Chapter 3
Harry had turned on the three-way Skype call when Scott connected.
Stiles pretended to shoot him as the other boy sat down at his desk.
Scott asked. "What did you find out?"
Stiles winced as he answered. "Bad news, Jackson dislocated his shoulder."
Scott moaned. "My fault"
Harry shook his head. "Because he's an idiot."
"Will he be able to play?" Scott asked.
Stiles shook his head. "No one knows yet. Now, everyone is counting on you, for Saturday."
Scott sighed, lowering his head.
Suddenly, Stiles stopped staring at Scott's screen and Harry did the same.
Scott asked. "What?"
Stiles looked at it before typing.
"There seems to be someone behind you."
Harry saw Scott blink, probably enlarge his image, and then the boy's video faded out.
Stiles looked at Harry.
"What do you think it was?"
"Not what. Who. I think Derek really wants something from Scott. And I think he's trying to talk him out of playing."
"And you think he shouldn't play?"
"I think he should do it instead. It's not fair for him to be left out of the fun parts."
Stiles nodded in agreement. "You will help him, won't you?"
"Yes, of course. We both will."
***
Harry was getting some books out of the closet, waiting for Scott to come out of the classroom to confront him about Derek’s subject, when Stiles grabbed his shoulders and carried him to the foot of the stairs.
"Come here!"
"What's up?"
"Tell me what they're saying."
Harry was concentrating to hear them, when Stiles slapped him on the shoulder. "Can you hear them?"
"Shh."
Then he listened again.
The sheriff was saying, probably to the principal.
"And all children under 18 must be home by 9.30pm. We would like to institute a curfew with immediate effect."
Harry stopped listening, turning to see Stiles and Scott waiting.
"They institute a curfew for the body found."
Stiles patted Harry, moaning. "Amazing! My dad struggles to find a rabid animal, while the asshole who killed her goes around doing whatever he wants."
Harry flinched at the reminder that his brother was a serial killer.
"You can't tell your father exactly who Derek is." Scott pointed out and Stiles pursed his lips. "But I can do something."
"Which is?"
Stiles looked at them like it was obvious, which to him it probably was. "Find the other half of the body."
"Are you joking?" Scott asked, sighing as Stiles walked away.
Harry patted his friend. "Let him. If anyone can fix this, it's Stiles. He's a genius."
Scott smiled, nodding.
Then he turned to see Lydia introduce Allison to a player on the team.
"She's trying to blackmail me into playing."
Harry sighed. "You're going to play that game, Scott. Derek doesn't have to stop you."
"I'm dangerous."
"We just have to find something that makes you calm. But for the match, if we don't find what calms you down, I'll give you some magical aid. And we'll provide an excuse for you when it gets too much."
Scott smiled at Harry before walking up to Allison.
Knowing that each of them was busy, Harry sighed, before heading on to his next lesson.
***
Scott had cycled all the way to the abandoned Hale house, the threat to Allison strong as motivation to race.
"Derek!" He yelled when he got there.
Then he started looking around, looking for the boy.
He saw something strange behind the house, but when he turned around Derek was on the front porch of the house.
"Stay away from her! She doesn't know anything!"
Derek started walking, approaching Scott.
"Really? What if she knew?"
When he got in front of him, he continued.
"Think your friend Stiles just Googled 'werewolves' to get all the answers? You still don't get it, Scott, but I worry about you. Think about what could happen. You're in the game, aggression takes hold of you and transforms you in front of everyone."
Derek picked up the lacrosse bat from Scott's backpack, which the boy had dropped when Scott arrived.
"Your mom, your friends. And once they see you, the world will collapse around you."
Derek, with his claws, destroyed the bat.
Scott growled. "How did you protect Harry?"
Derek frowned. "I don't think Harry has the same problem with controlling himself."
"But you didn't even recognize him! How can you be so…. mean?"
Derek blinked, before throwing his bat high, which Scott caught.
When the boy looked down again, Derek was gone.
"Run all you want. You're just a bad brother to Harry! Damn, he deserves better! A better brother than you can be!"
Scott left, not knowing that Derek had remained hidden and had listened to the sentence of the boy.
****
Scott was typing something on his computer when Stiles and Harry came through the door.
"What did you find? Where did you find it? How did you find it?"
Stiles exclaimed breathlessly before adding. "Yes, I took a lot of Adderall."
Scott, looking sad at Harry for a moment, said. "I found something at the Hale house."
Stiles, right away, asked. "What?"
"He buried something there. I could smell the blood."
Stiles cheered. "This is great!"
At Harry and Scott's gaze, he corrected himself. "I mean, it's terrible."
"Whose blood?" Harry asked and Scott stood up. "I don't know. But when we find out, your father can nail Derek on a murder charge. And then you two can help me play lacrosse without turning."
Scott finished setting up the bat, saying. "Because there's no way I'm not playing this game."
***
After taking Scott to sniff the hospital half of the corpse, and witnessing Stiles being brutally ignored and destroyed by Lydia Martin, the trio made their way to the Hale home, Harry's heart breaking apart with every step he took.
He was going to help convict his older brother of murder.
Covertly, they watched Derek get into a car and drive away.
As soon as he left the house and was no longer within earshot, the trio stepped out of the shadows and headed to the place where the smell of blood was particularly strong.
Harry wrinkled his nose at it.
He was frankly surprised by how much it sucked.
As they dug, Scott looked up. "We're taking too long."
Harry, shaking his head, said. "Keep digging."
"And if he comes back?"
"Let's run away." Stiles replied.
"And if he catches us?" asked Scott back and Stiles shrugged. "I have a plan for that."
"That would be?”
"We run off in three different directions and the one he takes... the worse for him."
"I don't like that plan!" Scott exclaimed and Harry nodded. "And you're the slowest here, Stiles."
Stiles thrust the shovel in again, which hit something.
"Stop, stop."
After untying all the knots Derek had put on a sack to keep the body closed, all three jumped back.
"What the hell!"
"It is a wolf!" exclaimed Scott and Stiles looked at him. "I thought you said you smelled human blood."
"I told you it was different, somehow."
Stiles, panting. "Help me cover it."
Harry stopped, catching the attention of the other two.
"What do you have?"
"See that flower? It's wolfsbane."
Scott looked at them confused. "What?"
Stiles shook his head. "You are so unprepared for this."
Harry stood up and walked over to the flower, both friends' attention fixed on him.
He picked it up and started to remove the rope that went around the burial place of the body.
When he finished, Scott said. "Harry."
Moving closer, Harry gasped as he saw that the front of the wolf had become the upper part of a female human body.
****
The next morning, Harry and Scott were standing next to Stiles' Jeep, seeing two officers escort Derek to the squad car, two officers leaning over studying the front end they found.
Derek stared at the two, before letting the police lock him in the car.
Scott let out a sigh of relief, with Harry shaking his hand in support.
Then he sighed. "Tell me Stiles doesn't want to go in with Derek."
Scott looked up and saw their friend walking through the woods to the police car, before looking around, giving his friends the thumbs up and getting into the front seat of the car.
The two looked at each other, before turning their gaze to the car and the agents present.
"It won't end well." Harry mumbled and Scott nodded.
***
Stiles turns to look at Derek.
"Then, just for the record, I'm not afraid of you."
Derek just looked up and Stiles swallowed.
"Okay, maybe I am. But it doesn't matter. I just want to know one thing. The woman you killed, she was a werewolf. But she was a different kind of wolf, right? She could turn into a real wolf, which I know Scott can't do it. Is that why you killed her?"
Derek finally spoke. "Why are you so worried about me when your friend is the problem? What do you think they'll do when he turns on the game, huh? Will they still cheer him on? I can't talk him out of playing, but you can. And trust me… you should do."
Stiles told him, walking closer. "Why are you defending Scott like that, but you don't care about Harry? Are you really that bad as a brother?"
Derek looked confused, but before he could say anything more, the front door opened and the Sheriff dragged Stiles out.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch."
"Here, standing. What do you think you're doing?"
"I just wanted to help?" Stiles spread his arms and his father sighed and said. "Yes, well, how about you help me understand what you were doing around here?"
"We were looking for Scott's inhaler."
"When he lose it?"
"The other night."
"When were you looking for the other half of the body?"
"Yes!"
"When did you tell me that Scott stayed home and it was just you and Harry?"
"Yes!"
Then Stiles groaned, realizing he made a mistake.
"So you lied to me."
"That depends on how you define 'lying'"
"I define it as "not telling the truth". How do you define it?"
"Uh.. reclining your body… in a horizontal position?"
"Get out of here."
"Sure."
****
As they rode home in the jeep, Scott was searching his phone. "There's nothing about the wolfsbane about burials."
"Keep searching." Stiles told him, before speculating. "Maybe it's like a ritual. They bury you like a wolf. Or maybe it's a special ability, something you have yet to learn."
Stiles looked at Harry who shook his head.
"I think it's something else. Remus told me my mom…she could do it."
Scott gasped. "How?"
"They found out her name. Dad just texted me. Her name was Laura Hale."
"Your sister?"
"The other major one. The wolfsbane was coiled. It's a symbol of revenge. Derek didn't kill her. Derek buried her and wanted to find the real culprit."
Suddenly, Harry and Scott felt sick.
"Wha... Stiles the wolfsbane! Throw it away!"
Stiles grabbed the rope and threw it away, but Scott had already escaped.
"And now?"
"I smell his trail. Let's go."
Head out the window, Harry directed Stiles, until he reached Allison's house.
There, they saw Scott calm down as soon as he saw her.
"We have his anchor." Harry mumbled to Stiles, who sighed in relief. "She must be present at the game, then."
Harry strained to listening. "She'll be there."
Stiles smiled.
***
The next day, Scott watched the two. "I want to play."
"You can do it. If it feels like it gets too much, fake a panic attack and run away. Just focus on Allison, in that case."
Scott looked confused at Harry who said. "I saw it yesterday. She's your anchor. Think of her, and you'll be alright."
Scott smiled, nodding.
They both wished him good luck before heading to the stands to watch the game.
***
When Scott ran into the locker room, Harry and Stiles ran after him, both saying loudly so that Allison's father could hear them.
"It must have been the adrenaline!"
"Poor Scott, he's still having panic attacks!"
Harry knew that he had heard them and that perhaps he no longer doubted Scott as a werewolf.
Arriving at the locker room, however, they saw Allison and Scott busy kissing each other.
"I was right about her being his anchor." Harry whispered and Stiles nodded.
When Allison left, Scott joined them, a blissful smile on his face.
"I kissed her."
"Definitely seen." Harry nodded.
"She kissed me!"
"Saw that too." Stiles replied. "Not bad, huh?"
Scott shook his head. "I don't know how, but I managed to control myself. To hold him back."
"It's called having an anchor. Allison keeps you anchored to your human side. Think of her every time you're in a crisis and you'll be fine." Harry said and Scott nodded.
Stiles patted him on the shoulder, saying. "Come on, let’s go. I'm sure by now everyone thinks you're prone to panic attacks, but at least they don't think you're a wolf."
Scott stared at them. "What have you done?"
Both raised their hands in surrender. "We panicked!"
Stiles then said. "Dad had both halves of the body examined. They confirmed his identity, as Harry already told us. And.. the cause of death is an animal. Derek is human."
"Did they let him out?" Scott asked.
Stiles nodded and Harry sighed. "We can always put him away for the next murder he does."
The three exchanged a look, pitying each other.