Effects of Darkness [Book Two]

05: Bodies

"You lost them?" Ariel hears Derek question Scott over the phone.

"Yeah," Scott sighs, sharing a look with Ariel. "We kind of had to."

"Wasn't exactly the plan."

"I know," Scott tells him. "Which is why I think that we should stick together. Trust me, he's too strong, too fast, and way too angry for us people to handle alone. We've got to do this together."

"And you're an Alpha, Derek," Ariel points out with an eye roll, knowing he would be able to hear her. "You would have the best strength advantage out of us all."

"Look," Derek says. "I'm at the trails by the entrance to the preserve. Can you meet me here?"

"Yeah," Scott murmurs, looking over to Ariel, who had her arms wrapped around two kids on either side of her. They had unfortunately fallen into Boyd's path, but she and Scott managed to get there in time to get Boyd away from the children before he could hurt them. "Just got to drop something off first."

Ariel squeezes the kid's shoulders reassuringly, opening her mouth to speak, only to freeze as and turn to look in a specific direction.

She looks down to the pocket in which her phone sits, suddenly itching to call her sister, "Scott," she mumbles, catching his attention. "You take the kids, I gotta go check something."

And without another word, she runs off.

Scott sighs, looking down at the kids, "Right."

***

Ariel pants as she runs, not even thinking about where she was heading as she lets her instincts lead her.

She eventually comes to a stop when her lungs are heaving and calves are burning from pushing herself, finding herself in the middle of a road. She leans down, putting her hands on her knees as she regains her breath.

She moves to stand up straight again, turning around, only to lead out a little scream when a car screeches to a halt in front of her.

Ariel stares wide-eyed through the windscreen to see her sister, who stares right back in shock.

After a moment, Lydia climbs out of the car, the door slamming shut snapping Ariel out of her shock. 

"Lydia!" Ariel yells with a wave of her arms. "What the hell? You nearly ran me over!"

"Me?" Lydia scoffs with a hand on her chest, walking towards her. "How could you not hear me coming? You're supposed to have super hearing or whatever!"

"Or whatever!" Ariel mocks. "Excuse me for stopping for a moment when I just ran all the way across from the other side of town!"

"Well, why the hell would you do that?!"

"Because -- !" Ariel exclaims, only to fumble on her words as she struggles to answer. "Because, well," she shrugs weakly. "I don't know. I was looking for you."

"Well, you found me! Oh, my God," Lydia mutters in exasperation. "I just wanted to go to the store."

Ariel stares at her strangely, "The store? Lyds, the store's two miles back where you came from," she points out.

Lydia frowns, "What, no, it's . . . " she argues, trailing off as she turns seeing them outside the local swimming pool. 

Blinking, she slowly walks in.