Chapter Four Be Discrete.
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     COLLEGE AND SAT testing had to be the absolute, last thing on Anna's mind. So when the testing day came, she had pulled an all nighter just to go over the basis of what could possibly be on it. Keeping her powers a secret was hard enough, but with the dead pool — which she refused to talk about with her brother — avoiding Scott, and trying to study her best, Anna felt like she was going crazy.

"Hey!" Stiles called out, making Anna roll her eyes as she sheepishly offered him back a wave. She began to walk faster, but she felt eyes burn into her back as she did. So, ignoring her better judgement, she stopped and joined him in line. "Hi, Stiles," She sighed, giving him a smile.

      "And everyone," She widened her eyes at the group. They exchanged their greetings, leaving room for one, "Where's Lydia?"

     "She's took it her freshman year," Stiles answered her, making Anna raise her eyebrows, how smart is she really? Malia groaned loudly, earning herself a dirty look from the other students around them, "Does that mean I could have taken it some other time?"

     "Malia, you studied harder for this than any of us," Scott smiled at her, hoping to cheer her up. "Doesn't mean I'm gonna do good."

     "Well."

       Malia's eyes darted to Stiles, as she waited for him to finish, "Well, what?"

      "It's do well, not good," Anna interrupted, shyly looking at the distraught girl. "Oh, God!" She scoffed.

     "Okay, okay, – um, I'm gonna go, and find a place in line. Good luck," Anna began to walk away awkwardly, gripping onto her pencils.

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"M, and – P!" Anna whispered to herself, finding her seat fairly close to the front. Her old school was big enough to have more O' names than N's and M's, so she was never really this far up. "Please do not open the test booklet until you are instructed to do so. This test is two hours and 10 minutes," The instructed began to speak. Anna placed down her extra pencils, leaving one in her hand a and the others next to her pink calculator. "There will be two 25-minute critical reading sections, two 25-minute math sections and an essay writing portion that will last 30 minutes."

     She looked down as Scott sat in-front of her, placing his booklet down. Oh for God's sake, she thought to herself. "Hey," he whispered, turning around to smile at her. She smiled back, "Hey."

      "Good luck!" Scott whispered, though it came out louder, earning himself a dirty look and a shush from Mrs. Martin. "There are supposed to be two teachers monitoring this exam," The instructor sighed, making Mrs. Martin nod. "I know. It's Coach. He's not exactly punctual," She paused, "Let me just try him again."

After a few minutes, Mrs. Martin came back frantically and the instructor sighed, "You may now open your test booklets and begin."

      Anna felt like the seconds that passed by were minutes, as she stared intently at the book in fromt of her. The PSAT she'd taken the year before was much easier, and this seemed like all new material – certainly much different from her supernatural boarding school. Ten minutes had gone by quicker than she thought, and halfway down her sheet was just her usual guess – all B's.

     "Sydney! Are you all right?" Mrs. Martin yelled, causing the class to turn. Anna's eyes met with the girl, fainted on the ground. Mrs. Martin leaned down, picking her up lightly. "I'm okay," She promised, "I just got kind of dizzy." She hid her arm back, but Mrs. Martin took it quickly as Sydney sat in her seat, "Sydney, how long have you had this?l

     "I don't know."

     "Ms. Martin, do I need to stop the test?" The instructor asked, making her shake her head nervously. "No, um, it's fine," She whispered, inching up to the front, "Everybody stay in your seats. I'll, um, be back in a minute. Nobody leaves the room."

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     The test had been stopped abruptly, and Anna found herself being checked by officers from the CDC for a similar rash to Sydney's. "I haven't had any symptoms of anything," She offered, though her words were ignored. The tent was hot, and she felt more than uncomfortable surrounded by the men in suits. Eventually they left, without a sound, and Anna assumed she was ready to be released back into their original classroom.

     Until Scott came walking in.

     "Hey," He greeted, coming through the tent. "Am I allowed to go? What the hell is going on?" She asked him, causing him to sigh. "I don't know. Stiles thinks it's just chicken pox."

     She laughed lightly, "All this for something that easy to vaccinate?"

       He  let out a laugh back, before looking down at his feet. "So, uh, how you holding up?"

     "You know, when I first got thrown into all of this, I never could've imagined that werewolves were real. I didn't even think that they could actually bite you," He looked up, walking towards her. She chuckled lightly, "I heard bedtime stories as a kid, but that's all they were. Just stories, Scott."

     Scott moved closer to her, taking a seat on her gurney. "If I show you something, I need you to trust me, okay?"

     Against her better will, she did. Anna watched him, as his eyes turned from their brown color to a bright, fiery red. Alpha.

     She bit her lip, watching as Scott faded the color. Her heart raced – she knew they were real. Hell, her old school was full of them. But how could she play it off? Any human would be terrified, anyone in their right mind would be.

     But she pushed her judgement away, letting her fear of being discovered leave her mind as she let her hand fall atop of his. Scott's eyes traced her face, trying to find a hint of surprise.

     "You knew?" He asked, watching as her breathing slowed. "But how –"

     "I didn't. But it didn't surprise me, either," She spoke softly. Scott furrowed his eyebrows at her, trying to find the words to speak. "I don't understand –"

     His breathe slowed down, and Scott began to pour out into sweats. His vision became blurry, and he found himself staring Anna down as his world moved in circles.

     "Scott?" She asked, watching him grow panicky. "Are you alright?"

       "Hey, Scott, look at me." She moved closer, placing her hands onto his face.

     Scott, look at me. It's okay.

      Scott looked down at his chest, then back up to Anna. "Did you do that?" He smiled lightly, making her furrow her eyebrows. "What?"

      Yeah.

     "Thanks," he laughed, making her stand up. "Scott, can you stand?" He nodded, pushing himself up. "C'mon. I'll take you to the bathroom to cool down, you're burning up," Anna sighed, feeling his forehead. He grunted in pain as he got up, moving slowly out of the tent.

      After sneaking by the CDC officers, Anna had managed to pull Scott along to the boy's locker room. He collapsed, holding tightly onto the sink for support. "Scott, I'm gonna go get Stiles, okay?"

      Anna began to run to the door, worried about him intently. Their talk was pushed to the back of her mind and the worry for his pack was more important than it had seemed just hours before.

     The door slammed, and Scott attempted to catch his breathe, "Thanks, Allison."

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"It's still happening," Mr. Yukimura remarked, watching as Scott's eyes flashed crazily. Stiles had brought him along the minute Anna called him for help.

Malia sighed, holding her hands up. Her claws had been pointed out, "I can't make them go back."

"Obviously the virus is affecting the two of you in a way it won't hit any human being," Mr. Yukimura stated, making Stiles sigh. "You guys have to stay out of sight. We have to quarantine you from the quarantine."

Kira nodded, making Anna sigh. "Yeah, but where? I mean, what if they get violent? Like on a full moon?" She asked, earning looks from them. Scott extended an arm out, "It's okay, she knows. I told her earlier," He lied, making Anna nod as she smiled. She knew she owed him to explain herself after this all ended.

"We shouldn't stay in here. Not in the locker room."

"A classroom is not going to hold us," Malia shook her head. "What about the basement?"

"Too many ways out. We need something secure. Somewhere nobody can find us," Scott groaned, looking around. Stiles jumped up, "The vault!"

"The Hale vault," Scott modded, "The Hales always have an escape route. Like their house. There has to be another way in."

Stiles jumped around, fidgeting with his bag before pulling out a map. He placed it down frantically, motioning for everyone to come over. "This is where the school sign is, so the vault's got to be right about here," He pointed, looking around as everyone observed. Mr Yukimura interrupted, "I suppose if there's a second entrance, it would probably be accessible from the basement."

"It's probably somewhere in this hallway. West corridor," Stiles paused, placing a hand to his head. He began to fall back, "Woah."

"It's happening to you too. You're getting sick. You all are," Mr. Yukimura observed, making Anna and Kira furrow their eyebrows. "I don't feel sick," Kira shook her head.

"I think it's affecting you differently, neurologically."

Her dad raised an eyebrow, pulling out a sheet, "I found your test answers here in a pile with the others."

The answers were scattered around, not making any sense. Kira looked up in fear, her eyes placed on Anna for any signs of her becoming sick. She shrugged, "I feel fine."

"I promise."

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Stiles was anxious to find the Hale vault, probably more than anyone else in the room.

      So, when he found the entrance, it wasn't a surprise to them.

     "Hey, guys, 9ver here. Look at the cracks in the wall. It's like the entrance outside, it only opens with claws," Stiles began, making Scott run over. Scott nodded, scratching the back of his head.

     "Anyone's claws, right?"

     "Um – Malia, can you try?" Scott spoke slowly, making her furrow her eyebrows. "Why me?"

     "I don't have control," Scott answered honestly, holding up where his claws should've been. She huffed, "Okay. I'll do it. But first tell me what you've been hiding from me."

     The room stayed quiet, as the two boys exchanged nervous looks. Malia let out a huff, "I know you think you're trying to protect me, but I can handle it," She paused, looking at the two. "I know I'm on the list."

     Stiles nodded vastly, "Yes, uh –"  

     "So how much?" Malia questioned, crossing her arms. "How much what?"

       She cleared her throat, "How much am I worth?" Scott let out a breathe, pulling his lips together, "Four million." Malia pressed her lips together, sighing as she walked forward. Stiles grabbed her lightly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

     "Yeah," Malia nodded quickly, "Scott's worth 25, Kira, six. Anna's 12 and we don't know what she is. They'll take you guys out way before me." She smiled, making Stiles cover his face. "That's progress. That's progress."

      Malia approached the entrance to the vault, placing her claws in and turning the switch. The door opened widely, and Anna stood back in amazement. The group began to enter, and Stiles stared at one spot particularly.

     "You know, this is where it all started. That's where the money was," He pointed, making the girls look over, "117 million in bearer bonds." Kira walked over to him, scrunching her face together, "How do you even change bearer bonds into cash?"

     "Bank, I guess. They just let it sit here the whole time collecting dust. You know bearer bonds are basically extinct?"

     "Why does it matter?" Anna spoke up, gaining looks from the Alpha. "You know how many problems that money could solve? For – Me. My dad. The Eichen House and MRI bills are crushing him," Stiles sighed, making Scott nod. "Mom does this thing, she writes down all the items in our budget, and how much they cost, then she adds them all up and figures out how long we have until," He looked down at his feet, "We lose the house."

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Anna hadn't noticed the time go by – it seemed like everyone was only getting worse. She had even began to feel a fever, much like the one she noticed Scott had right in the beginning. Stiles had left to find help, but it'd been almost an hour and he hasn't called or texted.

     Scott groaned in pain, watching as Kira laid in awe on the floor next to Malia. His eyes made their way to Anna, who was consulting the girls, making sure they were okay. He began to cough roughly, making Anna run over to his side.

     "Scott? Are you alright?" She asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. She pulled him up, making it easier for him to sit. "I don't think we have much longer," He coughed more.

     Anna pressed her lips together, fear creeping up behind her. "Remember how I trusted you earlier?" She asked, and he nodded. "I need you to trust me."

    Anna turned around, peeking at the girls one last time before she sat completely next to Scott. "I promise you, I will explain later. But you can't tell anyone, Scott. It's really dangerous for me."

     He furrowed his eyebrows at her, not understanding her cryptic talk. "I can link you to myself, and if it works in our favor, you'll be just as bad as I am. Basically good as new," She smiled, pulling up his sleeve. "What if it doesn't?"

      "Then I'll be as sick as you, and we'll have to really hope Stiles pulls through."

     Before Scott could protest, Anna closed her eyes, whispering the connection spell under her breathe. Her nose began to bleed, and Scott pulled her closed, "Anna, stop."

     She squeezed her eyes together, not bothering to listen to him. Her small figure fell back as she fainted, Scott catching her just before.