The next morning neither teen mentioned waking up in each-other's arms, they didn't mention it all through breakfast or on the way to school or even at school. It was as if there was some strange normality to it that meant that it didn't need mentioning. In fact the two barely spoke all day instead moving in a silent dance like two swans swimming around one another.
"Any luck translating more of that?" Alison asked quietly. They were in the library because of a free period Diana with the scanned pages on her tablet and a notebook of translations next to her.
"Yes actually. I have learnt that you need to learn to read this language." Diana smiled brightly to the other girl.
"Very funny. You've been working on it all day, how much have you gotten?"
"Quite a bit actually, we should probably tell the guys, they've been hiding in here for about half an hour watching me."
Alison looked behind her to the shelves. True enough Stiles and Scot were huddled together in the history section.
Diana gathered her things together slowly making her way over to the guys.
"Anything?" Scott asked through a gap in the shelves.
"Yes, it's a were that came out wrong." Diana replied passing over her notebook with the translation of the notes. "It's supposed to be a wolf but it cant be until it resolves that which it has in it's past causing it to be that way."
"I mean if you mean Jackson could use a couple million hours of therapy then yeah, I could have told you that." Stiles sassed.
"It's a tool, a weapon of vengeance, there's a story about a priest wiping out the murderers of it's village."
"Not all bad." Scott hedged.
"Until the bond between it and it's master got strong enough that it went after anyone he wanted."
"All bad, very, very bad." Stiles said quickly.
"What if it has something to do with his parents?" Alison mused. Stiles met Diana's eyes briefly, "His real parents." She finished.
"Yeah, does anyone actually know what happened to them?" Scott asked.
Diana looked to her shoes, lightly kicking the orange carpet. "I do." She said quietly.
"You do?" Scott demanded shocked.
"We are friends you know." She snapped back, "Both orphans too in case you forgot."
Scott's face fell, in truth he had forgotten, her Uncle and Aunt took care of her so much that he just never bothered to look too closely at the fact they weren't her parents.
"Don't you have a make up exam?" Alison asked Scott gently who groaned in reply and shot off out of the library.
Diana looked at her shoes again an itching just below her skin began at her feet moving like the glow of embers in a fire up her calves.
"I'll text you the details, I have to go run some errands." Diana said quickly following him. She sped past everyone to her car so focused on getting out that she didn't see Logan watch her go, nor that he followed her. He kept pace with her until she reached her car in the lot and dove for the passenger side door.
"I know that look. Where do you wanna go?" He asked while fastening his seatbelt.
"Away." She pushed the car into drive making their way out of the school car park. They said nothing until they reached the woods by this point Diana was desperate. The embers had climbed to her chest now and she felt like she was burning up.
The belt trembled with her hands in her haste to exit the vehicle, the car beeping at her as she threw herself onto the dirt; her fingers spread wide digging into the loam.
This was new, this one hurt. She felt sick and shivery as she clung to the ground. Then the beeping stopped, a car door slammed and footsteps through the fallen leaves culminated in a pair of immaculate trainers in her field of view.
"Breathe deeply out." He said dropping to a crouch. His arms resting on his knees crossed at the wrists. Diana focused on the glint of his family signet ring on his right ring finger and breathed out slowly.
"Good. What do you feel?" He asked keeping his voice level.
"Everything."
"Breathe in." She sucked in the frigid air as he directed. The embers were all up her arms now and round her chin. She could feel them writhing, burning, and desperate to escape somewhere.
"Palm up." Logan said gesturing with his hand. Diana shook her head. Another man trying to tell her how to live, how to be, what to do.
"No." she growled in a worthy imitation of Scott. Instead she carded her fingers deeper into the earth, this was magic in its rawest form, energy, intention, it wasn't controlled, it wasn't directed. It just was.
Diana panted, pulled herself shakily to her feet and staggered away into the trees. Logan stood with her following slowly his gaze never leaving her.
A wave overcame her, washed over her like a painful tide. The tree she fell onto scratched her hands with its bark and pulled gently at her hair. But still she pushed on, deeper, further away from her car, from Logan. Her vision flickering between her mortal and Witches sight and her breath becoming laboured as she fought for control.
Eventually she fell to her knees after walking for what seemed like forever when in reality she was barely a hundred meters from her car the door still wide open the keys dropped before it.
She knelt there in those woods on her knees and finally, fully gave herself over to what her soul was crying out for. Release.
The trees swayed dangerously, high winds pushing at their branches as it swirled about the witch on the forest floor, fire shot from around her playing chicken trying to touch her, earth swirled about her in forms to ancient for anyone to know as her hair glowed with power and her eyes stared cruelly at the ground her delicate features twisted in a grimace. Rain added to the swirling vortex of power and light, the water dripping from her lips while a cry of such deep pain poured out of her. Her every nerve alight with sensation, she pushed it out of her body.
As she did, her cry lessened, the winds died, rain ceased to fall, the fire died out and the earth thumped back down. She was left shaking and panting soaking wet on her knees.
"I," she breathed, "I need Stiles, I need to know what is going on."
Footsteps approached her carefully the leaves rustling with each movement. She rolled her eyes pulling herself to her feet, her head a little light and her body moving quicker than intended.
"I'm fine. Back off Logan." She held up her left hand, suddenly the Freeze stopped. But not as if he stopped of his own accord, no he had run into an invisible barrier.
"Oh shit." Diana smiled; she pushed her hair back and laughed. Logan panicked, she clearly sounded delirious.
"Diana." Logan warned he uncapped his pocket sharpie and was scribbling runes on his hands as he held her gaze. "Diana, stop this." He ordered, a thick strand of hair falling over his forehead, his handsome features contorted in a frown as he glared at her.
"Go home Logan." She said calmly composed after her outburst. She knew exactly what it was and why it happened and that it was Logan's only chance to glean power from her.
He fought against her barrier scribbling fiercely on his hands and arms, frustration and anger boiling over as he roared at her.
"Do not leave." He commanded to her back, she was half way to the car now, her barrier having followed her.
"Enough!" She whirled on him, hair flying catching the afternoon light. She pointed at him threateningly, "I have had enough, of Weres, of hunters threatening me and my family and now a pathetic Freeze who is desperate to leach off of my power. You and your teenage boy cohorts can bloody well piss off! I have had enough." She was shouting now, her voice echoing through the woods. "I could strip your mothers gifts from you in a heartbeat Logan never forget that, so stop pushing me!"
"You think that the boy will keep you safe? Will do anything for you but be an Achilles heel? I could have helped you, grown your control pushed you to be better, but no, you scream in the woods like the animal you are, untamed and wild." Logan argued back. Fury burnt in his eyes as he watched his aspirations tumble out of his grip. "Stiles is nothing but a weak little boy, too stupid to know anything of your world, of our world. You see the way he looks at you, and how he looks at Lydia Martin, you, the great Diana, last Witch of the Preston line and you're always going to be second best where it really counts."
Diana stood there and laughed at him, true mirth moving tears to her eyes as she laughed at this scared little boy pushing against a barrier he couldn't see.
"Oh please, do continue, the great Diana. I like that." Her laughter died down and she regained her breath, "I'm in his head dipshit. I know how he thinks, how he feels. He knows everything because I showed him."
Logan roared in fury again slamming his fists against her barrier, they glowed gold from his runes but didn't break through.
"You showed him?! An outsider, you showed him our world, how we see, what we can do?! Have you no sense of the havoc he could bring to our way of life? You ignorant bitch!"
"I showed him BECAUSE HE IS MINE!" she screamed back at him gesturing to herself.
"You IDOIT!" Logan roared back, "Humans can never be trusted, they hunt us and use us and when they're done with us they discard us!"
"No they discard YOU!" Diana shouted stepping forward pushing him back. "They used you, they discarded you! And still you think they're all like that because of the actions of one man who threw you away when he was finished with your mother. Oh it must burn inside you, the knowledge that you could have had so much more if he wasn't a hunter, if it wasn't a way for your mother to survive to bend to him." Diana spat moving another step closer. "The suspicion that follows you everywhere, congratulations, you deserve it at last."
Diana strode back to her car still holding the barrier where it was, not letting him get closer. She scooped up the keys, slammed the door and drove home. Her breathing level and her mind clear.
I am almost afraid to ask if you're okay.
Stiles, his voice a warm hand on her shoulder; she smiled sending warmth and love down their bond.
I had a few things to deal with.
Yeah it felt that way. All good?
Now, yeah. Logan might become a problem but I should be able to strip his power somewhat. What you felt was me becoming more in tune with my power and the power that you afford me.
How do I do that?
The bond, you become my mortal anchor, I therefore can hold more power. For example you have a cup, in that cup is a rock, that rock is the anchor to stop the cup falling over, right? Take the anchor out and fuse two cups together one with a bigger rock inside it and the original cup has more room for more power but also more stability because-
Because I have a cup with a bigger rock in it.
Exactly.
Stiles went quiet for a moment,
I managed to get detention and Jackson is definitely the Kanima.
Who else was there?
Alison, Scott, Jackson, this guy called Matt, and Erika.
Erika?
If Stiles could feel Diana's irritation he didn't say anything,
Do you need me to swing by to pick you up?
No, I'm good, just come over later so we can talk about it, that'd be good.
Diana pulled into her driveway and stared at the empty house.
"You got it." She said feeling lonely but hopeful at the promise of company.
