First Bite (Beacon Hills Chronicles Book 1)

6: Night School

Playlist:

Burn ~ Madi Diaz

"I have weird friends," Anna said when she got into the car after school.

"Of course, you do. You're friends with Stiles."

Anna giggled. "I mean, really weird. Him and Scott have been acting weirder than normal."

"Oh?"

"Scott was avoiding everyone today. I think Stiles is mad at him over something."

I knew exactly what Stiles was mad about. He thought Scott should have been able to keep his dad from getting hurt the night of the conferences. Stilinski had refused to ride in the ambulance. I had visited him the next day to see how he was feeling. Sore and bruised had been his answer. I was glad it wasn't serious. But what was serious was the look Chris had given me and Scott looked like he just wanted to crawl under a rock and live there. That really wouldn't have been a bad idea.

"Then later on I saw Stiles throwing lacrosse balls at Scott."

"Practice?"

"No free period. Then I heart Scott got his butt kicked by some seniors."

I shook my head. What the hell were those two doing now?

~~~

"Hey, Peter," I said, walking through the door. "How are you today?" He didn't answer, of course. "Look who I brought." Anna followed me into the room.

"Hi, Peter!" Anna then started chatting about her day.

"Trish? Can I talk to you?" Jennifer asked.

"Sure." We stepped out of the room. "What's up?"

"Anna's been spending a lot of time here. She comes more than you do."

"Really?"

"She talks to him like she would one of her friends. I'm concerned about her."

"Why do you say that?"

"What if he never comes out of it? I don't want her to get her hopes up too high."

"Anna knows that he may never come out of his catatonic state. But she does hope that her interaction will help break through to him."

"I hope so too," Jennifer paused. "Have you seen Derek? He hasn't been visiting much lately. Last time I saw him, he'd snuck in here after visiting hours with a teenager." That had to have been the night Derek had almost died. The night he showed Peter to Scott.

"He's had a lot on his mind lately," I said. "Next time I see him, I'll remind him to come visit his uncle."

~~~

Lydia came to the hospital to pick Anna up. The two were studying together, Lydia promising to help her get her math grade up. Lydia also managed to convince me to allow Anna to spend the night. Allison was still grounded for skipping school with Scott. I had stopped by the bathroom before I left myself. As I approached Peter's room, I could hear Derek's voice.

"I need your help," he said. I stopped and listened. "If you can hear me, I need you to give me a sign. Blink. Raise a finger. Anything. Just... Just something to point me in the right direction, okay?" There was a long pause. I knew I shouldn't be eavesdropping on Derek, but there was just something about his voice. "Someone killed Laura. Your niece." I could hear the pain in Derek's voice. I knew he'd been holding back the grief of losing his older sister. The two had been very close and he loved her with all his heart. Derek had been the only boy, and the middle child, but he would kill to protect his sisters. The same way I'd kill to protect Anna. "Laura?" Derek paused again and I suspected that Derek was trying to push down his emotions. "Whoever he is, he's an Alpha now. But he's one without a pack. Which means he's not as strong. I can take him." I wanted to slap Derek hearing him say that. It was true that anger made a werewolf stronger, but this Alpha had been strong enough to kill Laura. "But I have to find him first." Which meant Derek was going to try to do this on his own, true lone-wolf style. Which made me realize, with Laura dead and Peter in a type of werewolf coma, Derek was an Omega. He was a lone wolf. He wasn't going to be as strong as he had been in the past. "Look, if you know something, just give me a sign. Is it one of us? Someone else make it out of the fire? Just give me anything." Derek sounded desperate now. "Blink, raise a finger, just anything." I bit my lip, my heart breaking at the desperation in his voice. "Say something!"