Change on the Rise [On Hold]

04. Second Chance at First Line (Part Two)

"The other night... when you were out here, looking for the first half of the body?"

Stiles nodded. "Yes."

"The night that you told me you were alone and Scottie was at home?"

"Yes." She cringed when she realized she just outed herself and Scottie and tried to backtrack. "...No." The sheriff her a hard look, and Stiles realized she'd been caught and sighed. "Oh, crap..."

Sheriff Stilinski, sounding exhausted and out of patience, stared at Stiles intensely. "So, you lied to me."

Stiles spoke in a hesitant tone. "That depends on how you define "lying...""

"Well, I define it as "not telling the truth." How do you define it?"

"Um... "reclining your body in a horizontal position?"" She gestured with her hands to emphasize her point, and the sheriff, annoyed and irritated, finally dismissed her.

"Get the hell out of here."

Eager to get out of the tense conversation, Stiles wasted no time doing exactly as she was told. "Absolutely."

ROAD

Stiles and Scottie sped out of the woods in the Jeep. Inside the vehicle, Stiles was driving while Scottie sat in the passenger seat, trying to research on her phone. After a moment, she impatiently spoke up. "I can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial."

"Just keep looking," Stiles told her. "Maybe it's like a ritual or something? Like, maybe they bury you as a wolf." She thought about it for a moment, biting on her tongue as she did so, before she offered another theory. "Or, maybe it's like a special skill, you know? Like, something you have to learn?"

Scottie, overwhelmed by all this Werewolf business, rolled her eyes and sighed before muttering under her breath, "I'll put it on my "To Do" list, right underneath "figuring out how the hell I'm playing this game tonight.""

Stiles was too distracted by her own mental hypothesizing to hear Scottie and kept talking as though Scottie hadn't spoken. "Maybe it's different for girl Werewolves..."

Scottie, who had been growing increasingly irritable throughout their conversation, finally lost her patience entirely and snapped at Stiles. "Okay, stop it!"

Stiles frowned. "Stop what?"

Scottie's tone turned irritable. "Stop saying "Werewolves!" Stop enjoying this so much!"

"Are you okay?"

Scottie answered in a dark tone, "No!" She doubled over a bit in her seat, as though she was in pain. "No, I'm not. I'm so far from being okay."

Stiles got an idea of what this could possibly be about and looked at her with concern, not immediately noticing the sheen of sweat that had begun to coat the skin on Scottie's face as she seemed to start to hyperventilate. "You know, you're gonna have to accept this, Scottie. Sooner or later."

Scottie doubled over more and began panting hard as she groaned. "I can't."

"Well, you're gonna have to."

"No! I can't breathe..." Stiles looked alarmed as Scottie groaned loudly in a voice that had the dark undercurrent of a Werewolf voice along with it. "AHH!" Scottie thumped her hand against the roof of the Jeep and could no longer take it as she yelled again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...!" Stiles, alarmed, swerved her car out of shock, which only caused Scottie more pain.

"AHH! Pull over!"

"Why? What's happening?"

Scottie instinctively opened the backpack between them and was horrified to see that the wolfsbane plant and the rope with the flowers attached to it was inside. She looked at Stiles incredulously. "You kept it?"