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Isaac stole the seat next to Lydia. I found a spot behind Lydia so that I could keep an eye on her. Allison was stuck next to Erica, and when Stiles went to go to Lydia, Harris made him take a seat next to Scott.

"If you're trying to test my patience, Mr. Stilinski, I guarantee it'll be a failing grade," Harris warned.

Isaac and Lydia quietly did the experiment, and every now and then, Isaac looked over his shoulder at me and smirked. I focused on my own work, whilst also keeping an eye on them. He knew I was watching him, and he was enjoying it.

The bell dinged one more time. "Time. If you've catalyzed the reaction correctly, you should now be looking at a crystal."

I took a look in the bottom of the beaker, to see Harris was right. We had created a clear crystal glistening in the glass beaker. Scott and Stiles, however, ended up with a lump that looked very unappealing.

"Now for the part of that last experiment I'm sure you'll all enjoy," Harris continued. "You can eat it."

I couldn't help but laugh. I would pay to watch one of the boys eat their attempt at a crystal.
My partner and I both took a piece out of the beaker and bit into it. It tasted sweet, like rock candy.

Then I remembered that I was supposed to be watching Lydia and Isaac. He offered her some of the crystal, but nothing seemed out of place.

Lydia smiled, taking the piece.

She took it and went to put it in her mouth. Just as she was about to bite into it, Scott jumped up from his seat.

"Lydia!" He shouted.

She pulled it away, turning to face Scott, highly confused. "What?"

Everyone was staring, so Scott just sat down, "Nothing."

Lydia took a bite, and that's when I realized. The test. The Kanima venom was on the crystal.

♡♢♤♧

Scott, Stiles, Allison and I met up to talk in Coach's office.

"Derek's outside waiting for Lydia," Scott told us all.

Allison looked extremely worried, "Waiting to kill her?"

"That's a safe bet," I sighed.

Scott nodded reluctantly, "If he thinks she's the Kanima, then yes, especially after what happened at the pool."

"Talk about holding a grudge."

"It's not her," Stiles continued to insist.

"She didn't get paralyzed, Stiles," I reminded him.

Scott nodded, "That's right, she didn't pass the test, man. Nothing happened."

He shook his head, "No, it can't be her."

Allison interrupted the back and forth. "It doesn't matter, because Derek thinks it's her. So either we can convince him that he's wrong, or we've got to figure out a way to protect her."

"I really don't think he's gonna do anything here, not at school," Scott said, trying to help us all not be so on edge.

"What about after school?"

"We've dealt with his psycho uncle, could he really be much worse?" I asked.

Allison considered it, but decided to continue to ask her question. "What if we can prove that Derek's wrong?"

"By three o'clock?" Stiles asked blankly.

"There could be something in the bestiary."

I sighed, "You do realize that that bestiary is nearly a thousand pages of archaic Latin, which none of us are able to speak, let alone read."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Stiles nodded.

When it just felt like we might have to give up, Allison spoke, "Actually, I think I know someone who might be able to translate it."

"I can talk to Derek," Scott said. "Maybe convince him to give us a chance to prove that it's not her."

"Talking," I let my head fall to the side. "You seriously think that that guy, the one who killed his own uncle, is going to listen to reason?"

"Well, that's why if anything happens, I want you guys to let me handle it, okay?"

Allison looked confused, "What does that mean?"

Scott didn't hesitate to answer, "It means you can't heal like I do. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Seriously, Scott?" I asked, crossing my arms and shaking my head.

It turned out that I didn't need to stand up for Allison though, she already had that covered. She pulled a crossbow out from her school backpack, holding it up with an unimpressed look on her face. "I can protect myself."

Stiles shrugged, looking at me, knowing that this was something he didn't need to put his two cents worth in.

Scott's face dropped, biting his cheek.

"What?" Allison asked, placing the crossbow down on the desk. "Did something else happen?"

When does something else ever not happen?

Scott didn't really answer the question, just kind of side-stepped it. "I just don't want you getting hurt. Seriously, if anything goes wrong, you call me, okay? I don't care if your dad finds out."

I stepped forward, butting in. "That's cute and all, Scott, but I think Mr Argent finding out about your 'secret' relationship is the least of our problems right now."

"Even if," Scott said, before turning back to Allison. "Call, text, scream, yell, whatever. I'll hear you and I'll find you as fast as I can. We have until three thirty."

Scott turned to go and open the door, when there was suddenly a quick hissing sound. With speed and precision, Scott spun around and caught the arrow that was flying towards his face.

I gasped, taking a step back, before looking for the source of the arrow.

"Uh. . ." Stiles fiddled with the crossbow awkwardly in his hands. "Sorry. Sorry."

I snatched the crossbow out of his hands, shaking my head as I passed it to Allison. "Stiles, what did we say about touching things that aren't ours?"

"Uh, yeah," Stiles muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "It's a sensitive trigger on that."

I grabbed Allison's arm and pulled her towards the door, "Let's go."

♡♢♤♧

"Do you mind me asking where you got this? A book?"

Allison and I stood in Ms. Morrell's classroom as she held a copy of a page about the Kanima from the bestiary.
I looked to my friend, expecting her to answer since it was her idea. "Um . . ." She stuttered, stumbling for an answer. "A family heirloom."

Ms. Morrell took a breath, her lips pursed. "Interesting family."

I chuckled awkwardly and Allison nodded, avoiding eye contact so as not to expose herself.

"I'm pretty familiar with most romance languages," she started shaking her head as she examined the page. "But this is a little out of my reach."

Allison shrugged, "Can you give it a shot?"

Ms. Morrell hesitated, before looking back down at the page. "All right, 'Kanima . . .' do I have that right?"

I nodded quickly, "Yes. What does it say?"

"'Like the wolf, its power is greatest at the moon's peak.'" The woman laughed, "Sounds like a werewolf."

I felt my whole body tense up, and Allison just started laughing as if it was actually funny.

Ms. Morrell seemed confused by our reactions to what she had said, but continued to read. Her face scrunched up a bit, "Oh, there's some words here I don't recognize."

"Just try. Please," Allison said really quickly, surprising Ms. Morrell.

"Could I hold onto it for a bit?"

"We actually kind of need it now," I answered. "Homework and stuff. Thanks."

Our teacher breathed out heavily. "All right. Um . . . Okay. 'Like the wolf, the Kanima is a social creature, but where the wolf seeks a pack, the Kanima seeks'" She paused, smiling up at us, "'a friend.'"

Allison and I looked at each other. "'A friend'?" The young Argent asked. "What does that mean?"

Morrell gave a small smile, looking at us both. "Maybe it's lonely."

"Like a teenager."

I ran a hand through my hair, readjusting my stance. "Well, that narrows it down," I muttered.

♡♢♤♧

Allison and I had received a text from Scott warning us that Isaac and Erica were on their way to collect Lydia.
And by 'collect', I meant that they were going to kidnap her and kill her.

"I thought that breaking up with Isaac would mean not seeing him as often, but now I'm seeing him more than I did when we were together," I sighed to Allison as we walked in search of the others.

She gave me a sad look, "No one thought that this whole thing would play out the way it has, trust me. Did you think that I planned for my boyfriend to turn out to be a werewolf?"

"Do you think I planned to have a crush on one best friend, another being turned into a werewolf, and the other being a hunter? And, not to mention my ex also being turned into a werewolf," I countered.

Before we could discuss the matter any further, Jackson was standing in front of us. "Stiles has her. We're going."

"And why are you coming?" I sneered as he began to walk away. Allison and I gave each other a look, before taking a few big steps to catch up with him.

"Cause Lydia and I need to talk."

I rolled my eyes, "Well, that sounds super interesting, but we've got more important things to deal with."

Jackson ignored me as he led us to the library. As soon as Stiles saw us, he walked over and we all walked out the door together.

"If we're doing a study group, why didn't we just stay in the library?" Lydia asked.

Stiles pursed his lips, "Because we're meeting up with someone else."

Lydia nodded, her face showing her disbelief. "Well, why don't they just meet us in the library?"

"Why does it matter?" I asked.

Stiles gave me a look, before turning back to Lydia. "Oh, that would've been a great idea. Too late."

Lydia stopped, holding a finger up, "Okay, hold on . . ."

"Lydia, shut up and walk," Jackson sneered, stepping forward and leading her out the door with his hand pushing her back.

Allison gave me an exasperated look, and I just shrugged. We needed to get her out of there, or she would've ended up dead. How we got her out was the least of my worries at that moment.

Stiles threw his hands up in the air, annoyed by Jackson and his presence. We had finally managed to get Lydia out to Stiles' Jeep, even though she was still confused and annoyed.

♡♢♤♧

"Where's Scott?" Lydia asked after we arrived at the boy's house.

Stiles grabbed onto Lydia, leading her towards the house. "Meeting us here, I think. I hope."

"He'd better show up," I muttered. I was over the whole thing. I just wanted all of the killings to stop and for everything to go back to normal.

Stiles unlocked the door and then lead us all into Scott's house. He shut the door, before clamping every lock on the door shut.

Lydia gave him a questioning look, and Stiles looked to the rest of us for help. I just shrugged, biting my lip as I tried to think of an excuse for why Stiles was acting so strangely.

"Uh . . ." Stiles mumbled. "There's been a few break-ins around the neighborhood."

Believable enough.

The girl seemed to accept his answer. Whether she actually believed it or not was a whole other story.

Just when I thought we were in the clear, Stiles shoved a chair beneath the door knob.
If Lydia wasn't questioning his behavior before, she definitely was now. She pointed to the door, eyes wide, expecting and explanation.

Stiles lips pursed into a straight line and his eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"And a murder," he said with eyebrows raised.

Allison had her head in her hand, Jackson had clenched his jaw in frustration, and I was just avoiding eye contact. No one knew a better explanation to give Lydia, so we had basically threw Stiles to the wolves.

"Yeah, it was bad," Stiles sighed.

Unable to watch the interaction continue, Allison gave Jackson the signal.

He rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated breath, "Lydia, follow me. I need to talk to you for a minute."

"Seriously?" Lydia groaned, following Jackson. "What is going on with everyone?"

Once they were out of earshot, I spun around to Stiles. "A break in and a murder? Really?"

"You weren't coming up with anything!" he hissed, throwing his hands up in the air.

"I'm going to call Scott," Allison sighed, stepping into the next room.

I was about to walk away, when Stiles grabbed onto my arm. After he pulled me back, I stared down at his hand expectantly, waiting for him to let me go.

He dropped his hand, looking down at me. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know. Check the back door or something?" I answered, though it was more of a question.

His eyebrows creased, "Melissa always locks all the door and windows; except for Scott's. You already know that, so what were you doing?"

"I don't know," I groaned. "What do you want from me, Stiles? I was just walking."

"I just-"

"You know what?" I interrupted, lifting a hand up. "We don't have time for this."

I stepped around him and pulled the curtain aside to look out to the street. Derek, Erica, Boyd and Isaac stood out on the road, talking in their leather jackets.

Seriously, what is with all the leather?

"Well, this is just great," I muttered.

Allison and Stiles looked out a window also, managing to look even more worried.

"What are you doing?" Stiles asked.

I was about to tell him that I wasn't doing anything, when I realized that he had been talking to Allison, who had pulled out her phone.

"I think . . ." Allison sighed. "I think I have to call my dad."

I pursed my lips, "Allison-"

"No, Riley."

"But, if he finds you're here with Scott . . ." Stiles tried.

"I know," Allison admitted, looking on the verge of tears. "But what are we supposed to do? They're not here to scare us, okay? They're here to kill Lydia."

"This is insane," I hissed. "How the hell is this actually happening right now?"

Stiles stepped forward, reaching towards me, "Ri, you need to calm down and-"

"No," I said, pulling him up short as I stepped away from his grasp. "No, I don't need to calm down. I need to check the back door."

"Riley, stop," Allison said in a soft voice.

I shook my head, walking towards the back door. Once I entered the kitchen, I sat at the dining table, resting my head in my hands.

I knew this wasn't the time for an outburst, but I just couldn't deal with the fact that my ex-boyfriend and a bunch of his werewolf buddies were about to break into Scott's house to kill my friend. That there was something happening to me. That Stiles was right there and I couldn't be honest with him.

I just needed a moment to take a breath; a moment by myself. Stiles was right, I needed to calm down.
I was never going to admit that to him, of course, but that didn't matter.

"Is she okay?" I heard a voice whisper from the other room. Stiles. It was Stiles.

"I think that's something you need to talk to her about," Allison whispered in return.

"Kind of hard when she avoids me."

It's not like it was entirely my fault. He didn't exactly seem like he wanted to talk to me either; but that's just my opinion.

The whole first floor of the house remained silent, until Stiles spoke again, no longer whispering. "I got an idea."

That must have meant that Derek and his pack hadn't made a move towards the house yet.

"Just shoot one of them," Stiles suggested.

I felt my heart freeze for a moment. Isaac was out there. No matter how I felt about his decision to become a werewolf, I didn't want him to die.

Allison was quick to reply, "Are you serious?"

"We told Scott we could protect ourselves, so let's do it," he explained. "Or at least give it a shot, right?"

Stiles had a point about protecting ourselves, but to what extent? Killing our classmates? We didn't have to stoop to Derek's level, did we?

"Okay," Allison agreed in a low voice.

I wanted to go and tell them not to, but I knew that that didn't matter. Not when they were going to try and kill one of our friends.

Standing up, I choked down my opinion and walked back over to them. "If you're going to try to do something, you need to do it soon. Or else they're going to make the first move, and we'll probably end up screwed."

They both seemed shocked by my reappearance, but decided not to question it. I knew Allison would give me the third degree later, but for now, I decided not to think about it.

We had to make it through tonight first.

Stiles nodded. "They don't think we're gonna fight, so if one of them takes a hit, I guarantee they'll take off."

"You guarantee?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

His head rolled a bit as he sighed, "I'm ninety-five per cent sure that they will take off."

"And the other five per cent?"

He shrugged, "They break in and try to rip our throats out."

"With their teeth," I finished.

He smiled slightly, not at the fact that we might die, but that we managed to speak to each other without it ending in an argument. And our little inside joke from when Derek used to say it to him all the time.

"So just shoot one of them," he instructed Allison, who was preparing to aim her crossbow.

Allison pulled the curtain aside, peering outside. "Which one?" She inquired, sounding rather on edge.

I felt my heart slow again, praying that he didn't suggest Isaac.

"Uh . . ." he was actually giving it some thought. "Derek."

Releasing a breath of relief, I allowed my posture to free itself of the rigidness that it had experienced for those few moments.

"Yeah, shoot him, preferably in the head," Stiles elaborated.

I scoffed, "No offense to Allison, but do you seriously think we'll be able to hit Derek?"

Allison nodded, "If Scott was able to catch an arrow, Derek definitely can."

"A very good point," I said, siding with Allison.

"Okay," Stiles conceded, "Just shoot one of the other three then."

"You mean two," the girl with the bow corrected.

Stiles looked confused, grabbing the curtain, "No, I mean three."

"Isaac, Boyd, Erica," I counted off on my fingers. "He's right."

Stiles and Allison rolled their eyes at my comment, as we all went and looked out the window.

My throat tightened and my heart was in my stomach. "He's gone," I said so low that no one could have possibly heard me.

"Where the hell is Isaac?" Stiles asked bitterly.

Allison took a step back from the window, pressing her bow against the glass as her breathing began to pick up.

We fell into silence, waiting for something to happen. I felt like we were deer, waiting for the hunter to stop playing and just shoot us.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a hand reach out and grab Allison.

She tried to swing the crossbow around, but she wasn't fast enough. Isaac threw her to the ground with ease, barely straining a muscle. Once she was out of the way, he then went after Stiles, throwing him towards the stairs.

The floor rug crumpled beneath the boy as he tried to get back up. Isaac's eyes began to glow as he looked down at Stiles, fangs bared. He went to grab Stiles and without even thinking, I rushed forward.

Gripping the arm he had raised, I pulled him away from Stiles. "Stop!"
He smirked, using the hand I didn't have clamped onto him to try and pry me away.
I turned to Allison, "Go and warn Lydia!"

Allison bolted upstairs and I heard a door open and then shut.

Isaac managed to unlock all of my fingers from his arm, but instead of pushing me away like he did with Allison and Stiles, he just help my arm.

Stiles climbed to his feet, grabbing a vase off of the hall table, holding it up in preparation to throw it at Isaac.

"Stiles! Riley! It's here!" We all heard Allison shout from above.

The Kanima. It was in the house with us.