Stand Still // [tw/spn/sh/twl] [HIATUS]

Chapter 32

THE WOODS OF FORKS, WEDNESDAY, 8:29 A.M.

"I doubt you have a logical reason as to why you had to drag me out into the woods at eight-thirty in the morning," Stiles told Alice, who stood across from him with an amused expression and crossed arms.

"We're going to work on your speed," Alice explained. "It's one of your most crucial powers. You have to get used to it."

"You gonna have me do donuts until I'm as fast as you?" Stiles questioned sarcastically.

"Something a little more complicated," Alice stated before looking over her shoulder. Stiles looked past her to find a grayish brown wolf almost as tall as him appearing from the bushes.

"The hell is that?" Stiles exclaimed with wide eyes asthe creature walked over to them before taking a seat at the spark's feet.

"Paul," Alice shrugged. "We're gonna play tag. You run, he chases. If he catches you, we start from the beginning."

"Seriously?" Stiles replied. "Tag?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Alice tilted her head.

Stiles rolled his eyes with a sigh before looking down at Paul, who was staring up at him as he waited to be involved.

"Fine," the boy eventually said, "but I expect a separate lunch and dinner and snacks in between."

Alice shook her head with a small laugh before saying, "just get ready."

Stiles did some small stretches before getting into a proper stance as Paul moved to crouch a few feet behind him. Alice took a few steps back.

"Try to tune into your powers," the vampire began, "or else you'll be taking a very much needed bath later."

•••

Stiles dragged himself through the front door of the Cullen House caked in dirt with slightly tattered clothes by the time night fell.

"Good job today," Alice said from behind him. "Now you've got ahold of your hearing and your speed."

"And now I also look like someone just threw me in a ditch," the spark sighed as he wiped a chunk of mud off his face.

"Go wash up," Alice patted his shoulder. "We'll work on your magnetism tomorrow."

"Great," Stiles wiped his mouth with the hem of his shirt. "You gonna surround me with toasters and spoons?" Alice pursed her lips and failed to responded before she began to scurry away.

"You can't be serious!" the boy yelled after her, but Alice remained silent as she disappeared into the living room.

Stiles forced himself to go up the stairs and grab new clothes from his room before heading to the nearest bathroom to take a shower.

The spark set his clean clothes on the sink before stripping himself of his dirty ones and turning on the shower. He didn't bother to test the temperature, knowing his heat and cold resistance were something unwilling to him that were always working 24/7, similar to his healing.

He scrubbed every patch of dirt on his skin and washed his hair before rinsing. He savored the relief of the water, but his relaxation was interrupted but a sudden noise.

It was a quiet noise, something he surely wouldn't have heard if it wasn't for his enhanced hearing. It sounded like glass on glass, like a window sliding open. That's when he remembered there was a window on the wall behind the shower.

Stiles quickly shut off the water and snatched a towel hanging from the bar on the wall on the other side of the curtain. He dried his upper body and hair before wrapping the towel tightly around his waist.