LOVERS ROCK

chapter sixteen ; abomination
[ season two - episode four ]

Tapping her foot, Honey impatiently waited in the small, greasy office of the garage, beside her, a seething and stroppy boy who had barely spoken a word to her since she picked him up. Stiles was not only pissed that Erica had dismembered his Jeep, but that it had taken so long for her to pick him up. He didn't appreciate the fact she had also been knocked out cold, dragged to a rink where she had to witness a fight, and then walk back to Boyd's to get him. He stayed focused on the length of her excursion. 

He flicked through car magazines and Playboy supplied by the garage, huffing the occasional big breath to let her know he was still pissy with her. Meanwhile, she almost fell asleep in the chair, a dead phone failing to keep her entertained after she had killed it playing games. Now, she had to sit and wait for his car to be fixed. Wait for when she got home to Abby's lecture about the dozen calls she had missed. 

All of a sudden, the boy jumped up, tossing his magazine aside as he ran out to the mechanic he had been keeping an eye on. Honey followed him, wondering what had gotten him so riled up as he continued to shout over the whirring machines, failing to catch the man's attention. What do you think you're doing? Stiles asked him, but the man had clearly been ignoring his calls across the garage. Honey looked between them, unsure what was going on. The mechanic seemed like he was fixing the car, she couldn't see anything wrong with what he was doing.

"All I needed was a starter," the boy complained. Honey didn't even know what a starter was, she imagined it was self-explanatory, but she couldn't point it out if he asked her to. 

"Yeah, but it looks like your whole exhaust system has gotta be replaced, too."

The blonde hummed in agreement, she had seen how he used duct tape on this poor car, it was probably as dead as a doornail, and he knew that, but he couldn't part with it, and he certainly couldn't afford to replace the entire exhaust system. He was sixteen and still in high school with no job, nobody in his position could throw around money like that. Correction, no normal teen without daddy's money could. "Why do I get the feeling that you're slightly overestimating the damage?" Stiles asked, he knew his Jeep was in bad condition, but it couldn't be this bad, not a whole new exhaust system bad. 

"It's probably gonna run you around, like, 1,200, parts and labor."

Their jaws dropped at the number, a much steeper one than Stiles had been imagining for what damage Erica had caused. It was ridiculous to expect a teenager to have that kind of money just lying around, unless of course, their father had just been killed, leaving them an orphan with quite the inheritance to keep them alive. Granted, she had told her aunt to keep it until she was 18, but the thought of it being there was some comfort to her.

"Are you kidding? This thing doesn't even have a catalytic converter. And, yes, I know what a catalytic converter is." Stiles sarcastically added to the end of his sentence. Honey stayed quiet, making a mental note to google what one of them was as soon as she had a spare moment.

"You know what a limited slip differential is?" The mechanic asked as he looked between them, both of them looked at one another to see if either of them knew the answer, Stiles wasn't sure why he'd looked at Honey for help when she just about knew what a seatbelt or handbrake was. He mumbled a small no in defeat. "Yeah, could run you more like 1,500." The man added before continuing to fix the Jeep.

"Okay, just finish." Stiles groaned as he stormed back toward the small office. "I'll be back here seething with impotent rage," he mumbled, placing his hand on the door handle, immediately retracting it with a curled-up face of disgust. He held up the goo-covered hand to the blonde at his side as she tried to refrain from gagging. I don't even want to begin to think about what that could be, she told him as she squeezed through the door, trying not to touch it herself. "Quite an establishment you're running here!" Stiles shouted back to the mechanic who ignored him, but she couldn't blame him, Stiles had been a menace ever since they got here.

"Maybe its time to give the Jeep up? Roscoe's had a good run, Stiles." Honey suggested, flicking through a magazine. There was a silence before she finally turned to look at the distraught face he was giving her. "Right, how silly of me." the girl tutted with a roll of her eyes.

In retaliation, Stiles wiped the goo from his hand onto her face as she squealed, trying to fight off the boy who laughed tormentingly. Once he was satisfied that she was grossed out enough, he'd finally released her, grabbing her a tissue from the other side of the room, smirking to himself as she got it all over her hands. He reached for his phone to call Scott, but as he looked down at his own hands, they began to shake enough that his phone slipped out of his hands and onto a grim floor. 

Assuming that his hands were still slippy from the goo, Honey stood up to grab the phone for the boy, only when she reached out for it, she begin to feel the slow tingle reach from her fingers up to her arm, her entire body filled with fuzziness. She looked at her hand in horror until the sound of a second thud sounded in her ear, looking beside her to see Stiles had collapsed. "Win, I can't move." he groaned as he tried to force some movement out of his body, even the wiggle of a toe was impossible. "Get help. Get help before-"

Before he could even finish his sentence the paralysis kicked in for her too as she sunk onto the grime-covered floor beside him, looking at him with horror. In unison, the two began using the only parts of their bodies that would move- their mouths. Their combined voices screamed for the mechanic, barely audible over the sound of the whirring machinery he used. They looked at Stiles's phone just a few inches from them, just out of arm's reach, but neither of them could get to it. They were still, hopeless. 

Soon, the sound of someone else shouting for help sounded through the garage, filling the two of them with dread. With her back turned to the glass in the door, Honey couldn't see what was happening outside of the office, unlike Stiles whose eyes were wide with horror, his skin pale as he watched what was happening behind her and the unstoppable accident that was happening in front of him.

"Stiles- Stiles what is it?" Honey repeated in a panic, but the boy shut his eyes tightly as whirring machinery came to a sudden stop, as did the man's soft calls for help. The entire garage became silent as Stiles opened his eyes again, his forehead lined with sweat, a nauseous expression over his face, and tears in his eyes. It took a moment for her to realise what had happened, but as she did, she became as horrified as him. "Oh, my God," she mumbled, her eyes darting around with the hopes that moving them would somehow allow her to move the rest of her body.

Her eyes landed on the mirror opposite the door, the only way for her to see what was going on in the garage, and she wished she hadn't as she saw the mechanic's hand reaching out from the hydraulic lift that had squished him. She felt the sickness rise in her stomach, unsure if she even had the ability to throw up with her body being paralyzed. As she looked at the man's hand, she saw a dark, reptilian-like figure looming over him, its yellow eyes meeting hers in the reflection as it slowly crawled toward them. They wanted to scream, to run and hide, anything to get them out of here or to scare off the thing that had killed the mechanic and paralyzed them, but even a gasp was a struggle as it hissed at them before running off into the darkness.

The sudden sound of a woman's voice sounded in their ear as Honey's eyes darted to the phone Stiles had dropped, seeing 911 illuminated on the screen, his trembling finger hovering over it as he began to feel his limbs awaken. "Help us!"

Have you ever tried to explain to cops that you were paralyzed by a mysterious lizard-like beast who happened to have killed a man with a hydraulic lift? No, neither had they. They didn't even try. Honey took the lead, telling them that they had come back to the garage to retrieve the car, and when they had they saw the hand sticking out from beneath the lift, suggesting that there was some kind of technical fault. Stiles stayed quiet, letting her take over, knowing that if he had joined in on the lie, he would take it too far, or spill out a piece of information that didn't quite fit the web she had spun.

It wasn't until Sheriff Stilinski arrived on the scene that someone truly questioned them. He had to. One, because he was the sheriff, and two, because he couldn't help but find it suspicious that his son and the blonde happened to keep finding themselves in trouble. Just... one more time.

"I told you. We just... We walked in and saw the Jeep on top of the guy." Stiles insisted, still trying to shake off the last little bit of paralysis that he felt lingering inside of him. 

"What's wrong with your hand?"

"Nothing. Can we just get out of here now?"

The man agreed, deciding not to pry any further and to be trusting of the two of them. He placed a hand on their shoulders, leading them toward Scott's car as the wolf waited for them to finish up so he could find out what had happened. Before he allowed them to leave, he kept them back for a moment, trying to act as fatherly as possible. Being a dad was hard at the best of times, but being a father to a girl who wasn't even his own daughter, who had just lost her actual parents, it was almost impossible.

"Look, if there's something the two of you don't think you can tell me..."

"You think I'm lying?" Stiles interrupted taking away the gentle tone Noah was trying to adopt. He became defensive as he shook his head, insisting that he was just worried about the two of them. Stiles relaxed slightly, his shoulders settling as he nodded. But his father wasn't ready to back off just yet. Now, if you saw someone do this, and you're afraid that maybe they're gonna come back and make sure you don't say anything about it- the blonde cut off the man's words, promising him that they hadn't seen anyone. Technically, she wasn't breaking the promise, they hadn't seen anyone, because that thing she had seen wasn't a person, not on the outside. She would sleep soundly over that technicality. 

Finally, he released them, reminding his son that his son would have to be taken in for evidence. Stiles groaned loudly at the reminder as he sunk into the passenger seat of Scott's car while the blonde proposed that they wash it while they were there. 

Scott looked between the two stressed-out teens, asking what the hell had happened to them. A question neither quite knew how to answer yet. They were still trying to figure it out. All that the two managed to tell him was that he was right, perhaps the biggest sign for the wolf that neither of them was in their usual frame of mind. He never thought he would see the day when the two of them told him he was right. 

"That thing" as Honey kept referring to it, was nothing like Scott. It was almost reptilian. Yet, the yellow-eyed creature had a sense of familiarity to it somehow. Stiles described it as seeing one of your friends in a Halloween mask, all you can see is their eyes, but you still feel like you know them, you just can't figure out who it is. Scott was confused by the example, questioning if Stiles knew who it was. He shook his head, he didn't know who it was, but he believed that whoever it was knew them. 

The thought made the blonde shiver as she wrapped her jacket tighter around herself. "God, my therapist is gonna love hearing about this."

In unison, the boys turned in their seats, sharing a raised brow. Therapist? they repeated, almost humored by the idea of Honey having to sit in a therapist's office and talk about feelings. Honey didn't do sharing. In the time they had known her, almost died with her, lived and laughed with her, they still felt like they knew hardly anything about her. Especially about her past. She didn't like to share, that was abundantly clear. 

"You know what therapists involve right?" Stiles clarified. "You know you have to actually, like, talk to them about stuff." 

"I'm familiar with the way therapy works, Stiles." the blonde rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I'm not a fan of the idea but Abby hasn't really given me much choice in the matter. She said I need it after everything I've been through."

"I mean, she's not wrong." Scott shrugged, his agreement causing Honey to narrow her eyes at him, offended that he believed she needed therapy. "At least one session wouldn't hurt, right? It isn't like you have to tell them about the supernatural stuff. Just-"

"The dead parents? I can't wait." 

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After a grueling therapy session with Miss Morrell, Honey leaned against the wall of the corridors with her head down, fingers pressing against her temples as she tried to comprehend the last 60 minutes of her life. Miss Morrell was a woman who she had gotten to know as her French teacher for the past month or so, now, she had to think of the woman as her therapist too.
Until an hour ago, she had liked Miss Morrell, but now, she was convinced that the woman knew too much about her. She wasn't sure if Abby had told the woman anything, or if Morrell was just really good at her job, but either way, she didn't like it. Nobody should be able to read her like a book, but Morrell had just read her like she was her favorite novel. 
She knew what was going on in the girl's mind before she had even thought it. She knew Honey was sitting there wondering how long it would take for the woman to succumb to the silence, or if she could get away with never showing her face in this room again. It was like someone was in her ear, telling her everything that could be known about her. Honey wasn't sure anyone knew her so well, at least not anymore. And she liked that. People didn't know her weaknesses, if she could keep it like that, perhaps she wouldn't get hurt. 

As a croaky old voice called her name, Honey quickly pulled herself off of the wall, clearing her throat as she greeted Gerard Argent and Allison who was holding onto his arm with an uneasy smile across her face. The man held out his free hand, proposing that she join them to watch the game tonight. Her eyes immediately darted to Allison who, much to her surprise, nodded at her eagerly. Without a second though, Honey faked a smile and took the man's hand, knowing that it was no mistake that the two of them had wandered down this corridor, or that Allison agreed so quickly. She was meant to be here. 

"I want to warn you both-" Gerard began as they walked through the halls, scaring the two girls as they both looked at him with wide eyes of anticipation. "You might need to be a little patient with me. I'll probably have a lot of questions, seeing as I've never actually watched lacrosse." he continued, allowing them a sense of relief as they both faked a laugh. 

He continued to grill the blonde as they walked, trying to learn more about the daughter of two renowned hunters, hoping she would follow in their footsteps. Her only relief had been a couple of minutes of interruption from one of his staff, though those two minutes had been filled with the explanation she had been dying to get from Allison. Apparently, in the hour she had been in Morrell's office being tortured, the others had devised a plan to find the bestiary and search it for the mysterious reptile beast they kept running into. Allison was supposed to be the one stealing her grandfather's keys, but now that the blonde was here, who was undoubtedly more suited to the task, Allison volunteered her for it. 

They hadn't had a chance to devise a plan for how she would do it before the man returned, but Honey kept her eyes on the man's keys that jingled in his pockets, the clogs in her head turning already as she began thinking of the best way to get them into her hands by the end of the game.

As the three of them walked onto the field, passing Stiles, Honey took the opportunity to sit at his side, hearing more about this amazing plan that she had now become the center of. Besides stealing Gerard's keys, there wasn't much of a plan at all. That should have surprised her, but by now it didn't. They liked to have step one of a plan and wing the rest, tonight didn't appear to be any different.

Honey took the opportunity to make the other steps for them. Step one; get the keys. Step two; give the keys to Stiles. Step three; Stiles goes to the office. Step four; Honey finds a way to leave the game and meet him there. Step four; Steal the bestiary. Step five; Figure out what the hell is running around their town. It seemed simple enough. Perhaps too simple, one might argue. But they weren't perfect, and their plans weren't either. Even so, Stiles agreed.

By the time they had run through the slightly more detailed plan, the game had already begun. Scott was on the field, his only task tonight was to win the game. He was already off to a rough start when an obscenely large player on the other team was throwing their own teammates to the side as though they weren't large in themselves. He was undoubtedly the largest human the girl had ever laid her eyes on. He was an abomination. They thought Scott had the easy task, but now they weren't so sure. 

"Come on!" Coach yelled as he stood on the sidelines. "Is that thing even a teenager? I wanna see a birth certificate!" The man continued before turning around and sitting beside Honey and Stiles on the bench. He'd given up on telling the girl to get off of the bench that was there for his players, she never listened but frankly, he rathered her being there than some of the players on his own team. She didn't try and kiss his ass, and he respected that. "Who or what is that genetic experiment gone wrong?" he asked, nudging the girl.

"Eddie Obomowitz, Coach. They call him "The Abomination."."

Honey scoffed, she had got it right on the money. She was relieved she wasn't the only one who was intimidated by his profoundly large stature. Oh, that's cute, Coach scoffed in disgust, trying to hide his dread, it was clear he thought his team was going to lose, he had no faith in them on their best of days. As Coach began yelling down her ear again, Honey took it as her cue to leave, a hand on her shoulder as she reminded Stiles of the plan once more before she rejoined Allison and Gerard.

Much to her pleasure, Gerard's questions didn't extend to who or what she was talking about to the boy on the bench, he remained concentrated on her and her home life, interrogating her on the life that she once lived with her parents, and the one she now lived with her aunt Abigail. It was an uncomfortable conversation, but she was beginning to understand that any conversation involving the man would be that way. It was almost as though that was his purpose. 

Honey didn't believe that he had come here just to mourn his daughter and to guide his son into helping defeat the supernatural, there was an ulterior motive here. He was a wicked man, there was a look in his eyes that told her that. No, she didn't have any solid evidence, but there was an undeniable feeling in her gut that told her she was right.

But tonight wasn't the night to figure out the truth about Gerard Argent, but to figure out who or what was running around town and how to stop it. At that moment, Honey tightly wrapped both of her arms around herself, dramatically shivering until it had caught the Argents' attention. She wasn't wearing a jacket, after being swept up from her counseling session she didn't have time to go to her locker, but that had played to her advantage.

"I knew I should have brought a jacket." the girl forced a chuckle as Allison nodded approvingly from the other side of Gerard.

The man didn't waste any time in standing up to remove his large jacket from him, placing it on the arms of the blonde girl who pretended that it was much too kind of a favor, not exactly what she had hoped for. Gerard insisted, taking a seat again as he resumed in watching the game. The blonde dug her hands into the deep pockets of the coat, wrapping her hands around the keys he had put inside. The victory was so close she could almost taste it. 

She ensured that there was enough time between receiving the jacket and her getting up that it wouldn't be suspicious, Stiles was getting antsy, continuously peering over his shoulder, waiting for a signal from one of the girls. Gerard had noticed it, but played it off as a teenage crush Stiles "obviously" had on Honey. Her blushing was enough to make it seem real. 

After a while she finally stood up, brushing past Stiles as she placed the keys into his hand while Allison kept Gerard distracted by talking about the game. Luckily, Eddie "The Abomination" had sent yet another player flying across the field. As she hurriedly made her way toward the office, Honey barged into someone coming out from the locker room, sending his camera flying as she managed to catch it with a quick reflex.

She was already apologising as she looked at the camera in her hand, noticing how professional it seemed for a high schooler. It wasn't until she looked up that she recognised the boy. He was at her father and Kate's funeral, the one who had been taking a picture. He often wandered the school with a camera in his hand, he was either a creep, or some kind of yearbook editor in love with his job.

Honey handed the camera back, hoping for the latter. "You were at my father's funeral, weren't you?" she asked abruptly, watching his cheeks glow a bright shade of red. "I get it. Big story. Big payout. You have to do what you have to do to survive." she shrugged, taking the boy by surprise with her easy-going attitude. "I hope you at least got my good side."

"You'd look beautiful from every angle." he blurted out, the words spilling out of him before his brain had a chance to comprehend it. Honey's eyes were wide, surprised by the comment, and a little freaked out by it. She didn't even know his name. To her he was just stalker at a funeral guy. "Sorry, that was weird. I'm Matt." Honey forced a smile, shaking his extended hand, opening her mouth to return the favour. "And you're Honey Carter. Sorry, it's just that you and your family are kind of the talk of the town right now."

"Of course I am." she sighed heavily. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Matt." 

She quickly brushed past the boy, conscious of their time limit as she rushed to meet Stiles. Matt followed her with his eyes, raising his camera as she rushed away with her blonde hair blowing, the floodlights glistening over her tan skin. She reached Gerard's office to find the door left open and the room empty. She knew she had taken long than anticipated, but only by a minute, Stiles couldn't have found the bestiary that fast alone. 

Immediately, her mind began to think of the worst, which was one of the things Morrell had said she was prone to in therapy earlier, but she had to push the woman and her mind-melding aside and find Stiles as fast as possible. She hurriedly searched through the halls, quietly calling Stiles' name, worried that she might run into someone else, only this time it could be worse than some socially awkward kid with a camera. Perhaps a yellow-eyed, lizard-tailed creature who was ready for round two. 

Eventually, she burst into the swimming pool as a final resort, her feet coming to a sharp halt as she spotted two people floating in the pool, their wet hair bopping above the surface. Instead of searching for the bestiary, Stiles had opted for taking a late-night dip with Derek in the school's pool. The supposed "enemies" clinging onto one another.

"Stiles! Priorities!" Honey flailed her arms as she stormed toward the pool. 

"Honey, go back! Get out!" Stiles warned her, swallowing a mouthful of water as his head sunk beneath the surface of the water. "Get out of here!"

"We're supposed to be finding the bestiary!" she shouted as she stood on the edge. 

"Keep your voice down!" Derek snapped at her.

"Well sorry for interrupting your little spa session, but there's pressing matters at hand and we don't have time for this!" her voice raised more and more. "I mean, come on! There's a giant-ass lizard running around Beacon Hills, paralysing and killing people and the two of you thought it would be a good time to fix your issues? Seriously?" she asked, ranting so loudly that every one of their pleas for her to shut up and get out were ignored. Only once the ranting was over, Honey stood breathless on the edge of the pool, feeling a cold chill behind her as though someone was watching her. Or something. "Oh, no." she mumbled. "It's behind me, isn't it?"

Grimacing, she turned to see the reptilian beast on all fours behind her, its long tail swishing as it flew toward her, wacking at her ankles until she flew back into the pool. She fought her way up to the surface, coughing and spluttering as she broke through the water, still being watched by a terrifying species of supernatural that she couldn't even name. She turned back to the two in the water behind her, both of them dying to tell her "I told you so". "You guys really need to tell me to shut up every once in a while."

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"Will one of you get me out of here before I drown?" Derek complained again. Ever since he had been paralysed and thrown into this pool he had been more miserable than usual, his wet hair slapped against his forehead and his werewolf temper thriving as he lectured the two teens who had been thrown in here with him. They had it easier than him, they could actually kick to stay above water, he had to rely on them to hold up his werewolf weight, but he was the one who had it hard here.

"You're worried about drowning?" Stiles spat out as he continued to kick, holding up the weight of two and a half people. "Did you notice the thing out there with multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth?"

"Did you notice I'm paralyzed from the neck down in eight feet of water?" Derek said with much more annoyance than his original question, paralysis wasn't a good look on him.

"I don't see it." Honey choked out, spitting out the water that had worked its way into her mouth the second she had opened it. She wasn't a great swimmer at the best of times, she was used to the water beneath her feet being frozen, swimming with a werewolf wrapped around her neck wasn't any easier. To make matters worse, he repeatedly screamed down their ears, if not to be an irritating asshole complaining about his paralysis, to warn them that the beast had stepped into the light again.

"What is it waiting for?" Stiles asked in a whisper, a question neither Honey nor Derek quite had the ability to answer as they cautiously watched it linger around the edges of the pool. It slowly approached the water before hissing lowly at it, curiously placing its scaly palm into it, taking it back quickly with a sharper hiss, jumping back from the water. "Did you see that? I don't think it can swim."

Carefully scaling the pool, it watched them, and they watched it. Each party examined the other, trying to find the weaknesses, analyzing what the next move would be. The creature seemed to be willing to wait them out, but they weren't sure there was much time left for them. Their legs were growing tired, floating here was growing exhausting. Derek's head was laying back and he began giving up on fighting to keep the water out of his mouth as he tried to release some of the weight from off of their shoulders.

Stiles had noticed that the two of them were slowly giving up. Honey's movements were sloppy. Her eyes were drowsy and red from the chlorine that burnt them. None of them could do it for much longer. He held out for a little while longer, continuing to watch the creature crawling on the poolside, the entire pool silent besides the soft splashing of water. Stiles finally caved into the thought in his mind, admitting that he couldn't do it for much longer, but neither Derek nor the blonde spoke back to him. "Win, you still with me?"

Honey mumbled softly, unconvincingly. Stiles began looking for a way out of this mess, his eyes landing across the pool where he had dropped his phone. It was right on the edge. Derek saw it in the boy's eyes, immediately arguing against it, telling him to not even think about it. All of the shouting had woken up Honey slightly as she raised her head up, beginning to kick a little more.

"Could you just trust me this once?" Stiles yelled at the wolf.

"No!" Derek deadpanned.

"We're the ones keeping you alive, okay? Have you noticed that?"

"Yeah. But if you let go I'm not the only one you'll be letting drown." The Alpha argued, his eyes looming over the sleepy blonde who couldn't even argue against it. If Stiles released Derek, she had no doubt that she would be going down with him, his weight would pull her down and there wasn't enough energy in her body to fight it. "Plus, when this paralysis wears off, who's going to be able to fight that thing, the two of you or me?" He added to his argument.

"That's why we've been holding you up for the past who knows how long?"

"Yup. You don't trust me. I don't trust you. But the two of you need me to survive, which is why you're not going to let me go. Because you know that I'll be the one getting her out of here."

"Do it." Honey finally spoke. "Get the phone." she urged as he looked at her with wide eyes. He wasn't sure she understood what letting go of the phone meant. He wasn't sure that he could get to the phone and back to them in time before they sunk to the bottom and drowned. Only she understood it completely, and her mind was made up. Their only chance of getting out of this was for him to get the phone, and if he couldn't do it, well, either way, she was free. "I'll be fine," she told him, completely aware that she wouldn't be.

Stiles was torn, looking between the girl who nodded, and the wolf who had disagreed with the idea, the one who, as much as he hated it, had made good points. As Honey's eyes slowly closed and slowly opened again, she was hanging on the edge of death. He had to at least try and get to the phone and save her. He looked at her a final time as she weakly smiled at him, the only kind of encouragement she could give him. 

Without warning, Stiles dropped the wolf from his shoulder, swimming to the edge of the pool as fast as he could, refusing to turn back and see if Derek had been right. Which he had. With Derek being so heavy and Honey so weak, he had immediately sunk the two of them, the water quickly consuming them as they reached the bottom, unable to fight the feeling of drowning.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he reached the edge where the creature spied on them. Its eyes locked onto the boy, the two of them freezing for a moment, Stiles contemplating if he'd be able to reach the phone before the creature reached him. He quickly lunged for the phone as the beast rushed at him, barely able to snatch it as the creature growled at him. Holding it up, he turned around to see that Derek was right, and the two of them were no longer visible above the water. Fuck, he mumbled. He flailed as he dialed Scott's number, reaching the wolf's voicemail.

He swam through the water, holding up the phone above it until he could see the pair floating at the bottom. Double fuck. He called Scott's number again as he mumbled a prayer to himself that the wolf would come and save them. He had a choice. Try for a third time, or save Honey. Maybe Derek. With the blonde in the equation, there was no real question here. He threw the phone in the water, taking a deep breath as he delved to the bottom. He wrapped an arm around Honey's waist, securing her against his body, about to kick his way to the surface until he looked at Derek floating, almost dead. He knew that as much as she wanted to kill him sometimes, Honey would kill him if he didn't at least try to save Derek.

Stiles grabbed the wolf's shirt, kicking with all his might until all three of them reached the top, able to take a deep breath, coughing out all of the inhaled water.

"Tell me you got him!" Derek tried to talk through his panting.

Stiles only answered the question with a weak chuckle, which was enough to tell him that Scott didn't answer and the plan didn't work. They had almost died for nothing. Honey's burning eyes looked around, hoping that an idea would come to mind, but it didn't, all she saw was the lizard creature staring back at her, as the two of them made eye contact, it squealed loudly, almost so loud she could feel her ears burst.

"I can't stay up any longer." Stiles spluttered through the water. "I need something to hold onto."

Honey looked around again, her eyes landing on the diving board across the other side. "Stiles," she muttered, nodding toward it. He looked at the board, then at her. "I can do it." she nodded, trying to convince herself as much as she tried to convince him. Stiles gripped Derek tighter as he dropped beneath the water slightly, encouraging him to kick harder as he headed toward the diving board, allowing Honey a better chance of surviving as she tried to carry her own weight to the other side of the pool.

It felt like hours until they reached the other side, both eagerly gripping the bars, their wet hands immediately beginning to slip, limiting how much time they could last. They held on for all of a couple of minutes before their hands grew tired and slipper, plunging them beneath the water yet again, barely allowing them enough time to take a deep breath before the water had washed over them again.

Though this time, they were only under for a few seconds before a strong hand grabbed them, pulling them out of the water, tossing them onto the poolside. Confused and coughing, each of them looked over to see Scott crouching on the diving board. He had gotten his friend's call, he had made it just in time to save them. Scott was already wolfed out as he looked at the lizardy creature on the side of the pool, roaring loudly.

With a swift movement of its tail, the creature wrapped its tail around Scott's ankle, throwing him against a mirror, shattering it. Scott picked up a shard, holding it up as the creature with its venomous claws slowly edging closer to them. The creature caught a glance at its reflection in the mirror, horrified by it, as horrified as they all were when they first saw it. With another loud squeal, it fled, breaking through the skylight above the pool, leaving them speechless and in a daze as they looked at each other.

As Scott walked Honey and Stiles to the locker room for a set of fresh clothes, he explained how he found the bestiary himself, and rather than being a big old book like they had expected it to be, it was an electronic copy on a flash drive that had been on Gerard's keys the entire time. The blonde had had it in her midsts. Stiles had too. When she had tasted victory, she never knew that it was in the palm of her hand.

Donning a pair of Stiles' oversized joggers and a jersey, Honey walked out of the school with the boy, finding Scott standing with a laptop on the hood of his car, already starting to scroll through a thousand-page book of supernatural creatures. They peered over his shoulder at the screen, a puzzled look across both of the boy's faces as they tried to understand the foreign language that it was written in. Honey wasn't entirely sure what it said, but she could pick up a few words of it, telling her that it was French. Fitting, considering that Argent was the French word for Silver.

"How well did you say you were doing in French?" Stiles nudged the girl. Not that well. "How the hell are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?"

"It's called the Kanima," Derek answered the question as he approached them, still dripping wet, and beside him, his blonde sidekick. The three teenagers looked up, unsure how he knew what it was, or whether he had known the entire time. "It wasn't until I saw how it reacted when it saw its own reflection that I realized."

"What else do you know?" Honey asked.

Stories. Rumors. "But it's like us?" Scott asked, trying to make sense of it. In a sense, yes. It was a shapeshifter. But it wasn't right. It was like an... abomination, Honey proposed. Derek nodded in agreement. That was all he had to say about the creature before he walked away, leaving them with more questions than they had had before.

Scott shouted back for the Alpha. "We need to work together." he insisted, the man and the teen girl stopping as they looked back at him. "You. Us. The Argents." 

"You trust them?" 

"Nobody trusts anyone." Honey intervened. "That's the problem." 

Scott nodded as he continued his speech. "While we're here arguing about who's on what side, there's something scarier, stronger, and faster than any of us, and it's killing people! And we still don't even know anything about it!" 

"I know one thing," Derek told them. "When I find it, I'm gonna kill it."