The episode opens with a girl (Tracy) having a meeting with Ms. Martin and mentioning her newfound night terrors. We see an example of one such night terror, a crow pecking her bedroom skylight followed by the steampunk figures from the last episode (who will remain unnamed until canonically appropriate) invading her room and pulling her chair from under her as she tries to seal her skylight.

As the scene with Ms. Martin concludes with the woman telling Tracy night terrors and nightmares are fairly common, Tracy coughs violently and sweeps the contents off Ms. Martin's desk. She hunches over and vomits a large puddle of inky black fluid and bird feathers, Ms. Martin watching in shock.

"Is this common?" Tracy asks sarcastically, as the credits roll.

—

After the credits, Scott and Deaton share a scene at the vet clinic where Scott gives a little girl's dog an injection. Once the dog is back with his owner, Scott returns to the table, and the two discuss the claws (talons, as corrected by Deaton) that Scott collected after their attack the previous episode.

Deaton theorizes that someone somewhere is trying to change the stone set rules of the supernatural world, and we head to the sheriff's station with Stiles.

—

Stiles is in the middle of a rant about Theo to his father, who appears completely dismissive.

"Dad, this kid is a werewolf," Stiles points out to convince his father to listen, but the sheriff points right back "Your best friends are werewolves. You're dating a werecoyote. I still don't know what Kira's supposed to be, but when flying monkeys come soaring through the station, you will have my undivided attention. Until then, just go to school."

"...What did you do?" Stiles asks out of nowhere, increasing proximity to his father trying to see what's different about him. The sheriff again commands that he go to school, Stiles bargaining that he'll go to school if his dad does a full background check on the Raekens.

The sheriff denies his terms, so Stiles turns like he means to ask Parrish instead as we go to the school.

—

Malia sums up Stiles' background check findings, that all there is is an eight year old speeding ticket signed by Theo's dad, aka nothing.

Unprompted, Malia tells Stiles how attractive she thinks Theo is, and Stiles changes the subject to his plan to catch Theo in the act of some type of crime.

Speaking of the devil, Theo is then dropped off at school, and he waves with a smile at Malia and Stiles. Malia asks her boyfriend why he's so suspicious of Theo, Stiles explaining that the Theo they're seeing isn't the Theo he remembers from fourth grade.

—

Commercial.

—

Scott walks into school, seeing all the people laughing and walking in the halls. Kira comes up and greets him, the two sharing a kiss as Mason and Liam come in as well.

"This is the one I was telling you about, I got it from a rare book dealer in Germany. It cost me $200 but it was totally worth it," Mason says as he excitedly flips the pages, Liam asking exasperatedly if he's still reading about "this stuff."

"I was attacked by an armor plated giant wearing a bear skull," Mason says, his voice falling to a whisper. "This 'stuff' left an impression."

He shows Liam the book, turned to a page on berserkers. Before Liam can do much besides glance, Noel comes up and rams between them, taking the book from Mason's hands.

Mason instantly licks his lips and follows after Noel, who turns to a random page and laughs. Mason looks from Liam to Noel, asking "What, what's funny?"

"You wouldn't let me look at what this was when I came over yesterday, and this is all it was?" Noel asks, flipping more quickly and saying "If you're that into all this fantasy junk, we should play DND sometime."

He hands the book back to Mason, who looks stunned, even as Noel gestures into an open classroom door and announces "Gentlemen, enjoy your first day with Mr. Yukimura. Mason, text me your schedule, I can probably stop around and walk you to your next class if you want me to."

"Yeah, yeah," Mason agrees with a dopey smile, Liam rolling his eyes and pushing inside without his best friend. When he finds an open seat, the girl beside him moves her hair, and we watch Liam as he fights having to sit by her.

She eventually puts gum on his chair just before he sits, and he cringes at the realization as we cut to the seniors in biology.

—

Kira sits against the wall next to Scott, Lydia on the other side of the alpha. Noel claims the seat beside her, and Lydia and Kira share a series of silent facial expressions as the boys appear none the wiser.

Kira clears her throat and asks Scott nervously if he's in the right class, Scott confirming with a grin "AP biology."

"Do you know what AP stands for?" Lydia asks, Noel frowning at her condescension as Scott says through his smile "Advanced placement."

He opens his book to reveal there are already sticky tabs, a half used notebook, and plenty of highlighting inside. Lydia seems shocked but impressed, Noel smirking as he turns to face forward and class begins.

The teacher asks a few rapid fire questions to see if the class is awake, but after the first (answered by Lydia), no one can answer. The teacher calls on Scott, asking him if he knew the answer, and then asking what his first choice college is.

Scott answers that he'd like to go to UC Davis and major in biology, and the teacher asks without looking at him "Noel Whittemore? Yourself? First choice of college and first choice of major?"

"Chapman, but I'm still debating whether to major in anthropology or creative wri-"

He is cut off after that, and he ignores a look of confusion from Scott as the teacher says "Anthropology or creature writing? I think you may be in the wrong class, Mr. Whittemore. Anyone here confident that they're in the right class like Mr. McCall is?"

An unflinching hand raises from near the back, and the class turns to see Theo, a smile on his face. Though all eyes are on him, he only looks at Noel, even as he speaks to the teacher.

"I wouldn't discount Noel on the basis of his first choice of school and major. Last I heard he's frontrunner for valedictorian, and he's got plenty of time to consider other options. Even if he doesn't, then I think it's all the more impressive that he's here taking this class."

The class turns back to the teacher, but Noel is still staring at Theo, who doesn't seem keen to look away either. A tense silence falls over the classroom, and Noel is finally the one to let his gaze leave Theo's as the teacher announces there'll be a test the following day to measure their aptitude.

—

"That wasn't weird to you?" Noel asks as we see him sitting with Scott on the steps of the school, Scott turning to him questioningly.

"...Theo. The way he defended me? You didn't get any kind of vibe from that?" Noel asks, as Scott thinks about it and admits "He was kinda looking at you the way..."

"The way Derek does! Yes! It was so weird!" Noel says, relieved that he wasn't the only one. Before they can talk any more, Stiles runs up to them, insisting "Hey, you, you're both coming with me."

"We have a free period," Scott argues, gesturing to himself and Noel, Stiles adding "So do I. So does Theo Raeken. Let's go."

Noel groans as he stands up, mumbling "fantastic" as he follows Stiles.

—

Mason and Liam leave the locker room, Mason explaining that he doesn't believe everything in the book, but he believes that the people around them know things.

"Like Lydia? She knows things," he insists, Liam complaining that it's the first day of school and he doesn't want to think about this.

"Shouldn't you be thinking about other things? Like... I dunno, Noel?" Liam asks, adding "I thought you guys were gonna do something after school."

Mason frowns, saying "Nah, I guess Stiles wanted him to come over after school and help him with some stuff. We hung out last night, I don't wanna seem, like, crazy."

Out of other options, Liam gestures to the soccer team walking by, and Mason follows after them as Liam discovers his locker is next to the girl from his class earlier.

She tells him she's vengeful for whatever it is that happened between them in sixth grade as Tracy passes by, suffering from a terror similar to the first she had had.

—

After a break we see Theo doing skateboard tricks in an empty pool, wiping out just as narration kicks in.

"I was skating in a neighbor's empty pool, trying to do a hand plant. No one was home."

We cut to the locker room where Theo, Scott, Stiles, and Noel all stand listening to Theo speak.

"I'm not that good of a skateboarder, but, I guess I was feeling pretty determined because I completely lost track of time."

We return to narration as Theo retrieves his skateboard in the now darkness. "I didn't even realize that it was night until yard lights came on. Like I said, I wasn't very good. My last try, I went down and hit hard."

We see the skateboard fly up as Theo falls back, letting out pained sounds and looking up at the sky.

"I was sitting there at the bottom of the pool, and I realized something: I never heard the board come back down," Theo says, and we watch as Theo looks up to see a bloody hand tipped with claws holding his skateboard. The owner of the claws has eyes that glow red, and they loom over Theo as the music swells.

"It came at me fast," Theo describes, citing that he barely had a chance to turn around before he was bitten. He points to his side, and Scott nods as he says "Well it wasn't an accident, he wanted to turn you."

Stiles suddenly comes into focus, asking why he wasn't part of that wolf's pack if that was all the case. Theo explains that by the time his first full moon came around, the alpha that bit him was dead.

"How'd you know that?" Stiles asks, Noel saying his name warningly. Theo doesn't seem to mind, answering "I met another one of his pack a couple weeks later. They told me the alpha that bit me was killed by two of his own betas, they were twins."

Scott looks over at Noel and Stiles, the latter looking surprised while the former looks devastated. Theo's eyes lock onto Noel, saying softly "Listen to my pulse, Noel, I'm telling the truth. And I'm sorry that the truth seems to be hurting you so much."

"Maybe you're telling the truth, and maybe you just know how to steady your own heart rate while you lie your ass off," Stiles suggests as he takes a step forward, Noel staying back instead of stopping his friend.

Theo seems surprised, but not quite offended, asking them why they think he would lie. Stiles suggests that it's because he's not who he says he is, and Theo looks back at Noel and then at Scott.

"I remember this day in fourth grade, when I had an asthma attack, a bad one. We were on the playground when it happened, and Noel, you came running over to me with Jackson when you saw that something wasn't right. You told him to go tell the teacher and you walked with me basically on top of you to the office, and the whole time there you were trying to help me find my breath and promising me I would be in good hands when I got up there.

"Then when I was waiting to be taken to the ER, you were there waiting for the principal, Scott. You told me what would happen when you go to the ER for asthma, how they give you oxygen and an IV of prednisone. You made it sound easy, like everything would be okay."

He pauses, looking at Noel once more then back to Scott, telling them "I've been by myself this whole time. Everybody knows that lone wolves don't make it on their own. I swear, I'm that same kid from fourth grade, and I was hoping that you guys are too."

Scott seems moved as the bell rings, and Theo states that he hopes he isn't late for class. He notes with a smile "I mean, you guys aren't the only ones I need to make a good impression on, you know?"

Before he can leave, Theo pauses, turning to Noel and asking slowly "Hey, can I... Walk you to class? I had a couple questions I wanted to ask about that biology test tomorrow, and I caught a peek at your notes on the way out."

Noel stiffens at the question, looking to Scott, as if asking permission. Scott seems indifferent, offering a shrug and a smile as Noel nods and accompanies Theo out of the locker room. Stiles and Scott stay behind, Stiles insisting to his best friend that he can feel something wrong with Theo.

—

Lydia and her mom discuss Tracy as the girl stands just outside the room, and when her mom suggests that if Tracy needs professional help they'll get it for her, Lydia takes Tracy home to talk with Parrish.

Parrish looks around her room, and discovers her skylight opens, though it had allegedly been sealed in the past to protect against weather.

We also see bird carcasses on the roof before cutting to commercial.

—

Malia is taking driver's ed with Mr. Yukimura when we return, and we see she's knocked over nearly every cone and mannequin as we cut to the library.

—

Stiles walks over to his friends and lays down a piece of paper on the table, which Noel instantly picks up to examine. Stiles compares two versions of Theo's dad's signature as his friends grill him about breaking into the administration office.

Stiles points out all the (minute) inconsistencies in the two signatures, as Kira questions "So now Theo is Theo, but his parents aren't his parents?"

"Someone's not someone," Stiles agrees, as Noel picks up both papers to examine. He frowns, asking "Are you sure these differences you're seeing aren't just due to him using a different pen? This one looks like a 0.5 pen and this one looks like a 0.7."

"The size of a pen isn't going to account for a different font, Noel," Stiles insists, as Scott reminds him that no one's done anything wrong. Stiles rebuts that no one's done anything wrong yet, and that if Theo's parents are psychotic killers, he shouldn't be trusted.

Malia points out that her parents are Peter and the Desert Wolf, Stiles finally dismissing them all and picking up the papers to go investigate further on his own. Before he leaves, however, he turns to Noel and points at him.

When Stiles says nothing further, Noel quirks an eyebrow and points at himself as a prompt, to which Stiles finally says "You, he likes you, and I'm gonna find a way to use it."

"Not everybody likes me like that. And you can't keep using me as werewolf bait," Noel argues with a teasing tone, Stiles groaning and saying "God, but it's so easy."

He then gives up, telling them all he doesn't need them as he gets in the jeep with Liam.

—

Lydia and Parrish share a scene, after which we watch Theo retrieve something from the trunk of his car. He is being watched by Stiles and Liam, who have apparently been stalking him for three hours.

They follow him as he walks out of view, Liam following both his scent and his footprints before he stops. The realization hits him that he forgot he was supposed to meet Mason at the school gym, but he denies Stiles suggestion to tell him that they're busy with supernatural stuff.

Liam admits that he hasn't told Mason yet about his double life, and Stiles asks why, since he and the others told him that it was okay to.

"I know, but it's not that easy, it's a lot to accept," Liam argues, as Stiles points out "He watched my dad blow up a berserker with a landmine, I think the ground work's been pretty thoroughly laid for acceptance. Plus, don't you think it's important that you tell him before Noel lets something slip?"

"Noel knows that I haven't told him, too," Liam explains, looking nervous. "I wanted him to tell Mason, since he's better at all this stuff than I am, but he thinks it would be better if I told him."

Stiles smiles fondly, saying "Well unfortunately, as usual, he's right. It's not his place to tell Mason, he's not Mason's best friend. Scott, Noel, and I have been through this, okay, more than once, it's always better when they know."

The two begin walking, and Liam asks hypotheticals of ways Mason could react negatively to the news. Mid-sentence, he falls down out of frame, into a hole.

After making his way out of said hole, Liam joins Stiles, and they watch as Theo drops some flowers off a bridge. Liam describes his chemosignal as smelling of sadness and grief, and when Stiles realizes where they are, he ushers Liam away.

He tells Liam that they were at the bridge where Theo's sister was found dead from exposure, and they intruded on him leaving her flowers. Theo then jumps down from a tree, asking them casually what they're doing as we cut to black.

—

We return right where we left off, as Liam growls softly at Theo and Stiles holds him back. Theo asks Stiles once again why he's so suspicious of him, and Stiles shows him the two signatures.

Theo denies his claims, offering to give Stiles DNA samples to prove he is who he says he is if that'll make him feel better. Stiles denies the offer, citing that he doesn't have anything from the fourth grade to match it to anyway.

"I'm sure you could still gather something from Noel's lips," Theo suggests, and when Liam and Stiles both go slack-jawed, Theo quickly explains "Uh, that's something that people like to call a joke. You don't remember that rumor, Stiles? People used to claim I kissed Noel behind the backstop on the first day of school."

Stiles clearly doesn't find Theo's joke funny as he rolls his eyes, and Liam goes back to his tough posture. Theo admits that he initially came back to Beacon Hills for Scott, but that he also came for Stiles, ie someone willing to walk into the woods at night to protect their friends.

"And I came for Noel, too. Someone with the kind of heart that thrives on healing and nurturing, someone that concerns himself with the feelings of others before he even considers himself."

He goes on to say that he doesn't have anyone like that, but Scott does, and they all do. He then adds that he knows he's in the right place and that he's meant to be a part of their pack.

—

Tracy shares a short scene with her dad, followed by a return to the woods.

—

When Stiles and Liam head to get into the jeep, they see Scott's bike, and the alpha leaning against it. The camera pans to reveal Noel as well, holding Scott's spare helmet, still seated on the bike as the two stop speaking to look at Liam and Stiles.

"Find anything?" Scott asks calmly, Liam offering brightly "I fell in a hole."

Noel smiles and lets out a soft laugh at his enthusiasm, gesturing for Liam to come over to him as Scott moves to talk to Stiles.

Stiles tries to escape the conversation by driving away, but when the jeep refuses to start, he has to get under the hood to do some maintenance. Scott and Noel follow him, Scott trying once again to get Stiles to talk to him.

Adamant that he doesn't want to discuss the situation, Stiles fiddles with the jeep. After he fails to get it started, Scott prompts him with his name, and Stiles finally speaks.

"Yes, okay, we followed him out here. What do you want me to say, that I'm a stalker? Huh? That I'm crazy? Totally paranoid? None of this is new information."

Scott looks neutral while Noel looks concerned, as Scott states (not asks) that Stiles is gonna at least try and give Theo the benefit of the doubt now.

"I give people the benefit of the doubt. I've given a lot of benefit to a lot of people," Stiles argues, and without missing a beat, Noel asks "Like Derek?"

Stiles licks his lips and has the decency to look guilty, but before he can say anything on the matter, Scott fills the silence. "What about Kira, or Liam?"

"I was right about Peter," Stiles defends, but as Noel tries to speak, he calls for Liam to try the jeep again. It fails to start, as Stiles says exasperatedly "No, y'know what, Noel, I bet you still think there's something about Peter that could be saved."

"I do," Noel says shamelessly, as Stiles tries once more with the jeep. Scott asks Stiles calmly why he can't trust anyone, and Stiles responds in a yell "Because Noel trusts everyone!"

Stiles slams his fist down into the jeep, and after the outburst, he's clearly in pain. While Scott just asks if he's okay, Noel reaches out and takes hold of Stiles's hand. Stiles jerks his hand away, still hot from his outburst, but Noel persists.

When their hands touch, Noel intertwines their fingers, laying his other hand on top of Stiles' to trap it between his own. Stiles takes a deep breath and looks at Noel, as the werewolf's veins turn black. Scott watches, chastising Stiles "You could have broken it."

"It's not broken," Stiles and Noel say in unison, and after a few quiet seconds (save for the background music), Noel releases Stiles' hand.

Stiles looks like he wants to say something, but Noel gets there first, telling him gently "If you trust no one and I trust everyone, then someone's always right, aren't they?"

Stiles gives a short almost unnoticeable nod, as the jeep finally roars to life.

—

Parrish sits outside Tracy's house to keep an eye on her, but she's standing eerily outside, unnoticed.

—

Liam runs up to the school where Mason is, apologizing for "forgetting" their workout. Mason isn't convinced, but when Liam says he's going to explain everything, Mason points out that there's a wolf.

"I'm getting to that," Liam dismisses, but Mason insists that there's a wolf. Liam turns and sees a wolf with black fur approaching them, confirming unnecessarily "That's a wolf."

The wolf growls as the boys burst into the school, running to escape as the wolf gives chase. Eventually, Liam stops his running, and turns to roar at the wolf. The wolf stops and watches him briefly before turning to leave as Mason approaches Liam in shock.

"There's something I gotta tell you," Liam says, as Mason struggles to process with his eyes and mouth wide open. But his struggle turns to awe, as he says confidently "You're a werewolf."

The screen cuts to black as we enter our last commercials.

—

The wolf runs through the woods, onto the bridge from earlier, and shifts seamlessly into Theo. The boy stands and looks over his shoulder at seemingly nothing, as we cut to Kira and Scott kissing in Scott's bed.

The two discuss their futures, ending with Kira assuring him he'll make it into UC Davis if that's what he wants before removing her shirt. She breaks his lightbulb accidentally, and we move to Parrish and Lydia outside Tracy's house.

The two flirt lightly over coffee, and we see Tracy in a dark laboratory (that we last saw in the final scene of the previous episode).

She stands as the steampunk figures approach her, insisting to herself that there's "nothing there" and that she's just sleeping.

They stab her with a huge needle and insist she's just awakening, actually, as she realizes she's the one that's been haunting her dreams all along.

Her eyes glow and her teeth sharpen as she roars, and we cut to Stiles.

—

He adds Theo to his board, surrounded by red threads, and his dad comes in to calm him down.

The sheriff mentions how proof always tops instinct, and after some brief dialogue, Stiles points out that the sheriff isn't wearing his wedding ring anymore.

In an attempt to lessen the tension, the sheriff jokes "Well, I gave it to Derek to give to Noel, didn't I tell you?"

Stiles is clearly not amused, but not quite angry, as the sheriff asks if he's completely sure Theo is guilty. Stiles confirms, as the sheriff concedes that all he has to do is wait for Theo to make a mistake, then.

We cut to Theo's house, as he tells a man "You were supposed to practice."

The man and a woman look visibly shaken, the man swearing he practiced hundreds upon hundreds of times. The woman disagrees, as Theo placates him with a soft tone.

"There is one way a false signature can be explained. It's not easy to write when you're wearing a cast, is it?"

He then pulls out a hammer, and the man looks horrified, but offers his hand to Theo anyway. Theo swings the hammer down, and the camera cuts out on an awful squelching sound.