"I'm so sorry about the other day. I'm trying. We'll get through this. I know because I love you."
"Whoa, am I interrupting some really intense bromance?"
Stiles and Scott's head snapped towards Cassie's direction who had a wide grin on her face and her arms crossed over her chest.
"No, you're not. I'm just helping Scott and Allison talk to each other. By the way, I can't do this anymore, Scott. You and Allison just have to find a better way to communicate!"
"Come on. You're the only one that we can trust. Is she coming to the game tonight?"
"Why is he the only one you guys can trust? I'm literally Allison's best friend," she complained. "By the way, yes, she's coming to the game tonight."
"Thank you, Cassie," Scott said. She nodded and went to go sit beside Stiles on the steps.
"Alright, now tell us about your boss," Stiles said.
"He thinks that Allison's family keeps some kind of records of all the things that they've hunted. Like a book."
"Oh, he probably means a bestiary."
"If you guys need help, my grimoire-"
"I think you mean bestially," Scott chuckled, cutting Cassie's sentence off.
"Nope, pretty sure I don't."
"It's like an encyclopedia of mythical creatures," Cassie said, a little upset that people keep cutting her sentences off.
"How am I the only one who doesn't seem to know anything about this stuff?"
"Okay, you know, you're my best friend, you're a creature of the night. It's kind of like a priority of mine."
"Okay, if we can find it, and it can tell us what this thing is... "
"And who," Stiles added.
"We need that book," Scott and Stiles said in synch.
--
It was Cassie's last class of the day. She was walking with Stiles, who was panting and sweating from running back and forth to Scott and Allison all day.
"Hey, Stiles?"
"Yeah?"
"What did the creature look like? The one that killed the mechanic. Describe it to me in every detail."
"Why do you need to know this?"
Because I'm feel like I'm not doing anything to help you guys and it's killing me.
"I just want to try to help you and Scott figure out what it is."
"Um, okay. It had scales, not like a fish, but kind of like a snake. Its eyes were slitted, they looked pretty reptilian actually. It has these massive claws, not like Scott's or Derek's, they looked longer, sharper," he explained. "That's pretty much all I can remember."
She nodded, taking in all the information. "Thanks, Stiles. I'll see you at the game. Text me the plan for tonight."
--
As soon as she and Em got home, she rushed upstairs to her room and got out her grimoire. She flipped through the pages until she found an illustration of a creature that looked exactly like Stiles' description.
"Scales like a snake... slitted, reptilian eyes... long and sharp claws..." she muttered, skimming her fingers lightly over the picture. "Kanima, creature of vengeance, a reptilian shapeshifter that seeks out a master," she read softly.
She smiled to herself, feeling proud that she finally did something to help out the group.
--
"Stiles!" Cassie shouted, running over to the bench where Stiles was sitting. "Stiles, you won't believe what I just found out-"
She was interrupted when coach blew his whistle for the 300 millionth time. "Come on! Is that thing even a teenager? I wanna see a birth certificate!" He yelled, sitting on the other side of Stiles. "Who or what is that genetic experiment gone wrong?"
"Eddie Obamowitz, coach. They call him "The Abomination"."
"Oh, that's cute," coach replied sarcastically.
He sighed, waiting for coach to leave, which took longer than expected, before turning back to Cassie. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"
"Oh, right, yes. So basically, I looked in my mother's grimoire and-"
A text notification from Stiles' phone interrupted her, cutting her sentence off. She sighed in frustration, just wanting to get at least one sentence out without being cut off or interrupted.
Got the keys. Plan is now in action.
-Allison
Cassie looked over his shoulder and saw the text message.
"Allison's got the keys, we should go do the plan now, but do you want to finish what you were telling me?"
"Uh, no, it can wait. Seriously, the plan's more important than this."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Stiles. Let's go, we can't waste any more time," she said, getting up from her seat.
He hesitantly got up from his seat and followed her. He inconspicuously took the keys to the office from Allison's hand. They two went into the front parking lot to try and get to the principal's office quicker but Cassie stopped when she heard sobbing coming from Lydia's car.
She walked to the driver's side of the car and saw Lydia wiping away her tears with a tissue. Before she could say anything, Lydia rolled her car window up.
"Lyd- Lyds, please roll down the window."
"No, just go away. I don't need anybody seeing me cry right now," she sniffled.
"Oh, come on, Lyds. You can talk to me. I make a very good therapist in mine and Erica's and Alli's opinion." Lydia looked at her, doubting she was telling the truth. "Lyds, come on. You can trust me."
Lydia sighed before hesitantly rolling down the window. "You're gonna think I'm crazy."
"Lyds, I already do. Nothing could make me think that you're even crazier," she joked, making Lydia glare at her. "Okay, not in the mood for jokes I see."
"Cass, we have to go."
"Just wait for another minute, Stilinski." She turned her attention back on the strawberry blonde. "You were saying?"
"Cass, seriously, we gotta go."
She sighed in defeat, rubbing her temple. "Alright fine. Look, just give me, like, ten minutes. I'll be back. I swear." Lydia nodded at the brunette before she ran off with Stiles to the entrance of the school.
Stiles unlocked the office with the keys and the both of them went inside, searching for the bestiary. When they couldn't find the book, Stiles got out his phone and texted Allison that the book wasn't in the office. They looked up at the door when they felt another presence and saw Erica standing there.
"Hello Stiles, Cassie."
--
Erica was pulling both Stiles and Cassie by the ear to the pool, where Derek was patiently waiting for them, twirling a basketball in his hands.
"Stiles, Cassie."
"Derek," both Cassie and Stiles said at the same time.
"What'd you see at the mechanic's garage, Stiles?"
Once again, left out of the equation.
"Uh, several alarming EPA violations that I'm seriously considering reporting," he replied. Derek chuckled, his claws coming out and puncturing the basketball in his hands. "Holy god."
"Let's try that again."
"Alright, the thing was pretty slick-looking. Uh, skin was dark. Kind of patterned. Uh, I think I actually saw scales. Is that enough?"
"Yeah, I have somebody I really need to talk to, so if you don't mind..."
He glared at the both of them.
"Alright fine," Stiles groaned. "Eyes. Eyes are, uh, yellowish and slitted. Um, it has a lot of teeth. Oh, and it's got a tail too. Are we good."
Cassie noticed that they were looking above Stiles. She turned her head to look in the direction they were looking at and had fear written all over her face.
"Stiles..."
"What? What have you seen it? You guys have this look on your faces like you know exactly what I'm talking about."
"That's because the thing you're talking about is literally above you," Cassie said, still petrified by the creature.
Stiles turned around and saw the creature for himself. He quickly backed up to behind Derek, pulling Cassie with him.
The creature let out a loud shriek before jumping off the railing and landing on its feet. It hit Erica, knocking her out and pushing her to the wall. Derek let out a roar, transforming into his werewolf form.
He pushed Stiles and Cassie aside. "Run!"
Just as she was retreating from the situation, she saw something on Derek's neck. "Derek, your neck.
He furrowed his brows as he reached behind his neck and touched it before collapsing. Fortunately, Stiles and Cassie had caught him before he hit the floor. They wrapped his arms around their necks and tried to run out the pool area as fast as they could.
"Where is it? Can you see it?" Stiles asked.
"No, just hurry," he replied. "Call Scott!"
Stiles quickly got out his phone with his free hand. He got it out a little too quickly and it slipped out of his grasp and dropped on the side on the pool. Both Stiles and Cassie bent down to get it, accidentally launching the now paralyzed Derek into the pool.
"Stiles, you son of a bi-"
Cassie took off her shirt, revealing her sports bra, before diving into the pool to get Derek back up. Stiles dived in after her, helping her get Derek up to the surface. They wrapped both arms around their necks and swam up to the surface, all three of them gasping for air.
"Where'd it go?" Stiles asked, panicked. "Where is it? Do either of you see it?"
"No," Derek simply replied.
"Okay, this is good. Maybe it took off," Cassie said. Then a loud shriek echoed throughout the pool room. "Or not."
"Will you two get me out of here before I drown?"
"You're worried about drowning? Did you notice the thing out there with multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth?" Stiles sarcastically replied.
"Did you notice that I'm paralyzed from the neck down in eight feet of water?"
"Did you notice that it's seven feet of water, genius?" Cassie said, accidentally swallowing some pool water.
"I don't see it," Stiles said, swimming towards the edge.
"No, no, no, wait stop!"
They stared at the creature that was crawling around the pool, circling them.
"What's it waiting for?"
The saw the creature get near the pool. It put its hand in the water but pulled back as if touching it burned.
"It can't swim, it's afraid of the water," Cassie pointed out.
It continued to circle them, practically taunting them. All that could be heard from them was the water splashing around and their heavy breathing.
"Okay, okay," Stiles said. "Okay, I don't think I can do this much longer."
"Me neither, pretty soon, I'm gonna be the paralyzed one," Cassie agreed.
Stiles looked at the phone that was still sitting on the ground next to the pool. Derek caught on to his looks.
"No, no, no, no! Don't even think about it!"
"Could you just trust me this once?"
"No!"
"We're the ones keeping you alive, okay? Have you noticed that?"
"Yeah. And when the paralysis wears off, who's gonna be able to fight that big thing? You guys or me?"
"Considering you just lost to that big thing literally two hours ago, I'm guessing us," Cassie replied.
"You guys don't trust me, I don't trust you. But both of you need me to survive, which is why you're not letting me go."
And with that, Stiles let go of Derek.
"Stiles, you son of a bitch! Don't leave me alone with him!" Cassie cursed, struggling to hold Derek up.
Her muscles ached for relaxation, becoming weaker and weaker by the second.
Stiles grabbed the phone just as the creature came towards him. He swam away, back to Cassie and Derek. He dialed Scott's number and called him.
"Scott!"
"Stiles, I can't talk right now," he said before hanging up the phone.
"That little bitch," Cassie scoffed.
He groaned before dropping the phone into the pool water and helping Cassie with holding up Derek.
A few more minutes passed; the creature was still circling around them. Both Cassie's and Stiles' bodies aching. Stiles spotted a low diving board and nodded towards it to Cassie. Cassie got the hint and they both swam to it, still trying their best to hold Derek up.
They tried to grab onto it, but with little energy left, their hands slipped. Their heads fell underwater once more, until they were all pulled out of the pool, landing onto the cement. They all gasped for air, panting and letting their muscles relax.
It was Scott who saved them.
Cassie was too tired to watch the live, supernatural, fight scene in front of them, as was Stiles. They all just laid there, catching their breaths.
A few moments after, the creature jumped out the window at the top of the ceiling. Stiles was cradling Cassie in his arms while Derek was holding onto the diving board.
--
"Is that even a language?" Stiles asked.
"Guys, I need to tell you something."
"How are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?" Scott questioned, ignoring Cassie once more.
"Guys!"
"Well, I can't help. I have no idea what that creature was," Derek said, walking to the three with a now conscious Erica by his side.
"Hello! Cassie is talking!" Everyone continued to ignore her shouting. She clenched her fists in frustration, trying to take deep breaths to calm her down. "HEY!"
They all snapped her head to her direction. She sighed, still trying to keep her composure.
"You know what? No." They all furrowed their brows at her, confused on what she was on about. "I have been trying to get your attention this whole night, trying to tell you that I know what creature that thing is. But did any of you listen to me? No! So, you know what? Forget it."
"Cass-"
"Don't "Cass" me! This has been happening ever since Peter Hale trapped us in school. All of you, just ignore me and what I have to say. I'm practically invisible. So, since you won't listen to me, there's not gonna be a me in this group anymore. Have fun finding out what type of creature that is all on your own," she snapped.
She took off Stiles' red sweater he gave to her earlier that night and pushed it up against his chest before walking away from the group.
She unclenched her fist, looking at the palms of her hands, finding crescent moons on them with fresh blood leaking out of them. She wiped away the blood on her pants and continued to walk home.