CONTROL ➳ D. HALE [2]

07 ; shattered

07 ➳ SHATTERED

"So," Isaac said, looking up from the book Elise had placed in front of him. According to Stiles, sacrifices were popping up all over town. He'd called them 'threefold death'. When Stiles had approached Deaton about it, the man had revealed that a creature known as a Darach was likely the cause. Elise had offered to do research on the topic, seeing as she had quite a bit of free time on her hands. Seeing as Isaac was still staying at the McCall house, he'd offered to help her. "Have you heard from Derek recently?"

"Nope," Elise replied with a click of her tongue as she quickly got up from the table, wandering into the kitchen. She heard Isaac's chair moving against the wooden floorboards as he stood to follow her.

"'Nope' as in you haven't or 'nope' as in you don't want to talk about it?" he questioned, leaning against the counter casually as Elise pulled a bag of pretzels from the cupboard, grabbing a handful of the salty snack before offering the bag to Isaac. He politely shook his head, still waiting for an answer. She shrugged, stuffing pretzels into her mouth.

In the few days that the boy had been staying in the McCall's spare bedroom, he and Elise had spent an abundance of time together. She'd even gotten him hooked on Gilmore Girls.

"Both?" Elise suggested through a mouthful of pretzels. Isaac sighed, still watching her. "Listen, it's cool."

"It doesn't look like it's cool," Isaac commented sympathetically, gently pulling the bag of pretzels from her hands before she could reach in and grab more. "This is your third bag of pretzels, Elise."

"I like sodium when I'm sad," Elise confessed, snatching the bag from his hands and jumping up to sit on the counter. When she caught the sympathetic look he was giving her, she shook her head. "No, don't give me that look. It's fine. Couples fight all of the time."

Elise had a feeling that Isaac didn't really believe her, but she wanted him to. Saying out loud that her argument with Derek hadn't hurt made her believe it just a little bit, even if she knew that it wasn't true. She just hated that it hurt her so much for him to push her away.

"It's just that-"

"Listen, Isaac, it's fine," she said, shrugging. "So, we fought. It doesn't mean that I don't still love him or anything." When Isaac didn't reply, she looked up, finding him watching her with a mischevious glint in his eyes. "What?" she asked through a mouthful of pretzels. Her eyes widened slightly when she realized what she'd said. She tried to swallow the pretzels in her mouth, nearly choking.

"You just-"

"Did I just-"

Elise's shock was interrupted as Scott's footsteps could be heard rushing down the stairs. Isaac flashed her an unreadable look before turning to leave the room. "I swear if you mention this to anybody-" Elise warned, only to be cut off as Isaac turned and flashed her a smile.

"It's hard to feel threatened when you have pretzel crumbs all over your face," he commented, spinning on his heel to follow Scott to the front door.

Elise hopped off of the counter, wiping the crumbs from her face. Now that she thought about it, it did make sense. That she loved Derek, that is. It would explain why him pushing her away had hurt and why she was always so worried about him.

"Elise," Isaac called from near the front door, snapping the brunette from her thoughts. She poked her head around the corner, brows raised, prompting him to continue. Scott tried to make Isaac stop talking by flashing him an angry look, but the boy didn't listen. "We're heading out, wanna come?"

Elise glanced to Scott, who looked severely annoyed. "Where are you going?" When neither answered, she sighed. "Let me guess, you're doing something dangerous?" Again, no answer. "Let me grab my knife."