Scott jogged down the stairs, slipping his backpack on as he did so. Isaac Lahey came out of the kitchen with a piece of toast in his mouth, pulling on his jacket and picking up his own backpack.

"Hey, Isaac," Scott greeted as the Beta took a bite of the toast.

"Hey," he said, his mouth full.

"Didn't know you were coming back to school."

"Well, Mom would have wanted me to finish. She'd come out of her grave and kick my ass if I dropped out."

Scott laughed. "Well, let's go before we're late and my mom kicks both our asses." The two walked out of the McCall house and down to their bikes. "Isn't that Aiden's bike?" A tan motorcycle was parked next to Scott's dirt bike.

"Yeah, Ethan gave it to me after he died and when we left Beacon Hills with Void."

"Oh," Scott started his bike. "Speaking of Ethan, have you seen him?"

Isaac shook his head. "Not since Chris went home from the hospital," Isaac paused. "How did they do that?"

"Do what?"

"Save Chris."

"You'll have to ask Derek and Isabel. They didn't tell me and I didn't ask."

"Fair enough."

~~~

Lindsey walked out to her brother's white Denali, her messenger bag slung over her shoulder. She glanced over at her father's black Toyota Camry and noticed the red paint transfer on the driver's side. "What happened to Dad's car?"

Sean Chasseur looked over at their father's car. "He said some idiot tried to run him off the road yesterday. Didn't even stop."

"Oh." Lindsey climbed into the Denali and buckled her seatbelt.

"You okay, Lindsey?" Sean was the only one that didn't call her "Linds". He knew how much she hated the nickname.

"I guess."

"You'll do fine. You'll make friends."

"Why should I when I'll just have to leave them in a couple of months?"

Sean reached over and placed a hand on his younger sister's shoulder. "It won't always be like this. One day, you'll be old enough to move out and never have to move again."

"I hope not."

Sean smiled and started the car.

~~~

Malia Tate and Stiles climbed out of Stiles' Jeep. "You're going to ace that test," he said with a smile.

"I'm not good at tests."

"Just don't think about it."

"How can I not think about taking a test?"

"Uh..."

"What Stiles is trying to say is just relax during the test," Lydia said, joining them.

"Oh. Why didn't you just say that?"

"Because I really suck at giving advice apparently."

Lydia giggled. Scott and Isaac pulled into their spots next to the Jeep as Kira joined them.

"Hey, guys."

"Hey." Everyone greeted each other.

"I didn't know you were back," Stiles said upon seeing Isaac.

Isaac shrugged. "Mom would kill me if I didn't finish school."

"Yeah. Mine too."

The bell rung and the pack moved into the building as a blond-haired girl hopped out of a white Denali. Isaac glanced in her direction as she turned and saw him. She immediately looked down and headed into the building.

~~~

Isabel was curled up on the bed, her head on her left arm and an open book next to her, her other hand resting on top of it. She was wearing a white halter top, the tattoos that hid her wings displayed for the world to see. Derek quietly walked into the loft, trying not to wake her. Peter had called him asking him to meet him at his apartment the night before, saying he had something important to talk to Derek about. Isabel must have fallen asleep waiting on him. The werewolf stopped at the foot of the bed. She looked so peaceful. He carefully climbed into the bed behind her before gently tracing a wing.

"That kinda tickles, you know," Isabel whispered sleepily. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. Just some family business."

She reached up with her right hand, searching for his. Once she found it, she pulled his arm over her and he inched closer. "I missed you."

Derek brushed her brown hair away from her face and kissed her cheek. "I'm sorry I didn't get back sooner."

"You're here now. It's fine."

Derek chuckled. Isabel hadn't opened her eyes once during the conversation, her voice betraying the fact that she was still mostly asleep. Derek buried his face into her neck. "Just go back to sleep, Isabel," he whispered.

Not even a minute later, her breathing and heart rate evened out, telling Derek she indeed had gone back to sleep. He closed his eyes and followed her into sleep.

~~~

The blond-haired man passed cash to the owner of the body shop, a Japanese man who he knew to be Yakuza. "Thank you, sir. We appreciate your business."

The blond smiled. "I'm sure you do," he responded. "There's a little extra in there for you and your associates."

The Yakuza nodded. "Much appreciated, Mr. Jones."

The blond man climbed into the now silver Aspen and drove away. He'd come to town a few weeks earlier, having both been drawn to Beacon Hills and hearing that a flock of Dark Valkyrie had met their demise here. Word traveled fast among the supernatural. It was rumored that one of the dead Valkyrie was Vincent Evans himself. A tale he wanted to see for himself if it was true. He stopped at a traffic light and opened the console, pulling out a photo of a teenage girl. He ran a finger over the matte finish. He hadn't seen her since they were nineteen. The light turned green and he continued on, replacing the photo to the console. He'd seen her leaving the animal clinic the week before, accompanied by a teenaged wolf. He hadn't followed her then, but should have known if Vincent had been drawn to Beacon Hills, it would have been because of her. He'd been watching the clinic and saw the Camry spying on it. When the occupants followed her Mustang, he had a sudden instinct to protect her. Thus he followed them and sideswiped them, distracting them long enough to lose her. But he also lost her in the process. He pulled into the apartment complex in downtown Beacon Hills, where he was living. Two teenagers, one he could sense was a coyote, were waiting for the elevator.

"Yeah, I think I did good," the girl, the coyote, was saying as the bell announcing the elevator's arrival sounded and the three of them, along with an elderly couple entered it. "I relaxed like Lydia told me to."

"That's good!" the boy answered as he pushed the button for the fifth floor. The man pushed the button for the seventh, then stepped back.

"I mean I studied really hard for it."

"If you think you did well, then you probably did." The elderly couple exited on the second floor.

"Dad would be proud?"

"Okay, having Peter being referred to as 'Dad' is really taking some getting used to, just so you know."

The girl laughed.

"But I think he would be."

"What if I didn't do very good?"

"Malia, stop worrying about it so much. You'll find out tomorrow." The two teens exited the elevator.

The man exited on his floor, having already forgotten about the coyote, and went into his apartment. He dropped his keys on the hall table and then pulled out the photo again, going to the couch in the recessed living area. "What drew you here, Isabel?" he asked to the empty apartment.

~~~

Lindsey fell back onto her bed and stared at the ceiling fan. She knew she needed to start on her homework, but just wasn't feeling motivated to. Two quick knocks and two slower ones sounded at her door. Sean's knock. The two siblings had developed the knock so the other would know who it was. "Come in, Sean."

Sean walked into the room and joined her. A moment later, he laid back next to her. "The ceiling fan must be very interesting." Lindsey giggled. "How did your first day go?"

"Alright, I guess."

"Meet anyone interesting?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you even talk to anyone?"

"No..."

"That's my sister. The loner."

"Shut up."

Sean propped up on his elbow. "Can you at least promise me you'll try to make friends? I hate seeing you lonely and unhappy."

"Lonely and unhappy seems to be the Chasseur motto."

Sean gave her a look. "I have to work tonight, okay? I know I promised to watch a movie with you tonight."

"It's okay, Sean. I have a lot of homework to do anyway."

Sean leaned down and kissed Lindsey's forehead. "I'm really sorry."

"I love you anyway."

Sean smiled.

"We'll just take a rain check."

"You are the best little sister in the world."

"And you're the best big brother in the world. Be careful."

"I always am."

~~~

Derek opened his eyes, having heard Isabel's heartbeat quicken. He sat up, the loft bathed in the half moonlight coming through the wall of windows. Her breaths suddenly quickened. Derek looked over at her, realizing that Isabel was having a nightmare as she started moving in her sleep.

"Isabel," he whispered, trying to wake her. Tears escaped her eyes as her facial expression became distraught. "Isabel!" Her eyes shot open, flashing bright blue and she gasped. "Hey, it's okay. It was just a dream." He pulled her into his arms and her arms went around his torso. "It's okay." He winced when he felt her talons dig into his bare back. "Retract your talons."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

He felt the puncture wounds instantly heal the moment the talons were out. "It's okay. You're okay."

Isabel rested her head on his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. "I dreamed about the day Vincent betrayed me and Mama. The day she died."

Derek rubbed Isabel's back. He knew that Isabel's father had been killed serving as a distraction when Dark Valkyrie had caught up with the family and her mother had died after Isabel's brother turned Dark and betrayed the family. Isabel had relayed the story of how her mother hadn't healed at all and died hours later in the backseat of their car. After Isabel made a promise to never go Dark. A promise she was determined to keep and one that led to her being as powerful a Pure Valkyrie as her mother had been. She said no more and Derek didn't ask, knowing that it was hard for her to talk about. Just like it was hard for him to talk about the night his eyes turned blue.