I woke up to pain.

I could feel my arm throbbing, each second passing with another sting. It wasn't as painful as it had been though. It was more of a dull ache, something I'd be able to ignore if I had something to distract me.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, wincing at the sharp light. It took me a few moments to adjust, but when I did I recognised I was in the girl's locker room. I carefully sat upright, feeling a twinge in my arm.

The first thing I saw aside from the room was Isaac, sitting across from me on a bench, close but not too close, eyes scanning every inch of me carefully before resting on my face.

"You're awake," he said, relief lacing his tone.

I looked around again. The locker room was empty. "What happened?"

"You lost a lot of blood," Isaac said slowly. "You lost consciousness. Melissa said you might not even survive it to the hospital. Then you started.... glowing."

"Glowing?"

Isaac nodded ruefully. "Yep. You started glowing and kind of subconsciously healed yourself? I think, I'm not one hundred percent sure how this witch stuff works."

I laugh humourlessly. "Me neither. I didn't even know I could do that."

I touched my bandaged arm, feeling a stronger ache but nothing more. It was strange, going from intense pain to nothing to this. Magic would always confuse me, I think, regardless of the fact I was a witch.

"Where's Scott?"

Isaac glanced at the door. "He's in the boy's locker room with the other players, getting debriefed."

I started getting up. "We need to go to him, see what we need to do."

I was stopped by a pair of hands, Isaac keeping me in a sitting position. "Woah, woah, Y/n, are you sure you're okay to walk around?"

"I'm fine."

Isaac gave me an unimpressed look. "That's what you said last time and then you ended up collapsing from blood loss."

I looked away guiltily. He had a point.

"I promise I'm fine. My arm barely even hurts anymore."

Isaac stared at me for a moment longer before relenting, taking a step back and letting me get up. I felt a bit woozy at first, balance a far-fetched idea, but eventually the world stopped spinning and I managed to walk without falling over. After that Isaac and I entered the boy's locker room, none of the players seeming to give a shit that I was in there.

We made a beeline for Scott, finding him just as he shut his locker. He turned around and, upon noticing me, surged forward and wrapped me into a hug. I was surprised at first, but quickly returned the embrace.

"You scared me Y/n," Scott murmured into my ear.

I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

He gave me a once over and, when he was satisfied I was no longer at risk of collapse, brought me into another quick hug before letting go. Before we could say anything else Noah Stilinski walked up to us, all three of us alert.

He gave us a nod and started updating us on events. "I've got to meet with the medical examiner and try to figure out what happened with Jackson, I've got an APB on Stiles-"

"What happened to Stiles?" I asked, panic seizing me.

Noah looked at me with a frown. "He's missing. Didn't you know?"

I immediately felt guilty. "No, I uh, I was in a bit of shock after Jackson."

Concern flashed over his features. "Do you need anything? The hospital is only a 20-minute drive away if you feel you need it."

My heart warmed for the Sheriff. Even with his own son missing and a teenager dead, he still managed to care about others and look after them. He was a good officer, and an even better man.

"I'm fine, thank you though," I said, before changing the subject. "Is Stiles okay? Do you have any idea where he might be?"

Noah shook his head reluctantly. "His jeep is still in the parking lot so that means..." He trailed off, the panic of losing his kid finally getting to him as he looked around tiredly. "Hell I don't know what that means. Um... look, if he answers his phone, if he answers his emails, if any of you see him..."

"We'll call you," I said softly.

Noah gave me an appreciative nod. "Thank you. I'll see you, okay?"

He started walking away, but we were interrupted from a chance to talk again when Coach arrived in front of us.

"McCall. We need you on the team, okay? You know I can't put you on the field next season if you don't get your grades up."

Scott nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I know Coach."

The teacher continued, almost as if he hadn't heard Scott. "I mean, I know I yell a lot, but it's not like I hate you guys. Well, I kinda hate Greenburg but that's different. It's Greenburg. I'm just saying we... I need you on the team. Get your grades back up."

"I will," Scott answered with a determination I couldn't help but marvel at. Even with everything going on, he still found it in him to care about lacrosse and the team. If anything proved leadership it was that.

Coach nodded and started walking away before he paused, turning back around to look at me. "What are you doing in here?"

Unsure how to answer, I just put my thumbs up and smiled awkwardly. Coach stared at me for a second then shook his head and walked off, muttering under his breath. As soon as he exited the room it was finally empty, and I turned to talk to Isaac and Scott only to find Scott already in action, ripping the door off of one of the lockers I recognised belonging to Stiles.

Scott took out a shirt for himself, sniffing it briefly.

"You're going to track him by scent?" Isaac questioned.

Scott passed Isaac a shoe. "We both are."

Isaac frowned at the shoe in his hand, and I couldn't blame him. "Why do you get his shirt and I get a shoe?"

Scott ignored him in favour of sniffing the shirt, so I spoke up. "I could try tracking him with my magic."

"No way," Isaac said immediately. "You've used enough of your power. You're already weak as it is."

I scowled at him. "You don't get to tell me how to use my powers."

Isaac sighed, opening his mouth to say something only to be interrupted.

"We need to talk."

I tensed up at the sound of Derek Hale's voice, turning around to see him standing in the doorway, arms crossed. A vicious hate spread through me, one that took a significant amount of strength to reign in.

Another man walked in next to Derek, easily the oldest man in the room, around thirty something. "All of us."

I'd never seen him before in my life, but Scott seemed to, if his reaction to him was any indicator.

"Holy shit," he cursed, eyes wide as he looked at the man. "What the hell is this?"

Derek, cool as ever, retorted. "You know, I thought the same thing when I saw you talking to Gerard at the sheriff's station."

Scott made a face. "Okay hold on, he threatened to kill my mum, and I had to get close to him. What was I supposed to do?"

"I'm gonna have to side with Scott on this one," the mysterious man spoke again, his gaze finding mine. "I mean, have you seen his mum? She's gorgeous."

I was surprised when everyone in the room told him to shut up and muttered under my breath, "I mean, he has a point."

Scott glowered at me and I held my hands up in apology.

"Who is he?" Isaac asked, gesturing to the man with good taste in women.

Scott sighed. "He's Peter, Derek's uncle. A little while ago he tried to kill us all and then we set him on fire and Derek slashed his throat."

Peter gave a little wave. "Hi."

Isaac attempted to smile, though it came out more as a grimace. "Good to know."

"How is he alive?" Scott demanded.

Derek looked irritated from all the questions. "Look, the short story is that he knows how to stop Jackson, and maybe save him."

"Well that's very helpful except Jacksons dead."

Both Peter and Derek's heads snapped towards me in surprise. "What?"

"Jackson's dead. It happened on the field," I explained shortly.

Derek and Peter looked at each other, a shifty moment of understanding passing between the two.

"Okay, why is no one taking this as good news?" Isaac asked, voicing all three of our thoughts.

"Because if Jackson's dead, it didn't just happen. Gerard wanted it to happen," Peter answered.

I frowned. "But why?"

"Well that's exactly what we need to figure out," Peter said, "and something tells me the window of opportunity is closing. Quickly."