Chosen Family

"Thank God." I muttered to myself as the halftime buzzer rang through the air. I jogged over to the bench and bumped Stiles's gloved hand. "Great job."
"Thanks." He grinned while taking off his helmet.
"Can you tell Coach I'll meet up with everyone in a few."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, fine." I waved and jogged over to Allison.
She moved her umbrella over so I stood under it. "Yes?"
"Do you have a tampon I can use?"
"Yeah, follow me." I trudged through the mud behind her. She passed me the thin package once we entered the girl's locker room.
"Thanks." I smiled and shedded some of the wet uniform, then I walked into a stall.
"No problem. Everyone's doing an awesome job out there."
"Yeah we are. But the other team's like a brick wall." I complained.
She laughed, "I've cringed a few times when you or someone crash into them."
"I'm going to be so bruised after tonight and possibly have a cold." I chuckled as I flushed and walked out of the stall. "Wow I'm a mess." I commented as I washed my hands.
"A hot mess." She grinned. I rolled my eyes but smiled. "You okay?"
"Yeah, minor cramps, nothing I can't handle. Well, I gotta go before Coach kills me. Thanks Allison." I waved, picked up my stuff and walked to the other locker room.
"Where have you been Stilinski?" Coach Finstock asked.
"Bathroom sir." I replied while redressing.
"Oh, well anyway. As I was saying..." Finstock went on about plays and I sat back to listen. I was going to be on defense again, while Stiles would be on offense. We grinned at each other before getting up, cheering with everyone, and jogged out onto the field.
The rain was pouring down on us all through the second half of the game. We slipped, crashed, and slid through the mud as we run up and down the field. A point came where we were so wet that even though the rain got into your eyes, you blinked and kept going; half blind. I sort of envied my werewolf friends since they could rely on heightened other senses as I made educated guesses to where I needed to me when all I saw were blurred shapes.
The final buzzer went off just after Jackson scored a goal. Everyone looked up to see that we had one more point than the other team. Suddenly the field erupted with cheers and our lacrosse team ended up on top of each other. I clawed my way out of the dog pile and hugged Danny who had also managed to escape.
"Awesome job man." I grinned.
"You too, Zak." He returned the smile before turning around and congratulating someone else.
"We won!" Stiles shouted and pounced on me. I laughed as we both went down and crashed with a splash.
"I know, I was there."
"You were?" He gasped before grinning.
"I was, even have the bruises to prove it." Stiles chuckled and together we got up, did one more cheer with the team, and then headed to change. I parted from everyone else to enter the girls locker room so I could change out of my chilly uniform and into something warm, the rain was cold. Once I changed into gloriously warm clothes, I debated what to do with my nasty uniform. Shrugging, I threw it into my gym bag and went to meet up with the other.
I entered the team room to see Finstock holding up the championship trophy. I sat next to Isaac who was grinning from ear to ear and we listened to him brag about how awesome we did tonight. After twenty minutes of him talking, we finally headed to the bus. As I was walking out, a group of guys from the other team started shouting rude things to me. I didn't need wolf senses to know my friends were getting pretty pissed that the guys.
I turned and gave a mocking smile. "What?" They scowled, clearly unhappy they weren't getting me riled up.
"Just remember I still beat you. Even knocked a few of you onto your asses and stole your ballsl." I turned away with a smirk and stepped onto the bus. We were a two hour drive from school, so I decided to take a nap while we drove.
I cracked an eye open when I heard voices grouped around me. "What's going on?"
"You two are adorable." Scott teased. I shifted to see that I had fallen asleep on Isaac's shoulder, while he leaned his head on mine.
"You guys are loud." He complained as he began to also wake up.
"Sorry dude, but we're home. Time to wake up sleeping beauty." Jackson gave his infamous smirk and then turned to leave.
"Bite me." Issac bit back as he stretched. We all laughed as we exited the bus to a still rainy night.
"Hey Zak, I'm going over Scott's. You in?" Stiles asked.
"Can't, I have to go in tomorrow." I frowned.
"Riight. Next time."
"Of course. Can you drop me off at home?"
"Sure thing."
"Need me to wash your uniform?"
"Yes please!" Stiles dropped me off and the first thing I did was retrieve my hamper and put on a wash; first consisting of our uniforms. Once the wash was on, I headed upstairs to take a much deserved shower. I stripped out of my clothes and while I waited for the shower to warm up, I examined my forming bruises. I grimaces at my blue and purple speckled skin. The woes of being a lacrosse player I suppose. I finally stepped into the shower and sighed at the wonderful feeling that spread through me. I took a longer shower than normal but once finished, I stepped out and wrapped a towel around me so I could change in my room. I slipped on a light blue tank top and yoga pants.
"Shit." I cursed, as I realized I didn't have any clean sweatshirts. I walked to Stiles's room to steal one of his. I heard the window slide open and turned to see Derek entering.
"Where's Stiles?" He asked once he was fully in the room.
"Scott's. Do you need something?" I slipped a grey hoodie from a hanger and threw it on so it hung off my shoulder.
"I found this." He produced a strange looking object. It was a long feather, clearly from the tail, and the coloring was almost a shiny gold, orange, and red. I stepped forward to get a closer look. "It smells... strange."
"How so?" I asked without looking up.
"It smells almost... like a campfire."
"Perhaps it was near a fire?"
"In this weather?" He looked at me pointedly.
"How do I know when you found it?" I shot back.
Derek rolled his eyes, "I just found it."
"Oh, now that that's cleared up."
"Don't get sarcastic with me." He scowled.
"Your scowling has little effect on me at this point. Do you want a towel and we can try to find the bird to which this feather belongs to?"
"Sure." He replied as he went to turn on Stiles's computer. I returned to the bathroom and retrieved a towel. I threw the towel at Derek's head as I entered the room and left the door ajar. He caught the flying object without looking up from the screen.
"Show off." I muttered and took my position next to him. "Found anything?"
"No."
"Give, give." I swatted his hands away as I started searching different keywords. I clucked my tongue as each search came up with nothing close to the feather that laid two inches to my right. After twenty minutes of searching, Derek and I decided to give up and wait for Stiles whom seemed to have luck in this area. I turned to say something when I heard a tapping at the window. My bows knit together as I asked, "One of ours?"
"No." Derek trained his eyes on the window as I walked over to window. "Zak." He warned, but I ignored it.
"It'll be-" I was cut off as I fell to the floor. The moment I opened the window, something moving fast flew in, crashed into one of the walls, and then out the door. Derek and I looked at each other before following after whatever had entered my house. Derek was already in the living room by the time I was half way down. The creature crashed into the table and finally the refrigerator before it fell to the floor and stayed down. My eyes were wide in awe at the strange thing sitting on the floor.
"What is that?" Derek asked, confused.
"I... I don't know, but," As I looked at it, my heart broke a little. "It looks awful... Like it's sick, or dying." The bird lifted its head to us and let out a mournful cry. The next thing I knew, the bird spread its wings and burst into flames. I jumped back and covered my eyes at the intensity of the flames and light being emitted. "Shit." Derek pulled me back so neither of us would be harmed by the heat. After only a few seconds, the flames disappeared and we both looked back in. Derek rushed in to put out the fire that had started on the corner of the table, while I walked over to where the bird once was. I crouched down and held my hand over the area. There was some warmth, but over all it wasn't as hot as I expected.
"What the hell just happened?" Derek was suddenly beside me.
"I don't know, but I think I know what type of bird that feather came from."
"Going to tell me?" He asked with some irritation.
"So impatient." I started brushing away some of the ash and a small head lifted up at me. "I think this little guy is a phoenix. A mythical and sacred bird in some religions. Hey little one." I cooed and scratched under its beak. It made a small noise of pleasure. "Derek, go try and find out as much as you can on them, I need to know as much as possible about them."
"Are you going to try and keep it?"
"I don't know... but at the moment I can't leave it alone, especially when it's raining out. Now go, please."
"Fine." He left as I looked around for something to put it in. I eventually settled for a small pot and scooped up bird and ash and placed them in it. It chirped at me as I tried to clean up as much of the kitchen as possible; I was going to need an explanation to why the table has a burn mark. Once everything that needed to be cleaned was washed, I grabbed the pot and headed upstairs.
"How's it going?"
Derek's eyes flashed over to the bird and then back to the screen. "As you said, it's a mythical bird associated usually with an Egyptian god, it can apparently live between 500 and over 1,000 years, and when it dies it bursts into flames. One site said they hunt like eagles and eat fish, krill, and small mammals. The same website said that they live in cold climates due to its internal body temperature. They're very independent and only on rare occasions form bonds with humans."
"Nice job." I bumped his shoulder with my hip. "Well, I guess we can try to feed it pureed fish." I ran my finger under its beak again. "Wanna pet it?"
"Not really."
"Just once."
"No."
"Come on, it won't bite."
"Zak." He warned.
"Just once. If it hurts you, you will never have to see it again. It's so cute. Look at it!"
Derek rolled his eyes and replied, "It's not that cute." However, he cautiously brought his finger so it rested under the chick's chin and gently rubbed. It chirped happily and closed its eyes.
"You're a natural." I laughed.
"Don't ruin it." He lightly glared, but never stopped.
"Sorry."
"Hey Zaklina!" My mother's voice called and loud footsteps started up the stairs. Derek and I looked at each other and then down at the bird. I turned to the door and it suddenly flew open. "What are you doing in here?"
"I ah, um, ah." I looked to my left to find an empty space. "I needed something from Stiles. More specifically, I needed his dirty laundry."
"Oh, you are such a good cousin." She giggled. "Want to watch Inception with me?" I looked at her and saw hope all over her face.
I sighed, "Sure, give me a few. Go get it ready and I'll meet you in the living room."
"Okay!" She clapped her hands together and ran out of the room. I looked over at the window to find a piece of paper waiting patiently for me. I opened it up and read: YOU OWE ME. Well shit...