XII. | afloat

                    ERICA WAS THE first to lunge, letting a growl rip through her throat - one that bounced off the tiled walls. The monster maneuvered quickly toward the young wolf, barely touching her with a clawed hand before throwing her against a nearby wall with inhuman strength, rendering her useless to the fight. My eyes were locked onto her body, and I didn't look away from her slumped form on the floor until I saw her chest heave, letting me know that she was at least still breathing. I could tell Derek was annoyed that she hadn't waited for him to attack, because he turned around and shoved Stiles in the chest, yelling at us to move, red eyes glowing with ferocity. My eyes were locked on the monster, and before Derek could turn around and begin to fight, it lashed out with one clawed hand, scraping the back of his neck. He reeled around, no longer in wolf form. He stumbled and began to lose his balance. For a second, I was pleased to see that I was no longer the weak one - he was.

"Derek, your neck." Stiles was the first one to speak. As Derek began to lose control of his legs due to the venom running through his system, Stiles grabbed him from under the shoulders.

I watched as the monster slinked back into the shadows of the pool room, then rushed forward to help Stiles keep Derek on his feet. I threw his left arm over my shoulder and followed in Stiles's footsteps, nearly jogging to the nearest exit. Derek was heavy, but without his help, he was heavier. I struggled to stay on my feet as we turned a corner around the diving pool. Derek and Stiles were bickering, but I was too focused on living to fight.

"Call Scott!" Derek said roughly, causing Stiles to reach into his pocket for his phone.

As we turned the corner around the diving pool, Stiles lost his grip on the device, watching as it fell to the ground at his feet. I know he wasn't thinking when he let go of Derek to retrieve it, but I was still caught in the crossfire as Derek's heavy body began to fall into the pool, dragging myself with it.

"Stiles!" We called out in unison right before we hit the water.

Then, we were under. I was caught beneath Derek, and squirmed to try and get loose. My eyes were open under the water but his remained closed. He was no help in trying to get us untangled, as he had no control over himself. The panic in my system didn't last long before I felt the weight of his body lift from my own. In the blurriness of chlorinated water, I could see the bright red of Stiles's track suit headed to the surface with Derek towed behind. Without the anchor of Derek, I was able to swim to the surface, breathing heavily once I reached it.

Stiles was struggling to hold Derek, so I swam over and threw one of his arms over my shoulder to help. We treaded water, rapidly looking around the pool edge for the monster.

"Do you see it?" I asked aloud, my voice echoing through the room.

"No," Derek responded, remaining limp on my shoulders.

"Maybe it ran off," Stiles said, spitting water out of his mouth.

A threatening hiss filled the space, letting us know that we weren't out of danger yet.

-

Under the water, my legs pumped to keep us afloat. My clothes were heavy and I fought with them under the surface of the pool. Next to me, Derek and Stiles spoke to each other. I ignored them, instead focusing on taking off my sneakers under the water. Once they were removed, discarded at the bottom of the pool, I shrugged my jacket off of my shoulders, immediately feeling relief when it was gone.

In my ear, Derek yelled at Stiles about being paralyzed from the neck down. I rolled my eyes and instead of yelling at them both, scanned the side of the pool. "Hey, boys," I said, already inching to get to the edge of the pool where I could see Stiles's phone as it sat dry on the tile, "I don't see it anymore."

Stiles looked around as well, and when he seemed pleased with our safety, began to help me swim to his phone. I was glad that we were on the same page, because most of my energy was going to treading water, and I didn't want to waste time explaining what was going though my mind. Derek came along with us, but when we got within five feet of the cell, yelled out for us to stop. "Wait," he said, staring at the other side of the pool. I followed his gaze to see the monster crawling on all fours, yellow eyes following our every move. "Look."

In my head, I was begging the creature to leave us alone. My legs hurt from swimming and my eyes stung from the chlorine in the water. I watched the monster with close eyes as it sauntered around the pool.

"What is it waiting for?" Stiles asking aloud.

I swallowed heavily. "I think it wants us to get out."

"To kill us," Derek said.

We moved back to the middle of the pool where we could watch the monster from a safe distance. I could feel Stiles and myself growing weak from holding Derek afloat for so long. Silently, I wondered why I was even helping him. He'd attacked me and injured me in the last hour alone, but here I was, keeping him alive.

Before I could voice my opinions, the monster came closer to the water, causing us to swim away slightly. I didn't want to think about how quickly I'd die if this thing decided to get in the water. It came to the edge of the pool, leaned over the side, and stuck one scaled hand into the water before hissing and stepping back as if it were in pain.

"Wait," Stiles said, "Did you see that? I don't think it can swim."

It was a big revelation, but not enough to keep me away from my thoughts of drowning. "Derek, what kind of shoes are you wearing?" I asked the man beside me. He looked at me like I was insane, so I elaborated. "Seriously. You're too heavy."

"Yeah," Stiles agreed glumly, spitting water out of his mouth, "I don't think I can do this much longer."

His eyes trailed back over to his cell phone, and almost like he could read Stiles's mind, Derek was yelling, "No, no, no, no, no!" I spit water from my own mouth as Derek continued with, "Don't you dare. Don't even think about it."

"Would you just trust me?" Stiles asked loudly, craning his neck to look at me. "Can you hold him while I get the phone?" He saw the uneasiness in my eyes and quickly added, "Like, two seconds."

"Uh-huh," I said unwillingly. In my back pocket, I could feel the cold lump of metal that used to be my own phone, and when I realized that Stiles's cell was our only chance at getting out of the pool alive, I sighed in defeat. "Fine, okay."

Derek was still yelling something in my ear, but I chose to ignore the undoubtedly rude words, and instead, braced myself as Stiles let go to retrieve his phone. Derek's full weight hit me like a freight train when Stiles swam away to get his phone. I gurgled on pool water as he pulled me below the surface, then kicked my legs harder to stay upright. As I worked even harder to keep us afloat, my shin connected with Derek's foot, where a heavy boot took the blow. I hissed in pain as shots of discomfort spiderwebbed through my leg.

"Are those steel toed?" I asked, wary of my kicking feet.

"Why does it matter?" Derek responded.

I looked towards the edge of the pool and noticed that Stiles was only now reaching his halfway mark. As I felt the last dredges of energy leave my system, I looked at Derek and said, "Please don't kill me for this," then let him fall into the water.

I followed closely behind, opening my eyes in the water to see that Derek had done the same. He was staring at me, and I was glad that we were under water, because if the fury in his eyes meant anything, then I knew I'd be getting an earful up above the pool. I didn't waste time, scurrying down to his boots and untying them before trying to tug them off of his feet.

They were stuck, and I wasn't strong enough, so I flipped myself upside down in the water and stuck my feet under his armpits for leverage. Then I pulled.

The boots came off, and like anchors, sunk to the pool bottom within seconds. Once free from the shoes, I wrapped my arms around Derek's waist, and pulled us to the surface of the water, quickly moving away from his face when I realized how close we were. I felt a presence behind me, so I turned my head to see Stiles reaching out to help me with Derek.

"Where's the phone?" I asked him, ducking under his arm as he moved to return to his previous position.

"Gone," he answered, catching the glint in my eye, "But it's alright."

"Alright?" I asked along with Derek. "We've been here for hours, Stiles, nothing's alright."

Around us, the booming hiss of the monster kept us on edge. We whipped our heads around, trying to keep a close eye on it. I wouldn't say it, but I was noticing Stiles's head dip further below the surface of the pool. We were getting tired - too tired to hold up Derek. In the back of my mind, I was thinking about Presley and Mom and Sarah - wondering if they even cared where I was.

"I can't keep holding him up," Stiles sputtered. "I need something to hold on to."

I agreed, but didn't have the energy to speak. I settled with a nod, and slowly began swimming to a nearby diving board. We'd be within reaching distance to the creature, but I think we were all hoping that its fear of water would keep it away from us. We got to the board, and Stiles stretched his arm up to grab on. I would have helped, but my arms were still locked onto Derek's waist, keeping him afloat.

As if we were in slow motion, I saw Stiles grapple with the diving board, then saw his hand slip and fall. He lost his grip on Derek as well, and the three of us sunk. I fought under the water to keep us above the surface, but Stiles and Derek were too exhausted to help at all.

It felt stupid, but I actually began to think about life and what it would be like if I'd been given to Dad after the divorce. Of course I loved Mom, and even though he drove me insane, I couldn't imagine my body functioning without Presley around, but still, I dabbled in the life of a business tycoon's daughter, imagining the private schools and big cities and new cars. Selfishly, I thought of a life without werewolves. For a moment, it was peaceful, and then someone hooked their hand under my armpit and tugged me out of the water. I was in the air for no more than a second, then my back hit the slick tile that surrounded the pool.

Somehow, even with my eyes closed and body in a pure state of exhaustion, the growl that ripped through the pool deck was more than the growl of a savior. It was the growl of Scott. And when I peaked through my eyelashes to get a look at him all wolfed out, perched on the edge of a diving board, I felt a smile bloom on my face.

We were safe.