CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT:
the next day, lydia, marcie, stiles, scott, isaac and allison all went to the preserve to find malia.
"anyone else think we might be doing more harm than good?" lydia asked.
"we're trying to keep a father from killing his own daughter." scott said.
"actually, we're trying to keep a guy from killing a coyote who is actually his daughter, who we don't know how to change from a coyote back to his daughter." isaac corrected.
"and again with the not helping." stiles said.
"did you bring it?" scott asked looking over at allison.
allison pulled out her gun and everyone knew that they were ready to find malia.
lydia, allison, isaac and scott heard gunshots and they took off into the woods leaving marcie and stiles behind.
"wait, wait. wait! wait!" stiles shouted.
"why are we always the ones being left behind?" marcie asked letting out a sigh.
-
stiles called his dad and his father told him that the coyote took the doll once again.
"it took the doll again? what the hell is so important about this doll?" stiles asked.
"i don't know. but listen to me, there are traps all over those woods. near the trails. probably near the car crash. and tate's out there with a riffle. i want you to stay out of those woods. you got that? stiles?" his dad said.
"it's the doll." stiles said.
"the doll?" marcie asked.
"stiles?" his dad said.
"it's the doll?" stiles said hanging up the phone.
-
"all right, but why would it go all the way to the school and then all the way back to the house just for a doll? one that was in the car wreck in the first place. we didn't find it in the coyote den." stiles said.
"wait, stiles show me the photo of malia and her sister again." marcie asked.
he pulled out his phone and walked over to her with the picture on the screen.
"malia isn't holding the doll." marcie pointed out.
"that's malia's younger sister. it's her doll." stiles said.
"i know what she's doing." stiles said.
"what?" marcie asked him.
"i know where she's going." stiles said.
-
"isaac, wait!" allison shouted.
he was running when he came to a stop after getting his ankle caught in a bear trap. isaac let out a scream and allison ran over to help him.
"allison, there he is." isaac said talking about tate.
"hit tate. use the tranq on him. okay?" isaac told her.
"okay, come on." allison said shooting but she missed.
"allison, breathe." isaac told her.
allison mumbled something in french and this time when she shot him, she didn't miss and tate fell to the ground.
"isaac, she's gone." allison said after she didn't see malia anymore.
-
stiles and marcie started walking through the woods to make their way to the car wreck.
"scott, it's me. you have to call me as soon as you can. it wasn't malia's doll. it was her sisters. malia left it at the car for her sister. it's like bringing flowers to a grave. okay, and we stole the flowers. so, that's all she's trying to do. bring the doll back to the grave, to the car wreck. that's where she's headed. the car wreck." stiles said leaving scott a voicemail.
stiles was too distracted to notice that marcie had her foot on top of a bear trap.
marcie looked down and she felt absolutely terrified. she knew that any sudden move and she'd lose her foot.
"stiles?" she stuttered.
"yeah?" stiles asked.
when he looked up he saw why she was so scared. if she lifted her foot or even moved it, the bear trap would snap it off.
"stiles." marcie said again when it lifted a little.
"marcie, don't move." stiles told her.
"l-look for the warning label." she told him.
"a warning label?" stiles asked.
"it'll give you instructions on how to disarm it." marcie explained to him.
"marcie, why the hell would they put instructions on the bottom of a trap?" stiles asked.
"because animals can't read." marcie replied as stiles nodded.
he got down beside the trap and he looked for the warning label.
"mars, we got a problem." stiles said.
"w-what?" marcie stuttered.
"i can't read either." stiles replied.
"oh, god. okay." marcie said before letting out a shaky breath.
"you know what? you don't need them. when was the last time you've ever used instructions? right? you don't need them. you wanna know why? because you're too smart to waste your time with them. i know you and i know that if anyone can figure it out, it's you. stiles, you're the one who always figures it out. so you can do this, okay? figure. it. out." marcie said as her breathing got shakier.
stiles pushed back some leaves and saw a lever that he could turn.
"okay, here we go. ready?" stiles asked her.
stiles looked up at her and she looked down at him and nodded slowly.
"okay, here we go." stiles said.
he turned the lever and marcie jumped so high in the air as stiles caught her.
she gripped onto his shirt and he let out a breath of relief.
"i told you that you could do it." marcie said looking up at him.
he looked down at her and gave her a smile and he put her down on the ground.
"you're okay?" stiles asked her putting his hand on her cheek.
"i'm okay." marcie replied pecking his lips.
"i'm gonna walk beside you from now on." stiles chuckled as she let out a breathy laugh.
stiles laced their fingers together and they started walking through the woods again. they stopped when they heard scott roar.
"that's what i'm talking about." stiles said as marcie grinned.
scott did it. he turned malia back into a girl again.
-
stiles sat in the sheriffs van and stiles' dad brought malia to mr. tate's porch.
once mr. tate recognized his daughter, he brought her into a hug and they were both crying.
stiles watched the beautiful moment and then his father looked back at him and they smiled at each other.
stiles looked into the mirror of the car and to his surprise, he could read the sticker that said objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.
-
stiles went over to marcie house after his father dropped him off and the two of them spent the night studying and catching up on school work.
they were both sitting on her bed and stiles saw different colored markings on her pages.
"what do the different colors mean?" stiles asked her.
"oh, green is for all the things that i understand, yellow is for the stuff that i need to work on and blue... well, blue is just pretty so i use it to highlight important things. red means that i don't understand." marcie said as stiles looked over her pages.
"you have no red anywhere." stiles said as she shrugged.
"i guess i just understand." marcie replied making stiles chuckle.