Author's note – So this is an idea that I've been toying with for YEARS. And I've finally decided what to do with it. Hope you enjoy.

Heritage

Chapter One

Isn't it strange how an experience can bring people together; people you thought would never want to be within ten feet of each other, let alone share an adventure? I know I sure think it's weird but this is precisely what happened to some of my classmates and me. Though at the time we weren't exactly class-mates. I guess I should start at the beginning.

My name is Stiles Stilinski…okay, it's not really but my real name is completely unpronounceable so I just go by Stiles. And I'm just what you would call your average, every day, run of the mill teenage boy…or at least I would have been if you had asked me a few years ago. You see, the experience I had changed me, changed me in ways I wouldn't have dreamed possible and because of this I suppose I'm exactly the opposite to your average, every day, run of the mill teenage boy.

It all started on a swelteringly hot day in July. One of those days where you can't seem to suck enough air into your lungs and sweat literally pours out of you. The whole of my history class (twenty-two children including me) and one incredibly dull teacher were all crammed inside a stuffy little room and forced to endure a tedious lecture on how and when sewers were introduced to different areas of the world. I think it was a relief to everyone when there was a knock at the door, cutting Mr Eades off midsentence.

The door opened a fraction and a small, grey head popped through the gap. The head belonged to the school secretary, Mrs Johnson, who was notoriously soft-hearted and would allow most children to go home whenever they feigned illness. She blinked at us several times from behind over-sized spectacles before speaking.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Sir, but the new pupil has just arrived and I wondered if he could join the class, even though it is a little late."

I glanced at the clock. 'Little' was an understatement. There were barely fifteen minutes left before class ended and school closed for the summer. Why had this newbie even bothered to come?

I tapped the shoulder of the kid next to me and he jerked in his seat. His name was Isaac Lahey and he had been my best friend and next door neighbour since the beginning of middle school. Isaac looked up and his bleary, unfocused eyes told me that I had just woken him. That sounded about right. He slept through most classes.

"New kid," I informed him with a grin. "Five dollars says he's a complete loser."

He grinned back. "You're on."

Now a smarter guy would have known that a bet like that was a lost cause. He would have known that the amount of losers in this world vastly outnumbered the amount of winners. But Isaac wasn't exactly what you would call a smart guy, at least, not when it came to money. I'd never met his real parents and he never spoke of them but his adoptive family, the Precotts, were rich. Not super, filthy rich but wealthy enough to be able to buy anything that their only child's heart desired and because of this, Isaac spent the whole of his adolescence thinking that paying vast amounts for computer games and losing money on hopeless bets was normal.

The class was beginning to buzz the way it always did whenever there was a new arrival. The girls especially seemed excited about the fact that this kid was male.

When Mr Eades decided to allow him in, Mrs Johnson disappeared back behind the door and I could hear her hushed whispers before the door opened further and someone else stepped in. There was a collective gasp when he did so.

He was certainly the oddest addition to the class we'd had so far. He stood at about six feet tall and had the kind of shoulders most rugby players would kill for. His coat was like something out of 'The Matrix', all high collar and long tail and his black hair hung over his face in long, greasy strands. He surveyed the classroom with cold, hard eyes before dropping his gaze to the floor to carefully observe the tiles as though they were the most interesting thing in the room.

"Class, this is Derek Watts." Mr Eades said. "I hope you will all try to make him feel welcome."

I leaned in towards Isaac. "Looks like you owe me big." I whispered.

Isaac didn't respond. He was staring openly at Derek, blue eyes wide in what looked like shock and he was holding onto the sides of his seat so hard his knuckles were practically white.

"It's just five dollars, mate," I muttered.

His apparent despair caught the newcomer's attention and those unsettling eyes flashed briefly over my friend before fixing on me and his expression went from blank indifference to full on scowl. My stomach sank instantly, the way it usually did when I knew something bad was going to happen, and I felt an overwhelming need to leave the room. I shook my head and lowered my gaze, doing my best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling.

"Alright, Derek, why don't you take a seat? There's one next to…" Mr Eades trailed off as he realised the only spare seat was the one at the desk on my right. He remained silent for a moment, obviously trying to decide whether or not I would attempt to corrupt the boy but then he glanced at Derek and must have decided he was a lost cause anyway because he waved a hand in my general direction and resumed the mind-numbing lecture again.

Derek started down the aisle, his steel-capped boots clomping loudly on the floor, before he settled himself in the neighbouring seat and for the rest of the class I felt his eyes boring into my side. It was the longest ten minutes of my life!

Caffeine can cure anything. That's what I decided as I gulped down a can full of it. The freaked out feeling I had been carrying with me since class instantly vanished and I felt more like myself again. I sighed and leaned back against the wall, savouring the buzz energy drinks always gave me. Isaac had recently taken to telling me that I was like an alcoholic and needed to kick the habit but the advice came far too late. I was already hooked.

"Hey, man, when you've finished dosing yourself up, do you think you could hurry and join us on the pitch, already? Mr Andrews is getting impatient." A voice said to my right. It belonged to a boy called Tanner. He was in most of my classes and was the hotshot of the school. Smart, athletic and good looking to boot. There was no wonder all the girls loved him. That small detail usually irritated the rest of us guys but Tanner was the kind of person you just couldn't hate, no matter how much you wanted to.

I jumped up, full of energy by now and followed him out of the changing rooms and into the blazing hot summer sun.

Every Friday evening, we had soccer practice, no matter the weather. We could have six feet of snow with a chance of tornadoes and Mr Andrews, our coach, would still have us running laps out there. He was totally committed and always wanted us to be the best that we could be...in everything. It was a rule of his that if we weren't getting at least a 'C' in all of our classes then there was no soccer. I think that was the main reason he was hired to work in our school. That and the fact that he, himself was an amazing player. Rumour was, if he hadn't banged up his leg in an accident back in his teen years he might have even gone pro. Now he just settled for teaching us knuckleheads how to kick a ball around the field.

Only ten of us had actually bothered to turn up to practice. I guess the others had more important places to be, like barbeques and summer parties. Either that or they were just a lot smarter than us and knew that playing in a heat-wave like this was just begging for a migraine.

After Mr Andrews ran us through the usual warm ups, we put ourselves into teams of five and got ready to play.

In my group – or technically Tanner's group since he was the appointed captain – there was himself, Isaac, a kid called Rory, another who's name I could never remember so I just called him Steve, and me. All in all we made a pretty good team. Tanner was an excellent striker, Steve could tackle even the fastest opponent, Rory and Isaac were great defenders and I was more than decent in the net.

The other team had some great players too but I was feeling confident about this game. Well, I was at first anyway.

As I put on a pair of protective gloves I caught sight of Isaac staring up into the stands with a look of total dismay. At first I thought he was just nervous about practicing in front of the gaggle of girls that had formed up there but then I saw who he was really looking at and my jaw dropped.

Derek Watts. Sitting alone on one of the benches in all his gloomy, gothic glory. And even from down where I was, I could tell that he was looking directly at us. A shiver ran down my spine and I turned away, just like I had earlier and wondered what was wrong with the guy and why he seemed to be following me.

Steve joined my side and gave a low whistle. He was looking up at the stand too but not at Derek. He had his eyes firmly set on the girls.

"Man, I swear the chicks at this school get hotter with every passing week. One day I'm going to go up to one of them and – "

"Get your head in the game, Steve." I interrupted and made my way over to the net.

"Hey, for the hundredth time, my name is not Steve, it's…" The rest of what he said was drowned out by the coach's whistle, signalling the start of the match.

Tanner launched himself into the game instantly and within seconds he scored the first goal. We all cheered and the girls screamed excitedly in the background.

Things like "We love you, Tanner!" and even, "You look great in shorts!" were being shouted down and Tanner beamed from ear to ear as he jogged back toward us.

For the next half hour we played as hard as we could. We scored another goal and I saved three attempts made by the other team but I was tiring fast and my head hurt like crazy.

The others didn't seem to be faring too well either. They were dripping wet and red faced as they sprinted back and forth across the pitch. Steve looked the worst. He was bent over double and heaving in air as though there wasn't enough to go around. Tanner clapped him on the back and tried to cheer him on but it didn't look like either of them could keep going for much longer.

"Come on, lads," Mr Andrews called. "Another ten minutes and you can all go home. You can do it."

I groaned inwardly, ran a hand through my sodden hair and settled back into a defensive position. The other team had the ball now and were coming my way, Steve hot on their tails. Isaac and Rory readied themselves, preparing to take the ball back and I shouted out insults at our opponents, trying to goad them into making a mistake. A cheap shot, I know, but I didn't really care at this point. The very thought of putting in more effort and diving for the ball again was exhausting in itself.

You're getting pretty tired there, aren't you, Stiles? A voice whispered. I stiffened and looked about but couldn't see anyone close enough to have said anything.

Oh yes, you're getting tired and so very, very weak. You're pathetic. Those other players are going to wipe the floor with you.

I frowned and tried to ignore the voice, wherever it was coming from, as I watched the opposing striker getting closer and closer but the voice wouldn't stop and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't completely blank it out. Perhaps it was my subconscious trying to tell me I was over tired…and a lot more self-loathing than I would have ever thought.

You're going to fail. You're going to fail at everything you set out to do. Just give up. You're useless.

"STILES!" I heard Isaac yell, rousing me from my thoughts. Suddenly something struck my head. Hard. And I fell to ground with a grunt. The bright sky above me spun around a few times before being blotted out by several concerned faces that swam slowly into focus.

"Ow," I muttered and the others breathed a sigh of relief. Rory and Isaac put out their hands to haul me up. As I stood, my head gave a painful twinge and dizziness overtook me for a second but it was gone almost as quickly as it started.

"Sorry about that, mate," the other striker said. "I shouldn't have kicked it so hard."

I waved his apology away. "Nah, I should have been paying more attention. It was my fault."

Mr Andrews appeared by my side. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, handing out bottles of much needed water, one of which I took and gulped down greedily.

"We're good thanks, Sir," Isaac said. "Just tired and in desperate need of a shower." The others eagerly nodded their agreement and Mr Andrews smiled resignedly.

"Alright, practice is finished for the day. You can all go and I'll see you after the holidays."

I don't think I'd ever loved our coach more than in that moment and judging by the cheering around me, I guessed that everyone else felt the same.

On our way back to the changing rooms, Isaac stuck closely to my side, whilst the others raced on ahead, keen to leave.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he questioned me. "What happened to you back there? You completely zoned out."

"I'm fine. I just got too hot and lost concentration." I replied, deciding it was probably best to leave out the part where I started hearing voices. "All I need is an ice cold drink and a bed and I'll be - " I trailed off, feeling my throat constrict and stomach lurch.

Right next to the changing room doors stood our newly established stalker, Derek, still clad in his long leather coat which, in this weather, must have been torturing the kid even though he wasn't showing an ounce of discomfort. I stopped a foot or so away from him and raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to explain himself but he just gazed down at me from behind a curtain of dark hair, smirking in a really creepy sort of way.

Isaac quickly pulled me back and stepped forward, like he thought Derek would try to hurt me or something, which wouldn't have surprised me really. Just standing this close to the guy was unnerving.

"You should leave," Isaac growled.

Derek only smiled wider before inclining his head, "Yes, I suppose I should, really."

His voice sounded strangely familiar and I stared hard at him, wracking my brain, trying to figure out if I actually knew him from somewhere but his face was mostly hidden and I couldn't make out any discernible features.

A few seconds passed by in silence before Derek pretended to doff an invisible hat, said "Gentlemen," like he was in some corny nineteen-fifties movie and turned on his heel to stalk away towards the school gates. Isaac watched him until he was out of sight.

"Kid has some serious issues." He grumbled as he went inside and grabbed his bag. "He better leave us alone next term or me and him are going to have a big problem."

I agreed and slung my own backpack over my shoulder. The strange feeling of dread was back and try as I might, I couldn't figure out why this guy had such an effect on me. My stomach was tying itself in knots the way it usually did before a major test or match. But I refused to believe I was actually scared of him. I mean, sure, Derek was a little spooky but he was just a dumb kid with no apparent social skills or likable qualities. Perhaps this was just his way of trying to make friends. Huh, now that was a scary thought.

"So, I was wondering if you'd like to stay over at mine tonight." Isaac said as we started for home, helpfully taking my thoughts onto more pleasant matters.

"Sure," I replied. It wasn't really uncommon for one of us to stay over at the other's place. In fact, in the last couple of weeks, Isaac must have slept over at my house every other day. It was almost as if he was afraid to leave my side.

"That's great!" He exclaimed happily with a clap of his hands. "I've got a whole bunch of new games that we need to try out. But you'll need to bring an extra set of controllers. One of mine broke the other day and by broke I mean my mother stepped on them whilst cleaning my room. As if it actually needed cleaning."

I grinned, knowing all too well that his room often looked like it had been ransacked by a group of over eager burglars who later decided not to bother taking anything. Isaac didn't believe in tidying or cleaning up after himself and there had been several occasions where I could have sworn I had seen something move within the mounds of clothes, books and game cases that covered his floor.

But even with the very real possibility of getting eaten alive by whatever it was that lurked in Isaac's room, I was beginning to look forward to the evening.