"We can't keep him here forever." I tell Scott and Stiles, glancing over to the prisoner transport van.
"Just until I can figure out why he went after Danny, Allison's still working on translating the other pages." Scott says.
"The pages you stole? From some thousand year old book? What if she can't, or what if there isn't any way to save him?" I ask.
"We're not killing him, not until we've searched every possible way to save him." Scott says sternly. "And Derek-"
"Yeah, I know." I sigh, folding my arms. "I won't tell him he's here. He's not even speaking to me."
"Alright then, go talk to Danny." Stiles says, looking at Scott and I.
"No way, I'm not leaving you alone with him." I shook my head.
"Okay, I'll try to hurry." Scott nods. He takes off, leaving us alone.
"Come on," I sigh, standing up. "Time to feed the lizard."
I open up the back of the van, going in first. Stiles hops in, then closes the door behind him. Jackson pulls against the chains but can't reach us.
"Let me out, now!" Jackson demands.
"You know, I put those pants on you." Stiles says annoyed. "All right, buddy? One leg at a time. Being all up close and personal with your junk wasn't exactly a highlight of my day. So don't think this is fun for me either. You know we're actually doing you a favor?"
"This, is doing me a favor?" Jackson says holding up his cuffed arms.
"Yes," Stiles says. "You're killing people, to death! And until we can figure out how to stop you, you're gonna stay here, I'm sorry. Now, do you want the ham and cheese or the turkey club?"
Stiles pulls out two sandwiches. I cross my arms, kicking my feet up on the other bench.
"You actually think my parents won't be looking for me?" Jackson asks.
"Not if they don't think anything is wrong." I said, pulling out his phone, showing him a text I sent to them.
☾
It was bad enough having to babysit Jackson, it was even worse having to listen to him and Stiles bicker for hours. At this point, I'd rather sit through a five hour long lecture from Coach.
"Scales?" Jackson asks doubtedly. "Like a fish."
"No, more like a reptile." Stiles says bored. "Um, and, uh, your claws have this liquid that paralyzes people, and you have a tail."
"I have a tail?"
"Yeah, you have a tail."
"Does it do anything?"
"No, not that I know of."
"Can I use it to strangle you?" Jackson says lurching forward.
"You still don't believe me." Stiles says unbelievably. "All right. The night of the semi-final game, what did you do right after?"
"I went home." Jackson glares at him.
"Are you sure about that?" Stiles asks.
"Yes, you idiot. What the hell else would I do?"
"You attacked me, bashed my head in, thank you very much for that by the way, then trapped Stiles and Derek in a pool." I said annoyed.
"You also killed a mechanic, in front of me, that was lovely." Stiles adds on. "And one of Argent's hunters. Oh, and last night you tried to kill Danny."
"Why would I wanna kill my best friend?" Jackson questions him.
"Well that's what Scott's trying to figure out now." Stiles says
"Well, maybe he should be trying to figure out is how he's gonna pay for a lawyer when I prosecute your asses all the way to jail!"
"I think I'm good." I said playing with my nails. "My mom's a lawyer, and besides your parents are none the wiser you're missing."
"You should be grateful." I said leaning forward. "If it wasn't for Scott we would've killed you by now."
"Stiles!" I heard Allison's muffled calls outside the van.
"Allison's here." I told him.
Stiles looks confused, then opens up the back of the van. I jump out after him, then lock the van. Allison walked up, a few feet away from us.
"They know." She says.
"What?" Stiles asks.
"They know Jackson's missing." She says.
"No, they can't. We've been texting his parents since last night, they don't have a clue." I shook my head.
"My grandfather told me his parents went to the police. They know." She insisted.
"Crap..." I whispered. I took out Jackson's phone, tossing it to Stiles.
"What was that for?" He asks, catching it.
"I am not going to prison for kidnapping! Where is Scott?" I demand looking at Allison.
"He went to the hospital to see Danny." Allison answers.
"Okay..." I said trying to think. "They're tracking Jackson's phone, we need to get far away from here, now."
Stiles nods, we get in the van. As we're driving away, Stiles dials Jackson's mom, wipes our fingerprints from it, then drops the phone in the woods.
☾
We moved the van further into the preserve. Then soon joined by Scott, who informed us by Danny, that the video Jackson taped of himself the night of the full moon was messed with. Someone edited out the footage of him turning. Danny restored the footage, but the tablet it was on is missing from Danny's trunk. I sat outside up against a tree in a wall squat.
"If Jackson doesn't remember being the Kanima, he's definitely not gonna remember stealing Danny's tablet." Scott says rubbing his neck.
"Why would he steal the thing if he doesn't even know what's on it?" Stiles asks.
"What if someone else took it?" Allison suggests.
"Then somebody else has to know what he is." I said
"Which could mean someone's protecting him." Scott nods.
"Like the bestiary says, the Kanima seeks a friend, right?" Allison says.
"So, somebody watches Jackson make a video of himself turning into the Kanima, and then just erases part of it so he wouldn't know? Who would do that?" I ask.
"Somebody who wanted to protect him." Allison says.
"There's something else." Scott says looking at Stiles. "You said the only thing you found online about the Kanima is that it goes after murderers. What if that's actually true?"
"Well, no, it can't be. It tried to kill all of us, remember?" Stiles says. "I don't know about you three, but I didn't murder anyone lately."
"I don't think it was actually trying to kill us." Scott says, then looks over to Allison. "Remember when we were at Isaac's the first time, it went right by us didn't it."
"You're right it just ran off." Allison agrees.
"And it didn't kill you after it knocked you out at the pool." He says looking at me, then to Stiles. "Or you at the mechanics garage."
"Well yea, but it tried to kill me and Derek at the pool." Stiles says.
"Did it?" Scott questions.
"It was waiting for us to come out."
"What if it was trying to keep you guys in?"
"Why do I feel so violated all the sudden?" Stiles asks.
"Because, there's something else going on." Scott says. "We don't know what it is. We don't know anything about what's going on with Jackson, or why someone's protecting him."
"Alright, I got it. Kill Jackson." Stiles says. "Problem solved."
"He risked his life for us, against Peter, you remember that?" Scott asks.
"Yes, but what did we just find out? He got the bite from Derek. It's funny how he just got exactly what he wanted by supposedly risking his life for us, it's funny." Stiles says.
"Yeah, it doesn't mean he's not still worth saving." Scott tells him.
"Kara?" Stiles asks, looking to me to back him up.
"I'm with Scott." I tell them. "He doesn't know what he is, or what he's doing. It's not his fault."
"So what?" Stiles asks.
"So- I didn't either!" Scott says, then looks at Allison. "You remember when I almost killed you and Jackson? I had someone to stop me. He has nobody!"
"That's his own fault." Stiles scoffs.
"It doesn't matter." I tell him. "If we can save him, we should try."
☾
Allison and Stiles left in her car, something about checking on Lydia. Which left Scott and I to guard Jackson. We sat in Stiles' jeep, looking over the dark town.
"I'm surprised you agreed with me." Scott says breaking the silence. I laugh, looking at him.
"You're surprised I didn't wanna kill someone?" I asked raising my eyebrows.
"No- not that." He shakes his head. "Just, you normally seem to only agree with Derek lately."
"He's not bad..." I tell him. "He just doesn't want to see anyone else hurt."
"We don't either, but we wanna save Jackson too." Scott shrugs.
"Derek sees him as... expendable. And I kinda did too, but I know I shouldn't have."
"You're not like Derek." Scott assures me.
"No, but I was trying to be." I sighed. "I wanted to be strong, fast, brave... I just, lost sight of what I was doing."
"It's okay..." Scott says comfortingly. "It's not your fault."
"It is though." I said sitting back. "I wish I could blame Peter for it all, for killing me, trying to kill all of us... but I went with him willingly. Maybe if I hadn't none of this would've happened."
"Peter still would've gone after you. Maybe even Evan." Scott shakes his head. "And- none of that even matters, you did it to save us."
"I can't save anyone." I said softly. Scott reached over, his hand resting on mine. Making me glance over, meeting his eyes.
"You saved me."
"Hey!" Stiles voice booms, and his fist pounds on the window, scaring the hell out of me. "You guys might wanna come take a look at this."
I quickly separate our hands, and get out of the Jeep. Allison is standing over by the back of the van, it's doors wide open. I sprint over, looking inside. Jackson is gone.
"I have to tell my father..." Allison says. Scott looks in the van, then turns away. "Scott... he's going to kill someone."
"Okay..." Scott nods. "Tell him. Tell him everything."
"Scott, I gotta tell mine too." Stiles says.
"This is all my fault." Scott shakes his head.
"It's not," Allison tells him. "But we have to tell them. We're just a bunch of teenagers. We can't handle this."
"How are you gonna make your dad believe all this?" Allison asks Stiles.
"I don't know." He sighs. Scott looks at him, his eyes glowing bright yellow.
"He'll believe us." He says looking over to me. I could feel my eyes burning to match his.