Of all the places Cadmus was expecting to be on a Monday morning, the Sherriff's station with Stiles and Scott was not it. Noah Stilinski was watching him a little suspiciously, and the urge to let his eyes go orange and slitted was becoming overwhelming.

Stiles was tapping out the printed version of the Deadpool they had on hand, trying to explain the circumstances to his dad. "So, the Walcotts were the first."

Cadmus made a face. "You don't know that for sure," he pointed out. "No offense, Sherriff... but with the number of murders in Beacon Hills, there's no way to know how many of them weren't exactly human."

Stilinski shrugged, conceding to Cadmus's point and Stiles grimaced.

"Right," he agreed. "They're the first we know about. Four murders—Sean, his brother, and their parents. They were killed by a professional assassin called the Mute; weapon of choice, a military tomahawk. But then, the Mute was killed by Peter Hale after he tried to blow up Derek with a claymore mine. Next was Demarco. He delivered a keg to the party at Lydia's lake house."

Stiles hesitated a little, so Cadmus cut in again. "And the poor bugger got decapitated outside his car... not a pretty way to go."

Stiles took the reins again. "Last night, twenty-three-year-old Carrie Hudson..."

Scott grimaced but took control of the conversation. "It's a Deadpool," he explained. "A hit-list of supernatural creatures. This is only part of it, the rest still has to be decoded."

The Sherriff nodded slowly. "Who found this list?"

"Lydia," Stiles supplied quickly.

The man didn't look surprised. "How?"

Cadmus grinned. "Well, she was the one who wrote it, hardly any finding necessary."

Stiles reached around to pinch the other boy, ignoring the irritated noise Cadmus responded with. "Actually," he corrected with a sniff. "She transcribed it... without realizing it."

Stilinski sighed, clearly knowing the answer but not wanting to have it confirmed. "Banshee?"

Stiles nodded in confirmation, not even blinking an eye at the conversation. "Banshee."

Rubbing a hand over his eyes, Stilinski nodded slowly. "Beautiful," he took a second before speaking again, probably wondering how he got stuck with all the supernatural bullshit. When he did speak again, he seemed pretty put together, considering the circumstances. "All right, what are these numbers next to the names?"

Stiles fixed his father with a disapproving stare, like a teacher who was irritated with a student who was interrupting his conversation with the principal. "We're getting to that. First, you need to know that the code was broken with a cipher key.":

The Sherriff blinked again. "Wait, you mean, like, a... like a keyword?"

Cadmus frowned a little, realizing that it was probably going to be easier if he waved the other two boys into the answer. His voice wasn't joking or sarcastic like it had been the entire conversation. "Not exactly," he said quietly. "It was actually a name—"

"—Allison," Scott's voice was a little hoarse as he cut Cadmus off. "Her name broke a third of the list, and now we think there's two other cipher keys."

"Which will give us the rest of the names," Stilinski said, nodding slowly. "Okay... so, how do we get the cipher keys?"

Cadmus shrugged as he exchanged a look with Scott, a little taken aback by the almost fond look on the werewolf's face. "Same way we got the code."

"Lydia," Scott supplied, in case there was any doubt as to what Cadmus had meant. "She's been at the lake house all weekend, trying to find the other two keywords..."

"You didn't know about Demarco or Carrie, hmmm?" Stilinski asked, scanning the three boys' faces as they shook their heads. "And what about these other two names on the list— uh, Kayleen Bettcher and Elias Town? They're werewolves, too?

Scott shrugged. "I don't know..." "

"Kayleen is a siren," Cadmus said quietly, earning a surprised look from the others. "She's twenty-one... used to stay with us. My mom taught her how to suppress the urge to sing. She works at the grocery store and is a student at the community college."

Stiles looked impressed at the knowledge. "You have a way to warn her?"

"Already did," Cadmus assured him. "She's going to leave town for a while, has an aunt in Jersey."

Scott nodded thoughtfully. "Deaton said that the Nemeton would draw supernatural creatures here."

The Sherriff looked a little tired. "Here being Beacon Hills, or Beacon County? The population of Beacon Hills is just under thirty-thousand—"

"—and dropping," Stiles added like the little ray of sunshine he was.

His dad sent him a withering glance. "But, if we're talking Beacon County, then you're looking at close to five hundred thousand."

"Beacon Hills mostly," Cadmus supplied. "The pull is stronger the more powerful you are. If you're a weaker individual or species in general, chances are you'll live further from the Nemeton."

No one really seemed pleased at his actually helpful knowledge, which was rude.

"Look," the Sherriff ran a hand through his hair. "How many Werewolves, Banshees, Kitsunes, and whatever the hell else is out there are we talking about? And what if the next cipher key uncovers not twelve names, but one hundred?"

Stiles took the lead that time. "We don't think there will be that many. There's a limit."

Scott nodded, chewing his lip thoughtfully. "Because of the numbers. We think that, once we decode the names, the numbers will add up to one-hundred-seventeen."

Stilinski raised an eyebrow. "One-hundred-and-seventeen what?"

"Million," Scott answered, making the Sherriff's eyebrows raise comically high.

"One-hundred-and-seventeen million dollars, Dad," Stiles reiterated. "Stolen from the Hale vault and is being used by someone to finance all these murders."

Scott's lip curled a little in distaste. "Someone who wants every supernatural in Beacon Hills dead."

Stilinski seemed to be getting the gist. "So, the coded list goes out, and someone, these professional assassins get that list...":

"And a cipher key," Stiles added again, making Cadmus' lips twitch.

Stiles' dad waved an acknowledging hand. "And then they go after the names on the list— they being killers with no mouths, tomahawks, thermo-cut wires that can take your head off..."

Stiles grabbed at the file on the desk in front of them. "Let me see... Carrie was also stabbed. What's this mark?"

His dad shrugged. "We're not sure yet," he admitted. "We're still waiting on the M.E.'s report."

Cadmus glanced over Stiles' shoulder and felt his eyebrows draw together at the hexagon shape around the stab wound. Something tugged at the back of his mind, but he couldn't place it.

The Sherriff kept talking. "There's one other thing I don't get. How did this new assassin know that Demarco was going to be at the lake house?"

Scott laughed quietly. "Everyone knows he delivers kegs to teenagers for a little extra cash."

"Well," Cadmus added unnecessarily, "he did."

Stilinski nodded with a hum. "So, whoever ordered the keg killed Demarco..."

Siles nodded. "Yeah, it was someone at the party—"

Scott was the one to say what they were all thinking, his face a little pinched as he did. "A student."

The Sherriff rubbed at his eyes, processing the information he'd been given before nodding to the three of them. "I appreciate the update," he said sincerely. "But you boys need to get to school."

Cadmus had to agree, they had class in less than half an hour. Glancing at Scott and Stiles, he shrugged. "Wanna grab breakfast on the road? My treat."

Stiles perked up instantaneously. "Hell yes," he hissed. "Come on, I want takeout pancakes."

Scott's eyes softened. "Only if they're chocolate chip."

Cadmus actually grinned. "Of course," he agreed. "I'm a dragon, not a heathen."

Nova was starting to think that she was doomed to a future of hanging out in places that reeked of male sweat and dirty gym socks.

Cadmus had dropped her off at the front doors where Liam was waiting, his nose scrunching up as he glanced at her. "You smell weird," he mumbled, making Cadmus roll his eyes.

"Werewolves, I swear," he said as he started to walk away. "You keep an eye on her, Dunbar!"

Liam, who knew all about Saturday nodded quickly and gently took her violin before practically hustling her inside. His shoulders were taught as they approached their lockers, making Nova carefully reach forward to brush her fingers down his arm. "You okay?"

"Yes," Liam said too quickly, almost barking out the word in a way that made Nova jump in surprise. She didn't move her hand though, smiling a little as he winced. "Sorry."

"Don't sweat it," Nova assured him quickly and hesitated for a moment before sighing. "Want to tell me what's bothering you?"

Liam leaned against the locker next to hers as Nova worked on her combination, resting his head against the metal as he seemed to consider his words carefully. "I found out that we're playing my old school at the scrimmage tonight."

Pursing her lips, Nova let her hands drop from her lock as she looked at the stressed crease lining his forehead. Resisting the urge to rub it away, she angled her head so he had to meet her gaze. "Is it a sense of loyalty, or...?"

"No," Liam sounded tired as he shook his head. "I got kicked out of Devenford for a reason, Nova. A reason that didn't leave me the most popular to the rest of the team."

"You don't think that they're going to take it out on you, do you?" The idea made Nova stiffen considerably, not even relaxing when Liam reached out to rub his thumb over the back of her knuckles.

"Don't worry about that, okay?" he requested with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "You mind coming with me to the locker room quickly so I can check on my stick? I want to make sure it's threaded properly, you know?"

Nova did, in fact, know. Cadmus had tugged on the laces of his lacrosse stick three times before he even considered eating breakfast that morning. Smiling broadly, she nodded and turned back to her locker so she could gently lay her violin inside and grab her binder for history.

Liam seemed very intent on ignoring the topic of the scrimmage that night, so Nova let it be and instead listened to his excited chatter about how he and his mom were talking about going to a museum event specializing in Greek and Roman architecture when it was officially opened. She didn't even bother hiding her grin, the excitement in his eyes making her entire body warm.

Sighing as Liam held the door to the locker room open for her, Nova bit back a comment about invasion of privacy and leaned by the wall beside the door as he continued padding inside, content to wait for him to check on his stick so they could go.

The sound of his confused mumbling didn't really register with Nova until she heard another voice join Liam's, deeper and clearly adult.

"This one yours?"

The sound of wood snapping made Nova stiffen and push away from the wall before she could even think about it, gasping as she turned the corner in time to see Liam lunge at a dark-haired bearded man who caught him with ease and slammed him against the wall.

Liam struggled and snarled as he tried to break free, making Nova move instinctively as she caught sight of a lacrosse ball lying on the closest bench. Hefting it quickly, she lobbed it at the back of the man's head with as much force as she could muster, stomping her foot as hard as she could as she watched it bounce off violently. The man's head snapped forward with the abrupt strike, almost hitting Liam's chest before he quickly recovered.

"Get off of him, you locker room pervert!" she shrieked as she tried to get into a fighting pose, her knees bent and fists awkwardly raised.

Liam's assailant didn't look impressed, following the lacrosse ball with his eyes as it stopped rolling. Liam had frozen too, looking helplessly amused.

"Was that really necessary?" The man asked dryly, making Nova's jaw drop.

"Necessary?" she repeated. "You're the one groping a fifteen-year-old boy!"

"I am not—" the man's voice rose a little before he took a bracing breath. "I am not groping him," he promised before turning his head with a sigh. "Scott, care to tell your little friend here to stand down?"

Scott, who Nova hadn't noticed enter the room, sent Nova a somewhat reassuring smile. "This is Derek, he isn't going to hurt Liam."

Cadmus, who was predictably beside the alpha, tossed Nova another lacrosse ball. "Wouldn't hurt to throw another one," he chirped with an irritating grin. "Just to drive the point home."

Scott sent him a disapproving glance as Derek scowled before speaking. "You're right," he said with a nod, "he is angry."

Liam snarled at the statement, straining against the hold again and ignoring Scott's quiet chastisement until his alpha held up a lacrosse stick. "This one's yours," he promised, nodding to Derek. The man seemed to take the hint, setting Liam down on his feet so he could take his stick with a heavy glower as the bell rang.

Scott tilted his head a little at the noise and looked pointedly at the two freshmen. "Get to class, Liam," he instructed firmly. "You too, Nova."

Nova wanted to tell Scott that he wasn't the boss of her, but a glance at Liam told her that wasn't the best idea at the moment. Reaching forward gently, she looped her fingers around one of her friend's wrists with a gentle squeeze. Liam relaxed a little at the touch, letting her softly let the lacrosse ball in her hand drop to the ground and pull him into the hallway.

Nova tried not to let Liam see the way she was already dreading music class as he left her by the door, but judging by the way he hesitated before she reminded him he needed to get going, she hadn't been successful.

Slipping into a seat in the back, Nova felt her shoulders curl in a little when she saw the note on the blackboard.

PARTNER PROJECT : COMPOSITION AND PERFORMANCE

Great, she thought a little bitterly as she watched everyone eyeing the notice and chattering to one another as they no doubt promised to work with one another. Nova looked down at her desk with a hard swallow, the ache of loneliness she hadn't quite felt since meeting Liam and Mason almost overwhelming her.

The sound of someone knocking on her desk made her look up sharply, almost grimacing at the sight of a smirking girl looking down at her.

"Nova, right? This must all be pretty easy for you."

Nova tried to smile, but she knew how this went. The girl was going to suggest they work together, and seeing as Nova had no other partner prospects, she would agree. Nova would do all the work, the girl would memorize her part of the piece Nova had written, and they'd get a good grade.

Resigning herself to her fate, Nova was about to answer when someone slipped into the seat next to hers.

"Sorry I'm late," the boy who had sat down next to her said with a grin aimed at Nova. "Had to go back home because my brother forgot his backpack. We're still good to work together though, right?"

Doing her best not to stare at her mystery savior, Nova nodded quickly. "Yeah," she tried not to squeak. "No worries."

The boy grinned up at the girl now glaring down at both of them, not even bothering to look apologetic. "Yikes, pretty sure Jeremy's still needing a partner, Trinity."

Trinity, as Nova learned her name was, glowered at the boy before turning on her heel and looking for someone else to pair with. It left Nova staring at her savior as he grinned at her, noting his messy blond hair and pale blue-gray eyes. His face was all angles, sharp bones somehow appearing soft while still making Nova think they could cut glass.

His grin was soft though, gentle and unbearably real like he saw the slight hesitation and nerves she was feeling.

Holding out a hand, he raised an eyebrow. "Sorry for stepping in like that. Everyone knows Trinity is a leech, and I didn't want to see her ride your coattails when you've only been here less than a week. I'm Stefan."

Softly clasping his hand, Nova felt a small smile tug at her mouth as she observed how he said all of that in two breaths.

"Nova," she said simply. "I appreciate you stepping in like that... I'm not exactly the best when it comes to putting my foot down."

Stefan held her hand for another moment before snorting. "You don't say," he teased with a shake of his head. "I could practically see you resigning yourself to your fate there."

Flushing a little, Nova tucked a strand of her hair falling into her eyes behind her ear. "It wasn't like I have a list of people lining up to partner with me."

"You're kidding, right?" Stefan asked incredulously. "That might just be the biggest sack of bullshit I've heard today, and my mom said she'd try to make it to Nolan's game tonight."

Nova's eyes widened a little at the easy way he threw that statement out, her heart aching a little as she realized it wasn't a joke. Veronica had a night shift, but she felt so guilty about it that it had taken Cadmus an hour to reassure her that it was alright.

Stefan seemed to notice her frown because he waved it off with another grin. "My point is that everyone here wanted to pair with you. Trinity was just the only one who was brave enough to approach you. We all know you're better than us, and while some people are here to fill a time slot, there are others who want to be musicians... you're intimidating."

Nova gawked at him, fully prepared to laugh in his face. She didn't get the chance to, however when their teacher entered the classroom and explained their assignment. It was pretty much exactly what she'd expected: they needed to draw on classic compositions and modern popular music to compose an original work.

"Do not settle for anything less than your best," Mr. Davison instructed firmly. "This is where you prove to me how you want to be seen."

Looking around as the class dissolved into excited chatter, Nova took note of the instruments beside their seats and felt an eyebrow raise.

"What are you seeing?" Stefan asked softly, making Nova grin.

"They all play the same thing."

Stefan's eyebrows rose into his hairline as a downright sinful grin spread across his face. "I've always been pretty ostracized with piano," he admitted. "So I've never had that problem."

"They're going to be duetting with a call and answer, most likely." Nova's brain was going quickly, making Stefan nod in answer.

"So we need to stand out. Violin and piano, that's the way to go."

"We need to find pop music with elements from the greats," Nova shifted a little in her seat, grinning as she locked eyes with Stefan again. This was her strength, this was what she'd been waiting for.

Yanking out his phone, Stefan nodded. "What else?"

"We could do a spin on the medley style," Nova offered. "Have a few focal songs to highlight but add how we would have adapted it afterward?"

Snapping his fingers in her face, Stefan nodded confidently. "You, Nova Thurman," he declared, "are a genius. A national treasure, truly."

Laughing softly, Nova shook her head. "I wouldn't go that far, but let's do this."

The class seemed to pass in a flash, filled with careful nudges from Stefan whenever Nova got too quiet like he was trying to coax her voice from her throat with a single touch, quiet murmurs of exchanged ideas, and light snickers paired with blinding grins at random and absurd jokes Stefan always seemed to be making.

Nova was actually surprised when the bell rang, stretching in her seat and wincing as she heard the pop of her knee. Stefan stood faster than she did, offering her a hand up that she in no way needed, but accepted anyway.

He didn't leave the class like everyone else did, though. He stood beside her as she gathered her music and violin, his gaze flicking to the door every so often. "Your boyfriend's late," he said with a hint of surprise, glancing down at Nova in amusement when she almost fumbled her violin.

"My what?"

Stefan's eyes squinted in confusion as he seemed to go over what he'd said. "Dunbar," he said slowly, gesturing to the door. "He and his friend came to pick you up last time."

"Liam isn't my boyfriend," she said firmly, feeling her face heat up at the implication of that as Stefan grinned a little wolfishly at her.

"Well, then he's dumber than he lets on."

Nova wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean but didn't have time to deliberate it when she heard someone outside the classroom practically shriek with excitement.

"The bus is here! Do you really think they're as good as everyone says?"

Nova froze, eyes widening as she processed what they were saying. Dropping her sheet music and notes on her desk, she ignored Stefan's squawk of confusion and headed out the door at a run. Liam's old school was coming for the game tonight and there was bad blood between them and Liam.

The sound of squeaking sneakers behind her alerted her to the fact that Stefan was following after her, but Nova didn't slow down to give him time to catch up. Her grip on her violin tightened instead as she sped up and crashed out of the front doors, eyes scanning the crowd as she watched the doors of the Devenford bus open, the students spilling out.

"Liam!" Mason yelled, making Nova look over where her friend was and follow his gaze to where Liam was stalking forward. Swearing under her breath, she shouldered her way forward and mumbled apologies to the people she was hitting as Liam stopped in front of the opposing team.

"Brett!"

Nova staggered to a stop behind her friend as a freakishly tall blond guy turned at the sound of his name. Liam was practically panting as they came face to face, making Nova wonder if she was going to have to insert herself into the situation before it was reduced to a fist fight.

Instead, Liam held up a shaky hand with a bracing breath. "I just wanted to say... good game."

The result was instantaneous as Brett burst into mocking laughter. "That's cute, Liam," he sneered. "Is that what they told you to say in anger management? Apologize, and everything's fine?"

Liam visibly fought back a flinch, making Nova carefully raise a hand to rest on his back. He sank into the touch, jutting his chin up to look into Brett's eyes as the taller boy continued talking.

"You demolished Coach's car."

Liam's mouth tightened as his fists clenched. "I paid for it."

Brett nodded as he leaned forward. "Yeah, you're going to pay for it. We're gonna break you in half out there-- and it's gonna be all your fault."

"Excuse me?" Nova asked before she could even think about it, stepping forward so she was beside Liam instead of behind him. The quiet that had taken over the crowd when Liam and Brett started talking seemed to get even tenser as Brett focused on her, his eyes flicking quickly to Liam in confusion.

Nova was dimly aware of Cadmus, Scott and Stiles arriving behind her, hearing Scott talk to Liam quietly. She didn't really care about that though, her knuckles going white over the handle of her violin case as she plastered on a fake smile.

"Aren't you going to need your stick to play tonight?"

Brett's expression flickered in confusion as he shifted on his feet. "Well yeah, that's kinda how you play the—"

"Well," Nova almost surprised herself at the hostility in her voice as she took another step toward him. "You should consider watching your mouth then if you don't want it shoved so far up your ass that you're going to need a proctologist, neurosurgeon and an exorcism to remove it."

Brett's eyes widened comically at the threat, and Nova allowed herself to be pulled back by the familiar arms of her cousin as Stiles inserted himself into the situation. She briefly heard him doing his best to distract them with his disarming personality, but a glance behind her told her that Brett was still watching her with that shocked look on his face. She scowled at him, resisting the urge to snarl when she saw his lips pull up in a god-awful smirk.

A/N

Well, this certainly took long enough to get out. I had the entire half in Cadmus's pov written without a problem but then hit a slump I tackled yesterday and today. You're welcome everyone, I stopped watching thiam tiktoks this evening to bring you this. Tell me what you thought? Nova got to be a little angry this chapter so I was happy lmao