Empath

Sniper Round

Amber

School was finally over. I sighed in relief the moment I stepped out of the classroom and went to my locker which was where Scott and Stiles were waiting for me. They were talking about practice.

"Do you think Coach will be okay with me missing practice?" I tapped Stiles on the shoulder.

"Why are you going to miss practice?" He turned to me.

"To take you home. I don't want to have you out in the open in case Allison or your dad shows up." I shook my head.

"I'll stay. If it comes to it I'll ask Derek to come and sit with me. I'm not letting you miss out on practice. Come on, I'll wait outside of the locker room for you until your done changing and sit and watch you guys during practice. I'll text your dad and Derek and let them know," he looked unsure, but I smiled at him, "you know I'm right. I just said I don't want to live in fear and that I want to live my life. That means you get to live yours as well. Practice now."

Scott placed his hand on Stiles shoulder, "she's right, Stiles. We can't let every supernatural creature ruin our lives. We still have to be kids even if we've dealt and done things that most kids probably never have to deal with."

I smiled at Stiles, "see? I'm right. Let's go."

I followed Scott as he dragged Stiles to the locker room.

"Stay here. I'll be right back." I nodded.

I stood next to the door waiting for Stiles and Scott to finish. Suddenly I felt something in the air. I couldn't put my finger on it. No one else was in the hallway except lacrosse players walking into the locker room. They all waved at me, and smiled. I knew that they knew what had happened with me and my family and I could tell the malicious intent I was feeling wasn't coming from them.

"Allison?" I turned and saw Matt standing in next to me with a camera.

"Excuse me? I know we are identical twins, but I dress nothing like my sister. What the hell do you want with her?" He looked taken aback.
The malicious feeling I felt faded a bit, but it was still there just below the surface.

"I wanted to ask her something about Scott." What?

"What did you wanna ask? I can probably answer," he nods, "sure."

He turned on his camera and moved next to me. He pulled up a picture and my blood turned cold. There in the picture was Stiles standing next to Scott, except you couldn't see Scott because it looked like a flash of light was blocking his face.

"What's wrong with his eyes? Have you ever seen that before when taking pictures with Scott?" I focused on Matt's feelings to try to get a read on him.

Rage, fear, pain. I tilted my head, acting as though I was studying the picture. I needed more time to get a sense of what I was feeling coming from him.

"Can I look at the others?" I reached for his camera and slowly took it from him.

I pretended to go through the pictures. I dug through his emotions and saw something else in his mind. Panic flooded my body and I brought the camera closer to my face to hide my emotions. Flashes of water seeped through my mind. Then I saw a green lizard climbing towards a car.

"Amber?" I smiled and looked up at Matt.

"I don't know why it's happening with your camera. All the pictures I've seen of Scott that never happened. Maybe it's a glitch? Have you tried switching cameras? I can take a picture of Scott later with my phone and test it out to see if it happens. If it does I'll let you know okay?" Stiles came out of the locker room at that moment and I was relieved.

"Is everything okay?" Scott asked as he came out of the locker room.

I knew he had already heard the conversation between Matt and I. I nodded my head.

"Everything is fine. Let's go," I hooked my arm with Scott and smiled at Matt, "have a good rest of your day Matt. It was really nice talking to you. I promise I'll do what I said and get back to you as soon as possible."

As soon as Stiles was out of the locker room, I linked my arm with his and focused on getting us as far away from Matt as soon as possible.

"Amber? What's wrong?" I looked at Scott.

"Nothing good. Besides the whole situation with my family, what supernatural things have you been dealing with?" Scott looked confused.

"The Alpha mostly," I shook my head, "I know about the Alpha, Scott. I meant the lizard."

"How did you know about that?" I looked at Stiles.

"I saw it while talking with Matt. I also saw him drowning as a child. I felt the fear leftover from that incident. Did you know he almost drowned? I think his anger over that incident is why he has some sort of control over the lizard," Stiles shook his head, "Kanima."

"What's a Kanima?" We were now at the lacrosse field.

"I'll tell you after practice." I nodded.

I moved to the bleachers and took a seat as practice started. I thought back to the way Matt looked at me when he thought I was Allison. I didn't like the way he looked at me. It was almost like I was prey. Suddenly a chill went up my spine and I knew someone was watching me. I looked around and spotted Matt with his camera on the field. So it wasn't him, but him taking pictures of the team worried me. I knew this was only practice, but I could see he was taking pictures of the team mostly focusing on Scott. So it wasn't Matt. That meant it could be any member of my family. I wanted to leave, but this was one of the safest places for me right now. I was in public and surrounded by people so the likelihood of my family trying anything was slim. Suddenly I felt anger, like a wave of anger rolling over my skin. I knew that I had underestimated someone in my family. I looked around not sure what was going on or where it was coming from. I glanced around the bleachers but it wasn't coming from anyone around me. I felt a chill up my spine and looked out among the tree line on the other side of the lacrosse field and knew that's where they were. It had to be Kate.

"Amber?" I looked at the bottom of the bleachers at Stiles and then I felt a stinging across my cheek.

Stiles looked alarmed and I ran down the bleachers stairs. I ran back towards the high school knowing I wasn't safe. I heard my name, but I didn't stop. I wasn't going to until I made it into the school. Once inside I went straight to my locker. I opened it and shoved all my stuff into my bag.

"Amber?" I turned around suddenly ready to defend myself.

I was relieved when I saw it was just Derek. He looked alarmed and he reached his hand out and touched my cheek.

"Your cheek," I reached my hand up and my hand came back covered in blood, "we need to get you back to Stiles' house."

He ripped off a piece of his shirt, grabbed my hand and cleaned off the blood. Then he dabbed the piece of cloth on my cheek. I cringed in pain.

"It was Kate, I think. I didn't see her, but I think she was hidden in the tree line. It had to be her." I flinched again as he dabbed the spot again.

"You will need stitches, and you will have a scar. Let's get you back to the house, Amber." He closed my locker and took my bag from me.
He zipped up his leather jacket that I was wearing.

"I'm afraid to go outside." I looked up at Derek.
He pulled me into his arms and rested his head on mine.

"It'll be okay. I'll get you to the house. We'll be okay." I nodded against his chest.

I trusted him to get us home safely.