Although I said I'd apologise to Jackson, I never said that it would be sincere. He had a healthy wariness of me now, drawing back when I had approached him and publically apologised to him. "I'm sorry for kicking your ass in front of your entire team. Next time, don't piss me off." And with that, I turned around and walked away. My punishment at school was that I was put in isolation, meaning I worked alone, ate alone and saw nobody all day then enjoyed an hour and a half's detention with Mr Harris after school to boot. I had a whole week of this to look forward to. Yay me.
At least being banned from all social activities meant that I didn't have to go to the lacrosse game tomorrow, something I never really cared much for in the past, but now that Lydia wasn't dating Jackson, and Allison officially wasn't dating Scott but secretly was, there wouldn't have been much point in me being there for anyone else. Except maybe Danny. I've always liked Danny. He and his Armani aftershave always smelled so good.
So instead of going to practice I stayed late at school to swim, taking the time to put back in the hours of training I'd neglected since being on rest for my leg injury. Seeing as I didn't have to worry about it anymore, I figured it wouldn't hurt. Even after practicing for a couple of hours I still didn't feel tired, so I took to floating just for the joy of the sensation of weightlessness, staring up at the black sky and wondering just how long I could get away with being here and not having to go home where my parents wouldn't speak to me and I'd be quarantined in my room with no entertainment and a large stack of books I'd been ordered to read.
I guess if my parents asked I could just tell them I'd gone to the public library to study, but somehow I think lying to them now wouldn't exactly earn me any brownie points. With a huff, I flipped over and dived downwards, swimming to the bottom of the eight feet pool and leisurely stayed there for a while. The muteness of the water helped me to block out all other sensory receptors and I could think peacefully, staying put for god knows how long without needing to draw breath.
This siren thing, was it real? Should I try breathing underwater to see if my ancestors were telling the truth? No, that's suicide. I'd definitely drown. I mean, it's not physically possible for humans to breathe underwater, it just wouldn't work. Then again, humans can't heal themselves instantaneously like I did. Could it be possible? Could mythological creatures really exist? And if so, what if sirens weren't the only ones out there? It was mind blowing and soon enough, I was done thinking about it all so I opened my eyes and kicked off the floor, swimming to the surface.
Whilst underwater I heard something crash into the pool, the water churning and bubbling before another crash followed, signalling that two people had jumped in. I ignored them, figuring they were just a couple of kids messing around the pools whilst the game was going on. I quietly broke free of the water and breathed leisurely, neither out of breath or tired. I ignored the other people in the pool area, my back to them so I couldn't even see who it was. Swimming to the side of the pool I began to climb out, going over to my stuff where I'd left a towel and picked it up to dry off, standing in nothing but my bikini as I began to pat the water from my hair.
"Hey, wait…that's Cordy." A voice began to say as I walked along the edge of the pool in order to stretch off a bit after so long in the water. "Cordy! Cordy get in the water! Get in the water now!" Stiles? Lifting my head I turned around to see him fully clothed in the pool helping some guy float, an arm wrapped around his upper torso.
"Stilinski? What the hell are you doing in there? Get out the pool! You're still dressed you moron, and who is that? Why isn't he moving?" I demanded to know, glaring at him for a moment but it slowly began to dawn on me that there was genuine panic and fear in Stiles' voice, meaning that he was not messing around here.
"It's there, it's right over there! Hurry! Jump!" With a splash in the direction back towards my things where I'd left my clothes, my phone and purse, I saw something crouched down on the ground, staring at me with garish yellowed eyes as a tail slithered back and forth in the air. It…it looked…it looked like a monster. I couldn't even begin to think of an animal it looked like, except maybe a reptile. I froze in place, staring at it openly as it began to hiss. Oh god. I'm going to die. "JUMP!" When Stiles yelled, the creature was jolting into motion and started racing towards me with claws clattering against the floor, moving so fast that I barely had time to scream before I launched myself forwards and dived into the pool.
Kicking my legs I swam as far away from the edge as possible before rising up, raking my hands through my hair as I screamed. "What the hell is that?! Stiles! What is that thing? What's going on?!"
"Stop yelling stop yelling stop yelling! You're making me freak out!"
"Freak out? Freak out? When there's some reptile monster thing is going to eat us? THIS IS THE PERFECT TIME TO FREAK OUT!" We screamed at each other as we both tread water, my head darting back towards the creature which hissed as it bared its fangs, all of them razor sharp like needles. At least it didn't follow me in, that's something at least. "Who is that? Why is he all limp?"
"Because that thing over there paralysed him with some kind of toxin. He's paralysed from the neck down. This is Derek, by the way, Derek Hale. Derek, say hi to Cordy." The guy gave Stiles a look of absolute murder, glowering at him intensely as I suddenly recognised him. He was the guy at Lydia's party way back when, the one who'd tried to take Allison home before I'd stepped in.
"Derek Hale?! You mean the guy they thought did all those murders?"
"Yeah, that's the guy. Can you take him for me a second? He's heavy and I'm struggling to keep afloat here." Stiles requested, beginning to move this Hale guy towards me but I immediately pushed him back, frantic and my voice shrieking shrilly.
"I don't want some murder suspect, what if he's the one behind the two most recent murders? You keep him!"
"I'm right here, you know." Derek growled as Stiles argued with me.
"Come on the guy's paralysed, he literally cannot lift a finger to hurt you, just hold him for a while so I can rest then I'll take him back!"
"I am not playing pass the parcel with this dude, he's got danger vibes all over him."
"You're being ridiculous! Derek's a great guy, cute and soft as a teddy bear." This time, we both glared at Stiles. When the creature shrieked behind us, however, I yelped and dove back towards Stiles, throwing my arms around him in order to shield myself though in doing so I added weight which dragged all three of us down. "Get off! I can't carry you too!"
"Tell me what that thing is, Stiles, or I swear I'm going to feed you to it!" Stiles gaped, floundering both literally and figuratively as he deliberated on whether or not to tell me what was going on. I pushed back my hair once more, letting it sit back against my scalp as I tried to breath and rationalise everything in my head. "That…that thing…it's not normal is it? It's not just some random wild animal."
"What gave it away? The fact that it can paralyse a person with a nick to the back of the neck or the fact that it kind of looks human but is covered in scales?!" Stiles shot back at m so I splashed him sharply with water, covering him and Derek both.
"I'm new to this okay?! Whilst you seem to be quite chill over the fact that there's a god damn monster waiting to eat us, I'm here wishing I'd never gotten out of bed this morning!" I yelled at him before sucking in a deep breath, looking around to see if the creature was still there. I couldn't see it, but that wasn't to say it had slipped off into some shadows somewhere waiting for its prey to come to it. And by prey, I mean us.
"Will you two quit arguing? We've got more pressing issues to deal with right now." Derek snapped at us both, clearly none too impressed that he was depending entirely on Stiles for his survival. "Get me out of here before I drown."
"You're worried about drowning? Did you not notice the thing out there with multiple rows of razor sharp teeth?" Stiles retorted back with voice completely dripping with dry sarcasm.
"Did you notice I'm paralyzed from the neck down in eight feet of water?!" The man had a point.
"Okay." Looking around, we searched the pool sides but still saw nothing, making me hope that maybe it had decided to just leave on its own. "I don't see it." Beginning to swim for the edge I hung back, still a little nervous and reluctant to move from the safety of the pool where I felt safest. If the monster did decide to come in for a dip, maybe I'd be able to stay underwater longer than it could hold its breath. That is, if it couldn't breathe underwater in the first place.
"Wait, wait, wait, stop, stop." Hearing the blood chilling hiss of the monster as it returned to sight, it prowled at the water's edge, watching us with reptilian eyes which made me swear to never want to see another lizard for the rest of my life.
"What's it waiting for?" Thanks to Lydia being the genius that she was, she often came out with explanations or facts about things which sometimes stuck in my head. Unfortunately, this was one of those times.
"Some predators drive their prey to the water and wait for them to drown before eating them." I said out loud, starting to wish I really didn't know this. "It makes them easier to eat when they're exhausted and half dead because they won't put up a fight." Both the guys looked at me darkly, silently telling me to shut up because I was not helping. I know I'm not helping but I hate just floating here waiting to die! Can't we call for help or something?
"Wait, did you see that?" Suddenly speaking, I jumped slightly then looked towards where Stiles was observing, where the creature was hastily backtracking away from the water. "I don't think it can swim."
"Great! So our choices are either to drown or get eaten. How about you decide first, Stilinski?" Dark humour did not help the situation at all. I was fine to tread water all night long but I could see Stiles was starting to struggling with Derek's weight, the two of them barely keeping their mouths above water whilst I remained perfectly upright. If I can keep this up, then maybe I can simply outlast the monster. Since it can't swim, it can't reach me and eventually the sun will come up and it'll have to disappear once school starts to avoid being seen, right? I can last that long, but the other two? Not so much.
Part of me wanted to help them, but another part of me held back. They seemed to know exactly what was going on, and both of them recognised the monster like they'd seen it before. Did that mean that they also knew something about all the recent murders? Were they somehow involved? I couldn't be sure, but I did know that I didn't trust them. Either of them. Especially not that Derek Hale. There was a depressing agony which seemed to twist in his chest which I could almost feel in my own, an impression of grief which I recalled from our first encounter which had not mellowed or pacified in any way, shape or form. That grief had turned to bitterness, and the bitterness made him angry and a little uncontrollable, which made him dangerous. Jesus. Why were there so many dangerous people around Beacon Hills? I swear if I get into college, I am moving as far away from here as possible.
"Okay. Okay, I don't think I can do this much longer." Stiles struggled, his grip on Derek beginning to slip.
"No, no, no. Don't even think about it." Immediately Derek protested, making me look between the two of them in confusion before twisting around to look where Stiles was eyeing his phone, resting at the side of the pool.
"Would you just trust me this once?" Derek gave a firm no on that point. Can't say I blame him, I don't trust either of them. "I'm the one keeping you alive, okay, have you noticed that?"
"Yeah, and when the paralysis wears off, who is gonna be able to fight that thing, you or me?" Wait, what? He actually intended to fight with that thing?
"What do you mean fight it? Are you crazy? That thing will rip you to pieces in seconds, just look at those claws!" I protested, not particularly eager to see blood and guts spilling into the pool where I was currently treading water for my life.
"It's a long story and you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Stiles interjected quickly as Derek continued to strain his neck upwards in order to breath.
"You don't trust me, I don't trust you. You need me to survive, which is why you are not letting me go." Derek informed him strongly, but Stiles didn't share the same opinion and instead tried to push him towards me.
"I don't want him."
"Cordy, take the crazy person."
"I don't want the crazy person."
"Take the crazy person god damn it!"
"No way!"
"Why the hell not?!"
"Because!" I paused, trying to ascertain why it was that I didn't want to touch this guy. In fact, I wanted to be as far away from him as possible but the middle of the pool seemed like the safest place to be right now, so I stayed put. "Because for some reason, I get the feeling that he's…I don't know…like, really strong. Superior, is the word I'm looking for." I struggled to explain it, and when Derek gave me a look, I scowled at him. "Don't let it go to your head, I don't mean it like that. It's just, I get this weird feeling off you. Like you're…not normal. Not…" Slowly the word started to come to mind, rising from the depths of my subconscious as I felt myself dip into a slightly intangible state of mind. "Human. Not human." Oh god, what was he?
Seeing that I wasn't going to help at all, Stiles clenched his jaw before all at once he flung Derek's arm off him and started streaking towards the poolside, making me squeak in shock as Derek yelled. "Stiles!" Bad move, by expelling reserve air you'll have less when you sink to the bottom.
"Stiles don't go!" Wanting him close for the mild sense of security that his presence gave, I floundered a little as I looked between Stiles and Derek, now laying at the bottom of the pool. The creature hissed, realising what Stiles was aiming for and started to race forwards, scuttling on all fours at a terrifying pace. "Hey! Hey!" Yelling loudly splashed and waved my arms, swimming off to the side in order to catch the creature's attention before I even realised what I was doing. "Over here! Hey!"
With powerful legs I kicked and lashed at the water, churning it up and splashing it over the side of the pool at the creature as Stiles reached his phone, grabbing it and pulling back as I continued to splash at the creature. It hissed at me, now focused entirely on me as Stiles retreated back, dialling a number. "You're calling the cops right?"
"No, I'm calling Scott."
"Scott? Why the hell…what is Scott going to do that a squad of trained cops with guns can't?!" I yelled at Stiles as he swam back towards me.
"It's complicated okay? And where's Derek?" Oh, I'd totally forgotten about him. The both of us looked down to see a dark shape resting at the bottom of the pool and simultaneously, the colour drained from our faces from the horrified realisation that we'd left him there. Crap. With a rush of movement I found myself taking in air and diving down, using my powerful and trained muscles to push myself down towards Derek though my natural instincts called for me to keep away from him. I overrode that nagging feeling in my gut and instead reached out for him, sliding my arms underneath his in order to carry him back up to the surface, but he proved heavier than I expected and not only that, but he didn't respond to me. He didn't open his eyes, didn't move his head, nothing.
With a jolt I grabbed hold of his jaw and wiggled it insistently, trying to get his attention and when that failed, I shook him, smacked him, hell I even pinched him but still nothing. Hell no, did I accidentally just kill someone by letting them drown? This was seriously not my day. Please don't be dead, I'll do anything just please don't be dead! Pinching the guy's nose I used my thumb to pull down his lower lip and pushed my face to his, covering his mouth with mine in order to share the air from my lungs in a desperate bid to wake him up.
When his head jerked, I almost cried out with relief that he was still alive down there. Derek blinked and looked at me, but when he saw me in the water, something in his eyes changed. He was staring at me openly, mouth agape as I frowned slightly, confused as to what had caught his attention. I looked behind me, thinking that maybe there was something going on at the surface but saw nothing, so I just shrugged it off and instead grabbed hold of him and pressed my feet into the floor, using it to push us both upwards and kicked for the surface, flashes of light catching my eye with various movements.
The moment we broke the surface Derek sucked in the fresh air with heavy rasps. Now that we were back above water, the overwhelming urge to let Derek go returned but I forced myself to hang onto him, helping him to float by keeping one hand anchored to the middle of his back and the other cradling his head as he recovered from nearly drowning. "Tell me you got him." Stiles looked at us blankly, hand now empty from his phone.
"Tell me you didn't drop your phone in the water."
"Then I won't tell you." Fury burned behind my eyes.
"Stiles, I'm gonna kill you!" Shoving Derek back over to him Stiles quickly steadied the deadweight man, keeping his head above water as I begun to look around, desperately searching for another option. The creature was still prowling the poolside, so it looked like it wasn't going to give up anytime soon. My phone was still with my stuff on one of the loungers, but I couldn't see any way I'd be able to reach it with that thing watching us all like we were its next meal ticket.
"I can't stay up any longer, I need something to hold on to." Stiles breathed, struggling to keep afloat. "Cordy…please…please help us…" Reluctantly I swam over to Stiles and accepted Derek's paralysed form back, suspending him in the water whilst Stiles had a rest, though now that Derek was back in my vicinity, I had an overwhelming urge to just drop him.
"What are you?" Excuse me?
"What do you mean? I'm Cordy, now shut up and focus on trying to get your body back to normal because you are heavy and a pain to hold onto." I returned tartly, rolling my eyes slightly but flinched when the creature shrieked at us, naturally drawing closer to Stiles and pulling Derek along with me. Stiles was floundering, dropping below the water level as his legs and arms physically could not keep him up any longer so I grabbed him by the back of his jacket and tried to juggle the two of them.
"I mean, what are you? Because you aren't human." Derek continued, only confusing me more.
"Of course I'm human. I have a mom and a dad, I go to school, I eat, breathe and sleep just like the rest of you." This guy most definitely has a screw loose because he's not making any sense at all. Maybe he really did swallow some of this water whilst he was down there.
"No, you're not. Not from what I saw underwater. You're not human." My grip on him slackened unintentionally from the shock of his answer, causing him to drop below the water and pulled Stiles with him. I scrambled to pull them both back up but I couldn't manage the two of them, I just wasn't physically strong enough to support them both so with an arm around each of them, I began to kick backwards towards the diving boards, hoping that if I can get Stiles to hang onto one, I could continue to support Derek and somehow we'd manage to get through this. If the creature comes too close, we'll just hold our breath and let go until I can swim us further away, then we'll repeat the process.
Meanwhile, in my mind I was going stir crazy. What did Derek mean I wasn't human, what had he seen? Had I sprouted gills and fins without even realising it underwater? Should I ask him? Did I even want to know the truth? I had to be human, I had to be. Everything just seemed to be slipping through my fingers lately. My relationship with my parents was strained, my grades were continually dropping, my friends were either losing their grasp on reality or keeping secrets from the rest of us, and now it turns out that I might not even be who I thought I was. Once. Just once, can't things just make sense?
"Stiles, Stiles listen to me. You need to hang on. Hang onto this." Straining under the effort of carrying two limp bodies, I suddenly realised that both of them had their eyes closed and their breathing was shallow. No not now! I can't hold you both, one of you needs to…I need to…I don't know what to do. A hiss from the creature made me shriek and whimper, tears beginning to stream down my face as I pulled back from the poolside's edge, out of reach and desperately searched around.
Gradually it dawned on me what I needed to do, though I didn't like it much. Shaking off the twisted feeling in my stomach I took a breath then dropped down below the water level, allowing myself to sink whilst pushing Stiles and Derek up. I placed one foot on either shoulder and supported them like an anchor, my height covering the difference in the eight feet deep pool so that both could rest and maintain a constant supply of oxygen whilst I just waited down here, you know, probably to drown and die. Those assholes better appreciate this.
Soon enough I started to lose track of how long I had been underwater, but it was long enough that even I started to struggle to keep focus, calming my pulse as to conserve as much oxygen as possible. My head started to grow faint, starvation of air beginning to affect me whilst Derek and Stiles remained above water but still with no signs of movement or recovery. Hurry up you two, I can't drop either of you now, wake up. One of you, just wake up and move!
Oddly enough, the water around me seemed to croon and lull me, relaxing my nerves and coaxing me into sleep when I should have been panicking and scrambling back up for air. I did neither, merely began to feel my head loll in a state of total relaxation. Just as I was about to drift off, I suddenly felt both Derek and Stiles lift up from my shoulders and disappear entirely, snapping me awake. With only a brief hesitation, I lashed my feet to soar up for the surface and broke the water with propelled force, reaching blindly for anything to grab hold of until my fingers found the side of the pool.
I dragged myself towards it, gasping for air and just as I felt like it was all over, I sensed a daunting presence beside me on the diving board, crouched low with Derek and Stiles behind it. It had fangs. Real fangs, claws and glowing yellow eyes, hair growing out of its face like a mane with a thick brow overhanging its head. Even after seeing the reptilian creature, it was still utterly nonsensical so see something else that wasn't human. It gave a beastly roar which rattled every bone in my body as I clung onto the side for dear life, confused as to whether it was friendly or dangerous because I could feel both impressions from it.
No, not it. Him. Scott McCall. It had taken a moment, but now that I recognised him, I couldn't mistake him for anyone else. Before I knew it the reptile creature had launched itself at this unknown version of McCall, tackling him to the ground before screeching in a threatening manner, choosing to focus on Scott instead. When I saw the two of them there, monstrous and completely alien to me, I felt everything suddenly crash down on me all at once, rising to the surface in the form of an unparalleled scream.
The pitch caused the mirrors to rattle before shattering like the crack of lightning, echoing all around with unending shrillness which forced Scott and the creature to both cover their ears, pained by the intense sound of my scream. I darted away from them both, grasping hold of the nearest ladder to climb out of the pool and I started running even though my muscles were screaming in agony and tiredness. I had to get out of here, I just can't face another moment of this. I want to go home where everything was safe and normal.
Behind me I heard the reptilian creature his, turning around as if to make after me but with a quick glance over my shoulder, I saw Scott take a swipe at it with his claws so instead the creature focused on him, wrapping its tail around Scott's ankle and tossing him against a wall where shards of shattered mirror lay. I grabbed hold of my purse and my clothes, clutching them to me and bolted for the school parking lot where my car was still parked. Diving in, I slammed my foot on the gas and drove out of there like the hounds of hell were hot on my heels.