"You skipped school!" Stiles scolds, his arms crossed against his chest as he paces back in forth in front of my bed.
"I was bored, and to be fair so did you." I point out sheepishly.
"Ya, but- hey this is not about me! Terra it's you first day, you can't skip!"
"Malia was actually the one who took me." Stiles purses his lips in frustration, his eye twitch visible to me from my bed. "So, why did you leave?"
He points a scolding finger at me, before continuing with a sigh, "We found a lead on Derek..."
"The grumpy one?"
"Yeah..." Stiles halts pacing, running his hand through his casually spiked hair. He sits next to me on my bed, our legs brushing slightly in the process, "We have so many things going on, it's like we never have a chance to close one case before another pops up."
"What case wasn't closed yet?"
He hesitates, wringing his hands together, before turning towards me. "You, Terra, who are you?"
His warm eyes bore into my cold ones. His intense gaze catching me by surprise. Why is this boy so concerned about me? I'm nothing special. I'm nothing at all really. I quickly back up, which actually causes me to fall off the bed. I land harshly on my butt, letting out a quiet yelp. Stiles quickly rushes down to help me up. I accept his offer, allowing him to pull me off the ground.
I think I was actually loosening up, I think I'm finally ready to talk to someone about my past. Maybe not all of it, but some of it. I don't know why now though. Maybe I feel like time is running out. I can't really place my finger on it, but I know something is going to happen soon, and if I don't talk to anyone about my past I will just be washed away. Just another file in another police office.
I grab his hand and run out of my room and down the stairs, pulling him behind me. I accidentally forget that Stiles is just human so he trips on the last few steps. "Terra! Where are we going?"
I don't answer, not trusting myself to say anything that would change my mind about telling him, instead I wait for him to catch up with me before pulling him into the forest.
❂
▹Stiles◃
Once we were in the forest Terra lets go of my hand. I watch her as she takes a deep breath of the fresh air with her eyes closed. When she opens them again her eyes instantly scan the forest. I watch her intently, trying to figure out what she was doing. Her eyes land on a large tree with lots of branches, before she grabs my hand again and pulls me to the base of the tree.
And before I know it she is climbing up the tree at an incredibly fast pace. Once she gets situated in a group of branches she gestures to me to follow her. She does realize I'm human, right?
I groan to myself before hesitantly grabbing onto the lowest branch, I test it by putting my weight on it and shaking the branch around before using it to reach for a higher branch. I make my way up the tree at a much slower pace, testing thin branches on my way up. I try to remember the way Terra made her way up, but fail horribly when a branch a couple of inches away from Terra snaps.
I close my eyes waiting for impact, but instead a firm grip around my wrist was the only thing I feel. I slowly open my eyes to see Terra holding on to me. Her lips spread into a sly smile as she laughs quietly to herself. A warm feeling spreads through me as I watch her laugh. She then pulls me up the last few inches and waits for me to get adjusted in a similar position as her.
"So, uh, Trees, pretty tall huh?" I grumble, resisting the urge to look down. "Why here?" I groan again accidentally looking down.
She hesitates before answering, "This is where I feel the most at home,"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm helping you solve the case."
"Oh..." I suddenly feel flattered as I realize that she took me to her spot to talk about her. I don't know why but the more time I spend with her, the more I want to get to know her. Not the supernatural her, but the real Terra.
"So what do you need to know?" She asks, fiddling with the zipper of her leather jacket.
"Where are your parents?" The words slip out of my mouth before I can stop them. I mentally scold myself when I notice the heart wrenching look on Terra's face.
"They're dead."
"Is that why you came to Beacon?"
"I guess you could say that was part of the reason..." She laughs lightly, before looking at her jacket again.
"Whose jacket is that?"
"My dad's"
I feel like I'm asking her too much, so I quickly decide to tell her something about me that could help her connect with me, "My mom died when I was little, it was really hard. I built walls, I didn't talk to anyone. But my friends helped me, talking about it helped me. But, I just want you to know- it's ok to be sad." I smile lightly, grabbing her hand that is resting on her thigh. She glances down at my hand intertwined with hers before staring back out into the forest.
Terra sucks in a deep breath before turning back to me, her eyes glossed over slightly, "What else do you want to know?"
"Why did you come to Beacon Hills?"
"Honestly I don't know, I just felt this pull here." I watch her as she lets the wind blow through her hair, something about the way she holds herself is just so- broken.
It was then that I decided that this mystery could go unsolved for a little while longer.
❂
We sat in the tree till the sun was long gone. We just sat their letting the wind run around us, the only noise was the soft rustling of the branches below us. And it just felt so right, just watching the way that Terra observed her surroundings completely captivated me.
I had no idea how long I was watching her until she lightly coughs. Her light eyes illuminated by the nearly full moon as her gaze meets mine. She squeezes my hand lightly and that's when I realize that I had been holding her hand tightly since she told me about her parents. I quickly release her small hand, wiping my now clammy ones on my jeans. I resist the urge to grab onto her hand again, suddenly missing the feeling of her touch.
"We should head back, huh?" She asks, grabbing the branch above her.
"Ya, yah, I guess you're right."
Terra climbs down first, getting down as easily as getting up. I watch her silently as she climbs down, her body moving with ease as she navigates the familiar terrain. She waits by the base of the tree for me. When my feet make contact with the earthy floor she turns toward the house. I walk next to her as we head back to our house.
I hesitate slightly as the words run through my mind again. Our house.
A sudden growling stops us in our tracks. Immediately Terra's eyes illuminate to a fierce amber, her claws and teeth growing as well. I move my hand in front of her trying to move her behind me, but it was no use because not a second later something grabs a hold of Terra's ankle yanking her to the ground.
The next second the thing was gone, it was so fast that all I could see was a blur of black and red. Terra pushes off the ground her face streaked with mud, as she growls under her breath. All of a sudden everything stills as Terra's eyes focuses on something in the distance. Her werewolf vision helping her see in the dark. Time seems to slow down as I watch Terra get up and run in the opposite direction of my house, chasing after the unknown beast.
❂
▹Terra◃
It was the thing. The same thing that killed Tommy, the same thing that caused the fire. It found me, and I'm not letting it get away, not again.
Now that I knew about werewolves and all that stuff, I could clearly tell it was a werewolf. It carried a certain scent, something that I became familiar with because of Scott, Isaac, and Malia. But it wasn't exactly like me, it could actually shift into a wolf form. It wasn't natural. It was even faster than me, and its scent, it was so strong, so much stronger than the others. The scent burned my nose and brought back memories of the fire.
I screech to a stop as the wolf stops in front of me. Now I'm sure that it is the same wolf as the fire, the red eyes were unforgettable.
The longer I stare into its eyes I quickly realize that something is off. The same connection I felt the night of the fire begins to build between us. Before I could think of anything else the wolf lets out an ear piercing howl, causing me to fall to my knees. I can't help it as I feel the full shift take over.
When I'm fully shifted I hold my head between my hands, the pain radiating from my temples. A rough tongue scraping across my hand forces me to look up.
I let out a loud cry when I realize the wolf is the thing to lick me and it is now only a few inches away. My eyebrows furrow when the wolf then sits in front of me. Its ears flat against its head and its tail wagging back in forth. Do wolves' tails even do that?
Something is extremely off. The wolf cautiously takes a step forward, licking under my jaw before sitting back on its hind legs. It quickly shifts its glance from me to the forest behind it. Almost as if it was trying to communicate with me.
The wolves once menacing eyes, now looked obedient. It was a complete 360. The wolf wore an unreadable expression, as if it was awaiting further instruction. A deep scowl forms on my face as I continue to stare at the wolf. The wolf quickly cowers away noticing the sudden shift in my attitude.
I quickly back away not knowing what else to do. The wolf follows me forward, inching slowly on its belly.
A distant howl echoes through the woods, causing the wolf in front of me to spring up and run in the direction of the howl. I furrow my eyebrows again. What the hell? That was the same wolf that attacked Tommy and my foster family. But why was it being so nice to me? This was the thing that haunted my dreams, the thing that destroyed my foster family.
My mind wanders to the faint howl. The thing that caused the wolf from my nightmares to retreat. The howl was so distant that it could have been miles away, states away really. But how could I have heard it?
I guess another case just opened up.
♋
A/N: Okay so I changed some things up. If you've already read this chapter you will notice the changes. The only thing I have to say is focus on that distant howl. And one more thing – if you guys are really enjoying this story please send a message or comment on the first chapter of @TeenWolfCommunity's book. They are featuring stories to help new writers get recognized. It would mean the world to me if you guys would do that. Anyways thanks for reading! (re-edited 3/7/15)
edited again 9/4/16