Quote: "In the end, she became more than what she expected. She became the journey, and like all journeys, she did not end, she just simply changed directions and kept going."
Published: May 7, 2018
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Chapter 7: "Restraint"
We're in a separate room at the police station with Scott's phone on the table and Allison on speaker while we all try to figure everything out.
"If Jackson doesn't know what he's doing, then he probably doesn't know that someone's controlling him." Allison suggests.
"Or he doesn't remember." Scott also suggests.
"What if it's the same kind of thing that happened with Lydia when she took off from the hospital?" I question.
"A fugue state?"
"He'd have to forget everything. The murder.." Scott starts to say.
"..Getting rid of the blood." Allison finishes.
"Yeah, he had help with one thing though, the video." Stiles says. "And someone else helped him forget that."
"Whoever's controlling him." I state.
"Are you sure that Jackson has no clue about any of this?"
"He thinks he's still becoming a werewolf and that being with Lydia somehow delayed the whole thing."
"So do we try and convince him he's not?"
"If it helps us find out who's controlling him, then yeah." Scott says.
"Do you think he'll talk to us after what we did?"
"Yeah, it's us. He'll talk to us. Right?" Stiles states and asks.
》》》
Stiles, Scott, and I are now sitting in an interrogation room, with mine and Scott's mom in the doorway while Sheriff Stilinski reads us the rules of a restraining order.
Oh how fun that is.
"You will not go within fifty feet of Jackson Whittemore. You will not speak to him. You will not approach him. You will not assault or harass him physically or psychologically."
Stilinski tosses the clipboard onto the table as Stiles asks him a question.
"What about school?"
"You can attend classes while attempting to maintain a fifty-foot distance."
Stiles then had to go and ask the stupidest question ever, which can possibly result in getting him into even more trouble.
"But, okay, what if we both have to use the bathroom at the same time and there's only two stalls available and they're only right next to each other?" He asks as I hear my mom sigh and Stilinski gives him a glare, which seems like it could result in him being put six feet under. "I'll just told it."
》》》
Stilinski pulls Stiles out of the room to punish him and Scott and I also walk out with our mother behind us just in time to hear the last of the Stilinski's conversation.
"...am I supposed to interpret the stolen prison transport van, huh?" Sheriff asks.
"We filled the tank." Stiles stupidly stated.
"Move." Our mother says for us to continue walking and we stand into the hallway as our mother stops and turns us to face her. "It's not just this. Although, a restraining order is a new low that I didn't think that you both would reach quite soon. It's everything on top of it. The completely bizarre behavior, the late nights coming home," She then directs the last part to Scott. "Having to beg Mr. Harris for you to make up that chemistry test that you missed."
"I missed a chemistry test?" Scott asks with a blank stare and I physically slap a hand on my forehead in disbelief.
"Really, Scott? Really? I have to ground you both. I am grounding you. You are grounded."
"What about work?" Scott asks just as Stiles stands in the doorway to watch us.
"Fine, other than work. And no TV."
"Our TV's broken." I state.
"Then no computer."
"We need the computer for school." Scott says.
"Then no, uh.." She turns behind her to look at Stiles then back to us. "No Stiles."
"What, no Stiles." Stiles say walking closer to us.
"No Stiles!" Our mother yells and Stiles quickly backs away. "And no more car privileges. Give me your keys. Give 'em to me!" She yells the last part which makes us slightly jump and to be honest I was never scared of my mom a little until now.
Scott quickly pulls his keychain out of his pocket since me and him shared the same car key. She takes the keys as she struggles to get the car key off of the ring.
"Oh, for the love of God."
"Mom, you want me to.."
"No." She quickly turns down as she still struggles with the key.
"Mom, come on, let me just, mom." I say as she just shakes her head at me. "Mom." I say more loudly as I grab both of her hands into mine to stop her fiddling.
"What is going on with you?" She asks me then she turns to Scott. "Is this about Allison?"
"Do you really wanna know?" Scott asks.
"Yeah." Stiles then starts to violently shake his head behind our mother's back basically telling him to lie. "Is this about your father?" She quietly asks us and Stiles starts to nod his head. "It is, isn't it? Okay, you know what, um.. we'll talk about this at home. I'm gonna go get the car." She says and walks away and Scott and I both look at her with sad looks.
"I'm the worst son ever."
"And I'm the worst daughter ever." I state.
"Well, I'm not exactly winning any prizes either." Stiles says and we look into the room we were in to see Mr. Whittemore yelling at Sheriff Stilinski.
》》》
We're all at school the next day and I still feel bad about everything yesterday with our mother. I try my best to get through the day and I walk into the library with Allison as we go in-between to book shelves.
I look between the books to see Scott and Stiles on the other side. We have to meet in secret like this since Gerard literally put security cameras throughout the whole school to keep an eye on Allison.
Allison slides a tablet to Scott with the Bestiary on it.
"It's everything Lydia can translate. And trust me, she was very confused." Allison whispers to Scott and Stiles.
"Yeah, what'd you tell her?" Scott asks.
"That we were part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures."
"I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures." Stiles states as Scott and Allison give him a quick glance and I just smirk already knowing about that.
"O - oh. Great."
"Okay, does it say how to find out who's controlling him?" Scott asks looking up from the tablet with the translations.
"Not really." I state already having read it. "But Stiles was right about the murders."
"Yes!" Stiles quickly says.
"It calls the Kanima a weapon of vengeance. There's a story in there about this South American priest who uses the Kanima to execute murderers in his village..."
"Alright, see? So maybe it's not all that bad." Stiles interrupts me.
"..Until the bond grew strong enough that it killed whoever he wanted it to." I finish.
"All bad, all very, very bad."
"Here's the thing, though." Allison says. "The Kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf. But it can't be.." Allison stops speaking as the librarian puts a book away in our isle before walking away.
"'Until it resolves that in its past which manifested it.'" Scott finished reading from the tablet.
"Okay, if that means that Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy, I could've told you that myself." Stiles sarcastically states.
"What if - it has something to do with his parents? His real parents." Allison asks.
"Yeah, does anybody actually know what happened to them?" Scott asks us.
"Lydia might." I state.
"What if she doesn't know anything?"
"Well, he doesn't have a restraining order against me, so, I'll talk to him myself." Allison says and it's true since she didn't get into trouble at all.
"Okay, what do I do?" Scott asks.
"You have a make-up exam, remember? Promise me?" Allison asks as she squeezes onto Scott's hand before removing it.
"If he does anything, you run the other way."
"I can take care of myself."
"Allison, if you get hurt while I'm busy with some stupid test, someone's going to need to take care of me. If he does anything..."
"Like?"
"Anything - weird or bizarre - anything.."
"Anything evil!" Stiles states putting his head in-between the book shelves and I take my hand and shove him back into the isle he was in almost making him drop the book in his hand. Almost resulting in me busting out in laughter.
》》》
"I'm not supposed to tell anyone." Lydia says as Stiles and I trail behind her in the school hallways asking about Jackson's birth parents.
"Come on, anybody who ever says 'I'm not supposed to tell anyone' is always dying to tell someone, so tell us." Stiles tells her.
"Why do you wanna know?" She asks.
"We can't tell you that." I simply state.
"Then I'm not telling you."
"But you are telling us that you could tell us something if you wanted to tell us?" Stiles asks confusing not only Lydia but me too.
"Was that a question?"
"It felt like a question."
"Well, tell me if this feels like an answer. No."
"Lydia!" I yell after her as Stiles trails behind me. "Lydia, come on! Ly - wait!"
Erica then comes out of nowhere and pins Stiles against a wall with her hand on his chest and her claws out. "Why are you asking Lydia about Jackson's real parents?" She asks Stiles as I watch the interaction worriedly.
"Why are you bringing out the claws on camera?" I sassily ask as I point to a surveillance camera behind her.
"That's right." Stiles says as she removes her hand from him. "You wanna play Catwoman? I'll be your Batman." Stiles then grabs onto my hand and we both start to walk away before Erica opens her mouth, stopping us in our tracks as we turn to her.
"If you're wondering about Jackson's real parents, they're about half a mile from here. In Beacon Hills cemetery."
Erica walks away and we stand there for a couple minutes in shock before Stiles drags me away to catch up to Erica.
"Do you know how they died?" Stiles asks as we walk behind her.
"Maybe. If you tell me why you're so interested." Erica then stops in her tracks as she comes to a realization. "It's him, isn't it?"
"What? Him who?" I ask even though I already know what she's going to say.
"The test didn't work, but it's still him. It's Jackson." Erica scoffs as she keeps walking.
"You can't tell Derek, okay." I tell her knowing that he'll just try to kill Jackson. "There's a lot more to this that you don't know about. And just because you got the Alpha bite makeover doesn't give you a license to go around destroying people."
"Why not?" She asks as we stop in front of the locker rooms. "That's all anybody ever used to do to me." She then turns to Stiles. "I used to have the worst crush in the world on you. Yeah, you, Stiles." She says as I feel a pang of jealousy go through me. "And you never once noticed me, all 'cause of the love sick crush you have on your bitch here." I feel anger go through me as she continues to talk. "Exactly how you're not noticing me right now."
I look away from Erica to Stiles as he motions to the floor and we see a puddle of water trailing out of the boys' locker room.
The door busts open as Scott lands on his back and Jackson comes out attacking him.
"Scott, Scott." I say as Erica lifts Jackson off of him and Stiles and I try our best to restrain Scott.
"What the hell's going on." We hear a voice say as Mr. Harris comes down the hallway. "Hey! Enough! Enough."
Stiles and I let go of Scott as Erica let's go of Jackson.
"What do you idiots think you're doing? Jackson! Calm down! Mr. McCall, you wanna explain yourself? Ms. McCall, Stilinski!"
"You dropped this." The Lacrosse player Matt says holding out the tablet to Scott, but Mr. Harris grabs it instead.
"You and you." He points to Jackson and Scott. "Actually, all of you, detention. Three o'clock."
》》》
Scott, Stiles, Allison, Matt, Jackson, Erica, and I all walk into the library after school for detention.
Scott, Stiles, and I sit at the same table and Erica had the nerve to sit next to me, while the other three sat at a different table until Jackson had to open his big mouth.
"Oh, uh, we can't be in detention together. I have a restraining order against these tools." He says pointing over to us.
"All these tools?" Harris asks.
"No, just us tools." Stiles says gesturing to the three of us.
"Fine. You three, over there." Harris points to a table farther from Jackson.
We get up and move to the table as Scott speaks up.
"I'm gonna kill him."
"No you're not." I start to tell him. "We're going to find out who's controlling him and then you're gonna help save him."
"No. Stiles was right, let's kill him."
"Oh, no." Stiles says.
A few minutes of silence goes between us before Stiles speaks up again.
"Hey. What if it's Matt? I mean, this whole thing comes back to the video, right?"
"Danny said that Matt was the one who found the two hours of footage missing." I explain, but then again I get this weird vibe from him.
"Exactly. He's trying to throw suspicion off himself."
"So he makes Jackson kill Isaac's dad, one of Argent's hunters, and the mechanic working on your jeep?" Scott asks.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because - he's evil."
"You just don't like him." I state.
"The guy - bugs me. I don't know what it is. Just look at his face."
The three of us look over in Matt's direction to see him nicely offering a chip to Jackson.
"Any other theories?" Scott asks.
"Are you alright? Hey, you don't look so good." Harris says as Jackson is about to exit the library as we all watch him.
"I just need to get some water." He states before leaving.
"No one leaves their seats." Harris says and just as he exits the library Scott, Stiles, and I quickly shoot out of our seats before sitting back at the table where Erica is sitting.
"Stiles and Zoey says you know how Jackson's parents die." Scott says from the seat in front of Erica.
"Maybe."
"Talk." I demand from next to her.
She surprisingly does when she sits her book down. "It was a car accident. My dad was the insurance investigator, and every time he sees Jackson drive by in his Porsche, he makes some comment about the huge settlement he'll be getting when he's eighteen."
"So not only is Jackson rich now, but he's getting even richer at eighteen?" Stiles asks from in front of me.
"Yup."
"There's something so deeply wrong with that."
"You know what? I could try to find out the insurance report on my dad's inbox." Erica says opening up her laptop. "He keeps everything."
"Scott McCall, please report to the principal's office." Victoria Argent's voice booms out over the loud speaker as we give each other confused looks as Scott leaves the library.
》》》
"Hey, look at the dates." I say pointing to Erica's computer screen as she reads what it says aloud.
"Passengers arrived at the hospital DOA. The estimated time of death - nine twenty-six P.M., June fourteenth, nineteen-ninety-five."
"Jackson's birthday is June fifteenth." Stiles states.
Jackson is already back in his seat and we see Harris pack his stuff up so we all get up grabbing our bags as well, but he chuckles and we stop our movements.
"Oh, no, I'm sorry. Uh, yes, I'm leaving. But none of you are. You may go when you're done with the re-shelving." He says padding two carts, full of books. "Enjoy the rest of your evening." He walks away and I sigh in frustration hating him even more.
》》》
"It means he was born after his mom died, by c-section. They had to pull him out of her dead body." Stiles explains to Scott and Allison as we place books into the shelves and we're all in the same isle together.
"So was it an accident or not?" Allison asks.
"The word all over the report is 'inconclusive.'" I say with a slight shrug.
"Then his parents could have been murdered?" Scott questions.
"If they were, then it falls in line with the Kanima myth. It seeks out and kills murderers."
"But for Jackson? Or the person controlling him?" Allison asks.
"We have to talk to him. We have to tell him." Scott says leaving the isle we're in.
"He's not gonna.." But Allison cuts herself off when Scott leaves.
Out of nowhere, there is a loud crash as one of the lights break on the ceiling. I quickly pull Stiles and Allison to the ground and I somehow make a shield around us as glass rains down and bounces off of the shield.
I look up from our crouched position as I hear a roar and Scott's voice yell for Erica. I barely see the Kanima/Jackson jump over one of the shelves and more lights break.
Scott is thrown into a book case and he quickly gets up to crouch protectively in front of us just as my shield drops. We stare as we see Jackson in half Kanima form robotically write on a chalk board.
I look to the board as it reads, 'stay out of my way or I'll kill all of you' and Kanima/Jackson jumps out of a window breaking the glass.
Scott, Allison, and Stiles walk closer to the board and I quickly go over to Erica as I see her thrashing on the floor. "Hey, hey, hey, hey!" I yell catching their attention as I grab Erica into my arms. "I think she's having a seizure."
Scott and Stiles try to help me with Erica as Allison checks on Matt at the next isle over.
"He's alive." She says to us as Scott looks through the shelves at the two.
"We need to get her to a hospital." I state, but Erica quickly intervenes as she's still having a seizure.
"Derek - only to Derek."
"When we get her to a hospital.." Scott tries to tell Allison ,but again Erica shoots down that plan.
"To Derek. To Derek."
"Go." Allison tells Scott.
"Hey, Scott!" I yell at him when he rushes to Allison and I try to hold Erica as best as I can.
I'm strong enough as I pick up Erica off of the floor and quickly rush out of the library with Stiles and Scott right behind me while Allison deals with an unconscious Matt.
》》》
We quickly get to the subway station where Derek is staying at with his betas and I lay Erica down on the subway floor.
"Hold her up." Derek quickly demands trying to help Erica as I hold her up in a sitting position.
"Is she dying?" I ask actually worried for her.
"She might, I - which is why this is gonna hurt." Derek says right before he breaks her arm and she screams in pain.
"You broke her arm!" Stiles yells out over Erica's pain.
"It'll trigger the healing process. I still gotta get the venom out. This is where it's really gonna hurt." Derek says digging all of his claws into her arm and she screams out even louder on more pain as a lot of blood gushes out of her arm.
Erica calms down as I fall back with her in my arms still and she stops seizing. She looks up at me out of breath from the pain and screaming.
"Zoey - you would actually make - a pretty good - superhero." She says right before passing out and we all let out a breath of relief that she's going to be okay.
》》》
I told Stiles to keep an eye on Erica when Derek exits the subway cart and Scott and I follow after him.
"You know who it is." I say to Derek as he sits down and replies
"Jackson." He states with a sigh.
"You just wanted Erica to confirm it, didn't you?" Scott asks and Derek slightly nods. "I'm gonna help you stop him. As part of your pack." Derek and I stare over at him as he continues to speak. "If you want me in, fine. But we'll do it on one condition. We're gonna catch him, not kill him."
"And?"
"And we do it my way."