Eliana's POV:
During math the next day, Kira looked over Lydia's notes. "These are your math notes? No wonder Malia's failing."
I glanced at the notes and frowned. "Lydia, what the hell?"
Lydia frowned as she read her notes. "Um, some of them are my notes. The rest I think might actually be a code."
"Which you don't remember writing, right?"
Lydia shook her head. "Not in the slightest. But considering my drawing of a tree led us to the Nemeton, I should probably figure out what it means before it tries to kill us."
Kira shrugged. "Maybe it's like the Enigma Code the Allies used. Remember my dad was a World War II buff? And my mom was, well... in it."
Lydia took a moment to think. "I think it's a variation on something called the Vigènere Cipher."
"Do you know how to crack it?"
I glanced between them. "I would guess with a key."
As soon as class ended, I saw Scott and Stiles talking to a kid with a very distinct smell. Werewolf. Oh, Scott. What have you done? I walked over to them and heard Scott say, "Liam... We're brothers now."
"What?" Liam questioned in a confused tone.
Stiles groaned. "Oh, God. That's..."
Liam frowned. "What are you talking about? We just met and you bit me."
"The bite... The bite is a gift," Scott replied.
Stiles shook his head desperately. "Scott, stop. Please stop." He turned to Liam. "You, you, we're trying to help you, you little runt."
"By kidnapping me?" Liam asked angrily.
"Just to clarify, Scott kidnapped you. Okay? I aided and abetted."
"And you two are idiots," I told my friends.
Scott sighed. "Liam, I've gone through this before. Something's happening to you. Something big."
Liam glared at him. "Nothing's happening to me. Nothing."
"I rest my case. Idiots," I said. "Seriously, Scott? You bit a kid?!"
"Shut up!" Scott hissed. "I did it to save his life."
"Oh, because that makes it all so much better."
We met up with Lydia, Kira and Malia later as we tried to figure out what to do with Liam. He'd survived Scott's bite and was a werewolf. Like I'd figured. Someone suggested that they use Malia's basement and she frowned. "I'm not sharing my basement."
"Actually, it's my basement," Lydia said. "And my mom noticed how you tore it up last time."
I glanced at Lydia. "She is still learning."
Scott turned to me and focused on the others. "But we're going to use the boathouse for Liam. It's got support beams. We can chain him to one of them."
Kira frowned. "But how do we get him out to the lake house if he doesn't trust us?"
Stiles shrugged. "I saw if it keeps him from murdering someone, we chloroform the little bastard and throw him in the lake."
"I'm in," Malia said.
Scott gave her a look. "We're not killing or kidnapping him."
"The let's be smarter," Lydia said. "We tell him there's a party and invite him."
Stiles frowned in confusion. "So you're going to ask out a freshman?"
Lydia shook her head. "No, I'm done with teenage boys. But, if we're playing a trick on someone, we'll have to use the trickster."
They turned to Kira and she frowned. "Who? Me? No way. Not me."
Lydia nodded at her. "Yes, you. You know what they call a female fox? A vixen."
"Me?"
I glanced to her. "Yes, you. You can do it, Kira. Be a vixen."
The bell rang and Kira went to find Liam.
Later that evening, we gathered at Lydia's lake house. Kira and Liam, they find out, were on their way. Scott, Stiles and I were huddled together, talking. Scott turned to the group. "I just talked to Kira. She's on her way. She said it's all going to be fine."
Scott let out a sigh. "It's not that. I asked about Liam. I know why he got kicked out of his last school."
I rolled my eyes. "You two just have to dig into everything. But consider me intrigued. How bad?"
Stiles turned to me. "He fought with one of his teachers. Kid's got some serious issues."
"How serious?" Scott wondered.
Stiles held up a picture for us. "Well, that's his teacher's car. After he took a crowbar to it."
As soon as Liam entered the lake house, he saw us and stared at us. "What the hell is this?"
Stiles was first to speak. "Think of it like an intervention. You have a problem, Liam."
"And we're the only ones that can help you," Scott finished.
We told Liam what they were and he recapped as he pointed to each of them. "Werewolf? Werecoyote. Banshee. Fox?"
"Kitsune. But fox works," Kira replied as she shrugged.
Liam pointed to me. "Also werewolf." His gaze turned to Stiles. "What are you?"
Stiles seemed nervous as he said, "Uh, for a little while, I was possessed by an evil spirit. It was very evil."
"What are you now?"
"Better. Um..."
Liam's gaze turned to the chains. "Are those for me?"
"No, they're for me," Malia answered, showing her steely blue eyes.
"How did you do that?"
Scott gave him a smile. "You'll learn. But first, you need to get through the full moon."
"The moon's already out," Liam pointed out.
"And you're starting to feel something, aren't you?"
Liam's eyes narrowed. "I feel like I'm surrounded by a bunch of psychotic nutjobs. You guys are out of your freaking minds. I don't know how you did that eye thing and I don't care. I'm walking out that door right now! If any of you try to stop me, I swear to God I'm gonna..." He fell silent.
The sound of chatter and cars caught my attention. "Uh, guys?"
"What's wrong? Liam?" Scott asked.
He turned to face him. "You don't hear that?"
Lydia's eyes narrowed. "Did you tell anyone about this?"
Liam nodded. "My friend Mason." His gaze turned to Kira. "You said it was a party."
"Who did Mason invite?" Stiles questioned.
Kira peeked out the window and said, "Everyone."
Liam dropped to the ground with his claws out. "The floors!" Lydia exclaimed. "Get him off the floors!"
The boys pulled Liam up and Scott cried, "We need to get him to the boathouse. Now!"
"Uh!" Liam groaned.
"Stiles... Eliana..." Malia called, catching our attention.
Stiles turned to see that Malia was trying not to shift. "Yeah. Hey... Okay, basement. Now. Now."
Lydia frowned towards the door. "What am I supposed to do with the hordes gathering outside the door?"
I looked at Lydia. "Who throws the best parties in Beacon Hills?"
She rolled her eyes at my question. "What? Me, obviously."
Stiles turned to her. "Okay, then throw a party."
I decided to remain with Lydia. I didn't feel a need to hang out in a boat house. I figured Scott and Stiles could handle it.
Scott glanced at me. "If you're feeling the moon, promise me you'll join us."
I nodded. "Promise. But I think I'll be okay."
As soon as they left, we heard a knock on the door. Lydia opened it and a guy asked, "Hey. Uh, are we in the right place?"
"For the party?" another guy questioned.
Lydia put on a faux hostess smile. "Absolutely."
People started dancing to the music and sometime later, an older man came in with a keg of beer. Lydia walked up to him. "Okay, I didn't order a keg of beer. Especially not domestic."
The man frowned at her. "Somebody ordered it. Are you trying to tell me nobody here wants to drink?"
Lydia's eyes narrowed. "Who put this here? This laptop is $2,000 and... Oh, that bottle of wine is $400. How much? What's this extra hundred dollars?"
The man shrugged. "I call that the "Yes, you do look 21 to me" surcharge."
Lydia let out a sigh. "Let me get you some cash."
She handed me two glasses of wine to hold so she could grab the money easily.
When they got upstairs to get the cash, they saw Liam's friend calling out for him. I vaguely recalled his name being Mason. "Liam? You up here? Dude, where the hell are you?"
Lydia frowned at him. "What are you doing up here? The party's downstairs."
"I was looking for Liam."
She rolled her eyes. "Sorry, but missing freshmen are a little low on my priority list."
I glanced in the direction of the stairs before looking back at Mason. "I think your friend is downstairs."
I thought of something else to tell Mason and grabbed his arm, forgetting that I was carrying the two wine glasses. They fell to the ground and my eyes widened. "Lydia, I'm so sorry! The carpet..."
I leaned down to scrub the wine furiously, afraid I'd be yelled at for the mess because Lucille always yelled at me, and Mason put a hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged him off and jumped.
"Hey, it's all right," Mason reassured. "It'll come out."
I continued scrubbing the carpet and Mason looked up at Lydia. "Oh. Okay. I'm sorry. Was it valuable?"
She shook her head and pulled me up. "No. That's not the problem. Nothing in here's valuable. We just put the house on the market. It was supposed to be left without a scratch. It has to be in perfect condition. We need every penny we can get out of this place."
"Lydia, I am so sorry," I whispered. "Please don't yell at me."
Mason turned to her. "I'm gonna go get club soda and salt. It will come out. Don't worry."
I nodded slowly. "Okay. Lydia, I am so sorry."
Lydia gave me a hug. "It's okay, Ella. I know it was an accident. I'm not going to yell at you. I'm not mad."
Mason left and Lydia closed the door. She opened it again and we shared a look as she closed it again. She muttered, "Soundproof?"
Lydia made her way to a record player and turned it on. She stared blankly at the wall and didn't answer to my calls.
Kira ran up to us after however long and noticed Lydia staring at the wall. "Hey. Lydia? Are you okay? What do you hear?"
"The key," Lydia answered quietly. "The key to break the code."
I watched intently as Lydia typed a certain name into the search bar. ALLISON. A sheet of paper came out and Kira grabbed it. "What is this?"
Lydia looked between us. "It's a list of supernaturals here in Beacon Hills. It's a deadpool. And we're all on it."
I instantly looked for my name and saw it on there for 25 million; the same as Scott. Lydia was worth 20 million, Derek was 15 million, and Kira was six million.
I frowned, wondering what it could mean. I could only hope Evan wouldn't be on a list. I couldn't care less if Lucille was on there. Good riddance to the woman who made my life a living nightmare.