"So you think a professional assassin is the one killing people?" I asked sitting down on Scott's bed. He and Stiles had been going over all the recent murders, and each of them just so happened to correspond with the dead pool.

Scott nodded as he paced the length of his room, "Someone's hiring them though." he answered, "Remember Sean and his family? They were all killed by someone called the Mute. But they might not all be professional killers"

"So who's the one hiring them then?" I asked, watching my brother with curious eyes,

Scott shrugged as he stopped pacing, "We don't know who it is. All we know so far is that they call themselves 'The Benefactor' ."

I let out a shaky breath, "And they're after all supernaturals in Beacon Hills?"

"Yeah." Scott whispered, looking up to meet my gaze. He looked scared, and when Scott was scared, so were the rest of us.

He tore his eyes away from me, trying to hide his fear, "So far they've killed the Wolcotts, Demarco-the guy who delivered the keg to Lydia's lake house the other night, and now Carrie Hudson"

"Who's that?" I asked, not recognizing her name.

"I've never heard of her until now." Scott admitted, "She was 23 and she was stabbed. They haven't figure out by what yet."

I felt my heart drop. More and more people were dying, and if we didn't figure out who was in charge of this deal pool, my friends and brother could be next.

I shook my head as I proceeded, trying to fully understand what was going on, "And they're taking money from the Hale vault?"

After receiving a nod of confirmation from my brother, I continued, "How is the rest of the dead pool going to be decoded?"

Scott nodded, "We're hoping that Lydia will be able to figure that out."

My eyes fell to my feet, anxiety consuming me, "Is it even safe to be going outside anymore?" I mumbled.

"I know it's scary Syd, but we can handle it okay? I just want you to stay out of it" Scott said softly, resting his hand on my shoulder.

I looked over at him, an incredulous look on my face, "Stay out of it?" I snapped, "That's kind of hard to do when your brother and friends have a bunch of assassins out after them."

Scott leaned back slightly, already sick of our argument, "You're fifteen Sydney, you shouldn't be caught up in all of this. I'm giving you an out, so please, take it." he ordered

"I can handle it," I shot back, not backing down, "I've been involved before." I argued, referring to the multiple times in the last year I that I had played a role in taking down whatever threat was being presented.

My brother shot to his feet, "And look where that's gotten you! You don't even feel safe staying in your own house!" He yelled, causing me to shrink back, "You're my little sister and I want to protect you." His angry eyes met mind, daring me to challenge him again, so I did.

I stood up, so I was facing him. He had almost a foot on me, but that didn't mean I was scared of him, "I can protect myself, Scott. You don't have to worry about me all the time! I'm basically the exact same age you were when you got involved in all of this."

Scott let out a bitter laugh, "Not sure if you've forgotten, but I wasn't a normal fifteen year old. I could handle myself better than you."

I crossed my arms over my chest, "Well then what about Stiles and Allison? They didn't have supernatural powers helping them!"

The minute the words left my mouth, Scott's face fell, "Allison's dead, Sydney. Does that help you understand?"

I shook my head as I looked down to my feet, urging myself to stop speaking before this went from bad to worse.

"Why don't you just enjoy a normal life while you can. Who knows what will happen next." Scott pleaded.

"Yeah," I muttered looking up at him, "Well there's no chance of that when I have you as a brother."

I didn't wait for Scott's response as I stormed out of his room, barging into my own before slamming my door shut behind me. I felt angry tears well up in my eyes as I flopped onto my bed, shoving my face into my pillow. Scott and I didn't fight often, but when we did it never ended well. Guilt consumed me at how I had spoken to my brother. He didn't deserve any of that, he just wants what's best for me.

I knew I should go back in there and apologize, but before I had the chance, the sound of the front door slamming filled the house. He was gone.

I groaned as my phone began to buzz in my pocket. I hoped it was Scott so that I could have the chance to tell him that I messed up, but instead Sophia's name flashed across the screen.

A low sigh escaped my lips as I brought the phone up to my ear, "Hello?"

"Sydney we're going shopping" She immediately said, forgoing a greeting.

I rolled over in my bed as played with the ends of my hair, "Soph, I'm really not up for-"

"Good I'll pick you up in 10 minutes" she said cutting me off.

Sophia was relentless, always dragging me out of the house when all I really wanted to do was stay inside. Truthfully, I really didn't think going to the mall was the best choice right now, but nonetheless I pulled myself out of bed.

As I made my way downstairs, I was greeted by my mom who was getting ready to leave for work. She gave me a warm smile as she pulled on her jacket, "Where are you headed?"

I looked up at her with tired eyes, really not in the mood for this, "Sophia wants to go to the mall."

My mom nodded, fumbling with her keys before she looked back toward me, "Are you and your brother alright?" Addressing the elephant in the room. Clearly she had heard us arguing upstairs only minutes earlier.

I gave her a tight smile as I nodded, "Yeah, we'll be fine." I promised.

She didn't seem fully convinced, but irregardless, she dropped the topic. "Well, I better get going," she announced, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek as she made way for the back door, "Love you, kiddo." she called before exiting.

"Love you." I muttered, watching as she disappeared out the door.

The longer it took for Sophia to show up, the more I wanted to crawl back into my bed and avoid going out at all. I was moments away from doing just that when I saw Sophia's mom's car pull up outside of my house.

I let out a deep breath as I plastered a fake smile onto my face, making my way out to the vehicle.

"Hey, Sydney." Sophia's mom greeted as I slipped into the back seat, "I haven't seen you in a while." she gushed, shooting me a warm smile.

I returned the smile, reaching to do up my seat belt, "Hi, Mrs. Grey."

"Are you ready to shop until you drop!?" Sophia asked, turning to face me from the front seat.

I rose my eyebrows but nodded. "Oh yeah" I whispered, faking my enthusiasm. Can't wait.

-----

"Okay what's going on with you?" Sophia asked as we sat in the food court.

"What do you mean?" I asked defensively, looking up from my food for the first time since we had sat down.

"You've been acting weird this past week, well actually you've been acting weird for months, but this week you've been extremely weird." she confessed.

"I'm fine" I muttered, forcing another fake smile to my face.

Sophia didn't let up, "Sydney McCall, don't lie to me."

I sighed as I dropped my fork onto my tray, "It's just family problem," I lied, hoping she would buy it, "My dad's back in town and...I don't know, things have just been hard since Allison died."

Sophia kept her gaze locked on me, "You mean your brother's ex girlfriend?"

"She was my friend too" I snapped back, more harshly than I had intended.

Sophia sighed. "Okay well if you ever need to talk I'm here" she said sincerely.

"I know and thank you for that" I said giving her a small smile.

---------

"I'm gonna be late" I mumbled to myself as I searched my room for my math text book. I had checked almost everywhere in my room but to no avail.

"Is this what you're looking for?"

I looked up to see my brother standing in my door way holding my text book, a small smile on his face.

"Oh my god," I breathed, rushing toward him, "Yes, thank you. You're a life saver" I said taking it from his hands.

As I shoved the book into my bag, Scott began to speak, "Listen, about the-"

I cut him off, throwing my bag over my shoulder as we began to walk down the stairs, "Don't apologize." I ordered, "I am the one who should be sorry."

Scott gave me a warm smile, "I'm just looking out for you." he promised.

I nodded, giving his hand a tight squeeze, "I know. You're just being a good big brother- the best."

Scott's smile faded slightly as we arrived outside at his bike. As he handed me my helmet, I could tell he was wrestling with something. Finally, he spoke, "If I'm going to look out for you, I need to tell you to be careful with Liam." he paused for a moment, looking up to meet my eye, "He's a good kid, but he has some serious anger issues. Until I can help him, and ensure he's got it under control, you need to be alert."

Nodding, I began to pull the helmet over my head, "I can handle Liam, Scott. And besides, we're not friends, I barely know him. I don't think I'll have an issue keeping my distance."

But as I hopped on the back of the bike, I knew that was a lie. Because as we made our way to school, I was secretly hoping I would get to see Scott's new beta.