Tessa walked out of class with Liam and Mason, discussing the history test they had next week. Liam stopped mid conversation, looking up at something. Mason and Tessa stopped as well, sharing a confused glance before following Liam's gaze.
He was looking at Kira Yukimura, a junior who was friends with Scott and Stiles. She was walking down the stairs in all her beautiful glory while making intense eye contact with Liam.
What the hell? Tessa mouthed to Mason who just shrugged.
And then, the spell was broken as Kira tripped and was sent tumbling down the last few steps.
Relatable.
Liam rushed forward to help the girl, leaving Mason and Tessa to follow behind him.
"Are you okay?" Liam asked.
Kira recovered quickly, brushing her hair back and leaning her head against her hand.
"Yeah, fine. You wanna go to a party tonight?" she asked cheerfully.
What?
Liam looked surprised but he nodded. "Sure."
"You too, Tessa. There's someone I want you to meet," she smiled at the girl.
It seemed suspicious but Tessa didn't know what to say. "Umm, I guess," she answered skeptically.
~~~
Kira picked Liam and Tessa up in her car that night. Liam took shotgun while Tessa sat in the back. No one spoke as they drove through the woods towards the party.
Liam seemed to be having an attack of something so Tessa reached forward and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"It's Lydia Martin's lake house." Kira told them. "Actually, its her grandmother's lake house. But she's dead so it's okay."
Kira seemed to realize what she had just said.
"I mean, it's not okay that she's dead. Unless she was in pain." Kira laughed awkwardly.
"Can you turn the music down?" Liam yelled.
Tessa frowned, the music wasn't even that loud. And why was he yelling? She could hear Kira perfectly from the back seat and she hadn't been yelling at all.
"You want me to turn the music up?" Kira misunderstood.
She cranked the quiet music up a tiny bit louder as Liam's phone buzzed. Tessa leaned back in the seat, closing her eyes. She really didn't want to go to a party right now. Her wound was still bleeding occasionally and any movement was painful. But somehow she had ended up here and there was no turning back now.
They finally arrived. The driveway of the lake house seemed suspiciously empty but Tessa followed her brother and Kira out of the car anyway.
"Where is everyone?" Liam asked.
"They're here," Kira smiled. "It's a small party."
"You said everyone was coming," Tessa said suspiciously as they slowly followed Kira towards the door.
"They are. They're late. And we're early. So we better hurry!"
Tessa shared a look with Liam, gripping onto the sleeve of his jacket as they approached the strangely silent house.
"Yay! Party!" Kira cheered awkwardly as she pulled them into the house.
They walked in, looking up to see only four people standing in front of them. Lydia Martin, Malia Tate and of course, the infamous Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski.
Tessa sent Liam a panicked look which he returned. Stiles waved awkwardly. They turned to look back at Kira as she shut and locked the door behind her.
"Sorry," she said.
They turned back to the others.
"What the hell is this?" Liam asked.
Stiles spoke first, "Think of it like an intervention. You two have a problem."
"And we're the only ones that can help," Scott said.
"My only problem right now is you," Tessa stepped towards them angrily.
Liam grabbed her arm, pulling her away as all four juniors took a step back. Tessa almost laughed. Were they actually afraid of her?
"Alright, let us explain," Scott said. "The world isn't what you think it is. There's things, supernatural things, that exist. And we're some of them," he gestured around the room.
Tessa scoffed. Did they think they were stupid? What was this, some sort of weird prank-the-freshman school tradition?
"Alright," Tessa scoffed, "What're you then? A mermaid?"
Scott looked at her weirdly. "No, I'm a werewolf," he corrected.
She laughed, "Oh right, sorry. Because that's so much better."
"Malia's a werecoyote, Lydia's a banshee and Kira is a kitsune which is like a fox spirit. We're still learning about it," Scott finished explaining.
Liam frowned but decided to play along.
"Werewolf?" he pointed to Scott who nodded. "Werecoyote." Malia nodded. "Banshee." Lydia raised a finger. "Fox?"
"Kitsune," Kira shrugged. "But fox works."
"What're you?" Tessa nodded at Stiles.
"Uh, for a little while I was possessed by an evil spirit. It was very evil," he explained.
"What are you now?" Liam asked.
"Better...?" Stiles seemed unsure of how to answer the question.
Liam eyed the chains on the table. "Are those for us?"
"No, they're for me," Malia said, her eyes glowing a bright blue.
"Okay, what the fudging fudge was that?" Tessa backed up a little.
"How did you do that?" Liam managed a more coherent sentence.
"You'll learn." Scott told them. "But first, you need to get through the full moon."
"The moon's already out," Liam informed him.
"And you're starting to feel something aren't you?"
"I feel like we're surrounded by a bunch of psychotic nutjobs," Tessa told him, grabbing Liam's sleeve again.
"Your guys are out of your freaking minds," Liam said, his voice raising in anger. "I don't know how you did that eye thing and I don't care!" He shouted.
"Liam, calm down. Remember what we've been working on," Tessa whispered, reminding him of his anger management techniques.
He ignored her. "We're walking out the door right now! And if any of you try to stop us, I swear to God I'm gonna—" he stopped yelling as he held his hands to his head in pain.
Tessa stared in horror as he fell to the floor, clutching his head.
Scott stepped forward, "What's wrong, Liam?"
"You don't hear that?" Liam asked.
Scott tilted his head, listening. Tessa didn't hear anything. But then car lights lit up the front of the house. Scott knelt down next to Liam.
"Did you tell someone about this?" Lydia asked.
"Our friend Mason," Tessa told them as Liam panted on the floor.
"You said it was a party," Liam gasped out.
"And who did Mason invite?" Stiles asked.
"Everyone," Kira answered, looking out the window.
Liam groaned and Tessa heard a scratching sound. She looked down and realized that Liam's nails seemed to have grown a couple inches and were digging into the wood flooring.
Tessa gasped, stepping back as Lydia rushed forward.
"The floors. Get him off the floors."
Liam raised his head, fangs protruding from his mouth as he roared at the girl. Tessa gasped, stumbling backwards and crashing into Lydia who pulled the younger girl back with her as Stiles called out to Scott.
"Scott, why isn't it happening to her?" he rushed forward, pulling Tessa from Lydia's grip and directing her away from her. "Nothing's happening to her," he yelled.
"I don't know," Scott yelled back, trying to pull Liam off the floor. "But we need to get both of them to the boathouse now!"
Tessa's ears were ringing and her heart pounded as Stiles passed her to Kira who pulled her along after Scott and Liam. She didn't fight, still in shock from what she had just seen.
Liam growled and snarled, sounding like a rabid dog as Scott forced him towards the boathouse.
When they were inside, Kira pushed Tessa gently towards the far wall. "Don't go anywhere, okay?"
She nodded, unable to speak as she watched her brother try to rip Scott's head off. Kira joined the older boy and the two worked together to chain Liam to a post. He managed to get free, tackling Scott while Kira was thrown backwards.
Scott tried to fight back as Liam snapped and snarled at him. Without thinking, Tessa grabbed an oar that hung on the wall and with all the force she could manage, swung it towards her brother's head. A resounding crack echoed throughout the small structure and she dropped the oar to the ground as Liam lay unconscious.
"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" she cried, tears running down her face.
She could feel that her wound had opened up again from the exertion of knocking Liam out. She was scared and confused and in pain and she had probably just given her brother a concussion.
Scott and Kira stared at her for a second before scrambling to chain Liam to the post while he was still out cold. Tessa sank down against the opposite wall, hating the tears that fell from her eyes. She hated crying in front of people. But she couldn't help it. She was freaking out.
Scott and Kira joined her, sitting on either side of her as she tried to calm her tears. Scott gasped quietly when he noticed the blood staining her shirt as it spread from under the hand she held pressed to it.
"You're not healing," he said, pulling her hand away. "Can I...?" he trailed off.
Tessa just nodded, not caring anymore. Scott nodded to Kira who gently reached out and lifted up her shirt to where they could see her stomach. Scott pulled the bandage away. They both gasped as they took in the bleeding gash.
"It's hardly healed at all," Scott noted. "But you were dying before I..." he trailed off in thought, "And the full moon isn't affecting you at all."
The two older teens studied her for a moment. Normally she would've told them to bugger off but she didn't have the energy. And for some reason, she was starting to trust them.
"What are you?" Scott whispered.
Tessa shrugged. She had no idea. She healed faster than any human could but not as fast as Liam who was apparently a werewolf now.
Scott sighed as the three of them rested against the wall. Tessa felt her eyes grow heavy and her head dropped as she slowly fell into an exhausted sleep.
~~~
Tessa woke up with her head on Scott's sweatshirt. She looked up to see him and Kira having a moment. They were cute together.
It was a few seconds before everything came crashing back to her. Her brother was a werewolf. And she was—hell, she didn't even know what she was but she obviously wasn't completely human. It was all so crazy.
A low growl echoed around the room and Tessa sat up carefully. Her eyes widened. Liam was awake. His eyes were glowing yellow, hair sprouting from his cheeks and jaw and pointed teeth growing from his mouth.
She stood up, walking closer to Scott and Kira who glanced briefly at her.
Liam growled, snapping the chains around him like they were made of string. He ran towards the three of them. Scott pushed Tessa and Kira out of the way before diving away himself.
Liam smashed through the window, running off into the night.
"Crap," Scott muttered. He looked at Tessa. "Are you sure you don't feel anything from the moon? Nothing at all?"
"Nothing," she confirmed.
And it was true. Whatever was affecting Liam had no impact on her at all.
"Alright. Go find Lydia. Tell her what happened. We'll go get Liam."
"Here," Kira handed her Scott's sweatshirt that she had previously been using as a pillow. "Put this on to cover up the blood."
Tessa nodded gratefully, taking the dark colored and much too large sweatshirt from her hands.
Scott and Kira turned to leave.
"Scott?" Tessa called out and he turned. "Don't let anything happen to him. Please."
Scott sent her a reassuring smile, nodding before he and Kira took off into the night.
Tessa pulled the sweatshirt over her head. It fell down to just above her knees and she almost laughed at how large it was on her.
She made her way back towards the house, weaving through the looming trees. Inside, she pushed through the crowd of partying teenagers, looking for a certain strawberry blonde.
Unable to find her, Tessa sighed, sitting down on the couch. Realizing how tired she was, she rested her head on the arm of the sofa, tucking her legs underneath her. And before she knew it, the sounds of the party faded away as she fell into a restless sleep.