MARIN MORRELL HAD A RADAR. That woman knew exactly when I was about to leave school to skip and she was always there to pull me back into the building and into her office for a counselling session. She never organised sessions with me, she just found me in the corridor or trying to leave and suggested I come to her office.

As always, each time she pulled me into her office I was reluctant to talk to her for more reasons than one but once I answered one question she always managed to break through me. She was certainly good at her job as a counsellor, I'd give her that, because it wasn't until Stiles texted me did I realise the time. I'd been sitting in her office for an hour and twenty minutes now, offloading my problems by lying about what they truly were. It had worked too because I'd felt a whole lot better than what I had before I walked into her office.

Stiles' message though had made me realise the time and I lost my train of thought as I looked to my phone on the desk.

I'm not sure where you are but Scott
and I think Derek is going to change
Boyd. I'm going to his house to find him.

I re-read the message before checking the time and seeing it just after 1:15. I had fifteen minutes before my afternoon classes started and I hadn't even had anything to eat yet. I knew though that I could sit in this office until the end of the school day and talk because now that I'd started I felt I could tell her everything I needed to get off my chest.

Noticing my eyes flickering to my phone, Morrell looked to the clock on her wall and she sat back in her seat, "Well, we've certainly been talking a lot longer than I expected."

I nodded then, "Yeah."

"Alex, I want to see you regularly." She said to me then, "Every Thursday morning."

I released a deep sigh before nodding. There was no point in fighting it anymore. I didn't have any reason to not see Morrell, especially when it was clear talking about my problems made me feel better. I didn't want to admit I needed the counselling but I did. This was for the best.

"Okay." I said to her, "Every Thursday morning."

She nodded, smiling in the satisfaction of knowing she had managed to break through the walls I had build up against her, "Now, even though it was Sheriff Stilinski who reached out to me I have to inform your legal guardian that you'll be coming under my care."

I pressed my lips together then. Morrell informing my dad I was going to be receiving counselling stood to be somewhat of a problem. Opening up to her was hard enough for me. Opening up to my dad was something that I just couldn't do and he would want me to do so. He was someone I couldn't talk to, I didn't see him as such. Our relationship as father and daughter was broken. He didn't feel like a father to me, merely someone I lived with — or used to live with. We didn't have a bond or a special connection and we hadn't for as long as I could remember.

"He's going to want to know why." I told her.

She nodded, "I accept that. I have to inform your dad about what we are working on but I don't have to tell him about what we discuss."

"Okay." I nodded slowly.

She leaned forwards then and placed her elbows on her desk, "I have a feeling you and your dad have a few unresolved issues." She said to me.

I pressed my lips together into a thin line before I swallowed. I met Morrell's curious gaze, noticing the way her thinly shaped brow arched high and I contemplated what I would say to her. She was absolutely right, my dad and I had issues but they were issues I was not remotely prepared to talk about. The stem those issues branched out from — fed from — was too thick for me to tackle. I couldn't do it. If there had been one underlying problem that caused our relationship to strain then yes, perhaps I would be willing to talk to her about it, but there were several reasons as to why my dad and I didn't see eye to eye.

Our relationship as father and daughter shattered the day mom died.

"I've agreed to talk about the night of the formal, Miss. Morrell but the issues between my dad and I is something I'm not prepared to discuss." I told her then, "I'll never get out of counselling if that's the case."

"Then you'll forever have those issues." She replied, "I'm not telling you that you have to talk to me about them. I'm telling you that if you ever do want to discuss them I'm willing to sit down and listen to you."

I nodded, thankful for her offer as I said, "I'll think about it."

"Okay." She nodded, accepting my answer, "Thank you for seeing me today."

I felt like quipping back with something along the lines of 'not like I had a choice' but I didn't. I grabbed my bag from the floor and rose from my chair before I said, "Thanks."

I headed for her door, opening it and closing it behind me before leaning on the wood and exhaling loudly. How was it that every time I spoke with Morrell I left her office feeling worse than I did when I walked in? Perhaps it was because she was digging and so with everything I discussed with her it made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. I was dragging it back up from it's improper place to put it to rest properly.

I knew that was what I had to do with my dad too. I would have to drag every little problem between the two of us up because they'd been laid and resolved wrong. I had to talk about it in order for it to fix itself so that it could be properly put to rest — only then would I be able to move on.

The stem of those problems though.. just trying to tackle that alone filled me with dread. I thought first I would have to address the anger I felt towards my dad and the only way to do that would be by talking about why I was so angry in the first place. Then I would be able to pass through to the source of my dad and I's problems — my mothers death.

I knew that tackling that would be the hardest thing I'd probably ever have to overcome and that wasn't even the root of the source. If I ever managed to be at peace with her death and stop it from tearing my dad and I apart I would then have to face the root of the problem; the fire.

It was like a vicious circle... one I couldn't escape.

_________________

I was furious — completely and utterly furious. I hadn't heard a peep from Stiles after I apologised to him when he texted me during lunch and when I spoke to Scott he hadn't heard from him either. I had gotten a ride back to the Sheriff's house and waited to see if Stiles would just meet me here but he didn't. I had called him over and over again, tried to track his cell phone and figure out where he'd gone but I couldn't find him for the life of me.

I was beside myself. In fact, I'd never felt this type of way before — this worry. I was scared because I had no idea where he'd gotten too and it was dark now. We were well into the evening and after a certain time Scott stopped picking up his texts too. He left me to worry by myself because he was doing god knows what. I just wanted to know where Stiles, to know if he was okay.

The minute I'd seen his caller ID flash up on my screen when my phone rang I felt immense relief. It was like I could feel the weight rising from my shoulders. Or at least that was until he told me what had happened to him.

The relief I'd felt was short lived and that's when the anger came rolling in.

Erica had not only tore something from Stiles' engine but she'd used it to hit him round the head with it, knocking him out. Then she'd thrown him in a dustbin and left him there unconscious. I was beyond furious — hence why I was racing round town to get to the abandoned warehouse Derek was living in at the moment. It was in the heart of the warehouse district so I hoped that no one was following me and once I pulled up outside the former railroad deport I got out of my car and slammed the door harshly.

I didn't care that I was human and that Erica was a werewolf. She was going to get a piece of my mind because what she had done wasn't right and if Derek was going to condone her behaviour I was going to blow.

I'd never known myself to have been fuelled by such rage before but at this moment I couldn't hold it in. Erica had pushed a massive button by hurting Stiles and I wouldn't stand for it. Yes, it was stereotypical for the boy to be protective of the girl — and Stiles was protective of me — but I wasn't at all afraid of her.

As I navigated my way through the twists and the turns inside the warehouse I could feel my heart thudding in my chest. It was beating at a hundred miles per minute, a reminder of how angry I was. It was almost as if I couldn't think straight, the path I was on was the only thing I knew and nothing deterred me from said path.

I think I saw them before they all saw me as Isaac and Erica looked to be training, trying to fight Derek. I noticed then that Boyd was sat watching from afar, probably seeing what was to come after having taken the bite. It was him who first saw me and by the way his eyes widened I knew Derek hadn't told him I knew about the existence of werewolves. It was almost as if he was wanting to say something to catch Derek's attention but he either couldn't get the words out or he was too scared to do so.

Regardless, I continued on and I saw Erica's back as she waited to charge on Derek. Isaac was making his advance, somersaulting off a large box as he ran towards his Alpha. While they were occupied I took it as my chance and I grabbed Erica's shoulder, pulling her to turn to me and I pushed her with every bit of strength I had in me.

I was surprised as she went hurdling to the ground, skidding across the dirty floor on her ass. She looked up to me then, her eyes wide in surprise. She certainly hadn't seen me coming that was for sure. Erica was quick on her feet once she recovered from that initial shock though but I was one step ahead of her. I put my weight into my right foot and seeing only red I hit her in the face.

I knew that violence wasn't the answer. There was a small voice in the back of my head screaming at me to stop but I was just too overcome with anger to stop. I didn't know what it was but I knew I wouldn't be satisfied until she got a taste of her own medicine. How I was supposed to give that to her though I wasn't sure. I was a human and she was a werewolf with supernatural strength, I was sure she could easily put my on my ass if I put one foot out of line.

Her head snapped to the side as I punched her and a pain I'd never felt before shot down my hand and into my forearm. The warehouse was dead silent as the sound of me hitting Erica ricocheted off the walls and if I didn't have Derek's attention before I had it now.

Erica slowly turned her head to look at me and I saw how tight her jaw was. Her eyes were wide but her irises were swirling in anger, she was taken aback but furious at the same time.

I pointed at her then, jabbing my finger into her chest as I seethed, "You know exactly what that was for."

Her nostrils flared and she swung for me. I thought the second I saw her fist fly towards me that she was going to hit me but I surprised myself by how quickly I'd stepped back from her advance.

Derek saw that as his time to intervene, "Erica!"

Only his Beta ignored him and she tried to hit me again. This time I grabbed her arm and pushed her wrist, forcing her to keep going while throwing her balance off. She stumbled to the side and shoved her shoulders.

"Erica!" Derek shouted again. His voice was stern that time but it still didn't deter her.

I wanted to hit her again, to give her a lick of the pain she'd put Stiles in but before I could a pair of arms wrapped around my middle section. I didn't even have to think twice about using the advice Derek had given to me and I put my leg behind whoever had grabbed me and moved to jam my thumb into their eye but they caught my wrist.

"Alex, stop." Derek said to me lowly then and I realised it was him who had grabbed me, "Isaac." He said after that and I felt him nudge my body forcefully over into Isaac. He grabbed my wrist, pulling me over towards him as Derek growled at Erica threateningly.

I watched as she tore her gaze from me and looked to him before she shied away. Derek scared her into submission but the same couldn't be said for me because I still felt the urge to punch her. I'd never seen this side of myself before and I wasn't sure whether I liked her or not. She surprised me, that was for sure.

"Alex— Jesus." Isaac stuttered, trying to keep a hold of me.

Derek turned away from Erica then and he turned to me, his brows were drawn into a confused frown, "What the hell has gotten into you?"

"What's gotten into me?!" I all but yelled, "She's a psychopath!"

"I didn't do anything." Erica said then and I saw her slip her hand over Derek's shoulder. Her eyes were soft and she sounded like she was whining as she pleaded with him.

"Didn't do anything?" I scoffed as Derek turned to look at her, "You knocked Stiles out with something out of his engine and dumped him in a dustbin!"

She rolled her eyes as Derek said to her, "You did that to Stiles?"

"You told us we had to stop them." Erica argued.

"And you thought doing that was the way forward, huh?" I fired bitterly.

Erica tried to step towards me but Derek shoved her backwards, "I did what he asked me to do."

"There was absolutely no need." I snapped angrily, "You're lucky you didn't do any damage. I'd tell you how much I've been going out of my mind worrying about where he's been but it's not like you'd give a shit."

"Alex." Derek said to me then and I turned to him as he looked to me, "I think you need to calm down."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "You're taking her side over this?"

"No." He shook his head, his jaw tight, "But you need to calm down."

There was something about how Derek said that. His voice was calm but strict at the same time but it did the trick. When he repeated himself I did find myself calming down although not much. I was still angry with Erica but the urge to slap her silly had left me.

I swallowed forcefully before exhaling. I didn't take my eyes off Erica as I glared at her but I said, "I have to go. Stiles' car is in the garage and he needs a ride home."

No one said anything as I pulled my arm out of Isaac's grasp and walked out of the warehouse, back towards my car. Once I knew I was out of sight I pushed my hands through my hair as I walked and tucked it behind my ears as I exhaled shakily. I looked down to my hand under the street light and saw my knuckles were red although they were no longer hurting.

I shook my head to myself, shocked by my own actions. I couldn't believe how I'd just lost it like that. I thought I had a handle on my temper but as soon as I saw Erica I saw red and I had no idea where it came from. I hoped it wouldn't be anything more than a one time thing. There was a part of me that was afraid of how quickly I'd lost myself. I wasn't in control of myself and I didn't like that.

I reached into my jacket pocket for my keys although when my hand brushed against my phone I felt it buzz. I retrieved both items and unlocked my car while I looked to my phone. I had a few missed calls from Stiles but the one thing that stood out to me the most was a recent text from Scott.

We have a problem, something
happened at the garage.

Immediately my heart lurched into my throat and I got into my car quickly, staring the engine as I called Scott. I placed my phone on to the passenger seat as I pulled out of the industrial estate and after the fifth ring Scott finally picked up.

"Hey."

"Scott, what's going on?" I asked immediately, my voice was panicked.

"Stiles called me, he said you weren't picking up."

"I, uh, I went to find Erica." I said to him, "What's happened at the garage?"

"Stiles thinks he saw that thing Allison and I saw the other night in Isaac's house. He said it killed the mechanic."

I pushed further down on the gas peddle, "What? Is he okay?"

"He's fine but the weirdest thing happened to him. He touched this slime on the door handle and said he felt paralysed. He lost the ability to move."

Alarm bells echoed in my head, "Scott, please tell me he's okay now."

"I think so." He said to me, "He's with his dad. I'm heading over now."

"I'll pick you up, where are you?"

"I'm at home, just getting into the car."

"Don't bother." I said to him then, pulling into his street, "I'm almost here."

"You drive like a race car driver, did you know that?" Scott asked me.

"Yeah, I'm well aware." I muttered as his house came into view. I pulled up outside, pressed the brake peddle firmly and hearing as my tyres squeaked. I rolled Scott's window down as he stood on the pavement and said, "Get in."

He hung up while shaking his head with a look of astonishment on his face. He got into my car, picking up my phone so he didn't sit on it and holding it as I drove away towards the garage.

"Wait, where were you?" He asked me.

"I went to find Erica." I replied, keeping my eyes on the road.

"Why?"

"Because she knocked Stiles out and dumped him in a dustbin." I exasperated, "Scott, I was furious — I still am."

He looked to me skeptically, "What did you do?"

"Well.. I, uh, I punched her in the face." I muttered. 

As I glanced to him I saw his eyes widen, "You punched her in the face?"

"She deserved it."

"I didn't say she didn't." He replied, "I'm just surprised."

"Yeah well, so was everyone else." I mumbled as we pulled up to the garage.

It was as if I'd seen this scene too often now. The blue flashing lights of police cars illuminating the dark sky and their headlights creating a path. The police caution tape that blocked anyone from getting on to the scene, the crowd of people who had gathered to see what was going on. The ambulances, here to pronounce the victims death and deal with whichever unfortunate soul had the misfortune of witnessing what strange occurrence had went down.

My heart lurched for Sheriff Stilinski though. In all this short space of time he'd dealt with an incline of suspicious and mysterious deaths that had no explanation to them. At least not a normal explanation. I couldn't imagine the stress he was under of being called more often than not to the scene of yet again another homicide case.

But this time it was personal because his own son had been involved. He wasn't the one to die but he was there when it happened — he'd been exposed to the danger. Though what was to say it wouldn't be one of us next time? If this creature had killed twice it was certainly going to kill again. Perhaps there was a pattern, like there was with Peter and his murderous rampage. Maybe whoever was hiding behind the mask this creature wore was on a mission for revenge.. and if so why were they after that? Who were they going to go after next?

Or perhaps it was all coincidental and this creature was killing for the sake of it. If it had the same tendencies a werewolf had it might just be killing on impulse — acting out of anger it had no idea how to control.

I sighed as I took my belt off, opening my car door and getting out. I took a minute to look around, the busy set up overwhelming me significantly. It was hard to explain how it made me feel but I knew the feeling was one I struggled to deal with.

I saw Stiles sitting on the back of an ambulance, the Sheriff sitting next to him as they talked and I felt my heart rise in my chest when I saw Stiles was physically unscathed. I knew Scott had gotten out of the car too but he remained by his open door as I headed for Stiles and his dad — leaving my door open.

There was no police tape around like I thought there might've been but it didn't stop an officer from catching me trying to slip into the heart of the crime scene. He turned to me quickly, putting his hand on my shoulder to halt me in my strides as he shook his head, "Woah, sorry, you're not allowed any further."

I looked to the officer then and shook my head, "He's my boyfriend, I'm living with him and the Sheriff."

I noticed the change in his facial expression — one that conveyed he knew who I was now that I'd mentioned Stiles' name. He turned his head, glancing behind him to the two and I looked also. Stiles was no longer talking to his dad, rather making his way over to me and I walked passed the officer without a second thought. Stiles' face was bleak and pale, he looked rattled and that scared me. When I pulled him in for a hug he wrapped his arms around my waist and squeezed my body tightly, holding me in his arms as he took a deep breath. I could feel my stomach twisting anxiously and when he pulled away he pressed his lips together in a thin line.

I took Stiles hand silently and guided him towards my car, seeing Scott get into the back. The three of us got in and closed our doors, sitting in anticipation for a few short seconds until I turned to Stiles, "I'm sorry."

His face twisted in confusion before he turned to me, "What for?"

"For not being with you, for not answering your calls."

He shook his head then as if to tell me that it was okay, "You know what, Alex, I'm kind of glad you weren't there." He said. If I hadn't of understood what context he was speaking from I'd of been offended but I knew he was only being protective, "That thing could've easily of killed you."

"But it also could've killed you." I pointed out.

He nodded before saying, "And there's nothing neither of us would've been able to do about it."

His words struck deep and while I was unable to reply Scott asked, "Hey, you okay man?"

"Yeah." Stiles sighed then as he looked out the front window, "You were right. It's not like you. I mean, it's eyes were almost like.. reptilian.. but there was something about them."

Scott sat further forwards, trying to get as close to Stiles and I as he could and I turned in my seat too.

"What do you mean?" Scott asked.

"You know when you see a friend in a Halloween mask but all you can actually see are their eyes? You feel like you know them but you just can't figure out who it is."

I furrowed my brows then as I said, "You know who it is?"

"No." Stiles shook his head as he turned to us, "But I think it knew me."

____________________

So as far as problems went this one was pretty big. We had a big night ahead of us, Scott, Allison, Stiles and I. We had to find what Stiles called a Bestiary in order to put a name to the creature that was killing these people. Now, according to Allison her grandfather had one but he kept it locked in his office at the school. Allison had to convince her grandfather to come to the lacrosse game tonight and she had to get the keys to pass to Stiles and I.

Before we even made it to the game though we had to go to the hospital because I was due another shot. I had been dreading it, especially after what happened last month when we were looking for Lydia. I wasn't well afterwards at all and I vomited near enough all over Stiles' bathroom too. I just had to hope I would be all right in the hours afterwards, especially knowing we were going to the game.

So far, so good though. I was doing all right as I sat next to Melissa on the bleachers. She wanted me where she could see me just in case knowing I'd had my appointment today and I didn't complain. It was nice to have some company given Lydia didn't show up.

We as a team were getting our asses handed to us. The team we were going up against were massive, they looked like thirty year old adults and they were taking us down one by one. They'd taken out three of our team members so far and I was finding it hard to watch as they body slammed them to the ground.

It wasn't until Stiles caught my eye did I realise it was time for our plan to be put into motion. My hands were sweaty when I turned to Melissa and excused myself, claiming I needed to go to the toilet. I stood up off the bleachers and met Stiles round the side as I wiped my palms on my jeans. There was an unsettling feeling in my stomach that didn't shift although I wasn't sure if that was from watching people get carried off the pitch on stretchers or the notion of Stiles and I breaking into Gerard Argent's office.

I was trying not to think about it, to push my mind to think of other things as Stiles took the keys discreetly from Allison as she held them out to us from the other bleachers but as Stiles and I headed towards the school I noticed him glancing at me.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked me, "You seem quiet."

"Just.." I sighed while shaking my head, "Feel a bit— I don't know."

"Sick?" He asked me, "You can go back to the bleachers if you want."

I shook my head, "No, I'm fine."

"Okay." He nodded.

We walked through the car park then until we passed what I recognised to be Lydia's car. I frowned in confusion as we passed knowing she hadn't turned up and I found myself walking away from Stiles to check the door. I sighed when I saw her sitting there, her head resting against the wheel as she held a tissue to her eyes.

I glanced back to Stiles wordlessly and saw him looking solely at me, not a clue in the world on what to do. I knew I couldn't leave her here though, no matter how important this was Lydia was my best friend and she'd been through so much lately. I had to stay with her and so I nodded at Stiles, gesturing for him to go.

He seemed conflicted though and I only nodded again, "I'll be fine. I can't leave her, Stiles."

"Okay." He nodded, "I'll come back when I've found it."

I nodded in response and turned to walk round the front of Lydia's car as Stiles headed up to the school. I opened the passenger door and got into her car, meeting her wide eyed gaze and watching as her shoulders dropped in deflation.

She turned back to look out of her window and with the tissue she was holding she wiped her eyes again, "I don't know why I'm crying over him still." She said to me then, "In fact I don't know if I'm actually crying over him or if I just think I am."

"Crying may suck, Lydia, and it might ruin your makeup but it makes you feel so much better afterwards." I told her, "So just let it out, I won't judge."

"I'm sorry I didn't call." She said to me then as she sniffled, "I didn't know what to say."

I shook my head as I said, "It's okay."

Silence seeped between us and I sat listening to the sound of Lydia's sniffles until she turned to me then and croaked, "Alex.. what's going on with me?"

I furrowed my brows then before I sighed deeply. I wasn't sure what she meant by that but I reached out to her and pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back as I tried to comfort her. I stayed silent, hoping that just my embrace would help but it left me feeling like a terrible friend. She was bitten by someone we knew to be a werewolf but someone she thought was a human. We hadn't told her much about what happened and I felt guilty for that.

She deserved to know.

"I smashed my mirror in my sleep last night." She cried and as she pulled away from me she held up her hands. I looked to the red scratches and lesions on her knuckles and pressed my lips together.

"Lydia.."

"I'm so confused, Alex."

I nodded as I tried to sympathise with her, "I know.. but so are we."

"What do you have to be confused about?" She asked me incredulously then, furrowing her brows.

"Lydia." I muttered her name, "You were bitten and that bite should've killed you or turned you into something else and it did neither. So we don't know what exactly happened to you."

"I feel like I'm having a psychotic break." She told me then, "I keep seeing the back of this person.. I see him walking away from me but every time he guides me to something."

"Do you recognise him?" I asked her.

She hesitated, her bloodshot eyes meeting mine as she nodded. I felt my heart twist at the sight of her so upset.

"That night at the ice rink I saw his face. He was trapped under the ice. I thought he was actually stuck there.. dead.. but he opened his eyes. I recognised him."

"It's okay, Lydia." I tried to comfort her.

"It's not." She exclaimed in frustration, "Alex no part of this is okay! I'm going clinically insane. I'm hallucinating the person who attacked me the night of the formal."

My lips parted in shock then. Lydia was seeing Peter? Post traumatic stress disorder crossed my mind then and I knew I had to start being a better friend to Lydia. She was struggling to overcome what had happened to her and I hadn't noticed it. She was good at wearing a poker face but I didn't see through it and I felt as if I was failing her as a friend.

"My mom is making me see the guidance counsellor." She cried then.

I shook my head seeing something I could truly sympathise with her over. I thought it was a good idea for her. I wasn't aware I had things I needed to work on until Morrell made me aware of them. Hopefully she would bring that same light to Lydia, "Lydia, seeing the guidance counsellor isn't a bad thing."

She scoffed, "It's embarrassing."

"Talking about your problems is not embarrassing Lydia." I told her then, "I'm seeing Morrell too."

Her brows furrowed then and I only nodded as she looked at me quizzically, "Why are you seeing Morrell?"

I shrugged, "Because I've got things of my own I need to overcome."

For the first time then she smiled but it wasn't a humour filled one. It was more like a relieved smile and she looked to me, "Well.. at least we can lose our minds together."

Her attempt at bringing humour to the moment brought me to chuckle and I gave her a small smile.

I sat with her for a while, just talking about whatever came to our mind in an attempt to make her feel better and it wasn't until I noticed the car park was empty did I check the time. It was nearing on ten o'clock at night and the game had long finished. I checked my phone though and saw no calls or messages from Stiles and I felt an unsettling feeling blanket my stomach. He wouldn't of left me and he wouldn't of not come back either which meant something was wrong.

Lydia frowned at me, her face no longer red or tear stained and she said, "Where's Stiles?"

"I don't know." I muttered then, looking back to my phone. I thought quick on my toes before I lied to her, "Oh, he said he's waiting round the front. I'll see you later, okay?"

She nodded with a small smile, "Thank you, Alex."

Already out of the car I leaned in and smiled at her, "You're my best friend, Lyd. It's all right."

"Bye." She said to me and I closed the door, watching as she backed out of the parking lot and drove off before I ran up to the school.

Being here at night, running through the darkened hallways brought so much fear upon me but at the minute my mind was swirling in fear that something had happened to Stiles. I ran to Gerard's office and found the door locked, the keys nowhere in sight and I furrowed my brows. I got my phone out of my pocket and tried to call Stiles but it went straight to answer phone and just as I tried to call him again a loud screech reverberated around the hallway.

I shivered, the hairs on the back of my neck rising uncomfortably as I looked around for the source of the noise. It wasn't human and it wasn't from a werewolf either which led me to believe it was from that creature that we were trying to identify.

I began running through the school to where I thought the noise had come from and a few short seconds later I heard the growling of a werewolf. I turned, running into the pool where I saw Stiles and Derek on the pool edge, both soaking wet and Scott who was fully transitioned in front of them.

Fear rippled down my spine when I saw the creature opposite him though. It was nothing of a werewolf as it stood on all fours, a long reptilian like tail resting on the floor. It had green and mucky-yellow coloured scales and slit shaped eyes.

The longer I stared at it the more it became familiar to me.

Derek groaned on the floor where he was laid and I saw him roll on to his stomach, prompting me to rush over to him and Stiles. He seemed okay but as I looked to Stiles he was laid with his eyes closed and I dropped to my knees by his side. He was absolutely soaking wet but I saw his chest rising and falling. I tapped his face gently as I called his name but before I could do anything else the creature threw Scott through the air and into the wall just by us.

Scott smashed the mirror on the wall and the creature turned to me, it's reptilian like eyes staring straight into my soul. It's head tilted and my brows furrowed in confusion, Stiles words from last night echoing into my head.

'I think it knew me.'

It was looking at me as if it knew me but I had absolutely no idea who it was. I didn't know the man behind the mask but as I studied the creature it finally clicked.

I remembered seeing it's form when Stiles and I looked through those mythical creature books when we first thought Scott was a werewolf. I remember seeing it on the page and reading it's name. The book called it a Kanima and it described it as having a large reptilian-like tail that produced a venom that could paralyse its pray.

I froze somewhat, knowing it was just me and this creature for now until I saw a large shard of shattered glass by me.

'Kanima's are typically confused by their own reflection based upon the fact they have never seen themselves in their form. The person who becomes the Kanima will not know they can transform into a creature, hence why it becomes confused by its reflection because the subconscious of the human doesn't recognise it when transformed.'

I scrambled to pick up the shard of glass by my side and I picked it up, holding it out in front of me and making sure the creature could see it.

My heart was in my throat as I kneeled by Stiles and I saw Scott slowly get up out of my peripheral vision but I didn't dare take my eyes off the Kanima. It's head tilted to the side and as it hissed I thought it wasn't going to work until it pounced off it's legs, climbing up the wall and breaking through the glass pane in the ceiling and scattering.

________________

"It's a Kanima." I told Scott and Stiles again, rolling my eyes as I stood between them.

"How can you be so sure?" Scott asked me then as he kept his eyes on the screen of the laptop, trying to read from Gerard's flash drive we'd plugged into the computer.

"Because I remember seeing it when Stiles and I were looking up werewolves after Peter bit you." I replied, "I specifically said if Kanima's were real I was going to resign from life. Speaking of, I need to get into contact with someone about handing my resignation in."

"You're not going to resign from life." Stiles told me then.

"Whatever, but I know I'm right on this."

"Well it'd be easier to confirm if we could read this." Stiles muttered then as we looked to the foreign words on the screen, "What is this? Is that even a language?"

"Looks like French to me." I butted in.

"How are you supposed to figure out what this thing is?" Scott queried in frustration.

I shrugged, "I'll find that book, prove it to you that way."

"Alex is right." Derek nodded then and I looked up to see him and Erica walking over to us, "It's called a Kanima."

I smiled triumphantly at Scott and Stiles before saying, "Told you!"

"You knew the whole time?" Stiles asked him.

"No." Derek shook his head, "Only when it was confused by its own reflection."

"I remembered reading it." I told them, "It's because the person who is the Kanima would never of seen themselves in that form before."

Scott looked to me then, "You mean it doesn't know what it is?"

"Or who." Derek told him.

"Well, what else do you know?" Stiles asked. 

"Just stories.. rumours."

"But it's like us?" Scott asked then.

"A shape shifter, yes, but it's.. it's not right." Derek responded, "It's like a.."

"An abomination." Stiles said then.

Derek nodded once before he looked to Erica and turned to take his leave, his second Beta following him. He had only made it two or so steps before Scott called him back though and he stopped to face him, "We need to work together on this." Scott said to him, "Maybe even tell the Argents."

"You trust them?" Derek asked heatedly.

"Nobody trusts anyone." Scott snapped, "That's the problem. While we're here arguing about who's on what side there's something scarier, stronger and faster than any of us and it's killing people! And we still don't know anything about it!"

"He's right Derek." I said then.

"I know one thing." Derek said before he turned away, "When I find it I'm gonna kill it."

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A/N; Hi. Got a bit of a note to leave here but please read it, it's important. My life right now is hectic, trying to battle being a student nurse and the pandemic it's crazy. If I'm not on placement at the hospital I'm in bed catching up on the hours I've sleep I've missed. I'm exhausted right now and I just can't find the time to write at the minute. I'm finding I'm needing a great deal of energy to sit down and write and at the moment that's something I don't have. I'm currently waiting to find out if I'm being suspended from placement until further notice or not and if that's the case then I'll have some more time on my hands but if I'm being kept on I'm being redeployed to another department that needs me more — probably a covid ward or ITU, etc so finding time to write will be hard.

Since I started writing on Wattpad nearly 4 years ago now I think I've always updated every 5-6 days, a week at a push because I was scared my readers would lose interest— and I still am — but now I know I can't achieve that. I ask you to be patient with me, please, the next chapter for this book might be 2 weeks away but it will come. Please, just bare with me during this time and hopefully I can get back to some sort of schedule soon!

All my love💓