Creatures from the Ocean (Sciles)

2: A Secret to Hide

*Eight years later*

Stiles POV

I run up the lacrosse field as fast as I can. I almost stumble over a couple of times, but I manage to regain my balance. As I reach the goal, I jump and throw the ball as hard as I can. As I figured, Scott, who is in the goals, catches the ball with his lacrosse stick easily. Even without his werewolf powers, he'd still beat me at this. I bend over, breathing heavily. We've been at this for two hours now. I think I need a break. My best friend jogs up to me. "You okay dude?" He asks, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just wasn't meant to play lacrosse." I mutter more to myself in annoyance. Scott tilts his head slightly to the side. "What were you meant to do then?" He asks curiously.

"Swimming." I answer simply. Even though I haven't had my tail for such a long time now, I still enjoyed being in the water and swimming with legs. I am actually quite fast, if I say so myself. However, as I mention swimming, I can't help but long for my tail. I miss it dearly. Legs are super annoying, but probably more so for merpeople. I still fall over sometimes, but I can blame that on just being clumsy, but there is another problem. Despite how long Dad or I have been here, we will still get these horrible aches in our legs from time to time. The pain doesn't go away for ages. It usually takes a day or so. Whenever this happens to us, we'll take the day off school and work just to sit around at home and try to keep each other company through the pain. Dad is lucky that he can still go into the ocean and transform. As I am still a kid, I don't have that luxury. My dad goes swimming in the ocean every weekend for about an hour each day. Another reason we go down there so much is to see if Mom has come back, or anyone from Atlantia for that matter. I'll sit on the beach and watch the waves roll in, missing my home, my friends. And my mom. Neither me or my dad have seen her since the day we arrived here. I keep up the hope that she's okay, but I can't help but worry sometimes. Scott pulls me out of my wandering thoughts. "Well, why don't we go and do that then?" He suggests.

"Sure, why not?" I reply without really thinking. When my mind does process what is happening, a twinge of fear hits me. What if today is the day that the potion wears off? What if I turn into a fish right in front of Scott and a whole lot of other people? I'm getting close to 18, after all. Dad has told me many many times to be careful around any water when I'm between 17 and 18 years of age. It's the time in my life that my powers will be increasing because I'm almost of age. The potent of the potion will almost completely wear off, leaving me vulnerable to transform in any water or liquid. Once I'm of age, I'll luckily be able to take the potion that Dad took, which will only allow me to transform in the ocean. Deaton explained why I couldn't take the same potions as Dad back then. For some reason, it doesn't work on children. Instead, I took a slight variation of the potion where I would have to wait until I am almost 18 to have my tail back again. The only way to have beaten this scenario was for Mom to save Atlantia earlier, allowing Deaton to whip me up something that could reverse the potion's effects immediately. Unfortunately, that never happened. I desperately hope that she's okay... Scott again has to pull me out of my wandering thoughts.

"Well, let's go then. We just need to grab our swimwear first." Scott smiles. I nod as enthusiastically as I can. We walk back to the jeep and toss our lacrosse gear into the back. We then quickly jump into the jeep. I start the engine and drive towards Scott's house first. "I don't know why you keep this old thing. It's falling apart." Scott laughs. I roll my eyes.

"Hey, this jeep is my baby, okay? I'm not ever abandoning her." I answer defiantly.

"Since when are cars girls?" He asks. I shrug.

"I dunno. I think it's just something people made up one day and stuck with it." I take a wild guess.

"Your assumption is good as mine." Scott comments.