Theo scurried through the trees, inhaling all the different scents around him - morning dew lingering on the leaves, the slightly sweet earthy smell of freshly disturbed dirt, oils from the rain they'd had earlier in the day. There was nothing more appealing to him than the smell of nature, except maybe the feel of a cool breeze against his fur as he ran through the wooded area surrounding the big top. Theo was going to miss this feeling of freedom once the Circus officially opened tonight and he had to cut back on shape shifting, out-with show times. Seeing a large black wolf running loose around a suburb in Northern California would probably send the locals into a panic and have them calling animal control. He definitely didn't need that kind of drama.
As he reached the perimeter of the temporary living area of the performers, he forced the shift to begin in his body. It was never a pleasant experience, no matter how many times he done it, it never hurt any less. Pain rippled through him as his bones began to shorten and rearrange their shape within his frame. His fur receded and fangs retracted back into his gums, human teeth taking their place. He was no longer a wolf on all fours but a very naked teenage boy, glistening with sweat. He picked up the rucksack he'd left hidden in the hollow of a tree and proceeded to slip into some clothes.
Making his way to the biggest of the tents, the one they always met up in before heading to a show, he pushed aside the flap and sure enough, everyone was there waiting on him. Corey - a were-chameleon, who was the best person at doing sleight of hand tricks that Theo had ever seen - waved him over.
"You're late again" the boy said whilst shaking his head, a smile creeping onto his face.
"I'm always late. Shouldn't you be used to it by now?" Theo replied smirking, gently slapping his hand down onto Corey's shoulder.
Stiles, the leader of their little supernatural troupe, was standing by the animal cages looking irritated. He always looked like that nowadays though, ever since the day someone started kidnapping supernatural creatures. Stiles was no longer the flailing smart mouth teen Theo had first met. Not since the day Derek had been taken. He could fake it in front of the crowds, be the most charismatic person any of the humans had ever encountered, leave them wanting more and believing in magic but he couldn't fake it to any of the acts. They all knew too much.
They'd spent the past year since the disappearances started, travelling up and down the country with their circus of misfits trying to find clues as to where all the missing supernaturals could be.
Stiles thinks he's finally found the answer or at least their best bet, right here in Beacon Hills. In a museum, a display case filled with historical jewellery and trinkets has a necklace with a speckled olive green stone. Stiles believes it's the Cintamani stone, an ancient wish fulfilling relic that would allow them to locate Derek and the others. It's never knowingly been found and without any real evidence it actually ever even existed, Theo is cynical. He keeps quiet though because Stiles needs the hope.
They'd somehow managed to get themselves a small close-up magic type show inside the museum taking place in a few days time, under the guise of promo for the circus. Stiles ability to talk people into things had always impressed him. Theo hated the idea though, human children were always so sticky but they needed an in for their plan to work. The plan being a heist of the necklace.
It was still a while until the start of the first show so Stiles decided it was the perfect time to fit in another practice run. Theo and Corey crawled into one of the animal cages and waited.
"Now remember, there will be two paper clips on the floor of your cage. Technically you shouldn't need more than one but in case something happens, i'm looking at you here Theo, then you'll have a backup" Stiles said taking a step back and holding up a stopwatch.
"Your lack of faith astounds me" Theo retorted. You could say Theo used to be on the unreliable side, never showing up when he said he would, always a little difficult to work with and Stiles wasn't one to let him forget it. He'd had a few problems in the past, still did somewhat, his mind was mayhem. You could probably find more peace in a war zone.
"You'll have exactly two minutes to complete your part of this. That's how long it takes for the security cameras to do a full sweep of the place. We're not sure if we'll be able to turn them off completely" he hit the button. "Start."
Theo moved forward and grasped at one of the paperclips, folding it into an L shape. Sliding forward, he moved towards the lock. It was much trickier to pick a lock from behind than he anticipated, when he'd be practicing thus far on a padlock, he'd always been facing it. He had to blindly feel his way to the slot and try to slide in the pieces of the paperclip. One end acting as a tension rod, the other jiggling in the lock until it hit the sweet spot and opened. This would've been a lot easier if he could've just yanked the lock off using his werewolf strength but Stiles decided that could draw too much attention and cause too much noise.
"Forty-five seconds" Stiles called out.
"C'mon Theo, you've got this. You need to hurry it up" Corey said from behind him.
Just a little over a minute left and Theo didn't feel like he was any closer to picking the lock. Something to the side of them suddenly caught his eye, a small girl who looked much younger than him and a boy who looked around Theo's age with messy sandy brown hair were peering through a gap in the tent, looking straight at him. Theo could only see half of the boy's face but it was the most beautiful half a face he'd ever seen.
He fumbled with the paperclip and glanced away from the boy, fighting the temptation to look back over. He wondered what the boy was doing here, how did he know to wander this far out from the main tent. Crowds weren't even due to start arriving at the big top for at least another half hour yet.
"One minute gone" Stiles said breaking him from his train of thought.
"You can do it! You're almost there" Kira, one of the knife thrower's shouted to him.
"30 seconds left" Stiles said. Theo really hated that damn stopwatch. There's no way he could do this, not with the added pressure of this mystery boy watching him so intently. Who the hell is he?
His hands were sweating now and starting to shake a little, making it all the more challenging. He could feel the paperclip slipping in his hands and then it was all over. The clip silently fell to the ground, his eyes shot over to the gap in the tent embarrassed that the boy had seen him fail. Theo was so used to being able to do everything, he hated being a failure. He needn't have worried though, the boy and the girl were gone.
"Dammit." He said. Theo wasn't sure whether the disappointment sitting in his stomach was due to the fact he didn't have enough time left to pick up the second paperclip and try again or because he'd probably never see that boy again.