chapter fourteen
into the woods

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ODESSA COULDN'T believe the plot twist that came her way when she woke up the next morning. Scott and Stiles went out into the woods to try and find the car from the accident that killed Malia's family, and they found it. Along with the two boys succeeding in finding the abandoned and wrecked car, they also found a coyote den that belonged to Malia herself. Malia was the 'wolf' that caused the accident. But they now know it wasn't a wolf, but a werecoyote. With this new information, Odessa concluded that the scent she smelled, the scent of a human and an animal, at the Tate residence was indeed Malia's—now the scent made sense.

The Stone looked to Stiles' phone as he and Scott showed her and Allison what they found before first period.

"Here's where we found the den," the boy showed a map of an area of Beacon Hills, "it's right in the middle of the hiking trails."

Allison nodded, "well, that could narrow it down. Coyotes travel in fixed trails. But I think you're right about her not going back to the den. Coyotes don't like wolves," she glanced to Scott and Odessa, "and they're really smart. If they don't want to be heard, they actually walk on their toes."

The Stilinski perked his head at this new information, "coyotes tip-toe?"

"They tip-toe," the brunette girl confirmed. When the bell sounded, she glanced around at her friends, "I got to go, but send me the pinned location."

The three teens nodded to her before going to their seats for History. Odessa took her seat behind Stiles, glancing over her shoulder to see Kira talking with Scott. The sight of it causing a cheshire smile to glide on her features before it dwindled away. The blonde turned back to Stiles when she felt his aura change.

"Hey," she called quietly, the boy turning his head around, "you okay?"

Stiles didn't meet her eyes as he responded simply, "yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

Even though she wasn't convinced, she took his answer reluctantly before paying attention to the front.

"All right, everyone. Let's get started," Mr. Yukimura called to the class, "we were just talking about internment camps and prisoners of war. There's a passage in our reading that I'd like to go over in more detail... Who would like to come up and read aloud for us," he glanced around the classroom before setting his eyes firmly, "Mr. Stilinski, how about you?"

"Oh, maybe someone else could."

"I can," Odessa raised her hand, finally understanding her friend's dilemma.

Their teacher nodded respectfully, "thank you for volunteering, Ms. Stone but I asked Mr. Stilinski, and everyone participates in my class."

The Ember watched Stiles get up from his seat and took his stance at the front of the classroom. She glanced nervously to Scott as they both watched him start to shake and shut his eyes tightly. Looking like he was about to pass out, his two friends got up from their seats and walked slowly to him.

"Stiles," Odessa called steadily, not wanting to alarm him, "you okay?"

The boy didn't respond, only breathing heavy as he tried to hold on to the podium. It was only when he started to stumble on his feet did his two friends shoot forward to steady him.

"We should take him to the nurse's office."

Mr. Yukimura nodded to Scott as he watched his students leave his classroom, curious and confused stares in their wake.

Stiles bursted through the boy's bathroom door, his two friends following close behind—the girl of the group not caring if she was caught in the boy's bathroom.

Odessa spoke urgently as she watched Stiles lean against a sink, "hey, Stiles, look at me. Are you having a panic attack?"

"It's a dream," the boy muttered, staring at himself in the mirror, "it's a dream. This is just a dream."

Scott shook his head, scared for his friend, "no, it's not. This is real. You're here. You're here with us."

The Ember placed her hand cautiously on Stiles' shoulder, "okay, what do you do? Hey, look at me. How do you tell if you're awake or dreaming?"

"Your fingers," the Stilinski graveled, glancing down at his fingers, his eyesight blurry, "you count your fingers. You have extra fingers in dreams."

Odessa nodded, glancing toward Scott, a plan hatching in her mind, "okay. Okay, Stiles, hey," her hand on his shoulder went up to his cheek, white lines silently making their way through the teens, "look at Scott and count his fingers, okay? Count his fingers."

The Alpha nodded, understanding her plan, "how many do I have," not getting a response, even with Odessa's calming abilities, that were working slower than usual. He tried again, "hey! Look at me. Come on, Stiles. Look at my hands and count with me," he put up one finger and watched as Odessa helped him stay upright from next to the boy, the girl now rubbing his shoulder, "one... two..."

"Keep going," the Stone softly encouraged when he started to falter, her abilities finally starting to help.

"Three... four..."

"Five," Scott helped worriedly, watching his best friend's every movement.

"Six. Seven."

Odessa spoke up, making sure he knew she was still real and there, "eight."

"Nine. Ten," Stiles finished breathlessly. He glanced back and forth at his best friend's hands, making sure it was real, before gliding down the wall next to the sink, his two friends crouching down with him, "what the hell is happening to me," he asked incredulously, sweat glistening on his face.

"We'll figure it out," Scott optimistically reassured, "you're going to be okay."

The Stilinski lifted his head, "am I? Are you," the question made Scott look down to the floor, while Odessa just watched on, feeling the utmost concern for her friends, "Scott, you can't transform. Allison's being haunted by her dead aunt. And I'm straight up losing my mind. We can't do this. We can't... We can't help Malia. We can't help anyone."

Scott and Odessa made themselves comfortable on the floor, "we can try," the former spoke, "we can always try."

The blonde stuck out her hand for Stiles to take, "gimme," she muttered, almost playfully, trying to lift his spirits. It seemed to work because a small smile graced his features, knowing what she was referring to. She observed how his breathing was still a bit choppy and heavy. His bigger hand fit in her smaller one as she gave it a tight squeeze, letting her powers work in full effect. In the back of her mind, she wondered why her abilities were slower than usual when calming someone, especially Stiles, someone she had calmed multiple times, but knew to keep it to herself. They had bigger things to worry about.

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Scott had left the boy's bathroom while Odessa was calming Stiles, only to save Kira from being attacked by Malia, who broke into the school. Seeing a danger to the students and faculty, the Sheriff department was called and successfully caught Malia. The Stone felt for Stiles as he tried to convince his Dad not to act on putting Malia down, exaggerating how it was not just an animal, but a teenage girl they would be killing.

When the blonde heard of the incident, she followed Stiles and his Father to the locker room, and met Scott by the fallen lockers.

"Scott," the Stilinski called quietly, walking up to the boy who was sitting on one of the benches, "I think I know what she was looking for," he unzipped his backpack to reveal the doll Odessa recognized from the picture in Malia's room.

Scott sighed disappointedly, "you took the doll from the car?"

"You took the doll from the car," a wide eyed Odessa repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah, I thought you guys could use it, you know, for like her scent."

"Where did you get that," a voice sounded from the doorway asked. The three teens turned to the voice to see Mr. Tate stared down at the doll with nostalgic eyes, "where did you find this," he snatched the doll from Stiles' hands, gazing down at it, "it belonged to my daughter."

Hearing the commotion, Sheriff interjected, somewhat blocking Mr. Tate from the teens, "Mr. Tate, I don't know how you heard about this. If you got your own police scanner or what... But you can't be here," seeing the reluctance on the man's face, Sheriff started to lightly push Mr. Tate back, only to come in contact with something under the man's jacket. Pulling the jacket away, it revealed a gun at Mr. Tate's hip.

"I have a permit," he tried to defend with a clenched jaw.

"California schools are gun free zones, permit or no permit," Sheriff denied, "you need to leave, Mr. Tate. Now."

Mr. Tate tried to come up with an excuse to stay, but was starting to be escorted out of the school by one of the officers nearby. Before he left, he turned to the Sheriff, eyes blazing, "you find that animal. You find that thing."

Stood between her two friends, Odessa couldn't help but feel bad for the man. If only he knew the animal he was referring to was his own daughter.

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The plan to help Malia, essentially from herself, was underway. While Allison was gathering her hunting equipment, Odessa went to the Animal Clinic with Isaac, Stiles and Scott to get something from Deaton to help them transform Malia back to her human form.

"Xylazine," Deaton introduced, walking back into the main room of the clinic, "it's a tranquilizer for horses. For a werecoyote, expect it to work within seconds. I only have three. So whoever's shooting, needs to be a damn good shot."

"Allison's a perfect shot."

"She used to be," Isaac shook his head at Scott.

"She can do it."

"If we manage to find the thing."

Odessa shook her head scoldingly from her place beside Stiles, "Isaac, she's a she, not a thing."

"Yeah, what is the point of him," the Stilinski pointed to the Beta, "seriously, I mean, what is his purpose? Aside from the persistent negativity and the scarf? What's up with the scarf anyway? It's 65 degrees out."

Isaac ignored the hazel eyed boy's berating, "look, maybe I'm asking a question no one here wants to ask. How do we turn a coyote back into a girl, when she hasn't been a girl for eight years?"

Eyes turned to Scott when he uttered, "I can do it."

"You can?"

"You remember the night that Peter trapped us in the school," the Alpha reminded his best friend, "in the gym, he was able to make me turn using his voice. Deucalion did the same thing in the distillery."

"This is a werecoyote, Scott," his boss emphasized, "who knows if it'll even work if you can find someone who can teach you."

"That's why you called Derek, first."

The McCall sighed, "yeah, I could try it on my own. But right now, I'm too scared to even change into just a werewolf."

Stiles sighed, almost as if he didn't want to say the words he was about to, "we need a real Alpha," the reaction that he got from his best friend was exactly why he was hesitant. Scott looked at him in offense as he tried to back up his statement, "you know what I mean. An Alpha who can do Alpha things. You know, an Alpha who can get it going. You know, get it..."

"Up?"

As the hazel eyed boy gestured to the boy Beta in the room, seemingly the first time they agreed on something, Scott somehow got their point, "great. I'm an Alpha with performance issues."

"That's not entirely true," the girl in the room spoke for the first time in a while, heads turning toward her. She turned to Scott, "when I got here, I was the wolf with performance issues. But you know who helped me? You. If anyone can get out of this slump, it's you, Scott."

The McCall was more grateful for her encouragement than Odessa would ever know. And it made the others in the room admire her a little more for optimism during trying times for the pack.

Despite the positive comment, Deaton countered, "is there anyone else beside Derek who could help?"

"I wouldn't trust Peter," the Lahey instantly denied.

"Maybe the twins?"

"They're not Alpha's anymore," the Doctor informed them after Stiles offered them as a suggestion, missing the pursing of Odessa's lips at the mention of them, "after what Jennifer did, almost killing them? It broke that part of them."

"Yeah, but what if they know how to do it," the Stilinski emphasized.

"Nobody's seen them in weeks."

Odessa finally made her knowledge known as she winced at Scott's comment, "actually, that's not totally true..."

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The last time Odessa stepped foot in Derek's loft was when she found the limo body of Boyd and a kneeling Derek beside him. Now, the place was dark, since Derek was with his sister. The Ember made sure to be on high alert as she walked in beside Stiles and Scott as Lydia walked in front of them, expecting to see the twins.

The Martin looked around the empty loft, Odessa and Stiles coming up next to her, "they said they'd meet us here."

Only a second later, grunting was heard by the doorway, causing the three to turn back. In between Scott was Aiden and Ethan, who were taking punches to Scott's face with ease. They each took an arm and threw the Alpha to the floor with smirks gracing their faces, all the while Odessa pulled Stiles and Lydia behind her. Endless punches and kicks came Scott's way as the boy stumbled with every impact.

With a kick to the face, Scott groaned from his place on the floor, "I thought you guys were gonna teach me to roar."

"We are," Aiden spoke firmly, unfazed by the boy on the ground in front of them, "you do it by giving in."

"Giving in and letting go," Ethan reiterated further, "that's how Deucalion taught us control," he picked up Scott by his shirt and brought him to his feet.

As Scott tried to find his footing, his best friend spoke up from the other side of the loft, "hey, you know, that's funny. I've actually tried something like this one time using a heart monitor and lacrosse balls. But you're right, beating the living crap out of him is probably a lot better."

"That's actually the plan," Scott rasped in disbelief, "you kick my ass?"

"You're afraid to turn."

"We're going to make you."

"You turn, then you kick our asses."

"And then, you roar."

As Odessa watched Aiden let out a booming roar, she muttered to herself, "werewolves are so dramatic," missing the amused looks her friends behind her gave her, seeing as her comment was ironic, because she too was a werewolf.

The twins circled around the Alpha as they started to taunt, "you don't think you can let go with us," Aiden asked.

"You think you're going to hurt us?"

They went back and forth and they pushed Scott in between them.

"Come on, McCall! Give it your all!"

"We can always heal."

Scott tried to put a punch in, only to be met with a stronger one, sending him back, allowing another punch to the face to make contact.

"You're an Alpha," Aiden reminded strongly, "you want to roar like one? You've got to give in, full-throttle. You've got to be the monster. Become the beast. Become everything you're afraid of."

Ethan nodded along to his brother's encouragement, "that's what gives you power. It gives you strength."

The McCall tried to serve a punch again, only to meet air, and get pummeled to the floor, groaning on impact, and spitting out blood onto the floor.

Unaffected by what was happening in front of them, Aiden continued, "giving into it doesn't make you the bad guy."

"So long as you control it."

"Sometimes control is a little overrated."

At the sight of Scott being kicked in the stomach once again, Stiles couldn't help but mutter out, "come on, Scott. Fight back."

Sitting up from his position on the floor, the Alpha spoke to the twins, with blood running down his chin, "what if I can't control it? What if I can't turn back?"

"Then it takes over," Ethan casually answered, shrugging, "you become Malia. You get further and further away from being human. You turn into an Animal, or worse—"

"You turn into Peter."

With a sudden determination in his eyes, Scott stood up in his place, wiped the blood from his lips, and charged to the twins. Only for Aiden to smack him onto the table behind them and start repeatedly punching his face, making his friends wince at the sight.

After a couple hits, Ethan ran to his brother and pulled him away, making Aiden question while panting, "what? I thought we were helping him."

"You help too much."

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The pack met at Beacon Hills Reserve the next day to finally put their plan to save Malia in motion. Odessa unmounted Scott's motorcycle, passing him back his helmet he let her borrow, even though she was nagging him about him not wearing one and would continue to scold him for the rest of the day.

The teens glanced around at each other with uneasy expressions, all of them doubting what they could actually do to help the Tate girl.

Lydia broke the silence between the group, "anyone think we might be doing more harm than good?"

"We're trying to keep a Father from killing his own daughter," Scott tried to reason.

"Actually, we're trying to keep a guy from killing a coyote, who is actually his daughter, who we don't know how to change from a coyote back to his daughter."

Odessa and Stiles both narrowed their eyes at the Lahey as the latter spoke, "and again with the not helping."

"Yeah, Isaac," the Ember added, "you really gotta work on that."

The Beta nodded sarcastically to the pair as Scott sighed, turning to Allison, "did you bring it?"

The girl didn't answer, only opening her trunk and bringing out the weapon she would use to shoot Malia with the tranquilizer. As the group was about to discuss everything further, gunshots rang through the woods, causing everyone to freeze.

Scott didn't hesitate to jump on his motorcycle and drive off to where the shots were heard, ignoring the plea of his best friend. Isaac ran after the Alpha, causing Allison and Lydia to follow behind as Odessa stayed with Stiles, who was trying to reach his Dad.

"It took the doll again," Stiles incredulously asked his Dad when he answered. He turned back to the blonde with disbelief, "what the hell is so important about this doll?"

"I don't know," Stilinski rushed his answer, overwhelmed, "but listen to me. There are traps all over the woods. Near the trails. Probably near the car crash. And Tate's out there with a rifle. I want you to stay out of those woods. You got that," not hearing an answer, Stilinski called, "Stiles?"

The Stone watched Stiles' face surface with realization, "it's the doll."

"Stiles?"

"It's the doll...?"

The new theory had the two teens at a stand still as they tried to figure out the mystery of the doll that kept popping up in every scenario.

As Odessa paced behind him, Stiles crouched to the ground in thought, "all right, but why would it go all the way to the school and then all the way back to the house just for a doll? One that was in the car wreck in the first place. We didn't find it in the coyote den."

"She has a connection to the doll," Odessa stated firmly, her mind thinking back to the picture of the two sisters and said doll, "Stiles, bring up the picture you took of the two girls," the boy got up from his position as the two gazed down at the picture. The blonde pointed to the older girl, "that's Malia," her brown eyes shifting to the younger girl, holding the doll, causing her breath to hitch, "I know why it's so important to her," she claimed, looking back up to Stiles, "the doll is her sister's."

The hazel eyed boy looked up in realization before looking to his friend, "I know what's she doing."

"What?"

"I know where she's going."

Without a second to spare, the two teens walked hurriedly through the woods, on their way to the accident site.

"Scott, it's me," Stiles started, getting his voicemail, "you got to call me back as soon as you can. It wasn't Malia's doll. It was her sister's. Malia left it in the car for her sister. It's like bringing flowers to a grave. Okay, and we stole the flowers," the boy was so engrossed with his message, he didn't hear a faint click from behind him, but Odessa did. Her breath stopped as she looked down to see her ankle in between the animal trap's grasp, almost daring her to move, "so, that's all she's trying to do, right. Bring the doll back to the grave, to the car wreck. That's where she's headed. The car wreck."

"Stiles?"

"Yeah," the Stilinski turned around to see the still form of Odessa, who was trying to remain as calm as possible. He stepped forward slowly, "Odie, don't move."

She nodded rapidly, trying not to freak out, "yeah, yeah, I got that part. Just look for a warning label or something."

"A warning label?"

"It tells you how to disarm it."

"Odie, why the hell would they put instructions on the bottom of a trap?"

The Ember grew frustrated, "maybe because animals can't read!"

Realizing she had a point, Stiles crouched down to find any sticker than said warning, and he did. Only there was one problem, "Odie, we got a problem," he spoke hesitantly, not wanting to make her panic even more, "I can't read either."

Closing her eyes, the Stone took a deep breath before talking shakily. Even though she could heal, it would still hurt like hell, and she didn't feel like getting her ankle chewed up by a trap, "you don't need instructions," she started, keeping her eyes on him, "when the hell have you ever needed instructions? Stiles, you are the smartest person I've ever met. In the time I've known you, you've always been the one to have a plan and a backup plan and a back up plan to back up your back up plan," she rambled nervously, distracting herself from the possible harm that could come her way, "you're always the one who always figures it out, Stiles. So do what you do best, okay? Figure it out."

Wiping the sweat off his brow, the boy started fiddling with the branches outside the trap to get a better look. His eyes travel around the trap, and after a few moments, he seemed to have come up with a plan, "okay, here we go," his hand over the wheel that controlled the trap, glancing up at the blonde, "you ready," getting a small nod in return, "okay, here we go," with sweat dripping down his face, his grasped the wheel and turned it, signaling Odessa to jump into his arms.

Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck as they watched the trap snap closed. Odessa looked away, not wanting to envision her ankle being in the center of the now closed trap. Panting, she looked up to meet the hazel eyes of Stiles, who was already looking down at her, observing her to make sure she was okay. Somewhat understanding, she nodded small before leaning into his embrace in relief. The boy only looked down at the trap, his hands around her waist as her words echoed through his head. The faith she had in him was astounding and surprising. He didn't know she had thought so high of him.

As their heartbeats settled, a huge roar ripped through the forest trees, causing Odessa's eyes to glow gold. The two teens chuckled breathlessly, coming out of their embrace slowly.

"That's what I'm talking about," Stiles nodded, impressed with his best friend's power that was still sounding through the air.

The Ember chuckled at the boy, equally impressed and proud, "looks like he got your message."

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sorry for the abrupt ending
i didn't really know how to end
it lole chile anyways
hope you guys enjoyed
don't be a ghost reader! <3