It's 2 AM when my phone rings and I try my hardest not to groan when I grab it, seeing Stiles' ID light up the screen. I haven't even had a decent amount of sleep, since I was out hunting a few hours ago until Chris and Kate sent me home to get some sleep. No rest for the wicked, I guess. I answer the call, praying it's something worth losing sleep for.
"Stiles, I swear, if you're drunk again-"
"No, listen, we're picking you up. Derek's being chased by the police and your family, so we're gonna need to help him out."
"Why are you getting yourselves involved?" I ask, rubbing my eyes.
"Because we need him, according to Scott, at least. Come on, Grace, you know how the hunters think. You could help us. Please."
I sigh, knowing that I actually want to be there as well, because one day Scott and Stiles' luck will run out and then maybe I could stop them from dying a horrible death.
"When are you picking me up?" I ask, and I practically hear his smile over the phone.
"Yes! Uh... actually, we're waiting in front of your house," Stiles says, and I walk up to the window. Sure enough, there's the jeep and Scott and Stiles in front of it, both waving innocently.
"I'll be there in five," I say, ending the call.
***
I'm thoroughly regretting my decision to join them by the time me, Scott and Stiles are being chased by the police. We took Derek's car because it's faster and of course we can't exactly use the sheriff's son's car for this chase. And still, Scott is driving ridiculously slow.
"Faster?" he asks.
"Much faster," I say. He speeds up a tiny bit, and I almost hit him.
"Scott, I don't think you're grasping the concept of a car chase here," Stiles says.
"If I go faster, I'll kill us," Scott says.
"Well, if you don't go faster, they're gonna kill us!"
After a while, we actually manage to lose them, and we stop the car right in front of Derek.
"Get in," I say, and he does, now riding shotgun, me and Stiles in the backseat.
"What part of laying low don't you understand?" Scott asks Derek.
"Damn it, I had him!" Derek just yells, frustrated.
"Who, the Alpha?" Stiles asks.
"Yes! He was right in front of me, and the freaking police showed up."
"Whoa, hey, they're just doing their jobs-" Stiles begins, feeling offended, but Derek cuts him off.
"Yeah, thanks to someone who decided to make me the most wanted fugitive in the entire state."
"Can we seriously get past that? I made a dumbass mistake. I get it," Scott says.
"Alright. How did you find him?" Stiles asks Derek. He just glares at us.
"Can you try to trust us for at least half a second?" Scott asks, getting annoyed.
"Yeah, all of us," Stiles adds, causing Derek to give me and Stiles even more murderous looks. "Or just him. We'll be back here," Stiles says.
"Look the last time I talked to my sister, she was close to figuring something out. She found two things. The first was a guy named Harris," Derek explains.
"Our chemistry teacher?" I ask, surprised and confused.
"Why him?" Scott asks.
"I don't know yet," Derek answers.
"What's the second?" Scott asks.
"Some kind of symbol," Derek says, handing Scott a piece of paper. I only get a glimpse of it, but it's enough to recognise it.
"Give that to me," I say, and Scott hands it over, giving me a knowing look. I study the symbol on the piece of paper and yeah... I know what this means. It means that - unless Derek's lying about the evidence - my family has something to do with the alpha, something more than just hunting it. And we need to find out what.
"What?" Derek asks. "You know what this is?"
"I've seen it on a necklace," I just say.
"Allison's necklace," Scott tells him, and I nod.
"Is there any way you can get it?" Stiles asks me. "Or is there something else you know about it?"
"It's a family heirloom. It belonged to me for a short while after-" I glance at Derek, see that his eyes no longer have that harsh, agressive look in them, weirdly, and continue. "After the fire. I wore it until they started training me. Really, it's constantly been passed around."
"When did they start training you?" Stiles asks, carefully.
"As soon as I moved in with my aunt," I say. "She read me fairy tales," I smile.
The boys don't understand, but I've always kind of known how Kate always chose the stories that were in her favour, the ones that involved big bad wolves and heroic hunters.
"I've always loved them," slips out before I realise that this is not any of their business. I change the subject.
"I can't exactly ask to borrow the necklace or something, because she'd definitely get suspicious. I never borrow her stuff. I could have a look in her room, see if it's there, that is if she's not wearing it all the time. You know, I think even Scott would have better luck getting the necklace, and he's not even on good terms with her."
Scott shakes his head.
"This is impossible."
"Why don't you just talk to her?" Stiles asks him.
"She won't talk to me. What if she, like, only takes it off in the shower or something?" Scott asks, and it frustrates me that I never payed attention to whether that's true or not.
"That's why you ease- that's why you ease back into it, okay? Get back on the good side, remind her of the good times. And then you ask for the necklace," Stiles says, but then he notices that Scott isn't paying attention. "You're thinking about her in the shower, aren't you?"
"Yeah," Scott says, making me hit him on the back of the head.
"All right, stay focused, okay? Get the necklace, get the Alpha, get cured, get Allison. In that order. Got it?" Stiles asks.
"Get the necklace," Scott nods.
***
School passes surprisingly quickly, despite how tired I am. I think it's mostly because a few interesting things happen, like Scott miserably failing to get closer to Allison and instead creating even more distance between them, Jackson using Scott's advanced hearing to taunt him during lunch, and Jackson knowing Scott's secret and threatening to tell everyone. It worries me, but there's currently nothing we can do to stop him. Oh, and he also broke up with Lydia. The asshole.
At home, it takes a few hours before I venture into Allison's room, empty for the moment. I stand still at first, looking around to find places where the necklace could be. My eyes roam over the desk, the nightstand, the bed, the floor... nothing. Well, at least I tried.
"-I mean, I gotta say I've been slacking, but my stamina- oh, Gracie!" Kate walks in with Allison by her side, and I have to think fast before I look even more weird in the middle of Allison's room.
"I was looking for you, Allison! I was thinking, movie marathon, but apparently you were thinking something else," I say, gesturing towards Allison's and Kate's workout clothes.
"Yep, I'm we're going running-" my phone rings, cutting Kate off, and I give them an apologetic glance while taking the call. It's Stiles calling, but that's not even a surprise to me anymore.
"So you might wanna come over soon," he says.
"Why?" I ask.
"We're gonna try to find out some important stuff. Derek is here too!" Stiles says, making me take a few steps away from Allison and Kate so they don't hear.
"Quiet!" I whisper-shout. "What are you gonna do?"
"You remember that creepy text Allison got that night we were trapped in the school?"
"Uhuh," I say.
"We're gonna try and find who send that text. Well, Danny's gonna try. I asked him to work on our lab project tonight," Stiles explains.
"That doesn't sound too bad," I say, relieved that it's not something life-threatening this time.
"Oh, and Derek's here because we might need to, uh... convince Danny to help us. We'll, I don't know, find ways to get him shirtless, that'll do the trick."
"Sounds hot," I say, smiling.
"Sure," Stiles says quickly, trying to brush off the subject. "Wait, why did I ask you to come?" he asks himself.
"No no no, I'll get there as fast as I can. Don't you dare start the fun without me, Stiles," I tell him.
"Danny's here in twenty. See ya," Stiles ends the call quite abruptly, and that's when I notice Kate's laughing. I turn to face her and raise my eyebrows.
"Well," she says. "Looks like you'll be getting your exercise too, today."
"What?" I ask.
"Oh, come on, that was practically phone sex," Kate says, grinning mischievously.
"He's asking me over for a school project. We're lab partners," I say, coming up with an excuse and also trying my hardest not to get angry.
"I thought Stiles and Danny were lab partners?" Allison asks, and again I have to come up with another excuse, fast.
"Yeah, but I was partnered to Jackson, so we switched around."
"But... Jackson's my lab partner," Allison says, and that's when I want to get buried in the hole I just dug for myself.
"Gracie, you know we don't care about who you hook up with, right? It doesn't matter that he might not be popular, or very good at-"
"Kate, are you gonna fucking listen to me for once?! I'm not doing anything- what the fuck is wrong with you?"
I didn't expect my outburst to be this bad, but suddenly this just frustrates me to no end.
"Gracie, I-"
"We're friends. Is it that hard for you to- is it because you can't be friends with a guy without fucking him, is that why? Just, stop- stop doing this, ugh!" I storm off, and if I drive a little too fast and aggressive on my way to Stiles, it's their fault.
***
"You didn't get the necklace?" Derek asks me as a greeting when I enter the room
"No," I say. "Scott?" I ask Stiles.
"No, he's still working on it. But there's something else we can try. The night we were trapped at the school, Scott sent a text to Allison asking her to meet him there."
"So?" Derek asks.
"Well, it wasn't Scott," I say.
"Well, can you find out who sent it?"
"No, not us," Stiles says. "But I know somebody who can."
The door opens and Derek races to hide in a corner in the back of the room. Mr. Stilinski enters with a smile on his face.
"Hey, Stiles!" he says, but he can't even look around the room because Stiles practically pushes him out, until they're standing in the doorway.
"Yo, D-Derek. I, um-" Stiles begins, and oh my god why the hell did he just say Derek's name?!
"What'd you say?" Stiles' dad asks.
"What? I said "Yo... d-dad."" Stiles stutters, and then the sheriff takes a peak behind his shoulder and sees me standing there.
"Oh- hi Grace."
"Hi sheriff," I smile awkwardly, and he turns his attention back to Stiles.
"Listen, I've got something I've got to take care of, but I'm gonna be there tonight. I mean, your first game," he tells his son. Wow, I totally forgot that's happening today.
"My first game. Uh, it's great. Awesome. Uh- good," Stiles stammers.
"I'm very happy for you," Mr. Stilinski says. "And I'm really proud of you."
"Thanks. Me too. I'm happy and proud- of myself."
"So they're really gonna let you play, right?"
"Yeah, dad. I'm first line. Believe that?" he smiles.
"I'm very proud."
"Oh, me too. Again, I'm-" his dad hugs him and then lets him go, saying goodbye before leaving the house. Derek doesn't hesitate before grabbing Stiles by the collar and pinning him against the wall.
"If you say one word-"
"Oh, what, you mean like "Hey, dad, Derek Hale's in my room. Bring your gun"? Yeah, that's right. If I'm harboring your fugitive ass, it's my house, my rules, buddy."
There's a couple of moments of them staring at each other, and it makes me laugh. They both turn their heads to look at me.
"So, are you gonna make out or what?" I ask, grinning. Derek lets Stiles go and takes an intimidating step closer to me, and I almost take back what I said, but then the doorbell rings.
"Must be Danny," I smile innocently.