Bravely Courageous

14

They made their way into his office. Scott and Stiles immediately took the chairs, and Maggie stood behind them, next to her brother, rejecting Stiles' offer to sit on his lap.

The new principal studied their papers. "Scott McCall. Academically not the most accomplished, but I see you have become quite the star athlete. Miss and Mr. Hawthorne. Stellar grades, but little to no extracurriculars. Mr. Stilinski. Oh, perfect grades, but little to no extracurriculars. Maybe you should try lacrosse."

"Oh, actually I'm already-" Stiles began.

The principal interrupted Stiles. "Hold on. McCall. You're the Scott that was dating my granddaughter."

"We were dating, but not anymore," Scott said. "Not dating, not seeing any of each other or doing anything with each other -- At all."

He smiled. "Relax, Scott, you look like you're about to crack a cyanide pill with your teeth."

"Just a hard breakup," Scott lied.

Allison's grandfather smiled at Scott sarcastically. "The references don't bother me. Oh, that's too bad. You seem like a pretty nice kid to me. Now listen, guys. Yes, I am the principal, but I really don't want you to think of me as the enemy."

Stiles gave a small scoff. "Heh, is that so?"

The principal nodded. "However, this being my first day, I do need to support my teachers. So unfortunately, someone is going to have to take the fall and stay behind for detention."

Scott, Maggie and Caleb shared a look before turning to Stiles.

Scott and Derek headed to Isaac's house and found that he'd been abused by his father and would sometimes be locked in a freezer.

Caleb and Maggie decided to wait for Stiles.

As soon as detention was over, Stiles saw them and smiled. "You waited."

"Yeah, well, it was the least I could do after you took the fall for me, my brother and Scott," she reasoned with a shrug. "Your phone's ringing."

He answered his phone and put it on speaker. "Hey, sorry, Harris literally just let me out of detention. Literally. And he had my phone the whole frickin' time."

"Well, we need to do something right now. They were asking me all these questions about Lydia, Maggie and Caleb and how the girls were bitten by Peter, and then they sent this guy out. They were also asking questions about Maggie and Caleb, and what they are and what Maggie might become. I told them I didn't know anything," Allison informed.

"What guy?" Caleb demanded. "Maggie was scratched. Not bitten. There's a difference. And the scratch wasn't that deep."

"He was dressed as a sheriff's deputy."

Stiles' eyes widened. "They're sending him to the station for Isaac."

"He was also carrying this box with something on it, like, um, like a carving or something."

"What was it?"

"Hold on, hold on. It's in one of these books. I'm taking a picture. Did you get it?"

Stiles, Caleb and Maggie looked at the picture that was sent to Stiles. "Yeah, wolfsbane."

"What does that mean?" Allison questioned.

"It means they're gonna kill him."

A few minutes later, Caleb asked, "Did you slow him down?"

"You could say that," Allison replied.

Stiles let out a sigh. "All right, well, uh, Caleb, Maggie and I are headed to the station right now."

"Where's Scott?"

"Isaac's."

"Does he have a plan?"

Stiles glanced to Caleb and Maggie and admitted, "Yeah, but not a very good one. And unfortunately, we don't really have time to come up with anything better."

Allison hung up and they met up with Derek. Maggie and Caleb were in the back. Stiles turned to Derek. "Okay, now the keys to every cell are in a password protected lockbox in my father's office. The problem is getting past the front desk."

"I'll distract her," Derek replied.

Stiles put a hand on Derek's shoulder. "Whoa, whoa, whoa -- you? You're not going in there." Derek frowned at Stiles' hand. "I'm taking my hand off."

"I was exonerated."

"You're still a person of interest," Maggie reminded him.

Derek glared at her. "An innocent person."

"An -- you? Yeah, right! Okay, fine. What's your plan?" Stiles asked.

"To distract her," Derek answered slowly.

"Uh-huh. How? By punching her in the face? Unh."

"Heh, by talking to her."

"Okay, all right. Give me a sample. What are you gonna open with?" Derek remained silent. "Dead silence. That should work beautifully. Any other ideas?"

"I'm thinking about punching you in the face."

Maggie narrowed her eyes. "Punch him and I'll hurt you."

Caleb glanced at his sister and shook his head and she stuck her tongue out at him.

They followed Derek into the station. The deputy manning the front desk looked at Derek. "Good evening, how can I help -- you?"

Derek put on a sweet smile. "Hi."

"Hi," the deputy replied.

Stiles, Caleb and Maggie walked past the front desk, and Maggie chuckled lightly, pleasantly surprised that Derek could look pleasant and not brooding.

They reached the sheriff's office and were almost immediately attacked by a shifted Isaac. Maggie and Caleb attempted to get his attention, but Isaac directed his attacks toward them. He would have gotten Maggie had Caleb not pulled her back.

"Oh, no," Stiles said.

Maggie pushed him off and glared, lifting her hand.

Isaac rushed Stiles. "Oh. Uh, just looking, um -- Oh, sh-"

Maggie moved in front of Stiles and uttered a silent spell, forcing Isaac back.

Derek appeared and growled loudly. Isaac shifted back and cowered against the wall, covering his head with his arm. Stiles turned to Derek, awe evident on his face. "How did you do that?"

Derek looked at Stiles. "I'm the Alpha."

The Alpha and his beta left, and Stiles, Maggie and Caleb stayed behind. Stiles pointed at the unconscious hunter lying on the ground. "Uh, he did it."

Maggie rolled her eyes, knowing they wouldn't be believed no matter what they said. One glance at Caleb told her he thought the same.