Flashback

I walked into the loft, with my bag over my shoulder that I had planned to be using for when I left Beacon Hills. That didn't work, obviously. I had told Scott that I wouldn't leave now, not right after Allison and Aidan died.

I sighed, looking around. "Derek? Derek!"

I didn't get an answer, walking further inside.

And slowly came to a stop when I saw the bullet shells on the floor. I next to them, picking up one gold bullet shell with a Mexican skull on it.

I recognized it instantly, exhaling, looking up in anger.

The Calaveras. Araya, Severo, their hunters. The ones who had captured us when we had been down in Mexico, the ones looking for the "She-Wolf", who we had thought to be Cora.

They found us.

They took Derek.

And I was gonna go get him back.

But I couldn't ask for help. Not from Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Kira or Malia. The Calaveras were smart, they captured Peter, Derek and me. I couldn't involve the others.

When I asked for help, the people I asked help from usually ended up dead.

I worked better alone, anyway.

With the bag still over my shoulder, I stood up, already turning around for the door, sliding it shut with a loud slam, going to save Derek.

I knew where the Calaveras lived.

In Mexico.

*

I had gotten inside the Calaveras' club and home easily. No one saw me. And the ones who did see me where unconscious on the floor.

I walked down the dark, deserted hall, the walls red, looking through every room, every cell. I didn't find Derek.

A hunter was rounding the corner, seeing me. "Tara Hale."

He drew his gun, trying to shoot me. I caught his wrist, using my other fist to punch his face. Grabbing his throat, I turned around and threw him into the wall on the other side of the hall, already starting to leave when he fell to the floor.

So I had left. I had gotten out easily.

Too easily.

It had been when I had tried to cross the border back into California that I had the problem, driving in a rental car.

They had been waiting there. Six hunters, all with guns pointed at the car I was driving.

"Oh, great," I whispered, already lowering my head when they started to shoot, shattering the entire windsheild.

I got out of the car, three hunters coming toward me.

One raised his arm to hit me. I caught his arm, using it to flip him onto the ground.

I turned to another, kicking him in the stomach, turning around and kicking him again, kicking him all the way back into another car.

As the third one raised a knife, throwing it at my head to kill me, I leaned to the left, making the knife go past my head and into another hunter's stomach that was behind me, and he fell, but he wasn't dead. I grabbed the one who threw the knife's head, turning around and throwing him into another hunter, making them both fall.

Five down.

One to go.

The one who had a shot gun shot the gas tank on the rental car behind me, making the car explode, the explosion enough to throw me through the air. I landed hard, rolling over the dirt, sand, desert road. I only stopped when I rolled into another car.

Severo walked closer, looking down at me. "Very clever. Very impressive. Not enough, though."

I looked up at him, starting to get up weakly, spitting up blood. "I'm not dead yet."

"Who said anything about killing you?" Severo asked.

I pushed up further from the ground with a growl, my eyes glowing blue.

Severo pushed an electrical flare into my stomach. It made me fall, but I was already trying to get up again, weakly. He did it again at a higher voltage to make me stop fighting entirely, unconscious.

*

Now

Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Malia and Kira weren't dumbasses, though. They had come here. To the Calavera home.

Araya had Lydia, but Severo had put the rest of them in the same room I was in, locked away.

Scott was unconscious.

I looked down at him when his eyes opened.

Scott was startled to complete alertness, starting to sit up immediately. "Tara."

"Are you crazy?" I demanded.

"Are you?" Scott replied. "What were you thinking, coming here alone?"

"I knew that if I asked for help, Araya and Severo would've killed all of you," I told him, stressing the woods as I knelt next to him. "I work better alone, anyway."

"You still got captured," Scott told me. "You could've gotten yourself killed."

"I got in and out of here easily without getting caught," I said truthfully. "They had half a dozen hunters to blow up the car I was using at the border. If they hadn't blown it up, I wouldn't be here."

"But have they hurt you since you've been here?" Scott asked. "Have they tortured you in anyway?" I didn't answer. "How much?"

I finally looked back at him. "A lot."

"How close could you be to . . ." Scott trailed off before he said dying, taking my hand in his.

I didn't answer, looking up.

Scott shook his head. "No."

"As long as they give me time to heal, I'll be fine," I told him.

"And if they don't?" Scott asked.

I didn't answer.

"Hey, guys, can we have your little lover's spat later?" Stiles asked as he, Malia and Kira walked closer.

I glared toward him, taking a deep breath to calm down as I looked back at Scott. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Scott answered.

I exhaled. "They don't have him. They don't have Derek."

"We know," Kira told me.

I looked back at Scott. "But right now, they've got Lydia."

"Lydia?" Scott repeated. "What do they want with Lydia?"

*

Scott tried to open the sliding door, pulling it as hard as he could. It just wouldn't open.

"I already looked for a way out for two months," I told him. "I think a lot of people have."

"I say when that door opens again, we take out whoever's standing in the way and run for it," Malia told us.

"What about Lydia?" Kira asked.

"What about her?" Malia asked.

Scott walked closer to them. "We're not leaving without her."

Malia looked from Scott to Kira, back to Scott. "Why not?"

Stiles walked closer to Malia. "'Cause we don't leave without people. Remember, we talked about this? Rules of the wild kingdom don't apply to friends."

"Is that what you would do as a coyote, leave her for dead?" Kira asked.

"If she was weak and injured, yeah," Malia answered. "If hunting had been bad that season, I would eat her. Then I'd leave."

"Mmm," Stiles hummed, pointing at her. "Believe it or not, that's progress."

"All right, guys, we're not dead yet," I told them. "That means Araya wants something. Especially when they've kept me alive this long."

"Let me guess," Stiles said. "Another family of hunters you Hales don't have a really good past with."

I exhaled. "Something like that."

"But why did they keep you alive this long?" Malia asked.

"Probably waiting for you guys to come to the rescue," I said, looking away.

"But if the Calaveras don't know where Derek is, that means they didn't take him from the loft, right?" Kira asked.

Stiles walked closer. "Maybe he left on his own."

Scott looked at him. "Maybe someone else got to him."

*

Severo opened the sliding door, Scott and I turning to him and four other hunters with his eyes red and mine blue.

Severo electrocuted us into unconsciousness.

*

Scott and I were chained to two electrical chairs when Araya opened the door and another hunter dragged Lydia in.

"Oh, God," Lydia whispered when she saw us.

The hunter dragged her to the other electrical chair on the other side of Scott, starting to chain her up.

"Let them go," Scott told Araya. "Look . . .you've got me. Just let the others go."

Severo walked closer. "So let me explain what's going to happen. I'm going to turn the dial on the Beta. If the Beta doesn't answer, I turn the dial on the Alpha. If we still don't have a satisfactory answer, I turn the dial on the Banshee."

"No," I said, struggling, sitting forward as I glared at him. "You're not going to do this to them."

"No?" Severo asked. "I think I will."

"I'm not gonna tell you where Cora is," I told him.

Severo sighed, looking up. "Again with the mention of this Cora girl." He looked at me. "Your brother thought we were looking for her, too, when in reality, we're not."

"Either way, I'm not gonna tell you anything."

Severo spoke Spanish. "Are you sure? One of your friends has the power to heal. The other? Not so much."

Lydia turned her head to look at Scott and me.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "Is this just another game to you?"

"This is a test, mija," Araya answered, walking past Lydia to stand in front of me. "Let's see if you pass. We're going to ask some questions. You answer them, nobody gets hurt. You don't answer, we turn on the dial. Because, clearly, just torturing you for answers has gotten us . . .no where."

"Leave her out of this, please," Scott told her, making me look at him. "I'll do anything you want, just don't hurt her again. If you hurt her again, she could die."

"Then she should answer quickly, no?" Araya asked. "And I can't leave her out of this, lobito. This test is for the both of you. So . . ." Araya looked at me. "We don't know where Derek is. We want to find him as well. You know who took him."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" I asked. "I don't know. How would I know that? You've kept me locked away in a room for two months."

Araya shook her head. "That doesn't sound like an answer to me."

"We don't know," Lydia said. "Why do you think any of us came here?"

Araya sighed. "Severo, turn the dial."

"No," Scott said, looking at me.

"It's okay," I told him. "I can take it."

"If you take any more, you could . . ." Scott trailed off.

"I'll be fine," I told him.

I didn't know if that was a lie.

Severo turned the dial on for me, electricity crackling and searing and flashed, flooding through me, the pain making me look up.

"Answer or Scott's going to feel the pain next," Severo told me, his hand on Scott's dial.

"Don't you dare," I said.

"Should we turn the dial on Lydia instead?" Araya asked, Severo's hand moving to Lydia's dial.

"Don't," I repeated.

Scott leaned forward against his chair. "No, no!" He looked at Severo. "Don't do it to her. Do it to me."

"Let's start at one," Araya told Severo.

Scott looked at me as Severo turned the dial for Scott.

And he had to go through the same pain I was, looking up.

*

"Who actually has Derek?" Araya asked. "Who had a reason, a vendetta particular to you and the other Hales?"

"You're gonna have to narrow that down a little," I told her, breathing heavily in pain. "Because I don't know."

"Oh, you don't know because you haven't figured it out yet," Araya whispered, pointing to her head. "So think! Who could've taken him?"

"Tres," Severo said, turning the dials.

"Who had the power?" Araya asked. "The power of a shapeshifter?"

"I don't know," I repeated.

"Oh!" Araya said in frustration. "Someone who could've turned without you knowing. Turned, but not by a bite!"

"I don't know!" I yelled in anger.

"Diez," Araya told Severo.

Severo turned the dials.

The current burned higher, searing through, both of us screaming.

*

Scott and I screamed louder.

Lydia struggled in her chair to help us.

Anger wasn't even close to the emotion I felt, my eyes glowing blue.

*

Tara's memories

"There's a lot of myths about how people can be turned into a werewolf," Derek said. "Usually a bite. There's another one."

*

Now

Scott's eyes glowed red.

*

Scott's memories

"Can you get turned by a scratch?" Kate asked.

"If the claws go deep enough," Chris answered.

*

Now

Pulling his arms in the air with as much strength as he had, Scott broke the chains, breaking himself free. He could no longer feel the current, but he was still sweating, weak, hurting, breathing heavily.

I was dying. I could feel that. They hadn't let me heal.

"Make it stop," Scott told Severo.

"You're killing her!" Lydia said.

Araya held out her hand to stop him, looking at me. "Have you figured it out yet?"

I nodded.

Severo turned the current off.

And I believed completely.

If Peter coming back from the dead was possible, so was Kate turning into something supernatural.

"Say the name, Tara," Araya told me.

Slowly, weakly, painfully, breathing heavily, I looked up. "Kate."

*

Scott and I followed Araya outside. "So you're just letting us go?"

"I sent four men out to where Kate had been rumored to have been seen," Araya told us. "None of them came back." She stopped walking, both of us stopping in front of her. "Let's see if you can do better." She looked at me. "Besides, mija, it's not you we really want. It's her."

"You could've just told us she was alive," I told her.

"You wouldn't have believed me," Araya told me. She looked at Scott. "Now I know what kind of Alpha you really are. And where your next step lies."

"What next step?" Scott asked.

"When you take the bite of an innocent, when you make a wolf of your own, when you do that, then I will cross your border and come knocking on your door," Araya told him, starting to walk away.

Scott looked at me. "She's kidding, right?"

"You don't wanna know," I told him, starting to walk toward Stiles, Lydia, Malia, Kira, Stiles' Jeep and my--used to be Derek's--black Camaro.

"Okay," Scott whispered, starting to follow.

I smiled a little, walking forward. "You brought the Camaro?"

"Oh, so a car's the only thing it takes to make you smile after months of torture?" Scott teased.

"The car I brought exploded, remember?" I replied.

Stiles walked closer to us as Scott stood next to me. "So what now?"

"She thinks she knows where to find Derek," I answered.

"She gonna tell us where?" Malia asked.

"Uh, actually, she's giving us a guide," Scott told her.

A black motorcycle rode closer, stopping in front of us, Stiles stumbling out of the way, standing on the other side of Scott.

The girl who pulled off the black helmet was the same girl who saved Derek, Peter and me from the Calaveras the first time. She also saved Isaac.

"You know her?" Stiles asked.

"Braedan," I answered.

"Who's Braedan?" Kira asked.

"She's a mercenary," Lydia answered.

"Now, I'm the only one that's going to take you to la iglasia," Braedan told us.

"The Church?" Lydia translated in confusion.

"What's The Church?" Stiles asked.

Braedan looked at me, knowing I would know about it.

I did know about it.

I just hadn't been there before. Ever.

I exhaled. "It's not a place you'll find God."

*

On her motorcycle, Braedan led the way down the dirt, desert roads.

Scott and I followed in the Camaro.

Malia, Stiles, Kira and Lydia followed in the Jeep.

"I thought Derek got rid of this thing," Scott admitted, looking around the car.

"I wouldn't have let him get rid of this thing," I said.

Scott sighed, looking at me. "You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Scott said. "Maybe because of two months worth of captivity and torture, the fact you almost died back there, the woman who tried to kill you is still alive. And she took Derek. Again."

"Kate's tried to kill me multiple times, as a nine year old stuck in the basement of a burning house," I said. "She's tried to kill Derek, multiple times. And she took both of us, multiple times. We both got over it."

"You didn't get over her killing the rest of your family while you had to watch," Scott pointed out.

I exhaled. "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"More than sure."

"Tara . . ."

"What do you want me to say, Scott? The woman who tried to obliterate the whole entire Hale line is still alive when we had thought she was dead. That's all there's to it. I'm fine."

"You know I don't believe that," Scott told me.

"Okay, I'll be fine," I corrected.

"How is she alive?" Scott asked. "We saw her buried."

"No," I said. "We saw a casket, remember? She wasn't in it. The Calaveras had heard that Kate had been killed by an Alpha's claws. They wanted to make sure she was really dead. Her body was healing. More and more, she got closer to the full moon. She was coming back. So they switched out the bodies. They took her. If a hunter is bit, they have to take their own life before they change. The Calaveras, they treat the code like law. They make it their responsibility to reinforce it."

"Would you do it?" Scott asked.

"I wouldn't kill half a dozen people to get out, if that's what you mean," I told him. "Because that's what Kate did. I might have fought half a dozen people trying to get away, but I wouldn't have killed them."

*

In the review mirrors, we saw the Jeep come to a stop.

"What the hell?" I asked, turning around to park in front of them. Braedan turned back.

As Malia, Kira, Stiles and Lydia got out of the Jeep to check what the problem was, Scott and I got out of the Camaro, Braedan getting off her bike, taking off her helmet, all of us walking toward them.

"What happened?" Braedan asked.

"I don't know," Stiles said. "It felt like we hit something."

"Scott, Tara, we need to get there by night," Braedan told us. "It's too dangerous otherwise."

Scott looked at Stiles.

Stiles gestured toward me and Braedan. "Go."

"Not without you," Scott told him.

Stiles walked closer to him. "Dude, somebody needs to find Derek . . ." He gestured over to me. "And make sure Miss Independent over there doesn't get herself killed trying to do it herself." I rolled my eyes, walking back toward the Camaro as Braedan got on her bike. "We'll figure it out. We always do. Just go."

"Okay," Scott said, jogging after me.

I turned back to him. "Listen. I can do this on my own. Kate's always been dangerous. She's nearly killed you before, and we don't know what else is out there. Just stay here with them."

I started to turn for the Camaro.

Scott caught my arm, taking a step after me. "No." He made me look back at him. "No way, you're not doing this on your own. Not after what happened the last time you left to do something on your own." I exhaled, looking away. "You're not invincible, Tara. Just ask for help."

"Everytime I ask for help, the people I ask help from end up dead," I told him.

Scott hesitated, sighing. "When I found out you were gone, I had thought you really had left even when you told me you wouldn't. And how much that hurt actually surprised me. To think that you just left after you told me you would stay."

"It did?" I asked in concealed surprise.

Scott nodded. "Yeah. It did. Then I found the bullet shells. I thought you and Derek died. It--it reminded me of everything that happened before when I found out they had you. It brought back everything I felt when I lost Allison and Aidan. I--I thought I was gonna lose you, too. I thought you were--"

I sighed, surprising even myself when I wrapped my arms around him to get him to stop the heart-felt, worried speech. He smiled barely, surprised too as he hugged me back. "You're not gonna lose me."

"Guys, the sun's going down," Braedan told us.

I sighed, pulling back from Scott. "If you're going, get in the car, 'cause we gotta go."

Scott smiled as I walked around the car, opening the door and got into the driver's seat again, getting in next to me.

Again, Braedan led the way to la iglasia.

*

Braedan pulled over in front of the town, pulling off her helmet, getting off.

Scott and I got out of the car, walking toward her on the edge of the ridge, looking over the destroyed buildings of the leveled town, only one standing in the middle.

"La iglasia," Braedan told us.

"What happened here?" Scott asked.

"An earthquake," I answered. "It leveled the town."

"Then why is The Church still standing?" Scott asked.

"The locals think because of what's underneath," Braedan told him.

"Do I wanna know?" Scott asked.

"The Church was built over the ruins of an Aztec temple," I explained. "It belonged to the people called the nagaul."

Scott looked at me. "Shapeshifters?"

I looked at him. "Were-jaguars."

We all looked back at The Church.

"So Derek and Kate are somewhere in there?" Scott asked.

"I don't know," I told him. "I've never been here."

"And I've never gotten this far before," Braedan told us, turning around and going to her bike.

Scott and I looked at The Church one last time before going back to the Camaro.

*

The sun had gone down by the time we got to The Church, Braedan handing each of us a flashlight, a rifle in her hands, cocking it as we stopped walking.

"If you find Kate in there, what are you gonna do with her?" Scott asked.

"Bring her back to the Calaveras," Braedan answered as we started walking. "That's what they paid me for."

"What happens after that?" Scott asked.

"Not my problem," Braedan told him.

"You don't care?" Scott asked.

"Do you?" Braedan replied. "She's a mass murderer." She looked at me. "Most of the people she's killed is in your family."

"And you're a mercenary," Scott pointed out.

"Girl's gotta eat," Braedan said.

"Is that like your code?" I asked.

"Mm-hmm," Braedan answered.

"If you got paid enough, would you kill her?" Scott asked.

Braedan stood in front of us, making us stop. "If the money was good enough, I'd kill the two of you."

Scott looked at me as she walked toward the door. I shook my head as if to tell him I didn't know what to tell him, walking after Braedan.

I kicked the planks out of the way to get inside.

"Can you guys catch Derek's scent?" Braedan asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "I already got it."

Both Scott and I heard distant roaring, Scott holding out an arm in front of Braedan to stop her.

"What?" Braedan asked.

Scott lowered his arm to his side. "There's something else in here."

"Something like what?" Braedan asked.

"Something not human," I told her.

Braedan led the way again, Scott and I following.

*

Braedan looked at us as we walked down the broken stairs. "So how come you two didn't kiss?"

I looked at her in concealed surprise. "What?"

"How come you didn't kiss?" Braedan repeated.

"Well, we're not really, uh . . ." Scott trailed off as I looked away. "I mean, we've never actually . . ." He looked at me, but I avoided his gaze. "We're not together."

"You two haven't seen each other in two months, and you obviously care about each other so much you'd take danger or pain onto yourselves so the other one doesn't have to go through it," Braedan said. "So, if one or both of you die down here, are you gonna regret not kissing?"

All of us stopped walking for a second. Scott and I didn't answer, looking at each other, and I realized that I actually would.

When the hell did that happen?

Braedan looked at us with a knowing look, tilting her head. "You should've kissed. You still have time . . ." She looked around. "Though, I wouldn't kiss anyone in a place this creepy."

I started to walk forward again, not looking back.

"She, uh, doesn't like being put on the spot," Scott explained as they started to follow.

Looking around at the cave-like tunnels, I saw roots, branches, stone walls and ceiling, jagged, mold, spiders and their webs . . .

Scott looked behind us as we kept walking forward.

A scorpion crawled over a skeleton's skull.

Scott turned around again, shining the flashlight down the way we came.

Braedan and I looked back at him.

"What?" I whispered.

Scott slowly looked back to us. "Just had a feeling like something was behind us."

He looked back down the hall. Nothing was there.

Braedan started to raise her gun again as we started to walk forward.

When we heard something exhale from behind us, all of us turned around.

"Did you hear that?" I asked.

Whatever it was ran closer, growling, but we couldn't see it through the pitch black darkness through the tunnels.

"Get ready!" Braedan told us.

Braedan fired her gun at the darkness.

*

She cocked the gun, shooting it three more times at the darkness, all of us backing away. "Where is it? Do you see it?"

"No, I don't know!" I told her. "We can't see anything."

Reloading and cocking the gun, Braedan looked back at the darkness. "Where is this thing?"

Whatever it was ran closer.

"It's coming back, it's coming back!" Scott told us, standing in front of us.

Whatever it was was roaring, running closer still.

"Guys, get behind me," Braedan whispered. Neither of us answered or listened. "Guys, get behind me!"

I looked at Scott, nodding to him. "Do it."

Scott looked toward whatever it was, his eyes glowing as he roared back to the thing, debris falling from the ceiling and the walls. Braedan turned away, covering her ears.

The thing was running away, growling distantly when Scott stopped.

Scott looked back at us. "I think I scared it."

"I think you scared everything," I told him.

Hearing the crashing from behind us, we turned to the symbol carved into the wall.

"What is that?" Scott asked as we walked closer.

"Tezcatlipoca," Braedan told us. "The nagaul jaguar god." She nodded to the symbol. "I think we found Derek."

I knelt to the ground, pressing my ear against the wall to hear a heart beat, smelling Derek's scent.

I stood, backing away.

"Stand back," Scott told us.

Braedan took a step back.

Scott punched his fist through the wall to break it.

I helped him pull and break more pieces away, enough for all three of us to look through, Braedan shining the light inside to the cement coffin.

And saw Derek inside.

But not the Derek that Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Kira or Braedan would know. Malia still hadn't met him.

But Derek was my brother. I would know the sight of him at any give age.

Including the teenager that he had been when I had been younger than ten years old.

Because that was the Derek I saw now.

Derek, teenage Derek, reached a hand toward us.

"Oh, my God," I said.

*

Braedan led the way outside as Stiles parked the Jeep in front of The Church, running toward us.

Scott and I helped Derek outside, an arm over each of our shoulders.

Stiles stopped in surprise. Lydia, Kira, and Malia ran up next to him.

"Is that him?" Malia asked. "Is that Derek?"

"Uh, sort of," Stiles answered.

Teenage Derek looked up toward them weakly, breathing heavily.

We were gonna find out how and why Kate did this to him.

And we would most definitely find out how and when we could get teenage Derek to turn back into present day Derek.