Always There {6}

Chapter 19: Broken Glass

Later, Liv's with Malia and Scott to meet with Deucalion. Deucalion says, "Either of you know the term for what I'm doing?" Liv says, "Echolocation." Deucalion says, "You did your homework." Liv says, "Yeah, I looked a few things up." Deucalion says, "And now you think you can learn in just one day what took me years to master?" Malia says, "We were hoping for maybe a few highlights." Scott says, "Yeah, or anything that can help us fight the Anuk-ite without looking at it." Deucalion says, "Fighting blind is one thing. You haven't even learned to walk yet. An Orientation and Mobility specialist has to practice blindfolded with a white cane for at least a hundred and twenty hours before becoming certified. I can't teach you to walk and fight in less than twenty-four." Liv says, "Look, we know the odds are bad. But Gerard's got an army. There's a creature that can scare ordinary people into becoming killers." Deucalion says, "The creature now capable of killing you with just a look. You saw them, didn't you?" Malia says, "We saw people turn to stone." Deucalion says, "So why aren't all of you running for your lives?" Scott says, "Because we don't run." Deucalion says, "Now that sounds like an Alpha. Let's get started. Unfortunately, there's one crucial difference to teaching you how to fight blind." Scott says, "We're not really blind." Malia says, "Why does that matter?" Deucalion says, "Unless you spend the next few days walking around wearing a blindfold, all the Anuk-ite really has to do is get you to open your eyes." Malia says, "So we keep our eyes shut." Deucalion says, "You think it's that easy? What happens to your eyes when you're afraid?" Scott says, "They open wide." Deucalion says, "To gather more light and send more data to the brain so you can better handle whatever threat lies in front of you." Malia says, "I can keep my eyes closed." Deucalion says, "Well, go ahead, close them." Malia then closes her eyes and Deucalion throws a rock against metal and Malia opens her eyes and Deucalion says, "Your dead." Malia says, "I get it. It's gonna be a lot harder than I thought." Liv says, "But not impossible. What's next?" Deucalion says, "In schools for the blind, it's called "sleep-shade training." We'll use regular blindfolds. And we'll start with echolocation." Deucalion hands them their blindfolds and Liv says, "Sound." Deucalion says, "Then I'll show you how to use Thermoception." Malia says, "Heat." Decualion says, "Equilibrioception." Liv says, "Balance." Decucalion says, "And proprioception." Liv says, "Pressure." Liv softly mumbles to Malia, "You did good." Deucalion says, "Go ahead." They then put on their blindfolds. Deucalion says, "Normal humans use echo location by creating sounds, like clicking the tongue against the roof of the mouth. Since your hearing is a hundred times more powerful, you can pick up natural reflected sounds." They hear Deucalion's stick bang against the metal and Scott says, "I definitely heard that." Deucalion says, "But does it tell you where I am? Don't listen for me, listen for the echo, for the sound reflections. Use it to find me." He bangs his stick again and Liv concentrates on her hearing to find him, and they hear his voice behind them say, "You three have superior hearing. You need to focus it like a weapon." He bangs his stick again and Liv follows the sound to find him. Malia says, "I'm not feeling so superior right now." He makes noise again and he says, "Find me." Liv follows the sound and hears him say, "Come to me. Find me." Deucalion whip's his cane at both Scott and Malia, as he goes to do the same for Liv, she dodges it and grabs ahold of it. Liv says, "I found you." Deucalion smiles impressed with Liv's sense of control to find him. Liv takes off her blindfold and Deucalion says, "Very good, Liv." Deucalion looks to Scott and Malia, and they take their blindfolds off, and Malia says, "How dead are we now?" Deucalion says, "Quite. In humans, thermoception is done mainly through the skin. You have temperature receptors that pick up the cold changes in heats and cold. The eyes of werewolves are particularly effective at picking up heat." Liv is off to the side, because Deucalion think's she ready. Deucalion has Scott and Malia back-to-back and Scott says, "Well, what do we do without our eyes?" Deucalion says, "Focus on your skin, the minute temperature changes. Now, turn to face each other. Malia, try to hit Scott." Malia says, "Seriously?" Deucalion says, "Yes, seriously. You came here to learn to fight. Kick his ass." Malia then punches Scott and he grunts and says, "What am I supposed to do now?" Liv says, "Defend yourself." They both start fighting each other, but Malia's winning this fight and he says, "Son of a..." Malia says, "Sorry." Deucalion says, "Don't be sorry. Hit him again." Malia goes to hit him again, but Scott dodges and she hits the concrete column and groans. Deucalion says, "Yeah, all right. I didn't think it was possible, but I'm, I'm actually starting to wish I was blind again." Liv rolls her eyes at him, and then Scott puts his blindfold back on and Deucalion says, "Stop looking for me. Listen. Sense the rise and fall of temperature. Feel the pressure beneath your feet. Know, with absolute certainty, my location, my speed, even my method of attack." Deucalion kicks Scott in the stomach and he groans. Deucalion says, "And you're dead. Again." Liv goes to help Scott up and he says, "Alright, come on. Let's go again." Malia says, "Scott, I think we should try something else." Scott says, "Well, there is nothing else. I can't beat Gerard when he's got an entire army behind him." Liv says, "There still afraid of us." Scott says, "That's the problem. They don't know us, and they don't want us here. They don't even wanna look at us. But I still don't think that that fear is real." Deucalion says, "What if it's not just the Anuk-ite? What if this is what people are really like? I mean, could it be that all this creature really does is give people permission to act on whatever awful truth lies within them?" Scott says, "I can't believe that. I don't want to." Liv says, "Neither do I." Malia nods and says, "Me too." Deucalion says, "Lose the blindfold, Scott. Close your eyes. We're gonna try this again. But this time I'm not gonna hold back, I'm gonna come at you for real. You asked me here because you think I know how to fight? I don't. I know how to kill people." The Deucalion growls and attacks Scott. Liv whispers, "Hit him." Scott then grabs Deucalion and flips him, and Deucalion says, "You might just survive this." Then they hear Lydia shout, "Scott! Scott! Scott! None of us are gonna survive this." Scott looks to see Peter next her and says, "What... Why? What are you guys doing here?" Peter says, "They're coming, Monroe and more. And they have heavy firepower." They hear gunshots and see it went through Deucalion and falls down and is dead. They then see Monroe appear and her team start shooting at them. They run and duck for cover.