Right Beside You | Stiles Stilinski | Two

42 - Epilogue

For Beacon Hills, the next few weeks were positively normal.

Jackson returned to school to be the center of attention. Even death hadn't changed his public persona all that much. He swaggered around the hall with Danny, bragging about the lacrosse game he hadn't even been mentally present for, and made out with Lydia in the hallways. The two of them were together again, hopefully for good this time. They'd both been through enough over the last few months.

Isaac was back in class too. After everything that had happened, no one at school seemed too bothered to look into Isaac's claim that he had moved in with his "sort of estranged uncle," whom I assume had been played by Peter. They'd only asked enough questions to ensure that Isaac was safe-ish, had a bed, and enough money that he wouldn't need to enroll in the lunch welfare program. Beyond that, the administration didn't care.

And after weeks of studying, we'd all made it through our finals unscathed. Lydia was still top of the class, not that anyone was surprised. Even being possessed by a werewolf wasn't enough to dampen her IQ. Scott had gotten through most of his tests, too. He'd have to take a few classes in summer school, but he'd just been thankful he wasn't being held back. At the very least, we'd all gotten through alive. That was more than we'd dared to hope for a month ago.

Not everything was normal, of course. There had been an absolute uproar when Jackson turned up completely unscathed and very much not dead. His parents had been equally relieved and outraged, and ever since, they'd been waging a war on the county hospital. There was a rumor going around that everyone on staff was going back to medical school, forced to take classes to distinguish cadavers from living patients. However, Mrs. McCall still had a job, so we were pretty sure that wasn't true.

While Jackson wasn't acting that different on the surface, there were subtle differences. He didn't snap at people as much as he used to, and he had an unnaturally tight cap on his temper. It helped that he'd been spending a lot of time with Derek and Scott. His time as the kanima had changed his mind about the necessity of having a pack. It was important to have people who could keep you in line, help you learn, and bail you out when you were in over your head. Scott, and then a very grudging Derek, had agreed to help him learn how to control himself. One mistake, and his new powers might overwhelm him. I think that was something Jackson feared even more than the rest of us.

We still hadn't heard from Erica and Boyd. I wanted to believe that they had made it out after Mr. Argent had freed them from his basement, but they still hadn't checked in. Isaac hadn't been able to get ahold of either of them, and it was difficult not to get worried.

It was also proving difficult not to worry about Gerard. Scott had explained everything that happened in the warehouse in gruesome detail, right up to the part where Gerard vomited a geyser of black blood and collapsed on the ground. Still, no one had been able to find him. The school board was scrambling, trying to replace their second principal in a year. And since no magical cover story had come to explain the disappearance, we could only assume that the Argents were scrambling too. No one had heard anything from any of them.

Well, almost.

I wasn't sure how long I was planning on avoiding it. I wasn't sure how long I could avoid it, even if I wanted to. Eventually, reality caught up to me anyway.

I answered the front door, not entirely surprised to find Allison standing on the other side. She was playing with her fingers, staring up at me through her lashes.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"I'm sorry, I—I should have called to let you know I wanted to stop by. I kept trying to write a text, but I didn't know..." Allison bit her lip. "Can I come in?"