20: Abomination

Sky glances to where Scott was sitting in the passenger seat as she drives their mom's car. They were on the way to pick up Stiles from the garage where he was getting his Jeep fixed and she had refused to let her brother be behind the wheel this time.

"Are you healed yet?" she asks.

Scott nods, "Yeah, I'm good," he replies.

"Good, 'cause when we get home I'm going to punch you in the face for being an idiot."

Scott had been back to the ice rink after figuring out Boyd might be the next teenager to get bitten by Derek after Erica and Isaac, giving him three beta's to make him stronger. Sky was absolutely livid when she had gotten a phone call from Scott in the middle of talking to Deaton, learning he had tried to take on Derek and his current two beta's on his own and rushed out to go and pick him up. But not before promising Ariel that she would keep quiet about what was happening to her, even though she had a feeling Scott had heard bits and pieces with his advanced hearing.

Now, Stiles had witnessed an attack by the lizard creature that had first appeared on the full moon in Isaac's house, and now it has murdered the mechanic that was working on the Jeep whilst Stiles was stuck in the office, unable to move after touching an unusual liquid that paralysed him.

Sky pulls up outside the garage, waiting as Stiles jumps into the back seat, "You okay?" asks Scott, glancing back at him.

Stiles nods, "Yeah," he answers. "You were right. It's not like you. I mean, its eyes were almost like, reptilian. But there was something about them."

Scott furrows his brows, "What do you mean?"

"You know when you see, like, a friend in a Halloween mask, but all you can actually see are their eyes and you feel like you know 'em but you just can't figure out who it is?" asks Stiles.

"No, not really," Sky mutters.

"Are you saying you know who it is?" Scott asks.

Stiles shakes his head, "No, but I think it knew me."

***

The next morning, Ariel barges into Lydia's room with a confused frown, "Lyds? It's time to get up," she tells her.

Lydia groans, pulling the covers over her head, "Go away."

"Since when are you the one that's needing to be dragged out of bed in the morning?" questions Ariel. "It's usually the other way around."

Their mom comes to the doorway, "You're going to be late for your appointment with the school counsellor," she tells her. "Remember, we had a deal."

"I said I was fine," Lydia grumbles.

Ariel sighs and moves towards the bed, saying,  "Lyds, just come on-- " she yanks the covers off, but jumps at the sight of blood covering the bed. "Oh god."

Lydia sits up, shocked and confused as she takes in the sight of her bed, ignoring her mother's worrying. She looks down at her hands to see cuts on her knuckles and then across the room -- her bedroom mirror was now shattered.

Ariel places a hand on her shoulder and squeezes it gently, making her look back at her, "Come on, I'll help you get ready," she says quietly. Lydia nods, letting her pull her to the bathroom.

***

"I'm so sorry about the other day. I'm trying. We'll get through this. Uh, I know, because I love you. I love you more than -- " Stiles stops, shaking his head. "Oh, my God. I can't -- You and Allison just have to find a better way to communicate," he tells Scott.

Sky chuckles from her seat next to Scott, "I know you and Allison can't talk to each other, but you couldn't, like, send a pigeon or something?" she wonders. "I don't think Stiles has the stamina to run up the stairs, let alone back and forth from you two."

"Come on," Scott pleads to Stiles. "You're the only one that we can trust -- "

Sky coughs, "The only idiot that's willing, you mean."

Scott ignores the comment, "Is she coming to the game tonight?" he asks.

Stiles nods, "Yes!" he exclaims. "Okay, message complete. Now, tell me about your boss?"

"He thinks that Allison's family keeps some kind of, uh, records of all the things that they've hunted. Like a book," Scott explains.

Stiles nods at the information, "He probably means a bestiary," he says.

Scott's face turns confused, "What?"

"A bestiary," Stiles and Sky repeat together. They grin at each other.

Scott chuckles, "I think you mean bestiality."

"Oh, man," mutters Sky.

Stiles gives him a look, "Nope, pretty sure I don't. It's like an encyclopedia of mythical creatures," he tells him.

Scott sighs in frustration, "How am I the only one who doesn't know anything about this stuff?"

"I don't really know anything," Sky says.

"Okay, you're my best friends, you're creatures of the night, it's kind of like a priority of mine," Stiles tells him.

Scott nods, "Okay. If we can find it, and it can tell us what this thing is - "

"And who," Stiles adds.

Scott frowns, "We need that book."

***

Allison pulls a face, "I think you mean -- " she starts, only to be stopped as Ariel places her hand over her mouth, having a feeling she knew what her friend was about to say.

Stiles narrows his eyes incredulously, "No! I mean bestiary," he shakes his head. "And the two of you, I don't wanna know what's going on in your heads," he says.

"I think I know," mumbles Ariel.

Allison nudges her, looking to Stiles, "Okay, describe this thing?"

"Probably like a book, old and worn."

***

Stiles bends over with his hands on his knees, "Yes," he heaves. "Seen her grandfather --" he takes a deep breath. "With a book like that."

Sky quirks an eyebrow, "Do you need to sit down?"

***

"Where. Does. He keep it?" Stiles gasps out to Allison.

***

"She says. Has to be. Office," Stiles manages to get out, looking on the verge of passing out in the middle of the hallway. Sky wordlessly hands him the spare inhaler she has and he happily takes it.

Tired of seeing him struggling, she gets up and grabs his arm, dragging him along.

***

"You know, I'm pretty sure there are plenty of ways to communicate secretly without using Stiles as a messenger," says Sky as she crosses her arms, looking down at Allison.

Stiles nods, "Yeah, drug dealers have been using disposable cellphones successfully for years," he tells her.

Allison shakes her head, saying, "My parents check every call, email and text message I send. Trust me, they'd find it."

"Hey, maybe Ariel can give you tips on how to communicate wordlessly," Sky suggests, smirking as Ariel narrows her eyes at her. "Like now, here's a perfect example of her telling me I'm annoying her without saying a word. Luckily, to me, her glares are as effective as an angry kitten," she tells her. "It's just cute."

Ariel rolls her eyes, "I hate you."

"No, you don't."

"All right, can you get the book?" asks Stiles, ignoring them as Ariel pulls Sky down to sit with her.

Allison shakes her head, "Not without his keys," she answers.

***

"Come on!" Coach shouts as another one of the team get knocked down by the opposition. "Is that thing even a teenager? I wanna see a birth certificate! Who or what is that genetic experiment gone wrong?"

"Eddie Abramovitz, Coach," answers Stiles from his seat on the bench. "They call him The Abomination."

Coach rolls his eyes, "Oh, that's cute."

Jackson sits next to Scott, "McCall, what the hell are you waiting for?" he asks. "This is the semi-finals. Bring that 'roid - head into the ground."

Scott looks at him confused, "Me? You're the one who said that I was a cheater," he points out.

Jackson scoffs, looking at the field, "And that freak of nature being on the field is fair? Do something!"

Scott shakes his head, "I can't," he tells him. "Not while Allison's grandfather is here."

"I'll do it."

Jackson jumps as Sky appears behind them, ready in lacrosse gear.

"Sky, no!" hisses Scott, but she was already gone, throwing a smirk over her shoulder as she makes her way onto the field.

Scott rolls his eyes, "You're causing trouble," he speaks quietly, knowing she could hear.

She chuckles as she gets into position, "Don't I know it," she mumbles back.

***

"I knew I should have brought a warmer jacket," remarks Allison as she, Ariel and Gerard watch the game from the stands.

Gerard moves to take his coat off, "You're cold, here take my coat," he offers.

"Are you sure?" Allison checks.

Gerard nods with a smile, "Oh, yeah."

"Thanks," Allison replies, putting it on and casually slipping her hands into her pockets, feeling for the keys they needed.

"Good God, is it always this violent?" Gerard asks as another player gets knocked down violently -- this time by Sky.

They cringe as they hear the player shouting as he gets carried away, "I can't feel my legs! Ahh!"

Allison leans closer to Ariel, whispering, "Is Sky supposed to be doing that?"

Ariel smirks, shaking her head, "Probably not."

***

While Stiles had quietly grabbed the keys from Allison and left to get the book, Sky and Scott stayed back to play the game. They were the only ones not getting hurt by the other team so far.

Boyd had soon come onto the field when they became a man down, but he was getting carried away -- lacking in control.

Scott jogs up to him, speaking quietly, "Dude, you gotta get off the field. Your eyes. Someone's gonna see you."

Boyd ignores him and storms away into the field. Scott looks at Sky and they share a glance, knowing they were gonna have to keep the action away from him instead.

Working together, they get the ball,  passing it between each other until Scott was close enough to score.

"Get it to the McCall's!" hollers Coach. "Get it to the McCall's!"

Scott runs to get the ball again but doesn't see one of the other team's players start charging at him from behind, intending to knock him straight out. Sky moves quickly, shoving him forward as she takes the hit instead. A loud crack sounds out as she crashes to the ground with a grunt.

Ariel's eyes widen from the stands, "Sky!" she exclaims.

Melissa starts to run to the field from where she was watching, "Oh, my god!"

Scott crouches next to her first, helping her up, "You didn't have to do that," he mumbles.

Sky rolls her eyes at him, wincing in pain as she feels the bone in her leg is not in the right place, "I know," she tells him.

Allison runs to them, "It's not in his office, it's gotta be at the house," she looks down at Sky's leg and gasps. "Oh, my god your leg. Your leg is broken."

"No, shit."

"Not for long," Scott assures her, keeping one of Sky's arms around his shoulders to keep her steady.

Coach and the others run up to them, "No, don't move!" he shouts.

Sky looks to her mother as she calls her name, trying to smile through the pain as she feels herself heal, "It's okay. It's okay, I'm fine," she tells her.

Her Mom shakes her head, saying, "I could have sworn I literally heard a bone break from where I sat."

"Heard it?" Coach grimaces. "I felt it."

"Seriously, I'm fine," assures Sky.

Ariel steps forward from where she was watching Sky carefully, "I'll take her to get checked," she says, moving to take Sky's other arm as she pretends to help her walk to the school, only able to catch Gerard asking Scott to come over for dinner after the game before the door closes behind her.

"You're fine?" Ariel asks as they walk towards the locker room.

"I'm already healed."

"Good."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

***

Sky pulls back from Ariel's lips with an annoyed growl as her phone rings for the fourth time, looking at the purple eyes that belonged to the girl keeping her pressed against the lockers.

"Wow," Sky mutters, distracted as she stares at her, "So, this is your version of a health check, huh?"

Ariel blinks the glow of her eyes away, grinning, "Answer you're phone, McCall. It's Stiles."

Sky looks at her in confusion before pulling her phone out to see the caller I.D, "How did you know --" she stops herself and shakes her head, answering the phone. "Nevermind. What, Stiles?"

"What the hell have you been doing? I've been trying to get a hold of you!"

"Uh --" Sky mumbles, "I've been breaking limbs and -- kissing?" Ariel snorts.

"Well, stop doing that and get to the pool now!" Stiles rushes out before the line goes dead.

Sky frowns at the phone, "Rude."

After a few minutes, they make it to the pool. Sky frowns when she sees Stiles and Derek in the water together, "Stiles? What's going on?" she asks.

Stiles sighs in relief, "Oh, thank god! You guys gotta help me out here.  That thing paralysed Derek and we're trapped in here."

Sky looks around warily, "And where is said thing?"

She turns back to Stiles, only in time to see his eyes widen at something behind them. Ariel's grip on her hand becomes deathly tight and Sky turns just in time to catch her as the creature swipes her neck and Ariel loses the ability to move.

Arms holding Ariel, Sky gives out the most vicious growl she could muster -- it echoing throughout the school as her instincts to protect rise. She sees the creature hesitate slightly after her warning before rushing towards them.

Sky bares her sharp canines and lifts one of her arms to shield them as it lunges forward, but the force of it hitting them makes her foot slip and she topples into the pool.

Sky swims up quickly to keep Ariel above water and slowly makes her way towards Stiles, keeping an eye on the creature as she swims. She uses her other arm to help hold Derek up when she's close enough, ignoring his eyes on her.

It didn't take long to figure out that the creature wasn't coming in the water, just keeping them trapped, "We need to get out, you're not gonna last much longer, and I don't want you drowning on me," Sky tells Stiles, seeing him struggling.

Stiles nods, breathing heavily as he tries to stay afloat, "Okay, okay."

Sky looks to Ariel, "I'll try not to drop you."

Ariel glowers at her, "You better not."

They carefully make their way to the edge as soon as the creature dips out of sight for a moment. Stiles pulls himself out first, dragging Derek out with him, then helping Sky get Ariel out.

Sky almost lets out a breath of relief, only to turn to see the creature again. She flicks her claws out, ready to attack when Scott lunges at the creature as he arrives, knocking it away. He starts trying to fight it, but as the creature catches sight of itself in a reflection of a broken mirror, it quickly runs away.

Sky is carefully sitting Ariel against the wall until her legs get back to normal when someone speaks up.

"It's called a Kanima."

They all turn to look at Derek as he lifts himself to his feet. Stiles stares in disbelief, "You knew the whole time?" he asks.

"No," Derek shakes his head. "Only when it was confused by its own reflection."

"It doesn't know what it is," Scott realises.

Derek nods, "Or who," he adds.

Sky frowns at him as she tries to squeeze some of the water out of her clothes, "Do you know anything else?" she wonders.

Derek shrugs, "Just stories, rumours," he tells her.

"But it's like us?" asks Scott.

Derek nods, answering, "A shapeshifter, yes, but it's not right. It's like a -- "

"An abomination," finishes Stiles.

"Derek? We need to work together on this," Scott tells him. "Maybe even tell the Argents."

Derek shakes his head in disagreement, "You trust them?"

"Nobody trusts anyone!" exclaims Scott. "That's the problem. While we're here, arguing about who's on what side, there's something scarier, stronger and faster than any of us, and it's killing people and we still don't even know anything about it."

"I know one thing," Derek tells them, turning around to leave. "When I find it? I'm gonna kill it!"

***

"You can put me down, you know."

"I know."

Ariel watches Sky in fond amusement as she continues to carry her upstairs into her bedroom, placing her down on her bed when they get there.

Ariel lays back and stretches her legs out, groaning at the strange numb feeling still lingering.

Sky drops herself down next to Ariel, "My arms are killing me," she groans.

"I told you I wasn't paralysed anymore," Ariel tells her. "You could of let me walk."

Sky grins at her, saying, "I know."

Ariel shakes her head and moves closer, "You really look after me, trouble," she says.

"You say that like it's a surprise," mumbles Sky as she rolls her eyes. Ariel grins, pulling her in for a kiss.

A few minutes later, Sky finds herself pulling away slightly after the kiss deepens quickly and hands start to roam.

She exhales, "Wait," she murmurs. "Is what's happening what I think is happening?"

Ariel laughs quietly, nudging their noses together, "Only if what you're thinking will happen is the same as what I'm thinking will happen," she replies.

Sky blinks in momentary confusion, before nodding and leaning back in.