Chapter One: Anchors
Stiles' Bedroom
Stiles tossed and turned in his bed as he laid in a fitful slumber. A sheen of sweat covered the teen's face and his he gripped the sheets in an iron hold.
"No, no, no, no." Stiles whimpered. "Don't let them in. Don't let them in."
Soon his whimpering ceased as rays of light landed on his face. Stiles slowly opened his eyes to find himself trapped inside a locker. Stiles frantically pounded his fist against the cool metal of the door until it finally swung open. The teen stumbled forward into a familiar locker room of his school. Confusion enveloped the teen as he slowly took in his surroundings. Moving cautiously, Stiles made his way to the locker room door and into the hallway. The halls seemed normal enough for the school when not in session. The classroom doors were shut with the lights turned out, except for one. Stiles crept towards the open door hoping that a teacher was there early. The teen took a deep breath and walked inside the room.
Stiles froze for a minute staring at a large stump that looked like it sprouted in the classroom. Chairs were flipped to the sides of the room and tiles were torn from the floor. Stiles shuddered as he recognized the stump, it was the Nemeton. Stiles inched his way towards the Nemeton and reached out to touch the rough surface. Before his hand could make contact, roots burst from the Nemeton like tentacles and wrapped themselves around Stiles' hand and wrist.
Stiles jerked awake breathing heavily from the nightmare he just had. Beside him he felt movement as a strawberry blonde teen girl sat up. Stiles quickly recognized the girl as Lydia his long-time crush.
"You okay?" Lydia voiced with concern. "Stiles?"
"Yeah." Stiles exhaled. "I was just dreaming. It was weird. It was like a dream within a dream."
"A nightmare?" Lydia asked.
"Yeah." Stiles sighed grabbing Lydia's hand before looking at her in confusion. "Wait a second, Lydia. What are you doing here?"
Before he could get an answer his door slowly creaked opening wider.
"Hang on." Stiles said getting up.
"Stiles, where are you going?" Lydia asked gripping his bicep.
"I should have closed the door." Stiles stated.
"Just go back to sleep." Lydia requested.
"No, no, I should close it." Stiles insisted.
"Don't worry about it." Lydia tried.
"What if someone comes in?" Stiles asked more to himself than Lydia.
"Like who?" Lydia tilted her head in confusion as Stiles got up from the bed. "Just go back to sleep, Stiles."
"No. But what if they get in?" Stiles whispered.
"What if who gets in?" Lydia inquired as Stiles crept closer to the door. "Stiles, just leave it. Please."
Stiles stood right by the door as Lydia pleaded with him to go back to bed and leave the door alone. Stiles slowly gripped the doorknob with a shaky hand. Stiles jerked the door open wider and looked inside as Lydia screamed for him to leave it.
"Don't go in there, please, don't." Lydia cried. "Please, Stiles, don't!"
Stiles ignored Lydia's warnings and walked into the dark opening, his heart beating loudly. Stiles soon found himself in a forest as the wind cooled his clammy skin. Directly in front of him was the Nemeton. Stiles inched towards the stump as if he was being pulled towards it. Flood lights kicked on lighting up the Nemeton causing Stiles to shield his eyes.
"It's a dream. This is just a dream." Stiles stammered. "It's just a dream, get it out of your head, Stiles. You're dreaming. All right? So, wake up, Stiles." Stiles slapped his head a few times. "Wake up, Stiles. Wake up!"
Stiles' eyes fluttered open as the sun hit his face. Soon his door open and his father's face appeared telling him to get to school. Stiles let out a breath of relief as he got up from his bed.
Beacon Hills High school
Stiles and Scott walked down the hallway of the high school as Stiles described his dream to Scott.
"And you couldn't wake up?" Scott asked.
"Nope, and it was beyond terrifying." Stiles replied. "You ever heard of sleep paralysis? Have you ever had a dream where you feel like you're about to wake up but you can't move or talk?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I've had that." Scott nodded his head.
"It happens because during REM sleep your body is basically paralyzed. It's called muscle atonia." Stiles explained. "That way if you start dreaming about running, you don't actually start running in your bed."
"That makes sense." Scott said.
"But sometimes your mind can wake up before your body does. So, for this spilt second, you're actually aware that your body is paralyzed." Stiles informed. "And that's the terrifying part. It turns your dream into a nightmare. You can feel like you're falling, like you're being strangled, or, in my case, like you're at the center of a grove of magical trees where human sacrifices took place."
"You think it means something?" Scott looked over at Stiles.
"What if what we did that night, what if it's still affecting us?" Stiles wondered.
"Post-traumatic stress?" Scott hypothesized.
"Maybe." Stiles shook his head as the two sat down in the classroom. "But you want to know what scares me the most? I'm not even sure this is real."
Stiles' Bedroom
Stiles shot up from his bed screaming. Stiles' father ran into his son's room and held onto the boy as his screams continued to fill the room.
Scott's Bedroom
Scott moved about his room gathering his books before shoving them into his backpack. He quickly put on a thin black long-sleeve shirt over his black tank top. As he pulled his hand through the sleeve the shadow on his door made Scott quickly look down at his hand. Scott sighed in relief as he saw that his claws weren't out. The shadow on the door remained the same until Scott clenched his fist and slowly relaxed his hand. Scott took a deep breath and reached for his doorknob. As he swung open his door he came face to face with Isaac getting ready to knock.
"Hey." Isaac nervously greeted.
"Hey." Scott replied taking a small step back not expecting the blonde werewolf right outside his door.
"Um, are you going to school?" Isaac asked.
"Yeah." Scott raised an eyebrow at the other teen.
"Okay, me too." Isaac fidgeted.
"Good." Scott gave Isaac a weird look adjusting his backpack on his shoulder.
"Can I ask you a question?" Isaac requested quickly.
"Of course, you can talk to me about anything." Scott offered.
"Are you angry at me?" Isaac pondered.
"No." Scott slowly stated wondering what the point of this conversation was.
"Are you sure?" Isaac pressed.
"Yes." Scott answered.
"Do you want to hit me?" Isaac suddenly asked.
"No." Scott replied confused. "Why would I want to hit you?"
"You know." Isaac simply said seeing the blank look on Scott's face and decided to explain further. "The whole me and Allison thing."
"Why would that bother me?" Scott asked.
"Well you two were a thing." Isaac gestured at Scott. "I mean I could always ask Cora out instead. I think she digs me."
Isaac went flying through the hallway smashing into the wall opposite of Scott's room. The picture hang on the wall fell as Isaac's body followed suit. Melissa rushed around the corner to see the blonde on the floor and rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"Hey!" Melissa raised her voice gaining the attention of the boys. "You two supernatural teenage boys, don't test my entirely un-supernatural level of patience."
Melissa gestured to Isaac for him to hang the painting back up and she turned to go back downstairs. Isaac closed his eyes and lowered his head to the wall before looking at Scott.
"Feel better?" Isaac asked.
"A little yeah." Scott smirked. "Now I need to go pick up Cora for school. Have fun going after Allison."
Scott walked off leaving Isaac sitting in the hallway realizing his mistake in the earlier conversation.
Stiles' Bedroom
Stiles slowly put textbooks into his backpack. As he his history book he realized that he couldn't read anything. All the words were just gibberish to him. The teen raised a shaky hand to the cover of the book as his father walked by and asked if he was alright after his nightmare that night. Stiles looked back at his book to see that it was back to normal. Stiles turned back towards his father to see a concerned look on the older man's face. The teen reassured his father that he could go to school and was over the nightmare before noticing an evidence box in the man's hands.
"What's that?" Stiles pointed towards the box.
"That's just, uh, files from the office." Sheriff Stilinski looked at the box.
"It says 'Sheriff's station, do not remove.'" Stiles pointed out.
"Well, yeah, unless you're the Sheriff." Sheriff Stilinski replied. "Now get your butt to school, all right?"
Allison's Apartment
Allison hurriedly grabbed her purse as she made her way to the door of her apartment.
"I got to run dad, I'm late." Allison shouted as she headed out the door.
Allison made her way into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. The huntress stood in the small space and slowly wrapped her arms around herself as the air cooled. Allison shivered as her breath came out as a fog. The girl furrowed her eyebrows as the lights went out as soon as the elevator reached its destination. Allison looked at the view in front of her with confusion as she stood in a destroyed hospital. The huntress slowly made her way down the corridor with the flickering fluorescent lights barely allowing her to see. Allison looked to the side and jumped back in shock at her reflection holding two Chinese ring daggers. The huntress blinked and the image was gone replaced by her normal reflection. The girl's troubling thoughts were broken up by creaking noise. Allison looked to the side to see a door slowly opening.
The teen slowly moved towards the door revealing a morgue within. Allison took a deep breath before stepping into the room with the door slamming shut behind her. Allison jumped at the noise and tried to open the door only to find it lock from the outside somehow. The lights flickered causing shadows to dance around the room as sound of water dripping filled the silence. Allison swallowed hard as one of the morgue freezers opened slightly. The brunette made her way towards the freezer against every fiber of her being telling her no. Allison stared at the door frozen in shock as she read her aunt's name on the tag.
Flashbacks of her aunt and the night she died buzzed through Allison's mind causing the girl to breathe heavier. Steeling herself, Allison reached out to the door of the freezer jerking it open. Allison peered inside to find an endless tunnel. Allison squinted in the dim light as something moved, soon Kate Argent crawled towards the teen screaming in an inhuman voice. Allison slammed the door shut and ran towards the doors leading out of the morgue. She burst through the doors to find herself inside the school much to her confusion.
"Allison, are you okay?" Lydia asked appearing in front of the brunette.
Allison nodded her head though Lydia didn't really believe that her friend was truly find by the look on her face.
Outside the Beacon Hills High School
Scott pulled his bike into the parking space with Cora's arms wrapped tightly around him. Cora released the Alpha and got off the bike walking around front as Scott pulled off his helmet. Scott gave Cora a smile before looking down at his helmet and froze. Staring back at Scott was his glowing red eyes, Scott closed his eyes and shook his head before looking at his normal reflection.
"Are you okay?" Cora asked with concern.
"Um… Yeah I'm fine." Scott replied hesitantly.
The two werewolves locked hands as they made their way towards the school. Cora noticed out of the corner of her eye that Scott kept glancing behind himself. Cora turn to look only to see their shadows on the ground and frowned. Cora was about to ask Scott about his actions when he let go of her hand and rushed off.
Scott quickly jogged off as the huge animalistic shadow took the place of his human one. Scott could hear Cora calling his name but, he had to get away and figure this out before someone got hurt. Scott ran sideways panting heavily as the silhouetted beast grew larger and larger. Not watching where he was going he ran into Stiles.
"Hey. Hey, you, all right?" Stiles placed a hand on Scott's shoulder as Cora caught up to them.
Scott glanced over his shoulder to see the shadow reaching for Cora making him move away from the she-wolf.
"I'm… I'm fine." Scott weakly assured the two.
"You don't look all right, Scott." Cora stated placing her hands on her hips.
"I'm okay." Scott croaked out as his shadow slashed at Stiles' shadow.
"No, you're not." Stiles looked hard at his distracted friend. "It's happening to you too. You're seeing things, aren't you."
"How'd you know?" Scott looked at his best-friend while Cora gave him a disbelieving look.
"Because it's happening to all three of you." Lydia's voice made the three turned to see her and Allison walk up to them.
Scott and Stiles looked at each other and sighed. Cora's eyes flashed gold for a second as she punched Scott in the shoulder.
"Ow!" Scott rubbed his arm not expecting her to use her werewolf strength on him.
"You should have said something." Cora scolded much to the amusement of the others. "Especially before I got on that bike with you."
The five teens made their way to the school with Scott still rubbing his shoulder slightly and Cora rolling her eyes at him. Lydia grabbed the handles of the doors and threw them open enthusiastically.
"Well, well, look who's no longer the crazy one." Lydia smiled turning towards her friends.
"We're not crazy." Allison denied.
"Hallucinating? Sleep paralysis? Yeah, you guys are fine." Lydia sarcastically gestured towards the three as Cora laughed.
"You two are spending too much time together." Stiles waved his hand between Cora and Lydia.
"We did die and come back to life." Scott tried to steer the topic back on course. "That's gotta have some side effects, right? We keep an eye on each other. Okay?"
"Lydia and Cora, stop enjoying this so much." Stiles spoke as the school bell rang.
Scott, Stiles, and Cora headed towards their history class and took their seats to see a man with his back to them. The man turned around to reveal a middle age Asian man.
History Room
"Good morning, everyone. My name is Mr. Yukimura." The man introduced himself as he walked around his desk. "I'll be taking over for your previous history teacher. My family and I moved here three weeks ago. I'm sure, by now, you all know my daughter, Kira. Or you might not since she's never actually mentioned anyone from school. Or brought a friend home for that matter."
A thud echoed through the room making several students turn to see a young brunette Asian girl with her head on her desk.
"Either way there she is." Mr. Yukimura smiled pointing at the young teen.
The girl looked up clearly embarrassed by the whole situation. Cora looked at the girl and felt a little sympathetic towards her and gave her a kind smile. Kira returned the smile as the class began to refocus.
"Now, let's begin with American history at the turn of the 20th century." Mr. Yukimura announced.
Scott glanced to the side as movement in his peripheral vison caught his attention. He watched as his shadow began to morph once more into a huge beast. The teen's eyes widen as his beastly shadow began to rip into the other students shadows savagely. Scott could only sit there as his shadow quickly grabbed Cora's and Stiles' shadows tore their throats out with its massive claws. The shadow stood there with what Scott could only assume was blood dripping from its claws.
Art Room
Allison sat in front of an easel holding a blank canvas. The huntress raised her paint brush towards the canvas with a shaking hand.
"Not the steadiest hand for a superb marksman." Lydia said not looking away from her painting.
"It's been happening for the past few weeks." Allison replied. "Since that night."
The paint brush slipped from the girl's hand and landed on the pallet splashing red paint up onto the canvas. The paint caused the image of Kate Argent getting her throat ripped out to flash through the teen's mind. Allison sat frozen until the sound of paper tearing broke her from the flashback. The girl looked up to see Lydia stand next to her with the ruin paper in her hands.
"Start over." Lydia gently whispered.
Allison took and deep breath before picking up her paint brush once more. Neither of the girls noticed Isaac watching them with concern clearly showing in his eyes.
Hallway
"Maybe we need a little more time to get back to normal." Scott lean against the locker next to Stiles'.
"Yeah, try not to forget we hit the reset button on a supernatural beacon for supernatural creatures." Stiles turned his combination lock only to see weird symbols instead of numbers. "There's pretty good chance things are never going back to normal."
As Stiles angrily pulled on his lock Scott glanced around Stiles to see Cora talking to the girl from their history class. Cora's scent hit Scott like a ton of bricks causing the werewolf to let out a low growl of lust. Stiles looked over at his best-friend to see what his problem was only to see glowing red eyes.
"Dude, your eyes." Stiles said glancing around to see if anyone noticed.
"What about them?" Scott asked.
"They're starting to glow." Stiles explained.
"You mean like right now?" Scott quickly looked at the lockers.
"Yes, right now." Stiles glared at Scott. "Scott, stop. Stop it."
"I can't…" Scott panted. "I can't control it."
"Alright, just keep your head down. Look down, come on." Stiles practically hugged Scott's head to his chest as he sporadically moved through the hallway.
Cora and several other students looked at the two teens in confusion and amusement. Cora rolled her eyes and headed towards the two boys after telling Kira that they would talk later. Stiles pushed Scott into an empty classroom and went to close the door as Cora barged in. Scott growled as he threw off his black over shirt stumbling into the desks. Stiles and Cora stepped forward to help only to be stop when Scott raised and clawed hand.
"Get back." Scott's voice came out monstrous. "Get away from me."
"Scott, it's okay." Cora soothingly said.
"I don't know what's going to happen." Scott's eyes were filled with fear. "Get back."
"Scott, I can help you." Cora nearly pleaded.
"I need you to be safe. Stay back!" Scott growled his eyes glowed brighter practically forcing Cora's body to move against her will.
Scott stood up looking at his hands before digging his claws deep into his palms. Scott grunted as blood poured out of his fists and his fangs elongated. Within a few minutes Scott sank to his knees gasping for air as his claws and fangs disappeared. Cora quickly knelt in front of Scott and gently grabbed his face in her hands watching as the red faded back into their normal chocolate brown.
"The pain makes you human." Scott groans as Cora brushed some of his hair off his forehead.
"Scott, this isn't just in our heads." Stiles walked up to the two werewolves. "This is real. It's starting to get bad for me too." Cora and Scott looked at Stiles as he looked down. "I'm not just having nightmares. I'm having these dreams where I must literally scream myself awake. Sometimes I'm not even sure if I'm ever actually waking up."
"What do you mean?" Cora shook her head in confusion.
"Do you know how you can tell if you're dreaming?" Stiles asked. "You can't read in dreams. More and more, the last few days, I've been having trouble reading. It's like I can't see the words. I can't put the letters in order."
"Even now?" Scott looked at Stiles worriedly.
Stiles slowly stood up and looked around the classroom only to see that every word that was in the room was replaced by gibberish.
"I can't read a thing." Stiles shakily replied.
Forest
Lydia pinned a paper bullseye target onto a tree before heading back to stand beside Allison.
"Do you really think this is going to help?" Allison looked over at the strawberry-blonde.
"I know that if you think it's not going to help it definitely won't." Lydia replied. "So, get your head into it. Shoot a few and see what happens."
Allison lifted her bow and pulled back the string shakily. The huntress' whole body almost seemed to be shaking. Allison took a deep breath and released the arrow. The arrow cut through the air before imbedding itself into the ground to the right of the tree. Lydia raised an eyebrow and gestured for her friend to try again. The brunette released another arrow only this time having the projectile fall short of the tree.
"Maybe hold the string a different way. Try the Mongolian draw." Lydia suggested getting a weird look from Allison. "What? I read. Try it."
Allison shrugged her shoulders and figured it wouldn't hurt to try. The brunette grabbed another arrow and held the bow horizontal. The arrow shot through the forest and clattered against some rocks to the left of the tree. Lydia let her head fall in defeat for a second.
"Okay, um… Take a second to close your eyes and imagine the arrow going into the target." Lydia coached as Allison followed along.
Allison opened her eyes to see a blonde woman running in the distance. Allison slightly gasped at the sight convinced that it was her aunt.
"Did you see that?" Allison directed at Lydia not taking her eyes off the area she saw the person.
"See what?" Lydia looked at her friend.
"Wait here." Allison ordered as she picked up her quiver and slung it over her shoulder.
"Are you serious?" Lydia asked in disbelief.
"I'll be right back." Allison said walking off much to Lydia's annoyance.
"You did not just say that." Lydia hissed.
Allison slowly walked through the forest looking for the figure. As the huntress walked whispers began to reach the teen's ears. Over and over someone's familiar voice kept repeating her name. The voice began to echo all around the brunette causing her to jerk around trying to find the source. Glimpses of the figure were the only thing Allison could see. With one last turn the sunlight in the forest disappear replaced by moonlight filtering through the branches of the trees. Allison looked at her surroundings before seeing Kate Argent gliding towards her as her body spasmed wildly. As her aunt let out an inhuman scream and began to run towards her niece, Allison nocked an arrow and released it at her aunt. The arrow was grabbed out of the air by Isaac just inches away from going through Lydia's left eye socket. Lydia let out a gasp of fear as Allison look at the two with horror written across her face. Allison dropped her bow and stepped away from it quickly.
Scott's House
Scott and Isaac walked up the stairs towards Scott's bedroom as Scott told Isaac about what happened at school. Once Scott finished his story, Isaac began to tell Scott about Allison and what happened in the forest.
"Right at her head?" Scott looked at Isaac surprised.
"Almost right through it." Isaac confirmed. "She keeps saying the same thing, that seeing her aunt. Whatever's happening to you guys is getting worse. If I hadn't been there, then Lydia would be dead."
Sheriff's Station
"You know, the last time we bought one of these to her grave was stolen the same day." Stiles said placing a large vase of flowers on his father's desk. "Hundred bucks down the drain." Stiles looked over the desk to see his dad on the floor rummaging through some papers. "Hey, dad? Hi, what are you doing down there?"
"Working." John replied looking at his son before going back to the papers. "And hey, if somebody wants the flowers that badly, they can have them. It's the gesture."
"Hey, dad, what is all this?" Stiles asked walking around the desk and pointing at all the evidence boxes.
"I've been looking over some old cases from a more illuminated perspective, if you know what I mean." The sheriff looked at a file before setting it back down.
"Strange sighting of bipedal lizard man sprinting across freeway." Stiles read aloud a police report.
"Kanima pile." Sheriff Stilinski pointed to his left.
"Dad, you're not going back through all your old cases seeing if any of them had something to do with the supernatural, are you?" Stiles kneeled in front of his father.
"I admit the recent opening of my eyes to the greater mysteries of the universe has got me reassessing." Sheriff Stilinski rubbed a hand down his face. "There's at least 100 cases here where I look at the details and I can ask myself, if I knew then what I know now…"
"Right, but are you sure you wanna go down that path?" Stiles asked concerned.
"Do I have a choice?" Sheriff Stilinski retorted before standing and looking at his wall filled with old cases and strings connecting them. "There's one case I can't get out of my head. Eight years ago, I was elected Sheriff of County, my first official duty was to tell a man that not only had his wife and two kids died in a car accident, but, as best we could tell, the body of his 9-year-old daughter had been dragged from the wreck by coyotes."
"You mean dragged and eaten?" Stiles asked looking at the police file.
"We didn't find the car until three days after the crash." Sheriff Stilinski ignored his son's question, remembering the scene of the crash. "They had driven off the road into a pretty deep ravine. Two bodies that were still in the car were covered in bites and slashes."
"So, you're thinking bites and claw marks, probably a werewolf attack?" Stiles looked at his father getting a shrug from the older man. "But coyotes, they scavenge, right? So, couldn't they have just left the bites and the slashes?"
"Absolutely." Sheriff Stilinski confirmed. "But, guess what night the accident occurred on?"
"The night of a full moon." Stiles said as his father pointed at the date and the calendar. Stiles closed the file and looked at all the evidence boxes again. "Hey, dad, where are all these going?"
"Yeah, we, uh…" Sheriff Stilinski looked at a box to his right and glared at the name Agent McCall on the side. "We probably need to talk about that."
School Next Morning
Stiles rushed into the classroom just as the tardy bell rang. Stiles made his way to his desk to find a red-head girl in his spot.
"Hi, sorry, I usually sit there." Stiles told the girl.
The girl responded with different signals that Stiles recognized as sign language but, didn't know what it meant. Stiles raised an eyebrow not knowing what the girl just said or signed to him.
"Okay, no problem. That seat is all yours." Stiles smiled at the girl and went to find a different seat.
Stiles sat down and flipped open his textbook. He soon looked up as the classroom was uncharacteristically quiet. The teen looked around as all the student sat perfectly still staring blankly at the front of the classroom.
"That's weird." Stiles muttered to himself before realizing that Coach Finstock was standing up front. "Hey, Coach. Thought I was in the wrong class for a second."
Instead of yelling or a witty remark, Coach Finstock began to make the same signs as the girl he talked to earlier did.
"Um… Okay." Stiles furrowed his brows in confusion. "I don't actually know sign language. I didn't even know that you knew sign language. Or that was even was an elective here. Well, this has been good, I'm probably gonna, uh, head out."
Stiles got up to leave the classroom as the entire class began to copy Coach Finstock. The teen covered his ears as a high-pitched ringing began to echo through his head.
Stiles jerked up from his desk to see Coach Finstock in his face blowing his whistle non-stop until the two made eye contact.
"Stilinski!" Coach shouted. "I asked you a question."
"Uh… Sorry, Coach. What was it?" Stiles tried to get his bearings back.
"It was Stilinski, are you paying attention back there?" Coach condescendingly replied.
"Oh. Well, I am now." Stiles attempted to lighten the mood a little.
"Stilinski, stop reminding me why I drink… Every night." Coach trailed off. "Does anybody else want to try the question on the board?"
Stiles looked over to see the concerned look of his best friend.
"I'm okay. I just fell asleep for a second." Stiles tried to reassure the werewolf.
"Stiles… You weren't asleep." Scott tapped his pencil against Stiles' notebook.
Stiles looked down at his notebook to see the words 'WAKE UP' written multiple times and in multiple way all over the page. Stiles angrily ripped the page out of his notebook and wadded it up.
School Courtyard Lunchtime
Six teens sat at a picnic table eating lunch talking about the problems that three of them were having lately.
"Okay, so what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?" Scott asked with a sigh.
Cora gently rubbed her hand along Scott's left forearm sensing his frustration over the hallucinations he has been having.
"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles added from Scott's right.
"And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?" Allison said from in front of Scott sitting between Lydia and Isaac.
"They're all locked up because they're insane." Isaac looked up from his food at the group.
"Ha." Stiles let out a humorless laugh. "Can you at least try to be helpful, please?"
"For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer." Isaac looked at Stiles. "So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me."
"Hey, dude, are you still milking that?" Stiles groaned as Scott dropped his head to the table knowing both of his friends.
"Yeah, maybe I am still milking that." Isaac replied as Cora patted Scott's back as he repeatedly knocked his head on the wooden surface.
"Hi." A new voice cut through the argument making the six teens look at the newcomer suddenly. "Hi, sorry. I couldn't help overhearing what you guys were talking about. I think I might know what you're talking about. There's a Tibetan word for it. It's called Bardo. It literally means in-between state. The state between life and death."
"And what do they call you?" Lydia asked snidely not liking that this girl was listening to their conversation.
"Kira." Cora answered for the girl, as everyone looked at her. "She's in our History class."
"So, are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" Lydia inquired.
"Either, I guess." Kira answered sitting down at the end of the table. "All the stuff you guys were just saying? That all happens in Bardo. There are different progressive states where you can hallucinate. Some you see, some you just hear. You also can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities."
"Wrathful deities?" Isaac rubbed his chin looking at Kira. "What are those?"
"Like demons." Kira answered.
"Demons. Why not?" Stiles sighed.
"Wait, if there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?" Cora lean forward past Scott.
"Death. You Die." Kira shrugged.
The group looked at each other with a sense of worry etched on each of their faces. Cora grabbed Scott's hand as Kira excused herself and walked off. Looking at the group the she-wolf noticed that the three teens in question looked like they were ready to give up.
"We are going to find a way to keep this from happening." Cora assured the group tightening her hold on Scott's hand. "Deaton might be able to help figure out a solution. Stiles and Scott can talk to him after Scott's shift."
The two boys looked at each other and nodded, agreeing that was the best plan they had so far.
Dr. Deaton's Clinic
"It sounds like your subconscious is trying to communicate with you." Deaton flipped the sign on his door to closed as Stiles told him about his day at school.
"Well, how do I tell my subconscious to use a language that I actually know?" Stiles sarcastically asked.
"Do you remember what the sign language looked like?" Deaton lead the boys to the back of the clinic. "The placement and movements of the hands?"
"You know sign language?" Scott asked.
"A little. Let me give it shot." Deaton turned towards Stiles.
Stiles went through the different signs that he witnessed earlier that day as Dr. Deaton watched carefully.
"That's it?" Deaton looked at Stiles nodding. "When is a door not a door?"
"When is a door not a door?" Stiles repeated completely unimpressed.
"When it's ajar." Scott said.
"You're kidding me. A riddle? My subconscious wants to tell me a riddle?" Stiles deadpanned.
"Not necessarily." Deaton looked at the boys worriedly. "When the three of you went under the water, when you crossed from unconsciousness to a kind of super-consciousness… You essentially opened a door in your minds."
"So, what does that mean?" Scott queried. "The door is still open?"
"Ajar." Deaton referred to the riddle. "I did tell you it was risky."
"What can we do about it?" Scott inquired.
"That's difficult to answer." Deaton grimaced.
"Wait a second, I know that look. That's the 'we know exactly what's wrong with you, but we have no idea how to fix it' look." Stiles groaned.
"One thing I do know is having an opening like that into your mind, it's not good." Deaton warned. "You each need to close that door and as soon as possible.
Outside the Clinic
Scott and Stiles walked outside into the parking lot of the clinic trying to think of any way to close the door in their minds when Stiles' father pulled into the lot. Both boys shared a confused look trying to figure out if they were in trouble or not.
"Dad, what are you doing here?" Stiles asked.
"I'm here because I could use some help." Sheriff Stilinski said before facing Scott. "Actually… Your help."
"Why me?" Scott looked at his father-figure.
"Eight years ago, almost an entire family died in a car accident." Sheriff Stilinski explained. "One of the bodies, a young girl named Malia, was never found. There's enough evidence to have me thinking that… That a werewolf could have caused the accident, and then dragged the body away. If you could somehow get a lock on her scent, if you could somehow help me find her body, it might provide the missing clue."
"But what if it was a werewolf?" Stiles looked at his father.
"There's somebody out there who murdered an entire family. Someone who still needs to be caught." Sheriff Stilinski replied.
Scott's Room
Cora and Scott sat on Scott's bed discussing everything that happen that night. Cora was just as in the dark as Stiles and Scott about any way to close a door in the mind. However, when Scott mentioned the favor Sheriff Stilinski asked, she found she was more useful then.
"I know you really want to help Sheriff Stilinski but, it has been eight years." Cora shifted to face Scott. "Any scent in the house would be degraded that even as an Alpha you wouldn't be able to get a lock on it."
"What do you mean even as an Alpha?" Scott asked.
"When you first became a werewolf, you noticed that your senses became much more powerful." Cora said getting a nod from Scott. "My mother told me when I was little that an Alpha would get a boost of their already heighten senses and strength."
"I haven't noticed any differences." Scott replied.
"Your spark isn't operating correctly for some reason. You had to force yourself out of a transformation a few days ago." Cora reminded the teen.
"Even if I can't get a lock on the scent, I have to try." Scott said bringing the two back to the point of the conversation.
"I know, I… I just don't want you to get your hopes up." Cora replied looking at the clock. "I need to head back to Lydia's. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Scott."
Cora stood from the bed and leaned down capturing the Alpha's lips with her own. The two didn't part until the need for air became almost too much for the two werewolves. Scott walked Cora to the door wishing her a good night as well. As Scott watch the she-wolf leave he let out a sigh. Scott just hoped that tomorrow that he could get a scent.
Tate Household
Sheriff Stilinski drove his jeep up the gravel driveway of the Tate's property. The older man got out of his vehicle and saw his son and Scott standing in the tree line behind the house. Sheriff Stilinski gave the boys a nod as he went to speak to Mr. Tate about his suspicions, leaving out the werewolf theory, of course. Sheriff Stilinski walked up to the door and knocked loudly.
"It's open!" A deep voice yelled from inside.
The sheriff walked in caught sight of Mr. Tate from the corner of his eye. Sheriff Stilinski turned and made his way to the kitchen where Mr. Tate was opening a box.
"I've been having a coyote problem." Mr. Tate said noticing the sheriff's attention on the box. Mr. Tate pulled out a small trap. "The population is up around here and they get into everything."
"That doesn't exactly look big enough to catch one." Sheriff Stilinski attempted to lighten the mood.
"It's a rat trap." Mr. Tate retorted annoyed. "Take away the coyote's source of food and they leave you alone. These days, to be honest, I'd prefer to be left alone."
"I understand." Sheriff Stilinski nodded sympathetically. "Just a couple of questions and I promise I'll leave."
Mr. Tate sighed unknowing that two teen boys were sneaking into his house from the back door. The boys carefully stepped over the traps that were set out for mice. The two made it to the door that lead from the patio to the house. Stiles attempted to open the door as it squeaked loudly. The boy tried to go slower only making the sound worse. Stiles then quickly open the door and shut it again as the boys made it inside.
Meanwhile in the kitchen Sheriff Stilinski explained to Mr. Tate exactly why he was there.
"New evidence?" Mr. Tate asked hollowly.
"Possibly." Sheriff Stilinski replied.
While this was going on the boys made it to the Malia's room. Stiles quickly started throwing stuffed animals at Scott nailing the werewolf in the head with an elephant. Scott rolled his eyes at his friend and tried to get a scent with no luck.
"All I'm getting is some dog scent." Scott sighed in frustration.
"What kind of dog?" Stiles asked absentmindedly as he rummaged through more of Malia's belongings.
"Rottweiler." Scott answered as a low growl caused Stiles to spin around to see a large black and tan dog.
"Hi, puppy." Stiles hid the plastic horse he was holding. "Get rid of it."
"Me?" Scott clutched the elephant he was holding slightly tighter.
"Yes, you." Stiles elbowed the werewolf. "Glow your eyes at it, something, be the Alpha."
"I can't. I don't have control." Scott replied.
"Well, you're going to have to try something. I'm not going end up Kibble N' Bits." Stiles insisted.
Scott looked at Stiles and then the dog, the dog and Scott stared at each other for a second before Scott tossed the elephant hitting the dog in the nose. Stiles rolled his eyes at his friend. The dog however, began barking at the two intruders causing the boys to jump back slightly.
Back in the kitchen the sound of the dog barking caused Mr. Tate to turn towards the stairs. Sheriff Stilinski tensed up thinking that the boys may get caught.
"Apollo! Shut up!" Mr. Tate yelled effectively silencing the dog.
Apollo abruptly stop barking and gave the two hugging teens a weird look before darting off down the hallway. Stiles quickly went and handed Scott a shirt from the dresser.
"Here try that. Anything?" Stiles asked.
"All I'm getting is that dog." Scott sighed. "Cora said that it would have been a long shot even with my Alpha powers working correctly.
Stiles groaned as he leaned against the dresser in the room. The teen looked up at a picture of Malia and her sister. He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the picture feeling like it could be used later.
In the kitchen Mr. Tate was trying to digest what Sheriff Stilinski just told him. Something that shattered his world for the second time.
"Murder?" Mr. Tate shakily asked. "I spent eight years thinking that it was an accident and now you're telling me that it could be murder?"
Sheriff Stilinski looked at the man as he got increasingly angrier.
"Who the hell would want to murder my wife and girls?" Mr. Tate spat out. "My whole family?"
"That's what I want to find out." Sheriff Stilinski replied calmly.
"I don't" Mr. Tate glared at the sheriff. "I don't want to redefine this entire nightmare as an unsolved murder. Just leave me alone with tragic accident. That's what I've spent eight years getting used to. Accident. Not murder."
"I apologize." Sheriff Stilinski stuttered softly.
"Just go!" Mr. Tate slammed his hands on the table in rage.
Sheriff Stilinski nodded his head and headed back to his jeep with a sigh. He got in and took off down the road to where he was going to meet with the boys. Sheriff Stilinski stood by his jeep for a minute or two when his son's jeep pulled up.
"I'm sorry." Scott said as he and Stiles walked up to the sheriff. "I tired as hard as I could. If it wasn't so long ago, I might have been able to do it."
"It's okay." Sheriff Stilinski tried to ease some of the guilt off the werewolf. "It was a long shot. In fact, it was a pretty terrible idea. I think I just ripped a wound open in that poor man. I never should have brought you boys here. I don't know what I was thinking. Thanks for trying,"
Sheriff Stilinski got back in his jeep and left as the boys shared a concerned look.
"Aren't there a lot of cases that go unsolved?" Scott asked wanting to understand why this was affecting the Sheriff so much.
"Yeah, I just think this is one he felt like he could've figured out right now." Stiles answered.
"Why is it so important now?" Scott pushed.
"He wants to be able to solve one more while he's still sheriff." Stiles reluctantly replied.
"What do you mean, still sheriff?" Scott nearly demanded his eye flashing red for a spilt second.
"Your… Your dad is trying to… To get my dad fired." Stiles stammered.
Scott took off down the road as Stiles yelled his name. Stiles cursed as his friend disappeared. The teen grabbed his phone and dialed a number.
"Hey, it's Stiles. You might want to head to Scott's house." Stiles told the person on the other end.
Scott's House
Cora sat on the front step as Scott whip his bike into the driveway and began to make his way towards the house. The werewolf stopped for a second seeing his girlfriend sitting on the porch only to remember why he was here in the first place. Scott continued his angry march to the house looking over to the curb seeing his father's SUV sitting there. Cora stood as Scott made it to her and put her hand on his chest so that he would stop.
"Scott, you need to clear your head before you go in there." Cora warned as Scott shook his head.
"That man doesn't get to just show up after ten years and try to destroy people's lives." Scott growled.
Scott moved around Cora and went inside as the she-wolf chased after him. The two walked into Scott's living room to see Rafael McCall standing by the coffee table emptying his pockets. Scott stormed up to his father getting right into his face. Rafael quickly realized that Scott must have heard about how he was involved in the possible impeachment of Sheriff Stilinski.
"No one invited you. Okay?" Scott yelled as Cora stood off to the side awkwardly.
"I'm here to help." Rafael calmly returned.
"That doesn't make any sense, dad." Scott spat out the last word causing the older man to wince. "Who are you helping? Yourself?"
Cora's sense picked up the arrival of Melissa McCall and mentally sighed for the older woman that will have to deal with this after a long day at work. Since she got together with Scott, Cora grew very fond of Melissa. Even if Scott wasn't home Cora would sometimes come over and help Melissa with some of the chores around the house. The argument between the two males broke Cora out of her thoughts just as Melissa walked in.
"Just get out!" Scott threw his hands in the air.
"Scott…" Rafael tried to stay clam but, his anger was rising as well.
"I can't believe that you'd do this to my best friend. To the man that was more of a father then you were." Scott glared at his dad.
"I'm not doing anything to your friend." Rafael said through gritted teeth. "I'm doing my job."
"Your job sucks." Scott shook his head in disgust.
"Some days I can't argue that." Rafael conceded that point.
"Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on?" Melissa gained the attention of the two McCall men.
"He's trying to get Stiles' dad fired." Scott explained to his mother.
"No. That's not true." Rafael stated.
"What are you doing?" Melissa looked at her ex doubtfully.
"Conducting a case for impeachment." Rafael answered.
"That sounds a lot like getting him fired." Melissa retorted.
"The lack of resolution and ability to close cases is what's going to get him fired." Rafael didn't try to hide the distain from his voice. "My job is just to collect the information. It's the job my superiors have given me."
"Your job sucks." Melissa stated before glancing at her very angry son.
Cora stiffened as she and Melissa both noticed that Scott's claws were beginning to extend and his breath was shortening. The two females shared a look before deciding to get Scott away from his father before he did something he would regret.
"Scott… Sweetheart…" Melissa softly tried to get her son's attention. "Calm down." Melissa looked at her son to see his eyes turn red. "How about you and Cora go to the kitchen while I talk to your father."
Cora gently grabbed Scott's hand and led him out of the room as Melissa and Rafael began to argue. Scott struggled trying to keep the wolf suppressed inside of him, breathing harder and harder. The teen swore that he was having an asthma attack. Cora sat him down in chair and looked into his red burning eyes.
"Let it go. Just breathe and let it go." Cora coached as Scott's fangs grew. "You can control this, Scott. Find your anchor."
Scott groaned as he looked into Cora's chocolate eyes. Cora noticed that his eyes were beginning to flicker.
"You're my anchor." Scott panted still besieged by the wolf.
Cora eyes widen slightly realizing something that she could do. The girl placed her hands on each of Scott's cheeks. Cora stared deeply into Scott's eyes allowing her own eyes to glow golden before crashing her lips to his own. Scott froze at the unexpected kiss but, soon relaxed and returned to kiss with equal passion. After a few minutes of making out Scott was fully human once more.
The two werewolves looked at each other for a while before Cora broke eye contact. Cora shook her head a bit making Scott slightly concerned.
"What's wrong?" Scott looked at his beautiful girlfriend.
"We're… We're mates." Cora stuttered.
"Didn't Peter or Derek say something about that?" Scott asked. "Peter thought that may have been why it took me so long to gain access to my Alpha powers."
"No one said anything to me about this." Cora looked at Scott with frightened eyes. "My mother said that finding your mate is rare and that she was lucky. I didn't think that I would ever find my mate."
"Well, here I am." Scott smiled then frowned when Cora didn't smile back.
"You don't understand, Scott." Cora shook her head. "Mates can make each other stronger but, they also can have the opposite effect."
"I don't understand the problem here, Cora." Scott furrowed his eyebrows.
"Remember when Boyd died?" Cora asked getting a nod in return. "Losing a member of your pack is like losing a limb. Losing a mate is like getting your heart ripped out of your chest."
"You are worried about losing me?" Scott asked carefully.
"People I am close to have a tendency of dying." Cora looked at the ground.
"Hey, I'm going nowhere anytime soon." Scott gently smiled. "Only way I am going to be killed if you do it yourself."
"You don't know how much better that actually made me feel." Cora laughed softly before kissing Scott once more.
"I am going to go over to Stiles' house and try to find Malia's body one way or another. I have to stop my dad from impeaching the sheriff." Scott said after breaking the kiss. "I'll call you later tonight. Or at least text you."
Stiles' House
Stiles was laying in his bed awake when his door swung open revealing his best friend. Stiles sat up in his bed as Scott walked into the room.
"What's going on?" Stiles asked.
"You and me. We're going to go out and find a body." Scott held up and turned on a flashlight. "A dead body."
Beacon Hills Forest
Scott and Stiles walked through the trees of the forest looking for any possible clues while on their way to the site of the wreck.
"You know, if my dad's right, that means there's another werewolf in town that we haven't met yet." Stiles stated.
"I know." Scott replied.
"If it turns out to be something like triplets that form into, like, a three-headed hound of hell, I'm seriously not up for that." Stiles lightly joked.
"Yeah. Me either." Scott agreed. "Especially if I can't even control my own transformation anymore."
The two boys continued to walk along a small steep hill when a howl ripped through the air. Stiles nearly jumped into Scott's arms causing his phone with the map to the wreck to fall down the hill into a puddle of water. Scott turned and glared at his friend.
"Sorry, buddy." Stiles smiled sheepishly. "I hate coyotes so much. They always sound like they're mauling some, tiny, helpless little animal."
Scott didn't reply choosing to leap off the hill to the ground below. Scott grabbed his phone and check to make sure it still was functioning. Scott looked back to see Stiles gracelessly slide down the hill.
"It still works." Scott announced proudly.
"Let me see the flashlight." Stiles said squinting into the distance. "I think we found it."
The boys walked a while longer finding the old rusted, banged up, upside down car.
"Why wouldn't they move it? Isn't it evidence?" Scott asked.
"Probably too much of a pain in the ass to tow out." Stiles replied.
Stiles pointed at the claw marks on the side of the car. Scott narrowed his eyes at the marks seeing they were too far apart for a coyote but, about right for a werewolf.
"Your dad was right." Scott said tracing the marks with his own fingers.
Stiles and Scott kneel by the window of the car and looked inside. Stiles quickly spotted something and reached in and grabbed it. Soon Stiles had a baby doll in his hands. The two stared at the doll when it said that it was hungry. Both boys let out embarrassing screams as Stiles threw the doll in the air.
"I think I just had a minor heart attack." Stiles panted.
The boys looked up as growling reached their ears. The teens looked up to see glowing blue eyes staring at them. Suddenly the eyes disappear and Scott took off after them with Stiles yelling behind him.
Scott chased the coyote through the forest while dodging trees trying his hardest to safely tap into his Alpha powers. The coyote was much faster than Scott even when his powers kicked in sporadically giving bursts of speed to close the gap. The two jumped over a large chasm and landed on the other side. The coyote turned quickly to see Scott on his hands and knees. The coyote let out a threatening snarl. Scott's eyes burned red as the coyote quickly stopped and dropped its ears while its eyes glowed blue. Scott's eyes widen as his senses were overloaded.
"Malia?" Scott gasped as the coyoted ran away.
Unknown Location
Bloody tools laid spread out over a wooden work bench. A phone towards the end began to light up with messages from Scott asking Derek to call him. A man looked at the phone and then up to Derek and Peter tied to a chain-link panel shirtless. The man read the messages and smirked slightly as Derek glared at his uncle.
"Why are you looking at me like this is my fault?" Peter asked.
"Because it is your fault." Derek growled.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Peter groaned.
The man walked over to a panel and push a lever up causing electricity to surge through the werewolves' bodies. The man then turned the dial up on the voltage and smile sadistically as the captives' bodies convulse involuntarily.