Lydia Martin had a briefcase in one hand, a hazelnut macchiato in the other, and her heels clicked against the sidewalks as she set her eyes on the sky scraper a few blocks down. Her chin was up and not even the pollution of the great city could bother her because today was the day she started her first official work as an editor for Hale Publishing Inc.
She had fought her way to the top from the very beginning. As a young teenager, Lydia had a passion for writing. It began as an online hobby but eventually an eleventh grade independent writing assignment made it into something else entirely. Her english teacher fell in love with the way she wrote and insisted she write for the school newspaper. There wasn't much to lose in the opportunity, Lydia was already the head of her school's Mu Alpha Theta members. She became a double-threat and in no time her early admissions letter to Stanford University was in her mailbox.
College hadn't exactly been easy, especially when she was torn between majoring in mathematics or literature her sophomore year. It was a tough decision filled with lots of schedule changes but in the end, she took on the burden of being a double major. She couldn't really say she loved one over the other, and she wanted to explore career possibilities in both fields. Needless to say, her junior year she barely left the dorm room except for her classes. But finally, after two long years of grueling work, Lydia was handed her diploma and she set off with her expectations high.
Lydia Martin was a very determined woman. She refused to take no for an answer. She set high standards for herself and would do anything and work as hard as possible to reach them. So of course, she immediately set her sights on an open editorial job in a big company in New York City. She had a timeline set out. She'd work as an editor for a few years, maybe even write a book herself before going back to grad school and getting her masters in mathematics before taking on her lifelong goal of winning a Fields Medal. The only problem was that she was against hundreds of other applicants.
However, a Stanford diploma and a bit of determination does wonders for a working woman. It came as no surprise when she was offered the editorial position at Hale Publishing, and within a week she had packed up her life in California and rented a studio apartment in the big apple, ready to take on the world.
Her first few weeks at the company brought nothing but misery as she read through awful manuscripts. They had all been done before, nothing original. Dystopian society? Please, way over done. Every romance story she read was cut and dry, each author trying way too hard to imitate Nicholas Sparks. Every detective, crime, or mystery story had content with the substance of Jello. And every supernatural story was way too theatrical with the damn claws and fangs.
Lydia had definitely begun to get discouraged when she had taken the last manuscript home for the weekend. She had been putting it off for what seemed like forever, disinterested by the undesirable title of "My Best Friend, the Werewolf". However, the title was the only terrible part. It was a combination of anything a YA book could possibly want, minus the dystopian society because face it, there's already one too many of those.
The characters were all so relatable. The protagonist was your typical geeky, run-of-the-mill teenager with a knack for sarcasm. His name was rough though, I mean really who names their character Tyler Tessersmith. Lydia continued on and discovered that despite seeming to lead a normal life, the story was a narration of the crazy adventures he had as his best friend became a werewolf. As the exposition wore on, the supporting characters were introduced with wit and charm.
To start off with, there was his best friend, Matt Summers. He was described right off the bat as "a level-headed teen with a heart of gold who just happened to be blessed with the bite". The way the author described the relationship, she could tell the two were close and the story would centralize them.
Then there was the girl who his best friend fell in love with, but they couldn't be together. She was a hunter, and not just your average hunter, she was a werewolf hunter. Her name was Ally Silver. Albeit the cheesy, Romeo and Juliet, forbidden love aspect, it was refreshing. The huntress was described as "a spunky little brunette with a sense of purity".
There were other characters among the list but Lydia had a feeling the writer was going for a "golden trio" kind of feel.
The real story began as Tyler noticed Matt was acting strangely. Matt suddenly excelled at sports, his reflexes almost unnatural. His senses had become acutely aware - sound, smell, sight, everything. And, on the down side, his mood had decreased significantly. In the narrator's words "He was acting like a girl having major PMS outlashes, but he had the newly formed muscles to do some serious damage".
Lydia felt herself being drawn in as Matt recalled the details of helping his best friend gain control over these new found powers. She found it so original that for once, the story was not told in the hero's perspective but rather by the sidekick. It was like hearing Robin's side of the events in stead of Batman's and she loved it.
Then there were the hunters, always right on their trail. If being new to the supernatural world wasn't scary enough, try being hunted down and wanted dead, that ought to do you in. The hunters were relentless, and Tyler described many of their encounters as "close ones", but somehow the two always managed to escape before things got ugly.
The plot developed even further when the villain was introduced. The question "Who is the alpha?" served to keep the reader on their toes while at the same time indicating a clear antagonist. A list of characters had been described, all who had plenty of evidence stacked against them but even Lydia couldn't narrow it down as she searched for context clues. There were so many possibilities. And even then, Lydia didn't really want to make assumptions. After all, in fictional crime stories, it's never the first suspect.
Tyler and Matt found themselves in a sticky situation. Here they were, just two guys trying to make the lacrosse team, but things just couldn't work out for them. There was a killer werewolf on the loose, a girl had popped out of nowhere town and unintentionally stole one of their hearts, hunters with big guns and deadly weapons were after them, and oh yeah, they still had chemistry homework.
Lydia loved it, she loved it a lot. She stayed up all through the night that Friday with a red pen in hand and before she knew it the sun was peeking out over the skyline. She didn't care she had spent the whole night editing, she was deeply satisfied. Not only did she have her first actual chance at the company, but she had found a story that was good.
It was nothing short of a charming story that would be a smash hit in the YA category. It had anything you could ask for without being over-bearing. The author was clearly very intelligent and cunning. Their word choice had been amazing and their style was simply unique. She felt a connection to the writer as she read it front to back. The narrator was not much different from Nick Carraway if she thought about it. He was both within, and without. He observed from the outside yet he was very much a participant in the story. It was just the story she'd been looking for.
She didn't hesitate to email her boss, Derek Hale. She insisted she had found a worthwhile story and emailed him the online version (the ones without her edits and revision and marginal notes). She awaited his reply anxiously and by Sunday night, it was officially set. The author would fly in next week and they would discuss the possibility of publishing the piece. Lydia Martin had officially reached step one in her plan for success.
Which brings her to where she was at that Monday morning. She was staring at the skyscraper that she worked in, feeling more confident than ever. She had waited all week for this. She was minutes away from not only beginning the journey of her literary career but from meeting such a clever and intellectual being. She had thought about what he would be like the whole week and she couldn't help but get a little carried away with her imagination.
She shook her head as she raised her caffeinated beverage to her lips and sipped. The coffee immediately made her focus back on her goal 'This is it Lydia. Show them what you've got.' And with that she click-clacked her way down the rest of the sidewalk and towards the glass doors of the Hale Publishing Company. Nothing could stop Lydia Martin today.
A.N.- So that was the prologue of Like Fire and Ice. I hope you guys liked it. PLEASE let me know how it was. I don't get much feedback for my Stydia stuff so I want to know if anyone is actually enjoying it:) Thank you so much for reading I really hope you liked it, any feedback is greatly appreciated. Oh and I'll fix any errors tomorrow it's like midnight so I didn't edit much
P.S.- Don't worry Derek, Jackson, and more will all come up in due time. And Stiles will be introduced in the next chapter!