25: Tickets

In the Sheriff's office, Sky sits with Stiles and his father to eat the food Stiles had brought.  The Sheriff unwraps his burger as Sky opens her box of nuggets, pausing and looking up when the Sheriff makes an odd noise as he looks from the burger to his son.

He narrows his eyes accusingly at Stiles, "Oh, what the hell is this?" he asks.

Stiles shrugs innocently, "Veggie burger," he answers. Sky covers her mouth to hide her chuckle.

The Sheriff frowns, "Stiles, I asked for a hamburger."

Sky watches the two, happily popping a nugget into her mouth before spluttering and spitting it out as soon as she bites into it. She turns to glare at Stiles, "What the hell are these?!"

He narrows his eyes back at her, smirking, "Veggie nuggets," he tells her. "Veggie is healthier. We're being healthy."

Sky points a warning finger at him, but says nothing.

The Sheriff sighs, muttering, "Oh, hell, why are you trying to ruin my life?"

Stiles rolls his eyes, "I'm trying to extend your life, okay? Could you just eat it, please?" he pauses then adds. "And tell me what you found."

The Sheriff looks between the two teens that were staring back at him eagerly, "No, I'm not sharing confidential police work with teenagers," he tells them.

Sky casually leans back in her chair as she points behind him, "Is that it on the board behind you?" she wonders.

Stilinski wags a stern finger at them, "Don't look at that," he warns. Stiles leans to look and his dad notices. "Avert your eyes!"

Stiles nods, still looking, "Okay."

The Sheriff looks between the two teens, "Hey!"

Stiles glances back to him, "Just -- it's just --" he hesitates. "I see arrows pointing at pictures."

Sheriff sighs in defeat, "Okay, okay, stop. Fine. I found something," he tells them. "Mechanic and the couple who were murdered. They all had something in common."

"All three?" Stiles wonders.

The Sheriff nods, "Yeah," he confirms. "You know what I always say. One's an incident. Two's coincidence --"

"Three's a pattern," Stiles and Sky chime together, grinning at each other for their shared interest.

"The mechanic, the husband, the wife --" Stilinski continues. "All the same age. All 24."

Stiles pauses, "Wait, what about Mr Lahey?" he asks. "I mean, Isaac's dad isn't anywhere near 24."

The Sheriff makes a noise of agreement before pushing a file towards them, "Which made me think that either "a," Lahey's murder wasn't connected or "b," the ages were a coincidence until I found this, which would be "c." Did you know that Isaac Lahey had an older brother named Camden?"

Sky leans forward to read the file, "Died in combat?" She reads aloud.

The Sheriff looks at them, "But if he were alive today, take one guess as to how old he'd be."

"Twenty-four," answers Stiles.

The three of them take a further look through the files before Stiles focuses on a picture of the Mechanic wearing a Beacon Hills jersey.

"Now what if same age means same class?" he wonders.

Sky hums and looks at the Sheriff, "Did you think of that?" she asks.

The man rubs his forehead, "Yeah, yeah. Well," he pauses. "I would've. I mean, I -- look, I just got Lahey's file two hours ago," he admits.

Stiles's eyes widen, "Two hours? Dad, people could be dying."

Sky kicks his leg, "I think he's aware of that."

They move to gather yearbooks, Stiles and Sky looking at them together, bouncing ideas of each other whilst the Sheriff looks over transcripts. Eventually, they come to a stop on one page as they spot the familiar faces of the victims.

"Same class," Sky whispers to Stiles.

Stiles nods and moves to show his father, "Okay, this is it," he tells him. "Class of 2006. They all went to Beacon Hills."

"Including Isaac's brother." Sky adds.

Stiles points to her, "Yeah, so what if they all knew each other, you know? I mean, two of them were married, so maybe they all just hung out."

Sky looks back at him, frowning in thought, "Well, they could have had the same classes together. They could've -- " she pauses as a thought hits her, looking at the sheriff who had been watching them, him seeming to catch on.

Stiles looks between them, confused, "What?"

"Same teacher," answers the Sheriff.

Stiles blinks, "Harris," he says. "They were all in his class?"

His father nods, "All four," he confirms. "And I don't know how Mr Lahey fits in, but this -- kid, this is definitely a pattern. All right, give me the 2006 yearbook. These names, we need faces."

"Alright, which ones?" asks Sky.

"Everyone in that chemistry class. If the killer's not done killing --" The Sheriff trails off.

"One of them's next," finishes Stiles.

The Sheriff goes straight for his phone.

***

Scott opens the door to the animal clinic to let his sister in, not expecting the person with her, "Ariel?" he wonders.

Ariel smiles sheepishly at him, "Sky picked me up on the way here. Hope that's okay."

Scott smiles at her, "No, no. It's fine," he assures. "I just thought you were with Allison."

Ariel shifts awkwardly whilst Sky scowls in annoyance, saying, "Yeah, well, your hunter girlfriend went to go and look at dead bodies with her dad and ditched Ariel."

Scott swallowed, "Oh," he glances at Ariel. "You okay?"

Ariel gives him a nod before they look back towards the door as another knock sounds from it.

Scott moves to open it, letting the final visitor in, but frowns as Issac comes in after Derek.

Sky glares as soon as she sees the boy, "What is he doing here?" she asks.

Derek gives her a blank look, "I need him."

Scott and Sky move to stand next to each other, slightly in front of Ariel, "We don't trust him."

Isaac huffs, "Yeah, well, he doesn't trust you either," he retorts.

Derek rolls his eyes, "You know what? And Derek really doesn't care," he tells them. "Now where's the vet? Is he gonna help us or not?"

Deaton walks into the room, "That depends. Your friend, Jackson. Are we planning to kill him or save him?" he asks.

"Kill him," deadpans Sky and Derek at the same time Ariel and Scott say. "Save him."

Scott glares at them, "Save him," he repeats.

Sky goes to glare back before catching her girlfriend's look and pauses, sighing and looking at Deaton, grumbling, "Save him."

They walk to the examination room and Deaton moves to a draw, unlocking it to show dozens of jars of herbs, grains and petals with symbols on them.

Isaac goes to touch them but Derek grabs his wrist, shaking his head, "Watch what you touch," he warns.

Deaton takes a specific jar out, peering at the contents while they watch, "So, what are you?" asks Isaac. "Some kind of witch?"

Deaton barely spares him a glance, "No, I'm a veterinarian."

Sky snorts and Deaton goes to put the jar back, "Unfortunately, I don't see anything here that's going to be an effective defence against a paralytic toxin," he tells them.

Sky sighs, "Yeah, well, we're open to suggestions."

"What about an effective offense?" asks Issac.

"Even better," nods Sky.

Derek shakes his head, "We already tried. I nearly took its head off. And Argent emptied an entire clip into it. The thing just gets back up."

Deaton hums, "Has it shown any weaknesses?" he asks.

Derek nods, "Well, one -- it can't swim."

"Does that go for Jackson as well?"

"No," answers Scott. "He's the captain of the swim team."

Deaton thinks for a moment, "Essentially, you're trying to catch two people. A puppet and a puppeteer. One killed the husband, but the other had to take care of the wife. Do we know why?" he wonders.

Scott shakes his head, "I don't think Jackson could do it. His mother died pregnant too, and she was maybe murdered. I think he couldn't let the same thing happen to someone else."

Isaac looks between them, "How do you know it's not part of the rules? The Kanima kills murderers. If Jackson kills the wife, then the baby dies too."

Ariel frowns at him, "Does that mean your father was a murderer?" she asks.

Isaac shrugs, "Wouldn't surprise me if he was."

"Hold on," says Deaton. "The book says they're bonded, right? What if the fear of water isn't coming from Jackson, but from the person controlling him? What if something that affects the Kanima also affects its master?"

"Meaning what?" asks Isaac.

Scott perks up, "Meaning we can catch them," he realises. "Both of them."

"Or kill them," Sky mumbles under her breath. "Just kidding," she quickly adds, glancing at Ariel, who just rolls her eyes.

"What am I going to do with you?" Ariel mutters. Sky shrugs with a smirk.

Seeing the discussion coming to an end, Sky leans closer to Ariel, "Can we leave now?" she whispers.

Ariel sighs in fond exasperation but nods. She says a quick and polite goodbye to the werewolves who could obviously hear and thanks Deaton for all his help before dragging her own werewolf out towards her car, knowing they would be staying together tonight.

***

The next morning, the girls get picked up by Scott and Stiles to go to school, the boys not being able to help but tease them as Ariel walked toward them in Sky's lacrosse hoodie. But while the Martin girl had blushed and rolled her eyes in embarrassment, Sky had just smirked and took it all in her stride as she wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's shoulders.

It wasn't until they pulled up in the parking lot that Scott focused on the situation at hand, "There's got to be some other way to get tickets, right?" he asks Stiles, referring to the upcoming rave.

Stiles looks at him sceptically as they all climb out of his jeep, "It's a secret show," he tells him. "There's only one way, and it's a secret."

Matt spots them, jogging towards them and Ariel instinctively grabs Sky's hand as she tenses, noticing him coming towards them. She frowns, confused at her own reaction, avoiding Sky's confused glance as Matt approaches them and starts talking, "Hey. Any of you guys know why no one's getting suspended after what happened the other day at school?" he asks.

Stiles sighs in annoyance, "Just forget about it. Nobody got hurt."

Matt frowns at him, "I -- I had a concussion."

Sky rolls her eyes, saying, "And that's not seriously hurt, is it? Nobody died."

Matt narrows his eyes at her, "I was in the E.R. for six hours," he deadpans.

Stiles frowns in frustration, "Hey, do you want to know the truth, Matt?" he asks. "Your little bump on the head is about this high on our list of problems right now." he moves his hand down to demonstrate as low as he could.

Scott almost rolls his eyes at the insensitivity of his sister and best friend, "Are you okay?" he decides to ask Matt.

Matt looks to him and nods, "Yeah, I'm fine now. So you didn't get any tickets last night either?" he asks, having overheard them.

Sky blinks, "Well, actually --"

"Are they still selling?" Scott asks, interrupting.

Matt shakes his head, "Uh, no," he answers. "But I managed to find two online. You should keep trying. Sounds like everyone's gonna be there," he tells them before walking away.

"I don't like him," Sky states.

Stiles nods, "Me neither."

Ariel turns to Scott, "Are you sure about this?" she asks.

Scott nods, saying, "Last time, whoever's controlling Jackson had to kill somebody because he didn't finish the job, so what do you think he's going to do this time?"

"Be there to make sure it happens." she realises.

***

"Can anybody tell me where the hell Jackson is and why he missed morning practice?" Coach shouts at the players after practice.

Stiles leans towards Scott, "I thought I told you to keep an eye on him," he whispers.

"I can't watch him day and night," replies Scott, the two turning to glare at Sky, who was next to them.

"What?" she glares back. "I have better things to be doing."

Stiles scoffs, "Like your girlfriend," he mutters. He didn't mean anything to offend Ariel, as he liked the girl, but he wouldn't tell Sky that.

Sky scowls at him and moves towards him, but Scott grabs her shoulder.

"Stilinski! Jackson?" shouts Coach.

Stiles looks back to the Coach, saying, "Sorry, Coach, I haven't seen him since the last time I saw him."

Coach pauses, face scrunching up in confusion, "Oh, and when was that?"

Stiles purses his lips, "Last time I saw him was definitely the time I saw him last," he answers.

Coach looks at Stiles with a frown, "Stilinski, I really don't like you," he tells him. He turns around. "Danny, tell Jackson no missing practice this close to the championships, okay?"

Danny nods, "Sure, Coach."

Coach points at the rest of the team, "That goes for all of you. I should be coaching college."

Sky sighs as she sees her brother and Stiles move over to Danny, trying to quietly persuade him to give them his tickets.

"Sorry, but I only got two myself," says Danny.

Stiles waves his hands in frustration, "What - do you even have a date, yet?" he asks.

Danny shifts awkwardly, "I'm working on it," he mumbles.

Stiles pauses, "Okay, okay. Hear me out," he reasons. "You give us the tickets, and you devote your life to abstinence and just -- "

Rolling her eyes, Sky steps towards Stiles and smacks the back of his head, "Shut up," she deadpans, turning to Danny and smiling. "See you at the rave Danny," she says, giving him a sorry look as he smiles back at her before he walks away.

Sky looks back to see Scott and Stiles staring at her, "What?" she asks.

Scott gives her a confused look, "You have tickets?"

Sky's eyes widen in realisation as she starts laughing, "Oh yeah," she answers. "For Ariel and I. Got the last ones off that dealer kid in my biology class," She keeps chuckling at their defeated faces.

Isaac walks up behind them, "How do you two losers even survive?" he wonders, looking between Scott and Stiles.

Scott sighs, "What are we supposed to do?"

Isaac rolls his shoulders, "Wait here, boys."

They watch after him as he walks up to a couple of other guys on their team, "What is he gonna -- ?" Scott trails off, gaping as Isaac starts to beat them up for their tickets.

Stiles winces, "Ow. Oh, my -- yup. That's excessive. That'll bruise. "

Scott watches with wide eyes, "Wow, okay."

Isaac walks back up to them, a smug look on his face as he hands them two tickets, "Enjoy the show," he says.

Sky watches him walk away with a grin, "Oh, man. I think I'm starting to like the guy."