Courageous

34

Kinsey, with a soft groan, got up from her hospital bed. She glanced around to make sure no one was around to stop her, and slipped on her shoes.

She left the hospital and made her way to Scott's, as she figured he'd be the best person to persuade to let her go.

Stiles, seeing Kinsey suddenly next to him, asked, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Helping," she replied.

"Go back to the hospital."

"No. I want to help."

"No, that's not it. You got hurt, Kins."

"Thanks for the newsflash. I want to help you two."

Stiles let out a groan. "Fine."

Kinsey smirked victoriously. "Excellent. Let's get Scott."

Scott opened his door to see Kinsey and Stiles. "Yeah?"

"I want to talk to Derek about Ms. Blake, and you're coming," Stiles said. "Kinsey insisted on going, which I'm definitely not okay with, but persuading her otherwise would prove useless. I already tried."

---

Stiles drove them to Derek's loft and said, "Ms. Blake, Jennifer, is the Darach. She took my dad. She's gonna try to tell you she's not, but we saw her. Well, not Kinsey, but Scott and I saw her. She hurt Kinsey and Scott."

"She's the one killing people," Scott added.

Derek pursed his lips and nodded. "Find somewhere to hide. Someone's coming."

The boys ducked into a dark corner and Kinsey hid in another corner. Jennifer entered the loft. "Derek? Derek, where are you?"

He stepped out from the shadows. "Right here."

She hugged him. "Thank God. Something happened at the recital. At the school. Okay, I need to tell you before you hear it, before you hear it from any of them."

Derek decided to play innocent. "From who?"

"Scott and Stiles. They're gonna tell you things. Things you can't believe. You have to trust me, okay? You have to trust me."

Derek frowned. "What is it?"

Jennifer began kissing Derek. "Promise you'll listen to me."

From Kinsey's corner, her lip curled in light disgust and fear.

Derek said, "I promise."

Jennifer pulled away from him. "They're already here, aren't they? So... they told you it was me? That I'm the one taking people."

The boys stepped out of the shadows and Scott said, "We told him you're the one killing people."

Jennifer let out a scoff. "Oh, that's right. Committing human sacrifices? What, cutting their throats? Yeah, I probably do it on my lunch hour. That way, I can get back to teaching high school English the rest of the day. That makes perfect sense."

Kinsey heard a break in Stiles' voice as he asked, "Where's my dad? Why did you hurt Kinsey?"

"How should I know? Derek, tell me you don't believe this."

Derek crossed his arms. "Do you know what happened to Stiles' father?"

"No."

"Ask her why she almost killed Lydia and why she hurt Kinsey."

"Lydia and Kinsey Martin? I don't know anything about that."

Derek turned to Jennifer just as Kinsey stepped out and stood next to her friends. "What do you know?"