10. Another Day, Another Fight

We all are living in a dreamLife ain't what it seemsEverything's a messDream ~ Imagine Dragons

In this house on a hillThe dead are living still, their intention is to kill and they will, they willHouse on a Hill ~ The Pretty Reckless

Note: Just a fair warning, this chapter isn't my best work. I had a really tough time writing this based on the episode. I just wasn't sure where I wanted things to go and how to get Cody into the main action of the episode. Sorry if this chapter is a little bit short or disappointing. Also, as I rewatch these episodes I kind of notice that they tend to end abruptly, so my chapters kind of do to...

Grief does terrible things to people. This is all Cody could think as she sat silently on Allison's bed. She'd wrapped a blanket around herself, but nothing seemed to block out the chill that crept deep into her bones.

She and Allison hadn't spoken in the time they had been there. Cody had wandered into Allison's room in the afternoon, not wanting to be alone. It was now late in the evening and the two had barely spoken a word to each other. There wasn't much to say. Their mother was dead.

There was a knock on the door, but neither Allison or Cody got up to answer. The door opened and Gerard walked in.

"I don't want to talk," said Allison, refusing to look up and meet his eyes.

Gerard's voice was quiet. "I'm not sure there's anything that I can say."

"Then why are you here?" snapped Cody, her eyes narrowing in anger.

"I won't pretend to know what you're going through." Gerard sounded strained, like he was trying too hard to remain this calm and soft spoken.

"Then leave," Allison demanded.

Gerard nodded. "Of course," he said. "I'm just here to give you something from your mother." He was only looking at Allison, as if whatever it was wasn't for Cody. "It can wait though."

"Wait," Allison said softly. "What is it?"

Gerard shook his head again. "Really, it can wait. You two rest."

"What is it?" asked Cody, her voice more forceful than Allison's.

"Well, as you tow know, your mother wrote a suicide note," he said. "To explain away the situation to the police. She wrote this to explain it to the both of you." He held out an envelope with their mother's curling cursive handwriting. "If I give this to you, have to destroy it once you've read it. Burn it. Promise?"

"Yes," the girls said together.

"Your mother asked me to read it," said Gerard. "She wanted my thoughts. As I said, I don't know what you're going through. I wasn't close to my mother. But if these words had been written by mother for me, I don't know how I could go on until someone paid for her death. Any pity I'd had for Derek and his pack would be burned away by fury, by a fiery desire for revenge. For justice. Blood and destruction that would have those wolves howling. But not for mercy. For the sweet relief of death."

Allison had tears dripping down her face, but Cody couldn't bring herself to cry. There was burning anxiety in her stomach that she couldn't understand. Her head was spinning. Gerard handed the letter to Allison, who ripped it open as soon as he had left.

***Cody stared at the piece of paper in her hand. The edges sizzled as she set it on fire, curling in on itself as the edges turned black. The flames wrapped around the pages in her palm, but she didn't feel the heat. Her mind was spinning from everything she had just read. She was angry and scared, but she was also confused. She'd never felt so conflicted. She was torn between the grief of losing her mother and the fear of how Allison and her father would retaliate. She didn't want the other wolves to die. It was over. There didn't need to be more bloodshed.

"I can't do this," said Allison. She was sitting by the window, staring out at the moon's reflection. "You have to go."

"What are you talking about?" asked Cody.

"Just get out," demanded Allison.

"Ally, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that you're suffocating me," Allison yelled. "I said get out!"

Cody could hear Allison throwing things in her room. From the sounds of banging and Allison's crying Cody could tell her sister was destroying her room. Cody paced back and forth across her room, mind spinning. After a moment, she stopped dead in her tracks. She rushed into her closet and to the loose floor board. She pried it up and grabbed the spellbook she had hidden inside. She rifled through its pages, looking at the symbols and old Latin words in it. She rushed to her desk and pulled her notebook out, scribbling down the intricate designs. She continued her writing as if possessed, scratching her pen over the walls of her room.

She didn't know how long she had been writing until the walls were completely covered. She could see how everything fit together in her mind, how the symbols and words made more sense then she ever thought they could. This was her language, something primal that she knew deep inside of her. It all made sense to her now, as if she could finally understand herself.

***Cody's mind was buzzing as she examined the symbols she had scrawled all over her walls. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she looked at it to find a text from Scott.

Sheriff's station. HELP

Cody furrowed here eyebrows in worry. She didn't want to be part of this fight anymore. All she wanted was for this war between hunters and wolves and kanimas to end so she could go back to stressing about two wolves in particular.

She chewed at her lip worriedly for a moment, unsure. If she didn't go help, some of her best friends could get hurt or even die. If she did go, her family would see this as a clear choice to stand against them, which would just make their crusade against the wolves more gruesome. Letting out a deep, huffing breath, Cody made her decision. Allison, Gerard, and Chris were all in the basement, no doubt planning their ambush on the pack. It was now or never. Quietly, Cody made her way out of the house and to her car, driving down the road at an unreasonable speed.

She hurried into the sheriff's station and followed the noise back to Sheriff Stilinski's office. She opened the door just in time to see Derek fall to the floor from a slice of Jackson's nails. Matt leaned over Derek to look at him.

"This is the one controlling him?" asked Derek from his paralyzed state on the floor. "This kid?"

Cody made her way up behind Scott and Stiles quietly and gave their arms a squeeze to let them know she was there. They both looked very relieved to see her. Cody was about to step forward when Matt spoke again, not looking away from Derek.

"About time you showed up, Cody," he said. He turned around now to look at her, standing in between Scott and Stiles. "I mean, these three idiots have a problem and you come running, like clockwork."

Cody moved to raise her hand but Matt shook his head. She could feel Jackson, in his half kanima form, next to her, his nails ready and dripping with venom.

"I wouldn't do that," said Matt. He turned back to Derek, obviously not done with his speech. "You know, Derek, not everyone is lucky enough to be a big bad werewolf." Matt turned back to look at the other three, a gleeful look on his face. "Oh, that's right. I've learned a few things. Hunters, werewolves, kanimas, witches. It's like a damn Halloween party every full moon. Except for you, Stiles. What do you turn into?"

Stiles sneered. "Abominable snowman. It's more of a winter time thing. You know, seasonal." Cody would have laughed if this wasn't a life or death situation.

Apparently, Matt didn't like that comment because he looked to Jackson, who sliced across the back of Stiles' neck quickly. Stiles fell and Cody turned to Jackson quickly, her hands raised, but Jackson already had Scott in his grasp.

"Ah, ah, ah," said Matt. "Do you really want to find out the answer to the question; what's faster, your magic, or Jackson's venom?"

Cody lowered her hand reluctantly. She couldn't lose Scott in this fight. She was strong, but not strong enough to take on Matt and Jackson by herself.

There was a grumble from the floor and then Derek's muffled voice could be heard.

"Get him off of me." Stiles had fallen right on top of Derek's chest and was unable to move.

Matt laughed. "I don't know. I think you guys make a pretty good pair." He let out a dramatic sigh. "It must suck though, Derek. Having all that power taken away from you. Becoming so helpless so quickly."

"Oh, yeah?" snapped Derek. "I still got teeth. Come down here a little more, see how helpless I am."

"Yeah, bitch," was Stiles muffled reply.

Cody figured that this was her only chance, while Matt was distracted. She reached out and closed her hand as if she were closing it around Matt's throat and he began to choke. She wasn't fast enough. One of Jackson's claws reached out and barely scraped along her cheek. She pulled back in time for the cut to be tiny, but the damage was done.

It was a strange sensation, not completely paralyzing, but she felt weak. The worst though, was the feeling heaviness her body took on, as if she could feel the magic leaving her body. She raised her hand again to try and throw Jackson across the room, but nothing happened. She slumped against the wall next to Stiles and Derek.

Matt smiled. "Interesting," he said.

The sound of a car pulling up outside halted the conversation.

"Is that her?" asked Matt. He turned to Scott and Cody. "Do what I want, and I won't hurt her."

"Don't trust him!" Stiles yelled from the ground.

Matt's face contorted into an anger Cody had never seen before. He yanked Stiles off of Derek and threw him back down on the ground. He stepped on Stiles' chest hard and Stiles began to choke.

"Stop it!" Cody protested.

"Then do what I tell you!"

"Okay," Scott and Cody agreed. Matt reluctantly took his foot off of Stiles chest, as if he would have much rather suffocated him.

"You," Matt commanded, gesturing towards Jackson. "Take them in there."

"Don't try anything," Matt warned.

It was quiet for several minutes as they waited, until a gunshot rang out.

"Scott!" Cody shouted. There was no response and she was left to wait several more excruciating minutes until Matt hauled Scott back in to the room. Scott had blood all over his shirt and Cody could tell that he was the one who had been shot.

"I want the book," Matt demanded.

Scott looked at him questioning. "What?"

"The beastiary!" Matt shouted. "Not just a few pages. I want the entire thing." Matt took a deep breath as if he was thinking, the turned to Cody. "Or you," he said, pointing a finger at her. "If I don't get the beastiary, I want your magic."

"For what?" Cody asked, exasperatedly. "We don't even have the beastiary. It's Gerard's. What do you want with it? Or me?"

Matt was shaking his head. "I need answers," he said. "A cure."

"Answers to what? A cure for what?" asked Scott.

Matt turned back towards them with a look of fury in his eyes. "This," he said. He reached down and grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked it up, exposing his stomach. On his right side, where skin should have been, were gray, patchy scales, just like the kanima's.

Cody took a shaking breath. "Why do you guys think that magic is the answer to every problem? This is way out of my league, dude," said Matt.

He glared at her, a malicious look in his eyes. "Well, you better hope I get the book then."

***

"Hey." Stiles' whispering voice caught Cody's attention. "Do you know what's wrong with Matt?"

"No, the book isn't going to help him," Derek said out of the corner of his mouth. "You can't just bend the rules like that. Not without consequences."

"The universe balances things out," said Cody.

Derek's eyes moved to look at her. "Exactly," he said.

"Because he's using Jackson to kill innocent people?" asked Stiles.

"And killing people himself," said Derek.

It all started to make sense in Cody's mind now. "Matt broke the rules of the kanima," she said. "Now he becomes the kanima. That's balance."

Stiles' eyes darted from Cody to Derek. "Will he believe that if we tell him?"

Cody gave a shake of her head that they couldn't see. "Not likely."

"He's going to kill us all when he gets that book, isn't he?" asked Stiles.

"Yep," Cody and Derek answered together.

"Okay, so what do we do?" asked Stiles. "We can't just sit here and wait to die."

"Unless I can figure out a way to push the toxin out of my body faster," said Derek. "Activate the healing." Cody looked down to see that Derek had his werewolf claws dug into his thigh.

After a few more minutes Stiles asked, "So, is that hypothetical situation getting any less hypothetical?"

"I think so," Derek answered. "I can move my toes."

Stiles sighed and his face pinched up into an annoyed look. "Dude, I can move my toes."

"We have to do something," said Cody. Her fingertips were tingling, like pins and needles and she could tell that slowly but surely, her magic was coming back to her. "Who knows how long it'll take for you guys to recover. We can't just-" The rest of her sentence was cut off by the flicker of the lights and the alarm bell. Then, bullets were ripping through the windows and shattering glass down on them.

Scott came barreling into the room and Derek yelled for him to help Stiles. Cody grabbed on to Derek's biceps and helped haul him to his feet. Derek's eyes started to glow red.

"Get out of here," he commanded.

Cody refused to let go of his arm. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Don't do anything stupid!"

Derek smiled at her with those long canines. "Funny, coming from you."

Cody gave his arm another hard yank. "Let's just get out of here," she said.

Derek shook his head. "We need to finish this."

Cody gave a huff of indignation. "Fine," she snapped. "But I'm really pissed off about it!"

She followed Derek down the halls. He threw the door to the holding cells open and gave a ferocious roar. In one bound her reached Jackson, who was in full kanima form now. The two fought. Jackson knocked Derek into the desk and turned around to hiss at Cody.

With a sharp movement of her hand, Jackson's leg contorted to a strange angle and he shrieked in pain. She didn't have her power completely back yet, but she was still able to fight. Scott's mom, who was in one of the cells, was screaming as she watched the sight before her unfold. Jackson pounced and tackled Cody to the ground. His scaly face was inches from hers, but before she could do anything about it, Scott had sent him across the room. Jackson turned and ran, realizing that he couldn't take on two werewolves and a witch.

"Derek!" she shouted.

She scrambled to her feet as Derek rushed after the kanima. Scott was now facing his mother, who was seeing him in his wolf form for the first time ever. Cody ran out of the room, racing through the halls to get out of the sheriff's station. Once she got back into the dark night, she was alone.