BLOOD MONEY

chapter twenty-six; chaos rising
[ season three - episode two ]

chaos rising

Stiles practically skipped down the sidewalk as Scott trailed behind him with his hands buried in his pockets. It was clear who was more excited for tonight's party between the two of them, and it wasn't Scott. He was more concerned about the Alpha pack that had arrived in town, one that had apparently been here for four months, but nobody thought to tell him that. He had spent all afternoon thinking about it, he wasn't even in the mood to sing happy birthday to a girl that he'd never met or hadn't even heard of until last week when Stiles invited him to come along tonight.

Now that he thought about it, he couldn't even remember her name. All he knew was that it was Stiles' desperate attempt to get over Kinsey after seeing her come back, the very thing that he'd spent two months convincing himself wasn't going to happen. But she had, and with her pretty face, he was reminded of everything he had ever felt for her, and more. When she had gotten on that plane and flown to France without even a word to him he had still held out hope, that she'd call or text, that they would work out things. Maybe even figure out their unresolved feelings for each other. Ones that hadn't been spoken, but they both sure as hell knew about.

But those weeks passed of waiting for her, they turned into a month, then four. He could still feel it when he'd held her, when she had buried his head in his chest, he could still feel the electricity between them, it had stayed, even when she hadn't. He tried to ignore it, convinced that Kinsey didn't feel the same, and parties like this were just one of the ways to do it. Lying to himself was another. Telling himself that Kinsey had run away from him, from all of her problems, it was the only way he could move on.

It didn't take long for Stiles to notice that Scott wasn't so enthusiastic tonight as he felt, he had hoped that bringing him along tonight would help him with his own romantic life, or, much like himself, lack thereof. The two of them had the girls to get over, the cousins, the Argent girls that had caused them both heartache over the past four months. And as of tonight, not for a moment longer. Tonight would change it all. They would leave the party as new men. Their hearts broken no longer. Stiles had ever intention of finding someone at the party tonight, even if it wasn't the birthday girl he currently had in mind, he was determined to get over Kinsey.

"What?" Stiles asked the wolf who walked beside him.

"What do you mean "what"?" Scott asked, looking over his shoulder to see if something behind them was what Stiles was talking about, but the path was completely clear.

"I mean "what" and you know what." Stiles snapped back at him, but he was getting nowhere as Scott just repeated what multiple more times, an endless cycle of what-ing. "That look you were giving." Stiles sighed, jumping to the point to get them out of the seemingly never-ending cycle.

"I didn't give a look."

"There was a distinct look, Scott."

"What look?" Scott asked. Now he knew exactly what Stiles was talking about, but he continued to play dumb as if he had no idea what his face looked like, but he could feel it. He was miserable and filled with concern, he couldn't hide how much he didn't want to be here.

"The look that says the last thing you feel like doing right now is going to a party."

Stiles had hit the nail on the head. He didn't know why he was surprised, Stiles knew him better than he even knew himself, every expression he could pull Stiles knew the meaning of, every one of his disguised sentences he knew. There was nothing that he could hide from him. Despite that he continued to play the game, he insisted that he didn't feel that way at all, that he was simply a little nervous to be attending another high school's party. It felt like he was entering someone else's territory.

It seemed like a good lie considering it was the first thing that had come into his mind, for him, it was impressive. What was more impressive was that Stiles didn't seem to recognize it as a lie. He would be fine, Stiles reassured him, he had known the birthday girl since kindergarten, and she had promised to introduce them to all of her friends. With that, Stiles knew there had to be some ground rules for the two of them tonight. No Allison or Kinsey, or even Lydia. All of them. Any girl from Beacon Hills High was banned tonight, it just so happened that they were at the top of the list. Highlighted and underlined in bright red ink, just to emphasize just how off-limits they were. It was typical that as Stiles listed the names of the three girls he'd pull out his vibrating phone to see the name of his ex-girlfriend lit up on his screen, a call that now, he had to ignore. For both of their sakes.

The two paused on the street for a while, giving themselves a little pep talk that was sure to help them make it through the night. Onwards and upwards. All that crap that they both knew was a complete lie. Both of them sealed it with a little handshake that they'd made up as kids, and still to this day, it worked to seal their pacts, even one as small as this. With the boost of confidence, the two boys stood tall as they walked into the party, prepared to lie their way through the rest of the night. Neither of them was willing to admit that to one another.

As soon as the two had walked into the house filled with bustling teenagers with blue solo cups in their hands they'd heard a female voice shouting Stiles's name, a blonde rushed toward Stiles with a bright smile across her face, he was about to wish her a happy birthday before arms were wrapped around his neck, an unprompted kiss planted on him. His eyes had grown wide, as had Scott's, both of them stood in complete shock for a moment as the girl pulled herself away with a smile bigger than the one she had worn while rushing up to them. At least Stiles had gotten the distraction he had been wishing for.

"Come downstairs with me and help me pick out a bottle of wine." The blonde girl smiled as she grabbed his hand, leading him toward the basement door. Of course, he wasn't going to object as he nodded repeatedly, using every word he knew to agree with her. He turned around to his stunned wolf of a best friend, mouthing the question of Kinsey who?

He turned to follow the blonde girl leading him by his hand, she came to a sharp stop, squealing in excitement as he crashed into her back, watching with a furrowed brow as she jumped up and down on the spot, still too distracted to try and figure out what was going on, he was still asking himself that question with a slight chuckle inside of his head. Kinsey who?

"Kinsey!" Heather squealed as she rushed up to the brunette who stood in the doorway with her own solo cup, her eyes wide, her jaw to the floor, looking straight past the blonde girl who'd held hands with him. While Heather's excited squeals continued in their ears, Kinsey and Stiles stared at one another, struggling to believe that this was happening right now. It had to be a joke, some kind of setup to torture them. "Oh, my God! I can't believe you made it!" The blonde gushed, the brunette chuckling nervously as she pulled away from the hug. "Oh, Stiles, this is..."

"Kinsey."

"We know each other." The brunette in question smiled, Heather was thrilled, looking between a former flame, asking how they knew each other. "We go to school together," She added. Nothing more.

She didn't know what else she was supposed to say to the girl that was leading him away to the nearest dark corner for things that she didn't even want to think about. Seeing the two of them holding hands and giggling had made her feel sick enough. She couldn't bear to think into more detail, she couldn't bear it, the nausea she could handle, but not heartache. Instead, she did the thing she did best, the thing that had gotten her here- denial. Stiles was a name she only heard in passing, a face she only saw in the halls and the odd class they shared. The two of them never shared moments, they weren't friends, they hadn't almost died for one another. As far as Stiles's new flame needed to be concerned, this was the closest they had ever come to a conversation. It would most likely be their last.

"You're staying for the rest of the party, right?" Heather asked with puppy dog eyes, before she'd seen Stiles here, hand in hand with the birthday girl, she intended to, this was going to be one of the many things she would use to distract herself from him and the idea of him. Now, the idea of another minute here, standing in front of them, was her idea of hell.

"Uh, I'd love to but I can't..." Kinsey shook her head with a faint smile, desperate to think of a plausible lie to give the girl. "I double booked tonight. I've got this whole thing with... my dad."

Stiles raised a brow at her excuse, surely she could have thought better than her dad. She didn't even call her dad "dad". Not only had he failed to earn such a title, but he knew she was a better liar than that, she had lied to him and Scott all summer, granted, it meant not talking to them to do it, but the fact of the matter was, she had. He wanted to tell her that, to argue over her stupid excuses, he had a feeling it was so she could do what she did best. Run away.

The blonde didn't try to argue against Kinsey, she acted with understanding as she hugged the girl once again, wishing her well, she was sure that the two of them would meet again, they'd been texting for weeks on end after all. Since the day that they had met in the airport actually, for a moment Kinsey had thought it to be possible that she could have a friend who wasn't part of the supernatural world, who didn't know the story of her psychotic parents or that the people closest to her were werewolves.
But now, as she stood feigning a smile with Stiles, Kinsey knew that hope had faded. If the two of them continued whatever this was in front of her, she couldn't befriend the blonde. She couldn't live out the remainder of her life pretending to be happy for them. She was a liar at times, Kinsey could admit that, but nobody could lie like that.

Heather returned to leading Stiles away, giggling as they walked toward the basement while the brunette girl hadn't quite mustered up the strength to walk away yet. She stood, watching them as her stomach churned. Stiles turned to look back at the girl a final time before he followed the blonde, throwing her a weak smile, she returned the same favor.

As soon as he was out of sight she threw back what was left in her cup, slamming it down on the nearest surface before heading straight for the front door. Only then did the flabbergasted Scott intervene, rushing after the girl, only both of them came to a sharp halt at the sight of Lydia and Allison standing in the driveway. They were prepared to gatecrash the party in search of Kinsey, and then head to find Scott, they hadn't expected to find them both in the same place. And the two they had been searching for didn't expect to see Lydia or Allison here either.

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The sleep-deprived teenager followed her father up the staircase that led to Derek's penthouse loft. She couldn't quite call it a walk when she dragged her feet across the floor. In the time that Derek had been living in the loft, she had quickly become sick of walking up the same staircase, it seemed as though the least the man could have done when finding a new home was to find a place with a working elevator. And if not, he could have at least not moved to the top floor.

Sometimes she believed that he and her father forgot she wasn't a werewolf like them, lacking their stamina, a walk up Derek's staircase felt like the equivalent of a year-long workout. Its only benefit was that she knew she wouldn't be out of shape when track practice began in a few days. She was sure Coach would thank her for that.

This morning was just another one of the many times when her cousin and father had called her over to the loft to have her assistance in something, the two were always cryptic about why she needed to be there. Probably so she couldn't refuse to help if the reason was stupid, which had been the case multiple times. Like the time when Peter didn't know how to use the electric can opener because, in his words, it was an unnecessary piece of machinery that served no better purpose than a manual one. The girl made sure to mention how that comment had shown his age when she clicked on the button on top of it, allowing it to work. As she walked up the stairs behind the man she tried to pry some answers out of him so that if it felt necessary, she could turn back around and head to school before she had gotten too far up the staircase. But of course, he remained stubborn, refusing to tell her, though he had suggested that his daughter find some patience. Like him, she lacked any.

"You know, most parents would encourage their children not to be late for school. Not be the reason why they are late." Kinsey informed the man, breathlessly spitting out her words. She knew the man was still new to the whole parenting thing, maybe he hadn't known that he wasn't supposed to keep her out of school, it felt like it was only right to tell him just in case. And maybe partially because she was grouchy and was taking it out on the first person that she had seen this morning, him.

"Most teenagers wouldn't complain about not having to go to school on time," Peter mumbled under his breath, but with the brick walls that surrounded the empty staircase, his words had easily echoed around them.

"You were the one who told me to try and live a normal teenage life." Kinsey reminded him. She knew she was probably taking out her lack of sleep on the man. It was what he deserved for waking her up with endless amounts of phone calls at the break of dawn, everyone knew by now that she wasn't a morning person.

"I meant throwing parties, getting drunk, you know, rebellious things. Not becoming a textbook goody two shoes. I didn't raise you that way."

Kinsey scoffed at his comment, what else did she expect from the man? He was new to the whole parenting thing and even if he wasn't she couldn't expect him to be a good influence on her. He may be her father now, but he was still Peter Hale. "You didn't raise me at all."

"And yet I've still done more parenting than Kate."

The teenager found herself unable to argue against his point as she stood with her mouth open, waiting for another comeback, but there was nothing. For once, Peter had made a fair comment. Kate had never done much parenting at all, nor did she ever try. That was one thing the teenager could say about her father, since finding out about her, he had tried to step up as a parent, even when there were thousands of miles between them.

He still had a lot of work to do, and a lot more groveling before she would ever call him her dad, but for now, she appreciated the offer. In the time that the two of them had been trying to build a father-daughter relationship, it had become clear to the girl that Peter held some resentment against Kate for keeping his child away from him, sometimes he even dared to show emotion, a pang of clear guilt for missing out on parts of her childhood that she talked about. Especially if she recalled the times her mother had abandoned her, leaving her in the care of her uncle Chris and aunt Victoria. Deep beneath that cold exterior of his was someone who wished that he had known about his daughter and had been there for the past sixteen years of her life.

Peter gave her a moment to catch her breath when they had reached the door to the loft, clearly, given her hunched-over position as she panted heavily she needed it. He had no doubt she was a Hale, she had their flair for the dramatics. Until finding out about Kinsey, Derek was always the biggest drama queen of the family, but now he had some competition.

As the two stood outside they were able to hear the conversation happening inside of the loft, supernatural hearing wasn't required in this building, everything could be heard. In fact, Kinsey wasn't aware until now just how much could be heard from outside of the loft, it was slightly concerning, and definitely something she would have to keep in mind. It was a good job that Derek didn't have any neighbors, everyone else in Beacon Hills had the sense not to move into an apartment building with a broken elevator, no paint on the walls and frankly, it looked like something out of a horror movie. Which suited Derek, actually.

"You know what, I definitely don't like this idea and I definitely don't like him." She could hear Isaac's voice from inside along with the sound of pacing footsteps.

Peter and Kinsey stood at the door, eavesdropping on the conversation happening inside before they thought about answering. For the girl, it was a chance to figure out why Peter had brought her here, and for Peter, it was an opportunity to hear what people said behind his back, though he could already imagine, as well as find the perfect chance to make a dramatic entrance. After all, he was a Hale too, they were all drama queens.

"You'll be fine," Derek reassured his beta.

"Does it have to be him?"

"He knows how to do it. I don't." Derek answered simply. "Be more dangerous if I tried doing it myself." He wasn't going to defend his uncle, he couldn't blame Isaac for feeling uncomfortable with the idea of being around Peter even after he had been around him for most of the summer it had been different then. The former Alpha never had to get too close to him, Isaac could keep a comfortable distance between them, but today that wasn't possible. So he understood why the beta was a little unsettled over the idea.

Kinsey looked at the man she stood beside, raising an eyebrow at him to question what exactly the dangerous thing that he was going to be doing to Isaac was, but the man still intended on remaining cryptic. Frankly, he hadn't told her because he knew she would put up a fight against what he and Derek intended to do, even if it could help them the girl would never agree to anything that could potentially put Isaac in harm's way, and this was undoubtedly something that could do that.

"You know Scott doesn't trust him and well... I'd trust Scott." The beta tried to reason.

"Do you trust me?" Derek asked.

Isaac hesitated for a moment until he agreed, part of him felt like he had to agree, the man was his Alpha, it was an instinct to trust him even if he had done things that should put him off of the idea of ever trusting the man. He tried to cover up his hesitation by stating one again that he still didn't like Peter, besides wanting to find Erica and Boyd the only reason why he had ever put up with the older Hale was for the sake of him being Kinsey's father. After Derek had stated that nobody liked the man Peter considered it the perfect time for him to make his dramatic entrance that he had been waiting to make for five minutes, he grabbed ahold of the sliding door handle, pulling it back effortlessly with one arm. Unlike his daughter who had to use both arms and all of the strength in her small body to try and open the door, usually, she would end up giving up and shouting for help. She wished that she always felt as strong as she had that day when she attacked Jackson in the locker room but, ultimately she was just a petite girl with the strength of a tic-tac.

Derek had rolled his eyes when he saw his uncle at the door while Isaac stood up, no longer leaning on the table that sat in front of the large loft window. He'd been uncomfortable with the thought of being so close to Peter, but now that he was actually here it was only more real that he would have to actually be in closer vicinity to the wolf than ever. Though when Kinsey had walked through the door behind him it had made him feel slightly better about the exchange he was about to have with the man, but he was surprised that the girl would agree to be here with what they intended to do.

"Boys." Peter grinned, waltzing into the loft. "FYI, yes, coming back from the dead has left my abilities somewhat impaired, but the hearing still works." And these walls are thinner than you'd expect." The wolf announced as Kinsey followed him. "So I hope you're comfortable saying whatever it is that you're feeling straight to my face."

"We don't like you." Derek deadpanned, slamming the book in his hands shut, tossing it on the table that Isaac had been leaning on. "Now shut up and help us."

Peter looked behind him to the brunette girl who stood with folded arms, she shrugged at the man, she thought that Derek had been fair, he said how he felt just like the man asked for so he couldn't complain. He turned back to his nephew and Isaac agreeing that he had been fair, he dropped his hand down beside him, extending his long werewolf claws as he did so. Immediately, Kinsey took a large step back as she unfolded her arms, she had been concerned while eavesdropping from outside, but now she was especially concerned about what she had been dragged into. Derek looked at the girl noticing her wide-eyed stare as she looked down at Peter's extended claws, clearly when he had brought her here he'd left out what he was coming to do. Part of him could understand why, he knew that she would be opposed to the idea, honestly, he didn't quite get why Peter had brought her here, there was nothing she could do to help them.

Derek sighed as he asked Peter whether he had told the girl the whole reason he was here, he already knew the answer based on the fear in Kinsey's eyes, but he asked anyway. Peter suggested that he just hadn't quite gotten around to that part of the conversation while walking up the million flights of stairs, not the fact he had refused to answer her when she had asked why multiple times before even getting to the loft. The Alpha suggested that the girl sit down for his explanation, he knew it couldn't be as simple as just explaining it to her, it would come with an argument between the four of them. And he had been right, as soon she had begun the explanation with Peter digging his claws into Isaac's neck she had begun disagreeing with the plan. Even when she had allowed him to finish explaining that to get back some of Isaac's spotty memories the girl remained against the idea, suggesting that there had to be another way. Unfortunately for her, there wasn't and even if there was she didn't get a say on the matter, it had already been agreed upon between the wolves.

As the Alpha ran through what would happen again to give Kinsey a better understanding Isaac had been growing tenser as he sat beside her on the couch, anxiously biting on his fingernails at the thought of a pair of claws digging into his neck.

"Relax," Peter reassured the beta who now sat on a chair in the middle of the room waiting for him to stab his claws into his neck. How was he supposed to relax with that thought? Or the thought of him and Derek finding out about him and Kinsey? "I'll get more out of you if you're calm," Peter explained, that only made him want to be less calm. He didn't want the wolf to get more out of him, that was exactly what he was afraid of.

"Easier said than done," Isaac mumbled lowly.

"Why do you think I brought Kinsey?" Peter asked the wolf. "She's here for comfort."

Kinsey was slightly relieved that that was the reason she was here, she was worried for a moment that she would have to play a bigger part in what the two of them were doing, she had become more accustomed to things like tattoos being burnt out of wolves or constant fighting between them, even people being set on fire, but this was new territory for her. She couldn't be more thankful that she was just here as a support system to Isaac. But in order to support Isaac, she needed to know more about this whole process, the girl had been freaking out too much to properly listen to Derek, but now she knew her place she believed that she would be able to concentrate and fully take in the information.

"It's an ancient ritual used mostly by Alphas since it's a skill that requires quite a bit of practice. One slip and you could paralyze someone. Or kill them."

"Oh," Kinsey mumbled, now she was back to square one.

"But you've had a lot of practice, though, right?" Isaac questioned the man.

"Well, I've never paralyzed anyone."

Kinsey and Derek looked at one another, both furrowing their brows wondering if that was meant to fill them with confidence. Peter wasn't really good at helping people feel better, along with parenting it was a skill he needed to work on, desperately. Hoping to get that final bit of reassurance before they followed through with this Kinsey was about to ask what Peter meant by his last comment, she'd only spat out a few words before Peter had grabbed onto Isaac tightly, pulling him tighter into his seat as he dug his claws in the back of the beta's neck. The beta tried to fight against it as he grabbed a hold of Peter's arms but he couldn't, his eyes illuminated their golden yellow while Peter's had turned to their steel blue. Kinsey looked back at Derek with wide eyes, wondering if that was a good or bad sign but he seemed just as new to this as her, even his expression was riddled with worry.

Peter searched through the betas mind for those missing memories that had ever so clearly been snatched away from him, potentially by someone from the Alpha pack while the two on the couch watched in fear. Fear that only grew when the two had begun grunting and Isaac's eyes had turned back to the pale blue of a human as he fought against Peter. Kinsey and Derek both jumped out of their seat, ready to pull them out of it until Peter told them that he could see them. He continued searching through Isaac's mind, only able to see a blurry vision of what Isaac had seen, able to hear the muffled screams that Isaac must have heard. With another loud grunt, Peter snatched his claws out of Isaac's neck, falling against the table behind him while Isaac leaned forward in his chair.

The brunette girl quickly rushed over to him, kneeling down in front of the wolf making sure that he was okay as she placed a hand on the claw marks buried into the nape of his neck. Whatever Peter had seen it couldn't have been good, not with the reaction that the two of them had just had to what was in Isaac's mind. How was she supposed to be comforting when she was just as freaked out as the two of them? It wasn't everyday that a girl watched her father stab his claws into a boy who had become one of her closest friends.

"What'd you see?" Derek asked hesitantly.

"It was confusing," Peter mumbled, wiggling his now clawless fingers. He almost seemed scared of what he had seen in Isaac's mind. "Um, images. Vague shapes."

Kinsey took her eyes off of the beta for a moment, still keeping a comforting touch on him. "But you saw something." She stated, it wasn't a question. The way that he had harshly pulled out of Isaac's neck had to mean that he had seen something in there.

"Isaac found them."

The two teenagers looked at one another, a glisten of hope in their eyes. An inch of sadness for Isaac, he had found them, but he'd also lost them. He had the chance to save them and he hadn't, now the two of them were still in there and the four of them were no closer to finding them because of his missing memories. Derek asked if he was sure it was Erica and Boyd he had seen, and though Peter couldn't see anything clear he seemed adamant that it was the two of them that he had seen inside of there. But that wasn't the most important thing he had found in the boy's mind, he saw much worse than two teenagers who had been kidnapped, held hostage for an entire summer. He had seen the man and the myth himself. He'd seen Deucalion. Until now that had just been a name to all of them, an important name at that, but now they had a face to pair it to, at least Peter did. Apparently, the Alpha was talking about time running out. Kinsey looked between her father and cousin waiting for one of them to explain what Deucalion meant by time running out, but neither seemed to answer the question until Isaac had physically asked it, a tear already running down his cheek as he asked. He dreaded the answer, Kinsey did too. Because their assumptions had been right. Deucalion was going to kill them, at least that was the conclusion that Derek had come to as well.

Peter shook his head, Deucalion hadn't said that. Though he had made them a promise that by the next full moon that they both would be dead. Kinsey struggled to see how that was any different from what Derek had said, but that wasn't the thing that stuck in her head. The detail about the full moon stood out the most. Because she knew when the next full moon was, and it was a lot sooner than any of them would have wished. Tomorrow night.

Anxiously picking at the navy blue nail polish she was wearing Kinsey sat in the passenger seat of the black Camaro as Derek drove her to school, the last place she wanted to be right now. An hour ago she had been complaining about Peter making her late, taking her out of her studies after he had encouraged her to act like a "normal" teenager, now she was happy to skip the day entirely to stay at the loft with him, Isaac and Derek. By the time she had made that decision, Peter had seemed to change his mind on the whole school thing, insisting that she had to go, reminding her of the promise she had made to her uncle to stay out of werewolf business, which was proving harder than anticipated. Of course, it was going to be hard, she was an heir of an entire werewolf family, a well-known one at that.

All of the anxiety inside of her was thanks to Isaac and Peter. How was she supposed to be calm and focus on school when the two had been left alone with one another? Peter had just dug his claws into Isaac's neck with little to no warning, who was to say that he wouldn't do it again without the supervision of his nephew and daughter. Kinsey wasn't sure that Peter wouldn't kill Isaac just to spite Derek, because of it being his beta, she couldn't be sure he would be spared just because he was a friend of the former Alphas daughter, things like that didn't seem to really matter to Peter. He lacked that moral compass.

As more possibilities of what could happen in her absence soared through her mind Kinsey became more and more anxious, shifting in her seat, hoping that anxiety didn't have a stench, the last thing she needed was Derek asking questions. If she wasn't able to take her mind off of the situation while sitting in a quiet car it would be impossible for her to concentrate in class, all she could think about was whether Isaac would live to see another day.

Initially, Peter and Isaac were only supposed to be alone for a maximum of 20 minutes while Derek took the brunette girl to school, but while on their way plans had changed. Scott had called the Alpha asking him to come to the school and talk, he hadn't given Derek the details, but Kinsey had a feeling she knew exactly what he wanted to talk about. The bruise on Allison and Lydia's wrist. There couldn't have been worse timing for Scott wanting to discuss the bruise that they had begun to believe was a way to find Erica and Boyd, after finding out that Deucalion intended to kill the two wolves before tomorrow night it wasn't going to be easy convincing Derek that a bruise on her and Allison's wrist would be the thing to help them. Derek hardly believed what came out of their mouths on a good day, let alone half an hour after finding out his betas times were almost out and he still was none the wiser about their location.

As soon as the phone call had ended Derek had turned to the girl sitting beside him to ask if she knew what Scott might want to talk about, but the girl had shrugged it off, if she told him now he would turn the car straight back around. She was torn about whether that was a good thing or not. It was inevitable that Derek wouldn't take the news well, and she didn't feel like she should be the one to give it to him, even if she was family, Derek didn't completely trust her yet. For that she couldn't blame him, she was still an Argent, still Kate's daughter and now, Peter's too, frankly, she wasn't sure she would trust her either. Even if none of those things were true there was no chance of Derek believing that a bruise left on two girls' wrists left by a complete stranger would be the thing to lead them to Erica and Boyd.

They had more chance of him believing in unicorns.

When the two had arrived they met Scott in an empty classroom, and as Kinsey had anticipated, he wasn't alone. And it wasn't just Stiles who accompanied him either, but Allison and Lydia too, if that didn't act as confirmation that this would be about the bruises she didn't know what was. Allison's face had visibly dropped when the Alpha walked into the room, of course when Scott had pulled her aside in the corridor he had told her Derek would be there, but this was the first time she had seen him in months, she thought maybe her hatred for him would have eased by now, even if it was slightly. If anything, it was stronger than ever.

Kinsey stood in between Allison and Lydia as Scott explained how the girls had acquired the bruise on their wrists and why they believed it was a pattern, potentially a lead to find Erica and Boyd. As soon as Scott's explanation had begun Derek looked at the girl who pretend to have no idea why the beta would want to talk to him, that wouldn't help in the wolf ever trusting her. Lydia and Allison stood awkwardly with their wrists held out, forming the pattern that they had found last night. Rather than it convincing Derek to hear them out it had only made matters worse, he had narrowed his eyes as he looked at the bruise, attempting to see what the two girls and Scott apparently saw in it.

To him, it just looked like an unfortunate bruise with some similarities. Derek probably wouldn't have had the patience to listen to them on a usual day, but definitely not now when he was in a foul mood thanks to what Isaac's hidden memories had told them.

"I don't see anything." The Alpha shrugged, his arms folded.

"Look again." Scott pleaded. If he and Stiles could see it, and the three girls could see it then he had to see it too, it was clear that the bruises on their wrists weren't just the average bruise, normal bruises didn't match when held against another on a different human being. The Alpha was just being stubborn, refusing to believe in something so absurd.

"How is a bruise going to tell me where Erica and Boyd are?" Derek asked, but his question wasn't for the beta who had been doing all of the talking since he had gotten here, he had looked straight at the three girls in front of him, two of them were the ones who had discovered the so-called pattern he was supposed to be seeing, surely one of them had a guess as to how it linked to the two missing betas. As for Kinsey, well he assumed that her other cousin had filled her in on her logic behind the bruising. However, none of the three girls could provide him an answer. Even if Allison had an answer for him in mind she wasn't entertained by the idea of talking to Derek, she loathed him with every fiber of her being, her facial expression made that abundantly clear. The only reason she had to agree to stand this close to him was because of Scott and her own desperation to find out what the bruise on her wrist meant. Part of her too wanted to find Erica and Boyd as much as Kinsey did, to feel as though she could get the same redemption after what she had done while under the manipulation of Gerard. Erica and Boyd hadn't deserved it, but Derek did.

Scott sighed in irritation as he emphasis once again that the bruises were identical to one another, not just similar, but identical, and together they seemed to create an image, though he hadn't quite figured out what it was in this town it had to mean something. Everything meant something in Beacon Hills, even something as small as a bruise. Derek remained refusing to believe it meant anything, he had heard some stupid things come collectively out of the mouths of the five teenagers who surrounded him, but this had to be the worst one yet. It was just a bad bruise from some strange psychopath with a strong grip.

"Pareidolia," Lydia mumbled under her breath, confusion spread across the room as everyone looked at her, even Scott who had spent his whole summer preparing for the SATs and reading hadn't heard of that one. "Seeing patterns that aren't there. A subset of apophenia."

It seemed as though the redhead was the only one who could see Derek's side of the argument, as she had told her best friends last night and every opportunity since, she didn't see a pattern and nor did she understand how it could mean anything. But the two girls were stubborn, they needed it to mean something, if they didn't how were they supposed to apologize to them and prove that they weren't the monsters that people made them out to be, they were humans who made mistakes and could be manipulated. They couldn't live knowing that people thought of them the way that people thought of their parents.

Scott turned to the stubborn Alpha trying to reason with him as he explained once again that the two, and Lydia, were just trying to help. He had been the one to claim he needed all the help he could get, he hadn't stated that Allison and Lydia weren't included in that invitation. He thought that the seemingly close relationship between Derek and Kinsey would have helped their case, he had been under the impression that since finding out they were family the two had put aside any differences they may have had because of the girl's mother, that maybe he even trusted her enough to hear them out. Apparently, his assumptions had been wrong. Not even Kinsey could help them, Derek would never put all of his trust into anyone, not even family. In fact, he'd come prepared to state all of the reasons why he didn't trust the three girls who were supposed to be helping them, just because Kinsey was family, it didn't mean he couldn't include her in the list.

"These three?" Derek asked with a scoff, first pointing at the redhead. "This one, who used me to resurrect my psychotic uncle. Thank you. This one, the daughter of said psychotic uncle and the woman who murdered my entire family." He added, nodding at the girl who stood in the middle, it didn't seem like fair reasoning, but she knew how Derek's logic worked, and under those circumstances, it made sense. She was the literal spawn of Satan. "And this one, who shot about 30 arrows into me and my pack." He finished with a snarl, his tone was a lot more hateful when he spoke about Allison than the other two girls, he held just as much hatred towards her as she did for him. As every Hale had towards an Argent. Well, in most cases.

It didn't matter if the two shared a family member who they cared deeply for, one of them more willing to admit it than the other, the two could never see eye to eye, not even for her.

Derek had still killed Victoria, something Kinsey would never forget that about the Alpha, but after her own mother had killed almost his entire family it wasn't something she could hold against him, it wasn't fair. And as Derek had said, Allison had shot multiple arrows into the Alpha and his pack, almost killing them. She played a part in kidnapping Boyd and Erica, the first time. In summary, she was exactly like the rest of her family, exactly what they wanted her to become. It wasn't as if the two could just shake hands and make up, acting as if nothing had happened.

If they had the choice they would have happily started a war, they still consider it now.

With tension building by the second Stiles had decided it was finally his time to intervene before things got out of hand, it was inevitable that they would considering who the five people in front of him were. So far, he'd been sitting on one of the desks watching as everything crumbled apart in front of him. Just like Kinsey he had known that asking Derek to believe them was like asking for a miracle, but still, he came to watch in case that miracle happened, but he was proven right. And well, he wanted to see if the brunette girl would have anything to say to him after las night, though since walking in the room she hadn't looked at him.

"No one died, all right? Look, there may have been a little maiming, okay, a little mangling but no death. That's what I call an important distinction." Stiles tried to reason with the group, most of his words were for Derek and Allison, the two most likely to fight. But as he spoke he forgot about what had happened in the past six months, it had been out of sight and out of mind. So there had in fact been death, a lot of it if they took into consideration what had happened before Allison and Kinsey had moved into town too.

"Our mothers died." Allison corrected as she looked at the Alpha.

Derek almost laughed at the girl's comment, had she forgotten about what their mothers had done to him and his family? Kinsey certainly hadn't and she never would, she had tried, but Allison seemed to be forgetting about the things Kate had done, and in turn, her mother too. Not only were both women involved in hunting, which was enough reasoning on its own, but there were also things the two girls didn't know about. Things that would prove his point if he could throw it in Allison's face like he wanted to, but he refrained. Instead, he blamed the death of the two women on the family honor code they all cared about so much, not himself.

Allison reminded the Alpha why they were here, she didn't care about him. Not even a little, she was here for Scott, whoever the girl was she had been looking for him, she was here to help him, Derek was just an unfortunate addition in doing that.

Once the Alpha had left the teenagers tried to return to their school day, or begin it for those like Kinsey who was late again. For now, their concerns about the bruises and the two missing betas would be kept out of sight and out of mind as the two girls pulled their long sleeves over the mark, the last thing they needed was people asking how they had acquired the unique bruise.

Kinsey walked into Econ behind Scott and Stiles, taking a seat behind the werewolf. She tried to walk with a bowed head as she passed Coach, being late to school this morning had meant that she had missed practice for the track team. And for someone who Coach referred to as the backbone of the said team, that wouldn't settle well with the man, he expected to see her on the track even if one of her limbs were hanging off.

"The stock market is based on two principles. What are they?" Coach asked as he stood at the front of the room, despite the number of students sitting in front of him only one raised their hand to answer his question. "Yes, McCall, you can go to the bathroom." He mumbled, he was yet to find out about the become-a-better-Scott program and just how much the wolf had changed his attitude over the summer. "Anyone else?"

"No, Coach, I know the answer."

Coach erupted into a burst of unstoppable laughter as he looked at the wolf whose hand was still slightly raised, even a few of the people around him shared the laughter with the man, none of them could take Scott seriously. Most of them had known him all of their lives, he never knew the answer, how else were they supposed to react? It had to be a joke. But they didn't know all of the studying and preparation for the PSATs he had been doing over the summer to distract him from his break-up with Allison, even Stiles and Kinsey hadn't realized just how much he had been doing until he came out with things that they only usually heard from Lydia. Eventually, once the laughter had died down and Coach had looked at not only Scott for a little longer but the girl behind him and Stiles as they nodded, he realized that the wolf was being serious about knowing the answer. He didn't know how to react.

"Risk and reward." The wolf said confidently.

Coach beamed in disbelief, asking who had replaced the wolf, but he didn't care, he preferred this version of the boy wherever it had come from. He made that clear to the boy. Scott wasn't offended by the comment, instead, he sat back in his seat with a smile full of pride, noticing the change in him after all of his hard work would have been a compliment from anyone, but from Coach, it meant that little more than it would from anyone else. The man turned his back on the wolf as he asked the entire class if any of them had a quarter, while everyone went quiet as they tried to figure out if they had a quarter to spare Stiles shouted across the room to say that he had one. He began digging through his pockets for the coin that he knew he had, he'd seen it in his jeans when he put them on for the party last night, as he pulled the coin out something else had come flying out with it. As it flew through the air faces began to drop, everyone had caught a glimpse of the blue plastic packet before it landed on the floor between Scott and Stiles's seats. Out of all the faces shocked to see what had fallen out of his pocket, none had been as red as Stiles's himself, he felt as though the XXL condom pocket stared into his soul along with those who sat around him. Scott looked at the condom on the floor to his embarrassed friend with a slacked jaw. He didn't know what to ask first, or how to feel. Was he supposed to ask who he intended to use that with, if Scott didn't know already, why he had brought it to school, was he supposed to be embarrassed for him, or impressed?

Kinsey on the other hand, had never felt as sick as she had then. She looked at an embarassed Stiles, out of everyone in the room who stared at him it was her she had looked to first, he knew exactly what she would think. She didn't know what happened after she left last night. How he had rushed to the bathroom like an eager teenager, searching for a condom, which he'd found, but he had stopped while walking back to the basement, finally realising what he was doing and just how stupid he was for thinking that he could get over her. It was ridiculous, impossible even. He knew he'd screwed up, he saw it in her eyes as she looked at him, it was the same look she'd had before she left him in his room that night.

Coach stood in the aisle where the condom had landed, looking at it just as much amazement as the rest of the class had. "Stilinski, I think you..." Coach mumbled, picking up the condom to hand it to him. "You dropped this." He said exchanging it for the quarter he asked for, but he'd gotten much more than that, he got something to tease the boy about for eternity. In around ten years' time when the two passed on the streets, he'd talk about this. "And congratulations." He winked at the boy before looking at the brunette girl who sat behind Scott, now her face began to match the color of Stiles's blood flushed cheeks.

Scott turned to look at Kinsey with a raised brow, at first he assumed that Stiles had the condom in his pocket from last night's party when he had disappeared with Heather, especially after how the blonde had jumped on him from the moment they stepped in. But he had come back just a few minutes later saying that he had changed his mind, but that failed to account for why he still carried the condom in his pocket with him, wondering if he had still intended to use it. Which left him with the same assumption as Coach, the brunette girl behind him. Maybe Stiles and Kinsey had had a more than awkward interaction last night, even a slightly hostile one, but that didn't mean that the two hadn't seen each other again last night and made up, and planned to seal that making up. With the two of them he couldn't tell what was possible or the lengths that they would go to, they were both head over heels, far from knowing the meaning of rational.

Kinsey could tell by his look what the wolf was asking, she shook her head. He wasn't sure why the wolf would assume that Coach had been right in guessing her, but both of them were wrong. Scott had seen what went down between them last night, how could he ever of assumed that she would be the one Stiles had the condom for. Surely it was obvious he had it for Heather, she wasn't sure what happened between them, and she wanted to keep it that way. Coach walked to the front of the classroom, ready to take any whispered conversations away from Stiles and the condom and focus on his class for once. He thought he would save the opportunity of embarrassing the boy for himself.

"Put the quarter in the mug, win the reward," Coach announced, placing his favorite mug on the ground before stepping back to give them all an example. He took a few steps back before blowing on the coin for good measure. He bounced the coin off of the floor before it flew and landed into the mug a few feet away from him, as soon as they heard the clattering of the coin in the mug his students gave him an applaud. "Okay. Danny. Risk, reward?" He asked the boy sat in the front row, throwing him the quarter.

"What's the reward?"

"You don't have to take the pop quiz tomorrow."

"Coach, it's not a pop quiz if you tell us about it."

The man sighed, taking the quarter from his hand. "Danny, you know, I really expect more from you at this point. Really." Coach walked further down the aisle, stopping at the desk of a short brunette who had been too busy worrying about Isaac and Peter to notice he was standing in front of her, at least until he placed the quarter in front of her. "Argent. Risk, reward. The risk, if you don't put the quarter in the mug, you have to take the pop... The quiz. And you have to write an essay. Risk, more work. Reward, no work at all." Coach asked, with a smile. He had hope in his favorite track runner that she would be up to the task, she never backed out of a challenge.

Kinsey picked up the quarter, standing up from her chair as the man and a few others gave her a cheer of encouragement. Kinsey stood further back from the mug than Coach had, the class muttered a small whoop, interested to see if she could live up to the task. She was confident in her skills, she knew she had good agility, her aim was nothing short of perfection thanks to all of the training that she and Allison had done with Chris. It didn't matter what the two were aiming with, they were perfectionists, and they were yet to fail, Kinsey didn't plan on failing now.

Flawlessly, the girl aimed and shot the coin into the mug. Taking a cocky bow at the front of the class as Coach cheered along with a few of the students, Scott and Stiles included as they clapped with smiles on their faces, neither had doubted the girl's talents, even if they were yet to see how much she had grown as a hunter while practicing during summer. Stiles was just glad he didn't open his mouth to make a bet like he had been tempted to do. As Kinsey was about to head back to her seat Coach passed her the coin again, allowing her to choose who would go next as another bonus to her victory. Of course, the girl would choose Stiles, it was just as good as making a bet with the boy, one that she had practically already won.

Maybe the two of them weren't on good terms, but she could never turn down the chance of handing him a bet, rubbing it in his face that she would win yet again. Stiles was surprised to see the girl place the coin on his desk, usually, a playful smile would have been shared between the two of them, but this time there was nothing but a lingering stare. He stood up, cockily bouncing his way to the front of the room, he tried to mirror how Kinsey had stood, the distance that she'd stood from the mug too, now he may be overestimating his talents.

As Stiles stood aiming the quarter at the mug the door to the classroom opened, everyone straightened in their seats at the sight of Sheriff Stilinski and another deputy in the doorway, even Coach had noticed, the only one who hadn't was Stiles. At least not until he'd heard his name twice, he had been so consumed in winning against Kinsey that he hadn't been paid attention before, but as soon as he saw his father his heart sank in his stomach.

After class was over Kinsey headed to the library where she had arranged to meet Allison and Lydia for their free period, she hadn't managed to catch up with Scott and Stiles, the two had rushed out of the class too quick, obviously to discuss whatever the boy's father had said to him when he was pulled out of the class. But she didn't worry, it wasn't her place to worry about him anymore, he wasn't her problem. He was Heather's. When she walked into the library her redhead best friend sat with a coffee cup pressed to her lips, scrolling idly on her laptop while Allison sat with her legs pulled up to her chest, scribbling in her book.

Kinsey placed her hands on the back of Allison's chair. "If you press any harder your pens going to go through the table." She teased with a smile, her voice startling the brunette who'd been concentrating so hard on copying the mark from her arm onto her notebook. Kinsey took the seat beside Allison who shook her head at her, lightening how hard she pressed her pen down on the notebook. The girl looked across at Lydia who had taken her attention from the screen of her laptop, now, she looked straight past both her and Allison, staring at something in awe. "What's wrong with her?" Kinsey asked with a furrowed brow.

"I want one," Lydia mumbled, placing her coffee cup on the table.

Both of the brunettes turned to follow their best friend stare, their eyes landing on the twins who had just begun at the school taking at one of the bookcases a few feet behind them, neither noticing the stare of the three girls on them.

"Which one?" Allison asked with a smile.

"The straight one, obviously." She deadpanned, taking another sip of the drink.

"How did you-"

"It's a talent, one that you've never had, Alli." Kinsey butted in before the girl could even finish asking her question. "Remember that really close friend you had in Freshman year, Morgan, was it? Yeah, she totally had the hots for you. But you were so oblivious."

"No..." Allison scoffed, laughing off her cousin's comment. Kinsey tilted her head at the girl, taking a sip from her cousin's coffee cup, waiting for the other brunette to think back on some of the memories with Morgan until she realized that she was right. "Oh, my God."

Kinsey turned back to Lydia ready to tell her to go and take her shot on the straight twin out of the two, but she hadn't even needed to speak for Lydia to feel confident enough to do that, by the time the two had finished talking about Allison's old "friend." the redhead was already out of her seat, standing over by the twin, twirling her hair as she dialed her number into his phone. The devil works fast, but Lydia Martin works faster. She wasn't sure why she was surprised, Lydia never seemed to need a confidence boost, she knew her worth now and it wasn't something she was afraid to show. It seemed as though she found the distraction she had been craving in one of the mysterious twins, and the two brunettes couldn't be happier for her. Kinsey spun around in her chair again, prepared to finally do some studying during her free period when she noticed that Allison was staring at the coffee cup her cousin had just put down. She'd had a thought, one that may actually prove as the kind of help Derek was looking for.

The mark on their arms may not be a symbol, but a logo.

·❥·

Kinsey had sent multiple text messages, left multiple voicemails, and waited hours before she finally received a response from Isaac. It hadn't been the kind she was expecting, which was something along the lives of I'm alive or Peter didn't kill me. She received neither of the above. Instead, she was asked to meet him at the animal clinic and that her assistance was needed yet again. For someone who'd taken so long to provide the girl with a text message to calm her nerves, she expected him to give her a little more detail than that, her nerves hadn't been calmed at her, if anything, he had made them worse. Apparently, every male specimen in this town had a problem with being vague, they could never provide the important details, always having to leave the big things as a surprise for her. And every time it was always something she wouldn't like, always trouble. Without fail. It didn't matter if it was Isaac, Stiles, Scott, her uncle Chris, Derek. Every single one of them did it to her, all of them had an act for keeping their text messages vague in serious situations.

It was no surprise that the girl's anxiety had peaked.

When Kinsey walked into the animal clinic Isaac was talking to Deaton, the two were stood in the doorway that lead to the surgical room of the clinic. The brunette stopped beside them, staring in the room. Stiles, Scott, and Derek were walking back and forth pouring bags upon bags of ice into a metal bathtub that sat in the middle of the room. Naturally, she had a million questions to ask, but she knew they were probably better left unasked.

"Am I right to assume Kinsey is what we were stalling for?" Deaton asked the tall wolf.

It seemed as though Isaac had been trying to delay whatever experiment was being carried out on him now, and based on Deaton's words, he hadn't told any of them why he'd been stalling, or that he was expecting someone to show up and provide the assistance he told her that they needed. It seemed as though the other four were prepared to carry on even if she wasn't present. She wasn't sure what Isaac had told them to delay the hour it had been since she had received his text, but she imagined it lacked the same amount of detail.

Isaac nodded at the man, providing Kinsey with a faint smile. She knew what assistance she was providing, he needed comfort once again like Peter had known he needed this morning. From that, Kinsey had a feeling that this experiment would be similar to the one Peter and Derek had pulled this morning. Isaac couldn't catch a break.

"Obviously, it's not going to be particularly... comfortable," Deaton said carefully to the tall wolf who stood close beside the girl who still wasn't sure what was happening. "But if we can slow your heart rate down enough, you'll slip into a trance-like state."

Kinsey was beginning to understand more, though her slight gain of knowledge hadn't made her feel any better about the situation as the three of them walked towards the ice bath that had been created. She noticed the confused look across Scott and Stiles's faces as she walked into the room, both wondering how she knew to be here.

"Like being hypnotized?" The brunette girl asked.

"Exactly." Deaton nodded, her nerves growing. It was a wonder that she had never had a heart attack at the age of 16 with the things all of these werewolves put her through, any typical person would have been dead by now. And they were probably much better off than the girl who found herself in more trouble every day. "You'll be half transformed. It'll let us access your subconscious mind.

Isaac kneeled down, getting at eye-level with the ice bath he would be plunging into in just a few minutes. He could feel the cool breeze from the ice without even touching it, the mere thought of his bare skin touching that water was a thought that made him shudder, already creating a cold chill throughout his body. Kinsey wasn't the only one who looked for a little more information to comfort her through the experiment, Scott wanted to know how slow Isaac's heart rate had to be for this to actually work, which was slow. However, this was the one time minimalistic details that didn't suit the males in the room, they weren't satisfied until Deaton stated Isaac had to be almost dead, then they wished that they had never asked in the first place. Kinsey wished they hadn't too.

The wolf finally dared to touch the ice-cold water, quickly snatching his hand away as he inhaled sharply, the reality was much worse than he imagined. He and Kinsey shared a weary look with one another before Isaac turned to Deaton, asking if it was safe for him to do this, he was quite traumatized after this morning.

"Do you want me to answer honestly?"

"No," Kinsey answered for the wolf. "Definitely not."

With the sound of rubber snapping across the room the five had turned their heads to look at what had caused the sound, they should have guessed, Stiles stood across the room from them pulling a surgical glove over his hand, wriggling his fingers inside of it to get comfy. He looked back at them with an innocent look on his face, he hadn't been listening to the conversation, not even the part where Deaton had told them Isaac would practically be dead to pull this off. By then he was already searching through drawers and cabinets. He mumbled a simple what? as he looked around the room, the two who shared a Hale gene gave him the same look, a typical Hale look as they raised their eyebrows at him. That was enough for Stiles to sigh as he pulled off the glove.

Though Derek and Scott reassured Isaac that if this experiment felt too risky he didn't have to do it the wolf was determined to, he had come too far now, they had almost found Erica and Boyd, if all it took was a little cold water then he was sure he could do it. Or at least he told himself that. He removed his shirt before it was too late and someone backed out, like him. Isaac looked down at the icy water taking a deep shaky breath, already he was having second thoughts about the decision he had made a milli-second ago by removing his shirt. He looked at the brunette girl standing beside him, she provided him with a reassuring smile, it seemed to be what he needed right now. Even if she hated the thought as much as he did he obviously needed the comfort, it was the entire reason he'd asked her to come.

He climbed into the metal bathtub, taking another sharp breath as he felt the ice-cold water climb up his body, by the time the water had reached his chest and he was already shivering, gripping onto the side of the tub to try and stop how hard he was shaking. Scott and Kinsey removed their jackets, Kinsey rolled up the sleeves of her dusty pink thermal shirt, prepared to help hold Isaac beneath the water. To keep a werewolf underneath this water while they fought the urge to fight to stay alive they would need all of the strength they could get, even if she didn't have much of that to offer.

Kinsey, Scott, and Derek shared a look, waiting for each other's signal.

A shaky breath escaped the mouth of the young werewolf as he plunged beneath the icy depths, the three strong grips pushing him down by his shoulders as the breath escaped him. It took a mere matter of seconds before he fought his way back to the surface to take a breath, it was instinct. But it wasn't just a breath, it was a roar that revealed his sharp canines that were desperate to make themselves known, his golden-yellow eyes that made it clear he'd entered fight or flight mode. The three hands quickly pushed down on his broad shoulders again, ignoring the struggle the wolf put up as they held him beneath the icy water as they had been warned to do. No matter how much the young wolf fought beneath them, gripping onto the metal of the ice bath as though his life depended on it, which it did, they continued holding him down. But it was a fight between three people trying not to kill him and someone trying to save their own life, of course, Isaac fought his way back up to the surface again, desperate to survive.

The veterinarian in the room snapped another command at the two wolves and Kinsey as they struggled to keep a tight hold on Isaac, a command Derek didn't appreciate as he snarled back a comment of his own, tapping into that strength his genes had so kindly blessed him with until Isaac had reached the bottom of the ice bath again. With a little more struggle and a lot more splashing of cold water on what were once dry pairs of shoes, Isaac finally stopped, laying still, his breathing almost at a standstill. The five in the room shared a look before stepping back from the ice bath allowing the wolf to float back to the surface once again, this time in the trance-like state that they had been aiming for.

"Now remember, only I talk to him." Deaton softly instructed as he looked around the room, more specifically towards the one he knew had trouble with simple instructions- Derek. "Too many voices will confuse him and draw him out."

The four of them nodded, seemingly understanding their place in this little experiment. Scott and Derek were there for the strength that would be holding Isaac beneath the water whenever he fought back, Deaton to do the talking, Kinsey to be the moral support, and Stiles, well, he just wanted to be a part of this as much as possible. Even if he wasn't Isaac's number one fan. There was mutual desperation for it to work, they all wanted to know exactly what Isaac had found, what memories had been suppressed in that mind of his, so deep that not even the claws of someone as experienced as Peter Hale could find in there.

"Isaac, can you hear me?"

A single deep shaky breath passed his blue lips, a shiver running down his spine as he allowed himself to be hypnotized by Deaton's soft voice. He answered clearly that he could hear the man, his eyes closed as if he were sleep talking. Scott, Stiles, and Derek, and the brunette girl were all quite surprised that it had worked, even if they did have faith in the veterinarian it was always hard to believe when something had worked out the way that they expected it to.

"This is Dr. Deaton." The man introduced himself to the boy's subconscious in a soft and calming tone while the others watched intently. "I'd like to ask you a few questions. Is that all right?"

"Yes." Isaac nodded.

"I want to ask you about the night you found Erica and Boyd. I want you to remember it for me in as vivid detail as possible." Deaton continued to speak through the rumbling thunder from outside, being the only one to ignore when the lightning had lit up the room they had chosen to host the hypnosis session inside of. Kinsey swallowed a lump in her throat, praying that the bad feeling that had left her alone since the crows wouldn't make a return tonight, at least not now while Isaac lay in front of her, almost dead. "Like you're actually there again".

The boy began to stir as he repeated the same phrase, that he didn't want to do it, slowly forcing him out of his trance-like state. The three quickly grabbed onto him again as well as Stiles, keeping him in the water, still, where Deaton was able to manipulate him into oversharing the things that were deeply hidden in the darkest corner of his mind. Where they belonged.

"I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna do that." Isaac repeated frantically, beginning to stir, slowly waking up out of the trance-like state causing the four to grip onto him once again. "I don't wanna do that."

"Isaac, it's all right. Just relax." Deaton tried to calm him again. "They're just memories. You can't be hurt by memories."

"I don't wanna do that." The wolf continued to repeat, ignoring Deaton's soft reassurance that he would be all right. Even those around them couldn't listen to the reassurance he provided, their own nerves were at an all-time high as they tried to focus on what was happening with Isaac rather than their own growing fear. Not even Kinsey whose sole purpose was to help when he was like this, she wasn't sure what to say to an unconscious werewolf in this situation, it was much out of her area of expertise. Deaton repeated a few more soft affirmations until the beta's body began to relax once again and his breathing became stable.

"Now let's go back to that night. To the place, you found Erica and Boyd. Can you tell me what you see? Is there some kind of building? A house?"

"No, it's not a house. It's stone. I think marble."

"That's perfect." Deaton praised him, yet the four who still stood around still felt cautious about what they were doing to Isaac. Kinsey's hands had begun shaking, and not because they had been placed in the freezing cold water multiple times. She tried to hide it, tucking them under her arms, but she wasn't sure how much that helped. Even Stiles seemed to be more nervous than anyone was expecting, he kept looking between Scott and Kinsey for some comfort. "Can you give me any other descriptors?" Deaton continued to ask the wolf.

"It's dusty, so empty."

"Like an abandoned building?" Deaton asked, another loud rumble of thunder sounding through the quiet animal clinic as they anticipated his answer. "Isaac?" The lights began to flicker above their heads again, the sound of electricity sparking as Derek grew more concerned over the well-being of his beta. The only one he could possibly protect now that Erica and Boyd were missing. "Isaac?" Deaton repeated again, not as soft as he had spoken before.

"Someone's here. Someone's here." Isaac mumbled, his arm shout of the water, latching onto Kinsey's arms. As soon as his skin had touched her a sharp gasp came from the brunette as she was pulled closer to the ice bath. Her eyes widened, turning white over.

She was there. She could see everything that Isaac was seeing, she was walking through his memories like Peter had this morning, but somehow, she had done it in her own way. Kinsey found herself in an unfamiliar building, wandering around it as if she had been there herself the night that Isaac found them. She tried to concentrate on the details rather than freaking out, the walls were tall, a strange architecture, nothing that would be seen from a modern building. Like Isaac had said it was dusty in their, cold and marble. Wherever they found themselves it had to be abandoned, but not for long enough that the building had begun falling apart. Isaac's panic continued as he scurried through his memories, his grip on Kinsey getting tighter as he pulled her through them with him. Deaton tried to calm Isaac, but it was much harder when all of them were freaking out a considerable amount more when they had seen Kinsey's eyes turn white over, they had never seen anything like it before, they were frightened.

Stiles had begun freaking out, repeatedly asking in a whisper what was happening to the girl, but Deaton chose to focus on Isaac. He was worried, but in no way was he scared for Kinsey, part of him had his suspicions of what was happening to her, he had known for a while she was a lot more than a talented hunter. When she had come to see him about the mountain ash he felt as though his theory was confirmed, but now, now he could pinpoint exactly what she was.

"Just memories," Deaton spoke again, softening his voice again. "You won't be hurt by your memories. Just relax. Relax." With the repetition of the words, Isaac began to calm once again, the water settling around him, his grip on Kinsey's arm remained, allowing her to stay inside of his mind, though she stayed silent as she wandered around it. Completely consumed by it. "Now tell us what you see. Tell us everything."

Isaac imagined himself back in the place he had been that night when he had found Erica and Boyd, his vision fuzzy as he tried to recollect those memories, reminding himself of Deaton's words. He could see Kinsey there too, he knew she hadn't been there that night, but he could see her. They can't hurt him. Or her. They stumbled up the staircase, looking around them, it felt as though he was there again, it seemed familiar now, despite not being able to remember it. At the sound of noise in the distance, Isaac pressed himself against a wall like he had that night, but now, he'd had to do it for Kinsey too as he stretched out an arm across her chest, stopping her from making any rash movements. She continued trying to find out where they were as she followed his lead, she didn't want to mess with his memories, her being there was bad enough, she still didn't understand what had happened, and she didn't like it. Her own mind was a strange place, but being inside someone else's was incomparable.

"I hear him," Isaac spoke up, opening his eyes carefully. "He's talking about the full moon, about being out of control when the moon rises."

"Is he talking to Erica?"

"I think so, I can't... I can't see her. I can't see either of them."

"Can you hear anything else?"

"They're worried, worried what they'll do during the full moon." Isaac continued. "They're worried that they're gonna hurt each other."

Derek sighed as he looked up at the other three surrounding the ice bath, those who weren't stuck in Isaac's mind with their eyes completely white. "If they're locked in together on the full moon, they're gonna tear each other apart."

"Isaac, we need to find them right now." Deaton deadpanned, his voice loud once again. "Can you see them? Do you know what kind of room it is? Is there any kind of a marker? A number on a door? A sign?" Deaton asked, rolling off the questions waiting for one that struck a lightbulb moment within the semi-conscious wolf.

With a large gasp, the wolf sat upright in the water, staring straight at the wall ahead as he took multiple heavy breaths, calming himself rather than needing Deaton's soothing voice. No matter how much he moved, how sudden his movements were, his grip on the girl remained, the four that stood around them didn't touch either of them, scared of the repercussions, they waited for when he would explain such a sharp gasp.

"They're here." He whispered. "They're here. They're here."

Stiles looked around the room with a furrowed brow, nobody else was here. Kinsey was their last unexpected guest, a few seconds later it clicked for him that Isaac was referring to whatever he and Kinsey could see in his mind. As soon as that had settled in he began to worry more for the brunette who had been silent since she'd been grabbed since her eyes had turned white over and her lip trembled in fear. Whatever she was seeing in Isaac's head was just as much traumatizing to her as it seemed to him. Despite Deaton trying to bring him back Isaac repeated the same phrase again, his voice becoming more strained as if he was being suffocated wherever they were in his head. Nobody in the room knew just how much Kinsey was inside of his head, at least they assumed that's what was going on here, it was nothing like they had seen before. If she were, they wondered if she could feel that same impending fear like Isaac, if even through a memory, she was in danger. But Stiles tried to remember what Deaton had said to the wolf- memories can't hurt you.

"They see us. They found us. They're here!"

Derek looked up at Deaton, insisting that this wasn't working, one if not both of them were going to get hurt. The wolf took over the situation, talking to the wolf himself, just like he had been told not to, this was the exact reason Deaton had made sure to give them that warning. And in the tradition of not following orders, Derek didn't use a soft hypnotic voice like Deaton had, he shouted at the beta in the water. He didn't realize the harm it could do to not only the beta but the brunette girl latched onto him. He repeatedly asked the wolf where he found himself, where he and Kinsey were, shouting at the top of his lungs, he was so flustered by his own intrusive thoughts he couldn't hear Deaton's words in his mind anymore. He was concerned for his beta and cousin, even after what he'd said to her a few hours ago about not trusting her, that didn't mean he didn't care about her.

Still in his trance-like state, splashing around in the water Isaac yelled how he couldn't see them anymore, he and Kinsey had lost them, it was too dark. But that hadn't stopped Derek, he continued to ask in a yell where the two of them were, unprepared to stop until he got an answer that he could use to find his other two betas. Back and forth the beta and the Alpha shouted the same things in an endless cycle.

"You're going to confuse him." Deaton warned again. The Alpha continued, now his hands were placed on Isaac's shoulder, trying to get closer to the beta as he yelled. "His heart rate... They could go into shock!" The veterinarian shouted, losing his patience with the Alpha, and so was the other two teenagers in the room. Of course, they had been worried about Isaac going into shock because of what they were doing and how Derek had stopped listening to Deaton's orders, but knowing that Kinsey could hurt because of this too, due to somehow getting herself inside of Issac's mind and being stuck there, the two felt more encouraged to do something than stand there in panic like they had been.

"Derek, let him go!" Scott joined in on the yelling. His own hands were on Kinsey as she stood in her own trance-like state at the side of the metal bathtub, somehow still on her two feet, stable despite the circumstances.

Nobody was getting through to Derek, his mind was fogged over with desperation, fear and worry, there was no getting through to him when he was like this. The beta dived back into his memories, thus taking the girl with him. They were able to see more vividly than ever. Now, the two were able to see the person who had seen Isaac that night. A tall man wearing blacked-out sunglasses, a cane in hand, presumably blind. Both of them knew exactly who it was, they'd heard of the myth and the legend, Peter had seen him inside of Isaac's mind this morning too. Deucalion. The two could sense that they'd been caught again as they snuck around the cold, dusty building, watching as the man stared into the vault. A vault.

"A vault! It's a bank vault!" Isaac yelled.

Within moments he had jumped up from the water again, it was different from the times he had done it before, where he was just fighting off the feeling that he was dying. He had pulled himself out of the trance-like state, Kinsey with him. As he jumped up his grip on the brunette girl was released, her eyes turning back to their usual brown colour as she took a large gasp, falling back into the arms of the beta who had been holding onto her. Shaking in them, she had no idea how she had done it, but she knew she never wanted to do it again. Isaac sat panting in the ice cold water, looking at the brunette in confusion, even he wasn't sure how that had happened, and even he didn't want it to ever happen again.

"I saw it. I saw the name. It's uh, Beacon Hills First National Bank." He continued through the chattering of his teeth. He climbed out of the ice bath, immediately being wrapped up in a towel that Kinsey had quickly grabbed from behind her.

As the two stood there Kinsey continued to explain what she had seen inside of Isaac's head, how she could see everything she had been able to see as if she had been beside him that night. The girl explained that Erica and Boyd were being kept in the abandoned banks vault, Isaac nodding in agreement as he shivered in the towel. Both had expected everyone to seem more thrilled about the news, they had found both of the missing betas, they had a lead, a real one for the first time in, well, ever. And this time, unlike when Isaac had found the vault, they had a lot more man power. Isaac and Kinsey looked around the room, not a smile in sight. In fact, everyone stared at the two of them with an expression that seemed to be guilt rather than pride, or even hope.

"What?" Kinsey muttered nervously.

"You don't remember what you said right before you both came out of it, do you?" Stiles asked the girl softly, stepping carefully. Kinsey looked at Isaac to see if he knew what he was talking about, the last thing she could remember before coming out of his head was finding the vault. But he too shook his head, neither knowing what had been said. "You said when they captured you that they dragged you into a room and that there was a body in it. Erica's body. You said it was Erica."

A lump grew in Kinsey's throat, her face dropping as she looked back at him with tears in her eyes. She was somewhat glad she didn't remember seeing that before she was pulled out, but that wasn't the point, she and Isaac had seen it, even if neither remembered it.

Scatted around the surgical room the six of them tried to comprehend everything that had just happened. Some were focusing on what Kinsey had said she'd seen before she was snapped out of her own trance-like state, the others were focusing on how the girl had exactly done that in the first place. The six of them were split perfectly even, three of them who thought of Erica, the other three who were growing more curious about all of the traits Kinsey had been exhibiting more and more lately.

Isaac and Kinsey sat on one of the counters, the wolf still trying to dry himself off in the towel as he sat with a blank stare. Both of them were thinking about what they had just been told, how a girl that they'd spent months trying to find didn't settle well with them, or anyone else in the room. Scott stood beside them with folded arms, he was one of the people who weren't thinking about Erica in this moment, he, along with Deaton and Stiles were questioning just what else Kinsey could do.

After what happened with the crows at the school and the drawing in Kinsey's book Stiles had finally confessed to Scott his concerns about the girl, even going as far back as to tell him about the night at the rave where she had been unable to cross the barrier of mountain ash. The two spent hours sitting and talking about it, at first, they had suspected that she was a werewolf somehow, it made sense, she was Peter's daughter, but out of all the full moons she had been fine. She had never transistioned into a wolf. Never felt any other affects of the moon. Part of them had still considered the possibility, but after what they had just seen Kinsey being a werewolf was taken off of the table. No wolf was capable of whatever it was she had just done. No wolf they had ever heard of.

While everyone else stood or sat still around the room Derek had been the one to pace around it with folded arms, he hadn't spoken a word since the two were pulled out of their trance, nobody had spoke much. They weren't ready yet. He too had been thinking about his blonde beta, he refused to believe that she could be dead, he didn't care if Kinsey and Isaac had both apparently seen it, he still had hope. He didn't want to believe that he had gotten her and maybe even Boyd killed, if he had, it was his responsibility as their Alpha, as the one who had turned them in the first place. The Alpha packs mark had been left on his front door, if anyone was to blame for Erica's "death" it was him.

It took a while for them all to be finally ready to talk about it, or in Derek's case, argue about it. Every five seconds as he continued to pace around the room he repeating the words she's not dead just in case Kinsey shouting it while in Isaac's head wasn't clear enough for them. Isaac, who'd supposedly seen the dead blonde struggled to get a word in between Derek and Stiles's arguing, the only person who dared to argue with the Alpha about the potential death of his beta. Both tried to make valid points, Stiles using Isaac's literal words as his defense, Derek choosing to be his usual more irrational self when he tried to make his own points.

"Well, he saw someone in the vault with Boyd!" Derek shouted across the room.

The frustrated two returned to a silence for a few more moments before they came back with even more points to argue against one another while Scott, Deaton and Kinsey remained silence, not even fighting for a chance to get involved in the argument. The brunette girl was in too much shock to even try and speak about what she knew now, whether true or not. Besides, the three of them knew better than to try and get involved between something between Derek and Stiles, this could go on for hours if they let them.

It seemed that in the tense moment Isaac would finally find his chance to make his point in the argument, he'd been waiting to say it for the past ten minutes of their arguing.

"It wasn't Erica in the vault. But whoever it was, she was like us."