Chapter Fifty

I somehow managed to lose Scott and Stiles in the exact span of five minutes. Scott and Stiles had stolen the only two flashlights we had, leaving me alone to look with my eyes. At least I can control my eyes to be able to see in the dark.

So that's what I'm currently doing; my eyes dart around in the dark with practically night vision. I'm dodging trees, skipping small holes in the ground.

I hadn't seen that creature that was in the shadows that Scott had chased after. I was trying my best not to panic. What were I to do if I encountered it? What if it were too attack me? Sure, I could fight back, but I haven't stretched yet.

Apparently, I wasn't concentrating hard enough and my foot hooks under a root. I gasped out in pain for a short second, before falling flat on my face, into a pile of mud. I contemplated staying there for the rest of my life. This is so humiliating.

I winced and let out a groan as my foot had twisted itself pretty good. I sat up, looking back at it as I detached my foot from the root. I sharply inhaled, seeing the damage. I knew what I had to do. With a little bit of force, I slowly twisted it back, hearing the bones click back into place like it was a piece of puzzel.

I'm sure my face was pale after that.

Taking my time and feeling the foot fastly healing, I stood back up and looked around at my surroundings. I was still in the middle of the woods. I glowed my eyes, having my night vision back. With both of my hands, I wipe the mud off my face. I felt disgusting. So much for my night time routine.

I huffed in annoyance, feeling rather pissed off. How could they just leave me like this? I bite the inside of my cheek, feeling so annoyed as I listened to the sound of little insects.

I then looked behind me, seeing a deep dark cave. My eyes circled the outside. I didn't want to go in by myself. Suddenly, I heard two boys screaming from a short distance and I smirked, knowing exactly who it was.

Roughly two minutes later, I could see two shadow silhouette figures coming towards my way and I immediately knew they were Scott and Stiles. I was now leaning on the rocks beside, hiding myself away from them so I could scare them.

"It's just around the corner—"

I let out a loud scream, jumping out in front of the small cave by the car wreck. I only just realised a few minutes ago that I had circled back towards the car wreck. The boys screamed, terrifed. "Oh, my God!" Stiles exclaimed, almost dropping his flash light as he points it at me. I winced at the brightness, but it didn't contain my giggles.

"That's what you get for both ditching me, dickheads." I narrowed my eyes at him.

Scott gave me a sheepish look. "Sorry."

"I think I found something." I piped up and the two boys glanced at me. "It's this way, come on." I guide them towards the cave. Stiles used his flash light to guide us over the rocky surface as we entered the small hole. Contain in this tiny hole was a blue jacket and a teddy bear. "I think it's a Coyote den."

"Werecoyote." Scott softly spoke behind me as I was crouched. We walked further in, Stiles taking the blue jacket.

"You see this? This is Malia's." Stiles ponited out. "Remember? It's the same one she was wearing in that photo." Stiles, Scott, and I crouched down on our knees. Scott reached out the teddy bear that sat on the rock.

"We shouldn't be in here." Scott decided.

"What do you mean?" Stiles asked.

"She's not gonna come back now. We just invaded her home." Scott informed and I, because no one wants to inform me on this, figured out that the were coyote is Malia. "Our scents are going to be everywhere."

"If she's not gonna come back here, where's she going to go?" I questioned.

"I don't know." Scott replied.

"Can either of you track her now? You think you got her scent?" Stiles questioned us.

"Maybe." Scott replied.

"Um... Maybe." I copied his answer like a kid. I felt a little nervous about this whole situation.

"But... I'm better at this when I'm a full wolf." Scott informed. "And I'm still worried that if I do it, I won't be able to turn back."

Stiles sighed. "The doors still open."

"If I can't get to Derek, we're gonna have to find someone else to help." Scott added. Scott then looked at us, hopefully. "This is basically a crime scene, right? I think it might be a little bit out of my bosses league."

"And more in our Dads." Stiles nodded.

—

After calling our Dads and telling them to get here ASAP, we had now exited the cave, standing a few feet away from it, waiting for them patiently. I could hear their cars in the distance, the sirens going off. So they're here close.

"Why is your face all muddy?" Stiles murmurs to me, his thumb gently rubbing my cheek, brushing away the leftover dirt tenderly. I blushed, looking away. This is embarrassing. "What? What happened?"

"It's nothing," I mumbled, wrapping my arms around my cold shoulders.

"She's embarrassed," Scott pointed out teasingly. "Must've been something pretty stupid."

I pouted. "Guys, stop. We're not 10 anymore; you can't pick on me!"

"Come on, Paigey, we're not picking on you." Stiles grinned. That stupid grin. I love it, though. I tried to stay strong, glaring harshly at the two boys.

"I'll get Malia both on your asses if you don't shut up." I snapped, letting out a small huff. Scott rolled his eyes, but Stiles' eyes widened slightly. I could sense my stupid threat was getting to him.

Stiles leant to Scott. "Can she do that?"

"No, she can't do that."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure! I haven't taught her that yet." Scott mumbled back to Stiles. Idiots. I can still hear you. "Now, I don't think I ever will."

My own eyes widen. "You can't do that!"

"I—I can too." Scott stuttered back. "I'm the Alpha."

I scoffed. "The Alpha?" I mocked. Scott shoots me a disapproving look and I give him a smirk, knowing he couldn't—No, he wouldn't do anything about it. "I have other resources if you're not willing to teach me."

Scott scoffed, knowing precisely who I was referring to. "You're not going to see him."

I shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, I will." My voice wavered.

"Her voice wavered." Stiles voiced my thoughts, and I shot him a look.

"You're supposed to be on my side!" I whined, hitting his arm lightly.

"I'm on no one sides, its every man for himself right now," Stiles argued back lightly, taking a step back. I sniggered, feeling happy that the tension had shortly lifted for a moment. "But, for real, what happened?"

My mood dropped. "Shut. Up." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Do not repeat this to anyone, I swear to God." The boy turned to me, looking slightly more interested. "I... Um... face planted into a pile of mud." The boys were laughing at me, and I was left a little hurt. "Hey!"

"Sorry, sorry," Scott mumbled under his laughter. "Did you—"

"Not another word!" I point my finger to his mouth, zipping him instantly. The boys nodded in understanding and I smiled, satisfied. I could hear the police sirens in the distance, flashing red lights throughout the trees and approaching us. I am so ready to go home.

Couple of minutes later, our Dad shows up with backup. We pointed them in the direction of the crime scene, and five minutes later, they came but with the teddy bear and the jacket.

"You're sure it was her?" Noah asked, glancing at the boys and I.

"I looked her right in the eyes," Scott confirmed. My Dad was at the cave with the other deputies. "And they glowed, just like ours." He gestured towards him and me.

"It makes sense, Dad," Stiles added.

"But it wasn't a girl." Noah continued. "It was a four-legged coyote, right?"

"Well, okay. But, yeah, see that's the point that we don't exactly have figured out yet." Stiles quickly justified.

"Okay, but if it was a full moon, and she did change while her Mom was driving, then anything could've happened." I reminded Noah.

"Horrible things could've happened." Stiles decided to add to our description. "Ripping, shredding, tearing things."

"Which is probably what caused the accident." Scott nodded.

"Think about it, Dad, all right." Stiles lays it on him as his poor Dad tries to comprehend on what we're saying. "They're driving, Malia starts to change, she goes out of control, the Mom crashes and eveybody dies..."

"Expect for Malia." Scott finished.

"She blames herself," Stiles continued. "Right? Goes off running into the woods and eventually becomes trapped inside the boyd of a coyote."

"Well, that make sense." I could sense Noah's sarcasm. Scott seemed surprised, but I was waiting for it. "In a Chinese folktale. Boys and girl... This is insane. I need this kept quiet. The three of you, not a word. I don't want anyone hearing about this. I especially don't want Mr Tate hearing about this."

I looked over at Scott who seemed to be out of it, looking off in the distance. I moved my head past Stiles body to try and see what hes looking at, but nothing. "Scott?" I called out, glancing over at him. "Scott!"

Scott blinked, snapping back into reality. "Sorry." He murmured. "What did you say?"

I hear more sirens and I turned, looking to see an FBI vehicle pulling up. Noah's jaw clenched. "Aw, hell." Mr Tate and Agent McCall were already here. Noah nods his head and I begin to fiddle with my hands nervously as they walked towards us. Stiles gently grabbed my hand, lacing them through together. "Mr Tate."

Mr Tate, in a trans like state, walked over to us. His eyes were on Malia rag the entire time. He held it in his hands as Noah gives it to him.

"It's hers." Mr Tate whimpers out.

"All right, wait here." Agent McCall instructs us.

"Dad." Scott stepped in.

Agent McCall calmly responds to him, cutting him off. "I'll talk to you in a minute. I wouldn't mind hearing how your Mom's okay with you running around in the woods this late."

—

The next morning comes around and I've never felt so drained. I'm not sure how the boys managed to get any sleep last night, we had gotten home around 5 AM, and had to be up in about 2 hours. I just decided to get ready for school while Stiles had slept.

So, I now stand here next to Allison, Scott, and Stiles in History class at the back of the classroom, while everyone was taking their seats. Allison had met up with us so we could update her on Malia. And, so she could update us one what shes found in her spare time.

"Here's where we found the den." Stiles showed Allison the location on his phone. "It's right in the middle of the hiking trails."

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

Stiles frowned. "Coyotes tip-toe?"

Allison nods her head. "They tip-toe."

The bell then rings, letting us know its class time. "I got to go, but send me pinned location." Allison requested, glancing at Stiles. She rushes off, Stiles mumbling a short 'okay' before she's out the door.

Stiles and I went to take our seats, Scott going to take his. As I took my seat, I glanced to my right to see Scott standing in front of Kira, who smiled happily. "Hi." She spoke sharply. "I'm Kira. You knew that. I knew you knew that. I don't know why I just told you that again. Anyway, I have something for you." She takes off, searching through.

"For me?" Scott asked, blinking and smiling.

"Yeah." Kira smiles. "About Bardo. My explanation was sort of all over the place, so I did some research and I printed it out for you."

Scott rubs his neck nervously. I smirked a little. "Ah, you didn't have to do that."

"It only took a couple hours." Kira insisted. She's so cute. I liked her. She's innocent.

"Wow. Then you really didn't have to do that." Scott mumbled.

"I swear I printed it out," Kira frowned, searching through her bag.

"Kira." Mr Yukimura called out, and Kira turned to her father. "You forgot all the research you did for the boy you like."

She blushes furiously, sending him a short glare where Scott couldn't see her eyes. Mr Yukimura hands her the file. Kira takes it, looking humiliated. Mr Yukimura gave her a pressed smile before walking back to the board, and Kira turned around, giving Scott the stack of paper with a shy look.

She didn't say anything else and moved into a seat after Scott gently takes the papers from her. Scott looked like a happy puppy. If he had a tail, it would be wagging.

I gave him a teasing smile as he sat next to me. He glanced at me, his smile slowly fading once he realised I had witnessed everything. I put my hands together to form a love-heart shape, giving him a kissy face. He sends me a look. I dropped my hands to my lap, giggling as I turned to Mr Yukimura.

"All right, everyone, let's get started." Mr Yukimura begins. "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? Mr Stilinski, how about you?"

"Oh, maybe someone else could." Stiles offered shyly, and I felt terrible for him.

Before I could speak up, Mr Yukimura jumped in. "Everyone participates in my class, Mr Stilinski."

"Okay." He murmurs before getting up. He walked over to the podium where Mr Yukimura had left. I felt anxiety rush over him, which made me feel anxious. I mean, I already was. His eyes found mine before he had even begun to read the paper. His eyes were begging for help.

I softly looked at him. At this point, there was nothing much I could do but give him an encouraging smile. I gave him a thumbs up, too, just to add to it.

He then looked down at his paper. I could tell he was struggling to read. His face said it all. I could see the fear in his eyes as if the words were no longer there. In hs case, it probably wasn't. He blinks tightly, then opens them again, staring back at the paper.

His hands grips on the side of the podium. I could hear his breaths go rigid, uneven. His heart was pounding rapidly in his chest and I knew in that moment, he was about to have a panic attack. He looked up at the class and I could see tears filling his eyes.

"Stiles?" I jumped up first and his eyes found mine. He was scared. Humiliated, too. He breathes heavily, blinking his eyes rapidly. He was trying to figure out if he was in a dream or not.

"Stiles, you okay?" Scott also stands up.

He stumbles, holding onto the podium for safety. I walked over to him quickly with Scott. "I should take him to the nurse." I insisted and Mr Yukimura nodded his head in confirmation. I glanced at Scott quickly and he nodded, telling me it was okay that I went alone.

I pulled Stiles along, leading him out of the class. "It's okay," I murmur soft words to him, trying to drag him to a more safe environment. I decided the girl's locker room. I pulled him into the locker room and shut the door behind me and Stiles stumbled into the locker room. "Stiles, baby, what's wrong? Is this a panic attack? Do you—do you think it's a dream?"

He grabs onto the bathroom sinks. "It's a dream, it's a dream." Stiles breaths heavily and my heart sinks for him. He can't tell between what's real and what's not. "This is just a dream."

"It's not." I insisted. His gaze falls on me behind the mirror. "This is real. You're here. You're with me. We're here together." I panicked when he didn't respond, he was just heavily breathing. "Okay. Okay, okay, okay. What do you do? I mean—How do you tell if you're awake or dreaming?"

"Your fingers..." Stiles stumbled over his words. "You count your fingers. You have extra fingers in your dreams."

I held up my fingers slowly. "How many do I have?" Stiles wasn't paying attention to me. "Hey!" I grabbed his attention and his eyes dart towards me. "Look at me. Come on, Stiles. Look at my hands and count with me." I held up a finger. "One." I continued to do this slowly in a row as he turns to me, eyeing my fingers.

"Two." He inhales sharply, but his breathing was still quick and heavy.

He winces. "It's okay, keep going," I tell him, holding up another finger.

"Three." He whispers. "Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine... Ten." He relaxes when he sees that I have no extra fingers. I smiled when he started to calm down. His gaze reaches mine and he looked tired.

He walked over to me and gives me a hug. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him. I kissed the side of his head three times.

"What the hell is happening to me?" Stiles mumbled, sounding so done with it.

"We'll figure it out," I tell him, rubbing his back and he clings onto me even tighter like he was afraid to let me go. "You're going to be okay."

He pulled back and looked down at me with glossy eyes. "Am I? Is Scott? Scott can't transform. Allison being haunted by her dead Aunt. And I'm straight up losing my mind. We can't do this." He sits down on the ground now, pressing his back to the tile floor. "We can't... We can't help Malia. We can't help anyone."

I then take a seat in front of Stiles, trusting these floors are clean. "I think if Scott were here with us right now he'd say we could try. We can always try. And I think hes right on this one, too. We're never ones to give up. I mean, I know I say it a lot, but I don't really mean it. I complain. But it's okay to complain. Just as long as we don't give up. We can't."

Stiles gives me a half-smile. He reaches out his hand and I take hold of it. "I really adore you, you know?" Stiles tells me softly, causing my heart to warm as I stare at him. "Your courage... Your strength. I wish I had that."

"You do." I squeezed his hand. "Trust me, you do. We all do. We've been through hell and back. Literally, you have. And you're still here. Breathing. Alive. Right in front of me." I smiled. Stiles pulled me towards him, and I ended up cuddling him on his lap. I sat on his lap. My arm snakes around his neck, while the other one awkwardly around his waist.

He wrapped his arm around my waist, and his other hand connected his one as if trapping me in his hold which I didn't mind. I stare up at Stiles, tilting my head and he was already looking at me. He's alive with me, and I couldn't be more grateful.

"I adore you," I added and he smiled.

"Some people wouldn't stick around with a guy whos losing his mind." Stiles pointed out and he gives me a soft look. "Thank you." He brushes some hair behind my ear. I leaned forward and kissed him, our lips locking for a second.

"On second thought..." I teased which caused him to smile.

"Shut up." He mumbled and I rest my head in the crook of his shoulder. He pulled me closer to him if that was even more possible.

—

"A couple of students said they saw it running across the field and back into the woods," Noah explained to Stiles and I as we walked down the hallway, bypassing Animal control. Malia had attacked one of the students, Kira, in the boy's locker room. She was lucky that Scott was there to save her. "Thank God, nobody got hurt."

"What happens if she does hurt someone?" Stiles questioned.

Noah sighed. "Most likely they'll have to put it down."

"Put her down?" Stiles bewilders quietly. "Dad, try not to forget there's a girl in there, one that you'll be killing. Come on, you aren't back to not believing, are you?"

"You know what?" Noah turns to us, stopping us in the hallway. "I believe there a lot of things I don't understand yet. But that doesn't mean that everything and anything imaginable is suddenly possible." I mean, I personally would. "Now, are you 100% sure that this is a girl and not some animal?"

"Yes," Stiles confirmed and I nodded, too. "Because Scott's sure." We looked down the hallway to see that Scott was standing by the blue double doors. Stiles turned his back so that Scott couldn't read his lips. "Scott, you been listening?"

I watched as Scott nods his head. Noah was watching the entire time. "All right, lets get this figured out. Come on."

We walked into the locker room where a full-on investigation was happening. I felt terrible for Kira as I listen in on their conversation with Scott, where we are sat on the bench a few metres away.

"Dad, seriously, I'm okay," Kira tells her father as they were in the corner.

"Why were you not headed to lunch like everyone else?" Mr Yukimura questioned his daughter.

"They left their bags," Kira informed. "I was trying to do something nice. You do something nice, and you make friends. So I've heard." Scott and I glanced at each other after their conversation. We both had an understanding. I pursed my lips. I should talk to Kira after this.

"Guys." Stiles cuts in, looking down at us. "I think I know what she was looking for." Scott and I stood up as Stiles brought the bag closer to us. He opens it and brings out the doll and I flinched. I hate dolls.

Scott gives him a disappointed look. "You took the doll from the car?"

"Yeah, I thought you guys could use it, you know," Stiles explained. "For like, her scent."

"Where did you get that?" A voice hollered and we looked over, seeing Mr Tate walking in the room, straight towards us. "Where did you find this?" Why would he be here right now? I give the boys an unsure look. He snatched it from Stiles, taking it in his hands. "It belonged to my daughter."

"Sorry, guys." Noah cuts in softly, standing in front of us. "Mr Tate, I don't know how you heard about this. If you've got your own police scanner or what... But you can't be here." Noah went to move him back, but Mr Tate inhaled sharply, flinching. Noah's hand travelled around his coat pocket and pushed it back, revealing a gun that was clipped into his pants.

"I have a permit." Mr Tate sharply spoke.

"California schools are gun-free zones, permit or no permit." Noah glares at him. "You need to leave, Mr Tate, now."

Mr Tate stutters slightly as he was forcefully moved back, but he pulled away from Noah and looked him. "You find that animal. You find that thing." Mr Tate walked away.

We need to find her before he does.