Dark Side of the World // S.S. [Book Two]

Chapter 35

Scott, Lydia and I try to find 'Stiles' in the dictionary. All we come up with is 'Stile'. Scott reads the definition aloud. "Stile, an arrangement of steps that allows people, but not animals, to climb over a fence."

Lydia frowns. "Yeah, somehow I don't think this is the Stiles we're looking for."

Scott looks at s hopefully. "Maybe Malia's found something."

"No, she's been taking a make-up test all morning." I say.

We hear howling and I let out a sigh. "Doesn't sound like it's going very well."

The three of us make our way to the basement. Scott says to Malia, now in werecoyote form. "Malia. It's okay. You're safe. I'm not gonna hurt you." She just growls.

After a long few moments, Scott says, "I think she's calming down." Her growling grows louder.

Sheriff looks at Scott. "Maybe you should growl back? Scott, you're the alpha. Can't you just make her a little docile?"

My eyes widen. "She's not the problem. We are. We're in her space. She views this as her territory. Let's try getting out of here."

Lydia smiles and as we walk to the locker room entrance, she says quietly, "Good call, Meg." She then says in a louder tone. "Malia used to come here to get through the full moons, before we started using the lake house."

Ms. Martin narrows her eyes at Lydia. "I thought you said a wild animal got in the lake house."

Lydia shrugs. "Just be happy about all the things I don't tell you."

Malia releases a small growl and her coyote form stalks towards us as she slowly shifts back into her human form. She gives a light smile. "It's alright. I'm okay."

Ms. Martin gives Malia her clothes as Sheriff Stilinski asks, "Any idea what made her shift?"

"She's under a lot of pressure. School, her life after graduation." Scott says.

"Her mom trying to kill her." Lydia adds.

Scott meets her eyes. "That shouldn't make her shift."

"Could it be connected to Stiles?" I ask, testing the name out and getting a strangely warm feeling.

Scott shrugs. "Hard to tell since we don't know what a "Stiles" is."

"It's a "he"." Sheriff says.

"Who?" Scott asks in a confused tone.

"Stiles. It's a family nickname. I never used it, but, uh, my father did."

Scott and I head to the sheriff's house to talk with the sheriff and his wife. Sheriff picks up a photo from the mantle and holds it out to us. "He was an Army engineer. Ended the war one bridge at a time."

"And he went by Stiles." Scott says, reading the name in the corner of the picture.

"So what's all this got to do with the Wild Hunt?"

I meet the sheriff's eyes. "We think that somebody was taken from us."

"Any idea who?"

Scott shakes his head. "Uh, the Ghost Riders would have erased our memories."

"Well, now, that's convenient."

"We found a clue." I say. "The word "Stiles.""

"And that's why you want to talk to Elias?" Claudia asks.

Scott takes my hand and says, "Yeah. We think he might be able to help us figure it out. Maybe he knows what we're looking for."

Sheriff takes the photo from Scott. "Now is this someone your age?"