I pick up one of the sample books laying around the tattoo parlor and thumb through them. "My mom would murder me if I came home with a tattoo." I say looking up at Scott briefly.
"What is it you are looking to get kid?" The tattooist comes from behind the counter where he had just finished filling in the forms that Scott had given him. Scott shuffles around in the chair to pull a folded up piece of paper out of his back pocket which he hands to the gentleman. The guy opens the paper to see two lines of relatively the same thickness colored onto the paper. "Boy, it's a good thing you drew me a picture." He says looking up at Scott who smiles proudly.
I shake my head while hiding a smile behind my hair and put the book back down walking over to where Stiles is flipping through a similar book.
"Hey, Scott, sure you don't want something like this?" Stiles asks holding up a page with some lizard man tattoo on it. I peek around to take it in then after a brief silent conversation with Scott I smack Stiles lightly upside the head before taking the book from him. Stiles cringes comically away from me and looking back at Scott. "Too soon?"
"Ignore him." I say to the tattooist who is watching us cautiously.
"I don't know, man, are you sure about this?" Stiles points at the tattoo gun particularly. "I mean, these things are pretty permanent, you know?"
"I'm not changing my mind." Scott answer a grin plastered on his face.
"Okay, but why two bands?" Stiles asks placing an arm on my shoulder and leaning on me slightly.
"I just like it." Scott says with a shrug.
"But don't you think your first tattoo should have some sort of meaning, you know, or something?" Stiles waves his hands around in his normal fashion and I roll my eyes at him.
"Getting a tattoo means something…." Scott says as an explanation.
"I don't think that's…." Stiles starts talking again and I reach up covering his mouth to shut him up.
"He's right." The tattoo artist pipes up from where he is setting up all the materials needed. "Tattooing goes back thousands of years. The Tahitian word 'tatua' means 'to leave a mark'. Like a rite of passage."
Stiles and I both look over at him surprised my hand falling from Stiles' face.
"Yeah, you see?" Scott says with a slight cockiness in his voice. "He gets it."
"He's covered in tattoos, Scott, literally." Stiles answers back crossing his arms. I shake my head and go stand next to Scott.
"Don't mind him Scott." I place a hand supportively on Scott's shoulder. "I think it's pretty cool. And so long as the tattoo means something to you that's all that matters."
"You ready?" The tattoo artist asks Scott after throwing one last look over at Stiles. Scott nods his head while clearing his throat and the artist holds up the tattoo gun. "You ain't got any problems with needles, do you?"
"Nope." Scott answers as I pat his hand before going to stand back by Stiles' side. The artist turns the gun on and starts buzzing away at Scott's arm.
"I tend to get a bit squeamish though, so…." Stiles says taking a few steps forward and taking a closer look. His sentence blurs into incoherent mumbling before I hear a thud and turn around to see Stiles on the ground unconscious. Scott looks over at me and I crouch next to Stiles rolling him over so his face isn't smushed into the tiles before taking a seat across the room in one of the chairs facing toward Scott.
A lot had changed for me in the past few years. I leaned my head back against the wall behind me with my eyes closed the only sounds in the room being the buzzing of the tattoo gun and the music floating through the speaker at the front of the store. I thought back over all the things that had happened. I'd been that invisible girl all my life, no real friends to speak of, nothing all that interesting about me. Now I had some of the best friends I think I could have ever dreamed of having. Sure we had gone through some terrifying and insane moments to get where we were now but we were still here. I drifted off with a smile on my face.
I woke up to Scott shaking my arm with a smile on his face. I reach up and run a hand over my face before smiling up at him.
"All finished?" I ask accepting the hand he offered me to pull me out of my seat. He nods showing me his arm which had a bandage encircling his new tattoo. "Cool." I glance around the shop and see Stiles sitting on the floor where he'd passed out the tattoo artist holding a cold pack out to him for his head.
"Thanks." Scott says to the man leading me over to the door and holding it open as Stiles hops up and holds the cold pack to the back of his head and heading out of the store. I climb into the back of the Jeep ahead of the boys and settle in.
Once Scott and Stiles are in their respective seats Stiles tosses the ice pack to the floor behind Scott's seat and starts the car. Scott is scowling down at his arm looking pained.
"You okay?" Stiles asking turning to look at him.
"Kind of burns." Scott answers slightly confused.
"Yes, you just had your skin stabbed about 100,000 times with a needle." Stiles responds sarcastically and smack his arm lightly.
"Yeah, but I don't think it's supposed to feel like this." Scott says adjusting his shirt sleeve again still staring at the bandage. We all sit in silence for a few seconds before Scott jumps and groans startling Stiles and I. "No, it's definitely not supposed to feel like this." He grabs at the bandage and tries to pull it off.
"Here Scott. Let me." I lightly push his hand out of the way and quickly unwrap the bandage.
"No, no, no, no, Scott…. Percy, please stop." Stiles says panicky scooting back against the drivers side door as the tattoo becomes uncovered. I jump back as the tattoo turns an oozy color and Stiles reaches an arm back protectively. "Whoa, whoa."
The tattoo slowly begins to fade until all that's left is a clear patch of skin. I reach forward and run my fingers over where the tattoo had just been.
"It…." I look at the patch of skin perplexed before continuing. "It healed."
Stiles lets out the breath he had been holding before throwing the car in gear. "Thank god. I hated it." Scott and I both turned to glare at him for his statement. He takes in the looks on our faces before sheepishly shrugging. "Sorry."
He then proceeds to pull out of the parking lot and onto the only road back to our houses. Scott sighs before pulling his shirt sleeve back down.
"Hey I have a question." I say plopping my elbows on the back of both of the boys' seats and leaning forward slightly. Scott looks over at me with his eyebrows raised giving me the okay to ask. "Have you spoken to Allison at all?" I tilt my head slightly to get a better look at him.
"Nah, we agreed to give each other the summer. No texts, no calls." Scott answers as Stiles pulls to a stop at the red light next to another car.
"So then how do you know she won't be back at school then?" Stiles asks turning to look at him once the cars stopped completely.
"Wishful thinking?" I muse as Stiles stiffens minutely looking at the car next to us. I lean forward and follow his gaze my jaw dropping when I see Allison and Lydia are in the car next to us.
"After everything that happened, I'm not sure she's coming back at all." Scott says after scoffing lightly. I look back at Stiles still slackjawed the question running through my head obvious on my face because he just nods in response. I shake my head and dig through my bag pulling out my phone and texting Allison's phone.
"I think she is." Stiles bobs his head back and forth still staring at Allison through the passenger side window. Scott looks at his friend with his eyebrows quirked. "I'd say pretty definite, you know." I throw my phone back in my bag realizing she isn't going to answer and turn back to the boys. "Like 100%." Stiles continues looking pointedly past Scott. I sigh when Scott doesn't take the hint and forcefully turn his head to look out his window into the car next to us.
After a few seconds of staring I see Allison and Scott's eyes connect and Scott recoils into his seat trying to hide. "Oh my god. Can we just drive please, Stiles?" I look over and see Allison hiding her face too.
"Scott, it's a red light." Stiles points at the light hanging above the car making me chuckle into my hand.
"Well I'm going to say hello." I say leaning over Scott's lap and rolling down the window.
"No." Scott swats at my hand a few times trying to stop me. "No, Percy…." I get the window rolled down and smirk back at him before waving at Lydia and Allison just as they squeal through the red light. I slide back into the back with a slight pout and catch Stiles' gaze in the rearview mirror.
"You know, they probably didn't see us." He says reaching back and patting my knee reassuredly before putting the car in gear as the light turns green. Stiles drives behind them at the speed limit as Scott looks around shakily.
"What are you doing?" Scott turns to Stiles as he catches up with the girls.
"I'm driving." Stiles answers gesturing at the steering wheel.
"We're right behind them." Scott says slightly dumbfounded.
"Okay, well, do you see any turns?" Stiles glances at me in the rearview as he tries to follow Scott's thinking. I shrug in response and watch Scott look around again.
"I don't want it to look like we're following them." Scott looks back at the car in front of us then back at his friend.
"Really Scott?" I ask leaning forward.
"Well, what do you want me to do?" Stiles gestures around as Scott's breath starts getting panicked.
"I don't know… anything." Scott answers the panic really evident in his voice. I reach out and place a hand on his shoulder soothingly. Stiles thinks for a second before reaching back to steady me as he slams on the brakes coming to a complete stop in the middle of the road. We all turn and look through the windshield as the girls' car comes to a stop too.
"Did they just….." I point at their car with my head tilted towards Scott who just nods, his eyes not leaving the car. We watch in complete silence for a few seconds before Scott perks his head up slightly like he heard something just moments before a deer goes crashing into the front of Lydia's stopped car. "Oh my god!" I gasp out pushing Scott to get out of the Jeep. Scott goes immediately to Allison's side checking her over purely out of instinct. I pause briefly by Lydia's side checking to see if she is injured before scooting past her and walking slowly to where the deer lay on the hood of the car.
"Are you okay?" Scott asks loudly holding Allison's arms.
"It came out of nowhere." Lydia replies sobbing.
"Are you hurt?" Stiles stops her from walking anywhere else trying to get an answer from either on of them.
"It ran right into us." Lydia half shrieks as I step closer to the deer touching it gingerly tuning everyone's yelling out. The minute my hand makes contact I feel a brief feeling of overwhelming fear that causes me to gasp and pull my hand back immediately. I turn and peer down the road the deer had just raced down my hand still partially held up. I am startled out of my daze when Scott appears by my side to look at the deer.
"No, it was scared." Scott says in response to whatever was being said. He reaches out and places his hand lightly on the deer's neck just as I had done moments ago. "Actually, terrified."
I shake off the unexplainable feeling before joining Stiles and the girls at the back of the car. "We should get out of here." I speak up so Scott can hear me. Everyone nods in agreement and I smile weakly at Allison leading her to Stiles' Jeep. Once everyone is in the car, the two girls in the back with me and the boys up front, Stiles steers smoothly around the car and drives us back into town. I spent the ride soothing Lydia who was halfway into hysterics. By the time we dropped her off she had calmed down enough to make it into her house by herself.
"Hey." Allison whispers over to me tapping my knee to get my attention.
"Hey yourself." I smile at her resting my head against the window.
"You okay?" She nods over at me still whispering.
"I should be asking you that." I chuckle before nodding in response to her question. Stiles pulls over to the curb a little bit down the block from her house.
"I'll see you at school?" Allison asks before hopping out of the back. After I nod she smiles and tucks her hair behind her ear then rushes off down the street trying not to make eye contact with Scott.
"Well, that wasn't awkward." Stiles voices from the front seat before throwing the car into gear and driving to Scott's place to drop him off. We ride over to the McCall residence in complete silence, no one knowing what to talk about. Once we pull up in front of his place I reach forward and give Scott a half hug before he climbs out of the car waving goodbye to Stiles.
Stiles reaches a hand back to help me slide into the passenger seat and once I'm settle restarts the car.
"Think your dad would mind if I crashed on your couch tonight?" I ask leaning my head somberly against the window.
"My dad loves you." Stiles smiles at me as if that's an answer taking off down the road towards his place.
We pull up behind the sheriff's car and quietly make our way into the house, Stiles stopping briefly in the living room to help me get the couch set up for the night. I snuggle down into the sheets and doze off within minutes.
At six in the morning I wake up to the sheriff rustling about in the kitchen to get ready for work. I sit up trying to flatten my hair before heading to the closet where I kept a couple changes of clothes for days like today. Once I'm dressed I head back into the living room gathering all the sheets and putting them away neatly. I join the sheriff in the kitchen who smiles at me reaching up to grab a coffee cup for me.
"Is Stiles up?" I ask taking a sip of the coffee in my hand.
"Yeah. But I think he's on his computer." The sheriff nods and I chuckle.
"Shall we?" I hold my hand out gesturing for him to lead the way upstairs where I take a seat on Stiles' bed after a brief hello which didn't even get a response from the brown haired boy typing frantically on his keyboard.
"You know how many vehicle collisions last year involved dear?" Stiles asks his dad who had stopped in the doorway. "247,000."
"That's fascinating." I laugh as the sheriff looks pained at his son.
"Oh, god, please go to school." He says shaking his head.
"But that's crossing the road. This one last night came right down the middle." Stiles continues completely oblivious to his father.
"I'm not going to beg you." The sheriff comes into the room rubbing the back of his head and stopping right behind Stiles' chair.
"Okay good. I'm impervious to your influence anyway." Stiles just keeps typing away not even looking up at his dad.
"Would you consider a bribe?" The sheriff throws out as I watched highly amused.
"You couldn't meet my price."
"Extortion?"
"You got nothing on me." Stiles answers causing the sheriff to look back at me for help. I chuckle before getting up off the bed and walking to Stiles' desk closing the lid of his laptop and sitting on the desk in front of him with my eyebrows quirked. "Hey."
"School." I answer reaching down by my leg and grabbing the strap of his backpack. I glance up without moving our faces inches away from each other. "Now." I enunciate and Stiles blinks at me a few times flabbergasted. When I realize that I haven't moved I pull back slowly and Stiles shakes out of the spell jumping out of his chair stammering.
"Right…. School. We should…." He runs a hand through his hair looking around his room a little lost. "We should definitely go." With one last glance around his room he hurries down the stairs and the sheriff stares after him.
"You are really handy to have around you know that?" He asks me picking up my bag from the bed and walking me downstairs to where Stiles was already in the Jeep.
"Hey. Where are you going?" Stiles asks as I hop out of the Jeep and take off toward the school.
"Meeting up with Allison." I call back over my shoulder with a wave. "I'll see you in class."
I rush up the stairs and slide through the doors right as they are about to close with a huge grin on my face. I round the corner to my locker and see Allison and Lydia already waiting. Quietly I walk up behind Lydia and whisper "Boo!" With a jump and a strangled cry she turns on me with a sharp glare. Allison looks at me from her locker trying not to laugh at the two of us.
"So what were we talking about?" I ask skirting around the two of them and opening my locker door.
"Freshmen." Lydia replies leaning against the lockers her eyes scoping out the boys in the area. "Tons and tons of fresh men."
"You mean fresh boys." Allison responds placing a folder into her locker. "Lydia they are 14."
"Engh, some are more mature than others." The redhead's eyes never once stops on a single guy for too long. I laugh putting my books into my locker and closing the door before leaning my back against it.
"You know, it's okay to be single." Allison throws over her shoulder as she rummages in her locker. "Focus on yourself for a little while, work on becoming a better person." Lydia and I both lean forward throwing each other an amused look.
"Allison, I love you." Lydia scoffs looking down at her shoes with a smile. "So if you need to do that thing where we talk about me and pretend like we're not actually talking about you, it's totally fine." Lydia sighs and turns to our friend. "But I don't want a boyfriend." She reaches up and crashes her hand against the lockers turning back to stare at the boys in the hall again. "I want a distraction."
Allison looks over at me a smirk on her face as she closes her locker door. I smile back at her as a tingling feeling washes over the back of my neck. I turn to look behind me and see two freshmen twins stalking down the hallway towards us. Allison and Lydia both lean forward to follow my gaze.
"Oh. Percy." Lydia says breathlessly. "Nice eye." I force myself to smile but I can't seem to shake the feeling of dread that had hit me.
"Brothers?" Allison asks none of our eyes leaving the boys.
"Twins." Lydia says striking a slightly more seductive pose until the boys pass. Then she whirls on me. "You know, I could help you if you were interested in a date."
"Thanks." I chuckle pushing my hair behind my ear and pushing up off the locker. "But not my type."
"Her type is waiting in class." Allison mutters under her breath earning her a brief glare from me before we all waltz down the hallway.
Just as we get to the classroom I notice that Allison has slowed to a crawl and I pause right outside the door with her. I reach over throwing my arm around her shoulder and pull her with me into the classroom. "Don't worry Allison. I'll protect you from the big bad wolf." I smirk as she rolls her eyes at me and Lydia glance back at us with a smile before taking one of the empty seats by the window. I catch Stiles' eye and he removes his bag from the seat in front of him which he'd been saving for me. I let go of Allison and slide into the seat with a smile of gratitude. Scott throws a low hello in my direction and I turn to look at Stiles who had sunk into his seat.
Allison glances around the room looking for a seat and her gaze falls on the only empty seat which is right in front of Scott and right beside me. With a brief look of defeat she walks over to the desk and points at it, "Is someone….." She trails off obviously uncomfortable.
"No. No, no, no, no. No, it's all yours. All yours." Scott stammers out gesturing at the seat like an idiot. Stiles taps my hand and nods in their direction and I turn to watch. "Uh, it's totally vacant." As Allison slides into the seat with a smile Scott looks over at me and Stiles. Stiles throws up a sarcastic thumbs up and I shake my head laughingly. All of a sudden all the cell phones in class light up and ring with text notifications. Glancing around I pull my phone out of my pocket and open the text message.
"The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds and the tranquil waterway," A feminine voice reads the text from the doorway of the classroom. I put my phone down already knowing where the passage came from and take in the lady who had entered our class. "Leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." She leans back against the desk her gaze flickering around the room a serene smile on her face. "This is the last line to the first book we are going to read." Then she holds up her phone gesturing at us with it. "It is also the last text you will receive in this class. Phones off everyone."
I quickly turn my phone off and drop it into my bag as everyone else in the room follows suit. We jump right into the lesson and before long everyone is writing furiously in their notebooks. Stiles and I both sit up straighter when our teacher calls Scott to the front and leads him out into the hall. Allison looks over at me with concern and I smile reassuringly before turning to look at Stiles who looks as confused as I do. We quietly turn back to our work and I tap my pen against my paper silently wishing that class would hurry up and finish.
"Hey Lydia." Stiles whispers from behind me and I turn my head slightly to see him pointing at the bandage on her ankle. "What is that? Is it from the accident?"
"No. Prada bit me." Lydia answers her voice low and her eyes focused on the front of the classroom.
"Your dog?" Stiles sounds confused.
"No. My designer handbag." Lydia snarks back and I chuckle into my paper hiding my smile as the teacher rejoins the class. "Yes my dog."
"Has it ever bitten you before?" Stiles asks and I reach back and smack his leg to try and get him to shut up. Lydia shakes her head turning back to her work. "Okay. What if it's, like, the same thing as the deer? You know, like how animals start acting weird right before an earthquake or something?"
"Are you trying to say that we are going to have an earthquake?" I turn in my seat and look at him incredulously.
"I said 'or something'." He replies turning back to Lydia. "Maybe it means something is coming. Something bad."
"It was a deer and a dog." Lydia scoffs with a shrug. "What's that thing you say about threes?" She taps my arm with her pencil and I shrug at her in response. "Once, twice…" We all jump as a thud comes from the window and I look at it seeing a blood spatter. I slide out of my seat and walk to the window at the same time the teacher does. Flying straight to the window at a phenomenal speed is a massive flock of ravens. I glance over at the teacher as the first bird crashes into the window cracking the glass. We both take a step back and lean against the desk behind us as one right after the other birds crash through the windows glass exploding everywhere. I throw my hands up to shield my face as everyone in the class starts screaming.
"Get down, everyone!" Ms. Blake yells as she crouches down. Everyone dives to the floor except Stiles who reaches across the desk and pull me down beside him shielding my head as I watch the birds continue to break through the windows. Once he's sure that I'm okay Stiles reaches out and grabs Lydia pulling her close and covering her head. Lydia grabs my arm in fear as I peek over Stiles' shoulder to see the birds clawing and pecking at the other students in the class. I see Allison taking shelter under her desk and our gaze connects for a millisecond right before a raven flies straight at my head. Stiles pulls me in closer and I duck my head back down clinging to his shirt. Just as suddenly as the ravens had begun their attack on our classroom they were gone.
Without releasing his grip on me Stiles helps me stand up and Lydia pulls herself up on a nearby desk. I release his shirt as I look around at everyone crawling out of their hiding spots. With a gasp I turn to see if Allison is okay and sigh in relief as I see her helping someone else up. From behind me I hear Lydia breathing heavily and I disentangle myself from Stiles' arms slowly and reach out placing a hand lightly on her arm. She glances up at me her eyes wide in fear as she takes in the disaster zone that was once our classroom. "Are you okay?" I whisper discreetly checking her for injuries. She nods shakily and I step closer pulling her into a hug as Stiles heads to the front of the class where Ms. Blake is standing in shock.
I take the time to survey the room and see that the police and paramedics had made their way here and were tending to the students while I was checking on my friend. My eyes catch the sheriff over in the corner who smiles briefly at me before walking over to where Allison was with her dad.
"Mr. Argent. You wouldn't have any insight into this, would you?" The sheriff asks.
"Me?" Mr. Argent turns away from his daughter to look at the sheriff.
"Yeah. All this bizarre animal behaviour, it's….." The sheriff pauses trying to find the words. "You must have seen something like this before, right?"
"I'm not sure why I would or why you would think I would." Mr. Argent replies a hint of anger sneaking into his tone.
"Lydia. Stay here I'll be right back." I gently sit her on the desk by her side and quietly join the group over by Allison. "Accidents do sometimes just happen." I blurt out looking between the two men. The sheriff falters and steps back quickly.
"I'm sorry." He bows his head briefly at Mr. Argent and gestures over his shoulder at Stiles. "I could've sworn I overheard my son talking about how you were an experienced hunter." I look over at Stiles and he averts my gaze by looking at the ground.
"Ah, right. Well not anymore." Mr. Argent replies in understanding his gaze briefly falling over to Stiles.
The sheriff nods in acceptance before looking between me and Allison. "You both all right?" I smile weakly at him in response and Allison answers with a hushed "Yeah." After a curt nod at Mr. Argent I walk over to where Stiles is sitting on his phone.
"Who?" I ask silently pointing at the phone in his hand.
"Scott." He mouths back as the line connects. "We got a serious problem at school." Stiles rambles off without even saying hello. "Ms. Blake's class….." He stops mid sentence as Scott says something. "Uh, well…." Stiles waves his hands around before shaking his head. "No, pretty sure this qualifies for immediate discussion." He runs his hand through his hair frustratedly and I reach out and grab his phone holding it to my ear.
"Scott?" I speak calmly as Stiles looks around the room again.
"Can you meet me at Derek's?" Scott asks immediately.
"Derek's?" Stiles head shoots up at my question and I shrug in confusion to his unasked question. "Scott why are you at Derek's?"
"Just meet us here, okay?" Scott interrupts me before disconnecting the line. I pull the phone from my ear and hand it back to Stiles.
"Looks like we are going to Derek's." I say with a shrug looking around for my bag. Once I retrieve it from the floor Stiles leads me to the Jeep and speeds all the way to Derek's place.
"Is now really the time for this?" I ask as we sit in the corner of Derek's old house with Derek inspecting Scott's arm where the tattoo had been the night before.
Derek's eyes flash bright red briefly and he nods slowly. "Yeah, I see it. Two bands, right?" Derek follows the motion of the tattoo with his hand and Scott nods. "What does it mean?"
"I don't know." Scott gulps before tracing two circles in the dust on the table next to him. "It's just something I traced with my fingers."
"Why is this so important to you?" Derek asks as I rest a hip on the table.
"Do you know what the word 'tattoo' means?" Scott counters his eyes still looking at the design he'd just made on the table.
"To mark something." Stiles pipes up from behind me causing Derek to glance at the two of us over his shoulder.
"Well, that's in Tahitian." Scott continues and I sit up straighter watching him. "In Somoan, it means 'open wound'." We all glance between each other as we wait for Scott to continue. "I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned 18. I always wanted one. I just decided to get it now, to make it kind of a reward." Scott grins at me as he explains and I feel relaxed.
"For what?" Derek asks leaning forward on his elbows.
"For not calling or texting Allison all summer." Scott looks down at the floor as Derek nods in understanding. "Even when I really wanted to… Even when it was so hard not to sometimes." I stand up as I feel a aching pain in his voice and go stand beside him placing a hand on his shoulder. "I was trying to give her the space she wants." Scott sighs and hangs his reaching up and patting my hand lightly. "Going four months later, it still hurts. It still feels like a….."
"Like an open wound." Stiles finishes for him.
"Yeah." Scott nods looking up at him with a few stray tears in his eyes.
I take a deep breath before turning to Scott. "And here you were telling us it didn't mean anything." I stick my tongue out jokingly to lighten the mood and Scott chuckles as Derek reaches next to him.
"The pain's gonna be worse than anything you've ever felt." Derek admits and Stiles crinkles his nose.
"Oh, that's great." Stiles whispers watching his friend.
"Do it." Scott answers and Derek lights the blowtorch in his hand with a creepy smirk.
"Whoa wolfy. Whatcha got there?" My gaze is locked on the flame as I hold my hands up instinctively.
"That's a lot for me." Stiles pipes up his eyes as wide as mine. "So I'm gonna take that as my cue." He walks over to my side and places a hand on the small of my back ready to lead me out of the room. "We're just going to wait outside." I throw one last look at Scott who nods at me before heading from the room Stiles right behind me.
"Nope." Derek reaches out and grabs Stiles' arm and pulls him back to Scott's side. "You can help hold him down." I stop in the doorway and look back at the three boys. Derek nods in my direction. "I'll take care of him." He says quietly sensing my worries. With a nod I walk out of the room and close the door behind me. I head into the other room where Isaac was laying still unconscious after what had happened at the hospital.
I wince when Scott's moans rip through the house and brace myself on the table beside Isaac. Taking a deep breath I shake it off. "He'll be okay Percy." I whisper to myself busying myself with checking on Isaac.
Before long the shouting stops and Scott and Stiles come out of the room chatting amongst each other. My eyes fall to Scott's arm and see the two dark bands encircling it. I smile as I join their sides.
"Looks pretty damn permanent now." Stiles says nodding his head at the tattoo.
"Yeah." Scott runs his hand over the tattoo as I nod at Derek thankfully. He nods back in response then heads off to the other side of the room putting stuff away. "I kind of needed something permanent." Scott pulls the sleeve of his shirt down covering the tattoo. "Everything that's happened to us, everything just changes so fast. Everything's so….." Scott pauses beside us thinking for a moment. "Ephemeral."
Stiles and I both look at Scott impressed. "Studying for the PSATs?" Stiles asks Scott.
"Yep."
"Nice." I smile at my two boys and then through an arm over Scott's shoulder.
"Want to know what else you have that's permanent?" I grin up at him and he quirks his eyebrows questioningly. "Us." I point between myself and Stiles and Scott smiles widely hugging me to his side briefly. "No matter what happens we're here for you."
Scott releases me then opens the door. Just as he was about to go through he pauses looking at it closely. "You painted the door." He says running his hand over it. Derek looks up from where he was rummaging but doesn't say anything. "Why'd you paint the door?"
"Go home, Scott." Derek answers sadly and I look between the two of them.
"And why only one side?" Scott continues asking glancing between the front and back of the door. After a few seconds of silence Scott unsheathes his claws and peels away a strip of paint off the door.
"Scott." Derek says urgently storming towards the door and Scott. I step in front of him holding a hand up while watching Scott. Scott starts attacking the door peeling the paint of quickly. Derek tries to push past me but stops when he realizes I wasn't going to move. I step closer once Scott stops and see a familiar symbol on the door, though I can place where I'd seen it before.
"The birds at school and the deer last night, just like the night I got trampled by the deer when I got bit by the Alpha." Scott talks calmly as he pieces together the puzzle. He looks past me at Derek and speaks with more authority than before. "How many are there?"
Derek sighs and shakes his head remaining silent until I turn and look at him my eyes pleading. "A pack of them….. An alpha pack." He answers solemnly.
"They are all alphas?" Stiles questions placing a hand on my shoulder and pulling me back slightly. "All of them? How does that even work?"
"I hear there's some kind of leader." Derek replies crossing his arms. "He's called Deucalion. We know they have Boyd and Erica." Derek looks between the three of us before his eyes fall and stop at me. "Peter, Isaac, and I have been looking for them for the last four months."
"Let's say you find them." Scott speaks up stepping around me. "How do you deal with an Alpha pack?"
"With all the help I can get." Derek admits causing Scott to look at me and Stiles who both nod.
"Where is she?" We all spin around as a voice comes from the other room. "Where's the girl?" Isaac asks frantically and I hurry past the wolves to his side.
"What girl?" Derek asks from behind me as I help Isaac remain seated. Isaac struggles against me weakly as the three boys watch him cautiously. I look back at them my eyes wide with fear.