˗ˏˋ⋆ H E A V E N L Y ⋆ˎˊ˗
↳ 𝒊𝒗. 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔
𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘧, 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦
(𝔗𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔬𝔬)
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THE TINGLING HAD CAME BACK AND GRACIE WAS SHAKING VIOLENTLY in her seat. Meanwhile, Miss Blake slowly walked over to the large wall of windows when they heard the loud noise. Outside the classroom were hundreds of birds swarming the school.
A few more birds came hurdling towards the window, smacking into the window as blood splattered against the glass before it fell into the shrubs below.
Miss Blake jumped back back from the shock of the impact. Soon, more and more flew into the glass. Surprisingly enough, one of the windows shattered from the blow and birds flew into the window.
Ducking her head down, Gracie leaned down as she tried to hide her face. Covering his own head, Stiles stood up and shoved his desk away as he grabbed the Hale girl. He tugged her chair back and wrapped his hands around the top of her arms so he could pull her under the desk with him, covering her with his body when he wrapped himself around her.
"Get down, everyone! Get down, down. Get down! Get down!" Miss Blake gestured for everyone to hide under their desk as she protected one of the students herself.
The attack of the birds only lasted around ten minutes, but a lot of damage was done. Torn textbooks and notebook paper were all over the room, along with pieces of clothing and dead birds.
There were a lot of injured people –– there was nothing serious but it was birds that attacked them so antibiotics were probably needed –– so paramedics and the police were called.
When it was safe, Stiles slowly uncovered the Hale girl from his protection and the two stood up. Still shaken up, she didn't even realize it when Stiles grabbed ahold of her and scanned her over, checking to see if she was hurt.
"I'm fine," Gracie finally assured him she was okay. When Stiles finally backed away, she reached into her bag, which had been torn apart by the birds, and pulled out her phone to check her texts.
📶 T-Mobile LTE 8:31 AM 99%🔋
Derek
Scott and I have Isaac. He's fine.
Gracie let out a relieved breath. Meanwhile, Stiles' gaze found Miss Blake. She was sitting on her desk with bird feathers in her hair, her eyes blank as she started ahead.
"Miss Blake, are you okay?" Stiles reached for one of the feathers in her hair, pulling it out as she flinched away. "Sorry, just...that."
He showed her the feather and hastily dropped it to the floor. He needed hand sanitizer.
"Mr. Argent," his dad's voice caught his attention. He looked to see that Noah was now talking to Mr. Argent, his arms crossed over his chest. "You wouldn't have any insight into this would you?"
Stiles rushed over to Gracie, who had been sitting close by. He sat on the desk beside her, watching the exchange as he listened carefully.
"Me?" He could tell from Mr. Argent's tone, he was taken aback.
"Yeah," Noah said with a nod. "All this bizarre animal behavior, it's...You must have seen something like this before, right?"
"I'm not sure why I would or why you would think I would," Mr. Argent was uncharacteristically flustered as he spoke to Noah.
Noah paused for a second. "I'm sorry, I could have sworn I overheard my son talking about how you were an experienced hunter."
Stiles' eyes widened. When Chris Argent looked his way, he quickly ducked his head, burying his face into his phone so he looked busy.
"Ah, right," Mr. Argent replied. "Well, not anymore."
Gracie was pretty sure they were going dismissed, so she took her things and left the classroom. She and her classmates had been excused for the rest of the day.
As she and Stiles walked through the hallway, the Stilinski boy called Scott.
"We got a serious problem at school," he reported when Scott answered, not taking the time to greet his best friend. "Miss Blake's class—–"
"––Hey, can you tell me about it later?" Scott interrupted him as his voice blared on speakerphone. Stiles frowned, sharing a look with the Hale girl, who looked equally confused.
"Well, no, I'm pretty sure this qualifies for immediate discussion."
Scott sighed. "Okay, then meet me at Derek's."
"His loft?"
"No, his old house."
"What are you doing at my old house?" Gracie jumped in.
"That's Gracie, by the way," Stiles pointed out the obvious.
The last Gracie and Derek knew, the old Hale house had been taken over by the county. She had been upset about it but relieved at the same time. It was the house she grew up in, but she had to move on. They both did.
"Just meet us here, okay," Scott said hurriedly. "Bye."
Derek flashed his red-colored alpha eyes at Scott's blank arm, where he had gotten the tattoo that had healed the night before.
"Yeah, I see it," he hummed lowly. "It's two bands, right?"
"Yeah," Scott nodded, glancing back at Stiles, who pursed his lips tightly.
Derek's red eyes faded back into their normal greenish-blue color. "What does it mean?"
"I don't know," Scott shrugged, leaning forward as he his fingers traced two circles on the dust covering the table in front of him. "It's just something I traced with my fingers."
"Why is this so important to you?" Derek asked.
"Do you know what the word 'tattoo' means?"
"To mark something," Stiles said, smiling at the two, remembering what the tattoo artist had told them.
"Well, that's in Tahitian," Scott reminded him. "In samoan, it means 'open wound.' I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned 18. I always wanted one. I just decided to get it now, to make it kind of a reward."
Derek narrowed his eyes at him. "For what?"
"For not calling or texting Allison all summer," the beta said sadly, ducking his head. "Even when I really wanted to, even when it was so hard not to sometimes. I was trying to give her the space she wants. Goin' four months later, it still hurts. It still feels like a, uh..."
"...like an open wound," Gracie filled in the blank as Scott's voice trailed off.
Scott nodded. "Yeah."
"The pain's gonna be worse than anything you've ever felt," Derek warned him.
"Ah, that's great," Stiles muttered sarcastically.
Scott sat back in his chair, his body was stiff as he took a final deep breath. "Do it."
"Oh, wow. That's a...that's a lot for me. So I'm gonna take that as my cue. I'm just gonna wait outside," Stiles rambled, making his way for the door, stepping around the old, dust-covered table.
"Nope," Derek raised his hand to stop him. "I need you both to hold him down."
Gracie nodded. They both tried to hold him down as their friend let out the most agonizing screams they've ever heard. Scott was squirming against their grip and roaring while his brown eyes flickered yellow.
Soon enough, the screaming died down when he passed out from the pain. About ten minutes later, Scott jumped up as he gasped for air, looking at his new branded arm.
"It worked," he murmured.
"Well, it looks pretty damn permanent now," Stiles chirped, looking at the tattoo.
"Yeah. I kind of needed something permanent," Scott said. "Everything that's happened to us...everything just changes so fast. Everything's so, uh...ephemeral."
The Hale girl wrinkled her nose, cocking her head. "Studying for the SAT's?"
"Yep," Scott nodded, a small chuckle escaping him.
"Cool..."
"You painted the door," Scott spoke up after the boys gathered their things and headed out when they stopped in the doorway. He frowned at the alpha. "Why'd you paint the door?"
It seemed weird.
Out of all the things that needed to be fixed, painting the door seemed to be last on the priority list. But Gracie knew why, and she never said a word about it. Her eyes widened as she looked at Derek helplessly. His eyes were mixed with fear. "Go home, Scott..."
But Scott didn't listen –– like always.
"And why only one side?" He pressed.
"Scott," Gracie finally spoke up. "Just let it go."
Which he didn't do.
Suddenly, a pair of claws appeared and the beta started scratching the newly-painted door. The sound of his claws scraping against the wood as the paint chipped and fell to the ground made Stiles cringe. When the noise finally stopped, specks of wood and the paint had all flown to the floor and dust in the air surrounded them.
A large mark –– that had been covered by the paint –– was carved into the door.
"What is that?" Stiles asked, furrowing his brows at the symbol.
"The birds at school and the deer last night...just like the night I got trampled by the deer when I got bit by the Alpha," Scott said to himself, piecing it all together. "How many are there?" Derek's eyes fell to the floor. "Grace?"
Put on the spot, Gracie's eyes widened when the two boys looked at her. She swallowed thickly, giving in. "A pack of 'em."
"An Alpha pack," Derek added, walking over.
"All of them?" Stiles interjected, looking at Gracie still –– feeling a little betrayed that she kept this from them. "How does that even work?"
"I hear there's some kind of a leader," Derek shrugged. "He's called Deucalion. We know they have Boyd and Erica. Peter, Isaac, and I have been looking for him for the last four months.
"Let's say you find them," Scott started to ask. "How do you deal with an Alpha pack?"
"With all the help I can get," Derek said solemnly, knowing Scott had a point. He was their only alpha, and he knew he couldn't take on the pack of alphas on his own.
A loud gasp erupted from the other side of the room, catching their attention at the sudden noise. Isaac, who had been lying unconscious on the table after he had been rescued from the hospital after the alpha tried to kidnap him, shot up from the table, wide awake now.
"Where is she?" was all he asked when he saw the trio by the door. "Where's the girl?"
Derek narrowed his eyes at his beta, sharing the same expression with the other two. "What girl?"
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𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄:
So there's chapter four. If you really liked it, vote, comment, and share.