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Lacy here with the next installment of Effie! I know, it was supposed to be up yesterday, but I just wasn't feeling it. Or anything. It's a hard couple of weeks for me right now. As it is with every woman every once in a while. So, as we know from the end of the last story and the in between, Effie is suffering from Derek being taken and now the pack is in Mexico to find him and get him home. But how are they going to find him? And just what condition is he going to be in? Read on, kids!

Disclaimer: I own only Effie.

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~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Effie was at her wits end. Weeks. It had been weeks since she felt Derek being pulled away from her. Pulled away from Beacon Hills. Stiles had rushed her to the loft but by the time they'd gotten there, all that was left was blood. And it terrified Effie that she could smell Derek's mixed in with whoever attacked his home.

There'd been another scent as well, another animal. Or so she thought. It was animal mixed with something familiar but she couldn't figure out what it was, and neither could Scott. And once more, her paintings were amounting to nothing. Just bits and pieces of images that led nowhere.

The whole pack was on high alert, wanting to find Derek as quickly as possible. They could see it was tearing Effie apart, not knowing where he was. Her only relief was she could still feel their mate bond, meaning he was alive. But they'd watched her fall apart once, thinking Derek was gone for good. Knowing he was alive or not, they weren't willing to watch it happen again. Not with all the pack had already lost; Allison and Aidan to death and Isaac to grief.

Effie's pup, the first one she formed a pack bond with, had followed Allison's father overseas to deal with losing Allison. Chris kept in contact with the pack, mainly Effie, but Isaac had gone silent, refusing to talk to anyone. That, on top of Derek being missing, the pack mother was barely holding together.

And now they were in Mexico. Not only had their leads taken them there but when Effie performed a mate ritual that Deaton taught her, she felt Derek's pull leading her that way. Which was why she was separate from the rest of the pack as they followed up on the hunter lead. She knew they didn't have Derek but they could know who did. And knowing who she was facing would help Effie a lot in getting Derek back.

Stopping her jeep as her cell rang, Effie threw it into park and grabbed her phone.

"Stiles?"

"We're heading into the club now." her brother answered. "I'll give you a call as soon as we know anything."

Effie nodded, gripping the wheel with her free hand. "Alright, be careful. I don't have a good feeling about any of this."

"Yeah, neither does Lydia."

"If the past has taught us anything, let's listen to the banshee."

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Okay, Effie would be the first to admit she had little to no patience when her temper was in play. Add onto that her mate bond telling her Derek was in danger and still too far away from her and it was lucky she hadn't removed anyone's heads.

As it was, she was bashing her way through every Calaveras that crossed her path. Honestly, her eyes were practically sparking lilac and she was blasting men into walls without touching them. Why did they keep charging her like they could win? She heard one coming up behind her with a taser stick and shocked him, not literally, by grabbing the end and channeling the power backwards, short circuiting the weapon.

"Come on," she said as she twisted the stick and snapped the man's wrist. "I'm not your average werefox. Get creative."

Kicking the man down, and knocking him out with a blow to the head, Effie tossed the taser aside and continued plowing through the reinforcements.

Before long, she found herself standing in front of the door where she could sense her alpha, Lydia and Kira. A well placed kick in the center of the double doors had them flying open, startling all on the other side.

"Alright," she looked at the hunters and her pack mates. Lydia and Scott were chained to chairs while Kira was being forcibly held next to a power box, that seemed to connect to said chairs. "you had thirty seconds to let them go and tell us where we can find that slimy bitch, Kate Argent, (she'd finally gotten a full, clear image to paint. Turned out, Kate wasn't so dead after all. Fantastic.) so we can get my mate back or I finish what I started with the rest of your goons, who thought they could take on a pissed off druidfox searching for her mate."

"And who are you?" the female hunter, Araya, asked.

Effie gave her a lilac charged glare. "Don't pretend you don't know every supernatural creature you need to."

Araya smirked. "Effie Stilinski, born druid Spark, bitten werefox and mate of Derek Hale. I knew my men would be no match."

"And yet you let me use them as practice anyway." Effie pointed out. "Release my pack, point us in the right direction and I won't practice on a few more. Last chance."

Araya looked at Scott. "You let your betas give orders?"

Scott shook his head. "Not all of them. Effie's a special case."

"And what makes her so special?"

Scott smirked. "You're looking at a girl who recently nearly lost her brother to an evil fox spirit and before that almost her father to a dark druid. She's not losing anyone else. Not to mention, I know what she's like when pissed off."

Araya held up her hands. "Far be it from me to tempt an angry she-fox." she tossed a key to Effie. "Go, release your brother and the coyote. The others will meet you outside."

Effie gripped the key. "Five minutes or I come back and I won't be nice."

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Effie took one look at the 'guide' Araya was providing them with and wasn't at all happy. Braeden. A mercenary, the one who saved Isaac from Deucalion and the one who saved Derek and Peter from Araya. Her track record of helping pack was good but Effie could never shake the feeling that something was off about the woman. And she had no problem letting it show.

"You don't trust her," Lydia said as they followed Stiles's jeep and Braeden's bike.

Effie shook her head. "Not even a little. And I have no idea why. She's saved Derek once, Isaac too, but," she gripped the wheel. "I just can't shake the feeling."

"If it helps," Lydia said. "I have an off feeling about her, too."

Effie glanced at her. "As a banshee or just a regular feeling?"

"Both." Lydia admitted. "How are you handling this? Kate being the one to take Derek?"

"I'm not." Effie confided. "I can't even begin to figure how to deal with it so I'm keeping my focus on finding Derek. That's what's most important right now. Once he's back, I'll probably have a nice meltdown over all this."

Lydia reached out and squeezed Effie's arm. "You're not alone."

Effie gave the best smile she could. "I know,"

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Effie slammed on the brakes as Stiles's jeep suddenly stopped right in front of her. She threw an arm out, blocking Lydia from hitting her head on the dash. Getting out, they moved over to Stiles and the others.

"What happened?" Braeden asked.

"I don't know." Stiles answered. "It felt like we hit something."

"Scott, we need to get there by night." Braeden said. "It's too dangerous otherwise."

"Go," Stiles said.

"Not without you." Scott retorted.

"Dude, someone needs to find Derek." Stiles pointed out. "We'll think of something, we always do. Just go."

Scott sighed. "Okay." he looked at Effie. "You-"

"I'm staying as well." she said. "We don't know how long this'll take and if night falls, they'll need protection. I trust you to find Derek."

Scott nodded and walked away, Kira following to talk. Effie turned to the jeep and set her hands on the hood.

"Effie," Stiles put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you sure?"

Effie nodded, swallowing thickly. "Scott will find him and bring him back. Derek will understand why I stayed with you. He always understands."

Stiles dropped his forehead to Effie's shoulder for a second before giving his own nod. "Alright kid, let's get this thing working again."

"Stiles," Malia pulled something out from under the jeep. "I don't think we hit something." she held up what looked like a giant claw. "I think something hit us."

Effie looked at the claw as Stiles took it. What the hell was growing in this desert?

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Effie was tense. So was Malia. And the darker it got, the more tense they became.

"Anything?" Kira asked, joining them, her katana in hand.

Malia shook her head. "It's too hard to see. We should've brought another flashlight."

Kira moved away from them, back towards the jeep. Effie watched her with a frown as she held her katana up to the headlight and turned it at an angle, reflecting the light into the desert.

"Did you see that?" Kira asked.

Not far from them, behind a boulder, was some creature. As soon as Malia spotted it, she charged into the dark.

"Malia, wait!" Kira ran after her.

"Malia!" Stiles tried to climb out of the jeep and run after them but Effie held her arm up as Lydia spoke.

"Kira, go!" she said. "You," she shined the light at Stiles. "Fix the jeep. Stiles!" she screeched. "Focus."

Effie stood in the light of the jeep, watching out for any sign of Malia or Kira.

"Effie," Stiles's voice sounded uncertain.

"Focus on the jeep," Effie said without looking. "we need to get out of here."

Stiles climbed out, looking the engine over once more. "Alright, Lydia, get behind the wheel. Try and start her."

Lydia climbed in after handing off the flashlight and turned the key. It took a few seconds before the engine roared to life.

"Yes!" Stiles jumped in victory as Malia and Kira came running back. "Let's go!"

~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~

Effie sprang from her jeep after stopping beside Stiles's and ran into the light of the two vehicles as Scott and Braeden came out of the church ruins. She saw Scott supporting a person and stepped closer, feeling that it was Derek. But before she could see his face, she stopped. Something wasn't right.

"Is that him?" Malia asked Stiles. "Is that Derek?"

"Uh," Stiles was just as puzzled. "sort of."

The person between Braeden and Scott lifted his head and showed the unique green eyes of Derek Hale, only without shadow and the guilt of losing his family and his betas. Without nearly ten years of his life.

Derek Hale was a teenager again.

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Yeah, mini Derek. As adorable as he is, kinda wanna beat the holy hell outta Kate for this. Well, for a lot, but this is just a new level of hell she's putting him through and you can bet Effie's gonna have more than a few issues with the bitch once they meet face to face. So, let me know what you think, flame policy stands and thanks for reading! Also! I'm gonna start cross posting Effie over on AO3, so look for her there as well!

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