"I'm telling you, he just dropped right then and there."

This is the fifth time tonight I am having to tell Parrish that because for some reason, he is beyond comprehending that I didn't kill the checkout guy.

Or at least didn't try to.

He scrawls something onto his notebook. I have no idea what he could be writing other than that sentence over and over again.

"The security footage showed you got angry at him just before he died," he says. Ah, finally a new question.

I lean over the table, squinting my eyes at him. "And what else did the footage show, deputy? Did I even lay a finger on that boy before he started bleeding?"

He coughs. "You were the only one there."

I let a chuckle escape out my lips. "And how're you going to tell the judge that I'm guilty? Are you going to say I killed him with my voice? Good luck." The deputy has nothing to say. I'm drunk on my own advantage. "So how about you let me go, and leave it as a mystery death, which is the true story." I can feel my vocal chords evolving into that dreamy voice, and for a second I'm scared that the deputy will be killed as well.

But he doesn't die.

"You have my permission to leave," he says. "You'll need to assist the police with further investigation so you might receive a call from the station. Thank you for answering our questions. You are free to go."

I furrow my eyebrows. What just happened? "So I'm not a suspect anymore?"

The deputy shakes his head. "Go get some rest before school tomorrow."

I raise my eyebrows but don't question it.

My mom is waiting outside, her face weary and her eyes bloodshot. I run to embrace her and I can feel her crying into my hair. The sound of my mother crying tugs at my heart, making it feel like an endless void. I start crying then, as well.

We don't say anything on the way home, but as I'm walking up to my room for the night, my mom says quietly, "I know you didn't do it."

My chest feels hollow as I fall into bed that night.

The next morning my phone is filled with missed calls and texts.

Missed Call - Lydia 4:35 am.

Missed Call - Lydia 5.45 am.

"Donovan just killed his lawyer and wounded police officers. There's claw marks." From Lydia - 6:02 am.

"It wasn't Donovan. It was Tracy." From Lydia - 6:05 am.

Because I have no idea what this is all about and why Lydia doesn't seem to sleep, I have no choice but to get to the school early to talk about it. I call Lydia and tell her to meet me at the school in fifteen.

I pull down my brand new high-waisted jeans and do the most exercise I'll do for the month trying to get them on. After putting on my top and jacket, I quickly do my make up and head out the door, still finishing my toast as I drive to school.

Everyone is already at the school and I give them an apology that I really don't mean since they woke me up half an hour earlier than usual.

"Tracy wasn't just having trouble sleeping," Lydia begins. "It was a real disorder. It was night terrors."

"Well, now she's the night terror, now that nobody can find her," Stiles says.

"Look, I know we're all tired and miserable," Scott looks over at Mason. Liam's best friend has a smile from ear to ear and looks like this is the best conversation he's ever been in. "Except for you."

Mason looks like he's just noticed that what Lydia's talking about is real. "Oh, I'm sorry," he says. "This is all just...mind-blowing." He looks like a kid in a candy store. Liam is next to me and looks down, embarrassed. Mason keeps talking. "You're a kitsune," he tells Kira. "I don't even know what that is!"

Kira looks taken aback. "I'm still learning," she says.

"Liam, you said we can tell him, not invite him to the inner circle," Stiles says.

"I'm in the inner circle?" Mason asks.

A collective no is spoken by the whole group.

Scott lays his hands on the car's bonnet. "Back to Tracy," he says. "She's just one lone wolf, we can find her."

"One lone serial killing wolf," I mutter.

"No, she only killed one person, you know. The other two were...mauled," Stiles says. "What do we do when we catch her?"

Malia looks around at everyone. "I say we put her down," she decides.

I glance around at the expressions one everyone's faces. Disgust, disapproval and some blank stares. I feel Liam's shoulders go tense beside me.

Mason ends the tension with his commentating. "Intense," he says.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Have you ever thought of just becoming a sports commentator?"

Before he has a chance to reply to my witty question, Scott talks. "Look, can we just focus on trying to catch her first." He looks unsure himself if that feat is even possible. "We'll figure out the rest later."

The first class that day is AP Biology and surprisingly, I am not late. The teacher is not there yet and I drop into the chair next to Theo.

"Are you doing alright?" he asks. I am not in the mood for his perfect smile and perfect responses but I suppose I have to talk to him about what he thinks I am.

"Yeah," I say, picking up my coffee and taking a sip from it. "Just fine, after accidentally killing someone and getting arrested."

He laughs, a deep chuckle. "How did you get out of it, anyway?"

"I don't know," I say. "I told the deputy to let me go and he did. I guess I just have that effect on men." I flip my hair and rest my chin on the back of my hand, smiling.

"Speaking of which, I know what you are," he says.

My bottom lip quivers. With fear or excitement, I don't have a clue. "What am I, Theo?"

He looks me dead in the eyes. "A Siren, Arden. You're a Siren." He looks at my confused expression. "Sirens were in Greek mythology. They started out as women with the heads of birds but in the later stories, they're described as just women. They lived by the sea and any human who passed them and heard their voice died.

"When you were scratched, the Siren part of you was triggered. However, your voice can only be brought on sometimes and has to be controlled by you. If a supernatural creature hears your Siren voice, you can persuade them to do anything.

"If a human hears your Siren voice, they die."

I almost drop my coffee all over me.

"You mean I could tell you to jump out of that window if I had that - that voice and you'd do it?"

"Well, yeah," he says, his body language has become rigid.

I place a hand on his forearm and he jumps. "Relax, Theo," I say. "I'm not going to tell you to jump out of a freaking window."

The teacher enters the room, hauling a bag full of heavy looking books after her. She starts by handing back our quizzes from last lesson. I look down at my score. A big, red, mocking sixty seven percent stares back at me. I look over at Theo's. Eighty. I groan internally.

The teacher finishes up at Scott. "Nice to know where your priorities lie, Scott," she tells him. "Since you have such a great grasp of the subject, how about you lead us in a review of last night's reading?"

Scott bites his lip and looks down at his book.

My phone buzzes in my pocket. The text is from Liam.

Tracy is here.

I look back at the teacher to make sure she's not looking and glance over at Theo to make sure he's too enthralled in his reading to look over.

What? Where?

I text back.

As if on cue, Liam's head decides to pop up into the doorway. He's waving to Scott and beckoning him to come with him.

"Scott?" the teacher calls.

Scott looks up. "Uh, yeah, just looking for the page."

Liam makes even bigger hand gestures and looks at Scott pleadingly.

"Scott?" the teacher calls again.

"Yeah, one sec, sorry," Scott mumbles.

Liam has Theo's attention by now and Theo is leaning over me to see what's going on. Scott taps his ear twice.

Liam's lips start moving and I can't understand what's happening, until I realise that Scott can hear him. And if one werewolf can hear Liam, then Theo can as well. I try to distract him.

"Theo, what page is it?" But he doesn't answer. "Theo?"

I throw my hand in the air. The teacher sighs when she sees me. "Yes, Arden?"

"I need to go to the toilet, like, urgently. Like I might piss all over Theo soon. That urgently."

She exhales. "Fine, go quickly. And mind your language."

I'm out of my seat and bolting for the door. Liam is leaning on the wall next to the door.

"What's up?" I ask him as we walk hastily down the corridor.

"Tracy, she's in history class right now."

"Oh, shiiiiiit," I groan and pick up my pace. Liam always stays a pace ahead of me, probably because of his superhuman speed.

"What do we do?" he asks. He gives me those little puppy dog eyes and I just want to pull his cheeks like that auntie. I have to think of an idea for Liam. I can't stand to see him this confused and distressed.

"I've got an idea," I say. I move towards the fire alarm and pull it down. Loud ringing fills the building and I tug Liam's sleeve towards me. I press myself and Liam close to the wall. Students are going to be flocking the halls, now, and getting caught will significantly slow down us getting to Tracy.

The students start pouring out into the corridors, but none of them see us. As soon as there are only trickles of students pouring out into the yard, Liam and I slink into the history classroom. Scott comes up beside us as we pass the throng of students moving out.

Tracy is sitting at the back of the classroom and another girl is talking to her. Tracy's head is down and her hands are gripping the side of her desk, which has a crack in the middle. Did Tracy do that?

Tracy latches onto the other girl's forearm and I hear the sound of blood dripping and flesh tearing from here. Her eyes are blank as she stares at her desk. Scott moves forward slowly, as if encountering a feral animal. "Tracy," he says. The other girl is whimpering in pain by now. Scott repeats her name and she looks up from her desk.

Her eyes are filled with fear and her breathing is heavy enough to hear from here. Tracy rises from her seat, but keeps her eyes locked on us and her claws embedded in the girl's forearm. "She's hurting me," the girl cries.

"Tracy, let go," Scott says.

Tracy drops her bloody hand to her side. "They're coming," she whispers. "They're coming for all of us." She sways before plunging straight to the ground. Her head hits the ground with a spine-tingling crack.

A thick, silvery substance is leaking out of her mouth, pooling below her. We stand in silence for a moment, before Scott gets to work. "Help me lift her," he says to Mr Yukimura. They both carry the unconscious girl out, Kira and Stiles aiding by opening the doors.

I stay by Liam's side and he hangs back with the girl who'd just almost gotten her arm ripped off. "She wasn't even supposed to be in our class," she says. "Where are they taking her?"

"Hospital, I guess," Liam says. He looks like he's treading carefully around her, trying to say the right thing. He looks down at her arm. "Do you need help getting to the nurse's office, Hayden?"

She looks at him menacingly. "I think I'll make it," she sneers and runs off.

I look after her as she turns a corner. "What was her deal?" I ask him.

He looks slightly uncomfortable. "Something that happened in sixth grade," he says. That's a long time to hold a grudge, I think.

"Should I ask?"

He shakes his head in response. We meet up with Lydia and Kira as the other students make their way back in. "They're taking her to the animal clinic?" Kira asks.

"Yeah," Liam says. "To find out what's wrong with her."

Lydia looks impatient. "What's wrong with her is that she killed two people! Her father and, according to Parrish, her psychiatrist."

So Lydia does have some sort of connection with the deputy, I think to myself.

"Is there anybody else she can talk to?" Kira asks. "Her mom? Any other family?"

Lydia's eyes light up with an answer. "Alpha," she says. "If she's a werewolf, she has to have an alpha."

"Anyone moved into Beacon Hills?" I ask.

Liam shakes his head. "No," Kira says. "But there is an old one. One of the oldest. We know her."

"And her pack," Liam says. "Anyone have a free period next? I need a ride to get to Devenford Prep."

"I do," I tell him. "I can drive you."