This IS My Normal

010

"Derek's alive? Why didn't anyone tell me?!" "That's because he's not a good guy Emilia! He's working with the alpha." Scott yelled at me. "So you found out who the alpha is too? Thanks for keeping me in the loop" I sarcastically thanked. "There's just been a lot going on." Scott defended. "Right-"

We were riding in Stile's jeep and pulled up on Allison's dad alone with Jackson.

The boys got out of the car and started yelling at each other. It's so hard to be mad at them when everything else around us is worse.

Jackson apparently wants the bite. Ignoring everything Scott was telling him. Does Jackson not know about me?

••••

"You need to learn to shift without the full moon." "Why do I need to learn that?" "What if you need to shift but can't control it?" "How do you know so much about this?" "Do you remember my friend Chris?" "Yeah..." I responded not really following where my brother was headed. "He was a werewolf too. He taught me a lot". "That... actually makes sense."

We continued our walk in the woods. And settled down about a mile from the main roads.

"So what do I need to do?" "You need to shift without wanting to kill me." "Well, I didn't want to kill you on the full moon". "Right, but that's because we let the moon shift for you. This time, you need to do it on your own".

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I shook my arms as if I was warming up to run. I let the breath out and opened my eyes.

"Good, Em. Now keep going".

I was reluctant. Something within me was holding myself back. I wanted to shift, I thought. I wanted to at least be in control of myself.

"Okay, you're not really doing anything anymore, Emilia. Drop your hand and let the claws just come out." "Dropping my hand doesn't expose the claws" I told my brother. "No, but, remember when we were in the same middle school choir?" I nodded my head. "The teacher told us to push our arm out when we're projecting our voice. Or if you hold a note raise your arm. It's easy to do what you need when you physically see where your voice is supposed to go-" "So dropping my hand can trick my brain?"

He started to walk a little bit away from me. "Alright so do it. Pretend like you're doing something that can make you shift".

I took his advice and closed my eyes again. I shook my arms and took a deep breath. I then opened my eyes and based on Polo's reaction, they were glowing amber. I dropped my hand with my fingers pointed up. I hesitated to look at them, but slowly I did.

"I did it!" "Okay, now your teeth. Try to do it all at the same time. Don't think about it. Just do it."

Just as I was about to put everything into action, my phone started ringing.

"Don't answer it. You haven't fully shifted." "It's Stiles. What if it's important."

I walked further away from him and answered my phone. "What's going on?" "A lot. The alpha, Peter just went on a date with Scott's mom." "Are you serious?" "Yes, and my dad was going over a lot of paperwork and he figured something out". "Which was?" "That everyone Peter killed either has a history of arson and/or something with the Hale's." "So you think Peter is out for revenge? I thought we already knew that?" "Well, we figured. This just like confirms-" I hung up on him.

"Polo, I've gotta go". "Tell me." "No, they don't know about you. They don't know you know. Just, let me run and I'll catch you up on everything, yeah?" I started to run before he could even respond.