21: Testing

Gerard Argent knew about them.

How Sky knew this -- her brother came home from picking up their mom from the hospital with a brand new hole in his shirt from where Gerard had stabbed him as he whispered out warnings against him.

Does Sky currently hate the Argents? Definitely.

She sits down in her seat behind Scott and Stiles in Econ, blinking when Jackson practically storms into the room and sits next to Sky, giving her a strange look when she smiles at him.

He shakes his head and leans forward towards Scott and Stiles, "Hey testicle left and right," he calls quietly. "What the hell is a Kanima?" he asks, making them freeze.

Coach claps and starts the class, "All right, listen up," he almost shouts. "A quick warning before we begin our review. Some of you, like McCall, might want to start their own study groups because tomorrow's midterm is so profoundly difficult -- I'm not even too sure I could pass it. Okay, I need a volunteer at the board to answer the first question. Who's got it, huh? Come on, let's go, buddy."

Jackson leans forward again, "Paralysed from the neck down. Do you have any idea what that feels like?" he hisses.

Stiles sends him an unimpressed look, "I'm familiar with the sensation," he deadpans.

"Wait -- why would Derek test you?" asks Scott. "Why would he think that it's you?"

Jackson rolls his eyes, "How should I know?"

Sky frowns at him suspiciously, "What have you done?" she asks.

He ignores her as Stiles turns around to look at him, "Wait, do they think it's Lydia?

Jackson shrugs, "I don't know," he answers. "All I heard was her name and something about chemistry."

Coach looks over to them and scowls, "Jackson!" he calls. "Do you have something you want to share with the rest of the class?"

Jackson jumps in his seat, stumbling over his words, "Um -- just an undying admiration for my coach."

Coach smiles, saying, "That's really kind of you," his smile drops. "Now shut up! Shut it! Anybody else?"

"How do we know it's not her?" Scott asks quietly once Coach's attention is elsewhere.

Stiles shakes his head at the idea, answering, "Because I looked into the eyes of that thing, okay? And what I saw was pure evil. And when I look into Lydia's eyes, I only see 50% evil. All right, maybe 60. You know, but no more than 40 on a good day."

Scott's face turns sceptical, "Stiles, that's not a very good argument," he tells him.

Stiles sighs, "I'm aware of that," he says. "But I swear it's not her. It can't be, all right? Lydia's fine."

"How about this," starts Sky, gaining their attention. "It doesn't make sense that Lydia would turn into a murderous lizard. I mean, do you guys even know her? What she's really like?" she pauses to look between them, carrying on when she's met with silence. "'cause I've been getting to know her when I'm at Ariel's sometimes and, while she is a bitch, she's not a bad person."

A terrifying shout catches their attention and they look up to see Lydia at the front of the class, crying hysterically after writing something unreadable on the board. Sky shoots out of her seat, scowling at people trying to make comments as she grabs Lydia by the shoulders and leads her out.

Scott furrows his eyebrows at the writing she left on the board, "What is that, Greek?" he asks Stiles.

Stiles shakes his head, "No, actually, it's English," he replies, lifting his phone to show him the image he had taken and flipped, the writing showing 'PLEASE HELP ME'.

***

"Einstein once said, 'Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; And I'm not sure about the universe," says Mr Harris. "I myself have encountered infinite stupidity. So to combat the plague of ignorance in my class, you're going to combine efforts through a round of group experiments. Let's see if two heads are indeed better than one. Or in Mr Stilinski's case, less than one. Erica, you take the first station. You'll start with. . ." he trails off.

Almost everyone raises their hands, "I didn't ask for volunteers. Put your hormonal little hands down. Start with Mr McCall. All right, next two."

Lydia glances at Ariel, who was seated next to her and narrows her eyes, "What's up with you today?" she asks.

Ariel blinks out of her quiet daydream and looks at her sister, "What do you mean?"

Lydia stares for a second, pursing her lips, "You're, like, glowing," she tells her.

Ariel clears her throat awkwardly, "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are," Lydia continues to narrow her eyes at her before looking back to where Sky was sitting. Sky, who had been listening, looks up from her desk and smirks at her.

Lydia gasps quietly, looking back to her sister in excitement, "Oh, my god."

Ariel's eyes widen, "What?"

"You sneaky little --" Lydia cuts herself off with a shake of her head as she grins, "I know what you did last night with --"

"Lyds!"

There was another gasp, "Wasn't mom home last night too?"

"Lydia!" Ariel hisses in embarrassment, before quietly adding. "And no, she wasn't."

Lydia snorts, "Oh, my god," she mutters. "I've never seen you so red."

"Shut up."

"Switch," calls out Mr Harris.

Ariel jumps up quickly, but Lydia catches her arm, "Details later," she tells her with a wink.

Ariel shakes her head, moving to the next station.

After multiple switches, threats and almost catfights, the experiment finally gets to the point where they can eat the crystal they made.

Being sat next to Skylar at the final switch, she couldn't help but notice her worried expression, "What's wrong?" she whispers.

Sky looks at her, "They're going to test Lydia with the Kanima venom," she answers, both of them looking over to where she sat.

Scott jumps up from his seat just before she eats the crystal, "Lydia!" he shouts. All eyes turn to him and Sky watches him hesitate under all the stares, cringing in second-hand embarrassment.

Lydia looks back at him, "What?"

Scott moves back, "Erm, nothing," he says, sitting back down awkwardly. Lydia shrugs, giving him a strange look as she puts the crystal in her mouth.

Nothing happens.

***

"Derek's outside waiting for Lydia."

Ariel looks to Scott in worry as they all huddle in the corridor after class, "Waiting to kill her?" she asks.

Scott nods, saying, "If he thinks she's the Kanima, then yes, especially after what happened at the pool."

Ariel shakes her head in disagreement, "It's not her," she insists.

"She didn't pass the test. Nothing happened."

Stiles also shakes his head, "No, it can't be her."

Allison sighs, "It doesn't matter, because Derek thinks it's her. So either we can convince him that he's wrong, or we've got to figure out a way to protect her," she tells them.

"Well, I really don't think he's gonna do anything here," says Scott. "Not at school."

"What about after school? What if we can prove that Derek's wrong?"

"By three o'clock?" asks Ariel.

"There could be something in the bestiary," suggests Allison.

Sky rolls her eyes, "Oh, you mean that nine hundred-page book written in archaic Latin -- a language none of us know?" she scoffs. "Good luck with that."

Allison pauses in thought, before saying, "Actually, I think I know someone who might be able to translate it."

"I can talk to Derek, maybe convince him to give us a chance to prove that it's not her," Scott says. He looks between them. "But if anything happens, you guys let me handle it, okay?"

Allison frowns, "What does that mean?" she asks.

"I just don't want you to get hurt," Scott tells her.

Sky clears her throat, making him look to her as she narrows her eyes, "Uh, excuse me? I can protect myself. And I will always protect Ariel," she tells him.

Scott frowns in frustration as they stare each other down, but eventually, he sighs and gives in.

Allison steps forward, "I can protect myself," she says, pausing when noticing his expression. "What? Did something else happen?"

Scott just shakes his head, saying, "I just don't want you getting hurt," he tells her. "Seriously if anything goes wrong, you call me, okay? I don't care if your dad finds out. Call, text, scream, yell, whatever. I'll hear you and I'll find you as fast as I can. We have until three."

He moves to leave only for an arrow to come flying toward him. Sky lunges forward and catches it before it hits Scott in the face. He sends her a grateful look before they both turn and stare at the culprit in disbelief.

Stiles, who had been playing with Allison's crossbow, looks sheepish, "Ah. Sorry. Sorry. Sensitive trigger on that," he mumbles.

"Idiot," whispers Sky.

***

"Derek said sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are," says Sky as she and Ariel lay side by side in Sky's bed. They were waiting for the others to come with Lydia so they could protect her from Derek and his pack.

"That makes sense," replies Ariel as she stares at the ceiling. "But it also makes me sure it's not Lydia."

"She doesn't seem like a crazy lizard thing," mumbles Sky.

Ariel huffs a laugh, "Yeah," she glances over to the girl next to her. "Do you think we should tell your brother about me?" she asks.

Sky pauses in thought, "I don't know," she admits. "I don't want him to worry when we don't even know everything about what you are."

Ariel nods, "Deaton said the Clairvoyant part of it I'll have to learn over time, but the wolf part of me will essentially be the same," she tells her.

Sky bites her lip, saying, "So you'll still have the same instincts, reflexes and effects from the full moon."

"Yeah, so you'll have to watch out when you're trying to annoy the hell out of me or I'll actually claw your face off," Ariel jokes, trying to lighten the mood.

Sky rolls her eyes with a smile, "As if you actually would."

Ariel hums, "You never know, you can be pretty annoying."

Sky scoffs, "I am nothing but pleasant to be around," she denies.

Ariel snorts, "Sure."

The slam of the front door and the sound of the others entering the house forces them to turn their attention to the current task at hand -- protecting Lydia.

By the time they make their way downstairs, Jackson and Lydia had moved somewhere else in the house to talk.

Sky opens her mouth to say something to Stiles but stops when she hears the sounds of footsteps trying to quietly enter the house.

Issac steps into the room, moving to attack Stiles and Allison.

Sky steps between them and growls, protective instincts kicking in as she blocks Isaac from reaching the three behind her.  Allison takes this opportunity to sneak past and run up the stairs to make sure Lydia was okay.

Isaac hesitates slightly as he watches the girl growling dangerously at him, but then launches forward -- aiming to claw her face.

Sky's hand whips up as she catches Isaac's wrist, not even glancing at the claws centimetres away from her face as she glares at the boy in front of her. She squeezes his wrist, snapping the bone as he grunts in pain. She moves forward and holds him by his jacket, shoving him against the wall harshly.  She grabs him by the face and forces him to look at her as she speaks.

"You don't ever try to hurt my friends," she growls out, not giving him a chance to respond before shoving his head against the wall and knocking him out.

She steps back as Isaac's body crumples to the ground, calming down as she looks behind her to find Stiles and Ariel gaping at her in awe.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Stiles exclaims.

Ariel nods smiling, "Not bad, McCall," she says as Sky shrugs with a smile.

Minutes later, Scott arrives and together they throw Isaac and Erica, who Allison had paralysed with Kanima venom, out the front door to where Derek was waiting.

Scott and Sky stand side by side as they glare at Derek, who smirks at them, "I think I'm finally getting why you keep refusing me," he tells them. "You're not omega's, you're already Alpha's of your own pack. But you know you can't beat me."

Scott shakes his head, "We can hold you off till the cops get here."

Derek frowns as he looks in the direction of where police sirens could be heard in the distance, getting closer.

A reptilian roar startles them as they all look back to see the Kanima appear, leaping off the roof of their house and scurrying away from them.

Lydia comes running out the door not a second later, "What the hell is going on?!" she shouts in confusion as Ariel rushes to her side.

Scott and Sky look at each other in realisation, "It's Jackson," breathes Scott.

Sky frowns, "That snaky little bastard."