Stand By Me

55

Peyton rested on her stomach while she, Scott and Stiles listened to the tape. 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."

"Never had a reason to," Peyton replied with a shrug.

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..."

Peyton frowned. "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? 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.

Peyton let out a frustrated huff. "Then what are you saying, Stiles?"

They heard something and panicked. Scott stood, trying to look like he wasn'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, Peyton's alarm woke her up and she shut it off with a slap. After a hearty breakfast, her mother drove her to school. "They've already made the necessary accomodations for you. Good luck, honey."

When she got out of her mother's car, Kira and Malia joined the trio and Kira asked, "Where's Lydia?"

"She took it freshman year," Stiles replied. "Tessa did too, but she wanted to get a better score. Honestly, I don't understand that."

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."

"Well..." Stiles corrected.

"Well, what?"

"It's do well. Not good."

Malia frowned. "Oh, God. Okay, okay."

"You're doing this because while we're trying not to die, we still need to live. If I survive high school, I'd like to go to college. A good college," Scott told them.