Old Scars, Future Hearts

55

Marika rested on her stomach while she, Scott and Stiles listened to the tape. Dmitri had ditched her to spend time with Lydia. Stiles pressed play, and they hear a male voice. "After entering the IP address, you will be connected through a Darknet portal to an untraceable bank. Once logged in, enter your account number to receive wire transfers. The IP address will deactivate with each transfer. You will be assigned a new IP address if you choose to continue down the list. Remember, visual confirmation is always required for payment."

"Either of you ever made a wire transfer?" Stiles questioned.

Scott shook his head. "Never had enough money."

Marika shrugged, saying nothing.

Stiles asked, "So you didn't understand a word of that either?"

Scott frowned. "I don't understand any of this. Why would someone use all this money just to kill us?"

"Someone wants you two dead, dude. Badly." Scott slid the bag of money under the bed. "Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?"

"It's late," Scott replied. "We've got PSATs in the morning."

Stiles shook his head. "No, I meant the money. $500,000. You know how much money that is?"

"It's $500,000..."

Marika rolled her eyes. "Which is also half a million. What are you going to do with it? Hide it under your bed and hope your mom doesn't find it?"

He turned to her. "I have to talk to Derek. The money's his."

"You mean his and Peter's," Stiles corrected.

"What does that mean?"

Marika frowned at her friend. "Watch it, dude."

"You don't think we should tell Derek?"

Stiles stood and looked out the window. "No. No." He sighed. "No, of course we have to tell him. I'm just... I'm just saying, some of that money's Peter's, right?" He turned away from them.

"Yeah."

"Right? Peter. Homicidal killer? Remember? You want to give $500,000 to him."

Scott frowned. "So we should give Derek his money back. But not Peter?"

"I didn't say that," Stiles said.

Marika let out a sigh. "Then what are you saying, Stiles?"

They heard something and panicked. Scott and Marika stood, trying to look like they weren't doing anything. The door opened and Malia entered. "We found Satomi's pack. Derek and I. But they're dead."

"All of them?" Scott asked with a frown.

"All the ones we found."

"Then where's Derek?" Stiles wondered.

The next morning, Marika's alarm woke her up and she shut it off with a slap. Dmitri appeared and pulled her out of bed. "Get up. You have a test to take."

"I hate you," Marika muttered.

"No you don't."

Stiles took her to the school and when Marika got out of the car, Kira and Malia joined them and Kira asked, "Where are Lydia and Dmitri?"

"She took it freshman year," Stiles replied.

"Dima took it last year," Marika said.

Malia was hopeful. "Does that mean I could have taken it some other time?"

Scott gave her a smile. "Malia, you studied harder for this than any of us."

"Doesn't mean I'm gonna do good."