Let me just say that one of my very least favorite things in life is to be cornered after school. Just when you think you are going to be able to go straight home, maybe eat some of the chocolate almonds that you have to hide from your mom, lay down with a good book, and ignore the world. Instead, you get…. Stiles being a spaz.
"Arielle I know you kinda hate me right now but, will you please come with us to talk to Deaton?" I sighed looking up at the heavens to see if they would intervene and waited a couple of seconds. Looks like I'm on my own.
"It sounds like your subconscious is trying to communicate with you," Deaton told Stiles. I have to be honest we had been here for fifteen minutes hearing them explaining what was going on with self-their sacrificers and Stiles wasn't being nearly as hyperactive as normal. He must be truly tired. I focused back on the situation. Stiles was signing what was said in his dream. He chanced a look at me "Yes I know you probably know sign but I just wanted to tell everyone at the same time, it really freaked me out," I nodded in acknowledgment.
Deaton cleared his voice "When is a door not a door?" A snort of disbelief came from Stiles before Scott chimed in.
"When it's ajar,"
"Wow Scott, that studying over the summer really paid off," I told him, he grinned proudly.
Stiles stared at me before shaking his head "Yeah I think we can all agree on that, good job Scotty. But are you kidding me? A riddle? My subconscious wants to tell me a riddle?"
Deaton shook his head "Not necessarily. When the three of you went under the water and crossed from unconsciousness to a kind of super-consciousness, you essentially opened a door in your minds,"
We all exchanged confused looks, Scott most of all "So what does that mean? The door's still open?"
Deaton corrected him "ajar,"
"So what do they do doc?" I asked Deaton "Because while I don't like any of them much right now, I don't want them to die." Everyone glared at me, although Stiles looked like he might smirk.
He sighed "Well, that's difficult to answer," everyone groaned, and Deaton held up his hands placatingly "One thing I do know is that having an opening like that in your mind, it's not good. You each need to close that door. And you need to do it as soon as possible,"
After that gross simplification, we all parted ways to think about the situation on our own. I had just gotten to my car when I heard a throat clear behind me. I turned to see Issac staring at me sheepishly "Do you not like me right now too?" he asked with sad eyes, I rolled mine at him.
"Of course not Iz, you're never in the same league as everyone else,"
He looked relieved "Good, and I'm sorry to ask but do you think I could stay over tonight? I think Melissa could use a day or two without Scott throwing me into walls."
I smirked "Get in Iz, it's about time you told me about your whole flirtation with Allison anyway," He turned pink and got in next to me.
"Alright, spill," I told Issac once we were in my room. He groaned as he sat across from me on the bed, squeezing one of my pillows fretfully.
"Well, as you might have heard… Allison and I have something going on,"
I raised my eyebrows "Yes, but what I don't understand is since when are you into bad girls?"
He scoffed "You can hardly call Allison a bad girl,"
"Um, I can when she fills my best friend with arrow-shaped holes, which is why I am totally confused,"
He blushed and hugged the pillow tighter "That was last year, when are you going to let it go?"
"Let it go? I am never going to let it go! And last year? Didn't she almost get you the other day when you were stalking her and Lydia?"
"I was not stalking her! I am not a stalker. I knew something bad was going to happen, and she wasn't trying to hit me. Plus, she's only acting crazy because she sacrificed herself to save her dad. And because of all the weird things happening all the time. I mean Demons? Come on, when will it ever end?" He panted slightly, having rushed through all of that. We were suddenly rolling around laughing because honestly, what even is our life right now? We finally got over our hysterics, lying next to each other, looking at the ceiling like it held all of the answers.
I felt my throat close up a little, upset "Just be careful, okay?" I whispered to him and blinked back tears I wasn't expecting. I felt him looking at me but refused to turn my head. He reached out and hooked his pinky with mine, and stayed there.
"Don't worry Ari, you're never going to be able to get rid of me," I smiled before drifting off, safe with my best friend.
My alarm was a surprise in the morning. Seemingly to Issac too, who freaked out almost on a Stiles level and fell off the bed. My parents found me rolling in my bed laughing while Issac glared at me sleepily with his hands over his ears. I hit the clock to turn it off and tried to keep from giggling.
"Issac Honey! I didn't realize you were over last night," My mom said happily and gathered him into a hug.
He grinned and squeezed her back "It was a last-minute decision, sorry for staying in Ari's bedroom,"
"You're fine, you're practically siblings," my mom waved it off "Remember hon, you have extra clothes in the spare room. Make sure you eat something before you go to school!" She called while pulling my dad out of the room.
"I wish Allison's dad was that lenient," Isaac told me while waggling his eyebrows. I laughed.
"Sorry Bro, I think even your charm can't work on Mr. Argent." He shrugged it off and went to go shower and change while I did the same.
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As I walked to first period I was bombarded with the story of how Scott and Stiles may have found a girl named Malia, and that they think she was a were-coyote.
"Did you know there was such a thing as a were-coyote?" Stiles asked me while scrambling to catch up to my fast pace.
"I didn't know about that type specifically, but of course. I know about other weres, you would be surprised at how many were-bears and were-Jaguares there are,"
He scoffed unbelievingly "Are you serious? After all this time you just casually drop that you've known other types of weres?"
I shrugged "Honestly I figured you knew, plus you just asked me. Of course, I would tell you if it was important. There's a lot that I know that you don't, it comes with the territory when you're born into the supernatural. And while I would love to tell you everything I know, I don't want to be late for class."
Stiles and I sat down as Scott came in "Did you tell her about last night?"
"Yeah I filled her in, and Allison just came in," Scott motioned her over and explained what had gone on last night.
Allison looked over the map that Stiles had on his tablet "Well, that could narrow it down. Coyotes travel in fixed trails. But I think you're right about her not going back to the den. Coyotes don't like wolves. And they're really smart. If they don't want to be heard, they actually walk on their toes," Of course, it was the last bit of information that Stiles was focused on "Coyotes tip-toe?" Allison sighed resigned and confirmed. Stiles just looked impressed.
Once the bell rang Allison went off to her first class. I was pulling my book out when I witnessed the cutest awkward encounter I have ever seen. Kira definitely had a crush on Scott because she had apparently worked on information about Bardo for a while. I groaned in sympathy when her dad came up to hand her the research and told her she forgot the research for the guy she liked. Scott looked stunned and poor Kira looked embarrassed. Luckily class started and they could both ignore the situation.
"We were just talking about internment camps and prisoners of war. There's a passage in our reading that I'd like to go over in more detail Who would like to come up and read aloud for us?" Mr. Yukimura asked the class "Mr. Stilinski, how about you?"
I looked up concerned, I couldn't remember if Stiles had gotten a handle on reading again "Oh, maybe someone else could?" Stiles asked.
"Everyone participates in my class, Mr. Stilinski," I looked over at Scott concerned, but he was still focused on the research that Kira had printed out.
I relaxed a little in my seat. Stiles didn't look worried, more resigned than anything. Once he was looking at the book he started to go pale, and his hands clenched the sides of the podium. Scott was on his feet the next second, and I followed him "Stiles?" Scott asked tentatively, he didn't react so Scott turned to Mr. Yukimura "I should take him to the nurse's office," he just nodded silently. I moved to help Scott and Mr. Yukimura held out his hand.
"I think Mr. Mcall can handle this, let's have you come up and take Mr. Stilinski's place to read," I reluctantly took over, trying to both read and listen for them, but they were too far away.
As soon as the bell rang I was up out of my seat and searching for them. I was halfway down the hall when I remembered our backpacks were in the classroom, and they probably all had things relating to the supernatural in them. I groaned and double-backed.
One quick look around the room and I realized they weren't in there. I looked up and down the hall, everything seemed normal until the sound of glass breaking came from where the locker rooms were. Scott's and my backpacks were lying on the ground across from the locker room, and the glass was hardly on the outside of the door which meant someone broke it to get in. That was especially weird because the locker rooms were only locked after school. I gasped out loud when I turned to see Scott behind me.
"I think Kira is in there," he whispered to me, I nodded back. We went opposite ways around the lockers. Now I could hear shallow frightened breathing, from the side of the lockers where Scott was. There was the coyote which was about to turn the corner right where Kira was. I tried to imitate a growl that Scott would do if a predator was stalking him. I don't think I pulled it off but the coyote did change course for me. I crouched down ready to tackle it if I had to when all the lockers came crashing down. I leaped out of the way while the coyote ran back through the open door.
Scott looked at me surprised as I got up from where a locker missed me by a few inches "You almost squished me!" I told him affronted. He at least had the decency to look sheepish, whereas Kira just looked scared. "Hey Kira, you okay?" She nodded "I'm going to go get the principal and your dad, Scotts going to stay with you, alright?" She nodded while still holding onto the end of his shirt.
I nodded in acknowledgment as Mr. Yukimura thanked me again before speaking to his daughter. I groaned when I saw the doll that he found in the coyote's den in Stiles' hand. There was a huge scene when Mr. Tate, Malia's father, came in and saw the doll. Once the Sheriff found the gun hidden on him I booked it for my next class. I was so tired of guns. Drew tried to ask me what happened but I ignored him, I didn't want to answer any more questions.
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That night Issac flopped back on my bed tiredly, I looked at him over my book and tried to raise an eyebrow. "Just so you know, tonight had been exhausting," he informed me "Deaton wants us to tranq the coyote, who may or may not be a girl. Scott had the brilliant plan to change her using his Alpha howl, but there was some debate on whether or not he has….. Performance issues. Then we met with the twins," My head shot up at this, he just waved away my concern "Lydia called them to help with Scott's issues. Really they just ended up beating him up, which I think brought his self-esteem down even more," he sighed "We need a vacation,"
"I second that," I agreed, and put my book down so I could focus better "So I'm guessing we are tranqing her?"
"Maybe, if Allison can shoot straight. By the way, we're doing it tomorrow and your presence is requested to help catch her," He looked at me pleadingly.
I narrowed my eyes at him "You know, I'm starting to think you were planted in my house to make sure I'm more active with the pack," I told him while grumbling. He laughed and gave me a nuggie which made me push him off the bed. That at least made me feel better.
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My whole world was moving, it was like I was in the water, what is going on? I shot out of bed to find Issac smiling and jumping on my bed. I flopped back down tiredly "What. In. The. Hell?" I questioned through my teeth.
"You weren't waking up, we meet in two hours on the hiking trail," I glared at him "Uh...okay love you bye!" he said quickly kissing my head and sprinting away so I couldn't murder him.
"Everything okay?" my mom questioned from the doorway looking too amused.
"I'm rescinding our offer to make him part of the family," I grumbled, she just laughed and walked out of the room. I looked at the clock, two hours, Who said we had to do this in the morning? Stupid Scott.
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I had gotten to the trailhead before everyone else, it gave me some time to think. It was so unusual for someone to be able to fully transform, not impossible but very difficult. I had only heard one story about someone being stuck in their animal form. It had been someone who had killed their wife by accident. It was interesting that this would only be the second time it had happened, and it would make Deaton a well-known emissary if they could pull this off. I was just wondering how hard it would be to go from an animal for so long to a human when everyone pulled up.
"Anyone else think we might be doing more harm than good?" Lydia asked everyone. I nodded my head in agreement.
Scott, of course, disagreed "We're trying to keep a father from killing his own daughter,"
"Actually, we're trying to keep a guy from killing a coyote who is actually his daughter, who we don't know how to change from a coyote back to his daughter," We all look at Issac blankly before Stiles' jumped in
"And again with the not helping,"
Scott just shook his head and turned to Allison "Did you bring it?" She looked resigned as she pulled the tranq gun out.
I narrowed my eyes "So let me just be the one to ask, what if the three of you have one of your "episodes" and we get hurt because of them?"
"We have to take that chance, we have to try and save Malia. If she dies I don't think we could ever…." We all froze as gunshots rang out. Scott who reacted the fastest was on his bike heading towards it, Issac and Allison ran after him.
"Oh, so we're heading toward the gunshots now?" I asked exasperated. I wasn't sure what to do, there didn't seem to be a definitive plan. Stiles' phone rang, and the Sheriff was telling Stiles not to go into the woods due to traps throughout it. I groaned "I know this is so stupid of me, but I have to go after Isaac and Allison, they don't know about the traps. You two stay here!" I told them and ran into the woods, keeping an eye out on the leaves and things to make sure I was following the same path they had taken.
Up ahead I heard Issac howl in pain. I ran as fast as I could until I got to them. Allison had taken down Mr. Tate. "Issac!" I knelt down next to him, he was bleeding everywhere "Mom and dad are going to be so mad at you," I told him. He laughed even though he was in pain, which allowed me to unlock the trap from his leg while he was distracted. It wasn't completely off, the dial was stuck, and he couldn't get his leg out but at least it wasn't crushing his leg any longer.
He whimpered in pain which caused the rage to boil out of me. I stalked over to where Mr. Tate was half conscious "You hurt my brother," I snarled grabbing him by his shirt and punching him in the face. Allison protested behind me, I raised my fist to hit him again when a hair-raising howl rang out through the woods. Metal flew everywhere as Issac wolfed out. "I guess you didn't need me then," I told him dropping Tate. Isaac's leg gave out.
Allison and I hauled him up by his arms, he was groaning but trying to stop himself. It was slow going but we finally made it to Allison's car, the others had already left after we told them to go on. Then we had to make a trip to Deaton's who wrapped up Isaac's leg and said the trap had crushed his Tibia. It would take a little longer to heal due to it being a major bone.
The whole pack ended up at my house that night. Finally, something good happened. Tate got his daughter back, Stiles could read again, Allison wasn't as shaky, and Scott was able to shift into his Alpha roll again. I was happy. I should have known it would be short-lived.