CHAPTER FOUR : unblessed with humanity

( ice pick )

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     THE WORST PART ABOUT being injured, Shannon discovers, is the complete and utter boredom. While the rest of her peers are having fun scaling the rock-climbing wall in gym class, she's laying on her back on the floor because her dad decided to make her sit out on the activity. She's the only person in the room not wearing athletic gear — decked out in a pair of ill-fitting jeans and a t-shirt that's cropped just enough that the edge of the bandage stuck to her waist is ever-so-slightly visible. The doctors had removed her stitches the day before, after school, and said she was free to keep the bandages off, but she still decided to keep her abdomen covered for just a little longer — just in case. It was the worst of her multitude of injuries, after all.

     Danny's sitting, legs crisscrossed, on the ground next to Shannon, the two talking about absolutely nothing while they watch pair after pair try to tackle the wall. He and Jackson had been the first duo to climb, both of them making it up and back in record time due to their athletic prowess. Now, it's Scott and Allison's turn, and, as a shock to absolutely nobody, they're flirting more than actually working. That is, until, Scott suddenly shoots halfway up the wall and Allison promptly kicks his leg off its perch, making the boy fall to the ground. He only avoids landing flat on his back and winding himself because his harness stops him just in time. The class, including Shannon and the coach, burst into laughter, only amplified when Scott's harness gives out and he drops the extra foot down onto the mat below him.

     Through his giggles, the coach sits down on the edge of the plush mat to get closer to the teenage boy. "McCall, I don't know why, but your pain gives me a special kind of joy... Right?" He bursts into laughter again. "All right, next two! Julien, Erica, let's go! The wall."

     For a moment, there's no movement in the crowd, until Erica, a messy-haired blonde, slowly steps forward. Now that she's approaching the wall, Julien also begins to move towards it. It's in this moment that Shannon realises she really hasn't paid that much attention to her classmates outside of her regular group of friends, because she didn't even know that her lab partner, Jules, is actually a Julien.

     The girls both start their attempt at the wall. While Jules' try is shaky, she actually manages to make it up and back down the climbing frame pretty quickly, while in the same amount of time, Erica only makes it about a quarter of the way. The blonde grips the hand-holds tightly, loudly hyperventilating, all the while, Jules is releasing herself from her harness.

     "Oh, please—" Erica manages out through broken sobs.

     The class crowds around the edge of the mat as the coach clambers over to the base of the wall. Danny jumps to his feet and offers his hand to Shannon to help her up.

     "Erica? Dizzy? Is it vertigo?" Shannon's dad asks.

     Lydia furrows her brows and turns to the coach, snidely telling him, "Vertigo's a dysfunction of the vestibular system of the inner ear. She's just freaking out."

     Shannon pushes her way to the front of the crowd, standing to the side of the climbing wall. "You've got this, Er!" she calls out. Unfortunately, her attempt at encouraging her doesn't seem to be doing much good. A few girls straggling at the edges of the crowd giggle at Erica's mishap, earning a glare from both Shannon and Danny.

     Erica gulps and keeps looking up to the top of the wall. "I'm fine," she says, shakily.

     Allison leans over to the coach. "Coach, maybe it's not safe. You know, she's epileptic," she says anxiously.

     "Yeah, maybe this wasn't a great idea," Shannon agrees, crossing her arms nervously over her stomach.

     The coach sighs exasperatedly. "Why doesn't anybody tell me this stuff?" he stammers.

     Shannon squints at his words. "Dad, it's in her file," she tells him.

     He looks at her with pursed lips and a furrowed brow. "Why do you know what's in her file?" he asks, but without waiting to receive an answer, he turns back to the girl stuck on the wall. "Erica, you're fine. Just — just kick off from the wall. There's a mat to catch you." Although Erica's still fighting back tears, she finally processes the situation enough to timidly lean back and let go of the wall. She slowly descends to the mat, slapping a hand firmly on the base of the wall to steady herself as her feet hit the ground. The coach puts a hand reassuringly on Erica's elbow to help her balance. "Come on. See? You're fine. You're on the ground. You're all right. Let's go. Shake it off. You're fine."

     As she walks away through the crowd, though, with everyone giggling away at her, Shannon can tell that she definitely isn't fine.

     She's proven right pretty quickly when, while everyone is changing back into their everyday clothes and she's sitting around in her dad's office, Scott suddenly breaks into a sprint in the direction of the gym. His quick disappearance prompts Shannon to her feet, because at this point, if Scott's running and he's not on the lacrosse field, something is very, very wrong. She runs, as best she can ( though, now that the stitches in her thigh are out, running is significantly easier ), after him, her dad hot on her trail. He bursts in through the gym doors and, just in the nick of time, catches Erica as she plummets to the ground from halfway up the rock wall. Stiles, Allison, and a couple of other classmates beat the Finstocks into the room by a few seconds.

     "Put her on her side!" Allison instructs Scott, who quickly obliges.

     Erica grunts and whimpers as she seizes, and she grips Scott's hand in her own as the boy turns away from her to face Allison. Shannon rockets towards the other blonde, clumsily falling to her knees to check on her from the front, though she's not all that experienced with epilepsy, so she doesn't actually know what she's looking for.

     "How'd you know?" Allison asks.

     Scott shakes his head lightly. "I just felt it."

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     "What's got you so tired?" Scott asks, staring at Shannon, who's got her head resting in her arms that are crossed on the tabletop.

     She turns her head, having previously been staring at the wall of windows, to face her friend. "Watched six episodes of Pretty Little Liars last night," she replies before stifling a yawn with the back of her palm. "Didn't get much sleep."

     Scott holds back a slight chuckle. "Why six?" he questions.

     Shannon shrugs a little, though it looks a bit off due to her odd position. "New episode in a few days. I missed a bunch while we were dealing with a crazy Werewolf, y'know."

     Before Scott can reply, Stiles arrives at the table and plops a pair of keys down in front of his older friend. "Got 'em," he says, pulling the seat opposite Scott out so he can sit down. "Pick you up right after work tonight, and we'll all meet at the rink, cool?"

     "I'm still offended that I'm not invited," Shannon mutters, holding back yet another yawn.

     Scott rears his head back. "We did invite you, your dad said no," he says.

     Shannon scowls.

     Scott looks away, over the top of Shannon's head, and freezes, his eyes fixated on where the doorway is. Stiles is the first to notice his wandering eye-line, and he quickly finds exactly what Scott's staring at. Shannon forces herself to sit upright so that she can look too.

     It's Erica.

     But it's not the same Erica who had had a panic attack on the rock wall just one day ago. Her once messy hair is curled to perfection, cascading glamorously over her shoulders, and she's no longer covering herself from head to toe in baggy clothing — now opting for a form-fitting top and short skirt that leaves very little to the imagination. Scott, Stiles, and Shannon aren't the only ones staring. As she passes each table, more eyes become glued to her. She even leans over onto one table just to steal an apple from an unsuspecting boy's lunch tray and he doesn't do a single thing to stop her.

     A pair of hands slam down into the space next to where Scott and Stiles' food trays are laying. Shannon glances over to see Lydia staring at the new blonde bombshell. "What... the holy hell... is that?" Lydia asks.

     "It's Erica," Scott chokes out, still staring as Erica gives a smirk to the boy whose apple she took before swiftly exiting the cafeteria.

     He and Stiles both jump to their feet in an instant to follow her, and Shannon, deciding she has nothing better to do, goes after them. She catches up to the boys as they swing the front doors to the school open, just in time to see Erica getting into Derek's black Camaro. Derek flashes a blinding smile as the three teenagers standing in the doorway before hitting the gas and pulling out of the parking lot.

     Shannon sighs loudly and leans closer to Scott. "Not good?" she questions.

     "Not good," Scott confirms, his jaw clenched tightly.

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     When Shannon arrives at the table she often shares with Scott and Stiles the next day, Scott is already there. His shoulders are tense, his jaw clenched, and he jumps when the blonde pulls up a seat next to him.

     "You alright?" she asks as she gets herself comfortable, putting her bag on the ground next to her sneaker-clad feet.

     Scott shifts around in his chair, trying to act more casual and relaxed, though the muscle in his jaw is still twitching with anxiety. "Yeah, fine," he says. With one quick glance Shannon's way, he can tell she's not buying it. "Worried about Lydia."

     "What happened to Lydia? She looked fine last time I saw her." Shannon goes to get up already, preparing to find her friend, but Scott waves his hand around.

     "No, no. She's fine now." Shannon doesn't follow. "Last night, Allison and I were in the photo booth together and Lydia just started screaming. Stiles and I had to drag her all the way off the ice before she stopped."

     "Did she see something?" Shannon asks.

     Scott shrugs. "I didn't."

     Before he can continue, Stiles stumbles his way into the space between Scott and Shannon's chairs and slaps a hand onto Scott's shoulder. "Hey, do you see that?" he asks, extending his other arm out to point to the other side of the cafeteria. Shannon has to physically move his arm out of the way a little so he's not obstructing her vision.

     "What? It's an empty table?" Scott says.

     "Yeah, but whose empty table?" presses Stiles.

     Scott takes a few seconds to think over his answer, and right before going to tell Stiles that he has no idea, he suddenly realises. "Boyd." He jumps to his feet in an instant, shaking Stiles' hand off his shoulder. He's already halfway to the door by the time Stiles and Shannon leave their table, and the three of them start weaving their way through the halls.

     "I'm going to the ice rink, see if he's there," Scott begins as he rounds a corner, with Stiles and Shannon close behind him. "And, if he's not at home, you call me, got it?" Scott instructs Stiles.

     Shannon doubles her pace to match Scott's. "I'm coming with you," she says determinedly.

     Scott shakes his head. "That's a horrible idea," he states.

     "Why?" the blonde asks.

     Scott waves a hand around as he turns his head to stare at her. "You're still healing!"

     Shannon stops in her tracks to pull the hem of her t-shirt up. Now that it's no longer covered by a bandage, her tender wound is immediately visible. The pale red marks from Peter's fangs are the brightest colour tainting her otherwise pale skin. The remaining bruises are a light purple around the tooth indentations and yellow everywhere else. It is nowhere near as unattractive as it was on the night of the full moon. Scott goes quiet as he looks at it, then looks up at Stiles.

     "What?" he asks.

     When Shannon looks at Stiles, his expression has already changed from whatever made Scott speak up. Stiles lets out a breath. "Maybe we should let him... Boyd, you know, man? You said Derek's giving them a choice, right?" he says hesitantly.

     Scott grabs Stiles' arm to make him walk as he starts up again, Shannon following quickly behind the two. "We can't," he insists.

     "You gotta admit, Erica looks pretty good, you know. The word 'sensational' comes to mind," Stiles argues.

     Shannon shrugs as she walks. "Can't argue with that."

     Scott drops Stiles' arm and grabs Shannon's elbow instead, making sure to miss any spot that might still be sore. "Yeah, how good do you think she's gonna look with a wolfsbane bullet in her head?" he asks.

     She hesitates for a long moment. "Not as good?"

     Stiles sighs loudly. "All right. All I'm saying is, maybe this one isn't totally your responsibility."

     "They all are. And you know this thing's gonna get out of control. That makes me responsible."

     The younger boy sighs again. "All right, I'm with you. And, I also gotta say... this new-found heroism is making me very attracted to you."

     Shannon quirks an eyebrow at Stiles as Scott lets out an exasperated breath. "Shut up," he says.

     "No, seriously! Do you wanna just try making out for a sec?" Scott gives Stiles a playful shove as he starts to walk away. "Just to see how it feels?"

     With Scott already walking into the distance, Shannon turns to face the short-haired boy. "Really?" she asks, fighting away a smirk.

     Stiles raises his eyebrows at the blonde. "Says Miss 'Erica Is Soooo Hot Now', come on," he retorts.

     Shannon's mouth drops open. "I did not say that!" she exclaims. He's not wrong but still. Stiles raises his hands in surrender and starts to follow Scott, who's already gained quite a bit of distance on his two human friends. "But why does she get to be hot and I just get to be mauled?" Shannon calls after him.

     Halfway down the hall, Scott turns back around to face her ( and Stiles, but mainly her ). "Hurry up!" he hollers.

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     When Scott and Shannon arrive at the ice rink, it's already dark. Scott could've ran and got there well before nightfall but, being accompanied by someone not blessed with supernatural speed, that wasn't really an option unless he wanted to leave Shannon in the dust. The doors to the rink are unlocked, meaning that Boyd is either inside, or he's left the doors open after leaving. As the pair enter and find their way to the ice, Shannon shudders.

     "You want my jacket?" Scott asks.

     She shakes her head in response. "I'm alright, thanks," she tells him. She crosses her arms over her chest and rubs her biceps with her hands.

     They step onto the ice together. Boyd is riding around on a Zamboni on the other side of the rink. He pays no attention to the two of them so they start to walk across the slippery ground. "Boyd!" Scott shouts. Boyd looks over but he doesn't stop driving. "I just wanna talk. Hey, come on. Boyd, please. Did Derek tell you everything? And I don't just mean going out of control on the full moons — I mean everything."

     Boyd finally stops the Zamboni, so Scott and Shannon stop in their tracks as well. "He told me about the hunters," he confirms. Boyd is already a tall guy, and now that he's perched well above Scott and Shannon in the seat of his vehicle, Shannon can't help but feel much smaller than she already is — and she's not even that short, herself.

     Scott gapes at him. "And that's not enough for you to say no?" he asks incredulously. Boyd doesn't respond, he simply rocks his head back and waits for Scott to keep talking. "Whatever you want, there's other ways to get it!"

     Boyd raises a single eyebrow. "I just wanna not each lunch alone every day," he states.

     Scott glances away for a moment. "If you're looking for friends, you can do a lot better than Derek."

     "That really hurts, Scott."

     Shannon just about jumps out of her skin. She hadn't heard anyone else enter the large room, meaning Derek either entered very quietly, or he had already been inside. She and Scott spin around to where Derek's voice is coming from.

     He's standing on the other side of the ice, flanked by three others. It's not just Erica and Isaac, like she expected to see. Standing to Erica's side, hands on her hips, dark hair tied into a loose braid that's flipped over her shoulder, and donning a brand new leather jacket, is none other than Jules, herself.

     Shannon had noticed that Jules hadn't been in school for the past two days — Harris made her do her work solo in chemistry because Jules wasn't around to help, despite the blonde girl's protests about how unfair that was considering everyone else had their lab partner with them, but he would not hear it.

     Now, her absence makes sense.

     While Erica and Jules are standing right by Derek's side, Isaac is standing a couple of feet behind them so that his impressive height doesn't overpower their presence. His hands are tucked into the pockets of his jeans, head cocked to the side, eyes glued not to Scott, but to Shannon. Shannon has to pry her eyes away from him to focus on the Alpha standing before them.

     Derek has his hands clasped behind his back, his brow furrowed in false offence. "I mean, if you're going to review me... at least take a consensus. Erica, how's life been for you since we met?"

     Erica plays with her hair as Isaac and Jules turn their heads to face her, awaiting her response. She hums lightly and clicks her tongue. "In a word?" she dramatically begins. Her voice drops an octave and loses all of its drama and playfulness. "Transformative." Then she roars, loudly, causing Shannon to subconsciously take half a step back.

     Scott instinctively sticks an arm out in front of her, like he's preparing to protect her if need be. It was only a month and a bit ago that Scott hated Shannon with a burning passion — something she chalked up to her just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, having stumbled in on Scott going full wolf in the boy's locker room after practice — and if that Scott knew that he would be protecting her? Well, he'd never believe it.

     Derek turns to the lanky boy standing behind him. "Isaac?" he asks.

     Isaac smirks and shifts his weight onto his other leg. "Well, I'm a little bummed about being a fugitive, but, other than that, I'm great."

     Satisfied with his response, Derek transfers his attention to Jules. "Jules, how about you?"

     Jules gives a smug smile. "I have nothing to complain about," she says, tucking a lock of dark hair that had come loose from her braid behind her ear.

     "Okay, hold on. This isn't exactly a fair fight," Scott argues once he realises what Derek has in mind.

     Derek raises his brows. "Then go home, Scott."

     Scott stays exactly where he's standing. Derek gives his Betas a look, encouraging the three of them to approach the Omega Werewolf before them. Scott drops dramatically to the ground, his fist cracking the ice beneath him. Now fully transformed — his fangs and claws extended, browbone extra defined and ridged and wiping out any trace of his eyebrows, and cheeks covered with hair — he looks up at Derek's pack, his amber eyes glimmering in the low light of the arena. "I meant fair for them."

     He roars loudly, and Shannon takes that as her cue to take cover by Boyd's Zamboni. She can't tell if Scott's roar is making the Zamboni rattle, or if it's making the entire sheet of ice that she's standing on shift around.

     In a matter of seconds, Scott has Isaac by the lapels of his leather jacket and he violently throws him against the clear barrier around the ice. Before Isaac even makes contact with the barricade, Erica and Jules launch into their own attack, kicking and swiping at the Omega, though they're no match for him. The month and a half of lycanthropy that Scott has on the two girls shows as he dodges their attacks and swiftly kicks Erica into the side of the Zamboni, rattling the vehicle with a loud bang.

     Isaac jumps back to his feet and angrily approaches Scott as Jules also comes at him, having taken a few steps back for a running start. Unfortunately for her, Jules' foot slips on the ice, giving Scott the advantage to shove her away hard enough that she lands roughly on her back, the wind getting knocked out of her lungs on impact. Isaac flexes his fingers and Scott turns back to face him. While he's distracted by Isaac, Erica — who's got back up to her feet — kicks him from behind, sending him flying towards Isaac, who grabs his jacket and pushes him against the Zamboni. Shannon backs up even further to avoid getting caught up in the fight. Isaac slams Scott up against the vehicle, then shoves him across the ice away from him.

     Scott's claws drag on the smooth ice, and he looks up and snarls. Jules has scrambled back to her feet, ready to charge at him, and Isaac growls again — louder, this time. Scott regains his footing as Isaac, Jules, and Erica start walking towards him. He very easily grabs Isaac's arms and throws him to the ground, kicking Jules' legs out from under her as he goes. She lands on all fours this time and snarls at him loudly. Scott slams Isaac against the ice twice before Erica jumps onto his back. In order to get her off him, Scott backs up against the Zamboni to slam Erica against it, crushing her body between his back and the metal sides of the vehicle. She collapses to the ground with a groan.

     Isaac starts trying to get back up again, all the while throwing punches at the shorter boy, but Scott, being the only one standing, has the upper hand. Isaac looks up and grabs his stomach in pain before Scott kicks him in his jaw, sending him down for good, and when Jules tries to swipe at his calf with her claws, Scott delivers a kick to her gut.

     Once all three Betas are on the ground, he stops attacking, while Derek just smiles in the distance, his arms crossed over his chest.

     "Don't you get it?" Scott shouts angrily, his voice distorted from the presence of the fangs protruding out of his mouth. "He's not doing this for you. He's just adding to his own power, okay? It's all about him. He makes you feel like he's giving you some kind of gift when all he's done is turn you into a bunch of guard dogs!"

     With that, he slides each Beta over the ice towards Derek. They stop at his feet, each of them grumbling and moaning in pain. Derek just shrugs. "It's true. It is about power." It's not something Scott — or Shannon, for that matter — expected him to admit just like that. Derek steps between the worn-out bodies of Isaac and Jules to approach Scott slowly. He flicks out his claws, his eyes glowing a bright scarlet, and jerks his neck around in a broken circle as he grows his fangs, letting out a roar as the rest of his wolf features grow in.

     When he gets to where Scott is standing, he doesn't give the younger boy a chance to react before swiftly headbutting him and swiping his claws at his stomach, making Scott stumble backwards and shout in pain. Derek throws multiple punches that collide with the younger boy's skull, only stopping when he bends Scott into a position that allows him to elbow the Alpha in the face. Derek recoils, giving Scott enough of a chance to square his fists up in front of him.

     Derek smiles as he approaches the Omega, grabbing him by the back of his neck — the scruff, just to make it that much more insulting — and delivers blow after blow to Scott's face before finally lifting him into the air and slamming him down against the ground.

     Scott spits a glob of blood out onto the ice, but that's not enough for Derek. He puts his foot on Scott's chest, pressing down enough of his weight that Scott has to fight to breathe and Shannon can hear his ribs crunching from her hiding spot. After a long while, what feels like forever, Derek finally releases the teenager. He gasps for breath, grabbing onto his side as Derek walks away — back to the injured members of his pack.

     Boyd jumps down from his Zamboni and hesitantly approaches Scott, Shannon taking this movement as a sign that it's officially safe to resurface. She hurries to Scott's side, crouching down to help him up into a seated position. "Don't... You don't wanna be like them..." Scott begs.

     The dark-skinned boy nods solemnly. "You're right," he says. He lifts up the hem of his camouflage print sweater, revealing that a bite has already been taken out of his side. Shannon feels Scott's shoulders deflate under her hands, and she fights back a frown of her own. "I wanna be like you."

     With that, Boyd turns away from Scott and Shannon and starts to walk across the ice to catch up to Derek and the rest of his pack, who are all back on their feet and nursing their wounds. Shannon watches him go for a moment, then turns back to Scott to offer him her hand. "C'mon, let's go."

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published : november 10, 2022
word count : 4.4k