Gather The Ashes || Stilinski || Book Three

Forty-Two

"I DIDN'T EXPECT TO SEE YOU HERE."

Sierra glanced up from the book she was reading, her feet perched on the row of bleachers in front of her. After fighting with Scott, staying inside wasn't an option.

She wasn't in the mood to see him, Theo, or even Stiles for that matter.

So, she decided to skip her second period and enjoy a sunny morning in the lacrosse field stands. The fresh air helped keep her at peace.

Sierra offered a small smile at seeing Mason. "I just needed to not be in a classroom today," she shrugged in reply. Her blue eyes flickered to the werewolf standing beside him. "Hey, Brett."

"Hey, Sierra," Brett returned the greeting.

"What're you doing here?" she asked, tilting her head. "Don't you have school today?"

"I do, but I came here with Mason to talk about potential chimeras," he answered.

Mason nodded and then motioned to the lacrosse field. "We figured here would be perfect because Liam wanted to work on some shots while we talked."

Sierra followed his gaze, now noticing Liam setting up a goal with a teammate. Then she glanced at a few soccer players kicking a ball around, and specifically smiled at the sight of Hayden. Watching those two could get interesting.

"Well, feel free to join me here," she told the boys, choosing to close her book. "Do you guys have any suspects yet?"

"No, not yet," Mason sighed and took a seat beside her. Brett sat on his right. "Scott said to look for abnormal behavior, but I don't really know what that means."

"Yeah, a lot of people at Devenford act abnormal to me," Brett agreed.

Sierra shook her head at their comments, but tiredly cracked a grin. "Just think of what we've already seen, guys. You're thinking too hard."

"There's heightened strength," Mason recalled, listing on his fingers, "smell, hearing, speed..."

"An ability to see in the dark," Brett added.

"Glowing eyes," Mason nodded.

"Eyes that reflect the light."

Mason thought of Lucas and scrunched his nose. "Visible scorpion stingers protruding out of limbs."

Brett snorted, "Yeah, or a three-foot lizard tails."

Mason chuckled while Sierra forced a smile.

Her eyes flickered back to the lacrosse field to watch two of her favorite sophomores, but then she raised her eyebrows.

Hayden and Liam seemed to be in some sort of competition, though they played different sports. They took turns shooting their shoots, offering challenging smirks to the other when the ball--soccer or lacrosse--successfully flew into the goal.

Except, on Liam's last shot he used too much strength. As the ball whizzed by, the sheer force made the goalie stumble onto his back.

Liam winced. "Sorry!"

"What's going on with those two?" Brett wondered aloud, making Sierra tear her gaze away.

"I'd like to know too," she said. "Liam promised to tell me, but never did."

Mason laughed, but happily replied with two simple words. "Sixth grade." When Sierra looked puzzled, he explained further. "It wasn't the best year for Liam's anger management issues."

Sierra glanced to the field to see Liam helping up his teammate, while Mason dug out his phone from his pocket and held it out to her and Brett. "There was uh, this fight in the hallways--Liam and this other guy. Hayden sort of accidentally walked into it and... well, this was her yearbook photo."