PARTY GUESSED
(HAS NOT BEEN REWRITTEN)

Their strawberry-blonde friend made her way into the center of Allison's bedroom, an extra pep in her step, three large Macy's bags dangling from her hands. "Clear your schedules. This could take a while." Lydia chirped, a smile on her face.

With a soft chuckle, Allison grinned as Lydia set the three bags onto her bed.
Carter and Allison stood beside Lydia, the birthday girl sifting through a seemingly never ending amount of dresses. "How many outfits do you plan on wearing tonight?" Carter asked in between her and Allison's soft chuckling.

"It's my birthday party," Lydia stated. "I'm thinking host dress," Pulling out a strapless, striped dress, holding it up to her figure. "Evening dress, then hmm after-hours casual."

Allison glanced at Carter in uneasiness, the taller brunette immediately being able to tell that there was something on her friend's mind.

Clamping her hands together, Allison cautiously pointed out: "I noticed that you didn't send out any invites."

Lydia rolled her eyes at the idea, pulling out yet another striped dress, "Biggest party of the year, Allison. Everyone knows."

Allison nodded and continued: "I was wondering if maybe this year things, you know, might be different."

"Why would anything be different?" Lydia asked, completely oblivious to what Allison was hinting at.

"Just 'cause things have been off lately," Carter laughed nervously, Allison nodded her head in agreement. "Things and people. Like Jackson."

Lydia instantly froze, her body going tense as her gaze moves away from the dresses and over to Carter. "What do you care about Jackson?"

Carter was silent for a moment before innocently asking: "Do you know if he's coming tonight?"

"Everyone's coming," Lydia announced, grabbing a tan dress. "This one's American Rag. Mmm, I love it. For me, not you two. This one's Material Girl. That's for you." Lydia held out a floral patterned dress in front of Allison. "And Carter, this one's for you."

Carter reached out and took the white dress from Lydia's hand, a small smile growing on her face as her eyes scanned the dress. It was simple, dressy at the same time. The dress would go about mid-thigh on Carter's tall form. The top half was a decorative white-lace pattern, while the bottom half was solid white - a thin brown leather belt separated the two.

A soft knock caused all the three girls to stop looking at their dresses and glance at the door, seeing Victoria Argent standing in the doorway, watching them with a smile. Carter narrowed her eyes slightly and looked away from her, she mindlessly began to finger the material of her dress.

"Mrs. Argent," Lydia greeted, holding a short blue dress up to herself. "What do you think of this one?"

"It's lovely," Victoria answered, nodding absently, her gaze soon falling upon Allison. "Allison, uh, can I grab you for a moment to talk? Just the two of us."

"Um, can we do it later?" Allison asked, seeming distracted and only wanting to hang out with Carter and Lydia. The strawberry-blonde and brunette continued to dig around the dresses, ignoring the mother-daughter conversation completely.

"Actually, uh, to be honest, sooner would be - would be better." Victoria insisted, rubbing her shoulder nervously.

"Party's at ten," Lydia announced, turning around to face them.

"Oh," Victoria mumbled, seeming pained by the whole thing. "You'll be around before then?"

"I think so," Allison sighed, growing frustrated and annoyed with her mother's pestering questions.

"You think so."

"I don't know," Allison snapped, shaking her head slightly.

"You think so?" Lydia asked, referring to the dress she was holding up. "Well, it does have black on it, but...no it's too much."

Victoria nodded, slowly backing out of the doorway. She watched as the three girls laughed and accessorized the dresses they were planning on wearing. Allison hummed and nodded in agreement, approving of the navy blue dress Carter had picked up. Lydia then held up a pink floral one up to Allison, all three of them agreeing on the necklace to go with it.

It was times like that Victoria Argent knew she'd never be able to witness again.

***

Side-by-side, Allison and Carter strolled up the long pathway that led to Lydia's towering house. The two brunette's were extremely nervous about the party. What if Jackson shows up? What if Jackson loses control, turns into the Kanima, and kills someone?

Carter glanced over at Allison, taking in how nervous she actually was becoming. She reached out, grabbing ahold of Allison's hand and squeezing it softly, "For Lydia." Allison nodded in appreciation, gripping Carter's hand tightly before the two girls made their way to the front door.

Once they were inside, a glass containing a pink punch was thrust into their hand, and they absentmindedly sipped on them. There were twinkling lights hung over the pool, a soft pop song playing throughout the house. For as popular Lydia was, there were hardly any people there. Carter wasn't surprised though, Lydia was still considered the psycho of the town.

Carter looked up from her glass, as saw Stiles and Scott making their way into the backyard, the two girls slowly approached them.

Allison looked at Scott nervously, smiling softly. There was something off about Allison's behavior. But Carter couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Uh, Jackson's not here," Carter said, breaking the thick tension that was settling around them.

Stiles glanced around, "Yeah, no one's here."

"Maybe it's just early," Scott tried to reason optimistically.

"Or maybe nobody's coming because Lydia's turned into the town whack job." Stiles suggested instead, all of them turning to glance at the girl who seemed she wanted to explode at that very moment. It was like she was trying to mask her anxiousness by plastering a fake smile on her face.

"Well, we have to do something, because we've completely ignored her for the past two weeks." Allison stated, Carter bobbing her head in agreement. They were all friends with the strawberry-blonde, but none of them had attempted to make time for her, they had been so caught up with Jackson and the Kanima.

"She's completely ignored Stiles the past ten years." Scott countered, Stiles' face contorting into a grimace.

"I prefer to think of it as me not having been on her radar yet."

Scott glanced at all of them before he said: "We don't owe her a party."

"What about a chance to get back to normal?" Allison asked softly, wanting someone she knew to at least have a somewhat normal life.

"Normal?"

"She wouldn't be the town whack job if it wasn't for us." Allison pressed, Carter nodding in agreement once more.

It seemed like all of the stress they've been under had caused Scott and Allison to hit a rough patch in their relationship. In all honesty, it was sad to see that all of the stress from this world had finally begun to take toll on all of them. None of them deserved to go through life like that - underneath all of the strange traits and abilities, they were still only human teenagers.

"I guess I could use my co-captain status to get the lacrosse team here," Scott offered.

"Yeah, I also know some people who can get this thing going." Stiles added, digging around his pocket for his cellphone. "Like, really going."

"Who?"

"I met them the other night. Let's just say they know how to party."

"Stiles, why do you even have their numbers?" Carter asked in disbelief.

The night was only going to get weirder.

***

"Are you gonna apologize to Allison or what?"

Carter, Stiles, and Scott were all huddled near the pool. Well, Stiles was leant against a pillar, Scott was sitting down, while Carter stood between the two of them. Carter took another swig of the pink punch, feeling a wave of nausea rush through her, but she didn't want to tell Lydia that she didn't want anymore and that it was making her sick because the strawberry-blonde was literally forcing glasses into her hands. And that was when they noticed that Scott was staring at Allison.

"Why should I apologize?" Scott asked, his dark eyebrows furrowing. Carter rolled her eyes, running her fingers through her curls before adjusting the belt around her waist.

"Because you're the guy," Stiles deadpanned. "It's like, what we do."

"But I didn't do anything wrong," Scott replied in confusion.

"Then you should definitely apologize. See, any time a guy thinks he hasn't done anything wrong, it means he's definitely done something wrong." Stiles explained, swirling the punch around in his glass.

"I'm not apologizing."

"Is that the full moon talking, buddy?" Stiles asked, staring down at his friend.

"Probably," Scott agreed. "Why do you care, anyway?"

"Because, Scott, something's gotta go right here. I mean, we're getting our asses royally kicked, if you haven't noticed. People are dying. I got my dad fired. You're gonna be held back in school. Carter is some supernatural creature that we know hardly anything about. I'm in love with a nut job. And if on top of all that, and if I might have to watch you lose Allison and possibly Carter to a stalker like Matt, I'm gonna stab myself in the face."

Scott's posture changed and he stood up straight, his eyes focused on what was happening behind Carter. "Don't stab yourself in the face."

"Why not?"

"Because Jackson's here."

***

Carter excused herself from the party, moving to find the bathroom. Lydia's punch was starting to make her stomach churn; feeling like she was about to throw up at any given second, and to make things worse, the extremely hot waves of heat returned. As she made her way up the stairs, her vision clouded, stumbling on the last step before crashing into the bathroom.

Once she had entered and closed the door an intense surge of nausea settled in her stomach. Quickly, she clicked the lock on the door before rushing over to the toilet and emptying the contents of her stomach into the porcelain bowl. She lifted her head, whipping her mouth with the back of her hand before flushing the toilet.

With wobbly knees she stood from her kneeling position, unlocked the door and stood in front of the sink. Turning on the faucet, she rinsed the acidic taste from her mouth. She placed her hands on either side of the sink, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

When she opened her eyes, she was no longer standing in Lydia's bathroom but standing in the middle of the woods. The smell of damp grass and bark seemed to swirl around her, the scent being familiar to her. It was the scent Carter smelt every day until the death of her family.

She twirled around in panic, not having any clue how she had gotten there. Carter kept whirling around until something frightening emerging from the darkness caught her eye. A pair of glowing crimson-red eyes was staring at her.

There was something not right about this, Carter could feel it in her gut, but that didn't matter. Right now, all she could do was stare at the eyes in front of her.

The creature began to move forward, causing Carter to take a step back and stumble over her own two feet. The darkness fell over her like a blanket and the large beast lunged, claws extended and fangs bared.

A scream escaped Carter's lips when her back hit the ground and the beast landed on top of her. She instinctively reached her hands out and placed them on its throat in attempt to keep it away from her. The beast's jaws snapped as it tried to sink its teeth into her neck; thick saliva dribbled from its teeth and landed on Carter's face.

A lump formed in her throat, she closed her eyes and she shook her head furiously, trying her hardest to keep the creature away from her. "No, no, no."

The beast stopped snarling and trying to bite at her suddenly, "Oh, come on, Carter," a demonic voice muttered just above her. "Open your eyes."

Despite herself, she allowed her eyes to slowly flutter open, she'd be lying if she said the sight in front of her now was less frightening than the beast before. Just inches from her face was a severely burnt Peter Hale. She trembled at the sight of him.

Peter slowly brought his hand up, claws extended, he traced the outline of Carter's face with his claws. "You know, you were always my favorite niece." His red eyes examining her face.

"What are you doing here?" Carter spat out, flinching when Peter's grip on her tightened. She was trapped, just like she had been in the locker room with Jackson.

"Isn't it obvious?" Peter hummed, moving a piece of dark hair from her face. "I'm here to kill you, Carter." Carter instantly stiffened when Peter positioned his claws on her neck.

"Get off of me! Get away from me!" Carter screamed, thrashing in her place and frantically trying to get Peter's claws away from her.

Peter tisked, shaking his head as he stared down at her.

"This isn't real," Carter muttered, shaking her head, trying to keep his claws from cutting into her flesh as she tried to push him away from her. "You're not really here. You can't be here. Derek killed you! You're dead!" Carter closed her eyes, giving Peter one last shove before her eyes opened, and she realized it wasn't him she was shoving, it was Scott. She looked around her and saw that she was lying on the bathroom floor, with a confused and concerned Scott hovering over her.

"Carter?"

Carter felt tears stream down her face as she stared at her friend. Gasping out, she spluttered: "S-Scott? What's happening? H-How...? I saw...the woods...red eyes...Peter and claws...death..." Her voice trailed off.

"Something's happening with Lydia," Scott stated, placing his hands on her waist and lifting her up to her feet before they were jogging down the stairs, not even giving Carter enough time to recover.

Scott didn't look any better than Carter, obvious that he had been affected by the punch as well, as he shoved his way through the crowd of drunk teenagers in attempt to find Lydia. "You guys seen Lydia? You know where Lydia is?"

As they continued to search for Lydia, Carter caught sight of Stiles leaning against one of the pillars next to the pool. Relief washed over them as the two teens rushed over to him. He was completely spaced out.

Scott grabbed a bottle of water, "Drink the water. Stiles, drink it. Something's happening, and I need you to sober up right now. Come on, Stiles."

"What do you think you're doing?" An unfamiliar voice exclaimed, Scott and Carter glance up to see a dark-skinned girl leaning by them. Carter raised a brow at her.

"You can do better?" Carter asked, looking at her in annoyance.

"I can do best," the girl told Carter confidently, grabbing Stiles before shoving his head into the water.

Carter's eyes widened, her and Scott glancing at each other in confusion whilst Stiles' arms began to flail beside him. He shoots out of the water, coughing and gasping as he looked at all of them in disbelief.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I might have to revisit my policy on hitting a girl," Stiles sputtered out, still spitting out water.

"He's sober," the girl replied.

Now all they had to do was find Lydia and figure out what the hell was going on with them.

***

"Hey, I can't find her." Stiles announced, approaching Scott and Carter. "And, dude, anyone who drank that crap, they're freaking out." he exclaimed, a girl letting out a loud scream from across the pool. It was like a mad house.

Someone jumped into the pool fully clothed, the three of them glancing at each other in alarm. People soon following after, everyone beginning to jump into the pool like it was the coolest thing they had ever done.

"I can see that," Scott mumbled, the three of them watching with wide eyes.

"What the hell do we do?" Carter asked.

"I don't know-" Scott was cut off by cries of hysterics.

"I can't swim!" A familiar voice shouted, the three looking back toward the pool. "No, no, no, stop, guys! I can't swim! I can't swim!"

The two guys who were holding onto Matt's arms tossed him into the pool. Matt's body instantly sank, the boy trashing beneath the surface as he desperately sought out help.

"I can't..." Matt's head bobbed back under the water. "I can't..." Jackson then suddenly appeared by the edge of the pool and grabbed Matt's wrist, yanking him out of the pool quickly.

The Kanima can't swim - Matt can't swim.

"What are you looking at?" Matt demanded, all eyes were focused on him.

Matt began to walk through the crowd, his soaked clothes clinging to his body. His eyes soon fell upon Carter, Scott, and Stiles, his facial expression hardening. His shoulder slammed against Carter, the three of them turning to watch him exit the party.

The sound of police sirens blaring and someone shouted: "The cops are here! Party's over!"

Everything became even more hectic than before, everyone scrambling to get out and away from Lydia's house as quickly as possible. It took a moment for everything to settle in on the three teens, all of them unaware as to how the master has been under their noses this entire time.

After a moment of hesitation, Scott, and Carter finally rushed out of the house, Stiles headed toward his jeep, running down the driveway and onto the road. From across the street a hard glared was settled on Matt's face, watching the two teens with hatred fueled behind his eyes.

And that's when they saw it. The tail of the Kanima wrapped around Matt's legs, the Kanima seeming to protect him.

The Puppet and the Puppeteer.