Title: The Pull of the Tide
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Pairing: Stiles/Derek
Categories: Mystery, drama, case file
Length: Long (27,954)
Warnings: Violence, trauma, past sexual assault

Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: miss_aphelion

Author's Summary:
Stiles appears alone at the doors of the emergency room the morning after the full moon, covered in blood with a deep slash torn across his left side. He's suffering from hypovolemic shock and barely conscious and he won't tell anyone what happened—not his hospital appointed psychiatrist, not his father. Not even his pack.

The list of suspects is disconcertedly short. There were only seven others in the woods with Stiles that night: Derek, Scott, Boyd, Erica, Isaac, Jackson and Allison. And none of them remember the night in quite the same way.

Review:
Here's a smart mystery where the wheels are already well in motion, and you're dropped into a series of conversations and interrogations to figure out what happened in the woods. Suspense is high, since whoever hurt Stiles is still free, and no one is being up front with the sheriff or the hospital-appointed therapist.

All the characters get their say, and what they're not saying is as important as what they are. Since you know a lot more than the sheriff, you get a broader sense of what everyone means. Allison's in one of her more bristly phases, and I loved her interview. Lydia's was great as well, and Scott's characterization was bang on when he tries to claim they were all at a birthday party for Jackson... six months late. Jackson doesn't even bother trying to corroborate that slip up.

Between those interviews we get Stiles' sessions with the psychiatrist. His voice here is brilliant, because he's sarcastic and funny in places, and underneath it runs a thread of anger and uncertainty. And throughout it all he's talking a lot while trying to give away nothing about what happened. He has his reasons, and he's the key to figuring this whole thing out.

The characters and suspense are great here, and Stiles' relationship with Derek is well done. Miss_aphelion calls this the first in what she plans as a series of Beacon Hills Mysteries, so if you like this one as much as I did, keep an eye out for new stories down the road.

The Pull of the Tide
Podfic by Rhea