"Carter, Brian! It's good to see you!" Deaton sounded too cheerful for us to trust him. It had been three days since Stiles and I talked about the kiss. Three days of our official training. Three days of Deaton quizzing us on emotions with crude flash cards. Happy, upset, exhausted. It was boring, although I had learned a few new ones. Growing affection, genuine romantic love, and corrupted sexual intent.
"Nice to see you too, Deaton," I replied cautiously. Brian and I dropped our backpacks behind the main counter of the shelter and turned to stare at him leaning in the doorway that led to the back of the shelter, the area where our training took place.
"Remember how the two of you said you were bored with cards and simple emotions? Remember how you said you wanted a challenge? You wanted to really do something with your time?" Deaton demanded and I remembered very quickly that exact conversation.
"Come on, Deaton," Brian whined. "We've been doing this stuff since we were kids. At ten years old, I knew what clown to avoid at birthday parties."
"Deaton, I brought my brother back from the dead. I want to learn how to build, not just read. I mean, look, I know I have to know how to read situations and nature just as much as people, but I want to get that done quick. I want to be a builder!"
"And you will be, with patience."
The synchronization of mine and Brian's eye rolls were perfect and Deaton just frowned at us and pointed towards the flash cards once again.
"Okay," Brian said slowly. "What do you have in mind?"
"Well, I found some volunteers today. Why don't you come on back?" He walked through and Brian and I studied one another for a minute before we followed him cautiously, him talking the entire time. "The two of you are good readers, I'll give you that. You're advanced for your age and for your level of training. But the two of you are nowhere near as advanced as you think you are. But, since you insist on bounding ahead, let me give you a taste of what's on your road still."
We stepped inside and found Scott and Isaac sitting up on the table, staring at us. Isaac was wearing his general vacant smile and Scott was studying us carefully. Brian said drily, "Let me guess, these two are our test."
"Yes, yes they are."
"Alright, let's get up close and personal with the shadow men," I sighed.
"Uh uh," Deaton stopped us. "You're not getting 'up close and personal' with them. You're getting up close and personal with their wolves. And you're going to read their human side through their wolves. Boys, if you will please."
Deaton motioned towards them and Brian and I watched in horror as they transformed in front of our eyes. It was without warning when they shifted. I'd never seen a werewolf before but I expected it was more like the movies. I expected them to howl in pain or to shudder or something. But they didn't. They just stared at us and their shadow raced to the front, slamming against their natural faces. Hair spread down their jawlines while the actual bones shifted. Their eyebrow bones elongated and jutted out over their face while their noses were flattened and their jaws snapped so that their teeth protruded. Their glinting, razor sharp teeth. Brian and I stepped back and Brian threw himself in front of me. I snapped, "How in the hell is it going to help me if they attack you?"
""They're not going to attack you," Deaton promised. "One, I know for a fact that the two of you carry mountain ash on you at all times now. Two, they're in control of themselves. They have a task to focus on. They're your test."
"What?" Brian demanded."
"They're your test," Deaton repeated. "They each have something to focus on. A thought playing over and over in their heads. And it's your job to identify the thought and everything about it. So, Carter, you're with Isaac because it's easier for Scott to be around Brian. I'll let you stay in the same room because Isaac feeds off Scott and you and Brian feed off each other. Brian and Scott, over by the cages. Carter and Isaac, table near the door. Behave yourselves."
Isaac and Scott slid off the operating table and separated. Brian and I stood still, neither of us wanting to approach the wolves. Deaton ordered, "Go. You didn't want to do flashcards so this is your break. We're going to work backwards since the two of you are just so damn smart."
"But…."
"Nope. Approach your partners and get to work. I'll be filling out paperwork." Deaton left the room, leaving Scott and Isaac staring at us patiently.
"It'll be alright," I said slowly, more for Brian than myself.
"You are aware that I know when you're lying, right?"
"Yep."
"Just checking. Let's get this over with."
I reached out and took my brother's hand in mine to squeeze it for a second and he squeezed back. We released at the same time and I made my way over to Isaac. He greeted, "Hey, Carter" but his voice wasn't his own. It was deeper, gravelly. He continued, "You really don't have to be scared."
"Right, well, seeing as how you could rip my throat out in two seconds, I'm going to be a little scared until this is over. But we should learn to be around your kind."
"Your kind, huh?"
"Don't flirt with my sister, Isaac, focus on what you're supposed to be doing," Brian scolded without turning his focus away from Scott.
Isaac had enough sense to look ashamed before his face turned serious and I could see the emotions shifting. It was hard enough to read the shadow people when they weren't wolfed out. Most of the time, it was like looking in a store window with a reflection blocking the view; the shadow being the reflection and the human being the inside of the store. It was hard to see through the reflection, but it wasn't impossible. The reflection was just frustrating. But, when they were wolfed out, it was like painting the store window over with slightly transparent paint and then asking us what was inside.