"All right, so I found some cool two bedrooms in the Mission District, but they're pretty expensive. A couple in Haight and Ashbury. Also expensive." My brother listed as he talked about apartments for him and Scott when they graduate and go off to college.
"What about Berkeley?" Scott asked him. "Don't a lot of students live around there?"
"Yeah, yeah, we could try Nob Hill. But, the Jeep would probably burn through a lot of clutches." He said as he looked over the map.
"You're bringing the Jeep?" Scott asked him, and I started to laugh, kicking his leg with my foot as the both of us sat on the hood of the car.
"Scott, the day my brother parts with this Jeep is the day he dies. Literally." I said, and Stiles rolled his eyes at me.
"You know the plan, okay. No one gets left behind. That's the plan. Lydia's not gonna have a problem getting into Stanford. Kira's thinking USF. Malia's, uh, gonna, you know, she'll figure something out, okay. The plan's perfect." He said.
"Or we could also wait until we actually get into college and then figure out where to live," Scott said, actually having some common sense while my brother is just skipping ahead.
"Scott's right, big brother. You guys have time. I mean, school hasn't even started yet." I point out, and Scott agreed with me.
Stiles points at me, "Shut up." I stick my tongue out at him, and he turns back to Scott. "I have a vision, dude, okay? And it's a beautiful vision. Don't ruin the vision. Okay, we can check out the East Bay. Haven't looked at Oakland yet, you know." He said, but Scott wasn't even listening. He was too busy looking up at the sky, getting lost in thought.
"You all right? You starting to feel it?" My brother asked him.
"No. Just thinking."
"About what?" I asked him, and he looked at us.
"Senior year."
"Senior year, come on, that's, that's... That's nothing. That's going to be easy." Stiles said, thinking he was overthinking it.
"It's more like something Deaton once told me. You ever hear of regression to the mean?" He asked.
"Yeah, of course. Who hasn't?" I asked them, and my brother raised his hand.
"Well, it's basically his way of saying that life can't ever be all bad or all good. You know, eventually, things have to come back to the middle. So, think about the last few months. Things have been good, right? But not amazing."
"Yeah, but no one's tried to kill us in six months either," Stiles said.
"Right. We've been pretty much in the middle for a while. Which means, at some point, the scale has to tip one way or the other. Things are gonna get really good again..."
"Or really bad."
"I swear to god if one of you jinx it, I will hunt you down and electrocute you until you're unconscious," I said, not wanting to have to deal with another supernatural threat, and thunder boomed throughout; lightning striking in the sky.
"Think it's been long enough?" My brother asked us.
"Yes!" I giggled when I heard my boyfriend's voice behind us, and I see him still chained up to the tree where we left him since it's a full moon tonight.
"Hey. Trying to have an adult conversation over here." Stiles told him.
"All right, you're two years older than me. And Casey's the same age as me." He said since I was part of the adult conversation.
"That's because I'm more mature than the both of them combined," I said with a smirk, and the boys glared at me.
"Whatever. I'm fine. Just let me go." He said, wanting us to release him from the chains, and Scott got off the hood of the car before helping me down, and we all went over to him as Scott pulled out the key to the chains.
"It's not that we don't trust you." Scott began.
"It's that I don't trust you," Stiles said.
"But after that last full moon..."
"It was one slip-up." He said, and I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, really? A dozen calls to the Sheriff's Department about a "monstrous dog-boy running around the streets of Beacon Hills naked". That's a slip-up? You scared me half to death when you appeared at my window. Stiles almost fell to his death when he rushed into my room with his bat after hearing me scream and tripped over Hartley by accident." I said, reminding him of the memory that's been seared into my brain for over a month. He winced.
"Why were you naked?" Scott asked him curiously.
"It was really hot out that night, okay. Let me go." He asked us again.
"You sure you're okay?" Scott asked him to make sure he would wolf out.
"It won't happen again." He swore.
"You're in complete and total control?"
"Yeah. Complete and total." He said, and Scott proceeded to let him go, the chains falling to the ground as we unwrapped him and unlocked the handcuffs before stuffing them into a bag.
I take my boyfriend's hand and open it to see dried-up blood in his palm and under his nails.
"You are such a little liar," I said, but I wasn't going to rat him out.
"Okay, I'm still struggling." He admitted, and I shook my head, dropping his hand and wrapping my arms around his neck.
"No. You're still learning. Learning control takes time. You'll get the hang of it." I said, and he smiled at me, pulling me closer by my waist.
"Yeah, because I have someone like you as my anchor." He said, leaning in to kiss me, but he didn't get very far.
"Hey! Hands off my sister!" Stiles shouted from in his car, and I look back to glare at him.
"We're dating!" I yelled at him.
"So?!" He yelled back, and I groan in annoyance.
"I hate him," I said, and Liam chuckled at me. "I honestly can't wait for him to go off to college. Because then he can't interrupt us anymore."
"And I am really looking forward to that, but we better go before your brother decides to strand us." He said, and I pull away so he could take my hand, and we went over to the Jeep.
-
I sighed when my brother's car broke down again, but I wasn't even surprised because it's so old, and all he keeps using to fix it is duct tape, so he doesn't have to take it into the shop.
"Again?" I asked him, and he glared at me.
"Shut up!"
"You run out of gas?" My boyfriend asked him.
"No, it's electrical. Probably the alternator again." He said, putting the car in park before he and Scott got out to check it out, raising the hood of the car.
"Don't do anything!" My brother said, telling us not to touch or do anything. But do I listen?
Not at all.
I turned Liam's face to look at me, and I kissed him, his hand moving to cup my cheek when he suddenly pulled away, turning to look behind us.
"What?" I asked him, confused.
"You didn't see that?" He asked me, and I wasn't confused anymore. A bolt of lightning struck the ground, and it was pretty close to us. I could even feel it.
"Uh, Stiles!" I shouted, getting a strange feeling like it was going to happen again.
"Yeah, give us a second, please." My brother said.
"Yeah, stay in the car," Scott told us, and that's when I felt this strange energy coming near, and I put my body halfway out the window, making Liam grab me so I wouldn't fall out.
"Watch out!" I yelled, and that's when lightning struck again, but this time it was somewhat behind them, making them both jump.
"That was close," Scott says.
"Very close," Stiles said, and Liam pulled me back in so he could start the car, which it worked.
Liam stuck his head out the window and said, "Can we go now?" The boys shut the hood of the car, and Liam moved so Stiles could get back in the front seat.
"Next time, I'm jumpstarting it," I tell my brother, and he looks at me through his rearview mirror like I'm crazy.
"Like hell, you are Avatar. I'm not letting you screw up my Jeep. No way." He said as he drove down the road.
"You act like I don't have any control of my powers. Which I do, for your information. Also, when you move out, are you taking everything with you or no because I'm thinking of making your room an art studio, and I will burn whatever you don't take with you." I told him, and he looked at me in disbelief while Scott and Liam laughed.
"You are not turning my room into an art studio. I'm not fully moving out, Casey. God, you find out you have a brother for six months, and you're ready to kick me out of my childhood home." He said. "You've lived there for seven months. My room stays."
I roll my eyes at him as we pulled up beside Malia and her dad with him honking the horn. There was a traffic jam, so the roads got blocked up, and Stiles came to get her.
"Sorry, we're late." My brother apologizes, and Malia ran up to kiss him eagerly.
"I'm sorry too," Liam said just to be annoying, and my brother glared at him.
"You boys do remember I own a gun, right?" Mr. Tate asked, and I chuckled as I rolled down the window.
"Oh, they do. They're just idiots. Hi, Mr. Tate!" I smiled at Malia's dad, and he waved to me.
"Hey, Casey. Keep an eye on him." He told me, and I laughed at the look on my brother's face.
"Will do, sir!" I said, and he smiled at me while glaring at the boys just to tease them.
"Really?" Stiles asked me, and I shrug in response. Malia gets in, and I end up sitting in the middle. I grab Liam's hand, resting my head on his shoulder, and he rubs his thumb against my knuckles.
"What?" Malia asked when the boys both looked back at her, probably because they wanted to know if she was going to be a senior or not.
"Did you find out yet?" Stiles asked her.
Called it.
"Find out what?" Liam asked them.
"They're gonna email me," Malia said hopefully.
"Is this about summer school?" Liam asked her, and she turned to my brother.
"You told him?"
"Uh..."
"Oh, no, all they said was you had to go to summer school 'cause the principal said your test scores weren't good enough, and you might have to repeat junior year." Liam said, which was other words for "Yes, I know you had to go to summer school because you might not be a senior with your boyfriend and your friends due to being a coyote for over eight years".
Malia sighed, fixing herself in her seat as she looked at my brother.
Stiles licked his lips and turned to Scott. "We should've left him chained to the tree."
"Stiles!"
-
"My dad's helping out in surgery. He's not gonna be done for hours. So I'm either hanging out here or I could still go with you guys..." Liam suggested, wanting to come with us to this Senior Scribe. I'm not even a senior! They just won't tell me why I'm coming.
"Show me your hands," Scott said after he pressed the button to go down the elevator. Liam pulled his hands out of his pockets like he'd been caught and showed him the dried blood on them.
"Okay, so I'm still having trouble."
Scott shook his head. "No. You're still learning. What do you do to stay focused on not changing?"
"I think of Casey." He said, making me blush red. "But it's not working."
"It's working enough. Listen, Derek told me that you were one of the strongest that he'd ever seen at your age. Now, coming from him, that means a lot." The bell to the elevator dings, and I turn to see the doors open.
"Maybe means that things are gonna be harder for you for a while, but it also means something else, doesn't it?" He asked him, holding the elevator doors for me.
"That I'm really strong?" He asked.
"Hell, yeah," Scott said, and I kissed him goodbye.
"I'll see you later. Love you." I said, and he smiled at me, pulling me in for another kiss.
"Love you too." He said, and I quickly make my way into the elevator, the doors closing once Scott lets them go.
"Six months you guys have been together, and you're already saying "I love you" to each other," Scott said in amazement.
"Oh, please, you admitted to loving my sister a few weeks after you started dating," I said, and he looked at me.
"Who told you that?"
"Stiles. But it was also obvious." I said with a smile, and he chuckled, still trying to get into contact with Kira.
"Still can't reach Kira," Scott said to Stiles once we got out of the elevator.
"Okay, you reminded her about tonight though, right?" He asked him.
"I think so. She only texted me once this week."
"Once? How'd you guys leave things when she left for New York?" I asked him.
"Well, they were good. Yeah, I just said, you know, "Don't worry about anything, just go and have fun"." He said, and Stiles gives him a weird look.
"No. You told her to go have fun?" Stiles asked him.
"Why? What's wrong with that?" He asked.
"Nothing. Nothing's wrong with it. Just, I don't know. That can be interpreted in a lot of different ways." He said, and I was wondering where he was going with this.
"Like what?"
"Well, like, "Don't worry, we're not exclusive. Go have fun with other guys". He said, making me laugh a bit. Is he serious? I mean, this is Kira we're talking about. That girl doesn't have a cheating bone in her body.
"No. No way." He said in denial, and my brother felt like proving himself right.
"Malia, if you were going away and I told you, "Don't worry, go have fun." What would you think I was talking about?" He asked her.
"Fun like bowling? Or sex with other guys?" She asked him, and Scott looked worried now.
"Okay, yeah. Now I'm worried." He said.
"Okay, just stop it. Kira would never do that to Scott. Besides, Jocelyn and I were talking to her the other day, and she told us how excited she was to see you. So, Stiles, Casey, one, you, zilch." I said, showing him on my fingers, and he glared at me while I smirked.
"Bitch."
"Dick."
"Why do you guys always have to do that?" Scott asked us in amusement. "I don't get it."
We shrugged in response.
"You don't have to get it. Just go with it." I told him, and Stiles nodded.
"Yeah, it's our thing. Every brother and sister have a thing."
"Yeah. Like Jocelyn and Firass, for example. Jocelyn sets him on fire, and Firass shocks her. Ours is just less painful. And dangerous." I added in, and he just nodded, shaking his head with a laugh before turning his head when the paramedics rolled by with another injured person on a gurney.
"Hey, Mom, where's all this coming from?" Scott asked his mom when she went to go help the new patient.
"A jackknifed tractor-trailer on 115. Caused a major pile up." She said, walking away from us, and I'm pretty sure 115 is the only way back into Beacon Hills from the airport.
"Okay, okay, there's only one way back into Beacon Hills from the airport." Stiles began.
"115."
"Kira's never gonna make it," I said, and Scott got this look on his face. He had an idea.
"I can get her." He said, starting to walk out of the hospital. "You guys head to the school. Lydia's probably already there. We'll meet you by midnight."
"How are you gonna get to her in the middle of a traffic jam?" Stiles asked him since he couldn't drive there.
"We'll make it. Trust me."
-
"Hey, you okay?" Firass asked me as I watched the rainfall from under the overhang of the building.
"I think. I don't know. Something doesn't feel right." I started, and he looked at me, worried.
"I don't like that. Whenever you get a feeling, something bad usually happens." He said, and I sighed.
"I know. The lightning, it struck so close to us, and then I felt something wrong earlier. It was like an earthquake only I felt. But this past week, I don't know, I've been having these weird dreams." I said, and he raised an eyebrow.
"Weird how?" He asked me.
"Do you remember how the nogitsune got inside my head too?" He nodded. "I keep getting that same dream, me closing the door and this guy, but I don't know him. But his eyes are what stand out to me; his hazel eyes. I don't know. I might just be going crazy. It's probably nothing." I said, and I hoped it was nothing because I had no idea what I'm was going on with me.
"With you? I never know anymore." He told me, and I just shrugged when I suddenly felt a strange sense of power. "What? Oh, god, don't tell me I just jinxed it? We've had six wonderful months; why ruin it now?"
"Firass, shush!" I told him, and I see my brother with Malia still. I ran off towards where I was feeling that strange energy.
"Casey! God, you and are Jocelyn are practically the same! No wonder you get along so well!" He shouted, chasing after me, and I kept running, not caring that I was getting wet from the rain as I tried to figure out where that energy was coming from, and that's when I heard fighting, and growls, and the sound of a sword.
I quickly run towards it, and I see Kira and Scott fighting some guy with glowing talons on his hands.
What the hell?
"Scott! Kira!" I shouted, pulling out my daggers as I rushed towards them and blocked a hit for Kira.
"I'm sorry, but fighting some freak was not on my to-do list today," I said, and he growled at me. "Whoa!" I ducked when he swiped his claws at me, and I was able to knick him in his side, but that barely threw him off as he threw me back.
"Ow! You bitch!" I shouted, getting up from the ground. "Kira!" The talon-bearing freak threw her to the ground, and I got up, swiping at him again when he jammed his talons into me, and they glowed an ominous blue.
"No! Casey!"
I felt my eyes start to burn as I felt my power slowly being taken from me, my energy. It was like he was draining the life out of me. My knees buckled, and the man smirked at me as he sucked the life out of me like a leech when someone pushed him away from me.
I fell to the ground in pain, looking down and see fresh blood staining my hand, and I looked up to see some guy fighting him. Maybe around our age?
"Casey!" I felt Firass pick me up, and I winced in pain from the wound that talon freak gave me.
"The leech got me," I whispered, and as much as he was confused by my statement, he didn't say anything as he took me out into the rain. Once the rain touched my skin, I felt myself starting to heal, but I was still a bit dizzy.
"What the hell did he do to you?" He asked me, holding me in his arms still just in case.
"Scott. Scott!" I said when that freak jammed his talons into him as well as he did me.
Liam snarled at him, and I didn't even realize him, Stiles, and Malia came around until then as we heard Scott struggle, when suddenly he grabbed him, his eyes glowing a bright red as he stood up and broke his arm easily, ripping the talons out of his body.
"I don't know who you are... or what you thought you were going to do, but I'll give you a choice. You can stay, and I'll break something else for hurting my friend. Or you can run." Scott said, giving him an ultimatum.
"I'd run." Stiles piped up, and the man got up, running as far as he could.
"Are you okay?" Scott asked me when I made Firass put me down.
"Yeah, I'm- Going down," I said when I started to fall, and Liam quickly grabbed me, letting me lean against him.
"What happened?" He asked me, checking me for any cuts or bruises.
"His talons- they glowed. It was like he was sucking the life out of me like a freakin' leech. My power." I said, and the rain helped me heal, but it'll take a little bit before I feel like myself again.
"Casey,"
"I'm fine," I assured my brother, even though I felt weak right now. We all turned to look at the new guy, and the second I looked at him, I couldn't look away. Our eyes locked, and it was like only the two of us were around as we just stared at each other, and I felt this weird feeling. Something I've never felt before.
I felt my heart beating rapidly, my stomach doing flips. There was something familiar about him.
I couldn't explain what I was feeling exactly, but it's like something was pulling me towards him. Something wanted me to be with him, and the scary part is that I wanted it too.
His eyes finally snapped away from mine, and he looked at Scott, smiling at him as he came closer. "You don't remember me, do you?" I shivered at the sound of his voice, and Liam assumed it was because I was cold, so he held me closer.
"I guess I look a little different since the fourth grade." He said, and as if it was like a wake-up call for Scott, his eyes widened.
"Theo?"
"You know him?" Malia asked him.
"They used to. Trust me, I never thought I'd see you guys again. A couple of months ago, I heard of an Alpha in Beacon Hills. When I found out his name was Scott McCall, just couldn't believe it. Not just an alpha, but a true alpha." He said, and I couldn't put my finger on it, but he just seemed so familiar to me.
"What do you want?" Scott asked him.
"I came back to Beacon Hills. Back home with my family. Because I want to be a part of your pack." He said, and I look over at my older brother to see that he was a bit skeptical of him.
"Hey, can you walk?" Liam asked me, slowly letting me go in case he had to catch me again, and I seemed to be okay.
"Yeah. I'm good." I said, and he smiled at me, but he still looked worried.
"Come on, Lydia's waiting for us. And don't use your powers." Stiles reprimanded me, and I roll my eyes at him.
"Thank you for telling me something I already know, you doofus," I said bitchily.
"Bitch."
"Dick."
The both of us said as we were walking, and Scott shook his head.
"Why can't you two just be normal siblings like Jocelyn and- Actually, you are the normal ones." Scott stopped himself short when he realized what he was about to say.
"You have no sense of humor," I said to Scott.
"I know, he's humorless. We have the same sense of humor." My brother said.
"Yeah, we do," I said, and the both of us fist bump.
"I will never understand your relationship," Scott said, and we grinned.
"You don't have to understand it, Scott."
"You just need to go along with it."
I finished for him, and we said goodbye to Liam before entering the school to find Lydia.
"We haven't seen this kid in years. You don't find that highly suspicious?" Stiles asked him, referring to that Theo kid.
"Stiles, not everyone is weird like you," Firass told him, and he brushed it off.
"I'm kind of more concerned about the guy who just tried to kill me and used his talons to drain your sister." He said, and before he could say anything, we heard a beep.
"I'm in." Malia suddenly said. "I passed." I tried not to laugh at the look on her face because she looked surprised, and my brother hugged her happily.
"I'm officially a senior." She stated, and Kira hugged her.
"Thank god." We all turn to see a very impatient Lydia. "Where have you guys been? The whole senior class is here."
"Yes, and I'm still wondering why I'm here when I'm not, I repeat, not, a senior!" I said to them, and they just smiled at me.
"Are we doing this or not?" She asked us, and I gasped when Firass pulled me along to go into the library with them so they can do this Senior Scribe thing.
I stood next to them as they all walked up one by one to the metal bookshelves and wrote their initials on them.
I stood next to them as they all walked up one by one to the metal bookshelves and wrote their initials on them.
"This isn't vandalism, is it?" Kira asked Lydia after she went.
"Not technically." She said quickly before walking off to the side, and Kira wrote her name, handing the marker to Malia next, and after Malia, she handed it off to Firass and then Firass to Scott.
Scott took the marker from him and went over to the shelf, writing in his initials when he looked at me.
"This is why you're here." He said, handing me the marker.
"To hand me the marker?" I asked him, and he shook his head with a laugh.
"No. That's not why."
"Allison was your sister, and since she's not here to do this, you can." He said, asking me to put her initials on the shelf.
"But-"
"She would have wanted it that way," Lydia said, and I glance at the shelf, holding the marker in my hand, bringing it up to write them, but I couldn't do it.
"No," I said, and I handed it back to Scott. "She may have been my sister, but I wasn't the only one who loved her. So, you do it."
"A-Are you sure? Casey, I-"
I smiled at him. "I'm sure. And no, I'm not going to change my mind. But thank you, I really appreciate it." I said, and he smiled at me, taking back the marker and writing her initials while I went by my brother.
Scott passed the marker to the guy behind him and pulled Kira into his embrace.
"She would have been with us," Stiles said, and I touch the ring on my finger.
"She still is," Lydia said, and she brought me into a side hug, making me smile.
I miss you, Allison.