Seeing as I was now woefully curious about what the hell was going on, I walked up behind Scott and Stiles the moment I found them in school, grabbed them by the back of their shirts and pulled them aside in order to talk. "Where the hell is Jackson? He's not in school and if you two are so sure that he's actually turning into a freaky monster lizard with murderous inclinations, then I want to know whether or not I need to be looking over my shoulder everywhere I go!" I hissed at them both, keeping my voice down so that no one else would hear us.
"Relax, we've got him locked up it's fine."
"Locked…locked up?!" I gripped my head in my hands at the idiocy of these two morons. "You're telling me that you've kidnapped Jackson Whittemore, who will eventually have to be let go and whose father is a god damn lawyer? Real smooth, geniuses." Thumping them both on the head, I shook off the despair of their stupid actions and tried to think. "Does he know what he is?"
"We've told him but I don't think he exactly believes us." Stiles admitted, earning another tart response from me.
"Oh sure, because it's everybody's dream to become a killer reptile and rip people to pieces. Who wouldn't want something like that to happen to them?" Lifting my finger I pointed at the two of them. "Whatever's going on, you better keep Lydia out of it and not let Allison take the fall. If anything happens, you two had better take responsibility, or I'll come down on you both like a tonne of bricks." My warning effectively conveyed, I headed off to econ, dreading the midterm I was about to take.
I was glad when it was over, however between Allison being distracted with the Jackson business and Lydia being…well. Not all there. I was totally lost as to what I should do. Lydia seemed to have developed a habit of zoning out, staring off into space. Snapping my fingers in front of her face, she jolted and looked at me quickly. "Lydia, are you okay? You seem a little off."
"I'm fine." She lied, blinking before straightening up. "Everything's fine."
"I know when you're lying, Lydia."
"Well then, you need to work on that because I really am fine." Insisting stubbornly, Lydia walked beside me to our next class. I just couldn't get through to her and judging by the fact that she was refusing to open up even to the student councillor, I didn't hold out much hope that she would talk to me when pestered. Guess I'll just have to wait for her to come to me then. Some old, same old. Instead I talked about other things, topics that usually we would spend hours discussing and gossiping about but lately, they all seemed rather pointless and unimportant.
I could tell Lydia was hiding stuff from me and she knew I was keeping stuff from her, but neither of us were ready to share so we both continued with an unspoken agreement that we would wait until we were both willing to talk openly with one another. My hesitance stemmed from the fact that I didn't know how much she knew, and as much as I wanted to talk to somebody about all this, Allison didn't have the time and had blown me off several times when I'd attempted to talk. Scott and Stiles were equally as busy but neither of them were my friends, so there was no point talking to them anyway.
Instead I decided to hit the pools. The indoor pool, though, there's no way I'm going back to the outside ones anytime soon. As usual the water helped me to stay calm, focusing simply on swimming lengths up and down the pool in my own lane without being distracted until I stopped on my tenth lap to take a break. Swimming to the side I folded my arms on the ground in order to hang there for a while, resting my head as a hundred thoughts and worries pounded against my skull. Letting my legs tread the water, I heard somebody swim up alongside me and come to a stop so I took a look.
"What a coincidence seeing you here." Isaac said to me cheerfully, though I called him on his bluff immediately.
"Let me guess, Derek has told you to keep an eye on me."
"In not so many words, yes." At least he was an honest werewolf, that was something at least. "So, have you told anyone about what you saw? Or about us? Also, have you talked to the Argents recently?" I rolled my eyes at him as I stretched out a bit, yawning from boredom of this dull conversation.
"No, no and no. Ever since meeting Gerard I've avoided going to her house so that I didn't cross paths with him. I don't like the guy, I get bad vibes off him." I answered, hoping that that would be the end of that, but Isaac didn't seem to take the hint when I started to push off from the side.
"That's good, because if you ever did sell us out then unfortunately I'd have to kill you." I froze in place, staring at him in horror until he cracked a grin. "Just kidding, I wouldn't kill you." Annoyed by his sick sense of humour, I pulled myself back to the side of the pool, glaring at him deeply.
"But you would kill Lydia, right?" The smile instantly vanished from his face. At least he had the decency to look guilty, though that doesn't mean I forgave him or the others for what they almost did. "That's right, I know all about that. Not a good moment for you, Isaac, and especially not Derek. Maybe you should think about finding a new alpha, because yours seems like an incompetent one."
"He's not all bad, we're just freaked out by this kanima thing. It's hard to fight and even harder to kill."
"There you go with the killing again. Do you think maybe that there might be an option that doesn't involve you using your claws to resolve everything you don't understand?" I couldn't believe I was actually defending Jackson against these werewolves, but then again just last week I thought I was a normal human girl. Guess life was just full of these unwanted surprises. Exhaling wearily, I rested my head down again as Isaac fell silent for a while, unable to answer my rebuke. He just took to watching me, probably listening to my pulse as well.
"Why do you look like the world is coming to an end?" Was that a joke? Last time I checked, it literally looked as if the world was coming to an end. "Need to talk?"
"With you? Not likely." Why was I even still here? I should be as far away from this guy as possible. Derek hadn't come back to interrogate me again since that night, so I could only assume he'd ordered the others to watch me and learn what they could or coax me to open up to them somehow. I'm not going to fall for it. I won't. So long as I can keep calm and make sure they don't corner me again like they did last time then everything should be alright. I need to focus on passing my midterms otherwise I'll be held back a year along with Scott, who was apparently having trouble keeping up with his classes as well.
"I get it, you still don't trust me."
"I won't ever trust you." I corrected him pointedly, shooting him a look. "I'm not telling you anything so just leave me alone already." Pushing off from the side like a jet I began to swim back down the lane with aerodynamic speed, my lithe body cutting through the water effortlessly. Behind me I heard Isaac laugh and follow at a much slower pace, however when I reached the other side and turned around, the pool was completely deserted. No Isaac, no nobody. I'd known that we had been the last two in the pool, everyone else having got out, but there was no way he could have got out in the time it had taken me to clear a lap. He'd been behind me, after all, or had I been mistaken? "Isaac?"
Nervously calling out I swam forwards a little, looking around before taking a breath and going underwater to take a look, just to be certain. Almost immediately I saw a dark shape sinking to the bottom of the pool, startling me so much that I reared back and returned to the surface for a gasp of air. "Isaac!" I bolted forwards, swimming back to the centre of the pool where Isaac had dropped below the surface and without thinking, dove down in order to reach him.
The chlorine stung my eyes and made it difficult to see without goggles, the blurred shape of Isaac gradually growing bigger though the distortions of vision underwater meant that he was further away than I had estimated. He wasn't moving, laying there with his hair floating lifelessly as I continued to swim towards him, kicking my legs with all the strength I possessed. Suddenly my vision cleared, becoming sharp and extremely focused. I could judge the distance between us easily and immediately pushed forwards, reaching out to grasp hold of Isaac's shoulders in order to shake him. This was totally déjà vu, and it sucked.
Opening his eyes, Isaac looked directly at me, grinning victoriously but the moment he saw me, that smirk vanished without a trace. He stared at me much the same as Derek had, looking at me in dumbfounded awe. I ignored that. This jerk had purposefully tricked me into trying to reveal myself! Without even thinking I smashed my fist into his face which, shockingly, moved rather powerfully and quickly underwater. It were as if I were unhindered at all, in fact I was fairly certain my punch was more powerful down here than it ever could have been above water.
I blinked, looking at my fist and when I noticed something shimmering against my skin, I opened my hand to stare at the small indications of scales. My stomach clenched as I stared, turning my hand to catch the light as the transparent scales flashed slightly with every movement I made. Isaac was also staring, reaching out his hand in order to take mine and ran a finger along the scales in order to feel their indentations. The scales were perfectly clear, thin lines of white outlining their presence and when the light caught them, they shimmered with an opalescent distinctiveness, turning shades of blue, green, purple and pink.
Everywhere I looked I was covered in them, my arms, legs, body, everywhere and when Isaac took hold of the back of my head, he pointed to my neck so I touched the skin there to find three slits either side. Gills. I had freaking gills. More than that, the longer I stayed underwater, the more I seemed to shift into something completely different. A webbed membrane started to grow in between my toes and fingers, nails growing into delicate little points like tiny, needle like claws. Now completely freaked out, I screamed underwater. The sound came out muted but still, it caused the entire pool to ripple and Isaac slammed his hands over his ears before coughing out the air of his lungs, forcing him to rise to the surface and I quickly followed suit, hyperventilating even before I reached the top.
Alarmed by what had happened, I thrashed and clawed at the water, struggling to control myself out of sheer confusion and this dreadful feeling of being monstrous and ugly. "Cordy. Cordy! Cordy calm down!" Isaac shielded his face from the water I was thrashing everywhere before finally managing to catch my wrists, dragging me closer to him as I shook my head desperately.
"It's not real, it's not real, it's not real…"
"Cordy, just calm down and take a moment, you don't have to panic." He comforted me, dropping one of my wrists in order to catch my waist and started to swim us both back to the poolside, helping to keep me upright in the water until he grabbed onto the side and let me take the time I needed to gather my wits back to me. I drew in deep, meditative breaths, calming myself gradually as we tread the water together. "It's okay, it's all okay, you're not the only one who's not normal so don't worry."
"Not normal? I had scales. Freaking scales and webbed feet! What's next, a tail?"
"Well, the scales are gone now and so is everything else if that's any help." Quickly looking down at my hand, I exhaled with relief to see that he was right. Rubbing my fingers into my skin I no longer felt any scales so at least it had been only a temporary transformation. I wonder what triggered it? "So what are you…like a were-fish?" I punched him in the chest for that one but didn't comment on it. "That's cool I guess. Not what I was expecting but still cool."
"You are not helping." Growling at him I looked down, just then realising that his arm was still around my waist and our bodies were flush against one another. "How long are you intending on holding me like that?" He cracked a cheeky smirk, shrugging his shoulder as he kept his arm right where it was.
"For as long as you didn't notice." Pushing him away I then pulled myself out of the pool in order to sit down and think for a moment as well as recover from the fact that I had actually shifted into something so freaky. The notes from my ancestors had detailed the changes we sirens might go through, but it was another thing to actually experience it. It all just felt so unreal, like some bad dream that I couldn't wake up from and a lot of things still didn't exactly make sense to me. Would I be able to control it? What if I'm in the water with other people and suddenly turn into a fish or something? What then? "Still don't want to talk?"
"Not to you." I reinstated as Isaac came over and sat on the bench beside me. He reached across to his belongings and shook out a towel before placing it around my shoulders, surprising me. It was instantly warming so I accepted it, bunching my fingers into the fabric in order to wrap it closer around me. "Please don't tell anyone." Murmuring quietly, I looked at Isaac pleadingly, making him shift uncomfortably.
"I can't not tell Derek. He's my alpha and he'll know if I'm lying to him."
"Yeah? Well…I saved his life, so tell him that he owes me and I want him to leave me alone." Now that Isaac did agree to, promising to pass along the message on my behalf. "And you're a jerk. Pretending to drown just so that I'd come down and rescue you. You knew something like that would happen, didn't you?"
"Derek told me what happened when he saw you change, so I figured if I just copied the circumstances maybe I'd get lucky. But hey, I'm touched you cared enough to actually not let me drown, so thanks for that." The deadly glare he received only seemed to encourage him so I quickly stood up and dropped his towel on his head, stalking away in order to collect my own things but still he followed me like some kind of besotted puppy. "I knew you liked me!"
"Shut up Lahey."
"Come on, just admit it. You think I'm cute." He persisted, even following me into the girl's showers.
"I think you're annoying and deluded. I was only trying to be a decent human being, because apparently I need to work on that as I suck at it most days. In any case, this is the girls' shower rooms, get out." Not budging one inch, Isaac folded his arms across his bare chest and it was only then that I took a moment to notice his physical appearance. His face was decent enough, chiselled and well shaped, but his body had definitely seen some improvement. Was it because he'd been bitten and turned into a werewolf? Maybe, but there was definitely some muscle tone there that I'm pretty sure hadn't been there before. He used to be tall and lanky, barely any meat on him. Now it was a different story?
"As it so happens, I seem to remember somebody walking into the boys' restroom not too long ago. I'm just making it even." Isaac informed me before noticing that I was checking him out so he covered himself with false modesty, pretending to be shocked and appalled. "Cordelia Powell, are you objectifying my body? How dare you?" I rolled my eyes, putting my stuff down on a bench then went to turn on one of the showers in the cubicle so that it had time to heat up.
"Please, like you don't check out my ass every chance you get." To that, Isaac had no comeback. "Will you get out now?"
"That depends. Are you going to tell me what you are other than 'were-fish'?" I scowled.
"No."
"Are you going to tell me what you know about the kanima?"
"No."
"Do I get to see you naked if I stay?"
"No!"
"Can I kiss you again?" Smack.
"Just get out already!"