Disclaimer: Do not own TW. Wish I did, blah, blah, blah. Etc.
"If Jackson doesn't know what he's doing, then he probably doesn't know someone's controlling him," Allison's voice sounded over the speaker. The three of us were waiting in the police office for Mr. Whittemore to call us inside for whatever it was he wanted.
"Or he doesn't remember," Scott suggested, setting his hands on the desk he was sitting behind.
"What if it's like what happened to Lydia when she ran off from the hospital?" I wondered aloud. "They called it a fugue state, I think."
"He'd have to forget everything," Allison said to me and I could almost see her thoughtful expression.
"The murder, washing off the blood," Stiles explained. "He did have help with one thing, though. The video. Someone else helped him forget that."
We looked at each other and his hazel ones held an acute sharpness to them that they always did when he thought. I pursed my lips and gave him a small nod.
"Whoever's controlling him," Scott piped in.
"Are you sure Jackson has no clue about any of this?" she sounded skeptical.
"He still thinks he's going all werewolf and him being with Lydia was what caused the lack of," I paused, trying to think of a word, "wolfiness."
I heard Stiles snort at me, but Allison continued on.
"So do we try to convince him he's not?" she asked.
"Yeah," Scott was nodding, "If it helps us find out who's controlling him."
"Can't you just try and predict it, or whatever it is you do?" Stiles was looking at me.
"Totally, Stiles. Because I'm super great at controlling that at the moment," I blanched and he rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.
"Right, sorry. I forgot," he sent me a tiny smile and I laughed.
The door opened after this and Sheriff Stilinski was standing at the door. The boys went out the door and I followed, not caring if it didn't involve me.
"You will not go within fifty feet of Jackson Whittemore. You will not speak to him. You will not approach him. You will not assault him, physically or psychologically," the Sheriff read from his clipboard.
He set the board on the metal table and looked at the boys. They looked guilty and I bit my lip, anxious.
"What about school?" Stiles asked, raising his hand.
"You can attend classes while maintaining a fifty foot distance," his voice was hard.
"Okay, well what if we both have to use the bathroom at the same time," Stiles began and I slapped my palm to my forehead as the adults in the room sighed. "And there' only to stalls next to each other."
His hands were waving around, probably trying to mimic the situation in the air. Scott and I turned to our friend, glaring at him. The sheriff's jaw ticked and Stiles looked around the room.
"I'll just hold it," he mumbled, hands dropping.
We were all dismissed and Stiles' dad dragged him out into the hall by his arm. His mom pulled Scott away in a separate direction and I stood in the middle of the hall stupidly.
"Zarina," I heard my brother say from the end of the hall and I jumped.
"Oh, hey, Alex," I started, laughing nervously. "How are you doing?"
He walked up to my briskly and I cowered underneath his stare. "Pretty bad, thanks for asking," he sneered. "Do you know how worried I was when I got a call that my sister was in the police office with her friends, getting a restraining order?"
"Actually, it was only Scott and Stiles who got a restraining order," I corrected. "I was just there."
"Exactly!" he burst out. "It's always Scott and Stiles with you. Every time you're with them, you get into some sort of trouble."
"It's not their fault!" I defended quickly, crossing my arms.
"Then whose fault is it? Huh?" he stared at me, waiting and I faltered. I couldn't tell him now. This wasn't the right environment. He wouldn't believe me.
"That's what I thought," Alex said, not giving me a chance to answer. "Actually, you know what? I don't want you hanging out with them anymore and that's final."
"What? No! You can't do that!" I hissed.
"I can and I will," he replied curtly. "They're bad influences, Zarina. You won't get anywhere in life if you keep getting into trouble like this."
"Mom and dad would've understood. They would've let me talk to them instead of punishing me right off the bat," I grumbled, eyes falling to the floor.
"Well I'm not mom and dad," he said through clenched teeth. "Let's just go home. We've wasted enough time."
Alex put his hand on my back and pushed me to the front door of the office. He stopped for a second and walked up to Sheriff Stilinski.
"I'm so sorry," he started, looking at the sheriff, and I saw Scott looking at me sympathetically. He must've heard the whole argument. I shrugged and gave him an apologetic smile.
Soon, Alex's hand was pushing me out the front door and towards the car. We got in and as he drove, I could feel the anger coming off him in waves. I knew it'd take a while for him to cool down, so I chose not to apologize, or at least not yet. I took at glance at him and saw that his jaw was clenched and his eyes were glued to the road. I slumped in my seat and looked out the window, watching the scenery race by.
I looked around the library subtly for Allison. She had Lydia translate the bestiary and she had it on her tablet to show us. I found her standing in the third aisle just as she passed the tablet over to Scott, who was standing on the other side of the shelf.
I almost moved away from them, remembering what my brother had said. By doing this, I was blatantly disobeying his orders, but honestly, the problem at hand was more important than some stupid punishment, so I walked up to Allison, sending her a smile as greeting.
"That's everything Lydia can translate and trust me, she's very confused," Allison told us as I stood next to her.
"What'd you tell her?" Scott asked, looking up from the screen.
"That we were part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures." I laughed into my hand.
"I am part of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures," Stiles said seriously and I bit my lip to stop smiling.
"And you wonder why you're single," I teased.
"Whatever," he huffed, eyes narrowing at me.
"Does it say how to find out who's controlling it?" Scott probed.
"Not really, but it talks about what Stiles said about the murderers," Allison reported.
"Yes!" Stiles fist pumped in victory.
"It calls the kanima a weapon of vengeance," Allison said.
"Isn't there a story that talks about a priest that uses it to execute murderers in his village?" I looked through the hole in the bookshelf at the tablet in Scott's hands.
"Maybe it's not all that bad," Stiles said hopefully.
"Until the bond became so strong that it killed whoever he wanted it to," I read off the screen.
"All bad, all very very bad," Stiles gaped and rubbed a hand over his face.
"The kanima's actually supposed to be a werewolf, but it can't until-" she stopped before she could finish as someone walked down the aisle.
"Until it clears it's past," Scott finished when the person walked away.
"If that means Jackson needs a few thousand hours of therapy, I could've told you that myself," Stiles commented.
"What if it has something to do with his parents?" Allison offered.
"His real parents," I clarified.
"Does anyone know what actually happened to them?" Scott tilted his head.
"Lydia might," I shrugged.
"And if she doesn't?"
"Well, he doesn't have a restraining order against me, so I'll talk to him myself," Allison put in, looking towards me.
"What do I do?" Scott wondered aloud.
"You have a makeup exam," I told him and he groaned, but Stiles nodded in agreement.
"Promise me," Allison said and stuck her hand through the hole. The two of them joined hands, making a silent promise to each other and Scott made her promise to get away from Jackson if he tried anything.
"Like?" Allison pulled her hand from the shelf.
"Anything weird, bizarre-" Stiles cut him off as he stuck his head through the hole, looking at the two of us.
"Anything evil," he whispered. I scoffed and pushed his head back through the hole.
We all split up after our conversation. Allison went to find Jackson, Scott went to take his test, and Stiles would try talking to Lydia, leaving me with nothing to do.
I sat in the empty hallway, sketchbook set on my lap. The page was currently empty as I tried to find inspiration to draw something. Anything. The prospect of drawing wasn't as great as it was before, probably due to the fact that most of my drawings were predictions of all the bad things that were going to happen to us.
I leaned my head against the lockers behind me and closed my eyes. My mother used to tell me that drawing was a way to let yourself fill a page without worrying about anyone else understanding what it meant. She's what made art so beautiful to me. The way she'd look so free as she painted made me stick around and watch her for hours, content with the fact that all the worries seemed to erase from her mind.
A pang of nostalgia hit and I quickly closed the sketchbook, unable to look at the blank page any longer. Someone sat next to me and I felt their arm brush mine. I turned my head and raised my eyebrow at Isaac, who grinned.
"Are you stalking me now?" I asked him.
"Depends on how you define stalking," he shrugged.
"Well," I pretended to think. "Sitting in a girl's empty bedroom at night, somehow getting her number from someone who's not her and then not telling her how he got it, and mysteriously finding her in an empty hallway kind of sounds like stalking. Don't you think?"
"Definitely not," he defended himself. "I had very good intentions."
"I'm sure you did," I tilted my head teasingly. "But that doesn't make it any less stalkerish than it actually is."
He shook his head and nudged my shoulder with his. Then his blue eyes shifted to my sketchbook.
"You drawing?" he asked. I looked down at the book on my lap and shrugged.
"Trying to, at least," I replied, frustrated. "I can't find any motivation to draw. Every time I put a pencil to a paper with the intentions of drawing, I feel like I'm going to have one of my Oracle episodes and create something completely insane."
"You know, you never really did explain to me what you are," he hummed. I looked at him and pursed my lips.
"It's a long story," I said simply. "Extremely long and complicated."
"What isn't nowadays?" he joked halfheartedly, but there was truth behind his words.
I laughed bitterly. "Pretty much nothing is simple anymore," I replied. "Do you ever regret it? Taking the bite?"
Isaac bit his lip, "No, not really. I feel like if I start regretting it, it'll make everything worse for myself. I try to stay as positive as possible."
"Think you could teach me that?" I glanced at him and smiled. He chuckled.
"I don't know," he said slowly, voice reaching a higher octave than usual. "You don't seem like the positive type. This could be difficult."
I gasped over dramatically and smacked his arm. "So rude," I mumbled.
"Aw," he pinched my cheek. "You know I was just-"
He was interrupted by a loud bang from around the corner and Isaac shared a look with me before I took off, running through the halls. I saw Scott on the floor, Jackson towering over him. I ran towards Scott as Erica flung Jackson onto the wall. Stiles and I pulled Scott away from him, but he tried to fight out of our grip.
"What the hell is going on out here?" Harris walked down the stairs, fuming. I let go of Scott, but stayed nearby. Matt arrived, holding Allison's tablet and I looked at him in shock.
"You and you," Harris pointed at Jackson and Scott, but changed his mind. "Actually, all of you. Detention, after school." I ran a hand through my hair and blew a breath out of my mouth. My brother was going to murder me.
I trudged into the library at three sharp and sat down next to Erica and across from Stiles. I held back a groan as Jackson spoke.
"I can't be near these tools. I have a restraining order," he said.
"Against all of these tools?" Harris raised a brow.
"No, just us tools," Stiles moved his finger to motion towards himself and Scott.
"Fine, you two, over there," Harris pointed to a table at the other end of the room and I gave them a pleading look as they left, not really excited to be spending time with Erica alone.
Thankfully, the first few minutes were silent, until Jackson got up suddenly, demanding that he be let out. Harris argued for a second before realizing that Jackson was having a medical emergency and left with him to go somewhere to get him checked out.
"You miss your two little friends already?" she cooed mockingly when the door shut. It hadn't even been three seconds and I wanted to rip her throat out. Still, I ignored her, keeping my hard gaze on the wall adjacent to me.
"You know, Isaac's been going on and on about you lately," she continued and I clenched my jaw. "Though, I'm not sure why he'd want you when I'm completely open to being with him."
"Maybe it's because I have some self respect," I suggested, sending her a blazing look.
"Believe me," Erica seethed. "I have plenty of self respect."
"Is that what you call it? I'd call it prostitution," I remarked, referring to her new revealing clothing.
I felt her claws dig in to my thigh suddenly and I sucked in a harsh breath to stifle my yelp of pain.
"You think you're so good because you haven't been a social outcast before," she hissed into my ear. "You don't know what it's like to feel lonely. To feel like you're worth nothing. What I am now is a product of everything people like you have put me through."
I felt my eyes burn, but I squeezed them shut, trying to control it. "Erica, let go of my leg," I commanded forcefully. "Now."
"I don't think I will," she squeezed harder and my eyes burned more.
I opened my eyes and turned to her, eyes already white based on the intense pain. "I said," I growled quietly. "Let go."
Her eyes widened and she released her grip, the pain receding as her hand moved away. I felt the blood seep into my pants, but I ignored it as I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. The burning stayed put, however and Erica was soon whimpering as she clutched her head in pain.
"Stop, please," she pleaded and I started to shake. "My head feels like it's on fire."
"I can't," my voice was strained as I tried to calm myself down, but nothing was working.
Stiles and Scott must've seen because they came rushing towards us. Stiles grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me towards him as Scott went to help Erica with her head.
"You need to calm down," Stiles told me softly. "Please, Z. You have to. You're hurting her."
"It won't stop," I whimpered as I heard her skin sizzle behind me. "I don't know how to make it stop."
He thought for a moment before pulling me into his arms, squeezing me. I stood and threw my arms around his neck, closing my eyes tightly as I felt myself calm down in his warmth.
"It's okay," he whispered into my hair. "Just breathe. You're fine. It'll be alright."
I nodded against his chest and my eyes fluttered open as the pain ceased. I pulled away from him and let my eyes wander around his relieved face.
"How did you do that?" I asked in awe and he smiled at me.
"You always did like my hugs," he joked and I laughed lightly at him.
We parted and I turned to Erica slowly. Her and Scott were sitting there, her face relaxing as the pain ceased. I lowered my eyes in shame.
"I'm sorry," I croaked. "I would've stopped but that was so much harder to control than before and-"
"Don't bother," Erica hissed. "Just, don't."
I looked at Stiles one more time and he pursed his lips, shaking his head slowly, telling me not to say anything else. I sighed and sat back down, scooting my chair away from her slightly, giving her some space.
The boys sat in the seats in front of us and immediately began to interrogate Erica about Jackson's parents. I listened, but didn't dare say anything in fears of angering the girl next to me. She opened her laptop after a few minutes and showed them something else about what had happened to Jackson.
Harris stalked back into the room and zipped up his bag. We made to leave, but he merely slung his bag over his shoulder and gave us all a cynical smile.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm leaving. You all have to stay until these books are put back," he announced. "Enjoy your evening."
I watched in irritation as he left the library and I fell back into my seat, feeling completely and utterly drained.
"So basically it means that he was born after his mom died. By c-section," Stiles told Allison as we stacked books.
"They had to pull him out of her dead body," I said, voice small. Allison grimaced beside me.
"So was it an accident or not?" she asked.
"The report is inconclusive," he shrugged and I shifted the books in my arms.
"But his parents could've been murdered?" Scott questioned.
"Well, if they were it falls in line with the whole kanima thing," I nodded.
"But for Jackson or the person controlling him?" Allison piped up.
"We have to talk to him, we have to tell him," Scott decided, walking away from us.
"He's not going to listen," Allison tried to stop him, but he was already gone.
The lights flickered above our heads and I slowly looked up. Something barreled from one shelf to the other and the whole scene seemed completely familiar to me. A roar resounded against the walls and glass shattered around us. Stiles pushed me to the floor, covering my body with his as the glass showered over us. From the ground, I looked around frantically, watching as Scott ran back inside the library.
The kanima dropped in front of him and hissed. Stiles' body stayed put as debris fell from the shaking room. The bookcases began to fall as well and I stumbled onto my feet, pulling Stiles with me as we tried to avoid them.
We passed by a chalkboard, which the kanima was standing in front of, writing on it. When it finished its message, it jumped out of the broken window, leaving us alone. I froze in my spot and my breathing turned harsh as I read what the kanima had written.
Stay out of my way or I'll kill you all.
"Oh my god," I said repeatedly under my breath and Stiles pulled me into his arms, thinking I was panicking.
"It's okay, I won't let it hurt you," he assured me, but I shook my head frantically and pulled away from him.
"N-No!" I yelled. "You don't understand. I predicted this. I wrote this exact message on my mirror. I knew this was going to happen."
Tears were coming down my face as realization flooded his features. If this didn't confirm my Oracle powers, I didn't know what did.
"I think she's having a seizure!" Scott called from his spot by a seizing Erica. Allison was somewhere nearby, checking on Matt, who'd gotten hurt during the attack. Stiles immediately went to Scott's side, but my feet were glued to the floor as I stared at the chalkboard in terror. I felt like I couldn't breathe as my eyes skimmed over the words.
"Zarina, we have to take her to Derek! Let's go!" Stiles called from the door.
I blinked, taking myself out of my thoughts and went to him. Scott placed a kiss on Allison's head before picking up Erica and following us out the door. As we walked out of the school building, Stiles took my hand and held it comfortingly. I appreciated the gesture, but I knew that no amount of comfort would erase the anxiety that was slowly rising inside of me.
AN: Happy Valentine's Day, loves! Sorry this update is later than usual, but I spent the day with my mom and watched 'That Awkward Moment', which was really good btw. In honor of this love-themed day, I added some kinda fluffy Stirina scenes because why not? Stiles needs some lovin' too! Though, there was a tiny Zarisaac moment, tooo.
Never really noticed but chocolate strawberries are like the key to my heart. My friend gave me some and I wanted to cry. I was much too happy about that, tbh. Anywaaays, hope ya'll had a great day today filled with love and chocolate.
Thanks for the reviews, faves, and follows. As always, please try to continue all that good stuff if you enjoyed this chapter. Means more than anything else.
xx.
