The Tuesday after Scott's first transformation was when everything was really set in motion for the McCall siblings and Stiles. Katarina sat at her desk, trying to solve a ridiculously confusing trigonometry problem when the front door of the home was thrown open and slammed shut, quickly followed by pounding footsteps on the stairs. All homework was forgotten as she stood up and practically flew out of her room to meet Stiles in her brother's doorway.
"What did you find? How did you find it? Where did you find it? And, yes, I've had a lot of adderall, so . . . " Stiles panted, stopping right in front of Scott's bed and causing a nearly running Kat to slam into his back.
"I found something at Derek Hale's." Scott cryptically said. Kat pushed around Stiles' tall and lanky frame to stand beside him as she confronted her brother at the same time Stiles praised him.
"And why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
"Are you kidding? What?"
Scott ignored Kat's words and answered Stiles. "There's something buried there -- I could smell blood."
"That's awesome!" Stiles cheered, but quickly recovered when Kat smacked his arm. "I mean, that's terrible. Who's blood?"
Scott stood up to face his two best friends, "I don't know. But when we do, your dad nails Derek for the murder and then you two help me figure out how to play lacrosse without changing. Because there's no way I'm not playing that game." he finished tying his lacrosse stick and tossed it on his bed before walking out of his bedroom and stalking down the stairs.
"You're kidding me, right?" Katarina scoffed as she pulled her jacket around her tighter. Her hand shook slightly as she held the flashlight over the hole Scott and Stiles were digging. "And what are you going to tell your dad when he asks how you found the other half of the body? 'Oh, hey Dad. I knew that Derek Hale is the killer so we kind of hung around his burnt and crumbling childhood home until he left and dug up the top half of some dead girl he killed.' Great plan, Stiles."
"Do you have to work at being this infuriating or does it just come naturally?" Stiles grumbled. His hands tightened on the shovel as he attempted to tune out the girl.
"I haven't even tried to infuriate you yet. Should I start?"
"Will you two shut up?" Scott interrupted, turning around to glare at his sister.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Scotty. I'm still getting used to running on thirty minutes of sleep a night because I've been coping with a regular schedule and the fact that my brother is a freaking werewolf." Kat shot, rubbing her tired eyes and sitting down on the ground before tying her hair up into a sloppy bun. When Scott sent her a glare, she huffed, "I'm sorry. This is just almost too much to handle."
"I get it. But I'll figure out a way for this to be over once we pin Derek for this murder."
The three went silent, the only sounds in the woods being the chirping of crickets and the panting of Scott and Stiles as they dug. Kat's mind started wandering. Her eyes, from the full moon. It wasn't the first time she had seen them do that. Once or twice in old photos, but not enough to make her think anything of it. What could she be?
Scott groaned, "This is taking way too long."
"Oh, just keep going," Stiles pushed, continuing to dig.
"What if he comes back?"
"Then we get the hell out of here."
"But what if he catches us?"
"Here, I've got a plan," Kat interrupted, pulled from her thoughts by their bickering, "We all run in different directions. Whoever he catches first, well, it was nice knowing ya. So, sorry Stiles."
"Oh, c'mon! I'm not that slow!" Stiles whined, turning to look at Kat with annoyance.
"Wanna bet?" Kat chuckled, raising her eyebrows as she playfully dared him to disagree with her. Stiles puffed out a breath before returning to digging. With one more shovelful of dirt out of the ground, the tip of his shovel hit something solid.
"Hold on, alright. Stop, stop, stop."
As the boys threw their shovels aside, Kat jumped down into the hole to help them clear the rest of the dirt with their hands. Their fingers revealed rope tied in a mess of knots, and each of them struggled to untie them. The knots were quickly unwound and Kat pulled back the blanket that was tied shut, revealing a dead dusty, black wolf.
Kat screamed and jumped back into Stiles, who in turn freaked out and pulled them both out of the hole. With his arms around Kat (he felt the need to hold onto something when he was suddenly scared shitless), he shouted, "What the hell is that?"
Kat sunk back into Stiles, her heart racing as she stared down at the wolf. Scott couldn't believe his eyes, "That's a wolf!"
"Yeah, we can see that!" Kat sarcastically replied, her head falling into her hands as she averted her eyes from the animal. "I thought you said you smelled blood! As in human blood!"
Scott looked up to his sister and best friend, "I told you guys something was different."
Stiles kept a hold of Kat as his eyes wandered back down to the wolf, the gears in his brain already spinning and working, trying to come up with a solution. "This doesn't make sense.".
Scott, the most reasonable of the three, was more focused on saving their asses, "We gotta get out of here."
Stiles nodded, "Yeah, okay, help me cover this up."
Kat sat up and started pushing dirt back over the wolf, but as she stared down at it, her vision became clouded. A single flower replaced her entire line of sight, the purple of the petals so bright it almost blinded her.
Scott looked up when he realized she wasn't helping. He looked up to her face, seeing her eyes blankly staring out into the woods, "Kat? What's wrong?"
Stiles followed her sight, his eyes widening. "You see that flower?"
Scott huffed, "What about it?"
Kat's vision faded back to normal, her ears following the conversation. "I think it's wolfsbane," she stated, standing up and walking over to the flower.
Kat knelt in front of it as Scott questioned her. "What's that?"
"Haven't you ever seen The Wolf Man? Lon Chaney Jr.? Claude Rains." Stiles continued to try to jog Scott's memory of the movie, exasperated that his friend had such little knowledge of it. "The original, classic werewolf movie?"
"No, what?" Scott was tiring of Stiles' questions.
Stiles huffed, "You are so unprepared for this."
Kat stared at the flower, suddenly feeling the need to reach out and pick it out of the ground. When she did, rope followed it out of the ground. "Guys," she whispered, holding it in the air and glancing at the two teenage boys before standing up fully and continuing to pull the rope out of the dirt. She pulled and pulled on the rope, which had small purple flowers on it, following the pattern of which it was buried. By the end of the rope, a spiral was circling the wolf's grave.
She gathered the rope into a bunch in her hands before her name was softly called out by Scott. Her attention was turned to the boys, and then the grave. Inside was not a wolf, but now a dead girl. Her skin was pale and covered in dirt, her dark hair was matted and tangled. Kat stared down at her, her brown eyes locked onto the girl's open ones. For a second, they glowed a bright mint green.
--
While Stiles searched the town for a rogue, shifted Scott, Kat had gone home to see what she could find online about wolfsbane burials. It had been three hours, and so far she had nothing.
Kat's hand supported her cheek as she scrolled through the hundredth webpage about wolfsbane. Her eyes started drooping, the weight of exhaustion crushing her. Just as she was about to fall asleep, a loud knock sounded on her bedroom door.
"Hey, Kat, I'm headed out to get dinner before the game. Uh, there's someone here to see you." Melissa called from the other side of the door. Kat internally groaned, she didn't have the energy for visitors.
"I'll be out in a minute." She said, rubbing the heels of her hands into her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up. Melissa clomped down the stairs, and Kat listened hard for any distant chatter. What surprised her was how clear the conversation was.
"She doesn't know you came all this way?" Melissa asked whoever was downstairs.
"No, ma'am. I just needed to see her." The second voice was soft yet hoarse. Kat couldn't pin who it was, the walls starting to interrupt the flow of the words and voices through them.
Kat huffed and quickly stood up, changing out of her gym shorts and sweatshirt and into a pink tank top and white jeans. Her hands pulled her hair into a messy ponytail before she stuffed her feet into a pair of black ankle boots Lydia had bought for her and grabbed her green military jacket. She was pleased with how fast she had put together the fashionable outfit; Lydia must have already been rubbing off on her.
Kat took one last breath before heading downstairs. Her heels echoed on the wood floor as she stepped into the kitchen. She was met with a pair of hazel eyes and layered dirty brown hair. Annie Reynolds sat at the kitchen table, her bright "beach chic" outfit standing out in the dull colors of the McCall house.
"Hey, Kitty Kat."
Katarina's eyes welled with tears as she stepped to her best friend. Annie's arms flung themselves around Kat's waist as hers held the blonde to her chest by her shoulders. "Annie, what the hell are you doing here?"
"I missed you." Annie chuckled, her chin resting on Kat's shoulder as she blinked back the tears. Her real reason for fleeing to Beacon Hills was hidden deep within her, the secret too horrible to tell. The difference in her eyes would already tell too much to anyone that really knew her. "It sucked not having my partner in crime around."
Kat had directed Annie to the couch in the living room, their feet tucked under them as they caught up. "Wait, so Allison is here, too?"
"Yeah, my brother's infatuated with her." Kat chuckled, her eyes wandering around the living room. They found the clock, and she quickly stood up, "Hey, I want to introduce you to everyone, they're all at Scott's lacrosse game."
"Lacrosse?" Annie giggled, her eyebrows shooting up as she silently made fun of Kat's brother.
"It's the game here. Football's a joke, did I forget to mention?"
"Maybe I won't stick around, that's weird." Annie teased, standing and straightening her jean skirt as she quickly shoved on her white Converse.
Kat froze, "Wait, you're moving up here?"
"Surprise?" Annie laughed, holding her hands up near her shoulders with a semi-guilty smile gracing her face. "So, what about that lacrosse game?"
--
Annie and Kat started across the school parking lot towards the lacrosse field, their arms linked together. Annie sighed, "So, why is lacrosse the game here?"
Kat chuckled, "I'm not sure, actually. Maybe because their lacrosse team sucks less than their football team?" Kat and Annie shared a laugh at her joke. The loud cheering from the field carried out to the girls, indicating that the game had already begun. They stalked up beside the bleachers. Kat examined everyone, trying to find someone familiar to sit with.
"Hey, look, there's Allison." Annie pointed up to the brunette, who was holding up a sign with Lydia. Kat's eyes skimmed the sign, which read, "We Luv U Jackson".
Kat's vision shifted to Scott on the field before looking back up to the sign. Scott stood still on the field, staring at the sign. "Ouch."
Annie lightly giggled, "What?"
"Oh, my brother's kind of infatuated with Allison and that sign is not helping his recent anger issues right now." Kat laughed, leading Annie to the pair of girls.
"Hey, Kat!" Stiles called out as they walked past. Kat huffed and turned to Stiles with a questioning look. "Did you find anything about that, uh, thing?"
Kat's eyes swept to Annie in a sideways glance before turning back to Stiles, "No, there was nothing."
Annie laughed, "What thing?"
Stiles panicked, having barely realized that there was a girl that knew nothing standing with Kat, "Uh, a nothing, thing." Kat smirked, sharing an amused stare with Annie.
"Stiles, this is Annie. She's from San Fran, too." Kat directed the conversation away from the uncomfortable topic. "Annie, this is that sarcastic asshole I've told you about, Stiles."
"Pleasure to meet you, Stiles. So, why aren't you on the field?" Annie took a seat beside Stiles on the bench, her chin resting in her hand as she stared out to the field. Her ears picked up a low growl, and her trained eyes searched for the source. She knew it was the boy wearing the jersey with McCall across the top. She knew it was from Scott.
Kat sat on the other side of Stiles, "Because he's not a werewolf," she sarcastically replied, rolling her eyes when both Annie and Stiles whipped around to face her. "Oh, relax, you two. It's called sarcasm." Kat looked back out to the field, "Hey, Scott's got the ball!"
Everyone in the stands intently watched as Scott avoided each of the players on the team and finally scored. At the buzzer, each watcher cheered and jumped up from the stands, their hands clapping above their heads. Annie slowly stood, her eyes still trained on Scott. She didn't think Kat was joking, not after what she had been told.
"McCall! Pass to McCall!" Stiles jumped up to trail behind Coach Finstock, bouncing on his feet as he encouraged the team to get the ball to Scott at each opportunity they had.
"He's good." Annie quietly said, but somehow Kat heard her loud and clear.
"He's alright," Kat cheekily grinned, scooting closer to Annie as Stiles plopped down beside them again. The teams on the field reset, and the opposing team had the ball. Annie's eyes were still locked on Scott, her heart drumming as she watched the opposing teammate with the ball stopped and stared at Scott before tossing the ball into his net. Scott took off down the field.
Coach took a seat beside Stiles, who was nervously chewing on his glove, "Did the opposing team just deliberately pass us the ball?"
"Yes, I believe so, Coach." said Stiles, still chewing on the fingers of his gloves.
"Interesting."
Annie couldn't tear her eyes from Scott, a red undertone glowing in her brown eyes as she watched Scott throw the ball into the goal. It tore through the net on the goalie's stick before it finally made the shot. The buzzer echoed through the field.
"Hey, Annie, you alright?" Kat asked, looking towards the blonde. Her body was shaking, but not from the cold. She was nervous.
Annie glanced back to Kat, her eyes glowing a bright red from being frightened so suddenly. They reverted to their normal brown before Kat could make a comment, "I'm fine, just a little headache. The higher altitude is making me a little nauseous."
Kat stood, "Well, we can go if you don't feel well."
Annie panicked, "No! I'll get over it, it's not that bad. I want to stay and watch last of the game."
"Okay, if you're sure." Kat warily sat back down, tugging her green jacket around her body as she glanced sideways at Annie. Her attention was brought back to the game when Finstock blew the whistle, announcing that the goal was legal and they got the point. Stiles returned to the girls, who had both stood as they intently watched the final forty seconds of the game.
Scott was breathing heavily, and Kat swore she could hear pants and growls coming from him. She grabbed Stiles' arm, she knew what was happening. "Scott, no, no."
"You can do it, Scott." Allison's faint voice echoed through Kat's ears. Scott and Annie heard it, too. Kat's grip on Stiles' arm tightened as she expected the worst, as she anticipated Scott shifting on the field. The final six seconds ticked down, everything was in slow motion.
Two opposing teammates ran at Scott, but he wound up and threw the ball into the net, barely missing the goalie's stick. The clock hit zero, and the final buzzer went off as the score changed from 5-5 to 6-5. Stiles cheered, grabbing Kat and Annie in a celebratory hug.
The bleachers cleared as everyone flew down to the field to congratulate the team, but Stiles, Kat, and Annie stayed behind. Kat turned to her best friend, feeling it was safe to ask the question with Stiles around, "Annie, what happened to your -- "
"Dad, what's wrong?" Stiles interrupted, his eyebrows furrowing as he watched his dad speak on the phone. Noah Stilinski held up a finger as he finished his call.
"Hey, Stiles, we'll talk later, yeah? I wanted to finish catching up with Annie." Kat said, already walking away from the field. Annie and Kat were quiet as they walked back to Kat's SUV, both of them knowing what was coming.
"I know what you're going to ask me, Kat."
Kat stopped and turned to her best friend, "What happened to your eyes? Why were they red?"
Annie looked down as she sighed. She didn't want to have this conversation so early. She thought she could wait, but she couldn't control herself tonight. It was almost impossible, her biggest secret could have been revealed because a beta couldn't control his shift. Annie felt her eyes shift to a bright red before she looked up.
Kat couldn't have prepared herself. Annie's eyes were so shockingly light, the crimson red was the same color as fresh blood. It scared her, yet she couldn't bring herself to run or even move.
"I think we have some major catching up to do, Kitty Kat."
--
Hello my loves! Here is chapter six! I had so much fun writing this. I finally introduced Annie Reynolds! I'm thinking of having a sort of "spin off" from her point of view and stuff once I get to season two. It'll be connected to this book, but mostly with Annie's POV and thoughts. Let me know what you think of that idea, and what you'd like to see from her character. Don't forget to vote and comment, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!