Ecclesiastes

Despite being tired and burnt out from the month and a half of intensive training, from both the Argent’s and Doctor Deaton, Chris thinks I should test out my skills in the real world, in real time. I’ve been going along with all the Argent shit, no matter how intense or ridiculous, but school started back in LA, so Quvenzhanè had to head back to LA last week, leaving this to be a very difficult couple of weeks. I’ve bonded with Allison and Scott and Lydia and Stiles and Isaac, too, to fill the void of my best friend being gone. Scott and Allison ran off whenever they could and Lydia largely ignored Stiles, leaving me time to bond one-on-one with Isaac. He refused to tell me about his father, or even how he avoided the foster system and moved in with Derek, but I figure he’ll tell me in due time. Though, Allison has let it slip that his dad was a royal piece of shit, though everyone refuses to let me know how.

I sit quietly in the back seat of the SUV, wondering what that man could have done to Isaac to leave him stressed out in every step he takes, well after his father’s death. Could beatings stay with him this long?

Chris pulls over on the edge of a meadow and interrupts my thinking, “We’re here.” I sigh and take a lookout of the window. The meadow is probably a very beautiful area, not just a huge, untouched field in Beacon Hills, but it’s the dead of night and I can’t really tell either way. I sigh and get out of the SUV before Chris can say anything else, so he shoots out of his seat and whispers in a low, trembling voice, “I will not come to your rescue. Allison,” he spits out, “will not come to your aid. This is your practice field. We’ll take you home, but you have to meet us on the other side.”

I breathe in deeply and start to walk away.

Chris hops back into his SUV and slams the door behind him. Him and Allison speed off into the night; I roll my eyes at the screech of his tires and walk into the meadow. Doctor Deaton has taught me how to use my senses to not just live in the world, but to be in the world; I concentrate deeply, searching for the feeling of my vibrating atoms, so I breathe in deeply and close my eyes. The earth beneath my feet and the air gently swirling around my body tell me the true scenery of the quiet, still meadow. Derek and his wolves are scattered throughout the meadow, laying low in its flowers and grass, waiting for me to walk near enough to snatch; I smirk and walk a straight line through the high, wispy grass. I know that no matter how quiet I am that they’re listening in on my footsteps, my breathing, my heartbeat, so I start to hum and let my smirk grow.

The sound of well landed, soft leaps start from well behind me. I pretend not to notice the sound until the wolf crouches to pounce. I step to the far left and watch Scott’s body dig into the dirt. I chuckle under my breath, squat over his back, and run my fingernails down the sides of his neck. I softly sing to him, “These scratches don’t hurt, but you’ll be here for a bit.”

Scott groans out and tries to push himself off the ground, but finds that his muscles are too relaxed to even flip him over, so I roll him over myself. I smile down at him and say, “I’d hate for your face to be stuck in the dirt. It’s, well, dirty.”

Scott laughs and I grin.

I continue on my path; I feel the breaks in the air and the misplaced weight in the earth in my vicinity. I crouch down and dig my fingertips into the surprisingly soft soil to scan for the nearest wolf. I tilt my head back and breathe in through my mouth and my nose before saying to myself, “Come on out, Derek.” The weight in the earth displaces a bit; he hears me and he takes my invitation. I stay crouched until he runs up to me. I spring up and blast him back with his own force by slamming my hands against the tops of his ribs. He slides several feet back, digging deeper into the ground with each inch. I squat on top of his chest and run my fingertips up and down his neck while he digs his claws into my thighs. I bite my lower lip to brace against the pain, but the relaxation from my nails relaxes his muscles, forcing him to let go. I don’t say anything while I walk away from him. I continue on my way, wondering if Peter is in this mess or if I’m just waiting for Isaac now.

I slide my hands into the side pockets of my Adidas soccer pants and gently scratch the sides of my thighs through the fabric. I begin to hum again while staring up at the night sky; the deep blue fabric of the universe, coated in the light of yellow stars and soaked in the infrared the human eye refuses to evolve to see, speaks out to me. It speaks out, telling me to be aware, to be humble, to be responsible, to be honorable. But our conversation is interrupted by the feeling of heavy, quick footsteps pounding toward me. I swing my arms up and grab Peter by his collar; I scratch the right side of his neck while tossing him to the ground. He doesn’t even try to get up; instead, he grins and says, “Deaton has taught you well. Imagine what you’ll learn with another few months.”

I grin and wave goodbye by twinkling my nails at him. I slide my hands back into my pants and walk through the meadow quietly, peacefully. I can feel Isaac standing many feet from me, but he stands still, so I relax and make my way through this never ending meadow until I stumble upon a small pond that has several large rocks. I kick off my beat up gym Adidas at the shoals, pull off my socks and stuff them into my shoes, and then cross my arms against my body, fingering the bottom of my white tee before unwrapping it off of my body. I sigh and smile at the feeling of my toes buried in the odd mixture of just a bit of sand throughout a lot of cool dirt. I run my hands across my breasts, properly tucking them into my bra; then I run my fingers on the diamond like pattern of my straps, making sure they’re still secure, before I leap onto a small rock in the middle of the pond. I climb onto the largest rock and wiggle around a bit before I find a comfortable seated position. And I wait.

And I wait.

And I wait.

I yawn.

And then I wait.

But then I grin and breathe in deeply. I sing in varying notes but without any actual words. I press my hands onto the top of the rock to feel the change of pressure in the Earth around me; Isaac goes from a stable standstill to a fidgety, nervous-like rocking from his toes to his heels, to a sudden sprint to me. He stumbles over my shoes and plops into the water, using the palms of his hands and the front of his knees to save himself from face planting. I giggle softly at his dampened form; he tilts his head up and rolls his eyes up to his brows to see me. He smiles sheepishly at my glistening form – the moonlight bounces off my skin, shimmering the gold and illuminating the deep brown. Isaac slowly gets to his feet and even more slowly wades through the water to get to me. His ears stretch back and become pointed; his eyes shift from blue to gold; the peach fuss on his cheeks grow out as sideburns; his teeth widen and sharpen; his arms and hands become hairy and his nails grow out into small daggers. I look him over – I know he can hear my heart beat faster, especially as he squeezes the flesh above my knees in his large, powerful hands.

I bend from the waist and gently hold the sides of his face in my hands.

His larger wolf lips part and his voice caresses words as they slip out, “I’m not quite sure how the rest of the pack expects to capture you.”

I grin, “I’m not quite sure, either.” I roll my head back, fully craning my neck in the soft moonlight, and shiver from the painful pleasure of my wings sliding out of my spine and decompressing, breaking through the skin of my back. His brows rise, his eyes widen, and his lips part a bit more at the sight of my giant, white feathered wings. I look back down at him, my eyes half closed, and I smile. I grab one of his hands and tug him forward, placing a hand against a section of my feathers. I look into his eyes and say, “Isn’t funny that you’re the same shade?”

He rolls his eyes and exhales through his nose – his lips too busy pressing into a smile to release a sigh. “Did you beckon me with your hymns to mock me?”

I laugh and shake my head lightly. “I beckoned you so I can finally go to bed. This exercise is taking too long.”

He blushes and his voice softens, “I wasn’t quite sure how to approach you. The others seemed to fail no matter which way.”

My lips stretch into a wide smile. I let go of him and lean forward so much that my eyes can’t focus on a clear picture of his face. “Well, now you know.”

His eyes switch back and forth from my left eye to my right and back to my left. “To wait to be beckoned?”

I gently shake my head from left to right. “To arrive ready to worship.”

He quietly laughs, “To arrive ready to accept your narcissism?”

I laugh, loudly, and pop up onto the boulder, squatting deeply and stretching my wings out to their full length. “I didn’t say worship me.”

Completely in awe, he rolls his bottom lip in and out of his mouth.

I jump straight off of the rock and into the air; I flex my wings forward and blast him back into the water. He lands on his ass and shakes his head at me. I grin and then turn away, flying over to the SUV. I land softly on the ground in front of the SUV; Allison and Chris are asleep in their seats. I tap on the windshield so that they wake up. They’re startled from the noise, but then shocked by my form. Chris turns on the car and rolls down the window, but before he can give me any instructions, I say, “I’m tired. This took too long. I’m going to bed.” I then crouch into a deep squat and jump straight up into the air, flexing my winds to blast me back and then fly high into the air, back to the Argent’s house.



My eyes snap open, but my room and vicinity is calm and quiet. I breathe in deeply and run my hands up my neck, pushing all of my hair off of my neck and back onto my pillow. My head sinks back a bit, but I’m too groggy to care. I lie on my back, staring up at the ceiling as if there’s anything to look at in the darkness. I yawn and turn my head to the left. I use my left hand to pull my hair back and away from my face, which tickles me, so I open my eyes for a quick second. Just as I go to rest my eyes once more, the sound of quiet climbing alarms me; I stare at my open window, knowing that something comes this way. I do my best to control my breathing, but I start to breathe nosily heavier, and my heartbeat rises despite telling myself to stay calm.

The moon shines at my window enough for me to see a figure pop half way in and place my beat up, gym Adidas onto the floor near my window. I smile and softly say, “You can come all the way in.”

Isaac is clearly shocked to realize that I’m fully aware of the scene, as he slips a bit and almost falls out of the window. He scrambles inside to avoid falling two stories; once inside, he stares at me with drooping eyes. I lock sleepy eyes with him and gently pat to my right, “You can come here, if you want.”

Isaac slowly walks to the edge of my bed and stares at me, his lips rolling in and out of his mouth, stretching into small smiles and then pressing together.

“You don’t have to do anything you do not want to do.”

He looks into my almost closed eyes.

“We’re friends.” I smile, letting the truth of the statement warm my body.

His smile grows and the edges of his eyes lift.

I untuck the summer, satin sheets in one, swift tug and roll onto my side. Isaac takes off his shoes and goes to lay down with me, but I wave my left hand at him and say, “Don’t put your dirty clothes in my clean bed.”

He laughs under his breath and slowly and quietly strips down into his boxer briefs and his socks. He gulps and stares at the floor while I act like his glorious form is nothing special. He catches me drinking him in, so he grins and looks at me from beneath his drooping lashes, “You don’t want my dirty clothes, but you’ll take my sweaty body?”

I grin.

He stretches his arms up unnecessarily, “Are we just friends?”

I roll my eyes with amusement, “You tell me. But in the morning.” I slide my right hand under my pillow and yawn. “I’m going to bed. You can sleep standing or come here.”

Isaac laughs and gently crawls onto my bed and lies down next to me. He lies on his back, staring at the ceiling for a bit, before turning onto his left side, too. I snuggle up to his back and loosely wrap my arm around his waist to spoon him. I burry my nose into the space of his neck between his shoulder and the base of the neck and whisper to him, “Thanks for bringing me back my shoes.”

I can feel the hairs on his neck stand up from my cool breath. He yawns and then whispers back, “And your shirt.”

I creep my right hand up from beneath my pillow and gently massage his scalp. “Relax for once.”

I can hear him swallow the excess spit in his mouth as he relaxes his body, letting his bare back rest against my oversized white tee. He falls asleep squeezing my hand, which is loosely pressed against his fantastic abdomen, and I fall asleep rubbing his head.