ACT TWO, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Stolen Memories

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *. ☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

     DEREK CARRIED ISAAC BACK TO THE HALE HOUSE AND PUT HIM DOWN ON THE TABLE. The last time Andi was there, it was during night time after the lacrosse game when Jackson started evolving. The moonlight made the burnt house look creepy and now that the sun was out, it didn't look so creepy anymore.

     "You don't still live here, do you?" Scott asked.

     "No, the county took it over," Derek said and Andi laughed.

     "He lives in a loft," she said and wanted to laugh at how Derek glared at her while Scott looked confused.

     "Wait, why were you over there?" he questioned.

     Derek scoffed and Andi just rolled her eyes. "I was looking for something to use so I could locate Isaac," she said and Scott looked away awkwardly. "I think you've been spending too much time with Stiles."

     "What? Why do you say that?" Scott asked.

     "Because that's the kind of question I would expect from Stiles if he was here right now," Andi replied with her arms crossed.

     "Look, we're here because I need something that will help heal a wound from an alpha," Derek said.

     "But it already healed," Scott pointed out.

     "Not from the inside," Derek said while looking at Scott and then he looked at Andi. "I need you to go wait with Isaac and make sure he's alright."

     "I mean, no problem, but if he wakes up in full werewolf mode and kills me in a fit of rage, I'm haunting both of your asses," Andi said as she walked over to the table where Isaac was still unconscious.

     She wasn't sure if he looked paler than usual but at least he was still breathing. He was MIA for a while until Andi was able to find him and now that he was back and somewhat okay, she felt like she did something right. After weeks of being hounded by the others to find out if she got any closer to finding them and then feeling like a failure when she had to tell them no, she was glad she at least found Isaac. She carefully placed her hand on his chest and closed her eyes so she could focus on the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. It reminded her that he was alive and that any one of those days where she didn't find him could've been his last. But she found him and he was alive.

     "Andi, we need you over here," Derek called and Andi turned around.

     Scott and Derek were sitting down and Stiles was standing in the corner. Scott explained why he wanted a tattoo and how it healed right after he left the tattoo parlour. Scott decided on two bands around his left bicep and when Derek asked what it meant, Scott didn't know. But then Derek asked why it was so important to him.

     "Do you know what the word 'tattoo' means?" Scott asked.

     "It means to mark something," Stiles said before Derek or Andi could even think of an answer.

     "In Tahitian. In Samoan, it means 'open wound.' I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned eighteen. I always wanted one. I just decided to get it now to make it kind of a reward," Scott explained.

     "For what?" Derek asked.

     "For not calling or texting Allison all summer. Even when I really wanted to. Even when it was so hard not to sometimes. I was trying to give her the space she wants. Now it's been four months and it still hurts. Still feels like a, uh..." Scott trailed off but Stiles finished the sentence for him.

     "Like an open wound," he said and Andi bit the inside of her cheek.

     "Look, as touching as this is, why did you need me in here?" she asked while looking at Derek.

     "I need your help," the alpha said. "The pain is gonna be worse than anything you've ever felt."

     "Oh. That's great," Stiles said.

     "So, how do werewolves get tattoos?' Andi asked.

     Derek didn't say anything as he lit a blowtorch and it made Andi wish she didn't ask.

     "Oh, wow. That's a lot for me. So, I'm just gonna take that at my cue. I'll just ─ I'm actually just gonna go wait outside," Stiles said as he tried to walk out but Derek grabbed his arm.

     "I need you both to hold him down," he said.

     "Jesus Christ, are you actually going to use that on him?" Andi asked while looking at how bright the blue flame was and then looked at Scott. "Are you seriously doing this?"

     "Yeah," Scott said while Stiles held him down by one shoulder.

     Andi sighed nervously as she held him down by the other one and watched as the blue flame got closer to Scott's arm. Once it touched his skin, he started screaming while fighting against the two human teenagers trying to hold him down.

     "Hold him!" Derek said as he held the blowtorch to Scott's skin.

     "What do you think we're doing?" Andi asked as both she and Stiles used all of their strength to hold down the teenage werewolf, who could easily fight them off if he wanted to.

     After a while, Scott blacked out but Derek continued working on the tattoo and Stiles and Andi still held Scott down in case he woke up before Derek could finish. When he was done, Stiles and Andi let go of Scott's shoulders and waited for him to wake up. When he did wake up, he looked at the tattoo on his arm that clearly wasn't going away anytime soon.

     "It worked," he said.

     "I don't think you're gonna want another tattoo for a long time," Andi said and Scott laughed. "I don't think it's going away this time."

     "Yeah, I'd say it looks pretty damn permanent now," Stiles said as Scott put his white shirt back on.

     "I could really use something permanent. Everything that's been happening to us, it all changes so fast. It's all so...ephemeral," Scott said and Andi raised her eyebrows as Scott's choice of words.

     "Studying for the PSATs?" Stiles asked.

     "Yep."

     "Nice."

     As Scott opened the door to leave, Andi looked at Derek who was standing over Isaac who was still unconscious on the table. "Hey, Derek. Do you need me to stay here with Isaac? Will he need any healing spells?" she asked and the alpha shook his head.

     "He just needs these and he'll be fine," he said while holding up some wolfsbane plants and Andi nodded. "You know, I never thanked you for finding him and even though you couldn't get the exact location, you at least confirmed that he was alive."

     "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad I could help," Andi said before turning around to leave but Scott stopped when he noticed the door was freshly painted.

     "You painted the door," he said and Derek looked up. Scott looked at him and asked, "Why did you paint the door?"

     "Go home, Scott," Derek said and Andi narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

     What was he trying to hide?

     "And why only one side?" Scott asked.

     No one said anything as he took out his claws and started scratching the paint off the door, despite Derek's efforts to stop him. When the red paint was scratched off, there was a symbol etched into the wood. It almost looked like the triskele symbol Andi had seen when studying the Grimoire, but it was different.

     "The birds at school, the deer last night, just like the deer when I got bit by the alpha," Scott said while looking at the symbol and then looking at Derek. "How many are there?"

     "A pack of them. An alpha pack," Derek answered.

     "A pack of alphas?" Andi asked, wondering if that was even possible and Derek nodded.

     "All of them? How does that even work?" Stiles asked.

     Andi was wondering the same thing. How could there be an entire pack with just alphas? In a pack, the alpha was the leader and the rest were betas. If there was a pack with only alphas, who were all leaders, how did they maintain order within that pack without trying to kill each other?

     "I heard there's some kind of a leader. His name is Deucalion," Derek said.

     "So, not only is there a pack of alphas, there is some super werewolf who is the alpha of alphas?" Stiles asked.

     "If you really think about it, a pack of alphas would be chaos because alphas are meant to lead. If you have a pack with only alphas then everyone might want to lead and would kill each other for the role. But if there is an alpha to lead the rest of the alphas, the pack would still have order like a standard pack," Andi said and Derek looked at the teenage girl with his eyebrows raised.

     "Impressive analysis," he said and Andi smiled smugly.

     "Balance," she said and Derek had gotten back on topic.

     "Listen, we know they have Boyd and Erica. Peter, Isaac and I have been trying to find them for the last four months," he said.

     "So, Isaac wasn't missing for as long as Boyd and Erica were? He was still here trying to help you find them but then they took him too, assuming that's the case," Andi said and Derek nodded.

     "How do you deal with an alpha pack?" Scott asked

     Derek sighed. "With all the help I can get," he replied.

     Andi stood there trying to process all of this new information about an alpha pack with a leader who was supposed to be some super alpha. It was moments like this that made her wish she could go back to being a normal kid.

     "Where is she?" Everyone turned around and saw that Isaac was awake and sitting up. "Where's the girl?"

     Scott, Stiles and Derek looked at Andi who only scowled at them. Did they really think he was talking about her?

     "Not me, you idiots!" she said and Stiles sighed.

     "You know, maybe you'd be better off if you weren't so mean," he said.

     "Oh, this isn't me being mean. If you want, I can show you how mean I can really be," Andi replied with her arms crossed.

     "If he's not talking about Andi, then what girl is he talking about?" Derek asked and Andi cleared her throat.

     "Remember how I used that locator spell to find Isaac? In my vision, I saw someone with him, which I mentioned, but I didn't see their face. I also said they were being chased by two alphas," Andi said.

     "They must be part of the pack," Scott said.

     "And the girl is probably the person Andi saw with Isaac in her vision," Stiles added.

     "I don't remember what happened, all I know is that this girl saved me," Isaac said.

     "Was she at the hospital?" Andi asked while looking at Scott.

     "I don't know. My mom never mentioned a girl and I've never even heard of her until now," he replied and Andi sighed.

     "Well, right now we need to find a way to get Isaac's memories back," Derek said.

     "The girl who found me, she said they use their claws to share memories but also to steal them," Isaac said.

     "Maybe you saw something you weren't supposed to. You probably got too close to finding Boyd and Erica so they took your memories. But then you escaped and they knew that if we found you, we would get your memories back so they tried to take you from the hospital before we could get to you," Andi said when it all started to make sense to her.

     "Well, obviously and luckily, they failed at that part," Stiles said and Isaac felt around the back of his neck.

     They needed a way to get Isaac's memories back and they needed to find a way fast. The longer they waited, the smaller their chances got at finding Boyd and Erica. The alpha pack could be doing anything to them as they stood around trying to figure out their next move while Isaac was practically an amnesiac.

     "Andi, please tell me the Grimoire mentioned some sort of spell to restore someone's memories," Scott said.

     "There is one but no one uses it because it can cause some mental damage for the person being forced to remember," Andi said and the boys groaned.

     "We need to try," Derek said and Andi narrowed her eyes at him before looking at Isaac and then back at Derek.

     "You don't know how this spell works. Isaac will be forced to remember what happened and he will also be forced to feel everything he felt before those memories were taken. It can cause some intense mental pain and it can be emotionally traumatizing," she said.

     "How do you know this if no one uses it?" Scott asked.

     "Because it has been used before and the witches from past generations always warn the new witches of which spells should be avoided. It's called learning from past mistakes," Andi said with her arms crossed.

     "So, what happened when someone lost their memories and they needed to be recovered?" Isaac asked.

     "They found other ways that were just as effective and less traumatic," Andi answered. "Trust me, there is always another way."

     "I know someone who might be able to help," Derek sighed while looking at the ground.

     All the teens shook their heads and voiced their protests against Derek's proposition.

     "Don't even!"

     "Absolutely not!"

     Andi and Isaac spoke at the same time while Scott and Stiles just agreed with them. "We are not asking Peter for help. We are not that desperate," Stiles said.

     "To be fair, we're not desperate enough to put Isaac through any emotional trauma either," Scott replied.

     "Thank you!" Andi said.

     "But we have to think about this. Every moment we spend debating how to get Isaac's memories back is another moment we don't find Boyd and Erica," Derek said.

     At this point, they had two options for recovering Isaac's forgotten memories. They could either bring in Peter, Derek's psychotic uncle, or they could have Andi use the memory restoration spell on him and risk traumatizing him more than he already went through.