Maggie tossed and turned in her sleep. Her nightmares were plagued with a crazy Alpha, a strawberry blonde, blood, and herself.
She screamed, seeing Peter attack her, then Lydia, and woke up with a sudden start.
Caleb ran into her room and dried her tears. "Hey, look at me. You're safe, Maggie."
Maggie's head whipped around wildly. "Where's Peter?" She looked at her hands, realizing she wasn't covered it blood.
Maggie let out a breath and shook as she whispered, "It felt so real, Caleb."
"I'm sure it did. You're safe, Maggie. Peter is gone. He's not gonna hurt you ever again. I promise."
She nodded slowly and curled up on her bed. Caleb tucked her in and as he left, he said, "I'm just in the other room, as usual. Don't hesitate to call if you need me."
Maggie nodded again as her eyes closed.
---
At school the next morning, Maggie walked between Lydia and Allison. Allison looked at Maggie and Lydia. "You really don't remember anything? Maggie, do you remember?"
Maggie shook her head. "No. Thank God."
Lydia shook her head. "They call it a fugue state, which is basically a way of saying "We have no idea why you can't remember running through the woods naked for two days." But personally, I don't care. I lost nine pounds."
Maggie let out a sigh and asked, "You ready for this? I'm glad to hear about the nine pounds, Lydia."
Lydia looked at Allison. "Please. It's not like my aunt's a serial killer."
They entered the school and everyone turned to look at them, zoning in on Lydia and Maggie with a cold silence. Allison offered them a smile. "Maybe it's the nine pounds."
Maggie had time before class, so she decided to head out to the lacrosse field. She felt the need to avoid the judgmental stares as much as possible.
Scott and Stiles were acting weirder than usual. Caleb stood by with an amused expression. Normally, she'd ignore it, but she was worried, and frankly, curious. Scott knocked a guy down and Maggie's eyes widened as Coach cried, "Usually the goalie stays somewhere within the vicinity of the actual goal."
"Yes, Coach," Scott answered, making his way back to the goal.
"Let's try that again."
Scott repeated his previous action and Coach yelled, "McCall! The position's goalkeeper. Not goal abandoner."
"Sorry, Coach."
"Let's go!"
Scott, once again, did the same thing. Coach turned to Stiles and noticed Maggie and Caleb. "Stilinski, Hawthorne one and two, what the hell is wrong with your friend?"
Stiles looked out at the field at Scott. "Uh, he's failing two classes. He's a little socially awkward and if you look close enough, his jawline's kind of even."
Coach listened to Stiles' words and frowned. "That's interesting. Let's fire it up."
Coach's face was turning red in frustration. "McCall! You come out of that goal one more time and you'll be doing suicide runs till you die. It'll be the first suicide run that actually ends in a suicide. Got it?"
"Yes, Coach," Scott said.
Jackson stepped to the sidelines. "Uh, Coach, my shoulder's hurting. I'm gonna -- I'm gonna sit this one out."
The new werewolf was none other than Isaac Lahey. He glanced between Maggie, Caleb, Scott and Stiles. "Don't tell them. Please don't tell them."
"His father's dead," Scott told them. "They think he was murdered."
Sheriff Stilinski made his way over to them and placed a hand on Isaac's shoulder. "Come on."
Caleb's brow furrowed. "Are they saying he's a suspect?"
Scott glanced at her and shrugged. "I'm not sure, why?"
"Because they can lock him in a holding cell for 24 hours," Stiles replied.
"Like, overnight?"
Stiles nodded at his friend. "During the full moon."
"How good are the holding cells at holding people exactly?"
Maggie frowned. "People, good; usually. Werewolves, probably not so good."
Scott's eyes widened slightly. "Stiles, Maggie, Caleb, remember when I said I don't have the urge to maim and kill?"
"Yeah," Stiles, Maggie and Caleb replied.
"He does," Scott said, glancing at Isaac.
While walking through the halls, Scott asked, "Why would Derek choose Isaac?"
Stiles sighed. "Peter told me that if the bite doesn't turn you, it could kill you. And maybe teenagers have a better chance of surviving."
Scott frowned and the moment they entered the classroom, he said, "Doesn't being a teenager mean your dad can't hold him?"
"Well, not unless he has solid evidence. Or a witness. Wait. Danny. Where's Jackson?"
Danny whipped around to face Stiles. "In the principal's office talking to your dad."
"What? Why?"
Danny rolled his eyes. "Maybe because he lives across the street from Isaac."
"Witness," Scott mumbled.
Stiles looked at Maggie, Caleb and Scott. "We gotta get to the principal's office."
"How?"
Caleb smirked and ripped a piece of paper from his notebook and wadded it up. "Everyone please turn to page 73." He threw the paper wad at Harris and hit him square in the back. Harris turned around. "Who in the hell did that?"
He pointed to Stiles who pointed to Scott who pointed to Maggie who pointed to Caleb. "Get to the office! Now!"
On the way to the office, Stiles said, "Nice one."
"Thanks," Caleb replied.
Scott chuckled. "I'll say."
The four reached the office, and upon seeing the sheriff in the office, Tabitha pressed her ear to the door. The sheriff said, "Listen to me, you're telling me that you knew Isaac's father was hitting him?"
Jackson responded. "Hitting him? He was kicking the crap out of him."
Stiles tried to hold Maggie's hand, but moved it before he could do anything and the sheriff continued speaking. "Did you ever say anything to anyone? A teacher, parent, anyone?"
"Nope. It's not my problem."
"No, no, of course not. You know, it's funny that the kids getting beat up are always the ones who least deserve it."
Maggie and Caleb nodded at the sheriff's words, agreeing.
"Yeah," Jackson replied. "Wait, what?"
"I think we're done here. Hi, Scott."
"H -- yeah," Scott said with a stutter.
"Boys. And young lady. Come on in," the older man from Kate's funeral told them.
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.