North Starr

38

Scott, Stiles and Melanie were still in the woods.

Something caught Melanie's eye and she pointed to it.

Stiles and Melanie found reconnected with Scott and Stiles said, "Melanie and I think we found something."

"So did I," Scott replied, showing them what he'd found.

"It's a coyote den."

"Werecoyote."

Stiles walked further into the den. "You two see this? This is Malia's. Remember, it's the same one she was wearing in the photo."

Scott frowned. "We shouldn't be in here."

"What do you mean? Mel, why are you looking so worried?"

Melanie shook her head. "She won't want to return to this place. We invaded her home. Our scent will be everywhere."

"If she's not going to come back here, where's she going to go?"

"I don't know," Scott and Melanie admitted.

"Can you track her now? You think you got her scent?"

"Maybe," Scott replied. "But I'm better at this when I'm a full wolf. And I'm still worried that if I do it, I won't be able to turn back." He sighed.

"The door's still open."

"If I can't get to Derek, we're gonna have to find someone else to help. This is basically a crime scene, right? I think it might be a little out of my boss' league."

"And more in my dad's."

The trio met back up with the sheriff.

"You're sure it was her?" Sheriff Stilinski asked.

"I looked her right in the eyes," Scott answered. "And they glowed just like mine."

"It makes sense, Dad," Stiles said.

The sheriff frowned. "But it wasn't a girl. It was a four-legged creature, right?"

"Well, okay," Melanie said. "But, see, that's the point we haven't exactly figured out yet."

Scott looked between them. "Okay, but if it was a full moon and she did change while her mom was driving, then anything could've happened."

"Horrible things could have happened," Stiles emphasized. "Ripping, shredding, tearing things."

"Which is probably what caused the accident," Melanie reasoned.

"Think about it, Dad, all right. They're driving, Malia starts to change, she goes out of control, the mom crashes and everybody dies."

"Except for Malia," Scott said.

"She blames herself, all right, goes off running into the woods and eventually becomes trapped inside the body of a coyote."

"That makes sense," Sheriff Stilinski stated with a sigh. "In a Chinese folktale. Boys, Melanie, this is this is insane. I need this kept quiet. The three of you, not a word. We don't want anyone hearing about this. We especially don't want Mr. Tate hearing about this. Scott? Scott!"

"Sorry," Scott apologized. "What did you say?"

---

The trio made their way to school and to history.

"Kira," Mr. Yukimura called. "You forgot all the research you did for that boy you like. All right, everyone. Let's get started. We were just talking about internment camps and prisoners of war. There's a passage in our reading that I'd like to go over in more detail. Who would like to come up and read aloud for us? Mr. Stilinski, how about you?"