Phoebe's POV:

"We'll start first with..." Mrs. Finch trailed off until her eyes landed on Liam. "Liam. I didn't think we'd be seeing you again."

Liam's jaw clenched in annoyance as his gaze flickered to Gabe. "Can't let my GPA go down just 'cause I got beat up in class."

"Yes. Well, I..." Mrs. Finch cleared her throat until she snapped her fingers. "Gabe, I said no phones. Phoebe, take his phone for me please."

I quickly nod and stay up from my chair, snatching his phone from his grasp which earned a small scoff to escape from his lips.

I glance down at my phone, my eyes widening at his text message to Monroe but thankfully it wasn't sent yet. I quickly shut it off before placing the device on Mrs. Finch's desk.

"Okay, let's get started." She clapped her hands together before grabbing the chalk to finish adding the genetic illustrations on the board. "Okay, so when two people come together, we have a variety of possibilities. And how do we determine the probability of an offspring having a particular trait? We're talking about, like, your eye and hair color, or, uh, if you have an extra digit, your hearing--

In the middle of her lecture, one of the girls sitting behind Sydney, Rebecca, clutches her ears and sprints out of the class with a pained expression.

Mrs. Finch turns away from the chalkboard and frowned. "Where did Rebecca go?" She questioned and her gaze flickered to me.

I shrug. "Maybe a girl emergency?"

"Uh...alright. Three volunteers, please?" She continued.

Gabe raised his hand and she gestures for him to step forward to the chalkboard. Liam quickly mutters something under his breath before walking up to the board as well.

Before he could get to the board, I grab his arm with a questioning look once Mrs. Finch walked down the other aisles. "What's going on?" I whisper.

"We are testing Mrs. Finch to see if she reacts to being a werewolf." He quickly whispered back.

"Who's we?" I emphasize.

He nodded his head towards the door before grabbing the chalk from the bucket and walking towards the board. My eyes trail to the door and they widen in surprise, seeing as Olivia and Scott peeked their heads over the stairs that led to the second level.

Oh god.

Olivia's eyes land on mine and she innocently waves with a nervous smile before she and Scott duck down to hide.

"Liam's that's not even remotely close." Mrs. Finch calls out, making my attention snap towards her direction. "Why don't you have a seat, and let's try this again."

Liam carefully places the eraser down at the bottom of the chalkboard and walks to his seat without a word. Mrs. Finch walks to where he previously stood and erased his work with the eraser, stirring up a faint purple cloud in front of her.

Wolfsbane.

I watch closely, noticing her discomfort as she cleared her throat until she lets out a sneeze. "You'd think I'd be used to that after twenty years." She muttered before turning to me. "Phoebe, mind unboxing the new set of erasers please?"

I nod as I walk over to the cabinet and take out the sealed package before walking over to her desk. I rip open the package and take out the eraser but in the corner of my eye, I could see her eyeing her fingers in curiosity.

"That's it for today." She speaks up, keeping her back towards the rest of the students. "Class dismissed."

I furrow my brows in confusion but the rest of the class didn't spare a moment to hesitate as they collected their things. Gabe practically launched himself to his feet and grab his phone from the desk before snatching his bag from the chair and walking out of the class with the other students.

I place the eraser on her desk and walk back to my desk to grab my backpack from off the floor. Before I could walk with Liam out of the classroom,

"Not you, Liam. You stay put." Mrs. Finch spoke up, making us pause in our steps.

Uh oh.

Allison's POV:

Malia banged the surgical hammer tool against the autopsy exam table with an innocent smile. "See? It will be quick!"

Lydia, who was sitting in the desk chair behind me, looked at Malia in disbelief as she shook her head in refusal. "No. Mmm-mmm. Not like that."

Malia raised a brow. "You want me to knock you out, right?"

I nervously gently take the tool from her grasp with a shake of my head. "We're trying to render her unconscious."

"Preferably without pain." Lydia clapped her hands and stood to her feet to walk toward Halwyn. "Okay, this is what we're gonna do. You're going to press against my chest-- hard-- constricting the flow of blood and oxygen to my brain. It'll drop my blood pressure and render me unconscious."

My eyes widen. "That doesn't sound safe, Lydia."

"Oh, extremely."

"Are you sure?" Malia hesitantly asked.

"No," Lydia lets out a sigh as she briefly closes her eyes before she nodded. "but let's go."

She flattens her back against the wall with her eyes shut and Malia moved to stand in front of her. Malia looks to meet my eyes, silently asking if it was okay and I reluctantly nod. She places her hands on each of Lydia's collarbones and interlocked her thumbs to apply pressure on her chest, causing Lydia's eyes to shoot open as she let out a choked gasp.

She tightly latches onto my wrists until her eyes finally rolled back, making her knees buckle to the ground.

Malia quickly pulls away but I manage to catch Lydia before she could collapse to the ground.

Phoebe's POV:

"Ms. Jimenez, were you in on this?" Mrs. Finch questioned as she set the wolfsbane-coated chalkboard eraser down.

"No, but--"

"No matter, I get it." Mrs. Finch cut in, turning to face us. "I know what you're trying to do."

"You do?" Liam asked in slight surprise.

The woman shrugged as she stepped around her desk to walk closer to us. "You're upset and you wanna get back at me."

"Upset?"

"Because I stood by and did nothing for what Gabe, Nolan, and the rest of their buddies did to you two." She sighed, leaning against the front of her desk. "I'm your teacher and I should have protected you."

"No!" Liam slightly raised his voice in a stammer. "No. I mean, yeah...but no, that's not why I'm here. We were trying to see if--"

"We know about your pack." I blurt out.

She furrowed her brows in confusion. "My what?"

"We know what you are." Liam stated. "You're a werewolf."

Mrs. Finch paused for a second until she begins to laugh incredulously. "A what?"

"Someone that turns into a wolf on a full moon...?" I trail off in confusion. "One of the supernatural creatures."

She snorted. "Oh, God. Yeah, right. And I can probably only be killed by a silver bullet."

Liam frowned. "No. No, that's not totally true."

"Are you on drugs?" Mrs. Finch asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion which caused my eyes to widen. "I know your father's a surgeon at the hospital--"

"No, I'm not on drugs!" Liam cut in with disbelief. "Mrs. Finch, you're a werewolf."

"Hydrocodone?"

"You have a pack." I insisted. "We heard you say it on the phone."

"Oxycodone?"

"I'm saying this with the utmost respect but stop dodging the question."

"That's enough."

"You can't hide what you are!" Liam raised his voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but you really need to go." Mrs. Finch stated in slight annoyance. "Now."

"No."

She roughly points her finger at the door behind us. "You need to leave this classroom right now." Liam and I don't move a muscle which causes Mrs. Finch to let out a huff. "You have to leave my class. Go!"

"Hey, it's me again. I, uh, don't know why you can't seem to call me back." A voicemail rings out from behind us which causes me to turn, seeing as Scott held up a flip phone playing the message on speaker with Olivia standing behind him. "Maybe it's because you think you're punishing me. But, this is too long. It-it's too much. It's not about us."

An evident clear of shock displayed on Mrs. Finch's expression as she slowly walks past us and toward Scott.

"Something's happening in Beacon Hills, to the people here. I just--"

She snatches the phone from his grasp and snapped it shut, cutting the message off.

"H-Hey Mrs. Finch." Olivia innocently waved with a nervous smile. "Nice to see you again."

"Where did you find this?" She demanded.

She shares a knowing look with Scott, seeing that the act Mrs. Finch put up was finally dropped.

➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵ ➵

"I told you, I don't know what the Primal is." Mrs. Finch, still in a flustered state, continued to say as she glanced back and forth. "I don't know what an A-Anuk-a-what is."

I wince. "Anuk-Ite."

"Whatever! I-I was just trying to call my daughter." She stammered before looking back to Scott and Olivia. "Where did you get this?"

"You said you were in a pack. That was you on the phone." Liam impatiently spoke up. "That's what you said."

"And I don't know what business it is of yours, my personal life!" She exclaimed. "I am the teacher, you are the students--"

"Technically I was your student." Olivia inhaled through her teeth before clearing her throat. "Sorry, not important. Just tell us the truth."

"It doesn't matter! I don't go digging into your personal life outside of these walls, you shouldn't be digging into mine!"

Scott's eyes narrow into confusion. "Did you reach any of them before they died?"

Mrs. Finch's posture stiffens. "What...?" She spoke barely in a whisper. "What are you talking about...?"

Olivia's eyes widen in realization. "You don't know?" She hesitantly asks but judging from Mrs. Finch's look, this is news to her. "

"Mrs. Finch, I'm sorry," Scott grimly trailed, watching as her expression faltered. "But your family, they were attacked...and they're dead."

She slowly shakes her head in denial, tears beginning to fill in her eyes. "Dead? They...No, they can't be dead, because...they were just," She argued softly with a rasp. "they were...they were in the woods. They were just-they were just hiding out. They were scared."

Olivia leaned against the table in discomfort, keeping her eyes on the ground. "We found the phone on a body."

"There were three men, two boys..." Scott trailed but Mrs. Finch's eyes widen.

"What about my daughter?"

"Well, there was another body, but..." Scott anxiously trailed, knowing that what he'll say next might practically break the poor woman.

"But what?" She insisted.

"They couldn't identify it." I grimly finish for Scott. "When they found it, the skin was stripped down to the muscle. There wasn't DNA but the only thing recognizable was the pack tattoo."

"Okay, sorry but this..." Mrs. Finch held her hands up in denial. "Um...no, this doesn't make sense. I mean, this isn't how biology works."

"That's what the Anuk-ite does." Liam spoke up, earning Mrs. Finch's attention to him. "It finds a body and it takes its face. It takes the whole identity of that person."

"Not my daughter." She tearfully spoke, walking past us to sit on top of her desk. "No, not my daughter."

I grab the tissue box from my desk before I walk toward her with a solemn expression, holding out the tissue to her. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Finch." I whisper, watching as she took some of the tissues from the box to wipe her tears.

"There's a way to find out." Liam sympathetically spoke up.

Allison's POV:

Lydia's eyes suddenly shot open with a sharp gasp and I carefully help her sit up properly in my arms. "Oh thank god. I--"

"He's not dead!" Lydia heavily panted. "Halwyn's not dead. I-I--"

"Lydia, wait a sec." Malia tried to say as she helped me guide Lydia to properly stand. "What are you saying?"

Lydia glanced down at Halwyn's motionless body. "I know how to save him."

Everything moved pretty fast because the next thing I knew, we were putting on navy blue scrubs and wheeling Halwyn on a gurney into the radiology wing.

If someone were to stop us at any given moment, we were either going to jail or worse. All we needed to do was act casual.

Should be simple enough...right?

"Paging Dr. Bender. Paging Dr. Bender, please." The female hospital dispatcher spoke through the PA system as Lydia guided Malia and I through the halls with the gurney.

Once we stepped inside the room where the MRI machine is located, the three of us removed our masks and caps with a sigh of relief escaping from Malia.

Malia and I carefully place Halwyn into the bed until we take a step back away from the machine.

"Step one, complete." Lydia sighed.

"Now, how do we turn this thing on?" I ask before glancing behind me, making sure none of the doctors or nurses were passing by.

Lydia held up her phone for us to see the screen which read 'MRI Technical Operations Manual'. "We read the manual." She answered before walking over to the observation room with us quickly following behind.

Thankfully the monitor was already left on and Lydia got right to work. She spared a few glances at her phone several times until she clicked open the windows before pressing a button on the control panel.

The MRI machine whirs in activation and the carrier carefully pull Halwyn's body into the machine. After a moment, the imaging of his brain appears on the screen along with several angles of the inside of his head.

One in particular clearly showed the bullet inside.

"Look—see that image artifacting?" Lydia asked us as she pointed to the first picture. "That means the bullet is ferromagnetic. Probably steel. It'll react in the MRI. We'll increase the magnet's power, and the machine will pull the bullet right out."

"Okay." I nervously swallow. "Sounds simple enough."

Lydia glances behind us. "Ready? It could get messy."

"I've seen messy. Go for it." Malia insisted.

Lydia reaches over to hit the button but paused mid-way, keeping her stare on the screen in front of her which causes her to frown. "We can't do this."

"What? Why?" I worriedly ask.

"The bullet--it's not just steel." She quickly explained before zooming into the photo and pointing to the small pieces around the large chunk. "See those fragments around it? That's silver. The bullet was coated with it. Silver won't react in the MRI. We pull that bullet out, and he'll start to heal."

"Healing is good!" Malia tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"Not if he's a hellhound that will immediately start to heat up." I interject. "The silver inside is going to melt and seep right into his brain."

"So, what's a little silver?"

"Argyria. Silver poisoning." Lydia emphasized. "And we have no way of getting it out."

Malia's expression shifted into defeat. "So, if we take out the bullets, he dies again..."

"There has to be another way." I quickly shake my head before pulling out my phone. "If I call Olivia, maybe she can get here and--"

"And what? Heal it faster so the silver kills him?" Malia scoffed.  "If we had more time, I'm sure we could figure something out, but we don't. Someone is gonna come through that door any second now and bust us. Our last shot at figuring out how to beat the Anuk-ite might be laying on that table, so we need to make a decision right now."

Lydia rolls her eyes with an exasperated look. "You don't mean 'decide', you mean 'do it.'" She muttered, brushing past her to begin pacing in the room.

"Yeah, I think it's the right decision. If it were Parrish, he'd want us to do it." Malia insisted. "He would sacrifice himself for everyone in Beacon Hills."

"That's Parrish. This is a different guy!" I emphasize sternly. "I'm against this idea."

"Besides, Parrish would be able to make the decision himself! We don't know what Halwyn would do." Lydia added in hesitation.

"We kind of do. He built Eichen. He froze himself for a hundred years so that he could be ready to fight the Anuk-ite." Malia countered. "The first thing he does when he's unfrozen is start hunting the thing. If that's the only thing he's ever cared about...then he'd want us to do this."

"I don't think this is a good idea but...Lydia, you're the deciding vote." I say, crossing my arms over my chest with discomfort.

Lydia lets out a sigh as she glanced between us before she walks over to the machine in front of me. She reaches to place her fingertips on the sliding switches, pausing for a moment to think it over once more, and eventually slid them up all the way.

Olivia's POV:

"I won't do that." Mrs. Finch immediately rejected the idea.

"Just call her and tell her not to go anywhere near the school." Liam tried to calmly explain. "Tell her that someone or something is hunting for someone like her."

She holds her hands up again with a shake of her head. "You have to stop talking about this--"

"Mrs. Finch, you deserve to have answers." I cut in. "You can't just sit there, wondering about the 'what if's.'"

"If she shows up, at least you'll know what happened to your family," Scott tried to reassure. "what happened to your daughter."

Phoebe places her hand on Mrs. Finch's shoulder with a sympathetic expression. "If you want, I can call?" She suggested, earning a questioning look. "You can trust me. I didn't become one of your top TA's for nothing, you know?"

She shakily nods as she opens the flip phone and scrolls through the contacts until she handed the cellphone to Phoebe. She squeezes her wrist for comfort before standing to her feet to pace around.

As Phoebe glanced down at the screen, her eyes widen which causes me to furrow my brows in curiosity. "Oh my god...everything makes sense. I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner!"

"What?" I question, noticing her hands beginning to shake.

"Mrs. Finch, that's her name?" She quickly asked. "That's your daughter?"

Mrs. Finch slowly nodded in confusion. "Quinn. My daughter's name is Quinn."

My heart sank, remembering every single moment we spent with her at Scott's house and the Sheriff's station.

The Anuk-Ite was with us the entire time.