Sorry for the LONG delay in posting, but thanks to everyone still interested in this fic after all this time! A reminder that I revised Chapter 2 a week ago, so if you originally only read it months ago when it was first posted, you might want to read that before you start Chapter 3 or you'll be lost with all the new characters.
CHAPTER 3
"Scott!"
He came awake all at once. No graceful slide from oblivion back to reality, just his eyes snapping open and sights and sounds and smells all rushing back to fill the void his dreamless sleep had left in place of thought.
Scott caught Lucas' slight wince of pain before the other boy could mask it. He released his iron grip from where it had snatched Lucas' wrist on instinct after he'd grabbed Scott's shoulder to shake him awake.
"Sorry."
"Nah, its my bad." Lucas shrugged easily, sliding his hands into the pockets of his light jacket. "Poking you awake with a pool cue from ten feet away was a totally valid option. You know, like a bear."
Scott took a second to process that. He couldn't tell if he was still groggy from sleep or if the joke was actually just random and not that funny. Lucas' sense of humor didn't always translate well to the rest of them. But at least his efforts were always good natured as opposed to his boyfriend's snarky barbs.
"What time is it?"
"A little after six. You said you guys wanted to leave for the school no later than seven," Lucas began. Scott surged into a sitting position, aborting his leap to his feet when he belatedly realized Connor was still snuggled against his chest. He must have fallen asleep holding him again, dammit. The books said it was important for babies at this stage to sleep in their own space - wait. Books. School. Fuck.
"I meant to be up half an hour ago," he hissed half to himself. He climbed off the bed, Connor stirring sleepily when Scott shifted him from one arm to the other to better snatch up the uniform he'd laid out the night before. Lucas smelled apologetic.
"Sorry, we decided to let you sleep in as long as we could. It looked like you needed it."
"That wasn't meant as an accusation, its fine," Scott assured him, spinning around in search of his towel. His room was like, ten square feet. How the fuck could he lose a towel in a space this tiny?
"Hey, we all told you not to take that shift at the club last night," Carrie said from the doorway. Her silhouette was framed by the drapes parted on either side of her, blocking the morning light enough that only a few sparse rays stabbed into the dimly lit room. Motes of dust drifted lazily in the bright shafts and Scott sneezed. Connor startled awake with a soft whine of complaint. "That was meant as an accusation, just to be clear."
"I had to talk to Henry about something," Scott defended himself. Carrie merely ticked an eyebrow further up her scalp. He spotted his towel sticking out from beneath a corner of his blankets and snatched it up in triumph. "Is the bathroom free?"
"For now. Diego is holding Beth and Corey off at claw-point though, so you might want to hurry. Their deference to their alpha can only outweigh their need for hairspray for so long."
Scott snorted, but really, where was the lie?
"Want me to give him his bath?" Carrie asked, nodding towards Connor. Scott shook his head. It was bad enough that he wasn't going to be here with him during the day for the first time in god knows how long. He'd only just gotten used to being gone for several hours at night while Connor was usually sleeping. Stability, feel free to make an appearance in their lives any day now, kay thanks.
"I've got it. Where are Malia, Brett and Liam at?"
"They're all finishing getting ready. They'll be good to go whenever you are."
"Good. Lucas, find Josh and Tracy and meet me on the roof in twenty minutes? I need to talk to you guys before I leave."
"You got it," Lucas nodded. Scott brushed past him and Carrie, headed towards the sole bathroom fifteen teenagers and a baby shared. And yes, it was every bit as terrible as it sounded.
"Scott!" A duet of complaint greeted him at the doorway to the bathroom. Corey and Beth slipped under Diego's outstretched arms and stumbled directly into his path, but Scott was saved from having to level a glare of his own at the two when Connor whirled and directed the full force of his golden-eyed cranky baby morning face at them first. They wilted. Beth was the first to rally.
"Just because not all of us get to go to the actual school with you doesn't mean we don't all need to feel like actual presentable human beings," Beth said, and yup, there was that grudge, right on schedule. "I've been waiting to use the bathroom for an hour. An hour, Scott!"
"You used the bathroom when you woke up," Diego corrected. "You've been waiting an hour to fix a few stray strands of your hair."
"That's what she said," Corey insisted, and oh god, Corey and Beth on the same page about something? It was too early to handle something this unnatural.
"Everyone has something to do today. We all have to prioritize the bathroom in order of who needs to be where first. I won't be long, you two can use it then," Scott said.
"How long?"
"As long as it takes, Beth," Scott sighed. "Now the sooner I get in there, the sooner you can get in there."
They parted reluctantly and Scott darted between them before they could find a new argument. He closed the bathroom door behind him and set Connor down on a pile of towels on the floor. He was in and out of the shower in about three minutes, keeping his eyes on his son the whole time. Thankfully, Connor decided the mist and stray droplets falling beyond the tub and onto him were cause for celebration rather than concern, and he clapped his hands and burbled.
That mood soured fast once Scott had dried off, filled the tub and tried to set him down in the water. Connor squirmed, kicking against his father's chest with early hints of werewolf strength. The second he was fully seated in the tub, he reverted back to good humor and splashed water everywhere with great enthusiasm. Scott was starting to get whiplash.
Wrestling a hyperactive werewolf baby into something resembling a state of good hygiene was no easy feat, and he was still at it when ten minutes later the door swung open and someone barged in reeking of frustration. Scott had a verbal lashing all at the ready for whichever of the two had caved to impatience when he realized it was Liam instead.
The younger boy was the very picture of misery in his gray slacks, black dress shoes and a button down white shirt. His hair stuck out wildly in all directions thanks to a very haphazard application of hair gel, and the striped crimson and gold tie meant to complete the ensemble was looped around his collar and knotted in a death grip around one hand.
"Ties are stupid," Liam declared with no shortage of venom. "Can you do it?"
"I tried already, but he didn't want my help," Hayden said. She leaned against the doorframe, examining her nails. Beth and Corey poked their heads around her, mouths open in objection, but Scott let his eyes flash red. Their heads popped back out of sight with an audible 'whoosh.' Huh. He really needed to just start leading with the alpha eyes thing first.
"You weren't helping me, you were insulting me." Liam glared. She shrugged.
"I have a process."
"Hayden, can you close the door and give us a few minutes?" She heaved a melodramatic sigh but departed accordingly. "Let me finish up with Connor here and then I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks."
Scott finished bathing Connor and set him back down on the floor to dry him off. Liam watched, saying nothing, but his scent was thick with the kind of mixed, repressed chemo-signals that tended to indicate someone had something they wanted to say, but just weren't sure how. He waited patiently for the beta to find the right words. Liam had never responded well to being pushed.
"Beth was right, she should be going instead of me," Liam blurted out at last. His posture portrayed dejection with slumped shoulders and a bowed head, but his scent had cleared and now screamed resentment with a overlay of bitterness. And a touch of fear? Scott frowned.
"Why do you think that? Did she say something else to you?"
"No, but I just…I'm gonna mess this up. I was always getting in trouble at my old school, and that was over two years ago! I don't know any of the stuff they're going to expect me to know."
Scott absorbed that as he got dressed in his own uniform. Connor sat silently at his feet now, blinking up at them both with sharp, clear eyes.
Liam was a unique situation in a pack full of unique situations. He'd been fully human when he ran away from home at fourteen. He was always particularly resistant about talking about his childhood, but they knew his parents had separated when he was young, and while Scott didn't think his father had been physically abusive, there'd definitely been emotional abuse involved whenever Liam stayed with him. Add to that he'd been diagnosed with IED when he was still in middle school, and Scott figured it had been pretty much inevitable that the right explosive situation had led to him running away. He was sure whatever the inciting incident had been, Liam blamed himself for it more than he should, as any time the subject was even tangentially breached the young teen practically reeked of guilt and self-loathing.
He'd been living on the streets of Chicago when the pack had happened across him during their first desperate flight from Kali's pack. A scrawny, malnourished street punk who picked pockets and turned tricks and had seen and lived as much as any of them by the time he got in the middle of things. And he never left, despite not having any obligation to any of them and a million reasons to be anywhere else. He'd already been pack by the time a life threatening injury forced Scott to risk giving him the bite, but Scott had always felt inadequate at finding ways to get him to see that.
"You know that none of the rest of us are going to be any better prepared for this than you are, right? I haven't been to school for three years, Brett for at least two, and Malia's still working on getting to an eighth grade reading level."
"I'm gonna look stupid though."
Scott knelt in front of his beta and forced his chin up to look him in the eyes. "Hey. I'm pretty sure all of us are going to look stupid at some point. You just have to remember why we're really there and what we're there to do. That's why I picked you to come."
Confusion clouded the younger boy's eyes. "What do you mean?"
"You have good instincts. They kept you alive when you were all on your own, long before you had claws or superhuman healing to rely on. And more importantly, you care about protecting people. Like this girl. I'm not saying the others don't, you all do, but a lot of them are still so used to looking out for themselves first and foremost, it takes them a little bit longer to get there. You've never hesitated to charge right in once you decide someone needs you. Like in Chicago."
Liam bit his lip and tried to duck his head back down, but Scott wouldn't let him. "I was scared though. Scott - I was so fucking terrified…"
"I know you were," Scott said gently. "I also know that you didn't let that stop you. And that's what matters."
"But what about my IED? I get so mad sometimes even when its just the pack…what if some human kid starts making fun of me for being stupid and I lose it?"
"You gotta have more faith in yourself," Scott chided. "And if you can't do that, have faith in us. We're going to be there with you. If anything happens, we'll handle it just like we always do. As a pack."
"Okay," Liam whispered. He nodded, his voice strengthening. "I can do that."
Scott squeezed his shoulder. "I know you can."
A knock on the door interrupted them, and Brett stuck his head in.
"Hey, Hayden said you guys needed help with something?"
Scott cocked his head. "Depends. You know anything about tying ties?"
"Oh. Sure!" Brett stepped into the bathroom, looking like he'd stepped out of a brochure for the school. Every inch of his uniform was perfectly fitted and starched, and his tie hung down his torso in clean, straight lines. "We had uniforms like this at my old school."
"So did we," Liam offered unexpectedly when Brett reached up to grab both ends of his tie. The blond beta froze. Subtly sniffed the air. That was more information about Liam's past than he'd volunteered in months. "I always sucked at it though."
"Probably just cause nobody ever showed you the right way to do it." Brett said, deliberately casual. Scott let a fond smile stretch his lips. "It's actually pretty easy, I'll show you."
"Can you guys get Connor's breakfast ready? I need to check with the others real quick, and then we've got to get going."
"No probs," Liam said with more of his usual good humor. His face lit up when Scott picked his son up and carefully handed him over.
"He's a baby, not a bomb." Brett squinted at the ginger care with which Liam handled the squirming bundle.
"Shut up."
Tracy, Josh and Lucas were all waiting on the roof when Scott climbed up the fire escape. Dawn had broken fully, and the air was filled with the honks of car horns, the pounding of jackhammers and other construction work. Melancholy cries came from the seagulls circling overhead, ever present this close to the harbor. The crisp October breeze carried the smells of salt water and the hurried panic of humanity's morning commutes in equal measure.
The three betas turned as one to face him where they waited by the far edge of the roof, and he felt a rush of gratitude for their easy patience. He was feeling Ethan and Aiden's absence more keenly than he'd expected. It was only two days since he sent them off towards Beacon Hills, but the three of them and Malia had been at each others' sides nonstop for the past three years. It was easy to overlook sometimes how much he'd come to rely on their ready support, but these three had stepped just as easily into the hole left by the twins for the time being.
"So we're assuming whatever this is about, you want it on the down low," Josh surmised in low tones once Scott had joined them. The roof was the pack's usual place for when they had things they didn't want others overhearing. It was far enough above the main living areas that low voices combined with the ambient background noise of the outdoors were sufficient to keep things private.
"The novelty of this job plus the chance to be able to finally stand and face Kali's pack has been good for morale," Scott said. "I'd prefer not to mess with that unless I absolutely have to."
"You think this is too good to be true?" Lucas asked.
"I think we can't afford to take anything at face value. Tracey, you've looked at the IDs and transcripts Yukimura set up for us, right? Anything you can tell us from that?"
The Asian American girl chewed her lip, deep in thought as she considered the question. Her own hacking skills were nothing to sneeze at, especially ever since they arrived in New York and she'd apprenticed herself to a self-professed 'cybermancer' named Tobias. By all appearances nothing more than a frazzled, hyperactive college student, he was definitely far older than he seemed. No one had any idea if that indicated a supernatural nature all his own, or merely enough proficiency with magic to pull off some variation of extended youth.
But more importantly, Tobias headed up the network of tech-savvy supernaturals who combined their efforts to help keep the existence of the supernatural a secret from an increasingly inquisitive mortal society. A mere reliance on human fallibility was no longer enough to guarantee their secrets in a digital age where even street light cameras could catch the flash of inhuman eyes. Most major cities with a large enough supernatural community had networks like Tobias' nowadays.
Scott had no idea who paid Tobias and his 'employees', but there was some income coming in from somewhere given that Tracey brought home the lion's share of the pack's living expenses. She and the rest of the supernatural shadow network spent their days working out of a small office building on the east side, scrubbing the internet and various cameras and recording devices clean of anything reported to them as being potentially problematic.
"Not a lot," Tracy admitted at last. She graduated to chewing on a lock of hair. "It was good, clean work. Professional quality, but nothing particularly hard. I could have done it myself, but I have no idea if she did it on her own, hired a supernatural hacker or outsourced to purely human ones."
Scott nodded, unsurprised. "If she knows as much about us as she seems to, she probably knows you work for Tobias. Which means she probably wouldn't have gone to him for this."
"But she's definitely old enough to be considered a major player in town," he continued. "I imagine Tobias has to have a file on her somewhere. I need you to see what you can dig up on her. If she's a hacker herself or uses humans instead of going to the Shadownet to cover her tracks, you might be able to find something. It's a long shot, but its all we have at the moment."
"What am I looking for? Anything specific?"
"Whatever you can find of her movements over the past few weeks. See if you can determine when she deviated from her usual patterns. Maybe we can figure out when and how this nogitsune made contact with her. There's more to her story about it than she told us. I want to know what it is."
"I'll do my best," she promised. Scott turned to Lucas. He worked by day as a bike messenger, again geared towards the supernatural community of New York. Many of the older creatures preferred not to venture far from their established places of power. Many of the younger creatures took part in a busy trade of black market spells and potions, artifacts and other sundry items requiring discretion and anonymous delivery.
"Yukimura had to get her information on us from somewhere. We need to know exactly who in this city knows who and where we are. People talking about a teenage Alpha bartender at Henry's is one thing - alphas as young as I am are rare but not unheard of. But someone talking about a True Alpha in town and telling her where to find me by name? We need to know who that is in case Kali and Julia do track us here."
"I'll ask around. See what I can dig up," Lucas said. "Do you want me to go to Parrish?"
"No. If he'd heard anything, he would have told Henry already, and Henry would have told us." The hellhound cop had been a valuable ally at times in the past, and his loyalty to Henry was without question.
"Are we sure Henry would have told us?" Josh asked hesitantly. Scott stared out across the harbor. He shrugged.
"If Henry's not trustworthy, we're already completely fucked no matter what we do. We might as well work on the assumption he has our back still."
"So what have you got for me?"
Josh worked down at the docks with the local siren pod. Somewhere in the previous centuries, some enterprising siren had realized that their innate abilities to enchant and obfuscate humans with their songs, their power over wind and water, stirring up storms and raising shrouds of fog and mist….all of that made for ideal smugglers. The sirens' songs clouded the minds of anyone who might get in the way of their transport of supernatural beings and artifacts in and out of the busy New York harbor. Their actual cloud cover did the rest of the work, masking things from any prying digital eyes.
Hired hands like Josh provided the supernatural muscle needed to keep their cargo secure and safeguard any potentially problematic transactions. Hopefully, now it would provide their pack with a favor.
"I don't want us unprepared in case all of this goes south," Scott said finally. "There's too many unknown variables, too many ways this could go sideways. We need an escape plan at the ready if all of this draws Kali's attention here and Yukimura can't or won't give us the help she promised. Talk to Blakeley. Start setting things up to get us all out of here by boat if we have to."
Josh blinked, wide-eyed at the implications while Tracy and Lucas exchanged glances. "Where to?"
"We've been all over the country looking for somewhere Kali won't find us or pursue us. Maybe its time we looked outside the country."
"Sixteen werewolves crossing the Atlantic smuggled in a cargo hold, with no contacts or preparation waiting on the other side," Josh said uneasily. "That's no small favor."
"And hopefully it won't come to that," Scott told them. "But if it sounds that desperate even to us, maybe it's desperate enough Kali won't consider that as our escape route, or be willing to follow us that far if she does."
The breeze picked up and whipped through their hair, carrying Diego's scent with it. The beta clambered up the fire escape, deliberately loud to give advance warning of his coming in respect for their attempts at privacy. The Calaveras scion could move even more quietly than Malia when he really wanted.
"Scott, its seven," he called out. "The others are all ready if you are."
Scott nodded and patted his three co-conspirators on the shoulders as he passed them to head back inside. "Just do your best and we'll work with what we've got."
The shitty thing about werewolf senses - even choosing not to look back didn't spare you from catching the scents of doubt and uncertainty.
Everyone else was assembled downstairs when he climbed back through the window. Brett and Liam waited with backpacks in hand, covering the whole spectrum of patience and impatience between them. The taller boy looked completely at ease, in no great hurry and without a care in the world while the smaller boy fidgeted and shifted from one foot to the other, looking like he was moments away from a bathroom emergency.
Zach, Corey, Beth and Hayden perched along the back of the couch. Carrie bounced Connor up and down in her arms over by the kitchen. Lori sat crosslegged atop a kitchen counter, playing with Brett's Iphone, oblivious to Zach's heated glare across the room at her. And Malia -
"Where's Malia?"
"She's coming," Carrie said. "I would just like to say that its probably in everyone's best interests to focus very carefully on their self-preservation instincts in the next few minutes."
Several faces scrunched up in confusion at that, including Scott's, but then the heady smell of strongly charged defensive anger preceded the werecoyote's footsteps on the stairs.
All became clear as she came into view.
The black and white laced up shoes appeared at the top of the stairs first, one foot landing angrily, holding for a pregnant pause, then the other striking with equal force. Rinse and repeat.
Then came the white knee-high socks. Then a mere inch of tanned skin before the hem of a red and black plaid skirt, carefully pleated.
The lower edges of the crimson red blazer started well below her waist, gold buttons leading up the length of her torso, flanking the crisp white blouse, fastened all the way up to her neck. Finally her face emerged from the shadows of the upper landing, hair a wild halo around her head.
Her eyes gleamed a cold, dangerous blue as she stomped the rest of the way down the stairs.
Everyone was carefully very quiet.
Then Corey squeaked and shoved a couch pillow into his face, shoulders heaving with silent laughter. Brett's lips twitched. A muttered 'better her than me' came from under Hayden's breath, and Malia's scent spiked in a prelude to violence before Scott hastily intervened.
"Okay! So! Everyone knows what they're doing, right? Zach, Corey, Hayden, Beth - you guys should start heading over to the school. I want each of you to take a different side of the campus. Brett, Liam and Malia and I will be taking the subway there."
"Ha ha!" Zach crowed. Brett's face twisted in disgust and Liam groaned.
"Seriously? But the subway stinks. Why do people all smell so bad?"
Brett nodded in vigorous agreement.
"Guys, we can't exactly go running across rooftops in our uniforms," Scott pointed out. "Showing up with sweaty, dirty clothes is not the sort of attention we want to draw."
"Why is everything about this so terrible?" Liam huffed, throwing up his arms. Scott winced. He said that now…
"There's one last thing." He reached into the backpack Noshiko Yukimura had provided him and withdrew four pendants that had come with a length note of explanation. "She gave each of us one of these to wear. Apparently, they've got some kind of charm on them to make us seem familiar to people we meet. An aura kind of thing so they just don't question why they've never seen us around before."
"You want us to wear magic?" Malia narrowed her eyes into twin slits of disbelief. He shrugged an apology.
"I'm not any happier about it than you are. But it does seem kind of necessary. Four of us can't just transfer into a private school in the middle of October without people asking questions. And that's the last thing we want."
"Yeah, but…are you sure its safe?"
He couldn't blame Brett for the question, or Liam or Malia for the wariness with which they eyed the pendants - like they were about to turn into snakes at any moment and bite them. The other betas suddenly seemed a lot less jealous of the four of them. The pack hadn't had a lot of good experiences with magic, definitely not enough to outweigh the bad. It wasn't a thing to be trusted. Scott was pretty sure he didn't trust the pendants himself. But if they were going to do this, they had to go all the way. And the potential reward was worth just about any risk…
"No, I'm not," he admitted. "But if we're going to do this, it looks like this is what its going to take. We'll be on the look out for any other strange effects they might be having, and we take them off the second we're back home safely. Okay?"
A trio of reluctant agreements sounded off, and the three of them shuffled forward to grab a pendant. Scott draped his own around his neck, tucking it beneath his tie. He waited for a tingle, a buzz or hum, some indication it was warping the physical world or having some kind of effect on him but there was nothing. That was one of the most annoying things about magic. Sometimes it was so flashy there was no missing it. Other times there was nothing to see at all, no matter how closely you looked.
"Alright. Everyone ready?"
He looked out at a sea of expectant faces, all rising as one to their feet. Mostly in unison. Not quite in harmony.
"No." That was Malia.
"This sucks." That was Liam.
"Is it too late to give my phone to Zach?" That was Brett.
"Bah!" And that was Connor, happily oblivious as he clapped in Carrie's arms. Scott ignored the tight clenching of his gut as he stooped to kiss his son on the forehead. Desperately shutting down the myriad thoughts threatening to make him call the whole thing off, wanting anything other than to leave right now. But they had a job to do. A job that was potentially worth more to them than anything else they could ever do. That would have to be enough to get him through the day.
"Alright, let's move it."
"Autobots, roll out!" Zach intoned with a fist pump. Beth sighed.
"I will push you off a roof. I swear to god."
"Try not to die," Carrie whispered to him as he brushed by, only half joking. He nodded.
"I always do."
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPpp
It was only second period, and Kira Yukimura already wanted to go home.
The day hadn't started well. Her parents were sticking to their weeks-old routine of being completely bizarre, and her dad was turning hovering into an Olympic level sport. Her headaches were becoming increasingly Ibuprofen-resistant, and static electricity had turned her hair into a Bride of Frankenstein homage that had taken her so long to wrestle into submission she'd been late to Chemistry.
Where a strange boy she'd never seen before was sitting in her seat.
"Hi," he said brightly when she dropped onto the only stool available, right next to him. Kira scrutinized him, confused.
"Hi," she said. "Sorry, I don't think we've met. Are you new here?"
His eyes widened slightly and he shot a panicked look over her head. She followed it to a strange girl she'd also never seen before, two tables over. The brunette stared back at them with equally wide eyes before ducking her head.
"Uh no, I'm not new," he stuttered. He was clearly thrown, though Kira couldn't imagine why. It wasn't like it'd been a difficult question. Guess he was just really shy. "I've been here since school started."
"So you transferred at the start of the school year?" Kira clarified. "Did you just transfer into this class?"
How had she never seen this boy before? St. Margaret's wasn't exactly a big school. Each grade had about one hundred fifty students tops. She'd have thought she'd at least have passed him in the hallways. He was pretty cute. And wouldn't people have been talking about someone transferring senior year? That was weird, right?
"No, I've been in this class all semester," the boy insisted. Kira frowned.
"No, you haven't. Its a small class, I think I would have noticed."
"Kira!" A hand tapped on her shoulder and she turned to see her friend Daphne staring at her from the table behind them. "You're being so rude! He usually sits in the back, that's all."
She opened her mouth to contest that, because umm, no? He didn't? But a cough and a stern look from Professor Salvans at the front of the room forced her to subside. For now. Why was everyone being so weird? Was this some kind of bizarre senior prank or something?
The lecture turned into an in class assignment to recreate the phenomenon they'd just been discussing. Normally this was the kind of school work that had Kira bouncing in her seat. Yes, she was a giant nerd, who's asking? C'mon, the things you could do with a little magnesium were just plain cool. But instead of her usual partners, Kira was forced to work with a boy she'd never ever met before and who definitely was not in this class no matter what everyone else was saying, because he wasn't even looking in the right chapter in their textbooks.
After several minutes of watching him fumble with materials that were probably going to blow up half the school at the rate he was going, she took pity on him finally and snatched the hydrochloric acid out of his hand before he caused irreparable harm.
"Here," Kira sighed, switching it out for the proper additive. A smile bloomed across his face and she blinked. Mysterious enigma mystery boys should not be allowed to smile like that outside of her favorite young adult novels.
"Thanks!" He took the beaker with clear and genuine gratitude and carefully poured. Considering the resulting colorization from the combined materials was a basic chemical reaction they'd seen dozens of times before, his entranced stare was all the more bemusing. He shook himself out of it though and turned back to her with a softer grin. "I'm Scott by the way. Just to clear that up at least."
"Kira," she said back, taking his hand when he offered it for a shake. They both jumped when static leapt from her fingers to his when they touched. Ugh, not again. "Sorry, I've been getting shocked by everything lately. Guess I've absorbed enough of it to turn into a menace myself."
Scott regarded her with a thoughtful intensity that made her want to squirm. "I don't think you could ever be a menace."
"Umm, thanks I guess?" Kira fought back a blush. She was not about to be swayed by the mysterious charms of a mysterious mystery boy. Not when there was clearly a mystery afoot. "Umm, we should probably get back to work before Professor Salvans yells at us. You know how he gets."
"Yeah, good point," Scott said wryly. "I definitely don't need that today."
He turned back to the beakers and Kira frowned at his broad shoulders. That'd been a trick, mystery boy, and you just failed, she thought. Professor Salvans was all bark and no bite. He'd cough pointedly at you if you got too loud, but that was as far as he ever went. Even kids outside his class knew his reputation as a pushover.
The rest of the period passed in relative silence, with relatively less weirdness. She caught Scott whispering to himself too low for her to hear, and when she looked back at the strange girl, she was staring at Scott intently. Was she a lip reader or something? Then a few times she caught Scott glancing back at the girl, eyes on her quietly moving lips. Were they both lip readers? Was lip reading a thing taught at the school they both went to when they clearly didn't go to this one?
At the ring of the bell, Kira was out of her seat like a shot, dragging Daphne off her stool and out into the hall with her.
"Oh my god, what is with you?"
"What's with me?" Kira hissed back incredulously. "What's with you? Why are you acting like those two have been in our class before today?"
"Umm, because they have been? Seriously, what is going on, Kira? Its like I said, they usually just sit in the back. So they decided to mix it up today, what's the big deal?"
"What are their names?" Kira accused. Daphne shook her head helplessly.
"I don't know? I don't know everyone who goes to this school. Neither do you."
"No, but we know everyone in our class. And they definitely haven't been in our class since ninth grade without either of us knowing anything about them, so they have to be new and how come nobody's said anything about two new senior students all year?"
"So they've stayed under the radar, I'm seriously not getting why you're being so weird about this. They don't seem the most approachable people, maybe everyone's just been picking up on that?"
Kira looked over her shoulder and where Daphne was nodding. Scott and the other girl were standing against a far wall of lockers, watching them.
"Fine. Let's see just how approachable they really are then."
"Kira, wait," Daphne called after her, but she just squared her shoulders determinedly and marched across the hall. Scott looked wary as she approached. Good, she smiled internally. He wasn't stupid then.
"Hi, we didn't really get off on the right foot I think. Can we try again? I'm Kira Yukimura. And you are?"
"Scott Vasquez," Scott said. He pushed himself off the locker he'd been leaning against. "This is Malia Brooks."
"Scott and Malia," Kira said. "Well its nice to officially meet you both. So you guys both transferred at the start of this year, right? That's a little unusual isn't it? I mean, one senior transfer student in a school as small as ours is unexpected, let alone two."
"Oh see, we're brother and sister," Malia said. Kira raised an eyebrow, glancing back and forth between Scott's wincing face and Malia's. She didn't want to be a total bitch and say anything if there was a perfectly reasonable explanation, but…
"Half siblings," Scott clarified hastily. "Hence the different last names."
"Right, we have different moms," Malia agreed. "Same dad. Kinda. It's complicated."
Scott shot her a look. Kira's frown deepened.
"So, same dad. But different last names?"
"Our father was kind of an asshole." Scott looked like he was in actual pain as he dragged that out between gritted teeth. "Neither of us wanted anything from him, especially not a name."
Kira absorbed that, thrown by the slight ring of truth she sensed behind his conviction. Malia bobbed her head vehemently.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up anything unpleasant. I take it he's not around now?"
"Oh no, he's dead now," Malia assured her. Kira gasped and raised a hand to her mouth, and the other girl rushed on. "No, its okay, we both hated him. Like really really. Violent stabby hate. Its a super good thing he's dead."
Scott brought his palm to his face.
"I mean, not that we killed him or anything, god, I didn't mean that at all," Malia laughed, loud and fake. Kira hesitated before dragging her foot half a step back.
"So how did he die then? I don't mean to pry, but you don't seem to mind talking about it."
"It was a fire," Scott said at the same time Malia spoke. "Wild animals killed him."
They shared a look.
"He died in a fire, and then wild animals got to him. He was camping," Scott said.
"We get it a little mixed up sometimes," Malia said. "It was very traumatic for us."
Kira eyed her. "Because you hated him so much."
"Right," Malia affirmed, beaming. Beside her, Scott closed his eyes.
"Well okay," Kira said at last, voice carefully devoid of inflection. "I'm really glad we cleared up any misunderstanding. I'm looking forward to finding out more about both of you. See you in class tomorrow?"
"For sure," Scott grinned weakly. He offered a small wave as Kira backed down the hallway, her books clutched across her chest. She grinned back, just as convincingly before rounding the corner and ducking behind the wall. She strained her ears as much as she could, and maybe it was just an effect of the hallways' acoustics but for a moment it was like she could pick out their voices clear as day despite the distance.
"Well that went well." That was Scott. "Brother and sister? Really?"
"I told you I was going to be horrible at this!" That was Malia.
"It's fine," Scott sighed. His voice was fading as though headed further in the other direction. "Let's just hope Liam and Brett make better first impressions."
Kira frowned as their voices vanished entirely. Now who were Liam and Brett? Why lie about being brother and sister? And why did Scott seem to care what kind of impression they made on her?
She had no idea what was going on here, and why she was the only one who seemed to see anything weird was happening at all.
But she knew one thing for sure -
She was going to find out.