"I told you, I don't know what the Primal is. I don't know what an Anuk-a-whatever is. I, I was just trying to call my daughter. Where did you get this?" Mrs. Finch asked, looking back and forth between Scott, Liam, and Melanie.
"You said you were in a pack. That was you on the phone, that's what you said." Liam said, taking a small step towards her so he was now side by side with Melanie. The woman's face reddened in anger at Liam's words. Without Melanie noticing, Liam placed his arm in front of her and pushed her slightly behind him.
"I don't know what business it is of yours, my personal life. I am the teacher, you are the students. I don't go digging into your personal life outside of these walls, you shouldn't be digging into mine." Mrs. Finch reprimanded, walking closer to her current students rather than Scott.
Scott walked towards her, reaching out to her shoulder gently so she would face him. "Did you reach any of them before they died?" Scott asked quietly. Melanie's heart dropped with her teachers as she watched the woman's face pale, tears immediately brimming in her eyes.
"W- what... What are you talking about?" Mrs. Finch muttered, looking between the three. Melanie bit her lip and shook her head. "Mrs. Finch, I'm sorry, but your family," Melanie took a deep breath when Mrs. Finch started to shake her head in denial. "They were attacked, and they died." Melanie finished and a single tear fell from Mrs. Finch's eye.
"Dead? They... No, they can't be dead because... They were just, they were... They were in the woods, they were just, they're hiding out. They're scared." The woman stumbled out, looking at Melanie with big eyes as she continued to shake her head.
Melanie felt the woman's pain and closed her eyes to contain her own emotions. "We found that phone on a body. Three men, two boys." Melanie explained, her voice almost sounding shaky. At her words, Mrs. Finch perked up as her brows raised. "What about my daughter?" She asked and Melanie took in another sharp breath at the woman's hopefulness.
Melanie's eyes flickered to Scott, silently asking him to take over and Scott nodded. "Well, there was another body, but, uh..." Scott started, his words freezing when Mrs. Finch looked at him with the same big eyes she was just looking at Melanie with. "But what?" She asked, growing impatient. Melanie grabbed Liam's hand and squeezed it, Liam almost immediately squeezing back.
"We couldn't identify it. The skin was stripped down to the muscle. There was no DNA. Pack tattoo was still there." Scott explained and Mrs. Finch let out a small sob, shaking her head. "No... no, this doesn't make sense. I mean, this isn't how biology works." Mrs. Finch stuttered out, raising her finger to shake it.
"That's what the Anuk-Ite does. It finds a body and it takes its face. It takes the whole identity of that person." Liam explained and Mrs. Finch bit her lip to hold back any cries. "Not my daughter. No, not my daughter."
"There's a way to find out." Melanie blurted, making Liam, Scott, and Mrs. Finch all turn to her. Melanie kept her eyes on her teacher, part of her worried to look at Scott and Liam since she was going against the plan. "Call her."
Mrs. Finch sighed, she walked past Melanie and Liam to go back to her desk. She leaned up against it and turned around to face Scott, Melanie, and Liam. "I won't do that." She said, pulling her lips into a line as she shook her head.
Melanie took a step towards Mrs. Finch, dragging Liam with her since their hands were still interlaced. "Just call her and tell her not to go anywhere near the school. Tell her that there's someone or something hunting for someone like her." Melanie tried to explain and Mrs. Finch looked to the floor, not wanting to look at Melanie.
"You have to stop talking about this." Mrs. Finch said as Melanie took another step towards her. "If she shows up, at least you'll know what happened to your family, what happened to your daughter." She said as she slowly let go of Liam's hand. Mrs. Finch sniffled once Melanie got face to face with her.
Melanie gave the woman a sympathetic smile, tilting her head slightly. "I'll do it for you." Melanie whispered and suddenly, Mrs. Finch looked back to Melanie. When she saw her soft smile, Mrs. Finch nodded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She searched for her daughter's contact before handing the phone to Melanie.
Melanie looked at the screen before she hit call, wanting to know the daughters name to be a bit more professional, but when she saw the name facing her on the screen, Melanie felt her heart sink to her stomach.
Melanie's eyes raised to Mrs. Finch, her brows raised and her eyes wide. "That's your daughter's name?" Melanie asked and Mrs. Finch nodded, not noticing the worry in Melanie's voice. Melanie gulped, she turned back to Scott and Liam, silently telling them to come over.
Scott and Liam walked towards Melanie, reading the name on the phone from over her shoulder just as Mrs. Finch spoke.
"My daughter's name is Quinn."
...
Melanie called Quinn just like she had told Mrs. Finch she would. The four waited in the classroom all the way until nightfall to wait for Quinn. Melanie and Liam sat on the desk she sat in earlier in the day, Melanie's head on Liam's shoulder as Liam ran his thumb across the back of Melanie's hand and turned his head every now and then to kiss her head.
No one had spoken in a while when Liam, Scott and Mrs. Finch all straightened up. Figuring they had heard something with their werewolf hearing, Melanie lifted her head off of Liam's shoulder. Mrs. Finch twiddled her thumbs as she walked towards Scott with big, panicked eyes.
"That's her, isn't it?" She asked, but Scott, didn't answer. He pushed himself off the desk he was leaning on wand walked towards the door. Mrs. Finch's eyes widened at Scott's action. "You, you're not going to try to hurt her, are you? That's my daughter." Mrs. Finch asked as Liam let go of Melanie's hand and walked towards Scott to stand beside him.
"We're gonna do what we have to do." Liam explained. Melanie hopped off the desk and walked to stand behind Melanie. Melanie held back the urge to let a katana appear in her hands, not wanting to startle Mrs. Finch.
"Just stay back." Melanie whispered, her eyes on the door as she past Mrs. Finch, standing on the other side of Scott.
"Liam? Mel?" Scott asked and both of the younger teens on his side nodded. "Ready." The couple said at the same time. Hearing running behind them, the three turned around just as Mrs. Finch threw the wolfsbane left on the chalkboard eraser at them.
Liam and Scott collapsed to the floor and Melanie, considering wolfsbane doesn't effect her, only coughed, at the feeling of powder entering her lungs. Melanie watched as Mrs. Finch dropped the eraser and ran out the door.
"Mrs. Finch!" Melanie screamed, running after her.
She followed the teacher as best as she could. She lost her when Mrs. Finch turned down a hallway faster than Melanie could catch up. Melanie skidded to a stop when she lost the woman.
Melanie held absolute gut-wrenching fear across her whole body. The Anuk-ite was here. Melanie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She tried to pay attention on where the fear she felt was. If she could find the Anuk-ite, she could find Mrs. Finch.
Melanie opened her eyes and started to run, as she ran, she felt her fear get stronger and stronger. She knew she was getting closer.
When she turned down a hallway, Melanie's running slowed when she saw Mrs. Finch slumped against the wall, a gash across her neck. "Oh my God." Melanie whispered, running to the woman and getting on the floor with her. Melanie immediately pressed her hands to the woman's wound, the hand against the gash immediately getting covered in blood.
Melanie could barely feel the woman healing from under her hand when she heard Scott and Liam run up from behind her. Both boys stopped at the sight of the teacher. Melanie looked back at the boys, her hands still on Mrs. Finch to heal her.
"I've got her. Go find Quinn." Melanie yelled and Scott nodded, running in the direction he smelt Quinn. Melanie looked back at Liam who hadn't moved. Her brows furrowed in worry as Liam spoke up. "We need to face her together." Liam said, his voice wary. Melanie didn't need any kind of enhanced senses to know that Liam was scared. Melanie looked down at Mrs. Finch before she looked back up at Liam, shaking her head. "Liam, I can't leave her."
"What if she finds Aaron first? How am I supposed to fight both of them?" Liam asked, terrified to leave without Melanie coming with him. Melanie looked back and forth between Mrs. Finch and Liam before she quickly stood up. Liam's mood perked, thinking Melanie was going to go with him, but she only cupped his cheek with her clean hand.
"Liam, you are strong. And it's okay to be afraid. Just don't let it stop you." Melanie said, her eyes never leaving Liam's and Liam's never leaving hers. Liam was bouncing on the balls of his feet in nervousness before he pulled her into a kiss. Melanie kissed back, but the kiss was done almost as soon as it started.
"I love you." Liam said and Melanie smiled, kissing his cheek. "I love you. Now, go. You've got this." Melanie said and Liam nodded, running after Scott.
Melanie ran back to Mrs. Finch, skidding on her knees to get down beside her and going back to holding and healing her wound. Melanie knew from how long it was taking her to heal that MRs. Finch wasn't trying to heal herself. Melanie would start to lose energy and possibly consciousness if Mrs. Finch didn't trigger her healing.
"Mrs. Finch? Hey, I need you to look at me, okay?" Melanie asked and slowly, Mrs. Finch turned to Melanie, her breathing sporadic. "You have to trigger your healing. You need to shift." Melanie said, but Mrs. Finch didn't budge.
"Mrs. Finch, please, you have to trigger your healing." Melanie pleaded again, but Mrs. Finch only let out a small cry, shaking her head. "I forced her to run to them, I forced her to hide who she was." She cried and Melanie shook her head. Melanie used more of her energy, trying to heal the woman faster.
"Hey. You need to shift, or you're gonna die. Do you get it? You'll die." Melanie said, her words a bit more harsh to try and get into Mrs. Finch's head, but all she did was shake her head. "Oh, Quinn." She cried and Melanie's nose twitched in anger.
"Mrs. Finch? Hey. Shift, okay? You need to do it right now. Shift!" Melanie yelled, and Mrs. Finch stayed in her head, shaking her head again. "Quinn..." She whispered and Melanie bit her lip in anger.
"She's dead! Your daughter's gone. Quinn is dead." Quinn yelled, needing the woman to get out of her head. As if Melanie's words were a smack to the face, Mrs. Finch's eyes turned red and she started to heal faster.
...
Once Mrs. Finch was healed, she left, saying she needed to clear her head. As Melanie ran around the school, panicking bubbling in her stomach as she tried to find Liam and Scott. Just as she turned down a hallway, she screamed and skidded to a stop when she was faced with two hunters turned to stone in front of her.
Melanie back onto fell to the floor from how fast she stopped as she looked at the two stone figures with wide eyes.
She heard running coming up from behind her and turned to see Lydia, Liam, and Scott. Liam immediately got down to Melanie, grabbing her hands to help her up. "We heard you scream. Are you okay?" Liam asked, looking over Melanie for any injuries.
Melanie slowly nodded her head, blinking rapidly as she looked up at Liam. "I'm fine it's just..." Melanie's words stopped as she looked over to the two men that are now stone. Lydia, Scott, and Liam all turned to see what she was looking at Lydia walked towards them.
"How do we fight something we can't look at?" Liam asked and Melanie gulped, figuring that this is the outcome if you look at the Anuk-ite.
"I have no idea." Lydia whispered, but Scott shook his head, having a plan. "We have to learn to fight without our eyes." He explained and Lydia looked back at Scott, her brows furrowed. "Fight without seeing, that means..." She slowed her words when Scott nodded, knowing what she was thinking.
"Deucalion."
—melliam world domination please and thank you🙏
guys i actually love this fic so much you don't understand😭😭😭😭(i'm so excited for the movie but also terrified for the season 6b finale)