Mitigation

Staking Out

Elana punched, which Laura easily grabbed and punched backward. Elana used the momentum to flip backward then have a good posture again. She looked at Laura.

"Come at me bro," Elana said. Laura rolled her eyes and kicked outward where Elana's face had only been seconds before. Elana ducked and quickly came back up, grabbing her leg and held on to it, holding her leg in the air as Laura struggled to keep her balance. Elana pushed it backward and Laura landed her butt. Elana leaped to land on her but Laura had rolled away and jumped on Elana's back. She pulled her hands backward and pushed Elana's face to the floor. Elana struggled, but couldn't move.

Laura helped her up.

"You're getting better," she said.

"I lost."

"You lasted longer."

"I spent like two years training just in case of being attacked, but in a fight with werewolves, I'm going to die."

"You didn't realize you would have to fight hand to hand combat. You have wands. I have claws. We're both used to something. You're out of you element. You'll get better, with practice. Lesson today: learning to be light on your toes."

~O~

Lydia drove with Elana to Jackson's house. Elana looked at the window.

"Are you sure you don't want to come? I could introduce you to all the lacrosse players," Lydia said.

"Nah," she said, looking off into the distance. Lydia stopped the car and texted Jackson to come out.

Elana watched as a very fast boy with curly hair zoomed into the dark house. Elana could smell his fear, and his heartbeat was racing. Elana watched, in fear for him.

The lights flicked on as the boy closed the door. Elana narrowed in her hearing to the house.

"What did I tell you?" Demanded a very strict voice, with no amount of kindness in it. The brunette's blood ran cold.

"T-to be h-home by s-sunset," was the very soft replied.

"Don't stutter!" The voice bellowed and Elana winced. "Don't whisper! Look at me in the eye when your talking to me!"

"O-okay."

"You moron! I told you to be home by dark! You can't hear anymore?"

"I- I'm sorry," she heard.

"Sorry. Isn't. Good. Enough."

Elana heard crashing and her heart thumped.

Someone was being abused in there.

She had to help them.

She internally screamed in shock as Jackson entered the car. She held herself tightly and breathed out.

"Jackson, who lives there?" She asked, shakily pointing to Curly Fry's house.

"There?" He thought. "Isaac Lahey."

Elana got out of the car and went to Lydia's side.

"Don't worry, I'll text when I get home. Enjoy the party," she said smiling.

She watched as Lydia's car drove away and sat on the sidewalk her eyes and ears trained on the Lahey house. Now:

What the hell was happening to Isaac Lahey?

~O~

Elana crept through the bushes, trying to get closer to Isaac's home. Laura had told her to not use her powers as much, with the nearing of the full moon.

She pulled out the binoculars from her satchel and her bag of chips. It was a week since she started staking out. Luckily, no more outbursts had happened with Isaac's parent or guardian or whoever he was. Elana still wanted to be there to help if she could, during or after. She had not made any contact with Isaac, which she could only remember Curly Fry hair, and she was hoping that what she had heard was just a one time thing.

But deep in her heart, she knew it was not.

She watched the lights of the house, deep in concentration.

"Whatcha looking at?" She heard a voice. It sounded kind enough, and she was too busy looking in her binoculars.

"Do you know anything about Isaac Lahey?" She found herself asking as she put a chip in her mouth.

"Depends on who's asking. What do you want to know?"

"Do you think he's abused? Because I've been watching this whole week but I dunno, I-" she stopped, finally facing the stranger. She found bright blue eyes. She looked at the top of his head and found curly hair.

"Oh," was all she could say.

He smirked and then frowned, "Now, do you mind telling me what you're doing?"

"Staking out," she said quietly, putting her binoculars away and folding up her chip bag.

"What for?"

"To help... I saw- I mean, maybe it was a one time thing, but-"

She stopped looking at his eyes. He looked discretely hurt.

"I should go," she said, brushing her hair out of her face and putting her head down, not making eye contact as she walked down the path from the bushes.

"Wait," he said, pulling her back. An alert went off inside her but she calmed down. "Thanks. For trying, I guess. I don't know what you were planning to do, but you were trying to help, so thanks."

Elana felt slightly better and held out her hand. "Elana Abernathy."

"Isaac Lahey."

~O~

Elana walked in Stiles's car.

"How's your Jeep holding up?" She asked as she sat in the back.

"Pretty good."

Elana sighed. Stiles looked in the rearview mirror.

"What's wrong?"

"I just realized I didn't go camping this summer."

"Camping?"

"Yea, it was a tradition with me and my dad, but it, you know... you can't exactly go camping with someone who's not around anymore..." Elana felt a cool breeze on her neck and shivered in her leather jacket.

"We could go camping," he said quietly.

"What?"

"Me, you, Scott, Laura and Lydia if you want to."

"Laura's busy and Lydia has a 'reputation' to hold up, but I, for one, would love to."

"Where?"

"Huh?"

"Like where do you want to go? Like there's Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Redwoods, the reserve," he joked.

"I dunno. Anywhere, I guess. I just want to smell trees."

Stiles snapped his fingers. "Redwoods. It'll be nice too, though we'll need to pay for a hotel... I'll ask my dad if I could borrow-"

"No, no, no, don't worry about that, I can cover it. It was my idea. I just want to go somewhere."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I have a credit card and everything, though I don't know exactly how to use it... I'll need help on that. I'm not very used to the modern world yet," she smiled wryly as they stopped in front of Scott's house.

"Guess what, Scott. We're going camping."