—
"All right, the thing was pretty slick looking. Um, skin was dark. Kind of patterned. Uh, I think I actually saw scales. Is that enough? Okay, because I've somebody I really need to talk to - Hrr. Ry? Help me out?"
Austin couldn't help but cringe at the nickname he used. It left an unsettling feeling in his stomach, especially with how the girl barely reacted, simply raising a brow, silently letting him know that he could explain on his own.
"All right, fine, eyes. Eyes are, um, yellowish. And slitted. Um, has a lot of teeth. Oh. And it's got a tail, too."
Stiles had been rambling for a few minutes now, only pausing to start right back up again after Derek made a face indicating that he didn't give enough information. Austin was growing tired and worried that the longer the stood here, the more likely they were to get caught.
"What is that smell?" Ryder scrunched up her face, turning her head into Austin's chest as the scent grew stronger. He placed a gentle hand on the back of her head, glancing around in confusion.
"Are we good? What? Wait, have you seen it? You have this look on your faces like you know exactly what I am talking about." Austin's head snapped away from the water at Stiles' words.
Derek saw it and didn't say anything?
"Run!"
Stiles began to panic, Austin, however, wasted no time in pulling Ryder away from the creature. Which didn't take much as she was already on the other side of the pool before he could think.
"Derek, your neck! Hey, come on. Where is it? Can you see it?"
"I can smell it. Please hurry." Derek groaned, his body limp as his breathing grew heavy, "Call Scott! Stiles, ah—"
"Where did it go? Do you see it?" Stiles' voice was frantic as he looked around, for both the lizard and hopefully so help.
"No." The two bobbed up and down into the water as Stiles struggled to keep both of them up.
"Okay, maybe it took off." He was proved wrong by the sound of a shout and the slashing of water.
"You stupid bitch!"
"Maybe not."
Derek tried to turn his head in Ryder's direction at her words, coming up short as he couldn't move much. All he could see was Austin's back as he easily held himself and the blonde girl up, Ryder's legs wrapped tightly around his waist as he swam them towards Derek and Stiles.
The Hale man was well aware of the teens fear of large amounts of water. He had known since she was a kid and had refused to get in the pool at, Cora's fifth birthday pool party.
•••
"Ryder, you gotta kick your feet."
"Absolutely not."
It wasn't that he thought the girl was heavy, cause she actually ridiculously light for her age, and being in the water only made her even lighter. It was the fact that he was growing tired from being in the water. His body was drained.
"We can swap." Stiles suggested, pursing his lips to keep the water from entering his mouth.
"Yeah, cause swap out the lighter person for the heavier one." Austin scoffed sassily. "Make it make sense."
"You get me out of here before I drown." Derek interrupted.
"You wouldn't let me drown, right?" Ryder whispered to Austin. The teen almost jerked his head back in offense,
"Of course not."
"You're worried about drowning? Did you notice the thing out there with multiple rows of razor sharp teeth?!" Stiles snapped.
Ryder rose a shaky hand, immediately clamping back down on Austin's shoulder, "I did."
Derek grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of common sense in the room, "Did you notice I'm paralyzed from the neck down in eight feet of water?"
"I noticed." Austin responded.
"You know, we probably wouldn't even be in this situation if it wasn't for you Hales and your stupid need for being in control of everything."
"Ryder, now is not the time."
"I think now is the perfect time." Austin defended, suddenly feeling the anger radiating off the girl glue to his side.
Stiles shrugged, "I don't think there will ever be a perfect time, might as well get it out now."
"This isn't my fault." The alpha tried.
"Everything is your fault. That little asshole is roaming around because of you, because you're a hypocrite."
"How am I a hypocrite?" He looked to the boys for help, only to received winces and grimaced faces in response.
"You killed Peter supposedly because he was killing and turning innocent people, and now you're doing the exact same thing."
Derek sighed, "It's not the same—"
Stiles cut the man off before he could dig himself a bigger hole and continue to embarrass himself. The Stilinski had known from experience that Ryder could argue for hours on end and win. The last thing he needed was for her to piss him off enough by making him lose the argument.
He did a quick look around the area, "Okay. I don't see it."
"I see it." Austin's voice quickly stopped him from going further.
"Where?"
"Right there, you idiot."
"I'm not liking all this sass you're giving me today." Stiles grumbled.
"What's it waiting for?"
"An opportunity." Ryder said lowly, her brown eyes glaring at the creature as it stared back at her, unmoving.
That is, until the splash from Stiles moving his arm caught its attention. The lizard hissed, crawling forward, only for its hiss to turn into one of pain.
"Wait, did you see that? I don't think it can swim."
•••
"Okay. Okay, I don't think I can do this much longer." Stiles groaned, his eyes settling on the disregarded phone that he tossed before it could get wet in the pool.
"No, no, no." Derek repeated, catching the attention of the pair that had their heads resting against each other in boredom, "Don't even think about it."
Stiles seemed annoyed at Derek's reaction, "Would you just trust me this once?"
"No."
"I'm the one keeping you alive, okay, have you noticed that?" He shouted back.
"Good Lord." Austin mumbled. The blue eyed teen could only handle the arguments for so long before they lost all amusement. His hands were wrinkly and he wanted out of this damn pool.
"Yeah. And when the paralysis wears off, who is gonna be able to fight that thing, you or me?"
"Ryder." The human responded, not thinking as he just wanted something to prove Derek wrong.
The girl chuckles, "No, thanks."
"You don't trust me I don't trust you. You need me to survive, which is why you are not letting me go."
Stiles seemed to ponder his words for a moment, sending Austin an apologetic look before letting Derek go.
The George teen wanted to question why he did that, only to then feel himself get tugged down by the weight of Derek's arm around his shoulder.
"Stiles!"
•••
"I am worried."
"We should be." Aaron nodded at his wife, "She left with Stiles Stilinski and a boy we don't know."
"We know Austin."
"You know Austin. I've barely had the chance to speak with him since he's stolen our girls heart."
Romona smiled, the beautiful sight falling off her face at the teen that was running hurriedly toward them.
"Scott McCall."
"Hello, ma'am, sir." He spluttered, "I uhm- I need help. Ryder, and Stiles, and Austin were attacked."