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chapter five: jokes on you

Stiles and I began running through the woods to try and find our way out. When suddenly Stiles started yelling and I heard another person yelling back. 

"Oh you big babies it's us!" I said, catching my breath from the running.

"Oh, I think I found something." My brother said.

"So did I." Scott said, grabbing our attention. "It was Malia, that coyote."

"What?" I asked.

"I don't know how but she's in there. What did you find?"

Scott began following us as we lead him to the den we found before.  "It's a coyote den." Stiles said.

"Werecoyote." Scott said.

"You see this? This is Malia's. Remember, it's the same one she was wearing in the photo." I said, grabbing the blue coat.

"We shouldn't be in here." Scott said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"She's not going to come back now. We just invaded her home. Our scent's going to be everywhere." Scott explained.

"If she's not going to come back here, where's she going to go?" Stiles asked.

"I don't know." Scott said.

"Can you track her now? You think you got her scent?" I asked.

"Maybe. But I'm better at this when I'm a full wolf. And I'm still worried that if I do it, I won't be able to turn back." Scott said.

The three of us sighed almost in unison.

"The door's still open." Stiles said.

"If I can't get to Derek, we're gonna have to find someone else to help." Scott said. "This is basically a crime scene, right? I think it might be a little out of my boss's league."

"And more in our dad's." I said.

We crawled out of the den and I called my dad and soon enough three cars pulled up and started investigating, after about fifteen minutes my dad came out.

"You're sure it was her?" My dad asked.

"I looked her right in the eyes. And they glowed just like mine." Scott said.

"It makes sense, Dad." Stiles added.

"But it wasn't a girl. It was a four-legged coyote, right?" My dad asked.

"Well, okay. But yeah, see, that's the point that we don't exactly have figured out yet." I said.

"Okay, but if it was a full moon and she did change while her mom was driving, then anything could've happened." Scott said.

"Horrible things could've happened. Ripping, shredding, tearing things." Stiles said and I elbowed him.

"Which is probably what caused the accident." Scott said.

"Think about it, Dad, all right. They're driving, Malia starts to change, she goes out of control, the mom crashes and everybody dies." I said.

"Except for Malia." Scott adds.

"She blames herself, all right, goes off running into the woods and eventually becomes trapped inside the body of a coyote." Stiles explained and we all nodded.

"That makes sense." My dad said and my brother let out a sigh of relief. "In a Chinese folktale!" My dad snipped. "Guys, this is-- this is insane. I need this kept quiet. The three of you, not a word. I don't want anyone hearing about this. I especially don't want Mr. Tate hearing about this." While my dad asked for confirmation Scott had zoned out.

"Scott? Scott!" I said.

"Sorry. What did you say?" He asked.

At that another car pulled up and my dad did not look pleased.

"Oh, hell." He muttered under his breath and who emerges from the car but Mr. Tate and Scott's dad. "Mr. Tate." My dad greeted him but he had no response instead he walked to my dad and took the blanket from his hand.

"Mr. Tate?" Agent McCall interjected.

"It's hers." He said.

"All right, wait here." Agent McCall said.

"Dad." Scott spoke up. " I'll talk to you in a minute. I wouldn't mind hearing how your mom's okay with you running around in the woods this late."

"Jokes on you, I'm a werewolf." I said, sticking my tongue out at the back of Agent McCall's head as him and my dad walked away.

Stiles rested his hand on my shoulder with a light smile. "C'mon, we should get home. We've got school tomorrow." 

~

It was just after the bell and I was on my way to Bio when I saw Allison in the hall.

"Allie!" I called and she turned her head.

"Oh my god, hi." She said, startled.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, just a lot going on." She sighed. "I know I've said it a million times but I'm so sorry about the other day."

"Hey. You're not in your head, no sweat." I said. "Still love you always."

"Thank god." She grinned, wrapping her arms around me. "I gotta run I'm late for French, see you later." 

"Bye." Just as Allison ran off the door to the boys classroom flung open and out came Stiles and Scott, and my brother did not look good.

"Scott?" I asked.

"Come with me." He said, and I jogged to follow them into the boys bathroom.

"Stiles, look at me, hey. Is this a panic attack?" I asked.

"It's a dream, it's a dream. This is just a dream." Stiles said, looking at his reflection and holding onto the sink.

"No, it's not. This is real. You're here. You're here with me. Okay, what do you do? I mean, like, how do you tell if you're awake or dreaming?" Scott asked.

"Your fingers you count your fingers." I said, and Scott looked at me. "You have extra fingers in dreams."

"How many do I have?" He said to Stiles, holding up his hands.

"Hey! Look at me." I interjected and got my brother's attention. "Come on, Stiles. Look at Scott's hands and count with us."

Stiles began counting Scott's fingers out loud.

"Keep going." Scott encouraged him.

As Stiles reached ten I watched the color return to his face and his breathing slow so mine could start back up again, I ran to him and hugged him.

"What the hell is happening to me?" Stiles asked.

"We'll figure it out. You're going to be okay." I said.

"Am I?" He asked, angrily. "Are you? Scott, you can't transform. Allison's being haunted by her dead aunt. And I'm straight up losing my mind." Stiles said, taking a pause.

"We can't do this. We can't we can't help Malia. We can't help anyone." Stiles said, and I've never heard him talk like that.

"We can try." I said.

"We can always try." Scott added.

When the ball rang none of us moved, I stayed on the floor holding my brother when I noticed Scott's attention shift.

"Hey." I said, and he put his hand up. "You hear something?"

"Malia." He said, and took off running.

"Well, isn't this a great day." I said, getting up and grabbing my bookbag before pulling my brother up.