Courageous

36

Kinsey watched her friends while sitting on the counter. She'd been counting track of the hours. It had been far too long.

As soon as Scott, Stiles, Carter and Allison emerged from the water, she hopped down from the counter.

"I saw it," Allison said. "I know where it is."

Stiles climbed out of the tub and nodded. "We passed it. There's -- there's a stump, this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it's still big though; very big."

Kinsey glanced at Stiles as Scott said, "It was the night we were looking for the body."

Stiles turned to his friend. "Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter."

"Carter and I were there too, in the car with my mother, his aunt," Allison said. "We almost hit someone."

Scott's eyes widened. "It was me. You almost hit me."

He let out a gasp. "We can find it."

Kinsey glanced at her phone and frowned, causing Allison and Carter to turn and ask, "What?"

Isaac grabbed her phone to show the time. "You guys were out a long time."

"Hey! That's mine!" Kinsey cried.

"How long is a long time?" Stiles wondered.

"16 hours," Deaton and Kinsey answered, the latter taking her phone back.

Scott turned to his boss. "We've been in the water for 16 hours?"

"And the full moon rises in less than four," Deaton informed.

Stiles noticed Scott's expression and narrowed his eyes. "No, dude, you are not going back with them."

Scott let out a sigh. "I made a deal with Deucalion."

Kinsey crossed her arms and huffed. "Yeah, a stupid deal."

"I'm doing what I have to do."

Isaac frowned. "Why does it matter anyway?"

Scott sighed. "Because I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help."

Allison looked to Deaton. "He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong."

Deaton was silent for a moment. "I'm not so sure he is. Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies. Kinsey, he's only doing what he thinks is right."

Kinsey shook her head. "I still don't like it."

Isaac scoffed. "So, we're gonna trust him, the guy that calls himself death, destroyer of worlds? We're gonna trust that guy?"

Deaton glanced to Isaac. "I wouldn't trust him, no. But you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait."

A creak from the front door caught their attention and the bell rang. Deaton and Scott walked over and the rest of them soon followed.

Lydia frowned, seeing Ethan. "What do you want?"

"I need your help," he answered.

Stiles stood behind Kinsey as he asked, "With what?"

"Stopping my brother and Kali... from killing Derek."

They left the clinic and Stiles drove himself and Kinsey to his house while everyone else headed to Allison and Carter's apartment.

Stiles grabbed a pair of his dad's boxers. "How's this?"

Kinsey frowned. "Boxers? Mmm, maybe you should pick something else."

He ignored her and called his friend. "Scott, what do I grab? How about my dad's boxers?"

After a moment, Stiles suggested socks, and picked up a pair. "Come on."

The two of them hopped into his Jeep and the storm worsened around them. "This storm seems pretty bad."

Stiles glanced at Kinsey. "Yeah it does. Hey, you okay?"

After a short while, he said, "Come on." Something hit the Jeep from behind. "Whoa, sh -- Oh." A tree branch was in front of the Jeep and he hit it. "Whoa!"

Stiles tried protecting Kinsey, but he hit his head on the dash and hers hit the passenger window. She saw black spots and her eyes soon closed.

When she woke up, she saw Melissa, and hugged her.

The ceiling began caving in and stopped abruptly, and Kinsey, who had crouched into a little ball, hands around her head, looked to see what happened. She saw that Stiles had placed a bat to stop the concrete.

Sheriff Stilinski smiled at his son. "I always said aluminum was better." He embraced his son.

Kinsey heard crashing above them and Melissa made her way over to the redhead. "Are you okay? Stiles; are you?"

Kinsey nodded. "I'm okay."

Once everything quieted down, Allison and Carter asked, "Is it over?"

Stiles' phone began reading and he answered it. "Scott?"

Kinsey heard Scott say from the other line, "Hey, are you okay? Where's Kinsey? Is she there?"

Stiles nodded. "I'm okay. Tabi's here too. We're all okay. How about you; you okay?"

"Sort of," Scott said.

Kinsey moved closer to Stiles, her hands around his arm. "Hey, uh, Scott? Mind doing us a favor?"

"Name it."

"Can you come get us?"

"Sure."

"Great, okay," Stiles answered. "Um, uh, bring a ladder." His comment caused a laugh from everyone.

A ladder was brought to them and everyone got out.

As Kinsey stood and looked around, a sinking feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. What had the sacrifice caused? How much more, she supposed, insane would their town become over the course of time?