Never Trust a Fox

Chapter 2

Stiles awaoke the next morning in a cold sweat, shaking and gasping for air.  She'd had another nightmare.  This time she was getting shot by rouge hunters while her friends just sat there and watched.  In the "dream" they'd found out her secret the hard way and were mad at her.  They were yelling at her telling her she deserved what she'd got.  Moving a shaky hand to wipe sweat off her brow, she looked at the clock. 5:30.
"Shoot," she muttered. She'd woken a half- hour too early.  She walked clumsily over to the bathroom to get a shower.  She knew that beacause of the nigh mare she'd have a hard time controlling everything.  Including her scent. 

Stiles knew her natural scent.  Not the kind you get when you waer perfume of colounge, but the scent that a bloodhound uses to find people.  She knew her scent beacause she'd inherrited from her mom.  Spicey like cinnoman and earthy with scent of pine.  Most humans don't have such woodland-ish scent, or, at least, naturally.  So when she went into the shower she grabbed her strongest smelling shampoo and body wash and used a very generous amount of each.  when she'd gotten out of the shower and dressed, she looked in the mirroir and found nothing was wrong.  Except she had bags under her eyes. Easy fix, she thought to her self. She grabbed the consealer that she bought just for this purpose and dotted it under her eyes. By the time she'd grabbed her bag and started downstairs it was 6:15.  Mentally patting herself on the back for good timing, she was abot to throw her bag on the table when she saw her dad sitting in the chair directly across from her seat.  He was hunched over what looked like a file, glasses on the tip of his nose and coffee in one hand.  It wasn't the bizarre seen that made her stop in her tracks, it was that dad usually left for the station at 5:15.  He leaned back in his chair and smiled, looking over the top of his glasses.

"Morning, kiddo," he said raising the mug to his lips.

"Morning," she replied automatically, then narrowed her eyes. "Dad, why aren't you at the station?" The corner of his mouth twitched befoe replying.

"Trying to get rid of your old man already?" he asked with a distracted chuckle.  She knew that look.  It's the 'I'm-going-to-avoid-the-real-reason-I'm-here-for-until-you-bring-it-up' facade.  She knew he had a speach to give her, and more than anything did she want to play along with him so she didn't have to listen to her dad's choice "words of wisdom" for today.  But, she wasn't in the mood.

"Dad?" she queationed with a raised eyebrow.

"What? can't a dad just see his daughter off to school, or -" but she cut him off.  "Dad, whatever it is that caused you to stay home later than usual, just spill it. Whether it be 'words of wisdom' or some phycilogical speach you have cooked up to give me, just say it already."

He chuckled mutely, "Am I really that predictable?"

"Nooo, it's because I'm a mindreader," she said, sarcasm tdripping off every word.  Her dad raised an eyebrow, "Sorry." she said. She's known for being extremely sacrastic when she's tired.  "Someone's tired." he said. Stiles humped in reply.  He shook his head fondly at his daughter, a clear look of amusement across his face.

"Just say it," she grumbled, faling into her chair, hard. He sighed took his glasses off and rubbed his face.  "Are you sure your alright?' Iknow you've been having some trouble controlling it, and if you wantd to stay ho-" Stiles cut  him off once more.

"Dad, I'm fine. I've also been working on the whole controlling thing and have gotten better at it.  And if I skip then everyone will surely come down here for no reason. It's not something for them to worry over," she said with finalty.

"I don't know why you don' just tell them," dad said. "First of all, you know why they can't know. Second, can we be done with this discussion, please and thank you." she said getting up and grabbing an apple.  She started towards the front door, "See you after school, Dad, love you, bye!" and closed the door swiftly behind her. She jumped in her Jeep- her baby- and started off towards the school.

When she arrived at the school she wanted to take the way in that was most abandoned.  She was walking up the sidewalk, about to go up the ramp, when she thought she heard something.  She whipped her head around to check and see if anyone was following her.  There wasn't.  She knew better than to think that some new baddie would attack her in public like that.  She blinked a couple times then looked down, looking at her shadow.  Panic krept into her chest, her shadow hand had little sharp points on the tips of it's fingers. Claws. She looked at her real hand no claws.  She shook her head a little bit before looking back at her shadow. There was nothing unusual about it.  She kept on walking.  She was just paranoid and she knew it.

Stiles kept on walking, until she nervously glanced down at her shadow. She was just checking to see if her mind was just playing tricks on her.  Though, when she looked down, she knew something was up.  Her shadow was in the shape of her kit form.  She blinked a couple of times an it was still there.  Started to panic she bean to make her way up to a shaded area so she didn't have to look at her shadow.  Until she ran face first into someone, their forhead smacking together. She heard the other person swear under their breath and then "Stiles, are you alright?" Scott. Oh thank god, she thought. That could have been awkward. She whipped around to meet his eyes when she got dizzy and he had to steady her. 

"Yeah," she said,"Just a little dizzy, but, fine." She looked behind her and let out a sigh of releif to seeher shadow had gone back to normal.  Her heart was still beating fast though and she wasn't sure weather or not scott could hear it.  Unfortunatly, he did.

"You're seeing things, aren't you," he said.  She was startled he'd guessed that so quickly, then got suspicous.

"How'd you- " She started, but was caught off by another femanine voice. "Cause it's happeningto all three of you." It said.

She juped and looked behind her and there stood Lydia Martin, who'd been the one who'd spoken, with Allyson standing  behind her. "What do you mean it's happening to all three of us?" Stiles questioned.  Lydia was about to answer when the bell rang signaling two minutes till class.  Lydia stepped in front of them and beckoned them forward. "Come on," she said," I'll explain on the way." then turned on her heel and started for the school.