When coach blew his whistle I was startled awake, blinking tiredly from where I was stretched out across two seats. "Back to your seat." Ugh…quiet down coach. Some people are trying to sleep.
"Stop thinking about it, man." Hearing Isaac's voice I coaxed myself to stay awake but kept my eyes closed, listening to him and Boyd who were only one row down and over from me.
"Like, you're not thinking about it too?"
"Well, we'll stop thinking about it."
"I can't."
"Well, there's nothing you can do about it either." In my mind I could feel the mixture of feelings of everyone around me. Mostly it was anger and resentment, particularly from Boyd towards Ethan who was currently the only alpha on the bus and an unspoken target for Boyd and Isaac to take out their anger due to the fact that because of the alpha pack, Derek Hale was dead. Yeah. Real shocker. I don't know the ins and outs of what happened, but Stiles had called me to tell me what had happened and next thing I knew, Isaac was crawling in through my window. Other feelings from the collective passengers included pain, worry and, most unfortunately, carsickness. Hence why I was stretched out trying to sleep to keep myself from feeling Jared's sickness.
Sometimes, empathic powers suck.
Becoming aware of Scott moving closer I opened my eyes again to see Boyd revealing claws and glowing eyes as he struggled to contain his rage towards Ethan, violent intentions pounding through his heart with every quick paced pulse until Scott latched his hand around his wrist. "Let…go."
"You got a plan? Tell me your brilliant plan, and I'll let go." Scott replied quietly, struggling with the pain in his side as I slowly sat upright, sliding closer to jump in and help in case Boyd needed calming down. "What are you gonna do? Kill him, right here? And then what? What are you gonna do after that?"
"I don't care."
"I do." Facing him down, Scott kept Boyd seated but then Isaac noticed the blood on his shirt from the open wound which still hadn't healed.
"Whoa, whoa, you're still hurt."
"I'm fine." He most definitely was not fine. I could feel it. "Give me a chance to figure something out, something that doesn't have to end with someone else dying." Pacified with Scott's promise and feeling guilty for aggravating his wound, Boyd agreed to staying put, though I knew this was just a momentary solution for a much longer game. Deciding to move seats both to be closer to Boyd and Isaac and further away from Jared, I slipped into the vacant seat in front of them and rested my arm over the back.
"Give me your hand." Speaking to Boyd directly, he was taken aback at first but slowly complied, touching his fingers against mine before sliding his hand into my palm, allowing me to focus on his presence and his heart completely. I started to hum one of my ancestor's songs, quietly, softly, barely making a sound audible to the human ear but to a werewolf, it was enough. The effect was immediate and Boyd's entire body went lax as he closed his eyes and began to feel a lightness of heart and peaceful sensations washed over him at my direction.
Instead of grief and sadness, I coaxed memories to rise from the back of his mind of times he spent with Erica and his pack. Happy times. The best times. It helped to settle him down, lulling him into a transient state of mind as I then slowly let go, letting my arm dangle there as I let my head roll back against the window. "What did you just do?"
"Siren empathic powers. I can basically control what a person feels if I want to. I just gave Boyd something else to think about other than his anger." I murmured, turning my head as Isaac leaned over the seat and tenderly brushed away some of my hair as I continued to rest, though he asked if I'd ever used my powers on him. "Just once. You were having a nightmare." Looking up at him, I reached for his hand against my face and lightly linked our fingers. "I made it go away." For a while Isaac just gazed at me, several thoughts and emotional responses crossing within him before he started to lean down closer, closing his eyes in order to kiss me but when coach suddenly started on Jared, the mood was quickly lost.
"Jared, I'm warning you. I'm an empathetic vomiter. You throw up, I'm gonna throw up right back on you and it will be profoundly disgusting." Just gross. The moment couch mentioned the word vomit Jared's stomach lurched and mine did too. Jesus, I've been so sensitive to other people recently it was kind of annoying. No wonder I preferred being an untouchable bitch before, it was way easier to not care about people compared to this. "I might throw up on you just to make a point, Jared." Turning to the rest of the bus, coach proceeded to make an announcement, forcing Isaac to sit back down. "Now the rest of you, don't think we're gonna miss this meet because of a slight traffic jam, a minor tornado warning, Jared. We're gonna make this thing. Nothing is gonna stop us! Stilinski, put your hand down."
"You know, there's, like, a food exit about a half a mile up. I don't know if we stop and then maybe..."
"We're not gonna stop."
"Okay, but if we stop..." Blowing sharply on his whistle to make Stiles shut up, Coach then proceeded to yell.
"Stilinski! Shut it! Seriously! It's a little bus! Stop asking me questions!" Having come to a full standstill, I reached behind me in order to open the window, groping with it for a few moments until Isaac opened it for me so I murmured a thank you. Inwardly I was focusing on repressing my powers, worried that if I didn't start getting a lid on things I could very well start growing scales and gills right in the middle of the bus.
When Stiles started another argument with coach about stopping, I began to realise that something was really wrong and I suspected it had something to do with Scott's injury. "Coach, it's five minutes for a bathroom break, okay? We've been on this thing for, like, three hours..." A whistle blared in his face. "It's sixty miles to the next rest stop..." Again the whistle blew, cutting short his argument. "Being cooped up for hours is not good...you know, our bladders aren't exactly...coach, this is... can you…please...let me talk! I'm...every time..." With each new argument, coach just blasted his whistle in Stiles's face before ending it with one loud, long, singular blast.
"Get back to your seat, Stilinski!" Yelling back at coach out of frustration, Stiles started back to his seat. "Jared, keep your eyes on the horizon." Oh god, I know that look. Stiles has an idea, and judging by the way that look was directed at Jared, I just knew it was going to be a gross one.
Next thing you know, half a mile up we pulled over at a gas station and everyone rushed off in a bid for fresh air as the stench of puke began to fumigate the entire bus. I was one of the first rushing to escape, leaping for freedom and shaking off the disgust. All this for a stupid cross-country meet. Turning around, I saw a familiar car pull up and Allison leaped out, running straight for the bus without even stopping to say hi. Lydia followed, slower and came towards me. "That bad huh?"
"Yeah, he's not getting better." Lydia whispered to me as Stiles and Allison both helped Scott off the bus in order to take him to the bathroom to see if they could help. "You'll stay here?" I glanced towards Boyd and Isaac, then looked at Ethan who was standing nearby.
"Someone has to keep the dogs on a leash."
"Hm." Pursing her lips and shrugging a shoulder in acknowledgement, she hurried after the others, leaving me with the three werewolves just waiting for a chance to tear out the other's throat. Fun. At first everything was fine, but when Lydia and Stiles left the bathroom without Scott and Lydia, I quickly moved towards them.
"What's going on? Is he okay?"
"It's bad, it's really bad." Stiles struggled for a moment, concern for his friend taking precedent over everything else. "Allison's trying to stitch it up to see if it'll help. It's about Derek, it's all about Derek." When coach called for everybody to get back on the bus, Stiles quickly jumped to stall him for as long as possible.
"Things are going to get worse, aren't they?" I asked Lydia who looked deadly afraid, nodding her head minutely. Sensing her fear, I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her head softly, comforting her. "We're going to be okay. If nothing else, you got me to protect you."
"With what, your supersonic scream?"
"I got a few things tucked under my belt, don't you worry. It'll be awesome when you see it." I promised her, coaxing a small smile from her just before we heard a shout. Isaac had swung directly for Ethan whilst he'd been distracted talking to Danny, taking him down in one hit and bloodying his mouth. "Holy son of a bitch!" Sprinting forwards Isaac went for Ethan again as Stiles yelled for him to stop, pulling uselessly at his arm only to be thrown off. I guess Isaac found out about Scott. God damn it. Just as Isaac pulled back his fist and punched, I skid across the ground and stood in his way directly in front of Ethan, reaching out to grab hold of his wrists and stop him. "Don't! Isaac!" I yelled at him, trying to snap him awake but he was too angry to focus on anything but hurting Ethan. He flung me off him but I somehow managed to maintain a grip on one of his wrists, stalling him enough for me to jump back in between them. "Isaac!" Thrusting out my hands against his chest with all my might, I managed to push him back a step. "You want to hit someone? Fine. Hit me. Go on, hit me!"
"Get out of my way Cordy." I stood my ground, balling my fists and refusing to move a single muscle as I glowered at Isaac darkly. A muscle twitched in his jaw as he clenched it, Boyd standing nearby but offering no assistance whatsoever.
"You gonna do it? Huh? You gonna hit me Isaac?" I questioned him before shaking my head, knowing full well he wouldn't. "No, you're not. So just take a step back, take a breath and walk away." I used no powers of persuasion to compel him to do so, which is why Isaac did nothing I instructed. He did stay still, however, and that was something. Everyone had gathered around to watch, expecting a fistfight but were sorely disappointed.
"What's going on? Isaac! What the hell did you do? Powell, wanna explain this to me?" Coach demanded but I kept my mouth shut as Danny rushed to Ethan and helped him up, fussing over the blood but Ethan shook it off. He reached for me, starting to pull me back towards him away from Isaac but that only set him off again, making him dart forwards and spring over me in order to try and hit him again. I pushed back as Danny did the same, wrestling against Isaac until Scott appeared and yelled with a powerful tone that caused my bones to tremble, forcing Isaac to obey the superior werewolf.
Now calmed, Isaac stepped back and coach ordered everyone back on the bus before rounding on Isaac to give him an earful, though he was hardly paying attention. "Hey, you're bleeding." Danny noticed, seeing blood trailing down my arm from four deep scratches. "Oh my god, did Isaac do that?" Hearing the words 'blood' and 'Isaac', both he and Scott looked over to see me peeling back my sleeve to reveal the wound. It wasn't too deep but it was inflamed and looked nasty.
"Here let me see." Ethan gently turned me around in order to get a look, inspecting it carefully as he raised my arm so that it was above shoulder level. "Hey coach? We're going to need a med-kit over here." Coach was not happy, but when he saw it was me who was hurt and the extent of the injuries, he immediately softened and insisted that I sat down whilst I got the injury disinfected and bandaged.
"Danny, go get something for her to drink and eat. Anything, probably sugary, you know what kind of things girls like, right?" He said whilst shoving a twenty into Danny's hand. Coach had this unfailing ability to be outright offensive without even knowing or thinking about it. Still, Danny hurried to go get something whilst Ethan cleaned up the blood with what we had on hand. "You feel dizzy Powell? Cordelia? Please say your fine because you're one of my best runners."
"I'm fine coach, just tired." I assured him, watching as Ethan secured the bandage and I rotated it to see how neat and pristine it was. "You're pretty good at that, where'd you learn to tie bandages?"
"My brother and I…well we used to get in fights all the time. Learned how to patch each other pretty fast." Thanking him, we waited until Danny came back with a selection of items which coach made me take as a bribe for not calling an ambulance. I didn't really fancy anything so I just sipped at the water, taking a seat near the front of the bus away from everyone else though Danny and Ethan seemed to make a point of sitting with me. "You okay? I'm sorry you got hurt, but I'm touched you were protecting me."
"With a cute face like that how could I bear to let someone mess it up?" I reasoned simply, touching the bandage lightly and wondering how long I could get away with having the injury before I made it heal. "Please don't be mad at Isaac. Sometimes he struggles to control his temper."
"Yeah, a lot of us have that problem." Uncertain whether or not he was referring to werewolves or people in general, I elected not to give a response. "Does it hurt? How did you not notice him making an injury like that?"
"Guess I'm just a tough nut." One good thing about playing a hero and getting injured was being treated like royalty afterwards. Danny gave me his sweater when it got cold so I could snuggle and Ethan let me curl up against him to sleep, shifting so that I would be comfortable. Next thing I knew we were pulling into a motel, coach informing us that the meet had been postponed so we would be staying here. At the Glen Capri motel of California. It looked…unsanitary.