Heavenly ━━ Scott McCall

𝖔. Prologue

Vol. I / PROLOGUE.

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BEACON HILLS' ANIMAL SHELTER is where Joey chooses to spend her last day of summer. She doesn't mind, honestly, since it's also where she spent most of her past few months anyway. At the beginning of her summer, Joey had upped her status at the clinic from faithful volunteer to Deaton's first intern. It had taken a little persuading, though.

"We don't do internships here, Joey," Deaton had told her.

"But you're the only animal clinic in Beacon Hills," Joey blinked, "Aren't you legally required to offer internships?"

She had gotten him there, but it was only after she had delved into a tangent about how establishing internship programs could be good for business, or even help students get into medical school with experience on college applications, that he finally gave in. Thus making Joey his first official intern.

It's half past nine, meaning her shift ended about an hour ago, but Deaton had to leave earlier than expected and so she offered to stay and close up shop.

Sweeping up dog hair from off the floor with a broom, Joey smiles as she remembers the adorable little corgi that was brought in earlier for a checkup. It was the cutest thing she'd ever seen, with it's wagging tail and stuck-out tongue. She wishes she could've sent Vee a picture of it, but sadly her best friend is still on a flight back from Florida. Vee had been away all summer on a trip with her dad, leaving Joey to make the most out of her break with only the animals that were brought into the clinic.

Okay, maybe that was a slight overstatement. Joey's co-worker, Scott McCall, had actually been great company to her during their shared work hours. Especially now that he and Deaton didn't have anything to hide anymore after she found out about the supernatural world during the whole "Matt-being-a-kanima-controlling-murderer-who-almost-killed-her" ordeal. Joey can't blame them for keeping it a secret from her, though. They had only wanted to protect her from the dangers that come with this kind of knowledge. But there's also the fact that her boss is literally a mentor for the supernatural, so she was bound to find out eventually.

Finishing up her cleaning, Joey's eyebrows furrow when hearing the bell that hangs above the door chime. Someone's here?

Glancing at the clock, she wonders who could need help at almost ten o'clock at night. She walks out of the backroom and into the lobby, being greeted with the sight Scott.

"Scott, hey," Joey says, the corners of her lips turning upwards as she greets him. They quickly fall into a thin line, however, once she gets a good look at his concerned expression. "Oh no, what happened?"

Scott shakes his head. "Is Deaton here? I need to ask him about something."

"No, sorry, he had to leave early. I was just about to close up."

"Oh," Scott nods, "That's fine, I don't think this was really anything, anyway—"

"Hey, something must be up if you came all the way here," Joey says gently. She lifts herself up onto the counter of front desk, motioning for Scott to follow suit. "Talk to me."

Her co-worker sighs, moving to lean on the counter. "Something weird happened."

Joey squints her eyes. "Weird, like, supernatural weird?"

"I'm not sure. It happened when Stiles and I were driving home. We pulled up next to Lydia and Allison at a red light—"

"Hold on, Allison's back?" Joey's eyes widen. She delights at the fact that her friend has officially returned after her abrupt leave. She hesitates, wanting to ask Scott how he feels about this. Joey knows how difficult their breakup was for him from all their spontaneous heart-to-hearts during lunch breaks or days when business was slow. She decides against this, having a feeling it wasn't the "weird" thing he wanted to talk about.

"I just found out tonight," Scott smiles sadly. "But yeah, we saw them and they sped up in front of us. Then they stopped suddenly, and the next thing I knew a deer crashed right into Lydia's windshield."

Joey's eyes narrowed at this. Okay, that is odd, she thought.

"And that's not even the weirdest part," Scott adds, "When I touched the deer... It felt terrified, Jo."

Joey shook her head in confusion, "Of what, though? You think Deaton might know something about it?"

"I don't know," Scott shrugs his shoulders, "Then again, it's probably nothing. This isn't exactly the strangest thing to happen in this town."

"That would be an understatement," Joey laughs. Beacon Hills has had its fair share of events no one could really explain, and an incident with a deer in the middle of the road was likely one of the few "accidents" that were truly, well, accidents.

Joey hops off the counter. She turns towards Scott, giving him a lighthearted smile. "Well, I don't think we should worry until we know for certain that there's something we need to worry about. I, for one, am so down to just have a nice, chill junior year. No homicidal kanimas included."

Scott smiles at her joke. "Hey, things are gonna be different this year. I promise," he points his thumb towards the door, "Do you need a ride home? Stiles is waiting in the car, and you know he won't mind."

"Yeah, thanks," Joey nods, "I just gotta get my bag and lock up, real quick. I'll meet you out there."

The werewolf offers a tight smiles (which lets Joey know he was still worried about the earlier incident, even if he said otherwise) and exits the animal clinic. While Joey heads to the backroom to gather her things, she can't help but hear Scott's words repeat in her head.

Things are going to be different this year.

She hadn't known it then, but Joey would soon find out just how true his words were. And not in the way she'd thought.