I'm on the back of Scott's motorcycle, holding on to him as he navigates the road near the woods. I'm wearing the helmet he gave me before we took off towards our destination.
It's dark out now, and we're running a little late. The road is pretty much empty except for the occasional car.
and that's when it happens
Someone, or something lunges at us from the side of the road, knocking us both over and sending the motorcycle crashing away from us.
My backpack helps break my fall, but we were knocked down with so much force that neither my backpack or my helmet could prevent me from losing consciousness as my head hit the pavement first.
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8 hours earlier; beacon hills high school; biology class
"All right class, it's Monday, so that means last weeks lab report is due today. Please pass them forward."
I turn to Josh, who is staring out the window. I give him a nudge, getting his attention.
"Yeah?" he asks.
"Do you have the report? We're turning them in right now."
"No. I thought you had it." he says.
I shake my head. "Nope. I gave it to you last week so you could finish your part over the weekend."
"Oh, yeah. You're right." he says as he goes into his backpack to get the report. He finds it and passes it forward to the students who are sitting in front of us and they hand it in to the teacher.
"Hey, are you ok?" I ask him.
"Yeah." he says, shifting in his seat. "Why?"
"I don't know, you just seem a little...distracted."
"No, I'm fine. Really."
"Ok." I reply, not sure if I should believe him.
During class, Josh slides me a note.
Had fun at the beach with you and everyone else. Still have the seashell?
I write back:
I did too! and yes, it's on my desk :)
He reads it and smiles.
We go back to taking notes and the bell rings a few minutes later.
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after school
"Lacrosse season starts in a month. Are you guys ready?" Malia asks Scott, Stiles and Liam.
"Yeah, definitely." Scott answers.
"Of course." Stiles adds.
Liam simply nods.
The pack is gathered in the library. Scott, Stiles and Liam have just joined us after their lacrosse practice. We're gathered around a table, working on our homework.
"Veronica," Scott says as he takes the empty seat next to me, "Deaton asked me to tell you that he'd like to work with you again on your powers. He wants to help you figure out your range and teach you how to take pain."
"Oh, yeah! That'd be great. When?"
"He said whenever you can."
"How about tonight? I don't have much homework and the sooner I get this all figured out, the better."
He nods. "Ok. I'll let him know." he says and goes back to his seat next to Kira.
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After we are done with our homework (or with most of it) we decide to go out to eat.
There's a hamburger place by school and we decide to go there. We have to put two tables together so we can all sit with each other.
I sit next to Liam and Mason sits next to him.
"Guys, guess what?" Liam asks Mason and myself.
"What?" we both ask with curiosity.
"My parents said that if I keep up my good grades...and stay out of fights...I'll be getting a car soon!"
"What?! No way!" I say.
"Dude, that's awesome!" Mason adds.
I can see the excitement on his face.
"I won't have to run everywhere anymore." he says, making us laugh.
A waiter takes our orders and after some time our food is brought out to us. We eat our food between our laughter. Even after everything that we've been through, nothing can take away our joy...because we still have each other.
We're caught up in our conversations and we've lost track of time.
We stack our plates in the middle of the table and pay for our meals. In the parking lot we say goodbye to each other. Kira will drop off Liam and Mason.
I forgot to tell Stiles about needing to see Deaton tonight to continue my training earlier, so I tell him now.
"But, I promised Malia I'd help her study tonight." Stiles says.
"That's ok." Malia says. "We can study tomorrow."
"Or I can take her." Scott says. "I was going to head to the animal clinic anyways. I need to check on some of the animals. I'll wait for her and I can drop her off afterwards."
"You sure?" Stiles and I ask at the same time.
Scott laughs lightly. "I'm sure."
I say goodbye to Stiles and Malia, who drive off in the Jeep. I'm standing next to Scott on his motorcycle and take a seat behind him. He hands me a helmet and I put it on.
"All right, hold on tight." he says as he starts his bike.
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Everything around me is black. There's a loud ringing in my ears.
I slowly sit up and take off my helmet. I don't know how long I've been out for, but it couldn't have been too long. I bring my hand up to my forehead. It's sticky with blood.
Everything hurts, the pain intensifies by the second. I know I have to concentrate but I can't. I can't concentrate because as I scan the road the only thing I find is the motorcycle. There's no sign of Scott. I start to panic.
I stand up, but when I do I'm hit by a wave of pain. It's so strong it makes me dizzy and brings me to my knees.
I take a couple of deep breaths and steady myself.
"Scott! Scott?!" I call out as I stand up. I have more control now, the pain has lost its intensity.
I rush over to where the bike is, there's smoke coming from it.
"Scott!" I call out again, but there's no reply.
I pull out my phone from my pocket, there's a crack on it but it still works. I'm about to call Stiles when the headlights from a car illuminate the road before me.
This is the first time I realize I've been standing in the middle of the road.
The car comes to an abrupt stop. It's a truck. There's a look of shock and confusion on the drivers face.
A girl covered in blood, standing by a motorcycle in the middle of the road is probably something they wasn't expecting to find on their way home.
I squint, the lights bothering my eyes.
the driver seems familiar
He kills his lights and pulls over to the side of the road. When he steps out of the truck I recognize him.
"Oh my God, are you ok?" he asks as he walks towards me.
"Theo." I say.
He stops. "How do you know me?"
"I'm Stiles' sister."
"Stilinskis' sister?" he asks.
"Yes." I answer.
"Come on, we gotta get you out of the middle of the road." he says as he walks over to me. He picks up the motorcycle with one hand and drags it to the side of the road, where I followed him, and where he sets it down.
"Let me take a look at you." he says as he takes my hand. I feel relief, relief from my pain as he took my hand.
"You're in pain." he says.
I pull my hand away. "How the hell did you do that?" I ask.
"Was anyone else with you?" he asks, avoiding the question.
"Scott, Scott was with me. But you didn't answer the question. How did you do that?."
"Look, I'm a werewolf." he says and he shows me his glowing yellow eyes.
I take a step back.
why wouldn't Scott and Stiles tell me about this? unless...
"Did you tell them? Do they know?" I ask.
"Scott and Stiles? No. I don't think so. I hid my scent and I didn't tell them because-"
I put a hand up, interrupting him. "It doesn't matter right now. We just need to find Scott. I think whoever caused us to have the accident took him."
"Yeah, you're right. I'll try to track his scent. Do you have anything that belongs to him?"
I'm shaking my head no, when behind Theo I see Scott's backpack. It must've fell off during the accident.
"Wait." I say as I run over to it. Theo follows.
I kneel down by the backpack and open it. I find his lacrosse jersey and hand it over to Theo.
He brings it to his nose, locking in on Scott's scent. "Got it! Let's go!" he says.
Theo moves quickly. It's hard to keep up with him at times and the pain is slowing me down. It gets more intense with every step I take.
"Scott! Scott!?" I yell out, but there's no reply.
"Come on!" Theo says. "This way!"
We're walking deeper and deeper into the woods.
Theo stops suddenly, and I crash into him. "You hear that?" he asks.
"I do." I say. Someone is screaming. It's Scott.
We run towards the direction from which the screams are coming from.
As we get closer to the screams, as we get closer to Scott, the pain I feel becomes unbearable and I realize why. It's because Scott is in pain. The closer I get to him the more I can feel his pain.
We finally reach him.
He's lying on the floor, covered in blood. He's been attacked, slash marks cover his body.
I kneel beside him and take his hand, he squeezes mine in return.
"Scott! Oh my God, no, no no. Stay with me, ok? Don't close your eyes, Keep looking at me." I tell him.
He coughs up blood and lets out a scream full of agony.
He's in pain, I know it. I feel it.
I try to take his pain, but I can't. I don't know how. Whatever I'm doing isn't working and I hate myself for not being able to help him.
His eyes begin to close. "No! Scott, stay with me!" I yell.
"He's got a weak pulse, I think- I think he's going into shock!" Theo says.
"Do something, please!" I say through tears.
He pulls out his phone and dials 911. Theo does his best to tell them exactly where we are, when he does he hangs up.
"Ok, they're on their way." he says.
I nod and turn my attention back to Scott.
"Scott, look at me. Don't close your eyes! Just keep your eyes on me, ok?"
He does his best to nod, he does his best to stay awake, but his eyes begin to close again and his grip on my hand weakens.
"Scott?" I say.
But there's no response this time. He's lying motionless on the ground.
"Scott!"