"Moving in the Dark"
Lucawindmover
Chapter Five
"Broken Things"
…continued…
"Oh man, thank you for these," Stiles said as a huge stack of books was dropped beside him on the table. "Don't get me wrong, I love the internet as much as the next guy. But it is so nice to look at some actual books for once."
Allison laughed and laid the reusable tote bag on the table next to the stack. "Don't thank me yet, Stilinski. A few of these are in French. I have no idea if they'll be any help or not."
It didn't really matter. He would take anything at this point. Stiles felt like he was walking in circles with his research. His biggest problem was knowing what was worth reading into and what wasn't. How was he supposed to weed the possible out of all the impossible? Of course that was assuming that there were actual things out there that were impossible. After everything they'd been through since the night Scott was bitten in the woods, he wasn't ready to rule anything out. And unfortunately for his research, that was the problem.
Stiles shrugged. "Something is better than nothing," he said, picking up the top book and flipping open the cover. "This would be a lot easier if we had any idea where to start. Lydia always says you can't determine a pattern from one point of information, right? Well, turns out the genius was freaking right," he said with a gesture at the stacks of printed material covering his table. The librarian had pouted as she watched him drain her printer cartridge earlier that morning with sheet after sheet. He'd been up until two in the morning using up his own ink. He hadn't managed to go to bed until his printer was throwing blanks. "How did you find all these so fast? Doesn't your dad have hundreds of books in his office?"
Allison shrugged and crossed her arms, leaning her hip against his table. "I couldn't sleep last night so I recruited Isaac. Two sets of eyes made it go faster. I mean, he can't read French but he did a pretty good job sorting through the ones in English."
Stiles raised an eyebrow but didn't look up at her, still half-focused on dividing the books into stacks. He put the ones in French to the side, figuring he'd check through all the English ones before worrying about those. "Wait, Isaac helped? What, did he stay at your place last night or something?"
When she didn't answer immediately, Stiles looked up to see her biting her lip and looking around the library as if she were afraid that someone would be listening in to their conversation.
"Oh my god. He did, didn't he?" Stiles said with a grin. It was no real secret that the two had been spending a lot of time together but he hadn't realized that extended to sleepovers.
Allison sighed, her cheeks going red. She pulled out the chair across from him and took a seat, burying her face in her hands. "Yes, okay? He did. But it isn't what you're thinking."
"How do you know what I'm thinking?"
She scoffed. "How could you not be thinking it? Everyone is thinking it. I know they are," She paused and dropped her hands, propping them up under her chin instead. "We were doing homework and I fell asleep and had the most disturbing dream I've ever had. I mean, ever. It was really bad. So I asked him if he'd stay. I mean, it wasn't like I was scared or anything. It's just, I don't know. I wanted to have someone else nearby…you know…just in case."
Stiles just stared at her for a moment.
She threw her hands up. "He slept on the couch, okay? When I stopped doing busy work to keep myself awake, I made him go sleep on the couch."
"What is up with you two these days?" he asked, tapping the end of his pen on the desk. He could feel his legs itching to pace. He'd been sitting in the library a lot longer than he could usual go without getting up and moving around.
"I don't really know. But it isn't what everyone thinks, that's for sure. He and I…we aren't….well, I mean we're kind of like….god, I don't even know how to say it."
"Well, you don't have to explain it to me," Stiles said, leaning back in his chair. "I mean, I totally get it. It's kind of the same with me and Lydia. I mean, we survived something together, right? We all did. We're like, brothers forged in battle or whatever."
Allison nodded. "Yeah, exactly. Well, except things have been…I don't know. Tense? It has been lately, anyway."
Stiles smirked. "That's because the kid is head over heels for you. Like, stupid in love with you."
He grinned a little wider as she squeaked and leaned forward, putting her head down on the table and hiding her face in her arms. He wasn't trying to make her uncomfortable but he had to admit it felt kind of good to break through her usually tough exterior. "Tell me you did not just say that," she said, her voice muffled by the sleeves of her jacket.
"Would it make it any less true?"
"Yes," she answered, peeking through her arms. "No. You know, I don't know."
Stiles just laughed, rocking his chair back on two legs.
Allison sat up and wrapped her arms around her middle. "Look, Stiles, can I ask you something?"
"He's knows and he's okay with it," Stiles supplied before she could ask.
She frowned. "How can you even know that? Have you talked to him about it? Oh god. Everyone is talking about it, aren't they?"
Stiles shook his head. "Nobody is talking about it. Besides, we don't have to talk about it. Allison, we're guys. He's my best friend. We don't talk about the things that don't bother us. We talk about the things that do bother us. You and Isaac being, well, whatever the hell you are, hasn't come up once. Not once. So yeah, he's fine. Because otherwise he'd be complaining to me non-stop in his annoying pre-werewolf-Scott wining voice. Trust me."
Allison shook her head, smiling, and glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Oh crap," she said, jumping up. "Sorry, I need to go. I told Lydia I would meet her before class."
Stiles dropped his chair back down on all four legs. "Don't worry about it," he said with a shooing gesture. "And thanks for all the books and stuff."
Allison took her leave of him, scurrying out the library doors and off to meet Lydia.
Stiles sighed and took a mental inventory of what he had in front of him. He had decided to separate the stacks into distinct mythologies. There was a stack for Norse, and stack for Roman, a stack for Native American. He had more stacks than he knew what to do with and hundreds of pages of potentially repetitive information. He figured that maybe one page out of a hundred would be useful but until he went through it all, he wouldn't know which page that was.
He shook his head and groaned. This was really too much to worry about until after school. He was just going to pack everything up and worry about it later. Maybe he'd recruit Isaac to help him, since he'd done such a good job helping Allison. He figured it was a longshot but hey, it was worth a shot.
Stiles pushed his chair back, stopping when he felt it bump into something.
"Hey! Ow. Ouch."
Stiles jumped up and spun around to see Kira Jones standing there, clutching her knee with her books and papers splayed on the floor around her.
"Oh my god. I am so sorry," Stiles exclaimed. "I had no idea you were behind me."
Kira waved him off, squatting down to pick up her things. "No, no. Don't apologize. That was totally my fault. I shouldn't have been lurking. Your chair just hit that nerve in my knee. I'm fine, really."
"Pfft," Stiles said. He reached down and started gathering up the colored pencils that had rolled under the table. "I have perfected the art of lurking. That was not lurking."
Kira took the pencils that he offered her, blushing. "I was standing behind you, reading over your shoulder. How is that not lurking?"
"Lurking implies being sneaky. You weren't hiding behind a bookcase, watching with binoculars or anything," he paused and raised an eyebrow. "I mean, wait. Were you?"
"Uh, no. Where would I hide binoculars?" She asked, gesturing to her lack of backpack and pockets. She grinned, standing back up and leaning against the table behind her. "Yeah, so I definitely wasn't sneaky, not by your definition anyway."
"Nope," Stiles said. He straddled his chair and took a seat facing her. He wasn't sure he'd actually ever talked to her before. He knew she was in a couple of his classes. English at least for sure. But he hadn't actually had a conversation with her. He found himself wondering why. "Not sneaky. Just nosy."
Kira scoffed, tucking a long strand of black hair behind her ear. "What? I am not nosy."
"Uh huh. Did you already forget the part where you were reading over my shoulder?" he asked, gesturing with his thumb to the table full of papers behind him.
"Oh yeah, that," she said. "Well I mean can you blame me? Just look at your table. That is a lot of research. And I wasn't being nosy. I was being curious."
Stiles glanced back over his shoulder. "What, this? Nah, this is nothing really."
"Are you kidding?" she replied. She pushed herself away from the table and walked over to the stack of books that Allison had left for him. She picked up the top book, leafing through it a little. "This is one of the most extensive collections of mythological research I think I've ever seen. Well, in a high school anyway."
Stiles frowned and swung his leg back around so that he was facing his table again. He took a second to study the girl who was currently engrossed in flipping through the pages of the book she'd just picked up. Kira seemed genuinely interested in the books just for the sake of the books, turning the pages gently with a hand covered in silver jewelry. Her dark eyes darted from page to page as she took in what she could.
She was kind of attractive, in a book-reading, art-major sort of way. Not that Stiles had any sort of type. Well, other than Lydia. But this girl was somehow charming with her clumsiness and her honest curiosity.
"You say that like you've seen a lot of research," Stiles provided, glancing at the clock. He needed to get packed up. The bell was due to ring any minute now.
Kira looked up from the book and closed it, laying it delicately on top of the others in its stack. "Oh I have. My father is a professor over at the community college," she said. "Teaches Ancient Cultures."
Stiles was a little stunned. Screw Isaac. This girl would be a lot more useful than the werewolf would be.
"You know, I don't think I introduced myself," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm Stiles. Stilinski."
She laughed and shook his hand. He couldn't help but notice how tiny her hand seemed in his and was surprised at the strength in her grip. "I'm Kira. But you know, I know who you are. I mean, I sit two seats behind you in English. I have all year."
"Yeah," Stiles said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, no. I mean, yeah, I know."
She just shook her head as he stumbled over his words and he cursed himself for sounding like an idiot.
The bell rang, causing them both to jump. Stiles rolled his eyes at himself and started piling all his research into the tote that Allison had left for him.
"Look, I've got to get to History," she said, nibbling her bottom lip for a second. "But you know, maybe I'll see you here again sometime."
Stiles stood up quickly, leaning one hand on the table. "Yeah, that sounds great. And you know, I'll try not to abuse you with furniture next time," he said, gesturing with his free hand to the chair behind him.
Kira laughed again and left him to finish gathering up his papers. After he was sure she was gone, he ran both hands through his hair and groaned. He was so unaccustomed to interacting with anyone outside of the pack lately. He hadn't expected it to feel so weird, talking to someone who didn't know about those things that went bump in the night.
But it was a little nice for a change, to talk to someone who wasn't as surrounded in darkness as he was. He shouldered his backpack and hoisted the heavy tote. He made a mental note to talk to normal people more often. Somehow, his five minute conversation with a normal girl had brightened his whole morning.
And he could certainly use a little more brightness these days.
He was very frustrated. After regaining his composure the night before, he'd spent hours scouring the forest for a hint of what he'd felt in his mind.
But he had come up completely empty. Whoever, or whatever, had blinded him with its trickery had fled the forest without leaving a trail. He was furious. He didn't want something else to be hunting in his woods. He was the protector here and he wouldn't let anyone or anything bother the natural cycles of the forest.
Which included Man.
He knelt and deposited his most recent meal at the edge of the forest next to one of Man's many roads.
This particular human had been hunting in his forest too. But where the other…creature…had been able to incapacitate him, the human hadn't been so lucky. In fact, the man had never seen him coming. A quick branch through his middle and he was finished, his limp hands dropping the rifle he was carrying into the leaves below.
The immediate feeling of nourishment was very similar to his other meal, only this one came with the added benefit of knowing he'd avenged one of his fallen forest-mates. Before he'd been able to pull the man toward his tree form, the man had shot and killed one of the deer who called these woods their home.
The man had never made it to his kill. He'd stumbled toward the tree instead, feeling that it was much more important to get to this particular tree than it was to find his wounded prey somewhere in the underbrush.
But the human was dead now. And before long the other humans would come along and take away the body so he wouldn't have to deal with it.
There was another body that he needed to take care of, however. The poor deer.
She hadn't survived the shot, bleeding profusely as she tried to drag herself to the stream that parted the center of the forest. He knew that she'd been in pain and thirsty, using the last of her strength to pull herself to water. She'd died in pain and thirst and he felt devastated. He suddenly wished that he had drawn out the human's death, making sure the man felt all the pain and horror that this poor doe must have felt in her last moments. But alas, he couldn't go back and kill the human a second time so there was no point in thinking about it.
He carried the body of the doe back to the clearing where his Nemeton rested. Her body was still covered in beautiful blooms. Pinks, yellows, reds, oranges, and even a few shades of purple and blue. It would have been beautiful to him if it hadn't been so sad. Those flowers would live as long as he did, never wilting and never dying. They would always be beautiful, as long as he stayed to protect the forest.
He shifted into his tree form and used his roots to open a hole in the forest floor beneath the body of the deer. He closed it over her body, praying to the spirit of the animal. He prayed that her spirit bleed back into the forest, lending its energy and life force to other beings in need. He could feel the moment the spirit released and it filled his heart with peace.
Now that he'd fed twice, he was feeling more of the forest than he had before. He was stronger. Still not strong enough to leave the confines of the woods. But it wouldn't be long now.
Then he'd be able to finish what he'd been Called for.
After which, he intended to finish this Caller.
"But if there's one real thing I could choose to believe, Just a little hope would do the trick."
Mayday Parade "You're Dead Wrong"
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf, nor do I profit in this story other than working at becoming a better writer. I do not claim to own any of these wonderful characters. They belong to the creative genius Jeff Davis and the various copyright holders.
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews guys. This has been such a pleasure to write. It warms my heart like you wouldn't believe when I get up and have several new reviews to reply to. I answer every single one (that allows pms and who has signed in, of course) because I value them so much. To all of you guests who have reviewed, thank you so much.
So what do you guys think about this one? It really kicked my butt as I decided how I wanted the first half to play out. I love the idea of Allison and Stiles interacting, because you don't see that a lot on the show. You have to think they do, in those missing moments between one crisis and another, but it isn't shown often. I thought I'd take a stab at it. And for all of you hoping that Isaac and Allison snuggled together all night after her nightmare, so sorry! They weren't ready for that. But they did stay up most of the night, flipping through books together….sigh. It'll get there, lol.
Another story that I found guys! Just to let you know, none of the stories or authors I recommend have asked to be plugged. They are just stories that I've found while browsing that I think you guys might like, if you like mine.
"The Waking" by birthsister is fantastic. It's a rated M fic and for good reason. If you are a fan of Lydia, this is a good and powerful one. She doesn't have many reviews but she deserves them for sure. Stop by and let her know what you think.
Love guys. Lots of love to you all.