Aphelion ⎯⎯⎯⎯ Stiles Stilinski

13.) I Need To Work On My Manners

@Sᴛɪʟᴇs-Is-Tʜᴇ-Nɪɢʜᴛ

1:05 ───⊙─────── 2:52

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playιng: [Gɪʀʟғʀɪᴇɴᴅ] - [Aɴᴅᴇʀsᴏɴ Eᴀsᴛ]

Being nosy must be a demigod trait, Xan thought, as she and Ethan spent the better part of Monday night with their ears pressed to a wooden door. They were on a mission to discover what was going on the other side. They'd offered to let Devereaux in on it, but he was far less than interested. It was just the two of them, they'd even come up with dumb little codenames for each other. It wasn't childish- it made the mission official. Too bad it didn't help make it successful. Dr. Phoebe Beaumont had that office locked up tighter than Fort Knox. It was one of the things that had drawn Xan's attention to the fact that something was going on. Other than the fact that Xan's mom had been on the phone with Melissa McCall all evening. Not super unusual, they talked all of the time.

Not like this though.

She'd been whispering in a consoling tone for hours, often pacing, and trying her best to offer some sort of advice to her friend. Xan couldn't figure out what exactly was going on, anytime she tried to sneak into her mother's office, she was waved away urgently. Not even her clever ruse of 'devoted-daughter-bringing-her -mother-a-cup-of-tea' worked to get her in. She barely had thirty seconds before she was shoved out, and the lock of the handle clicked behind her. Xan knew it was serious when she saw all of the open books heaped around, sticky flags forming a thin rainbow-colored line against a tide of chaos.

It must've had something to do with Scott, because the array of philosophy texts was mixed with the many parenting books her mom had on hand. Before she discovered that she was a demigod, Xan had been considered a "troubled child". If you can even consider melting the playground slide "troubled" and not "demented". Like any good mother, Phoebe Beaumont tried to see the best in Xan, and armed herself with a whole library of information in case of the worst. It seemed now Scott was the troubled one.

Xan couldn't say she was too surprised, especially as she recalled the way he'd slammed into Jackson earlier that day. The kid wasn't acting like himself at all. Maybe she'd do both their moms a favor and talk to him herself- troubled teen to troubled teen.

The rest of the night was spent with Xan and Ethan curled up on the couch, watching Jason Bourne and casually glancing back at the office door every few minutes. Just in case they'd be able to ambush her mom with questions. The stalemate had to end eventually though, and they went up to Xan's room as it became harder and harder to force their eyes open. Xan struggled to admit her defeat, but she was asleep almost as soon as Ethan turned out the light and wrapped his arm around her.

Junkyards were not Xan's idea of a happy place, but for some reason she felt calm in the darkness. It was black like she'd never experienced before. The moon was only a sliver, and though the sky held more stars than she'd ever seen, she had to glow to see her way around. Even the occasional winking of celestial bronze in the dark mounds did little to light her way.

It didn't even seem normal, there was no smell, no garbage. There was just a whole lot of useless crap. Broken weapons and toys and magical items surrounded her, but nothing caught her eye. It was like she was in a trance, eerily blank as she slowly searched through the mountains of unwanted things. Everything was dampened, the sound of her shoes crunching in the dry dirt barely reaching her ears.