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I do NOT own Teen Wolf
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"We need to take him somewhere where we can hold him long enough to figure out what to do with him," Scott said, worry lining each word.
"Or long enough to convince him he's dangerous."
"Like we're gonna be able to do that," I mumbled. I tried to stay still so that Scott wouldn't figure out that I was healing so quickly.
Stiles shrugged, "I still say we just kill him."
Scott leaned forward, frowning at his friend. "We're not killing him!"
"God!" Stiles shouted, clenching his teeth. "Okay, okay. I got an idea."
"Is it like your last idea? Cause that's the one that lead to us being in this situation," I sighed.
"Maybe."
Scott narrowed his eyes, "Does it involve breaking the law?"
"By now, don't you think that's a given?" Stiles pointed out.
"Unfortunately, yes," I agreed.
Scott pursed his lips, "I was just trying to be optimistic."
"Don't bother," Stiles and I said in unison.
♡♢♤♧
Stiles' plan had involved not only breaking the law, but stealing from the law. I had stayed in the Jeep with Jackson, while the boys had went off and stolen a police issued prisoner moving van.
If the Sheriff found out, Stiles would be dead.
By the time they had left to get the van I was able to completely move once more, but didn't show it. For the sake of keeping things from Scott, I had to act partially paralyzed for a bit longer.
We made our way to the preserve, Scott driving the van with Jackson in the back, and Stiles and I in his Jeep.
"How are you?" He asked as he watched the road.
I stretched my arms out, relieved that I could finally move my body parts. "I'm not frozen any more, so I'm doing pretty good. What about you?"
"It's been a very long week," he sighed.
"That it has."
When we reached the preserve, we parked in the woods to conceal the vehicles. Climbing out of the Jeep, Stiles and I walked over to meet Scott.
"Riley, you're moving?" He asked, sounding surprised.
I stuttered, annoyed at myself for forgetting that I was supposed to be 'paralyzed' for a bit longer.
"I guess Jackson didn't cut me as deep as the others."
Scott's eyebrows creased. He looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but he was rudely interrupted.
"Stiles!" We heard a voice erupt from the back of the van. "McCall! Winters! I'm gonna kill all of you!"
"Sleeping Beauty is awake, I see" I grinned. The boys looked at the ground, acting as if they had heard nothing. Like that would change the fact that we kidnapped our classmate.
"Guess so," Stiles kicked the leaves beneath his feet. I imagined that he was thinking about his dad, and what he would say.
I was thinking along similar lines. The sun had risen and I was not in my bed at home. I was counting down the time until my mother hunted me down and dragged me to my room by my ear.
Hell, after the stunts I've pulled recently, she'll probably put me under lock and key.
I pointed to the van, "We should probably go and talk to him, right? Like Scott said; we've got to try and convince him that he's not dangerous."
"I did say that," Scott nodded slowly. "But . . . I've got to go to school and let Allison know what's going on, and I need to speak to Danny, so . . ."
I shook my head, narrowing my eyes at him. "Seriously?"
"You can come if you like. It's up to you."
Looking between the boys, I found myself lost. I could find myself with more time with Stiles, or avoid him.
Groaning in frustration over how long I was taking, Stiles grabbed my arm and walked us over to the van. I peered over my shoulder, to see Scott waving goodbye, before getting into the Jeep.
When we were in front of the back doors of the van, Stiles took his backpack off and unlocked the doors. We climbed in and took a seat across from Jackson.
The metal was cold, seeping through my jeans and cooling my skin.
Stiles opened his backpack, "Okay, I bought you some food . . ."
"Let me out now!" Jackson shouted, leaning forward and holding his cuffed wrists out.
Yeah. Stiles had also cuffed him and chained him to the van. There was no way he was going anywhere without a key.
"Okay, first rule, inside voices," I demanded, shoving him away from us.
Stiles nodded. "And you know what, I put those pants on you, all right, buddy? One leg at a time."
Jackson's jaw clicked as he straightened his back, glaring at the cuffs.
"Being up-close and personal with your junk wasn't exactly a highlight of my day," Stiles continued. "So don't think this is fun for me either."
"That's a shame," Jackson sneered. "I was hoping it had been Riley."
Stiles' form became rigid, so I decided I had to step in before he ended up getting himself hurt.
I clenched and unclenched my fists, taking deeps breaths. "I'm going to let that slide, because we have all had a very long day. But say it again, and I won't hesitate to punch you in the nose."
"You know we're actually doing you a favor?" Stiles took a breath, biting back any remarks he wanted to throw at the jock.
Jackson's line of sight snapped up from the cuffs to land on Stiles. "This is doing me a favor?"
"Yes. You're killing people," He exclaimed. "To death."
I gave him a look, "'To death'? You don't say?"
He rolled his eyes, "Yeah. And until we can figure out how to stop you, you're gonna stay in here. I'm sorry." He then reached into his backpack, pulling out a few wrapped sandwiches.
"Now, do you want the ham and cheese or the turkey club?"
"You actually think my parents won't be looking for me?" Jackson asked, completely disregarding Stiles' question.
"Well, not if they don't think anything's wrong."
Pulling Jackson's phone out of his pocket, he held it up to the owner to show the text he had sent the boy's father.
'Stayed at a friend's house last night. Everything fine. Love you.'
Stiles looked proud of his efforts. "Yeah."
♡♢♤♧
We sat in silence for a while, before Jackson started to ask questions. He was curious about the Kanima, and rightfully so.
He wanted to know what it looked like.
"Scales? Like a fish?"
"No, more like a reptile," Stiles clarified, readjusting his body to sit more comfortably. Jackson rolled his eyes, probably not seeing much difference between the sorts of scales.
"And don't forget the claws," I added, touching the back of my neck. The scratch was gone, but it's like I could still feel it.
Stiles nodded, "Yeah, you have these claws that have a liquid that paralyzes people-"
"Not fun," I had cut in.
"And you have a tail."
This caught Jackson's attention, but he didn't seem to believe us.
"Yeah, you have a tail," Stiles repeated, sounding like he found it humorous.
"Does it do anything?"
Stiles and I looked to each other. Did it? So far, he had never really used it.
"Nothing as of yet," I replied, still in thought. "It would be cool if you could though."
Jackson pursed his lips, nodding, before bursting forward, "Can I use it to strangle you?"
"Such hurtful words," I rested a hand above my heart, pulling my mouth into a frown.
"Yeah. You still don't believe me," Stiles concluded. "All right. The night of the semi-final game, what did you do right after?"
"I went home," The boy growled.
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, you idiot." Jackson seemed to be becoming pretty on edge, his eyes widening.
"What the hell else would I do?"
I stood up, "You tried to kill us!"
Stiles grabbed my hand, slowly pulling me back down to the seat, calming me down.
He didn't let go of my hand as he spoke, "You attacked me, Riley and Derek at the school and you trapped us in the pool. You also killed a mechanic. Right in front of me, by the way. That was lovely," He fake chuckled.
"Don't forget the hunter from Argent's group," I tacked on. "Plus, last night, you tried to kill Danny whilst also nearly killing me as well. Again."
"Probably well deserved," he muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Why would I want to kill my best friend?"
"Well, that's what Scott's out trying to figure out right now."
Stiles readjusted once more, not bothering to let go of my hand.
"Mmm," Jackson grunted. "What maybe he should be trying to figure out is how he's going to pay or a lawyer when I prosecute your asses all the way to jail!"
"Someone needs to take a chill pill," I mumbled.
"All right," Stiles said with a serious tone. "Well, tell us this, on the night of the first full moon, what happened?"
Jackson looked like Stiles had hit his puppy, his face contorting in sadness. "Nothing. Nothing happened."
The statement ended the conversation, and looking at Jackson's face, I couldn't help but feel a bit bad for him.
♡♢♤♧
'Going to be home late. Don't wait up' Stiles had typed into Jackson's phone, sending it to his parents.
"Now what?" I asked, looking at the van over my shoulder.
He was about to answer, when he froze. We both listened, hearing leaves crunching underfoot.
Slowly turning, we came face to face with Allison.
Stiles jumped, nearly toppling us both over in shock. "Oh, my God."
"They know," Was all she said, as if we were supposed to know what that meant.
I took a second to try and figure out what she was talking about, before shaking my head. "You're going to need to be more specific."
"They know Jackson's missing," She exclaimed in a panic.
"No, they can't," Stiles said, sounding confused. "I've been texting his parents since last night. They don't have a clue."
Allison shook her head, "My grandfather told me his parents went to the police." She held her hands out, as if ending the discussion, "They know."
Stiles' face noticeably sunk as the realization of what had happened had settled upon him. He whimpered, holding the phone between two fingers as if it carried a life-threatening disease.
He held it out to Allison and I, trying to get one of us to take it away from him.
I grabbed it as he told me to throw it away, before he ran over to the van and grabbed the communicator.
Allison and I walked up behind him to hear it.
'All available units proceed to Beacon Hills Preserve as instructed. Proceed with caution until Sheriff Stilinksi's arrival. Repeat. Proceed with caution.'
Once the radio stopped talking, I took a step back.
"Okay, I know I've been joking a lot, but I can't go down for kidnapping, guys. My mum will actually go off her head. I'll end up at boarding school or something; I'm not even kidding. She'll do it."
Allison placed a hand on my arm, "Don't worry, we'll figure this out."
We climbed into the front of the van, Stiles grabbing Jackson's phone from me, which I hadn't thrown away like he had originally asked.
"Where are we going?" Allison asked the boy behind the wheel.
He didn't look up from the phone. "Somewhere very far from this."
Stiles hit call on the phone, before throwing it out the car window and driving away.
♡♢♤♧
"If Jackson doesn't remember being the Kanima, he's definitely not gonna remember stealing Danny's tablet," Scott explained.
We had found a new spot to hide Jackson, and the four of us were standing close by, discussing our plans.
Stiles threw his hands up, "Why would he steal the thing if he doesn't even know what's on it?"
He had a point. So, could that mean that someone else stole even. Someone who was maybe working with Jackson?
Or against him?
"What if someone else took it?" Allison asked, voicing my thoughts.
"Then somebody else knows what he is."
Scott nodded, "Which could means someone's protecting him."
"Or trying to kill him," I pointed out. Scott gave me a look, and I bowed my head to avoid eye contact.
"You both have a point," Allison agreed. "But if Scott's right, then it's like the Bestiary says, 'The Kanima seeks a friend,' right?"
"Okay, hold on," Stiles didn't appear to be too convinced. "So somebody watches Jackson make a video of himself turning into the Kanima and then just erases part of it so that he wouldn't know? I mean, who would do that?"
"Somebody wanting to protect him," Allison scrunched her eyebrows beneath her beanie.
I shrugged, "Personally, I'm not sure, but living in Beacon Hills I'm going to safely assume that it's not for Jackson's wellbeing."
Scott shifted his weight from one leg to the other, taking a breath as he looked down on the town from where we stood,
"There's something else. You said the only thing you found online about the Kanima is that it goes after murders. What if that's actually true?"
"Well, no, it can't be."
I nodded rapidly. "Yeah, cause I don't know about you guys, but I haven't killed anyone."
"But I don't think that it was actually trying to kill us," Scott attempted to reason. We all listened carefully, considering what he was telling us. He spun to Allison, "Remember when we were at Isaac's the first time, it just went right by us, didn't it?"
The girl's eyebrows had furrowed as she thought back. "You're right, it just ran off."
"And it didn't kill you in the mechanic's garage," He reminded Stiles.
Stiles' face remained blank, "Well, yeah, but it tried to kill me, Riley and Derek in the pool."
"Did it?"
"It would've."
I scrunched my nose. "I'm not sure now. It could've just jumped in and slashed our throats; so why didn't it?"
"It was waiting for us to come out,"
Scott gave him a look, "What if it was trying to keep you in?"
The Kanima, the thing going around killing everyone, was trying to avoid killing us?
Stiles' mouth fell open, "Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?"
"Because there's something else going on. We don't know what it is."
"As always," I sighed, leaning over and resting my hands on my knees. I was so tired; I hadn't slept the previous night. I had had too many things going through my head.
"We don't know anything about what's going on with Jackson or why someone's protecting him."
"'Know thy enemy'," Allison said quietly. When we all stared at her silently, she elaborated. "Just something my grandfather said."
"Yeah? Well I think I speak for all of us when I say that your grandfather creeps me out," I told her, standing up straight once more.
"All right, I got it," Stiles announced. "Kill Jackson. Problem solved."
"Unfortunately, I don't think it's that simple."
Scott glared at us both and Stiles threw his hands up in confusion.
"He risked his life for us. Against Peter, you remember that?" Scott asked us.
"Yes, but what did we just find out? He got the bite from Derek." Stiles retaliated and I nodded in agreement, stepping beside him to show where I stood in this debate.
Stiles continued on, "It's funny how he just got exactly what he wanted by supposedly risking his life for us, it's funny." Stiles was fake grinning, showing just how unamused he was by it all.
"Yeah, it doesn't mean he's not still worth saving," Scott told us sternly.
I sighed, "That's not what we're trying to say, Scott.
Stiles nodded, his expression softening. "It's always something with him, though."
"He doesn't know what he's doing," the teen wolf continued to lecture.
"So what?"
"So, I didn't either."
We all fell silent at this comment. Stiles let his eyes fall to the ground and I just watched Scott.
"You remember when I almost killed you and Jackson?" He asked Allison. "I had someone to stop me. He has nobody."
"That's his own fault," Stiles said bluntly.
"Doesn't matter. If we can save him, we should try."
I looked over to the prisoner transport van, sighing. "Fine."
♡♢♤♧
I sat in Stiles' Jeep, reading a book as I waited for him to come out.
He was currently in Lydia's house trying to explain why he had completely ditched her the other night.
That conversation wasn't going to be fun for anybody, so I decided to not be a part of it.
I didn't care that he was alone with Lydia at this point. I needed to find a way to get past it, and convincing myself that I didn't care seemed like as good a start as any.
About an hour later, the door to the driver's side of the vehicle opened up and Stiles climbed inside.
"Any luck?" I questioned, not tearing my eyes away from my book.
He groaned, "She's never going to let this one go, I think.
"That's a shame," I mumbled, trying not to lose my place on the page.
Stiles murmured something to himself as he started the engine. I was going to ask what he said, but I figured if he had wanted me to hear, he would've said it louder.
Plus, I was concentrating too hard on my book to have used my new found 'super hearing'.
It was silent for at least ten minutes, and my book was getting really interesting. The main character was about to finally realize that nothing she knew was true, and that everyone was lying to her.
"Why don't you like Lydia?"
And seeing her reaction to the truth would obviously have to wait a bit longer.
I closed my book and looked at him, "What?"
"Lydia," He repeated. "Why don't you like her?"
"I never said I didn't like her. We've actually gotten pretty close; I even consider her a friend."
Stiles chuckled as if I were kidding. "Really? 'Cause every time I mention her name you look like you might stab someone."
Shit.
How was I meant to respond to that? I couldn't exactly tell him that I had a crush on him.
"I just-" My mind was blank. I avoided eye contact, trying to pull together an excuse.
"It just frustrates me how you're still pining even though she doesn't feel the same way."
"Who said I'm still pining?"
I gave him a look, and that was answer enough.
He sighed "I don't know. She just means a lot to me. Plus, if you're such good friends with her now, why don't you put in a good word?"
The way he said it almost made it sound like a dare.
My chest tightened and I shook my head. "You don't need a good word. Just be yourself. If she can't like you for you, then she's not worth it."
I noticed Stiles was trying not to look over to me, but his jaw seemed to be locked.
"What're you thinking," I asked in a soft voice, brows creased in curiosity.
He opened his mouth, then shut it, and then cleared his throat before answering my question. "That's the thing. I think everyone's right when they say that she has no feeling for me."
"Maybe, but-"
"Do you like me for me?" Stiles asked suddenly, cutting me off and catching me off guard.
Words stumbled on my tongue, "What sort of stupid question is that?"
"I don't know. I just . . . I don't know."
The air felt heavy with tension, neither of us saying a word. I didn't know how to take what Stiles was saying.
Was he asking in general, or something else?
Our silent questions hung in the air as we drove back to the preserve.