Tessa rested on her stomach while she, Scott and Stiles listened to the tape. Stiles pressed play, and they hear a male voice. "After entering the IP address, you will be connected through a Darknet portal to an untraceable bank. Once logged in, enter your account number to receive wire transfers. The IP address will deactivate with each transfer. You will be assigned a new IP address if you choose to continue down the list. Remember, visual confirmation is always required for payment."
"Either of you ever made a wire transfer?" Stiles questioned.
Scott shook his head. "Never had enough money."
"No reason to," Tessa replied with a shrug.
Stiles asked, "So you didn't understand a word of that either?"
Scott frowned. "I don't understand any of this. Why would someone use all this money just to kill us?"
"Someone wants you two dead, dude. Badly." Scott slid the bag of money under the bed. "Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?"
"It's late," Scott replied. "We've got PSATs in the morning."
Stiles shook his head. "No, I meant the money. $500,000. You know how much money that is?"
"It's $500,000..."
Tessa rolled her eyes. "Which is also half a million. What are you going to do with it? Hide it under your bed and hope Aunt Melissa doesn't find it?"
He turned to her. "I have to talk to Derek. The money's his."
"You mean his and Peter's," Stiles corrected.
"What does that mean?"
Tessa frowned at her cousin. "Proceed with caution."
"You don't think we should tell Derek?"
Stiles stood and looked out the window. "No. No." He sighed. "No, of course we have to tell him. I'm just... I'm just saying, some of that money's Peter's, right?" He turned away from them.
"Yeah."
"Right? Peter. Homicidal killer? Remember? You want to give $500,000 to him."
Scott frowned. "So we should give Derek his money back. But not Peter?"
"I didn't say that," Stiles said.
Tessa let out a frustrated sigh. "Then what are you saying, Stiles?"
They heard something and panicked. Scott and Tessa stood, trying to look like they weren't doing anything. The door opened and Malia entered. "We found Satomi's pack. Derek and I. But they're dead."
"All of them?" Scott asked with a frown.
"All the ones we found."
"Then where's Derek?" Stiles wondered.
The next morning, Tessa's alarm woke her up and she shut it off with a slap. Scott appeared and pulled her out of bed. "Get up. We have a test to take. I can't believe you chose to take it again."
She shrugged. "I wanted to try to get a better score."
"Your score was near perfect."
"But it wasn't perfect."
"You are such a perfectionist."
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
When they got out of the car, Kira and Malia joined them and Kira asked, "Where's Lydia?"
"She took it freshman year," Stiles replied. "Tessa did too, but she wanted to get a better score. Honestly, I don't understand that."
Malia was hopeful. "Does that mean I could have taken it some other time?"
Scott gave her a smile. "Malia, you studied harder for this than any of us."
"Doesn't mean I'm gonna do good."
"Well..." Stiles corrected.
"Well, what?"
"It's do well. Not good."
Malia frowned. "Oh, God. Okay, okay."
"You're doing this because while we're trying not to die, we still need to live. If I survive high school, I'd like to go to college. A good college," Scott told them.
Kira smiled at him. "It's only three hours. We can survive three hours."
Tessa crossed her arms and frowned. "Oh no. Three hours. How will I ever survive?"
Stiles rolled his eyes. "You done?"
Tessa nodded. "Yeah. I'm done. Nice Sammy line."
"Thanks."
Tessa entered the classroom, placed her thumb on the ink pad, and placed it on the answer sheet. The male test proctor handed her a test booklet.
As soon as everyone was seated, the male proctor said, "Please do not open the test booklet until you are instructed to do so. This test is two hours and ten minutes. There will be two 25 minute critical reading sections, two 25 minute math sections, and an essay writing portion that will last 30 minutes. There are supposed to be two teachers monitoring this exam."
Mrs. Martin nodded. "I know. It's Coach. He's not exactly punctual. Um, let me just try him again."
The man, Simon, said, "We have to start. We can ask for his assistance during the first break. You may now open your test booklets and begin."
Tessa opened her booklet and the words almost instantly started floating off the page. She began slowly reading and circled the best answers she thought. Oddly enough, she tended to do pretty well with tests despite her dyslexia, though tests weren't too trivial due to her mother being the goddess of wisdom.
She heard a crash behind her and turned to see Sydney lying on the ground. Mrs. Martin ran over to her. "Sydney! Are you all right?"
She nodded. "I'm okay. I just got kind of dizzy."
Mrs. Martin grabbed Sydney's arm and looked at it. "Sydney, how long have you had this?"
Sydney shook her head. "I don't know."
"Does it hurt?" Tessa asked.
Sydney looked at the blonde. "Not really; no."
Simon glanced at the trio. "Ms. Martin, do I need to stop the test?"
Mrs. Martin shook her head. "No, um, it's fine. Everybody stay in your seats. I'll, um, be back in a minute. Nobody leaves the room." She left the room.
No one listened. Tessa darted out of the classroom and saw makeshift tents outside. There were cop cars and CDC guys coming and going.
Scott walked over to Sydney and said, "Hey. You're gonna be okay."
Sydney shook her head. "It's not that. The PSATs, the qualifying tests for the National Merit Scholarship. My parents can't afford to send me to college without it."
Tessa faced her. "Well, I'm sure they'll reschedule."
Scott and Tessa rejoined Stiles and Malia and the werecoyote looked around before saying, "Whatever it is, they're taking it pretty seriously. There are a lot of cars and trucks out there. You're dad's with them."
"Hey, I should probably call him," Stiles said in a worried tone.
Tessa opened her mouth to say something as Simon said, "Don't bother. They would have shut off any access to all outside communication by now. No cell service, no WiFi. No one starting a panic. Looks like we're all just going to have to wait here and see what happens."
Kira and Malia lined up to get their blood taken and Tessa stood back to avoid the lines. She wasn't a fan of needles, so she avoided them whenever she could.
Tessa entered the locker room and leaned against the locker. She needed to get away from people, suddenly feeling overwhelmed.
Mr. Yukimura appeared and glanced at him, smiling lightly.
The rest of the group appeared and Mr. Yukimura said, "It's still happening."
Malia's claws were showing and she began to panic. "I can't make them go back."
Stiles turned to her and said, "We're gonna figure this out, okay?"
Mr. Yukimura nodded and said in reference to Stiles' words, "We will. Obviously the virus is affecting the two of you in a way it won't hit any human being."
Stiles glanced at Malia. "You guys have to stay out of sight. We have to quarantine you from the quarantine."
Kira sighed. "Yeah, but where? I mean, what if they get violent? Like on a full moon."
Tessa shook her head. "I don't get violent."
Stiles frowned. "Yeah you do, Tess."
"Only when someone pisses me off."
Scott glanced at his cousin and friends. "We shouldn't stay in here. Not in the locker room."
Malia nodded. "A classroom is not going to hold us."
Stiles supported Malia as Tessa said, "What about the basement?"
Scott shook his head. "Too many ways out. We need something secure. Somewhere nobody can find us."
Stiles' eyes widened. "The vault."
"The Hale vault. The Hales always have an escape route. Like their house. There had to be another way in."
Stiles looked at the map and informed, "This is where the school sign is, so the vault should be right about... here."
Mr. Yukimura said to him, "I suppose if there's a second entrance, it would probably be accessible from the basement."
"It's probably somewhere in this hallway. West corridor," Stiles said as he stumbled. He leaned against the wall. "Whoa."
Mr. Yukimura looked at him. "It's happening to you too. You're getting sick. You all are."
Kira shook her head. "I don't feel sick."
Tessa glanced between the father and daughter. "Neither do I."
"I think it's affecting you two differently, neurologically. I found both your test answers here in a pile with the others." He held up his daughter's test, as well as Tessa's, and instead of bubbling in the circles, they'd bubbled all over the page.
Stiles called the group over. "Hey, guys... Over here. Look at the cracks in the wall. It's like the entrance outside. It only opens with claws. Anyone's claws, right?"
"Um... Malia, can you try?" Scott asked awkwardly.
She frowned. "Why me?"
"I don't have control," Scott lied.
She nodded. "Okay, I'll do it. But first tell me what you've been hiding from me."
The boys shared a panicked look and began stammering. Malia let out a sigh. "I know you think you're trying to protect me, but I can handle it. I know I'm on the list."
"Yes..." Stiles began slowly.
"So how much?"
"How much what?"
"How much am I worth?"
"Four million," Scott told her.
Malia's face contorted into an expression Tessa couldn't read. "Malia?"
She turned to Tessa. "I'm okay. Tessa is worth 20, Scott is worth 25, Kira six. They'll take you guys out way before me."
"That's progress," Stiles whispered. "That's progress," he said in a louder tone.
Without another word, Malia inserted her claws into the vault door and turned it and it opened. They walked into the vault.
Tessa stumbled in, mentally cursing the virus affecting them.
"You know, this is where it all started," Stiles told them. "That's where the money was. 117 million in bearer bonds."
Kira frowned as she pacing back and forth. "How do you even change bearer bonds into cash?"
Stiles shrugged. "Bank, I guess. They just let it sit here the whole time collecting dust. You know, bearer bonds are basically extinct."
"Why does it matter?" Tessa asked.
Stiles glanced at her. "You know how many problems that money could solve?"
"Yeah. I do. Got a ton. Or I used to. Kind of ran away from home."
"For you?" Kira questioned, looking at Tessa with a confused expression.
Stiles nodded. "Me. My dad... The Eichen House and MRI bills are crushing him."
Scott nodded. "Mom does this thing; she writes down all the items in our budget, and how much they cost, then she adds them all up and figures out how long we have until... We lose the house."
Tessa recalled seeing Melissa worry about bills while she'd helped.
The demigoddess glanced back to see Malia laying on the floor, looking out of it.
Scott and Stiles headed to the door to find a way out.
Tessa made her way to Malia and sat next to her. "How you doing?"
Malia met her eyes and slowly shook her head.
The boys went to the other side of the room to talk.
"Malia?" Stiles called, walking over.
The werecoyote looked up at her boyfriend. "Hmm?"
"I got to leave for a few, okay?"
"You're leaving?"
He took her hand and kissed it. "Whatever's happening, it's worse for you guys. That means it's not just people getting sick; it's another assassin."
Malia shivered and he took off his jacket and draped it around her. "Here."
She glanced at him as he began to stand. "You'll come back, right?"
He nodded, kissing the top of her head. "Yeah. Yeah, you know I'd never leave you behind." He turned to Tessa. "Be safe and, uh, take care of her."
Stiles kissed Malia once more and left.
The werecoyote stuck her hand in the pocket to try to get it warm and pulled out a piece of paper. Tessa realized that it was the third portion of the deadpool. As Malia unfolded it, she noticed something that made her angry. Tessa got a brief look. Malia Hale.
Scott crawled closer to her and called, "Malia... Malia?"
She began panting and started panicking. "I can't see. I can't see anything."
Tessa's vision worsened and Malia asked, "What's happening to us?"
"Scott?" Kira called. "I can't... I can't see..."
Tessa said softly, "Scott, me neither."
The sound of a faint banging caught her attention and she heard Stiles' voice from the other side, but she couldn't determine what he was saying.
Tessa heard Kira's voice. "Reishi... Scott, I saw it. In a jar on one of the shelves." Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. "Reishi..."
The mushrooms got knocked over and Tessa blinked slowly as her eyes took in the room. The door opened and Stiles ran in.
Malia stood and walked towards the door. "Malia, wait!" Stiles called.
Tessa shook her head. "Don't, Stiles."
Malia ignored him and left the vault.
Stiles turned to the blonde. "Are you okay?"
Tessa nodded. "Yeah. That really sucked. Are you okay?"
"Your uncle saved my life."
"Did he now?"
"Yeah. Simon held a gun on me and your uncle killed him."
"Remind me to get him a fruit basket."
"Tess, can't you be a little more grateful?"
"Oh, I am. Dude, go after your girlfriend."
"I don't think she wants to see me right now."
"You never know if you don't ask."