cIf you told Riley that he was going to eventually return to Beacon Hills, California then he would have said you were nuts and yet, here he is. Driving to Beacon fucken Hills. The entire ride was filled with so much tension and stress that it was suffocating. Derek hasn't said a word since informing, more like demanding, Riley that they were returning to California because Derek's sister hasn't been in touch with them for over a week. That might be normal for some, but it wasn't for Laura. She never went a day without talking to at least one of them. Not since the fire. The three of them barely been apart. That didn't mean Riley wanted to go to California, but he also knew he couldn't not go.
"Okay, I can't take this anymore." Riley huffs, reaching over and popping a cassette tape into his radio.
"You need to update your radio. You know, to today's century." Derek mumbles, earning a glare from Riley.
"Fuck off. Nobody's doing shit to Baby." Riley moves and rubs the dash. "Don't listen to him, Baby, he doesn't understand you like I do." Derek snorts, a smirk coming onto his face. It's been a long time since Riley saw Derek really smile. Only Laura could pull one out of him and it's usually small. These past years have not been easy for any of them. "So, what's the plan, Derek? You haven't said anything since we left New York. I mean, I can drive all the way to Cali, but I need to know what to do once we get there."
"Look for Laura."
"No shit, Sherlock. I could have told you that much." Derek gave Riley a Hale glare, which only made Riley huff.
"The plan is to find Laura." Riley rolls his eyes and leans back in his seat.
"Great plan. Find Laura. Totally not hard."
"It's a small town."
"With lots of woods and she's a werewolf, she knows how to stay hidden."
"Do you got a plan?" Riley glanced over at Derek.
"I'm the plan maker?"
"Well, Laura's not here now is she?"
"You're her second."
"Riley." He rolls his eyes and looks back at the road.
"Fine. You look for Laura, I'm going to school."
"You hate school."
"No, I hated New York. It was too big, too smelly, and too loud."
"It was safer."
"Didn't mean I had to like it." Derek shot Riley another glare.
"So, what? You go to school until I find Laura?"
"Yup. Because I have to graduate. One of us have to." Derek glare was stronger this time, but Riley has seen worse. "Also, where are we staying? Have you planned that far?"
"I don't want anyone knowing that we're back, so you can't go to school."
"No one will know. I don't go by Hale anymore." Derek looks at Riley, silently taking him in. Riley has grown up over the years. He's taller, stronger. He's not the same small scrawny boy anymore. His blonde hair was brighter than ever and cut short, his bright blue eyes were even more haunting. He looked so much like his siblings that it still manages to give Derek goosebumps. It still manages to strike fear in Derek. "Well? I'm waiting. Where are we staying?" Riley looks over and frowns when he sees the look on Derek's face. "Der?"
"The house." Derek cleared his throat and looked away. "We're staying at the house. It'll cover our scent and no one will expect us to be there."
"Of course not, half of it is charred and the other half has a pretty bad draft, you know, because the back half is gone. There's also no electricity, no plumbing, no nothing. I'm not asking for a five-star resort, but I am asking for something as simple as a hot shower and a warm bed. I'd rather not sleep in the house where our family died."
"And what would you have us do, Riley?! If the Argents know where in town-"
"Don't." All the humor and carefree tone from Riley's voice was gone. In its place was a cold, dark tone. One that sent shivers down Derek's spine. Riley looks at Derek with an emotionless mask covering his face. "I know very well what the Argents would do. Don't ever question me on that." Riley leans over and cranks the radio up. "Let's just get there." The tension was back tenfolds, but this time Riley didn't break it. He didn't even look at Derek as he drove through California, closing in on the small town that they had once called home.
Pulling up to the old house made Riley feel as if he jumped in a pool of frozen water. The house sat there in the clearing, looking as haunting as Riley last saw it. The once large beautiful mansion now was nothing, but an empty husk of its former glory. The wood was all charred and blackened, some floorboards were rotted and the entire structure looked as if one good wind storm could tear it down. The back half of the building was completely gone, while the other half was ruined beyond repair. The entire thing was nothing to what Riley remembered. All that happiness and love this great place once held was gone. All that was left behind was death and misery.
"Riley." Riley pulls his eyes away from the home and over to the green eyes of his cousin. "It's just a house." Riley almost wanted to laugh. Just a house. This place was not just a house. It never would be just a house.
"Let's go." Riley says gruffly, pushing open his door and climbing out of the impala. The air still had the same smell that it carried six years ago. The only difference was that there was no longer the smell of wolfsbane or gasoline hanging around. But still, the smell of burnt flesh and charred wood was just as strong. It made Riley sick.
Closing his eyes, Riley tries to push the painful memories back. Thinking of the past would do no good for him or Derek. Right now they had to find Laura. That was the only reason why there are here. "We'll sleep here tonight." Riley tells Derek. "But I'm going to school. Laura will be upset if I fall behind." Derek doesn't argue. They argued enough as it was. "I have all my transcripts and shit in my bag, so enrolling shouldn't be a problem. While I'm at school I want you to search these woods. See if you can find any sign that she was here. Chances are she came to the house like we did."
"She knows it's the safest place for us." Derek agrees.
"And she thinks a lot like you, so…" Riley shrugs. "If you got no sign of her around here then the only place I could think she'd go to would be to see my father. We'll try thereafter I get out of school if you haven't found anything."
"And what if neither places hold any luck?"
"Well," Riley pauses, letting himself think on that. "I don't know, honestly. I don't even know why she came here. You haven't told me anything."
"Laura told me she needed to find something out." Riley frowns.
"About the fire?"
"I don't know, Riley. I don't know. I just know she came back here looking for something." Riley sighs, running his fingers through his hair.
"Okay. Let's just focus on finding her. We take day by day. Tonight we try to get as much sleep as we possibly can in this graveyard." Riley ignores the look he receives from Derek. "Then we do as I said. I go to school, you search the woods, and we go from there."
"Okay." Riley really didn't want to be the one in charge here. He didn't want to be the alpha in this little pack. God knows he can't actually lead anything, especially a pack. But if they are to find Laura they need a plan and it seems as if Derek is running into this blindly like he does everything else. Riley had gotten good at strategizing over the years, but that didn't mean he liked it.
Stiles was practically jumping in his spot. He has lived in Beacon Hills for most of his life. Nothing ever really happened. It was a small, boring, dull town. That didn't stop him from listening to his father's phones call the time though. Tonight just happened to be his night. His dad just left in his police car leaving Stiles alone with his sister. Enya was upstairs and Stiles barely waited for his father to walk out the door before had rushed upstairs to her.
He found Enya laying on her stomach, drawing in her sketch pad. She had baggy sweatpants on and one of his sweatshirts, she was a sweatshirt thief. Nobody lets her do the laundry anymore because of this. Enya wasn't Stiles' real sister, which many could tell because the two looked nothing alike. Enya was adopted shortly after Stiles' mom died. His father found her wandering the woods cold and alone. Sheriff Noah Stilenski took her in and adopted her two months later. They like to think that Claudia sent her to them to help them. Enya was a very sweet girl. She didn't have a mean bone in her body except for when defending him and Scott. She was fiercely protective, anyone that hurts her family had a death wish. She was also absolutely beautiful.
She tall and willowy with dark tan skin, big amber eyes framed by thick red lashes, small button nose, full kissable lips. Her hair looks to be literal fire. It was a bright red with orange and yellow highlights running through it, what always came a shock to people was how it was natural as were her eyes. Her eyes looked like they belonged to a bird with the deep amber color. She was beautiful, breathtaking, heart-stopping. She also happens to be a total loser at school. Instead of hanging out with people like Lydia Martin and Jackson Whittemore Enya hung out with Stiles and Scott talking about comic books and playing video games. She was a nerd and a dork, which made her unattractive to the popular crowd. She also didn't like those who felt that they needed to make other people feel like shit in order to feel better about themselves.
Stiles was lucky to have her for a sister. She was loyal to a fault, completely brilliant, and she shone as bright as the sun. Stiles absolutely loved her and he didn't know what he would do without her. "Hey, Enya." Stiles grins, flopping down beside her, disturbing her drawing.
"Careful." Enya says, her voice soft and gentle. "I don't want to mess up."
"You're not using charcoal yet." Stiles points out.
"This is a charcoal pencil."
"Oh." Enya brushes her hair away from her face, tossing it over her shoulder, and looking over at Stiles. Her hair was long, it reached the back of her knees and was very thick. She hated cutting her hair, she only ever let it get a trim to prevent split and dead ends.
"What's up?"
"Dad just left."
"I heard." She throws her sketchpad over to her desk, having it land perfectly, and then she tucks her charcoal pencil behind her ear.
"He got a call from dispatch. You'll never believe what I heard." Enya rolls her eyes, a found smile coming to her lips.
"You're listening to his phone calls again?"
"Maybe…" Enya rolls her eyes.
"What is it then? Must be something big to have you hopping like you are."
"I'll tell you everything, but you have to come with me to get Scott first. I don't want to have to say this twice and I really don't want to wait."
"Should I waste my breath by telling you that whatever you have planned is stupid?"
"I mean, you could waste your breath if you wanted to, but… I advise just forgetting it and follow me to begin my plan." She sighs and climbs up onto her knees.
"Alright, let me just change and I'll meet you downstairs."
"Don't take too long." She waved him off and Stiles quickly hurried down the stairs. He tried calling Scott, but he didn't answer. Stiles pulls on his sneakers, almost eating carpet a couple of times. Enya didn't take long at all. She had changed into a pair of black skinny jeans, her favorite black leather combat boots, a navy blue tank top that fit tightly to her and shaped her breasts, and her favorite black leather jacket. She tied her hair back into a tight French braid and pulls on a navy blue beanie. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." She grins. "Come on, let's go disturb Scott's night."
Enya grunts as she grabs ahold of the banister. "When you said we'd be going talk to Scott I did not think you meant climb his freaken roof and go in through the window." Enya says as she swings herself up onto the roof, almost slipping on the way.
"He's not answering his phone and he locks the front door." Stiles says as if it is the simplest explanation ever.
"It's called using the front door and knock or ring the doorbell."
"Oh, will you relax. This so much more bad-AHH!" Enya spun around in time to see Stiles fall.
"Stiles!" She jumps as she hears more screaming down below her. Enya quickly scurries across the roof and peers down to see the two idiot boys that she calls friends screaming their heads off. Her brows furrowed as she saw Scott with a bat in his hands.
"Stiles! What the hell are you doing!
"You weren't answering your phone!" Enya rolls her eyes and swings herself down, landing down beside Scott.
"Enya?" Scott asks.
"Evening, Scott. Nice weather we have, huh?" Scott opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water.
"Why do you have a bat?" Stiles asks.
"I thought you were a predator." Scott exclaims.
"A pre-" Stiles sputters. "I-what-look," Stiles sighs, trying to call his patience back, while he is still hanging upside down. "I know it's late, but you gotta hear this." Enya leans against the porch railing and gives Scott a smile and a roll of her eyes. "I saw my dad leave twenty minutes ago. Dispatched called. They're bringing in every available officer from the Beacon Department and even State Police."
"For what?" Scott asks, glancing over at Enya. Her hair seemed to glow like a bright flame in the night. Her amber eyes reminded Scott of two headlights, staring at you and freezing you in your spot like a deer. Enya had a natural unearthly beauty about her. She didn't need to wear makeup or tight short clothes to get a person's attention. She could very well wear a sack and look gorgeous. Scott wasn't stupid, he knew just how gorgeous Enya was. Everyone thought Enya was beautiful, but her personality tended to make people run the other direction. She had two sides, her sweet side and her protective side and her protective side usually ended with someone getting hurt.
"Two joggers found a body in the woods." Stiles tells Scott, snapping the other out of his thoughts. Scott pulled his eyes away from Enya, who was staring at him with confused eyes. Her eyes. They were incredible. Big, amber eyes framed with thick and long eyelashes.
Scott shook his head and looked down at Stiles now that he was on the ground once more. "A dead body?" Scott asks, his head still in a bit of a haze. He always got like that around Enya. She had a gift of turning boys and men into mush. She encaptures their minds and leaves them a mess, not that she even realizes what she is doing, which most time is nothing. She doesn't have to do anything.
"No, a body of water. Yes, dumbass, a dead body." Stiles says with a roll of his eyes. Scott was pretty dense some times. Stiles climbed up onto the porch with the help of Enya, her hand so small in his. Stiles never got those weird feelings around Enya. Sure, he knew his sister was gorgeous, but he was never left with a foggy brain, beating heart, or sweaty hands. Scott almost questioned Stiles about it, but something told him Stiles would not react well to knowing how Scott… reacts, around his little sister.
"You mean like murdered?" Scott asks as Stiles wraps his arm around Enya. The two were close, really close. Stiles was always touching Enya, it was a way for the two to express their thoughts and emotions to each other. It was their way of protecting and comforting one another. It was completely innocent, but still, Scott always felt a bit… strange about seeing the two of them like that.
"Nobody knows yet." Stiles pulls Enya tighter against him, causing her to wrap an arm around his waist and rest her head against his chest. They were the perfect height differences, she was three inches shorter and fit to him like a piece of a puzzle. "Just that it was a girl, probably in her 20s."
"Hold on, if they found the body then what are they looking for?"
"That's the best part." Stiles says, making a motion with his body, a spasm twitch. Enya rolls her eyes, a soft loving smile on her face. Oh, what would she do without her dear brother? "They only found half. We're going."
"We're seriously doing this?" Scott asks as they got out and headed towards the entrance of the Beacon Hills preserve.
"You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town."
"He's not wrong." Enya smiles at Scott, leaving him breathless. She walked past him and followed after Stiles.
"I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow."
"Right, 'cause sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort."
"No, because I'm playing this year. In fact, I'm making first line."
"Hey, that's the spirit. Everyone should have a dream, even a pathetically unrealistic one."
"Be nice, Stiles." Enya scolds. "Scott doesn't ask for much."
"Yeah, Stiles, be nice." Scott grins, wrapping an arm around Enya. She felt so small and fragile under his arm. She was tall, but her body was nothing more than a twig. She smiles up at Scott, causing his breath to catch. God, she's gorgeous. Scott thinks as Enya looks away and back over at Stiles.
"Yeah, Stiles, be nice." Stiles rolls his eyes.
"Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for." Scott asks, pulling his eyes off the redhead beside him.
"Huh!" Stiles pauses for a moment, giving Enya a bad feeling. "I didn't even think about that."
"And, uh, what if whoever killed the body is still out here?"
"Also something I didn't think about."
"You're the sheriff's son and you didn't think about that?" Enya asks as she slips out from under Scott's arm, leaving him feeling cold and empty, and begins to climb the hill with Stiles. "How can you not think about that?"
"It's… comforting to know… that you planned this out with your usual attention to detail." Scott pants.
"I know." Stiles grins.
"Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight, huh?" Scott pauses to take a puff from his inhaler.
"You okay, Scott? We can go back if you want." Enya tells him, her voice like soft and sweet like a bird's song.
"I'm okay, Enya." Scott smiles, accepting her hand and letting her pull him up. It always surprised Scott that someone so small with barely any meat on her bones could be so strong. She was a lot stronger than she looked. The three climb up the rest of the hill and sees lights in the distance. They all drop to the ground to avoid being seen.
"Turn the flashlight light off, Sti." Enya orders. He does as she asks and turns it off.
"Wait, come on!" Enya and Stiles took off through the woods, holding each other's hands in order to not be separated or lost. Enya's long red hair comes lose of her elastic and begins to flow behind her like a war banner, practically glowing in the dark. "Enya, cover your hair." She lets go of Stiles' hand and does her best to stuff it back in her beanie.
"Stiles!" The two stop and turn to see Scott was far behind. Enya pauses to put her hair in a messy braid just as a light shines on them and a dog starts barking.
"Eek!" Enya squeals and falls on her ass.
"Hang on, hang on. These little delinquents belong to me." Enya looks up at her father with a guilty smile.
"Dad, how are you doing?" Stiles asks as Noah pulls his daughter off the ground and begins to take leaves out of her hair, which she hadn't finished braiding, so now it was loose once again.
"So, do you, uh, listen in to all my phone calls."
"No, heh… well not the boring ones."
"Now, where's your usual partner in crime or did you just drag your poor sister out here?" Enya was cold. It was starting to rain, but it wasn't the usual rain. It was an icy rain that made the cold seep right into your bones. Enya hated the cold and even moreso she hated the rain.
"Who, Scott?" Stiles asks. "Sc-Scott's home." Stiles lies. "He said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for first day back to school Tomorrow." Enya glances over at Stiles, giving him a warning look. "It's just us. In the woods. Alone." Noah gave his children a disbelieving look, causing Enya to roll her eyes. Stiles needed to learn how to lie better. Their father raises his flashlight and shined it through the woods.
"Scott?! You out there?! Scott?!" Noah sighs and lowers the flashlight. "Well, young man, I'm gonna walk you and your sister back to your car and then you and I are gonna have a conversation called invasion of privacy." Noah grabs Stiles by the scruff of his sweatshirt. "And about endangering your sister. If she gets sick from being out here, you are in even more deeper trouble. Come on, Enya." She sighs and follows after her father. They were in for a long night.