Chapter Twenty Seven – Slipping Away
~ A Teen Wolf fanfiction collaboration between Miss E Charlotte and Sage Londyn.~
Avery's eyes slowly opened and she looked around her nearly dark bedroom, with a smile she looked over to see Derek sleeping beside her, on his stomach in the middle of the bed with his face down in the opening between their pillows.
Putting a hand over her mouth to hold back a laugh at the sight she slowly climbed out from the under the blanket and stood up, stretching her arms up the ceiling she held her stance for a moment before dropping them and pulling Derek's shirt she was sleeping down to cover the pair of black underwear she'd gotten out of her dresser before sleeping.
As she started to walk out of her room she stopped, when she saw her cat Annabel Lee sprawled out between Derek's sleeping body and the wall her bed was against.
She shook her head thinking it was funny not only that her cat was taking up more space on the mattress then the both of them, but it was even more hilarious that her cat only liked Derek when he was sleeping.
Leaving them both to sleep in peace she walked down the stairs to make sure the doors were locked, something she'd been doing every time she woke up in the middle of the night since the alphas had taken her.
After checking the front door she walked into the front family room, then stopped as she noticed the window was wide open. Closing it, she heard a thud behind her, but when she turned around no one was there.
"That's not funny, Derek…" she shakily called out, but got no response.
Quickly darting towards the fire place she picked up one of the iron pokers and called out, "Dad?"
But she was met again by a dead silence.
Holding the weapon in a position in her hands like it was a bat, she continued her search through the first floor of the sprawling house.
As she got back to the front door, it was standing wide open.
Quickly she lunged forward slamming the door and yelling, "Derek! I think someone's in the house!" Her heart raced inside of her chest, but when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs, she'd assumed her yelling had woken him up.
With an explanation of why'd she'd woken him up on her tongue, she turned around but instead was met by the horrid image of her mom's burnt face, as the woman raced towards her. Closing her eyes Avery swung the fire poker, until it collided with her mom's head.
After she knocked her down on the floor, she watched the light leave her mom's eyes as she stabbed the iron tip into her body again and again, until she was exhausted.
Dropping the weapon with a loud thud she wiped the blood spatter from her face, and slowly looked down to her legs were also bloody. But her mom's body was gone. In it's place was the small, destroyed lifeless body of a black cat
"No!" Avery shrieked as she'd realized it wasn't her mom, she'd unknowingly attacked and killed her own cat.
"Oh god!" She sobbed holding onto herself and backing away from the grisly, heartbreaking sight, until there was a sharp pain in her foot. Balancing on her uninjured leg, she raised her other one until she saw a large splintered chunk of wood poking out from the sole of her foot.
Pulling it out she dropped it back to the floor confused, she'd been standing on tiled flooring, not wood.
Wondering if she'd imagined it, she looked around devastated to see Annabel's body was still there, but she wasn't in her house anymore. She was at the Hale house.
Her breath came out in fits and gasps as she tried to understand what was happening to her, but it was impossible.
"Avery!" she heard Derek yell, followed by the sounds of loud thudding against a door.
Tripping over her own feet she ran through the house until she came to a closed door where the sounds were coming from.
"Derek!" She yelled, trying to open the door from her side but it wouldn't budge.
"Go, you have to go. Run!" She heard Teagan frantically yelling for her to save herself, and it was then that she could see smoke coming out from under the closed door.
"No, no, no!" She cried beating on the door until both of her hands were numb.
Ignoring her friends increasingly frequent demands of her to run, she ran into the other room where she found the iron fire place piece, still wet with the blood of her deceased cat.
Using all of her strength she beat on the door, until she realized the iron was sparking against it. Placing her hands on it she felt the warm metal under her flesh, shakily and with trembling fingers she felt the door frame was also metal.
It was then she heard a loud earth shattering, ear piercing scream she immediately recognized as Lydia, also coming from the basement of the house.
The realization was disturbing, but she wasn't going to give up. Not with her friends trapped waiting to die a painfully slow, fiery death just like the rest of Derek's family had.
With loud grunts of frustration, and screams of rage she continued to try and break the door down, each time the iron collided with the metal it sparked and the sound pulsated against her eardrums.
"The entire room is reinforced, you're not going to get any of them out of there."
Her sweat dampened hair stung her face from the impact as she turned to see her mom casually standing in the room.
"Even born werewolves have some trouble controlling their shifting… the basement was used to keep them chained up on full moons, until they could control it." Aleine said, moving her hands as she spoke.
"You're not real…" Avery hissed through gritted teeth as she returned to her task of trying to set her friends free, growing more frantic by the second as she could hear Stiles, Allison and Scott also screaming out in pain. It seemed everyone she cared about was trapped and facing death.
"If I'm not real… what makes you think this fire… or even the house is real?"
Avery dropped the iron piece with a thud against the wood as tears streamed down her face, she placed both hands on the hot door and leaned her forehead against it, as she repeated, "It's not real, it's not real… it's in my head."
"Maybe it is real." Aleine interrupted her.
Watching her teenage daughter struggle to find a grip and an anchor to reality she nonchalantly pointed out, "That blood real… you killed your own pet, Avery. And now Derek and you're friends are going to die."
Through her mom's words she could hear everyone coughing and choking on the smoke, along with a metallic screeching noise she could only imagine was caused by claws striking the door in a frantic attempt to get away from the growing fire.
Blocking all of the sounds from the room out long enough to focus her attention to focus her energy, she placed her hand on the door that was now so hot she was sure her own flesh was burning onto it.
"Don't!" Aleine said rushing to her, "Don't do it… there is a price you pay for this kind of power. This darkness you're drawing from, each time you dip back in for more… it takes a piece of you with it. One day, you won't come back from that, do you understand me?"
Avery's breathing was raspy from the smoke filling her own lungs, but she used her powers to try and blast the door open, but within seconds the only sound she could hear was her friend's agonized screams.
"You're killing them, you're killing them all." Aleine taunted.
"You are out of control, drawing power from the fire is only making it spread faster!" she shouted.
Tears poured down her face, and her lips quivered as she made undiscernible sounds, trying to form words but she wasn't able. Not only was the smoke now filling her own lungs, but the unmistakable stench of burning flesh singed her nose and she started to gag.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She cried, her body shook violently as she listened to Teagan screaming out and dying in pain.
Leaning down next to her, Aleine grabbed her daughters face and smashed it against the door. Screeching out in terror and agony, Avery tried to push away but her mother was to strong and she could hear and feel her cheek sizzling on the door. The sound was comparable to frying an egg in a skillet, but she knew exactly what was causing that sound. She couldn't escape the rancid smell of her own burning skin and hair.
"You killed your friends, you're a monster, Avery! No one, not one soul is safe around you!" Aleine shouted keeping her daughters face pressed tight against the door.
Her feet kicked, and both hands were now also burning as she placed both palms against the door begging for her mom to stop, while she listened to Derek's last few distressed, tortured screams before the she couldn't hear him or any of her other friends anymore.
The fire had somehow now engulfed the room they were in too, and her mom finally let go of her.
Avery sank to the floor, refusing to look at the door because she was terrifyingly aware that some of her skin had been left behind.
Weakly, her injured, charred hands left trails of blood as she tried to pull herself from the blazing inferno, her nails broke and splintered against the wood as she tried to claw her way to freedom, but she knew she wasn't making it out of there alive.
"Look around… daughter of mine..." Aleine taunted, as she walked beside her as she tried to escape.
"I warned you. I had visions of a peaceful future, a better life for us and Teagan away from Beacon Hills, away from werewolves and banshees and everything that goes bump in the night."
With no fight left in her, Avery's face collided with the floor as she yelled out, her voice cutting through the popping sounds of the fire.
"But you chose wrong, you helped someone kill me… and now it's your turn to pay the price."
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Avery repeated over and over, thinking dying in this fire would be better than listening to her mom go on any longer.
Scorn showed in her tone as she knelt down beside Avery and warned, "Kate's fire didn't kill Derek… but your fire will. You're ticking time bomb…"
"And Derek isn't the only one you'll drag down. You're bad Avery, you were born bad and soon enough everyone will know. Mark my words, you're friends are going to die and you'll be responsible." Aleine's voice sounded more violent that the blazing inferno they were trapped in.
"I'll save them…" Avery helplessly sobbed.
"You can't save them, you can't even save yourself…"
Closing her eyes she ignored the feeling of a touch on her uninjured cheek, believing it was her mom wanting to taunt her some more.
"Avery!"
Her eyes snapped open and she stared at Lydia in shock as her friend looked back at her a look of terror in her eyes.
Her watery eyes looked around as she saw her dad, stomping the fire out of her flame ridden curtains against her carpet floor.
"What the hell is wrong you?" Richard yelled looking to his daughter as she continued to look around dazed.
He'd came up the stairs minutes before when the fire alarms started ringing throughout the house, and he'd came in the room to find Lydia desperately trying but failing to put out the curtains.
He wasn't sure how it was possible, but he couldn't get the fire out either. He'd only been able to calm the flames once Avery came out of her trance like state, but not a second before.
Looking at the now blackened walls around the window, his eyes then fell to the destroyed curtains before traveling to his daughter
"What… what happened?" Avery whispered, her eyes wide and watery as she stared between her dad and Lydia who were both looking at her with a stunned expression. Her dad didn't have an explanation for her, or even for himself.
As Richard then saw the top of her dresser was covered in melted candle wax which was also dripping onto the floor, he groaned in frustration. Thinking she must have fell asleep with candles burning he yelled, "You could have burned the entire house down!"
Avery's eyes blinked rapidly, as she was having flashbacks from her nightmare and trying to comprehend what was currently happening to her.
As he angrily stormed out of the room mumbling about how much her the new carpet in her room had cost, he yelled over his shoulder, "You could have killed us all!"
With those words, she started to collapse, but Lydia wrapped her in a hug and guided her over to the bed as she sat down and faced her.
"What happened?" Lydia asked her, her eyes full of concern as she looked at her best friend.
"I just…" Her voice trailed off as she saw her cat perched on the foot of the bed, "I had a nightmare… it was just a nightmare…"
"Just a nightmare? Avery, I woke up and you were just standing in some sort of trance staring at the window, when I tried to wake you up… the curtains just burst into flames!" She exclaimed, knowing she wasn't telling her in the entire story.
"Where's Derek, is he okay?" Avery stuttered out.
Lydia's eyebrows raised as she said, "I guess he is… he's taking Cora back to South America tomorrow…"
"Where is he?" She pushed.
Lydia shook her head as she said, "At his loft, I'm guessing…"
"He was here." Avery cried, remembering waking up beside him.
"No… he wasn't…" Lydia argued growing more concerned by the second.
Avery looked down expecting to see herself in the same shirt of Derek's that she'd woke up in –in her nightmare, but she was in a pair of dark green shorts and a black shirt.
Then she gasped scooting away from her friend as she suspiciously asked, "Wait, Lydia… what are you even doing here?"
The redhead looked around the room, wondering if she should call Teagan or possibly even Derek, someone to help her because Avery was starting to scare her.
"Don't you remember? We went shopping at the mall, out to dinner and then you practically begged me to stay the night, you said you didn't want to be alone." Motioning down to the black pajama pants with a skull design and dark blue silk sleeping shirt Lydia was wearing, she pointed out "You wouldn't even let me go home to get any of my clothes."
Avery's bloodshot, light brown eyes looked around her room to see a pile of shopping bags in the corner, along with a movie rental cases laying on the stand her flat screen tv was mounted too.
"Do you really not remember yesterday at all?" Lydia gasped.
"It's coming back to me…" Avery lied, as she rubbed her face and let out a nervous laugh and said, "I'm sorry, the nightmare just really… messed me up."
Lydia bit down on her bottom lip, she had a ton of questions, starting with how Avery had managed to get up in the middle of the night and light the curtains on fire, or why she'd done that in the first place.
"Let's just sleep." Avery breathed crawling over to the side of her bed against the wall, the opposite side she always slept on, as she turned her back to her friend.
Lydia watched her a for a few moments before she turned off the lamp on the beside table and pulled the blankets up to her chin starring at the ceiling and trying to piece together what was happening.
As Avery closed her eyes visions of the nightmare played through her mind as she silently cried, her tears running onto the pillow case under her head.
~(The next day)~
After hugging Cora and demanding that her friend keep in touch after moving away, Avery watched as she got into the elevator with her bags.
Taking a deep breath Avery looked down as she rubbed her sweaty palms on her black pants before mustering the courage to walk into Derek's loft.
She looked down where there were 2 large duffel bags on the floor and looked up to see him carrying a third one down the small spiral staircase.
"Kind of surprised you're here." Derek announced, as he saw her. In a way he almost wished she wasn't there, leaving would be easier without having to tell her goodbye.
"Yeah, I've been doing a lot of soul searching." She admitted, excusing her own distant behavior as she tucked her hands in the pockets of her fitted dark gray jacket.
He dropped the bag with the others and raised his eyebrows giving her his full attention and not missing the pained look that spread over her face as she stared back him. She could hear her mothers voice in her head, 'Kate's fire might not have killed him, but your fire will. You're a ticking time bomb'.
"You packed a lot for a road trip." She breathed out, trying to delay the inevitable as she pushed the thoughts from her head, but she could still his pained screams from her nightmare.
"There's a few things I need to look into while I'm there." He admitted, taking a few steps closer. Knowing what he had to do.
"Are you coming back?"
He swallowed hard as he gave a small shrug and said, "I don't know…"
He bottom lip started to quiver but she mentally commanded herself to not break down, she knew it would be for the best, but it didn't make it any less painful.
"Avery…" He breathed taking a deep breath as he tried to choose his words wisely, in an attempt to not cause her more pain than he already had to. "I love you, but I think it might be better for us both… if I don't come back to Beacon Hills."
Her breathing grew shallow and she opened her mouth to say something, but he quickly cut her off, needing to get his speech out before he lost his nerve. "You have no idea how much I wish I could be with you… but, it's just never the right time for either of us."
Seeing some tears run down her cheeks he stepped closer and said, "I'm not doing this hurt you, believe it or not I'm doing to this for you. Because you deserve the best, you deserve so much more than everything that I… that this life has put you through."
Looking sideways she used the back of her hand to wipe away her salty tears as she gave a small shrug and said, "How many time do I have to tell you that the things that went wrong in my life, aren't because of you."
He started to say something but this time she didn't let him speak, her voice cracked as she sniffled and reasoned, "But… maybe you're right. I wish, my god I wish with all of my heart that things had turned out differently, because I do love you so, so much. But, I think what we have isn't healthy for either of us."
He nodded in silence, trying to block out the feeling of her heartache in the air, it was bad enough feeling his own pain.
He trusted her, more than he'd trusted anyone in a very long time. And all she could think was that –that level of trust and faith he had in her, could be the death of him. Letting out a small, helpless noise she shrugged and said, "I just don't think things can ever go back to how they were, because we can't go back to who we were…"
The expression on his face was unreadable as he stared at her, trying to keep from completely breaking down in front of him as his own eyes grew a little wet. "We're just not the same people we used to be, we're no good for each other... I don't know if we ever were." His words came out surprisingly strong
Running her tongue over her salty, tear stained bottom lip she agreed, ""Some problems are just too big… too permanent to fix."
The air was laced thickly with devastation as they both agreed they had to let the one go. They were both damaged, deeply so before they'd ever gotten together. And now somehow, after everything they'd been through… they only seemed to complicate each other's lives more.
Raising her head her gaze met his, and she wasn't sure if was the blurry vision from her own tears, or if was standing in the wrong lighting, but she could have sworn his eyes were watery too.
Letting out the air she'd been holding in her lungs, she crossed her arms behind her back, pausing for a moment as she roughly pinched the skin on her forearm, and held on tightly. Giving her something else to focus on, a different kind of pain, a temporary vice to stay focused and not break down even more than she already was.
"Are you going to stay in South America?" She finally questioned, her gaze locking with his.
Letting out the breath he'd been holding he shrugged, not having a clue where the road would take him, "I don't know, maybe…"
His eyes left hers and she saw him focus on the ceiling light for a few moments, and it was then that she as sure it wasn't just her blurry vision that made him look misty eyed as well.
"I…" she stuttered out stumbling over a breath she was trying to take, "I'm going to miss you… I hope everything works out… in your new life, away from here…"
Stepping forward he wrapped his arms around her in a tight, loving, protective embrace that made her fight even harder to keep control of her emotions as she desperately gripped onto his shirt not wanting to ever let go of him.
Her ears were ringing so bad, she couldn't understand exactly what he was saying, but she was able to make out something that sounded like an apology and him telling her be safe. Before he pressed a kiss to the top of her head and somehow mustered the strength to break their embrace and step back.
Her mouth hung open and her breathing erratic as she watched him pull his keys from his pocket, take the loft keys off the ring, he dropped them on the old, worn coffee table beside them.
She was standing on solid ground, but she might as well have been shipwrecked out in the middle of the ocean, as she watched him turn to leave. Because she was losing everything, watching him everything walk away without looking back at her and she felt like she was drowning. There was no oxygen left in the room
Looking down to the keys laying on the table, she let tried to take in a breath but she couldn't find air. He was gone, really gone and now she was alone. They'd agreed this was for the best, for both of them because as long as they were around each other they'd never fully heal or move on.
But it still made losing him just agonizing, with a loud gasp of pain she dropped to her knees, it felt like someone had literally reached inside of her chest and pulled out her heart.
Her fingers dug into her jeans on top of her thighs as she gasped louder and louder for air, tears ran down her cheeks and she didn't understand what was happening, she imagined it this feeling was comparable to drowning.
A series of gasps and fits of choking sounded through the empty loft, as she clutched onto her chest. Through her extremely distressed state, she remembered having episodes like this as a kid after losing her mom, Teagan and her parents had helped her through them.
Only she was alone, with no one there to pull her out of it, she wasn't even sure where her phone was, and Derek owned the building, no one else lived there –not that her oxygen deprived lungs would let scream for help anyways.
Throwing herself forward some, she'd made dry gagging noises like she was going to throw up, but nothing came out. He stomach just clenched over and over, putting her into an even more panicked frenzy.
Her nails broke and chipped against the cement floor as she clawed at it, trying to focus and calm herself down.
The electricity started to buzz and flicker, the heating system kicked on and off at a rapid rate. Drawing off the energy she was finally able to take a gasping breath.
Relief flooded over her entire system when she could feel her lungs expanding over and over again with the air she so badly needed.
Dropping to her side, she rolled over until she was on her back and stared up at the high, cobweb ridden ceiling, still appreciating every single breath she took. Soon tears ran from the corners of her eyes as she felt like she'd never know the feeling of happiness again.
Her hands balled into fists at her sides and she slammed them down on the rough, floor screaming out in the empty room. She couldn't even begin to express how much pain was inside of her, and the darkness she'd been feeling was stronger than ever.
It was like all of the light had been forcefully stolen from her, and that remained was hopelessness and a shadow over her heart –that she was sure would never go away.
~(Days later…)~
Teagan pulled her car into the parking lot, then shut it off. She rested her hands on the steering wheel as she glanced around at all the different group of friends standing around in front of the school building, talking and joking around.
She wished she could be standing around with her friends laughing and having a fun time, but she couldn't make herself get out of the car. She couldn't shake the nightmare she'd had the prior night.
In her dream, she remembered hearing a noise coming from downstairs, forcing her out of bed to investigate. She'd seen a glimpse of someone in the living room and followed them. In fact she'd followed the person into every room of the house, never catching them, only catching glimpses of them as they went from room to room.
What made it worst was the woman she was chasing, kept calling her name, wanting her to follow her, and the worst part of it was, the woman sounded exactly like her mother.
Teagan glanced down, looking at her hands on the wheel, the bracelet that belong to her mother catching her eye. She reached over with a hand, moving her fingers over the cool metal, lost in thought.
Hearing a loud knock on the window, she snapped her head to the side with a gasp, then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was Isaac standing there waiting for her to get out of the car.
Teagan flashed him a smile, then reached into the backseat to grab her book bag. She quickly took the bracelet off, tossing it in the center console, before opening the car and stepping out.
"Hey, there's my girl." Isaac said happily, as he leaned forward to give her a quick kiss.
As he went to pull away, Teagan laid her hand on the back of his neck, keeping him there as she pressed her lips against his for another kiss, hoping it would chase away all the uneasy feelings she was having lately.
Isaac wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him, as he deepened the kiss. She wasn't usually into big public make-outs, but he wasn't going to question it, in his opinion this was the perfect way to start a morning.
Isaac groaned when she nibbled on his bottom lip, causing him to grin, as he said, "If you keep kissing me like this, we're skipping school."
Teagan chuckled as she pulled back and said sarcastically, "Yeah, that's a great way to get on my dad's good side."
"Good point." Isaac said, as he gave her another kiss, and then took a step back. He reached down to grab her hand, intertwining their fingers, as the two began to walk toward the school building.
"Sorry, I couldn't come get you this morning." Teagan said over to him. Most mornings she went by Scott's house to pick him up and they grabbed a quick breakfast together, but after the nightmare she had, she had a hard time getting it out of her mind that morning, causing her to stay in bed longer than she meant to.
"It's okay." Isaac said with a shrug, "I got a ride from Scott."
"On his bike?" Teagan questioned with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah." Isaac answered, as he opened the entrance doors, letting her walk in first then walked in behind her.
As she began to laugh, he looked over at her, asking what was so funny.
"Just imagining you and Scott all cozy on his dirt bike is funny." Teagan said, and then added, "I'm sure you two looked like a cute little couple. Should I be worried?"
"Ha-ha." Isaac said sarcastically, as he rolled his eyes, which only made her laugh more.
"Ok, that's it." He playfully warned, as he grabbed her hand again and pulled her down a deserted hallway, away from everyone. He backed her up until her back hit the wall, then he laid his hands on the wall on either side of her head.
"Are you done laughing at me now?" Isaac questioned, as he tried to act mad, but they both knew he was only playing. The moment she started smiling up at him, he felt his lip twitch as he tried not to smile back.
"That depends." Teagan said, then playfully added, "What would you do if I wasn't?"
Isaac shot her a grin as he leaned toward her, his lips inches from hers before he stopped. She moved toward him, planning to close the gap, but before she could, he pulled back, teasing her.
"No fair." Teagan pouted, after he pulled back a few more times, not letting her kiss him.
"You done laughing now?" Isaac questioned.
"Fine, I'm done." Teagan said with a dramatic sigh.
Isaac chuckled as he leaned forward again, finally pressing his lips against hers, making her moan out. He rested his elbows on the wall, trapping her between his body and the wall, as the moment began to heat up.
He kissed across her jaw, making his way toward her ear, as he whispered, "Are you sure I couldn't talk you into skipping today?"
He pulled back to look at her, pushing a lock of hair from her face, as he continued, "Maybe Scott would let us use his bike and we can take a drive out to the middle of nowhere the wind in our hair. Find some abandoned field somewhere and lay out in the middle of it, just you and me."
"Hmm, tempting." Teagan mumbled, after everything that happened recently with the pack and Avery's mom, the two definitely needed a break.
"Maybe I could tempt you a little more." Isaac softly said, as he pressed his lips against hers again.
The two quickly got lost in each other until they heard a group of their peers heading toward them, making them remember they were at school and needed to take a breather before they got too carried away.
Teagan leaned back against the wall, looking at him, as she softly said, "I wish we could skip." She looked down at the floor, as she whispered, "Or run away."
"Hey..." Isaac said, as he lightly grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him. He took a closer look at her, seeing for the first time how tired she looked, and then asked, "Is everything okay?"
"I haven't been sleeping well lately." Teagan admitted.
"Since when?" Isaac questioned.
"Since me, Stiles and Scott did the sacrifice." She softly said, as she looked down at the floor, a tear in her eye, as some of the terrible nightmares she had recently came back to her.
When he saw more tears fill her eyes, a few even falling down her face, he pulled her toward him. He kissed the top of her head, as he asked, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I had hoped they would go away and I didn't want to worry you." Teagan said before she buried her face in his shirt, feeling relief from finally admitting everything to him.
"I'm going to worry about you regardless, but you have to tell me when something is wrong." Isaac said, as he kissed her head again. "It's you and me, remember?"
"I know." Teagan said, as she lifted her head to look at him. "I'm sorry." She whispered.
"It's okay." He said back, letting her know she didn't have to apologize, he understood. He laid a hand on the side of her face, softly caressing her cheek, as he suggested, "What if I stayed with you tonight? I could sneak in after your dad was asleep and left before the morning."
"And what if he catches you?" Teagan questioned. She knew Isaac was already on thin ice with her dad, but she did need him. She hoped with him holding her it would chase the bad dreams away.
"It'll be worth it." Isaac said, as he smiled at her.
As she smiled back they heard the bell ring, letting them know class was about to start soon. Isaac groaned, as he lowered his head, resting his forehead against her shoulder, wishing he didn't have to leave her right now.
"Aw, don't be a baby. We need to get to class." Teagan said, as she ran her fingers through his hair, then playfully tugged on his hair, forcing him to raise his head.
"Want me to walk you to class?" Isaac offered. But before she could answer, he quietly swore, "Shit, I forgot I left my book back in my locker."
"It's okay." Teagan said, then added, "I'll just see you after class, I needed to stop by my locker too."
"Okay. See you after class." Isaac said, as he leaned forward, planning to give her a quick kiss but was finding it hard to back away.
Teagan chuckled against his lips, then playfully pushed him away. She knew if she didn't they would never make it to class.
After Isaac walked off, she made her way toward her locker. She opened the door, placing a few books inside and taking out a couple she would need. As she pulled the last book out, she noticed something falling out of the locker.
She bent down to pick it up and gasped when she saw it was her mother's bracelet, the one she left in her car earlier. She glanced around, wondering if someone placed it there, trying to frighten her.
When she felt someone touch her shoulder, she spun around, swinging her arm to hit whoever had snuck up behind her. Her eyes widen when she noticed it was Avery, who quickly blocked her then grabbed her wrist to keep her from trying to throw another punch.
"Jeez, T!" Avery called out, surprised by her friend's reaction. She knew Allison had taught themto punch first, ask questions later, but that was usually when they were in the middle of a fight or when something bad was going on, not in the middle of school.
"I'm sorry, A, I didn't know it was you." Teagan said, quickly apologizing.
"Clearly." Avery said back. She closely watched her friend as she shut her locker door, then the two began to walk down the hallway together.
"Is everything okay?" Avery questioned, as she glanced over at her, seeing a puzzled look on her face.
"Hmm?" Teagan asked, pushing her confusing thoughts away. Maybe she didn't leave the bracelet in the car, maybe she did put it in the locker and forgot, there had to be an explanation for it.
Realizing Avery had asked her something, she looked over at her, shaking her head, as she said, "Oh yeah, yeah, things are good. How are things with you? I'm actually surprised you made it to school today." She flashed her a smile, as she joked, "Figured you and Derek would still be in the bed."
The friends hadn't had too many opportunities to talk lately.
"Uh, Derek left... he's gone." Avery said, trying to sound calm and collected by it. She didn't want Teagan to worry about her or how even think about how much it hurt not having him there.
"Whoa, wait, what?" Teagan said, as she reached out to grab Avery's arm, stopping her. "What do you mean… like, he left town? What's going on?" She asked.
"Cora wanted to go back to South America so he's going with her, helping her get settled in." Avery answered, like it was no big deal.
"Oh, so, he is coming back?" Teagan asked, concerned and a little surprised that she seemed to be taking him leaving so well.
"Like you said the other day, sometimes even when you love someone, you just can't make it work." Avery answered.
"Avery..." Teagan began to say, knowing there was something she wasn't telling her.
"Okay." Avery said with a sigh, then added, "There's more to it than that, but I really don't want to talk about it now. Can we please talk about something else?"
Teagan looked at her closely then nodded her head, deciding not to push her right now. As the two began to walk down the hall again, Avery looked over at her, then asked, "So anything new going on?"
"Nothing really." Teagan said with a shrug. Not wanting to tell her about the things that have been happening to her, she knew Avery was already going through enough.
As another thought hit her, she added, "Oh, no wait, there is one thing. Jackson is staying in town."
"Really? For how long?" Avery questioned with a smile.
"I don't know. He didn't say." Teagan answered.
"How does Isaac feel about that?" Avery questioned, hoping it didn't cause any problems with them.
"He's okay. He knows Jackson and I are only friends." Teagan said, then added, "Isaac is my future, he's the only one I want and he knows that."
"Good." Avery said with a smile, as the second bell began to ring.
"Crap, I got to get to class. I'll see you later." Teagan said, giving Avery's arm a small squeeze before she began to walk down the hall.
"Don't forget we are meeting Allison after school." Avery called out, reminding her of their training lesson.
"I won't." Teagan called back, as she ran into the classroom, not wanting to be even later.
Avery stood still for a moment, all the students racing past her. She hated not telling Teagan the truth earlier, the two didn't keep secrets often, but she just wasn't ready to relive the terrible nightmare she'd had or rehash her talk with Derek.
She was so lost in thought, she didn't hear anyone walk up to her until they stopped to stand beside her. She felt someone grab her hand, giving it a small friendly squeeze then looked over to see that it was Scott.
"Is everything okay?" Scott asked, as she shot her a concern look. He saw how bad things got during the fight with her mother and knew how badly it shook her up to see a yard full of dead birds.
"I'm fine." Avery lied, sending him her famous Dukate smile.
"Are you sure?" Stiles questioned, coming up on her other side.
"I'm sure." She said, as she looked between both boys.
"Going to class?" Scott questioned, as he nodded his head down the hall toward their classroom.
"Yeah, let's go." Avery said, as she and the two boys began to walk down the hall together.
She balled her hands in a fist trying to ignore the tingling in her fingers, begging her to pull power from one of the many overhead lights. She knew she had to ignore it, her mother's warning coming back to her. She didn't want to be responsible from hurting anyone she loved.
She glanced over to her side looking Stiles, then at Scott, hoping they, as well as Teagan, weren't suffering from the sacrifices. She hoped none of her friends were feeling the darkness as much as she was.
All she could do was hope all of them would make it through the repercussions of their actions, but she couldn't stop thinking about what Teagan had told her, the warning that Deaton gave them, that what they did would turn the nemeton into a beacon. She just hoped they could handle whatever new things came their way.
A/N – Can you believe it!? Twice in a Blue Moon is now officially over! It's been an amazing journey and the best part has been sharing it with all of you! ^_^
As you can see both girls are going to be having a rough time in the next installment of our series, 'The Dark Blue Moon' which will be posted Saturday morning!
Until then, check out the teaser trailer and the cast/opening credits video that the wonderfully amazing and talented Miss E Charlotte made! The links can be found on my profile and also on her Tumblr! On Friday, I'll be posting the season 3b video for our story and the story will be up the day after that!
I honestly cannot tell you how excited we are for the next story, or prepare you guys for everything that's to come! It's going to be a hell of an emotional ride and I can promise you –whatever you think is going to happen, it's going to be more intense. ^_^
We both want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for all of the kind words and support you've shown us in this story, and we can't wait to continue on with Teagan and Avery's storylines!
If you'd like to be notified when 'The Dark Blue Moon' has been posted, just let us know in a review or a message.
Thank you for everything, you've all been amazing!