—

Ryder was unaware of whose bright idea it was for all of them to read the dread doctor's book, but when she finds out she'll have a few words for them. She easily could have avoided reading it by simply saying 'no', but she considered herself to be a fair woman and if Isaac and Austin were participating, she would as well.

Lydia made herself comfortable on one of the couches in Scott's living room, "My mom's book club usually has more wine."

"Being eighteen and drinking wine sounds a little weird to me." Isaac admitted,

"That's because wine is for single moms and mafia wives." Ryder said, lulling her head back against the couch she sat on.

Austin, being on the ground in between her legs, chuckled, his mind going back to all the times his mom chose wine over beer at literally any event they went to. Around that time, she technically wasn't consider a 'single' mom but his father didn't do shit to help so it counted.

"They also probably didn't read books that cause violent hallucinations." Stiles spoke up.

"That's why Malia's here." Scott said.

"So none of us go running into traffic?"

"Or worse."

"What's worse than that?" Austin frowned,

"Like what happened to Judy." Malia's words got looks of confusion from the group, "Chapter 14."

"Maybe I should have my mother read it. She might remember a girl with a tail leaping off the ceiling and attacking everyone." Lydia said.

"Yeah, if it works."

"It has to."

"What's that mean?" Isaac looked at the strawberry blonde with furrowed brows.

"I think I saw them during my surgery." The Martin girl admitted, "When I look at the cover of the book...It's almost like..."

Lydia trailed off, trying her hardest to think about how she wanted to describe it. She didn't have to think long as Theo seemed to know exactly what she wanted to say,

"A memory trying to surface."

"...Yeah."

Ryder's head snapped to the Raeken, her brown eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at him. She would've assumed he didn't feel her gaze seeing as he hadn't looked at her, but she could hear his heartbeat speed up when she locked eyes on him.

She looked away when she felt Austin subconsciously rub her calf, successfully bringing her attention away from Theo. She began running her fingers through his hair while her she took a quick glance at Stiles who sat in the kitchen with Malia.

"Isn't that what Valack wanted when he wrote it?" Kira asked,

"If they did something to me, I want to know what it is." Lydia shrugged.

"I don't." Isaac mumbled, nudging Ryder softly as he knew she'd agree with him.

And she did.

Last thing she wanted was to relive a memory she didn't remember. What was the point?

•••

The room had been quiet for quite some time now, aside from the tapping of Austin's shows clicking together to keep himself awake.

Scott looked up from his book to check on everyone, "Anyone feel anything yet?"

"Tired." Kira groaned.

Lydia added on, "Hungry."

"Bored." Ryder spoke up, placing the open book on her chest to avoid losing her page.

"Annoyed." Isaac finished.

Theo let a small laugh slip, "I think he meant the book."

Isaac, Austin and Ryder simultaneously turn their heads towards him, startling him with how in sync they were with each other. And although, Isaac's head turn was a bit delayed with the couples, the reaction time was weird.

Austin looked away, his blue eyes looking back towards his book, head leant up against Ryder's leg once more as he chose to completely ignore Theo's presence.

Isaac, on the other hand, seemed like he wanted to prove to Theo that he wasn't fond of him. The Lahey had no legitimate reason to dislike him aside from the obvious admiration Scott held for him. That in itself was enough to piss Isaac off. It was like Scott was oblivious to the drama Theo was beginning to cause.

Unknown to them, however, Isaac was almost sure that something was wrong with the Raeken. The first reason being how he spotted the odd looks he had been giving Stiles recently.

Now, Isaac knew that Donovan's death wasn't some random punishment from the dread doctors. He knew Stiles killed Donovan. He purposely chose to keep quiet about it as he didn't want to be involved at all. What Stiles did was Stiles' business.

And apparently Ryder's.

Scott might not have paid very close attention to his best friend, but since Isaac had gotten his powers he had been on high alert for nearly everything.

He smelled the blood under Stiles' fingernails despite the ridiculous amount of soap he tried using to mask and clean it. He also noticed how his heart would drop anytime death or Donovan was mentioned. He saw the pleading looks the Stilinski gave Ryder in hopes that she wouldn't tell anyone.

She didn't, of course she didn't. That was one of Ryder's best qualities. If no one asked her, she wouldn't say anything. She didn't care enough to spill your business to the public. But Isaac was almost sure that even if Scott asked anything, she wouldn't tell on Stiles. Maybe that's why he told Ryder and not anyone else.

Meanwhile, he knew that if he was asked about it, he might spill. Not on purpose, of course, he didn't want to ruin anything for Stiles. Yeah, they might bicker every now and then, but he didn't want the kid losing everything.

That's why Isaac just chose to mind his business. He usually did. It used to work all the time when his dad brought someone over or stole something from the store. When he minded his own, he wouldn't end up in trouble. He felt like that was the best option. He didn't want to end up on the bad end once everyone found out that Stiles killed Donovan.

And though his loyalty was with Scott, Isaac knew who he'd be siding with if it came down to it.

•••

A few minutes later, Austin was now on the couch, head tilted back with Ryder's head in his lap and her feet on Isaac's.

The couple had fallen asleep, one from pure exhaustion and the other being boredom.

Isaac was dozing off, his mind slowly starting to merge the words on the page together. He was quickly losing focus.

He might've seemed like he was asleep but he was paying close attention to everything going on around him.

•••

Josie sighed softly as she laid in Ramona and Aaron's bed, the couple on either side of her. They weren't meant to be having a sleepover since Ryder wouldn't be home until the next morning but it ended with Aaron asleep with Jesse on his chest and Ramona was wide awake watching tv with their youngest daughter.

"What's going on?" Ramona nudged her.

Josie pursed her lips, "Nothing."

"You sighed. Something's wrong." The woman had been dealing with upset sighs since Ryder was born. She knew when something was wrong with her children, she didn't need a sigh to prove that but confirmation was good.

The girl blew out a breath, sitting up against the headboard, careful to not bump her sleeping dad and brother, "There's this girl."

"Oh?"

"And I think Liam likes her."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. They freaking hated each other a few weeks ago and now he's chasing her around some teen club to give her money for breaking her nose or something when they were in sixth grade."

Ramona's eyes widened a bit, "He...broke her nose?"

"She jumped in the fight. I would've broken her nose too." She scoffed, "My point is that I think he likes her. And I don't like that he likes her, mom."

Ramona had been in a similar position before, that being the first time she saw Ryder freak out over a boy. That boy just so happened to be Stiles Stilinski, who was now fawning over her while she continued to fall more and more in love with a guy that didn't even look at anyone else.

"Listen to me." Josie looked at her, "If he doesn't like you and he decides to choose some girl that hardly speaks to him over you, then that's his own fault. Because eventually, you'll find someone who's going to put you first. Liam's a good kid, i'm sure of it. But if he's throwing you mixed signals, you might want to think about looking in a different direction."

Josie thought over her words, nodding softly to herself before leaning over and grabbing her phone off the side table.

"Can Ryder and I stay home from school tomorrow?"

"Sure, why?" Her response was quick and easy, not something a parent would usually do but Ramona knew her daughters needed a break from that hell they called school. The school year just started and they've already been through quite a lot. Better to let them stay home in the beginning when there's less work than for them to start missing days at the end of the year.

"I want her to dye my hair."

—
A/N: this is the last update until Christmas... sorry for the lack of posting :)