WREN HAD BEEN PATTING ISAAC ON THE BACK FOR AN HOUR. She was weirdly awful at comforting people, so she just kept asking him what happened and tried to be nice. She accidentally let a comment slip about him going crazy, but she apologized profusely for it. She couldn't get much information out of him, and she finally just stood up and headed over to Scott. "He's really shaken up, but he doesn't remember much."

"Okay, we'll take him to Deaton," he told her, and she nodded. They stood there in silence for a bit, and she cursed herself for being so awkward. They used to be best friends, but over the summer, she had gotten tired of him constantly talking about Allison. So, she somehow ended up hanging out with Lydia a lot. Finally, Scott broke the silence. "Is, uh, something going on between you guys?"

"Me and Isaac?" she asked, kind of surprised.

He nodded in confirmation, and for some reason, he seemed really nervous but also very interested. "Yeah. I mean, you went to the dance together, so I didn't know if that was still happening."

"Uh, no, it's not. We're just friends," she told him. Nothing remotely romantic had happened with Isaac since...ever. They had gone to the dance together, but it kind of ended after that. They spent some time together in the beginning of the summer, but then he disappeared with Derek and Peter. "Why?"

"No reason. Just asking," he said quickly, shaking his head and looking down at his feet. He looked like he was trying to play it cool, but she had no clue what he was playing it cool about.

She raised her eyebrows, and she began shifting on her feet. She wasn't sure how to ask what she wanted to ask without it being weird. "Would you care if we were?"

"No, of course not," he responded, and once again, he said it very fast. He watched her for a moment as she stared ahead at the wall of the Hale house, his eyes scanning her face. "I want you to be happy." She offered a smile in response, not sure what to say. "Speaking of happy, how have you been doing lately? I feel like I haven't checked up on you lately."

"Pretty good, actually. I haven't had an episode in months," she informed him. She had had a strangely good summer, and nothing insane had happened. There was a shocking lack of supernatural problems, and she lived a fairly stable life.

He smiled slightly a that before questioning, "You would tell me if you did, though, right?"

"Yeah, of course," she replied, although she wasn't sure if that was the truth. A year ago, the answer would be one hundred percent, but recently, especially last school year, she felt that he always had something new he was dealing with. She got the feeling that her problems were just piling on top of his.

However, that didn't stop her from grinning when he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a side hug.

《❀》

"OBVIOUSLY, IT'S NOT GOING TO be particularly...comfortable," Deaton informed Isaac. "But, if we can slow your heart rate down enough, you'll slip into a trance-like state."

Scott, Stiles, and Derek were currently pouring a ton of bags of ice into a tub in the middle of the animal clinic. Apparently, it was some sort of science supernatural way to jog Isaac's memory about what he remembered when he found Boyd and Erica. Someone had erased his memory it seems.

Wren was leaning against the wall next to Isaac, listening to the veterinarian talk. Every once in a while, the two would share awkward looks since they still hadn't talked.

The Lahey boy nodded slowly as they began to walk toward the tub. "Like being hypnotized.

"Exactly. You'll be half-transformed. It'll let us access your subconscious mind," the man explained to him, and the younger boy crouched down in front of the water and ice and stared down at it.

Scott questioned curiously, wondering just how dangerous this was going to be for Isaac, "How slow does his heart rate need to be?"

"Very slow," Deaton answered.

Derek stepped into the conversation and leaned against the tub, a little concerned for his beta's safety because the doctor was making this sound really dangerous. "Okay, well, how slow is very slow?"

"Nearly dead," he replied almost immediately, shrugging it off like it was nothing.

"Good luck, my friend," Wren sighed, patting Isaac on the shoulder. He sent her a glare, letting her know that she was not helping. "Sorry."

He winced when he dipped his hand in the water before he looked up at Deaton. "It's safe, though, right?"

"Do you want me to answer honestly?" the veterinarian quizzed.

"No." He shook his head, staring back down at the water. "No, not really." All of a sudden, a rubber glove snapped, causing all of them the whip their heads around to see Stiles dramatically pulling the glove over his hand.

When he saw them all giving him looks, he furrowed his eyebrows. "What?" One look from Derek, though, and he just peeled it off and dropped it on the ground.

"Look, if it feels too risky, you don't have to do this," Derek told the Lahey boy, and Scott nodded along in agreement. Isaac just glanced at him before pulling his shirt over his head. He exhaled as he stared down at the water before climbing in.

Once he was in a sitting position, he was already gasping and gripping the sides of the tub hard. The two other werewolves in the room glanced at each other before grabbing each of his shoulders and plunging him into the water. His eyes almost immediately turned yellow, and his fangs came out as he tried to fight against them.

Water was going everywhere, and Wren winced as she watched the scene play out. Deaton, who was just standing there, ordered, "Get him back under. Hold him!"

"We're trying!" Derek yelled back. Finally, they were able to hold him under for long enough that he went still. They slowly released him and allowed his head to float to the surface on its own.

Deaton looked around at all of them. "Okay, no one else talk. Too many voices will confuse him and draw him out. Isaac? I'd like to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?"

"Yes," he replied, his voice shaky and cold.

"I want to ask you about the night you found Erica and Boyd," the man informed him, his voice remaining calm and quiet. "I want you to remember it for me in as vivid detail as possible, like you're actually there again."

That made him freak out. The lights around them began to flicker as he squirmed slightly, causing the boys to hold him down again. "I—I don't wanna do that. I don't—I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna do that."

"Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. It's okay. Just relax. They're just memories. You can't be hurt by a memory. It's all right," Deaton assured him.

Isaac continued to shake his head and move. He insisted, "I don't want to do that."

"I'm here. I'm right here. Just calm down," the vet told him, and when he didn't do anything different, Wren reached into the freezing water and grabbed his hand, lifting out of the tub a bit. He took a couple deep breaths and began to calm down like Deaton told him to. The lights stopped flickering, and Wren smiled. "Good. You're doing great. Now, let's go back to that night — to the place you found Erica and Boyd. Can you tell me what you see? Is there some kind of building? A house?

"It's not—It's not a house. It's stone. I think marble. It's dusty, so empty," he corrected her,

"Like an abandoned building?" Deaton asked. All of a sudden, the lights began to flicker once again, and the Lahey boy started breathing heavily. His hand moved to grip Wren's wrist tightly, not enough to hurt her but enough to signal to her that he was scared. "Isaac?"

He breathed out, "Someone's here. Someone's here! No, no, no, they see me! They see me!"

"Isaac, calm down. It's okay. It's just memories. Now, tell us what you see. Tell us everything," the man requested, and his grip on Wren's arm loosened just a little bit.

"I hear him," the cold werewolf muttered, and they guessed that he was talking about Boyd. "He's talking about the full moon, about being out of control when the moon rises."

Deaton furrowed his eyebrows. "Is he talking to Erica?"

"I think so. I can't...I can't see her, I can't see either of them. They're worried what they'll do during the moon. They're — they're worried that they're gonna hurt each other."

"If they're locked together on the full moon, they're gonna tear each other apart," Derek whispered to them, and Wren's eyes widened.

Deaton stated firmly, "Isaac, we need to find them right now. Can you see them?"

"No."

"Do you know what kind of room it is?" he quizzed, trying to hurry the conversation up. "Is there any kind of a marker? A number on a door? A sign?"

Then, he shot up into a sitting position. His eyes were open, but he still wasn't all there. He leaned back just a bit and looked around with a terrified expression. He muttered, "They're here. They...they...They see me! They found me! They're here!"

"It's okay," the Carter girl assured him, but it wasn't doing much good. His hand released her wrist, and he looked so scared.

"This isn't working," Derek said impatiently. "Isaac, where are you? Just tell me where you are. Isaac, where are you? Just tell me where you are!"

Everyone was yelling at each other, and Deaton was yelling at the Hale man to stop. Finally, Wren pulled on the Alpha's arm and screamed, "Derek, let him go! You're scaring him!"

"A vault! It's a bank vault! I saw it. I saw the name," the Lahey boy exclaimed, and Scott yelled him out of the tub while the blonde girl grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around him. "It's, uh, B-Beacon Hills First National Bank. It's, um... it's an abandoned bank, and they're keeping them locked inside, inside the vault." He looked around when he noticed the grim expressions on all of their faces. "What?"

"You don't remember what you said right before you came out of it, do you?" Stiles questioned since no one else wanted to be the one to tell the blonde boy.

Isaac shook his head uneasily. "No..."

"You said when they captured you, that they dragged you into a room, and that there was a body in it," the Stilinski boy explained hesitantly, glancing between all of his friends.

The beta furrowed his eyebrows, and the Carter girl refused to meet his eyes again when he turned to her for an answer to his next question. "What body?"

"Erica," Stiles sighed. "You said it was Erica."