[ t h i r t y t w o ]

t h i r t y  t w ou n d e r w a t e r

AMELIA AND STILES SAW AS THE PLAYER NUMBER NINE FLEW THROUGH THE AIR, LANDING ON HIS BACK AND MAKING THE WHOLE CROWD GROAN IN PAIN.

"He can do that!?" Amelia asked. She was seating on the bench next to Stiles as they both watch the number 42 of the other team make lacrosse even more violent. "I didn't know you could do that! I would have played lacrosse a while ago! Can you do that?"

"I'm no one to stop him," murmured Stiles, looking at the guy before fizzing in pain.

The guy looked like he was in his late 20s. He was built like a guy that lifts weights as a break, and Amelia reminded herself of the body of The Terminator, one of the movies she and Stiles watched in one of her date nights.

"Come on!" They heard Coach yell. "Is that even a teenager? I wanna see a birth certificate!"

Stiles had explained Amelia about the bestiary, even though she didn't think that was how it actually should be called, and he told them about the plan they had with Allison, which was indeed brilliant, if you think about it.

The Coach sat down next to Scott and Amelia, looking at the two madly.

"Who or what is that genetic experiment gone wrong?" Asked the Coach to Stiles as the guy exhaled a bit.

"Eddie Obomowitz, Coach," let him know Stiles while Amelia put on her beanie. It was so cold out there. "They call him 'The Abomination'."

"Oh, that's cute," said Coach sarcastically.

"That guy weights more than my car," whispered Amelia before taking a few seconds pause "... in muscle... how is that possible?"

"Understanding the nickname?" Asked her Stiles before continuing to look at the game.

Amelia turned around to look at Allison, who was putting on her grandpa's coat. The girl hit Stiles a few times on the shoulder, making him turn around too.

They both stood up from the bench and walked towards the bleachers holding hands. Amelia smoothly took the keys from Allison and she walked with her boyfriend towards the principal's office.

As they were running towards the building, they saw Lydia's car parked, making Amelia stop and stopping Stiles with her.

"We don't have time!"

"We have plenty of time!" Exclaimed the girl before dragging her boyfriend towards Lydia's window, noticing it was half opened. "Lydia what's wrong?" She hurried to ask while the girl tried to close up the window. She started knocking, insisting. "Are you okay? Lydia—"

"Just go away!"

"Maybe we should listen to her, I don't know—"

"Shut up, Stiles," she whispered to him before looking at Lydia again. "What's wrong?"

"Look, I don't need anyone seeing me cry!"

Amelia roll her eyes before speaking again.

"Oh, come on, Lydia," she said before sighing. "Look you shouldn't care if me or Stiles or anyone sees you cry, alright? I cry too!"

"You do?" Lydia and Stiles asked at the same time, making her roll her eyes.

"Yes, I cry. And let me tell you what, Lydia, it is okay. Crying is for strong people, not weak."

The girl rolled down her window before looking at her. Amelia simply gave her a tiny smile.

"You are going to think I'm crazy."

"Oh, Lydia," said Stiles, "if you trust me on anything, you can trust me on this. There's nothing that you can say to us that will make you sound crazy. Literally nothing."

If she only knew she was talking to a girl whose eyes sometimes turn purple and has powers.

The crowd starting cheering, and that made Stiles and Amelia remember what they were gonna do in the first place.

"Give me the keys," Amelia said to Stiles. "You stay with her."

"What!? Why don't you stay with her?"

"What if neither of you stays with me!?" Lydia asked them, making them look at her.

Amelia exhaled before looking at Lydia again, grabbing her hand and looking at her best friend.

"You are not crazy, Lydia," she whispered. "And don't be afraid to cry because... it's not a weakness. Sometimes is best to let go off all the things wrong through tears, and I'll promise you'll feel better later." Lydia nodded, removing the tears from her cheeks before smiling at her. "We'll be right back in five minutes."

And with that, the couple left running towards the principal's office.

• • •

"What am I even looking for!?" Yelled the girl towards Stiles as she looked through the drawers, while the guy checked on the shelves.

"A book, covered in leather, something that screams 'I keep information about all the supernatural creatures in existence'," he described her.

"I can't find anything like that!" She shouted before slamming the drawer close, looking up. "Text Allison!"

The guy in the Adidas track suit proceeded to take out his phone and start typing, but they were interrupted by Erica, standing on the door.

"Hey, Stiles, Amelia," was the thing Erica said.

"Ah for God's sake..." whispered Amelia.

• • •

Amelia let herself be dragged next to Stiles by Erica towards the pool. She knew that Derek was there, and she really wanted to have a chat with him.

With chat she meant stabbing her dagger in his thigh.

"Stiles," Derek called him when the Erica let them go, standing next to the Alpha.

"Derek," he said in return.

"Amelia," he greeted her, a little doubt in his voice.

"Jerk-off," she replied, making Stiles let out a giggle.

"What did you see at the mechanic's garage?"

Amelia looked around, trying to find a way to leave this conversation and kicking Erica and Derek's faces in the process, yet, Erica took her bag and tossed it away on the hallway, and if she reached for the dagger in her boot, the girl would jump on her.

So she decided to let Stiles carry the conversation.

"Uh..." her boyfriend started, "several alarming EPA violations that I'm seriously considering reporting."

Derek and Erica chuckled a bit before Derek stuck his claws in the basketball, making Stiles jump a bit.

"Holy God!" Stiles exclaimed as Derek tossed the ball in his direction.

"Let's try that again."

Amelia exhaled, looking over to Stiles. She didn't see it, and she was definitely not talking to Derek. Not after how she made him clear that she didn't want to see him anymore. And that also meant ignoring him.

"Alright, the thing was pretty slick-looking. Uhm... skin was dark. Kind of patterned. Uh... I think I actually saw scales. Is that enough?" Derek's eyes made clear that it wasn't. Stiles groaned and the girl took his hand. "Uhm, alright, fine. Eyes... Eyes are.. uhm... yellowish and slitted. Uhm... It has a lot of teeth. Oh, and it's got a tail, too."

Amelia noticed how Derek and Erica looked up and she did too, slowly turning around before looking towards the blue balcony, starting to hyperventilate.

"What?" Stiles asked to Derek and Erica. "Have you seen it?" He didn't notice that his girlfriend next to him was looking up too. "You have these looks in your faces like you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Stiles..." called him softly Amelia, making the guy turn around and watch as the thing hissed at them like a reptile.

The guy grabbed Amelia by the waist and dragged her away backwards, the four remaining eye contact with the creature.

Derek stood in front of Amelia and Stiles and roared to the thing as this one tossed Erica to the wall, leaving her unconscious.

The Alpha turned around to look at Stiles and Amelia.

"Amy run!"

Stiles grabbed the girl and started running, but she stopped her boyfriend, staring at Derek.

"Derek, your neck," she told him, watching how slowly the werewolf started to fall.

Stiles and Amelia hurried and grabbed him, each one placing one of the werewolf's arms around their shoulders and starting to run, carrying the bow paralyzed Alpha.

"Where is it? Can you see it?" Asked Derek and Amelia looked around. "Do you have your bow?"

"Your stupid beta tossed it away!"

"I can't see it," said Stiles. "Just hurry!"

"Call Scott!" Exclaimed the werewolf and Stiles started to look in his pockets for his phone.

As he was about to get his phone, he dropped it and kneeled down to pick it up, making both, Amelia and Derek, fall into the pool.

Derek's arm was still around her, making it impossible for her to get to the surface. She was trying to swim, by Derek didn't let her, and it wasn't even his fault, he couldn't feel his arms or legs.

Suddenly, she arms around her waist as they lifted her up towards the surface, allowing her to breathe.

"I'm fine," she said to her boyfriend. "Get Derek."

Stiles returned underwater and after a few seconds, him and Derek were above the water again, Derek breathing again.

"I'm sorry," the alpha apologized to the girl as she breathed in deeply.

"It's not your fault, you are paralyzed," she told him before looking around.

"For everything."

Amelia looked at Derek for a few seconds before returning to look for the reptile, taking the dagger off her boot.

"What are you planning on doing with that?" Asked her Stiles as he placed Derek's arm around his shoulders. "You can't get close to it without getting paralyzed."

"But I can throw it," she said as she approached her boyfriend. "Do you see it?"

"No," said Derek as he also looked around.

"Okay, maybe it took off."

But the hissing of the animal denied that assumption. Amelia took her wet her off her face, looking around for the animal.

"Maybe not," she whispered.

• • •

"Will you get me out of here before I drown?" Derek asked the two.

They'd been at the pool for around fifteen minutes now, looking around for the creature. Amelia was now helping Stiles hold on to Derek while she held to the dagger in her other hand, looking around for the creature.

"You're worried about drowning?" Snapped at him Stiles as he tried to keep balance. "Did you notice the thing out there with multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth?" Amelia looked around before closing her eyes.

"Did you notice that I'm paralyzed from the neck down in eight feet of water?" Derek snapped back, but Stiles was more focus on his girlfriend.

"Babe, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to hear it," she replied, "but I only can hear Derek and his stupid breathing so could you please... stop for a sec?"

She kept trying, but nothing. She couldn't hear him. It was like he moved silently. The only sound he made was the hissing.

"You want me to stop breathing?" The girl opened her eyes again. "Nothing?" Amelia shook her head before looking around.

"Okay. I don't see it," said the girl as Stiles panted.

They both started swimming towards the edge of the pool, where Stiles phone remained untouched. They both dragged Derek with them.

"Wait, wait, wait. Stop, stop," whispered Amelia, making Stiles stop swimming. "I can hear it."

"I can see it."

The three looked over the edge of the pool as they saw the animal walking with his arms and feet, hissing like a snake or any other reptile. The image of the creature made Amelia paralyzed, even though he didn't touch her.

That creature scared her.

"Amelia," Derek called her. "Mark its scent."

Really? There were a lot of other things to worry about instead of her recognizing the creature's scent in another opportunity.

"I can't. The chlorine of the pool is making it impossible," she whispered back.

"What's it waiting for?" Asked Stiles.

They saw as the reptile approached one of the edges of the pool. And Amelia watched as he tried to introduce his hand in the water, but it was like it burned him.

"Did you guys see that?" Amelia asked the other two. "I don't think it can swim."

"Amelia, throw the dagger at him," Derek told her and she shook her head.

"I only have one shot, I'm not wasting it."

• • •

"Okay," Stiles said, panting. "I don't think I can do this much longer."

He was referring to carrying Derek. The girl nodded before giving the dagger to her boyfriend, letting her take all of Derek's weight.

"Amelia," Stiles called her and she shook her head.

"Don't worry... I don't get tired that easy."

But she was getting tired, and she didn't know for how much longer she would have to hold on to Derek.

They had been in the pool for more than two hours, and the animal didn't look like it was going to leave soon.

Stiles looked over to his phone on the edge of the pool, towards his phone.

"Go," the girl told him. "I'll hold him."

They watched as Stiles swam towards the edge of the pool, leaving Amelia to hold Derek.

"Amy," Derek said to her as she tried to keep swimming, "why haven't you let me go?"

"What do you mean?" She asked the werewolf as she observed her boyfriend swam towards the edge, trying to keep on swimming.

"You asked me to leave you alone and I did up till now."

"It's been twenty-four hours since that, Derek, don't give yourself an award so quickly," she told him sarcastically.

"You could have killed me two hours ago... and you didn't. Why? I'm sure it's not about Stiles because you would do everything to save him, even if it is leaving me behind. So why?"

The girl saw as her boyfriend was returning, keeping his phone up so it won't touch the water. The girl squeezed her eyes shot for a few seconds before looking at Derek, sighing.

"Because I'm your protector, you doofus."

Stiles came back and dialed Scott's number in hurry.

"Scott!" He yelled, but not even two seconds later, he looked at the phone again. "He hung up on me."

Amelia raised her eyebrows. "Oh... I'm gonna kill him."

• • •

"I can't stay like this any longer," announced the girl. "I need something to hold on to."

"Over there," Stiles said, pointing at the platform from where the drivers jump.

Stiles had accidentally dropped his phone like fifteen minutes ago and Amelia's phone was on her bag. Her bag? Somewhere around the school.

Stiles helped her as they swam towards the edge. The girl tried to reach the metallic cylinder with all her strength when suddenly she felt her arm get sleep, letting Derek pull her and Stiles underwater.

Not even two seconds later, she felt an arm grabbing her jacket and tossing her with Stiles and Derek off the pool. She started to cough, hearing the sound of Scott roaring towards the reptile.

"Ames, Amy, Amy, baby," she heard Stiles called her and she sat down, laying her head on her boyfriend's chest. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she whispered to him. "I'm alright, I'm alright."

The couple and Derek watched as Scott grabbed one of the broken mirror's pieces and lifted it up to fight the reptile, only making the creature looked at its own reflection for a few seconds before climbing through the walls of the pool, leaving through the glass roof.

• • •

"Is that even a language?"

Amelia was able to recover her bag and she lent her computer to Scott. Turns out, the bestiary or whatever that thing is, was a pen drive in the keychain that Allison stole from her grandfather, not a book itself.

The three stared at the screen of Amelia's computer as Scott flipped through the pages, trying to read it.

"How are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?" Whispered Scott as he kept on flipping the digital pages.

Amelia's her was still wet and dripping, and Stiles was holding her close to his chest, hugging her so he can keep her warm.

"It's called the Kanima." The three turned around to look at Derek approach them with Erica. Amelia's wishes of her being unconscious for ever didn't come true.

"You knew the whole time?" Snapped Stiles. And yeah, Amelia was pissed too.

"No," corrected Derek. "Only when it was confused by its own reflection."

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

"Or who," added Derek as Amelia hugged herself, Stiles wrapping his arms around her from behind. Her boyfriend sighed before speaking.

"Well, what else do you know?"

"Just stories. Rumors," answered Derek before looking at Amelia. "It's the truth."

"But it's like us?" Questioned Scott, pointing at Erica, Derek and himself.

"A shape shifter, yes. But it's not right," he said, doubting. "It's like a..."

"An abomination," finished Amelia, recalling what Coach was saying.

About how that player of the opposite team was like a failed experiment, and how they called him like that.

She saw as Derek nodded, looking directly in her eyes.

Before him and his beta left, Scott called him, making the Alpha turn around.

"We need to work together on this," that surprises Amelia as she looked away. "Maybe even tell the Argents."

"You trust them!?" Snapped Derek, making Amelia look at him.

"Nobody trusts anyone," she said firmly.

"And that's the problem," added Scott, agreeing with his protector. "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!"

Derek stared at Scott for a few seconds before deciding to talk.

"I know one thing," he said. "When I find it, I'm gonna kill it."