Love's Spiral

Derek and Spencer woke up too early the next morning. Spencer decided that she should go to school. Not that she wanted to, but she had to. She didn’t want to hear what Stiles had to say to her. However, she had to talk to her best friends about what she had found out in the book.

Derek watched Spencer as she did her hair, making it into long red waves. He didn’t know where she had come from. It was like she had popped out of a box shipped directly to him, for him.

“I can feel you staring at me, you know?” Spencer called from her bathroom. She stepped into the doorway with her hair still wrapped around the curling iron. “It’s that creepy feelings you get when you feel like someone is watching you.” She smiled at Derek, who looked like he almost blushed.

Derek looked away from her. “You sure about going to school today?” he asked her.

Spencer nodded, turning around to face the mirror and unwrap her hair. “I’ve got to. I can’t miss too many days. I’ve already skipped out two days, this week alone. I hate missing school. I miss too much.” Spencer came out of her bathroom, finger-combing through her hair. “You’ll take me to school, right?”

Derek nodded to her. “I’ve got to stop by my house first.”

Spencer laughed. “What? Did you leave your oven on or something?” she asked jokingly. “Is your oven still even standing?”

Derek shrugged his shoulders. “I get take-out.”

Spencer smiled and shook her head at him. She crossed the room and stood in front of him, putting her arms around his neck. “Let me cook for you sometime. Can’t be tonight though. I have to go to Scott’s game tonight.”

Derek shook his head. “You don’t need to cook for me.”

“I want to. I actually sort of like cooking. And I don’t have to do all the work. You can help me.” She smiled to him. “If you want to.”

“Alright.” Derek agreed. “But this game,” he started, “I’m not sure that you should go.”

Spencer furrowed her brow. “Why?” She asked, stepping away from him.

“I can’t stop Scott from playing. If something goes wrong, if anything gets him angry, things could get pretty ugly.”

“I have to go. He’s my best friend and I’ve got to support him.” Spencer paused, thinking. “You can come, too! That way if something does go wrong, we can stop him.” She went to pick up her book bag. “Besides, I trust Scott. I know he won’t hurt me, even if he can’t control it.”

“Why do you trust us so much?” Derek asked, standing up from Spencer’s bed.

Spencer shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe it has something to do with my family. Like part of me already knew what you guys are and what you can do. That’s why I might’ve taken it so well. I already knew what was out there. I can’t explain it, but, it’s just like our lives: really weird.”

Derek nodded in response, agreeing.

“Alright, let’s go.” Spencer smiled. She walked out of her room and house, locking the door behind her. She noticed that she didn’t see Derek’s car. “Where did you park your car?”

Derek smirked, and went to lift the garage door. “I picked the lock.”

“I should’ve known you’d do something like this.” Spencer said. She climbed into Derek’s car and he drove to his house.

Derek was driving fast, as always. Spencer smiled, enjoying the silence between them. It got a little bumpy when they were driving through the woods, so Derek slowed down a bit. He pulled up to the house and opened his door.

Spencer opened her door to go with him, but he stopped her.

“Just stay here.” He said, sternly. “I’ll be right back.”

Spencer looked away, a little disappointed, but nodded.

Derek quickly walked around the house, checking to see if anything was different. He disappeared into the house.

Spencer pulled out her phone. She wanted to see if she could text the same way she could call. She thought about a text that she wanted to send to Scott and her phone lit up showing that the text was sending. She smiled to herself.

“Hey, what’s going on?” The text to Scott said. She waited a minute before her phone chimed with a text message.

“Nothing. Just taking a walk on the reserve.” He responded

“No way. I’m here. Waiting for Derek.”

“Crap. Pence, I’m sorry.”

Spencer had to read the message a second time to make sure she had read it right.

“Sorry for what?”

There was no response from Scott.

A minute later, Spencer heard the faint sound of sirens. She stepped out of the car and they began to get louders. She looked off through the trees and saw the glow of the sirens headed her way.

“Shit.” she said out loud. “Derek.” she whispered, trying to get his attention. Her phone buzzed in her hand with a text message from Derek.

“Hide.” She looked back up to the window to see him just standing there. He wasn’t running or anything. Her phone buzzed again. “Now.”

Spencer straightened up her face and nodded back to him. She ran to hide behind a few trees. An ambulance pulled up followed by Sheriff Stilinski’s patrol car and another police car.

“Aw, man.” she said to herself as the sheriff and another officer push themselves into the Hale House armed and ready to shoot. She looked to her right and noticed Scott standing at Stiles’ Jeep. She narrowed her eyes and marched over to him. He noticed her and was about to run away, but Spencer yelled at him. “Scott McCall! Don’t you dare run away from me.” she said, forcefully.

Scott stayed where he was and sighed, defeated. “Hey, Pence.”

“What they hell are you doing out here?” Spencer demanded.

“Uh, I told you. Just taking a walk.” He leaned against the Jeep.

Spencer looked at him in disbelief. “Oh, yeah? Just taking the Jeep out for a walk?” Spencer asked as Scott stood up straight looking back at the Jeep.

“Holy - ” Scott faked. “When did that get there?”

“Nice try, Scott. Where is he?”

Scott looked around Spencer to see the house.

Spencer turned when he did. The two saw a cop coming out of the house with Derek in handcuffs. Spencer’s heart broke. She turned back to Scott. “What did you do?”

Scott didn’t know how to answer her question.

“Scott, tell me right now! Why are they arresting Derek?”

Scott sighed. “We found the other half of the body. Here. On his property. It’s proof that he killed the girl.”

Spencer’s eyes went wide. “No.” Spencer whispered. “Scott, he didn’t kill her.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Maybe I don’t have proof! But I know he didn’t kill her. I can’t explain it, but I know he didn’t.”

Scott looked passed Spencer again. “No.” He whispered.

Spencer quickly whipped herself around to see Stiles heading towards his father’s patrol car that Derek was sitting in the back of. Spencer groaned. She watched as Stiles got in the front passenger seat. “Let me guess.” She said to Scott. “This was his idea?”

Scott didn’t respond. He just gave Spencer a look and she knew the answer.

Spencer pursed her lips and turned. She jogged to the patrol car, grabbed Stiles and pulled him out of the door. She pushed him against the car. “Why did you do that?!” she screamed at Stiles. “You just had to go digging. Literally.”

“He could hurt you, Spencer! I’m doing this for you!” Stiles shouted at her.

“He didn’t do it, asshole!” She argued, pulling her fist back and slamming it back into his face. She pulled away, her fist hurting a little bit. A second after, Sheriff Stilinski’s hand was around her arm, and another officer had grabbed a hold of Stiles. Spencer fought against the Sheriff.

“Alright, you two. That’s enough.” The sheriff told them, but that didn’t stop Spencer from continuing to try to get out of his grasp. Spencer wanted to hit him again. “I said, enough!” The sheriff shouted.

Spencer took in a deep breath, full of rage, but stopped fighting. “He did this just to get back at me!” Spencer shouted, blaming Stiles.

“Dad, come on. I wouldn’t do this on purpose. We just came across it.” Stiles answered.

“Right with shovels and everything!? You don’t come across a buried, dead body, Stiles!”

“Now, hold on a minute.” The sheriff calmed.

Spencer sighed.

The Sheriff continued. “Alright, now how did you come across this?”

Stiles let out a breath. “We were looking for Scott’s inhaler.”

“Which he dropped when?”

“The other night.”

Spencer laughed. “You mean, the other night, when we were out here looking for the first half of the body?”

“Yes.”

“You mean,” Sheriff started. “that night that you told me you two were alone and Scott was at home?”

“Yes.” Stiles answered. Then he realized. “No!” But it was too late. “Oh, crap.”

“So, you liked to me.” The sheriff didn’t ask. He already knew the answer.

Spencer was grinning. He couldn’t weasel his way out of this one.

“That depends on how you define lying.” Stiles explained to his father.

“Well, I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?”

“Reclining your body in a horizontal position?” Stiles said, warily.

Sheriff shook his head at his son. “Get the hell out of here.”

“Absolutely.” Stiles said. As soon as the other deputy let him go, Stiles booked it back to his Jeep.

“Wait for Spencer!” The sheriff called to his son. Spencer and the Sheriff could hear Stiles groan from where they were. “Do you mind explaining what this is about?”

“Derek didn’t do it. He - ”

“Do you have proof?”

Spencer stumbled for her next words. “N-no, but I’m sure that he didn’t do it.”

The sheriff sighed. “Spencer, I have to take him in. All the evidence is pointing right at him.” He looked to the back to see Derek staring just straight forward in the car. “Does your mother know that you’re hanging around a man four years older than you?”

Spencer straightened herself up. “Of course, she does. That doesn’t matter though. Papa Stiles. Please.” Spencer begged. “He didn’t do it.”

The sheriff shook his head. “Spencer. I can’t.”

Spencer hung her head, then looked to Derek. “Can I get just five minutes with him? You can stand right there if you want. Listen in. I’ll sit in the front.” Spencer asked.

The sheriff debated in his mind.

“All I want to do is talk to him. Check on him.”

The sheriff sighed and went to open the passenger side door. “Five minutes.” He said.

“Thank you.” Spencer said, sitting down into the seat.

“Spencer - ” Derek started, but Spencer interrupted him.

“Don’t say anything. I was reading my book a little bit last night, while you were asleep. I found something. Lean forward. Put your forehead on the grate.”

“Wh - ”

“Will you trust me?” Spencer said between her teeth. Derek leaned forward until his head reached the cold metal. “Now I’m going to touch you. When I ask a question, don’t say anything. Just think it and I’ll know your answer. They can’t use anything against you that they didn’t hear.”

“Will it work?” Derek questioned, unsure about the whole thing.

“If I’m a you-know-what, I have no doubt that it will. Plus, this will actually confirm what I am.” Spencer nodded her head to pump herself up. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Derek thought.

Spencer jumped back slightly, having just heard Derek’s voice in her own head. “Crap, okay.” She said. “It works.” She took a deep breath. “Did you kill the girl?”

“No.”

Spencer sighed in relief. “I knew it. Okay, do you know who did?”

“Not who, but what.”

“Is he…” she started, looking up at the Sheriff, who was talking with one of his coworkers, “...like you?”

“Yes.” Derek thought.

“Do you know who the girl is?”

“Yes.”

“Will you tell me?”

“No.”

“Telling me could help you.”

“I just can’t. You have to trust me.”

Spencer nodded. “I do trust you. And we’ll get you out of there. I promise. There has to be some sort of loophole. I won’t being kissing you through bars for long.” Spencer laughed. She looked back at the Sheriff, who was headed their way. She climbed out of the car.

“Time’s up, Spencer.” The Sheriff said.

“I know.” She hugged the sheriff. “Thank you.” She pulled away. “I just hope that you can do everything possible to prove his innocence. I know that he didn’t do it.”

The sheriff nodded. “We’ll see. Now, you guys have to get to school.”

Spencer agreed. She walked to Derek’s car to get her backpack out of it. She jogged over to Stiles’ Jeep. She opened the trunk and sat in it with her back against the passenger side seat that Scott was sitting in.

“Thanks for the punch, Spence.” Stiles said, cheekily, checking his face in his rearview mirror and.

“Thanks for throwing an innocent man in jail, Stiles.” Spencer said, with anger clearly written in her voice.

“What makes you think that he’s innocent?”

“I just know, okay.”

“Alright. Can the two of you stop fighting for a minute?” Scott asked, over his friends voices. Spencer turned her head to glare at Stiles, who turned his head back forward to start driving. “I can’t find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial.”

“Just keep looking.” Stiles told his friend. Spencer sat in the back and took her family book out of her backpack. She vaguely remembered reading something about wolfsbane in it last night. “Maybe it’s like a ritual or something, like maybe they bury you a wolf. Or maybe it’s like a special skill, you know? Something you have to learn.”

“I’ve got it.” Spencer said aloud, turning around to face the boys. Scott looked back at her seeing her with an old brown book sitting in her lap.

“Where did you get that?”

“It’s a family heirloom.” She said, sarcastically. “Now, do you wanna hear what it says or not?” The boys didn’t respond. The boys waited for her to continue. “Very well then. ‘Tradition says that upon burial, Wolfsbane is used to protect the supernatural version of the werewolf. When buried around a wolf, in the shape of the family’s symbol, it keeps the wolf in its unnatural form. However, if the werewolf is still alive when in the presence of Wolfsbane, it will force them to change.’ When you first found that half, was it wolf or human?”

“It was wolf.” Stiles answered. “Then I found the plant and pulled on it. There was a rope attached to it and it spiraled around her grave. When we looked back, it was human.”

“Alright, that makes sense, then. You disturbed the wolfsbane. You took it out of its shape that was keeping the girl in wolf form. We have to find out who she is… I mean, was.” Spencer said, rubbing her forehead, which hurt. She was confused, though because she thought that since she had figured things out, her pain would go away.

“Great.” Scott said. “I’ll put it on my to-do list, right underneath figuring out how the hell I’m playing this game tonight.” Spencer flipped another page in her book.

She talked out loud to herself. “Maybe it’s different for girl werewolves.” She sniffed, smelling something different than she had a second ago.

“Okay! Stop it!” Scott shouted.

“Stop what?” Stiles questioned.

“Stop saying ‘werewolves’! Stop enjoying this so much.”

“We’re not enjoying this, Scott.” Spencer reasoned. “We’re trying to help you figure this out. Are you okay?” She asked.

“No!” He answered. “No, I’m not. I’m so far from being okay.”

“You know, you’re gonna have to accept this, sooner or later.” Stiles told him honestly.

Scott’s hands banged on the roof of the car. “I can’t!”

“Well you’re gonna have to!”

“No! I can’t breathe!” Scott screamed, banging the car again.

“Whoa!” Stiles shouted, swerving on the road.

“Pull over!” Scott demanded.

“Scott, just calm down.” Spencer soothed. Spencer reached over, seeing Stiles’ backpack sitting next to her in the back. She opened it and saw the blue flower along with all the rope. She brought her face closer to it, realizing it was the strange smell that she had encountered. “Stiles, you kept it!?”

“What was I supposed to do with it? I couldn’t just leave it there.”

“Stiles, it’s poisonous to him. It could kill him!” Spencer yelled.

“How was I supposed to know that?!” he yelled back in response.

“Stop the car!” Scott shouted, scaring both of his friends as his eyes glowed their werewolf gold color.

Stiles hit the brakes and grabbed his backpack. He threw himself out of the car and threw it deep into the forest.

As soon as Stiles got the backpack out of the car, Spencer felt her headache weaken. She was able to get back to herself and she watched as Scott did the same only he just kept running through the trees.

“Scott!” Spencer called after him, getting out of the Jeep. She looked around but couldn’t see him. He had gone too far into the forest.

Stiles came back, joining Spencer on the other side of his Jeep, looking for Scott. “He run off?” Stiles asked.

Spencer looked at him as if he were stupid. “Of course he ran off, Stiles!” She yelled at him. “Wolfsbane forces him to change. Did you not listen to what I was reading at all?”

Stiles looked away from her. He was hurt by her, still, from what happened with Derek and their break-up. “I, uh. I couldn’t focus on what you were saying.” He said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

Spencer sighed. “I’m sorry, too.” She paused. “For everything.”

Stiles nodded. “Are we gonna talk about it now?”

Spencer shook her head. “I can’t.”

Stiles sighed this time. “Can you at least tell me about the book?”

Spencer thought for a second. She had planned on telling him anyway, but she was hoping to do it with him and Scott together. She nodded. “Let’s get in the car though. We can’t go to school today. We have to find Scott.”

Stiles nodded agreeing, as the two of them climbed in the Jeep.