stiles might've shut his car door a little harder than necessary, but he was a little too angry to care.
"Uh, do you mind if we swing by my house first? I kind of need some new pants."
Stiles looked down to see that he was wearing a pair school shorts. "I don't want to know, do I?"
Liam shook his head and Stiles nodded before he moved to start his jeep up.
Tracy was visited by her dad in her room before he headed out. He explained to her that he had to meet a client at the courthouse but would be back soon. She nodded but didn't say a word, still feeling a little freaked over everything that she'd gone through today.
Outside, Jordan was watching from his jeep at a respectful distance. He saw Tracy's father heading out and prepared himself to keep watch if anything tried to get into Tracy's room again. He then heard a beep from his phone and saw that Lydia had sent a text to him. It read that she would be there to see him at midnight. And that she would have his Americano black. He couldn't resist the deep smile as he finished reading it. He then moved to keep watch on Tracy's house.
He didn't notice that Tracy was standing in the middle of the street, behind him. She had a blank expression on her face as she stared at him. He was looking through his binoculars at her house so he didn't witness as she turned around and started to walk off like a zombie.
Theo was reaching into the back of his van and pulling out a parcel wrapped in brown paper. He gave a look around before closing the door and heading off.
"So, he is up to something," Stiles said as he watched him take off into the woods.
"We just spent 3 hours watching this guy play video games in his bedroom. He better be out here to cover up a mass murder," Liam huffed from where they were hiding in the brush.
"Let's find out. Remember, keep back and downwind. We don't want him to pick up your scent."
"Yeah, I know," mumbled Liam.
The two of them slowly followed after Liam for about fifteen minutes, without saying a word. Stiles still had Theo's scent but, even if he didn't, he was making easy enough tracks to follow. The ground was still damp and soft from the heavy rain the previous night. Liam was slagging behind, his face leaking aggravation and Stiles easily took notice.
"Just a shot in the dark here Liam, but you didn't really come with me because you wanted to spend the night helping me watch this guy."
Liam stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened at him. "What? Yeah." Stiles then stopped and turned around to give him a look of disbelief. "Okay, no," he sighed in defeat.
"So, what's up?" Stiles asked as he walked off again.
"Lots of things," Liam mumbled as he followed after him again. His mind replaying his first day back at school and Hayden. Those weren't his most pressing problem though. "But it's Mason. He's…getting closer," he hesitantly said.
"Closer? What are you talking about?"
"Today, he noticed some things in the place where that werewolf attacked Scott and Kira last night. He knows something happened."
Stiles stopped in his tracks. "Wait, you still haven't told him?"
"No, I haven't…" Liam pushed down the rush of anxiety that he was feeling and took a breath to calm himself. "I haven't told him."
"Why? We said it was okay."
"I know, it's just, it's just a lot to take in. A lot to accept," he said, trailing off.
"Liam, six months ago Mason watched as my dad and Mr. Tate attacked and blew up a Berserker with exploding knives and a landmine. I think the groundwork's been pretty thoroughly laid out for acceptance." Liam kept his gaze dropped as he nervously looked down at the ground. "Look, it's okay. If you're scared then me and Scott could help-"
Liam quickly cut him off. "I'm not scared," he said, his voice a bit higher than normal.
"You're scared," said Stiles, not missing a beat. "Scared that if you tell him, he's not going to look at you and see his friend anymore. He'll only see a monster." That made Liam look back down. "I felt that way too. Back before my dad found out and everyone was telling me I should tell him. Scott had to deal with it too. It's scary, but believe me, it's always better when they know. Besides, Mason is not an idiot. And with how he's circling around everything, he's bound to find out eventually. When he does, it should be from you."
Stiles then moved to get back on the trail and Liam shook himself out of it and frantically followed.
"Yeah, but what if he freaks out?! What if he doesn't want to talk to me?! What if he tries to stab me with something silver?! Or what if-"
But he got cut off there. Stiles quickly turned around to find that Liam was gone. He stepped back and found Liam was down in a hole.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Stiles barked at him. Liam just shrugged at him. "Seriously, do you always have to go and get stuck in a hole in the ground?"
"That was one time," Liam said indignantly.
Stiles looked off to the side and could feel that Theo had stopped moving. He was close. "Stop screwing around and come on." He then took off.
Liam sighed as he looked around for his phone, which he dropped. He found it semi-buried and picked it up and began trying to wipe out the mud stuck to it. He turned it on and found that he had almost twenty messages from Mason. He then remembered that they had made plans to hang out at the school gym but he had bolted after Mason came to him with all that new research he did. He sighed before he went to activate his phone's flashlight app. When it came on, he spotted a glint and found that it was from a necklace on the ground. He wondered what it was doing there but he shook his head. Stiles was waiting for him. He went and leapt out of the hole and moved to catch up to him.
Stiles was standing behind a tree, watching as Theo came up to a wooden bridge over a river. He couldn't sense or detect anyone else around so Theo wasn't meeting up with anybody. He was just staring out over the water. Liam started stomping over for him and Stiles quickly shushed him.
"What's he doing?" Liam whispered to him.
"I don't know," Stiles whispered back. "Let's see if his scent can tell us anything."
Liam took a few sniffs of the air. "Well…he has nice soap."
Stiles' jaw hardened as he rolled his eyes. "Not that scent. His chemo signature."
Theo then took out the brown parcel and started to unwrap it. Liam's eyes narrowed as it started rushing at him like an ocean wave.
"He's…sad. There's something else too. I, I think it's…"
Stiles widened his eyes. "Grief." He then saw Theo take out a flower from the parcel and throw it out into the water. He realized what was going on and turned to Liam. "We have to go. Right now."
Liam blinked as Stiles started to walk away and he followed after him. Once they were gone, Theo then turned his head in the direction that they had just been.
As they walked Liam kept pushing for Stiles to tell him what was wrong.
"Stiles…what is it? What's going on?"
Stiles sighed. "His sister. It's the bridge where they found her body in the river. She fell and died from exposure. He's leaving a flower for her."
"Uh, that doesn't sound evil Stiles."
"Yeah, I know." Stiles grit his teeth. He could already hear Scott laying it on him now. He wouldn't never hear the end of this.
They got a few more yards out before they just stopped when they saw someone standing on a low tree right in front of them. It was Theo and it looked like he had just caught them red handed, spying on him. Theo jumped down and landed in a slight crutch. Stiles was already preparing for the inevitable fallout.
Theo just smiled as he lightly stood up. "What are you guys doing?" he asked, his tone sounding curious.
Stiles narrowed his eyes. That wasn't the reaction he was expecting. Theo then started to walk towards them and his instincts flared up. The sadness and grief Theo had were gone. He was calm and blank. Something wasn't right about that and he braced himself.
Liam felt Stiles tense up beside him and the wolf in him be on guard. That seemed to make his own wolf stir and he found himself moving to stand in front of him. To defend the head Beta of his pack, his lupine superior, from what he clearly sees is a threat. He moved to glare right at Theo, stopping his advance.
"Whoa," he said as he rose his hands up in surrender. But he didn't lose the smile. "Why do I get the feeling this kid's tougher than he looks?"
Stiles moved his hand to Liam's shoulder. Liam moved to catch Stiles in the eye, subconsciously telling him to stand down. Liam and his wolf both felt the need to comply with his wish and took a step back, allowing Stiles to stand in front of him to face Theo.
"Only when we let him off the leash. Besides, its really me you should be worrying about."
"Stiles, we were in Little League together. Why are you so suspicious of me?"
Stiles rose an eyebrow at that. He felt it again. The same eerie feeling he had when Theo talked to Scott and told his story of being bitten and recalling a memory of them together earlier. The embarrassment and discomfort he had before from stumbling upon Theo's private moment vanished. He reached into his pocket. "Because of these." He pulled out the forms and handed them to him. "One's a speeding ticket signed by your dad eight years ago. The other one's a signature on a transfer form to Beacon High. They're different."
Theo looked at the signatures on the two forms. They were similar enough to fool a passing glance, but for someone paying close attention, they would raise a red flag. "Yeah, they do look a little different," he said, keeping his voice, and his heart, steady.
"No, they're totally different. They were signed by two different people."
Theo just smiled and tried to laugh it all off. "So, my dad's not my dad? Like he's an imposter, or something like that? Who do you think I am?"
"We don't know, yet," Stiles said, not missing a beat.
"Want me to give you a DNA sample or something?" Theo tried to joke.
But Stiles shook his head. "No, I don't have anything from the fourth grade to match it to," he said in a serious tone.
Theo could feel the ferocity underneath Stiles' somewhat calm composure. Sensing it, a part of Theo wanted to get as far away as he could. Stiles found an opening and he didn't waste any time using it to pounce. He couldn't help but admire that predator like instinct, but he knew he had keep his emotions pushed down and his focus on his heart steady, so Stiles didn't find another. He had readied a plan in case of something like this.
Theo nodded his head a bit before looking up at him. "You know Stiles, I came back here for Scott, but I also came back for you."
Stiles rose his eyebrows at him. "Oh, did you?"
"Yeah. Scott wasn't only one that I heard stories about. And seeing you out here, trudging through the woods at night to try and look out for your friends, I see that they're true." He then smiled. "You guys are the reason I wanted to come here so badly. I'm meant to be in this pack." Stiles just kept his eyes narrowed at him and Liam seemed to follow his example. Theo just sighed. "Anyway, it's getting late. I better go. My parents will be waiting for me, or well, whoever they are," he tossed in playfully before he started walking off.
Stiles kept his hard gaze as he watched Theo walk off. He didn't hear any changes to his heart and wasn't sensing anything off him at all, through all of that. He was definitely convinced. Something is not right with this guy.
Liam let out a sigh next to him. "So, what now?" he asked him. "Follow him and make sure he goes back home?"
"No. That's it for tonight." Besides, it would be pointless now to keep watching him. Theo knows he was followed and, if he's as guilty as Stiles thinks he is, then he won't risk doing anything for the rest of the night. "Let's head back."
"Hey," Liam said as they made the trek back to the jeep. "Do you mind dropping me off at the school? Mason's there working out and I forgot. He's left me like a dozen messages, he probably thinks I ditched him."
"Yeah okay. And Liam?" He paused a bit to let himself catch Liam's eye. "Don't worry so much about Mason. He seems like a cool guy to me. And it's me, so that should tell you something."
The two of them walked off for another twenty minutes before they made it to the jeep. But there was someone else already there, just sitting on his bike, waiting for them.
Scott couldn't help but feel disappointed that not only did he go and stalk Theo, he dragged Liam into it too. "Find anything?" he asked.
"Nope," Stiles said before pulling out his keys and heading for his car.
Liam shrugged. "I fell in a hole," he said awkwardly. No one seemed to pay attention to him.
Scott moved over to Stiles after he climbed into his driver's seat. "It was the bridge where his sister died, wasn't it?"
"Yes it was. Very embarrassing, so we're going to leave now." Stiles then moved to start his jeep up, but it didn't start. "Son of a…Liam, just do me a favor," he called out to him before he stepped out. "Just, get in the car and turn the ignition when I say."
Liam moved to follow his directions while Stiles headed to look under his hood.
"Stiles?" Scott called out to him.
"Be with you in a sec," he said, keeping his gaze on the engine as he tried to loosen and retighten the spark plug. "Try it," he called out.
Liam turned the ignition but the jeep still didn't start.
"Stiles?" Scott tried again.
"Yes," Stiles huffed out but kept his gaze away from him. "Okay, we followed him out here. What do you want me to say Scott? Huh, that I'm a stalker. That I'm crazy? Totally paranoid? None of this is exactly new information, so why are you trying to act surprised?" He went back to try fiddling with his engine.
Scott watched him calmly. "So, now can you at least try to give him the benefit of the doubt?" he asked.
Stiles took a deep breath as he felt an urge come over him to just slam his fist down into the engine but he pulled it back. "I give people the benefit of the doubt. I've given a lot of benefit, to a lot of people. Especially when they didn't deserve it." He then turned away again.
Scott nodded. "Like Allison?" he said making Stiles freeze up. "Derek? Kira? Liam?"
Stiles let out a puff from his nose before looking back over at him. "Derek? Remind me again, which of us was the first one that didn't trust him and accused him of being a killer?" he asked patronizingly. Scott didn't answer. "Besides, I was right about Peter. I called it, loud and clear, but no one listened. Try it again!" he howled out to Liam.
Liam had been listening in on them. All of those names he knew, save for one. 'Who's Allison?' he thought to himself. But he jumped when Stiles yelled out to him to try the ignition. He quickly did but the jeep still didn't start.
Stiles shook his head. "You know, I bet you still think that there's something about him that can be saved."
"Maybe," Scott said simply.
"And Kate? Gerard? Them too? After everything they did?" he asked breathlessly.
Scott shrugged. "Maybe," he said again. "Allison's dad was."
Stiles grit his teeth as he angrily fiddled with another part. "Try it again!" he shouted to Liam.
He quickly tried the ignition but the jeep still wouldn't start. Stiles' aggravation grew.
Scott could sense it building in him. "Why can't you trust anyone?" he asked.
Stiles lost it. "Because you trust everyone!" He then went and slammed his fist down into the engine, hard. "Ahh!" he hissed as he had brought it down on a sharp and jagged piece and had cut it.
Scott could easily smell the blood already leaking out. "Whoa, let me see."
But Stiles pulled his hand away. "It's fine. It'll start healing in a bit."
"But I can-"
"I said I'm fine," Stiles bit out.
Stiles then moved his other hand to try to fiddle with engine while he placed his injured hand at the edge. The pain in it was running strong but Stiles pushed it off to a corner of his mind, like he was used to doing. As his cut hand laid there, Scott could see that two of the knuckles were cut open and threads of blood were running down to his wrist. Scott guessed it must really be hurting but Stiles was just feeling more angry and upset than hurt. Scott moved to grasp his hand and Scott quickly worked on pulling pain from him. Scott hissed as he felt the sting from Stiles' pain hit his nerves but didn't stop. Stiles quickly tried to pull his hand away but Scott tightened his grip, making sure he couldn't pull it away. Stiles felt some of the tension lightening off him and he flex the fingers of his hand to find it hurt less. Scott then lightly let go and took a breath as the pain he pulled ebbed away. They then stared at Stiles' hand to see the skin quickly knitting itself back up and the blood disappearing. After a few seconds, it looked like Stiles' hand never had been injured at all. They then slowly went to look each other, calmly. Before anything else could be done, the engine seemed to roar to life.
"Alright, move over Liam." Stiles then moved to close the hood before looking back at Scott. "I have to drop him off."
"Okay." Scott sighed a bit sadly.
Liam had scooched over into the passenger seat as Stiles climbed inside and Scott moved to put his helmet on. They all then rode off, and a moment after they did, a wolf started to step out from the shadows. It had been watching them, the whole time, without any of them noticing. It heard the sounds of the jeep and motorbike in the distance and it leapt off to try and catch up to one of them.
Maggie hung up her phone and let her head fall into her hands, and heaved out a sigh of frustration and stress. She had just gotten a call from Alan Deaton and he just told her that Riley Astor's talons have been found. A werewolf had them and had tried to use their power to drain away the powers of the True Alpha, Scott McCall. After ten years, the talons have surfaced again. How was it possible that a werewolf had them? Riley Astor had been killed by the Argents and had his wings and talons torn from his corpse as trophies and keepsakes. Deaton told her that he was going to try and track down Chris Argent to try and find out more.
She had to wonder if she should send word to Zeke. He had been trying to find his older brother's wings and talons for years. After all, Riley had been the only family he had left and was left alone at the age of ten. He traveled and searched through every rumored foothold and sighting of the Argents, to find them. Almost to the point of obsession. But, when word reached out that the Argent hunter family were all but destroyed, he had finally started to begin to settle down. She heard that he had just started college over two weeks ago. If she told him, then he would drop it all and fly right for Beacon Hills instantly to get his brother's talons and begin hunting for his wings. No. She couldn't do that to him. She would wait. Deaton had the talons, so she knew they were safe. Perhaps the wings will surface next and Deaton will have the McCall pack retrieve them as well.
Maggie shook her head in vain to shake the stress building in her out. And all this on top of worrying about Oscar and what he was scheming. She had told Charlie the truth, and while he promised he wouldn't say anything, he also said that he might not be spying on Oscar for her anymore either. Charlie, she felt, wouldn't do anything to endanger Derek, Cora or Jason. But, it was clear that even if he might not 'love' Oscar, he was still loyal to his Alpha and his pack.
Stiles' jeep pulled up in front of the school and Liam sighed as he didn't leave right away.
"I think that maybe you were right," he mumbled.
"Yeah of course I am," Stiles nodded. "Right about what?"
"About Mason. I should just, go and tell him everything."
"You mean, right now?" Liam didn't answer, but his face gave Stiles his answer. "Do want me to go with you?"
Liam looked over at him. "Yeah, I would, but, he's my best friend. I got to do this by myself."
Stiles nodded. "Okay."
Liam then stepped out of his jeep and closed the door behind him but turned to stick his head through the window. "Hey, for what its worth, I think there might be something off about that guy too." He then moved to head into the school.
As he watched him go off, Stiles let a small grin slide on his face. "I like that kid," he mumbled after him, before driving on off.
Mason finally got a response text from Liam and headed out to meet with him. He shrugged as he thought it was better late than never. After he saw him leave with Stiles, he decided to go and do a little more digging. He'd heard the rumors a few times about the guy. About how he had gone and helped to catch the woman who started the infamous Hale Fire and came back and killed a bunch of people almost two years ago. Well, he tried to find out more but he wasn't able to find out much. It looked like a lot had been kept out of the news and public records, probably to try and protect him because he was a minor. Something was going on, with Stiles, Lydia, and everything that happened last term, and he was starting to think that Liam might know what it was. The nervous reactions when he tries to bring this stuff up to him and sudden lame excuses making more sense now.
The school was pretty much empty now as Mason got outside into the parking lot and found Liam running over to him.
"Hey man," Liam said as he came over. "I'm sorry. I completely forgot about you wanting to work out tonight."
"Well I did. Work out. For two hours."
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I had to take care of something."
"With Stiles?" he asked, making Liam's eyes widen. "I saw you leave school with him."
"Yeah I did, and I have a good reason for that."
Mason rolled his eyes. "Which let me guess, you can't tell me."
Liam quickly shook his head. "No, no that's just it. I'm going to tell you. Everything. It's just…there's a lot. And you're probably not going to believe some of it. I, just don't know where to start."
Mason's eyes widened a bit. "There's a wolf."
"Yeah, I'm going to get to that," he nodded.
But Mason shook his head. "No, there's a wolf, right behind you."
Liam's face dropped as he went to turn around, and sure enough, there really was a wolf right behind them. "That's a wolf," he squeaked out and Mason nodded.
It stared at the two of them for a moment before it let a small growl loose, showing its sharp teeth. The next moment, the two boys went and broke into a hard run. They threw themselves through the school doors and charged down the halls as the wolf pursued them. Liam and Mason kept running, not looking back, but they could easily hear the wolf growling behind them.
Liam realized that they couldn't keep running and the wolf might just catch one of them. Catch Mason. And that thought caused him to stop in his tracks.
Mason kept running though but he stopped when he realized his friend wasn't beside him anymore. He turned around to see that Liam turned around to face the wolf down, the one now running at him. He was about to cry out to him to run but he then saw Liam let out a hard roar. He had sprouted fangs, his eyes glowed golden yellow, and there were some claws at the end of his fingers, as he roared at the wolf. The animal stopped in its tracks and started to back away slowly before it went and took off. Mason let out a hard gasp, which Liam heard and quickly shifted back as he turned to fully face him.
"Uh, there's something I have to tell you," he mumbled nervously.
Mason let out another breathless gasp as his face widened. "You're a werewolf," he said in realization.
Liam saw that his friend's face break into astonishment. A small and excited grin seemed to find its way onto Mason as he looked at him that only seemed to get wider and more excited every passing moment. Liam found his own face breaking into a smile as he couldn't pick up a single whiff of fear as his best friend looked at him.
The wolf left the school grounds and escaped off into woods. It ran through the trees until it made it over to the wooden bridge. It started slow down and stopped when it got to the center. It then started to twist around until its limbs stretched out and he was back to his human form.
Theo slowly got to his feet and took a deep breath before he looked over back at the direction he came from. He then let a smile creep up on him right before he turned away. From what he saw, Liam seemed ready to follow Stiles' lead in keeping his guard up around him, especially after Stiles' little breakthrough. One suspicious mind was simple enough to work around but two would be tricky. At least now, with him forcing Liam to shift in front of his friend, the young beta had something to distract him. Liam's focus will now be more on his friend and less on him. It would relieve him of some the heat in the short run. Stiles though, he was still going to be an issue but Theo was sure that what the Doctors were setting into motion would distract him well enough.
He then ran off to go and collect his clothes where he had left them. He had to return to his house and have a little talk with those "parents" of his.
Virgil Edelman was kneeling as he laid a bouquet of multi-colored daisies on top of a grave marker in the ground that had two names pressed into it. The date of their death being identical, roughly a year and a half ago. It was quiet in the cemetery, and empty. Virgil appeared to be the only one there but visiting hours were close to being up so it wasn't that big of a surprise. He had a night where he didn't have to work late at the garage, with no pay, so he decided to use it and see his dad and grandmother.
"Hope you like them dad. I know you love em Grandma," he mumbled. "Daises were always your favorite." He then cleared his throat. "Oh, and dad, I finished fixing up that bike I found. I'm sure you would be impressed; I know I am." He then reached for his pouch and pulled out the deck of tarot cards. "And grandma, I started to carry around your deck with me. You always told me that they're the real deal, I still don't know if I believe that, but I guess they help keep me company in this town. Maybe I'll try giving readings on the side like you did. And dad, laugh it up because I know you are," he rolled his eyes at the marker but was smiling nonetheless.
After a few more minutes, Virgil got up, waved his dad and grandmother goodbye, and started to head off, out of the cemetery. He walked over to where he had parked the motorcycle he had just mentioned to his father. He could still remember the day he found it. It was a little less than a year ago. He had been over at the local junkyard, looking in the hoods of junked cars for parts to salvage when he came upon an abandoned bike. The body was banged up and deeply scratched like someone went and took a barbed bat to it. The bike he could tell was a new and expensive model. One he never would have been able to afford, beautiful but trashed and then just dumped away. Virgil wondered who it could've belonged to. He vaguely remembered seeing a pair of similar looking bikes in the parking lot at the high school but stopped seeing them around before the year was half over. The machine didn't seem like it was too far gone to work again so he took it to try and fix it. He spent his free time working on it, repairing the broken engine components, replacing the shredded body, applying a coat of midnight blue paint, and after eight months it now rode like a dream.
When Virgil reached his bike and readied his helmet, he took a moment to look back towards the cemetery. He let a deep sigh escape him before he moved to start up his bike's engine. Yet before he could actually turn the key, he froze. He narrowed his eyes as he felt something stir in his chest. The feeling made him look up at a place in the trees by the road up ahead. After a moment, someone stepped out of them. Virgil could dimly make out that it was a guy, roughly around his own age. The guy didn't seem to notice him, or if he did then he didn't care. He just started walking off down the road, likely heading into the nearby neighborhood. Something about the way he looked seemed shady.
"Coming out of the woods, alone, and walking down the dark road. Cliché much," he mumbled. He then reached down into the pouch strapped to his waist and pulled out his grandmother's tarot deck. "What's your deal?"
He kept his eyes on the guy's shrinking dark figure as he shuffled the deck. Virgil was resisting the urge to roll his eyes and he kept his gaze focused on him. If he had to guess, the kid was either trying to make himself believe he was tough by being alone at night, or was actually far from it and had a far from impressive story. Without looking down at the deck, he drew the top card. He rose it to his face and his eyes moved from the figure to see what his card was.
"Card is…Five of Swords?" he mumbled. "Upright."
As he stared at it, Virgil felt a sudden rush of fear. Like the kind one gets when they suddenly hear multiple screams of terror. You don't know why everyone's screaming but you know that you would too if you did. As he felt it, the guy seemed to stop walking and then turn to look his way. Virgil then jammed his helmet on and started his bike. He revved the bike up and rode off in the opposite direction, to get as far away from this guy as possible. As he took off down the road, his gut was telling him whoever that guy was, he wasn't as shady as he had looked, he was worse.
Theo narrowed his eyes as he saw the motorcycle took off. The high anxiety that guy had given off had drawn his attention, but the rider was already moving to leave when he did. After a moment, Theo shook it off. Whoever that guy was, he didn't look or smell familiar. Probably just some local guy. Nothing to be concerned about then. He was close to his house and he just wanted to get his last bit of business of the night done before getting some rest after a long day.
Scott made it back home where Kira, was still waiting for him.
"Everything okay?" she asked him.
"Yeah, everything's fine."
She nodded. "Stiles, he okay?"
His face fell a bit but he nodded. "Uh, yeah. He's good now. So, c'mon. We going to study?" Kira smiled as she followed after him into his room.
The plan had been to study together so they could be ready for the biology test, but they quickly ended up lightly making out on his bed. After a while, she separated from him and laid calmly at his side.
"So, how come you never told me that you wanted to go to UC Davis?" she asked as she moved to cuddle into him.
"It's a really good school. Not too far from the Bay Area."
"It also has the best program for biological and physical sciences. Perfect for someone that wants to be a veterinarian. Why didn't you tell me? Were you worried what I would think?"
Scott's face softened. "No, not at all. It's actually because…I'm worried I'm not smart enough to make it."
Kira could easily see the embarrassment in his eyes. She knew how hard he worked this summer to push his GPA to get into this course. And she remembered how he had organized and ordered his textbook with highlighters and sticky notes. He was trying so hard and guessed that his confidence wasn't too great after their first class today.
She leaned in to him. "You'll make it," she said confidently.
Scott smiled at her as he went to try and kiss her again. But she held him down and moved to straddle him and he sat up straight to be only inches from her. Kira then moved to pull her top off and she stared down at him. Scott found himself staring at her, knowing what was going to happen. He found himself feeling a little nervous. It would be his first time since…Alison. And, it would be Kira's first time too.
"Are you-" he started to ask.
But Kira moved her index finger to his lips. She was a little nervous but she did want to do this. She smiled as she nodded before moving to turn off the lamp at his bedside. But, sparks flew from her hand as she touched it and the light bulb blew. The two of them jumped before they went and burst into giggles. Their nerves were loosened and they moved to heavily kiss one another. Their lips then pulled away from each other with a hard smack.
"I want to have fun," Kira said, almost laughing.
Scott let loose a toothy smile at that before he reached down and yanked off his shirt. Kira took a moment to look at him before he pulled her to the side. He quickly laid her flat on the bed and began to hover over her. Scott looked down at Kira and he smiled down at her lovingly while she did the same back up at him. Kira moved to let her hands glide across his back while Scott rubbed his down Kira's side and across her legs. He then moved down to kiss her lips before lowering himself down to kiss her jaw, then her neck, and made it over to her shoulders. He then pulled the straps of her bra down and kissed the spot that it had been before moving down for the edge of her left breast. Kira let out a deep sigh as she closed her eyes and her body seemed to lean further into him. Scott then moved to pull her bra fully off and he moved to kiss her lips again, making her bare chest have full contact with his.
That seemed to intensify everything. Kira found herself moving her hands to his pants and she moved to unbuckle his belt and open them before she began to push them down. Scott pulled away from her lips with a gasp and he moved to finish taking them off himself, leaving himself in his boxer briefs. He moved over to the drawer at the side and pulled out a familiar foil package. He moved to open it before he took his boxers off and put it on. Kira had gone to take off her shorts and was laying back down as Scott moved over to position himself between her legs. He hovered over her but wasn't making a move to go further. He caught her eye, silently asking her if she was sure that she didn't want to stop. Kira answered by moving her hand to the back of his neck to pull him in for another kiss. Scott let his tongue dance with hers for a bit as he teased her by rubbing against her entrance. She whimpered for a bit as she felt him start to push in slightly but he kept kissing her. He slowly pushed in, little by little, until he bottomed out. He stayed still, giving her time to adjust a bit and get used to the pressure. After a moment, Kira moved her legs wrap around him and he began to move. He started slow but he soon began to pick up the pace a bit. He let himself pound away and let loose his frustrations of his worries about school and about Stiles' mistrust of Theo all out into Kira. She soon began to cry out a bit and that fed the need for him to groan with every thrust.
Thankfully, this was Scott's mom night for the late night shift at the hospital. So there was no need for them to try and be quiet.
Lydia arrived to find Jordan watching Tracy's house and she handed him his coffee.
"How's it been?" she asked as she settled next to him.
"As far as I can tell, no one's gone in and no one's come out."
Lydia sighed. It looked like there might not have been a problem after all. "Sorry. We could've used tonight to look more into Satomi's texts but instead we spent it keeping watch on a house. I wasted your time."
He smiled and shook his head. "It wasn't a total waste. We helped Tracy and made sure she was okay. I'm happy about that. And that research will still be there for us tomorrow."
Lydia stared lightly at him as he moved to take a sip of the coffee she brought him. She wouldn't deny what her mother said about Jordan. He was handsome and he didn't even really need the uniform, though she wouldn't turn away when he was in it either, but he was different from the others she had been with. Jackson and Aiden, yes, they were each handsome too. No more or less than Jordan, but they both seemed to have trouble being good and seemed to have to put effort into caring about other people. For Jordan, helping and caring about other people, it came second nature to him. He didn't even need to try. It's who he was. And it seemed to make him all the more handsome to her.
Lydia then reached into her purse and pulled out one of Satomi's books on South American Mythology. "Well, it's midnight, so it's technically tomorrow. I don't think Tracy would mind us reading while we watch her."
She and Jordan shared a small smile and she nudged over to him as she opened the book up for them both to read together.
Tracy came to and realized that she was laying on some cold hard floor. She rose her head and saw that she was in some kind of warehouse or lab. There were tanks filled with green liquid and she could see rows of sharp picks and tools scattered about. The sight of it all made her start to freak out. She tried to get to her feet but started hearing heavy footsteps, and a sound that sounded like electrical crackling. When she managed to get fully to her feet, she saw a man dressed in leather coming out from around one of the tanks. He had tubes wrapped around his body that seemed to hook up and connect with a dark metal mask on his head. The sight of him made her want to scream but it didn't seem to be able to come out. She found also found that she couldn't seem to move as he slowly stomped for her.
She started shaking her head. "There's nothing there," she said to herself. "There's nothing." The figure stopped walking until it was right in front of her. This just had to be another bad dream. But, then two other masked figures moved to stand at either side of her, trapping her between them. "Oh god," she cried. The first one then reached into his coat and produced some kind of metal instrument that had a very long needle at the end of it. Tracy now began to shed tears of fear. "It's not real," she cried. "I'm sleeping. I'm just sleeping."
"No Tracy," the first masked man told her. "You're awakening."
He then went and grabbed her hand. Tracy tried to pull away but the other two figures grabbed her and moved to push her down to the floor. She cried as she felt the needle pierce her neck and begin injecting a silver liquid into her.
As it flooded into her system, Tracy had flashes suddenly hit her. Her dreams and hallucinations at her home and the school. The banging at her skylight and the claw marks at the lockers. It wasn't something else that did those things. It was her. She had done those things, with her claws. She just blocked them out and her mind made up the other things to try and hide them from her. But she now remembered, and when the injection was finished, she was let go by the masked figures. Tracy then straightened up and let out a hard roar, as she felt herself coursing with new strength and power.
The Dread Doctors seemed pleased at the sight of their subjects fangs, claws and glowing eyes. Perhaps this subject would be the one.
Stiles was making some notes on his crime board. The two forms were already taped onto it. He had pulled the board out of his closet and had to wipe away the lingering notes left on Malia's mother, The Desert Wolf, before he started using it.
About three months ago, before summer, he and Malia had hit an impasse in their investigation. There hadn't been any more clues or things for them to go on. While Peter had told Malia that he knew where to find her, they guessed that he had only said that to try and gain Malia's trust and wasn't serious. There hadn't been anything in his things that said otherwise. After weeks of coming up with nothing, Malia gave up and told Stiles that he should to. Naturally he didn't right away, but after she left to go on vacation with her dad and hadn't gotten another lead, he decided to shelf it.
Noah popped his head in and noticed Theo's name written at the center of his son's board. "You know, we usually wait for a crime to be committed before accusing anyone of being guilty."
"He is guilty. Of something. Something bad. I can feel it," he said resolutely, as he kept his attention on the board.
"Yeah, well Stiles, facts always trumps instinct." That made Stiles look up over at his father as he leaned against the door frame. "Let it go Stiles. It's late. Get some sleep."
He moved to leave but Stiles stopped him. "Dad," he called out to him.
"Yeah?" he said coming back into the door frame.
"I just found out what was different?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Today, when I sensed something was different. I know what it is now. Your ring. You're not wearing your wedding ring anymore."
Noah looked over at his hand, where there was a mark left behind from years of wearing his ring. He hadn't taken it off and kept it on even after his wife had passed over ten years ago. He had just made the decision to take it off this morning after he realized that he couldn't keep it on if he was going out on a date later this week. He now saw that Stiles sensed that something significant had changed in him, even if he didn't know what it was at the time. All by instinct. The same instinct that was telling him that Theo wasn't what he said he was. Noah knew all too well what happened the last time he refused to take Stiles seriously on something like this.
"Are you sure about your feelings about this guy?" he calmly asked.
Stiles let loose a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, I am," he calmly answered.
"Then just be patient. You keep going on like this and you'll run yourself into the ground before you have the chance to do anything about him."
Stiles lowered his gaze. "Satomi told me something like that too, when I told her that I was feeling like something was about to happen. Said I couldn't obsess or I'll drive myself mad."
"So, if two different, responsible and intelligent adults basically tell you the same thing, don't you think you should try listening?" Noah asked with some amusement. Stiles ducked his head a bit as a small chuckle escaped him. Noah's face then got serious again. "Still, if you're right, and this guy is not right, then just wait. He'll make a mistake. People with something to hide always do."
Theo's "parents" were sitting in front of a table with two forms laid out before them. The two of them were quiet and nervous as Theo stood off behind them, staring off into the active fireplace. They could easily tell that he was very upset with them.
And Theo wasn't. Months of planning and fine tuning his cover could've all been undone by this stupid mistake. Thankfully, Scott still was fighting against Stiles' mistrust and passing it off as paranoia and past projection like he wanted but it was still too close for comfort. Theo might be able to spin Stiles' evidence in a way to play to his advantage and would soon work on making him appear resentful and jealous in everyone else's eyes, especially Scott's. But there couldn't be any more mistakes.
"You were told to practice," he finally said to them, trying to keep his tone steady as he watched the flames. "It was supposed to be indistinguishable from the original. It was supposed to be perfect."
"I swear, I practiced," his "father" told him. "Hundreds upon hundreds of times."
"I wouldn't say hundreds," his "mother" said, giving the man a short look.
Theo then stepped over to stand right in front of them. "There is one way a false signature can be explained. It's not easy to write when you're wearing a cast." He then produced a hammer. "Is it?"
At the sight of it, the man gasped and looked over to the woman for help but she turned away. Theo had a hard look on his face and the man went to slowly bring out his right hand out onto the table. The woman cringed and tried to keep herself from looking as Theo moved to stand right over the hand and readied the hammer. The man shut his eyes and started to whimper as he tried to prepare himself for what was about to happen. Theo grunted as he rose the hammer and slammed it right down on the man's fingers.
Liam laid there on his bed in high spirits. He had started the day thinking that if Mason had learned the truth about him then he would lose his best friend. Earlier, Stiles had hit the nail on the head. He was scared that Mason would look at him and feel nothing but fear. That he wouldn't see his friend anymore, only a monster. But he didn't. Mason had seen him when he was shifted and he hadn't been scared. In fact, he thought he was awesome. Mason had wanted to know everything and Liam had promised to explain it all tomorrow when he had let it all sink in. Mason told him that he might be right, but still looked excited. Today may not have been all that good but he now had one less worry on his shoulders. He was almost too excited and happy to go to sleep. But, eventually he succumbed to it, and his eyes closed shut.
He then opened them to find himself in the forest, standing on a giant stump. The Nemeton. Liam saw there was a small fog about and it seemed to glow from the light of the moon shining overhead. He stepped off the stump and started walking a bit before he stumbled a bit. He managed to stay on his feet and looked back as it felt he had nearly tripped over something. He then took a hard step back when he saw that it was a human body. It looked mauled and shredded beyond recognition. The fog started clearing a bit and Liam saw that the ground was littered with bloody body parts, animal parts. Pieces of corpses from birds, cats, racoons, lizards, insects, and other various animals were scattered all around but the bulk of them were wolves. Liam couldn't barely stand looking at this disgusting sight.
But he then heard some kind of sound, like an electric cackling sound, and he turned to see three figures stepping out of the fog. They were dressed in some kind of suits with metallic masks over their faces. In front of them, was a wolf but it was wrong. The limbs, body, tail and head of it all had different colored furs, like it had been made by stitching together pieces from different wolves. Its fur had splatters of blood about, especially on its snout and paws. When its eyes fell on him, they glowed golden yellow. Soon, more…things appeared behind the three figure. All of them seemed to be made of mismatched parts of animals. They were all monsters…and they suddenly charged for Liam at once.
Right then in his bed, Liam's eyes popped open, and quickly sat up in terror. His eyes glowing golden yellow in the dark of his room as he panted hard due to his racing heart.
A/N: The 'episode' started with a dream, it seemed right that it ended with a dream. Ones that help give clues to try and prepare the pack for what's to come for them all. It felt right for Liam to have this one as he isn't exactly the same, thanks to Stiles' new influence on him.
