Lydia traipses into the cafeteria, purse in hand, and begins to scan the room for Stiles. She doesn't see hime anywhere, which is odd because he doesn't have friends to sit with. He should easily be in her sight. She glances at the text he had sent her.
Meet me in the cafeteria. We can have lunch in the courtyard today.
XXX
She sighs and types in:
I'm here. Where are you?
"Behind you, silly goose." His voice says over her shoulder. Lydia rotates quickly and swings her arms around his neck.
"Were you hiding?" She says, smiling at him.
"You're a banshee arent you supposed to be the expert at finding things?" He laughs.
She shakes her head. "Only if they're dead. And you look pretty alive to me."
He wraps his arms around her waist. "On the outside, maybe." He says darkly. Lydia pulls away, disgusted.
"Please don't joke like that." She says beginning to crack her knuckles. Stiles sighs abd rubs his eye.
"I'm sorry, Lydia. I shouldn't have said that. C'mon lets go outside." He cooes placing his hand on the tender spot between her neck and her shoulder blade.
"But you said we were getting lunch. " She says discouraged. She pokes out her bottom lip. Stiles flicks it with his finger and laughs.
"Baby, you're never hungry. Lets just go on a walk." Lydia glances behind her at the buffet line. He's right. Shes never hungry. But these past few days she has been craving and eating as if the roof of her mouth would catch fire if it touch her tongue. Pretzels, chocolate, burgers, gummy bears? She hates gummy bears but yesterday she swallowed two whole Haribo packages. And today she had really wanted some meatloaf. She turns away sadly.
"Ok. Lets go for a walk."
...
Lydia mindlessly swings their intertwined hands between them. They had walked deep into the forest behind the school. As they came across a clearing that Lydia recognized well. She studies the tree's indents where Allison's arrows had struck. It had been a few weeks since she'd been gone and it still feels so surreal. It felt like yesterday she was absolutely bubbling over telling her about Stiles. And now, with the swiftness of a sword, she's gone. Lydia tugs at the waist of her tight skirt, uncomfortable.
"You okay? You keep fussing with your clothes." Stiles says, inspecting her face. Lydia nods.
"Yeah its just, I don't know. My clothes haven't been fitting right." Lydia says pulling her finger out of her waistband and continuing to let it suffocate her. Her clothes always fit. Perfectly.
Stiles laughs. "Must be the dryer."
Lydia chuckles at his bad attempt to make her feel better. "Must be."
Suddenly, Stiles shoves Lydia behind her. Lydia fights against him. " Stay back, Lydia." He says sternly.
"Why whats there? What do you see?"
Stiles sighs. "A wolf. A big one." Lydia shoves him aside to see. To her horror she is greeted with the sight of one of the biggest wolves she'd ever seen. It was nearly half her height. However, in contrast to its intimidating appearance, it did not bare its teeth. Or growl. "Why is it just sitting there?" Stiles says, sounding confused. Then, almost as if to answer her question the wolf's eyes lit up red.
"Werewolf. An alpha."
Lydia was concerned. How did this wolf know that they would know what it was? What does it want from them?
"Potestatem ad ventris tui
Intra uitam spirantis
Infans ad Sepulchrum
Potestatem ad ventris tui"
Lydia hears this, quietly, in the back of her head. It is a woman's voice. A weathered, old woman with a voice like rocks. And somehow, she knew this was the voice of the wolf. Speaking to her. Stiles looks around as if the words had come from above and then at her. "Did you hear that, Lydia?" She nods slowly.
"Potestatem ad ventris tui!
Intra uitam spirantis!
Infans ad Sepulchrum!
Potestatem ad ventris tui!"
The wolf shouts louder, the same incantation, walking closer to the couple. Stiles cringes, holding his ears and falling to his knees. Lydia runs to him. "Stiles? Are you okay? Whats wrong. "
Stiles' face is twisted in pain. "It hurts. Her voice inside my head. It feels like im getting punched in the face. I dont know-"
"POTESTATEM AD VENTRIS TUI!
INTRA UITAM SPIRANTIS!
INFANS AD SEPULCHRUM!
POTESTATEM AD VENTRIS TUI!"
Stiles screams and writhes in pain. Lydia looks on in horror. Why doesn't it hurt her? She looks over at the wolf, now much closer than before. "Stop please! You're hurting him!" she shouts wiping cold sweat from his pained face. The wolf bares it teeth at her with a growl. Lydia holds up her hands as if it could possibly protect her. She hears it whisper:
In hoc fieri
Haec una via
And with that the wolf leaps at her with ferocity. There is pain. There is darkness. Then there is nothing.
...
"Okay she's coming to. Put that away. " Lydia hears a voice say as she flicks her eyes open. The blurry image of a man clears up to be Deaton. To her left is Stiles. He holds her hand tightly. He is biting the inside of his top lip, he is trying not to cry.
"What- What happened? Why am I here?"
"Lydia..." Deaton trails off.
Lydia looks to Stiles for explanation. He wrestles with his thoughts and she can see it all ove his face. "You were bitten. By a werewolf. You don't remember?"
Lydia nods. "I remember what she said."
Deaton narrows his eyes at her. " What did she say?"
"Well, I shouldn't say 'said'. Stiles and I, we heard her thoughts."
Deaton scratches his faces and walks to the other side of the room to lean against the counter. Lydia attempts to sit up on the cold table, but Stiles slaps her shoulder back down. "Don't. Its gonna hurt. "
She shrugs his hand off. "Im fine." She sits up with no pain at all, and swings her feet off the table, perched at its edge. Deaton looks at her incredously. He reaches for her bandaged stomach.
"You should be in severe pain." He says as he peels off the bloody bandage. But underneath there is only her flawless porcelain skin. New and almost looking freshly washed. "I don't understand. If you're just starting transitioning into a werewolf, you still wouldn't heal this fast. Its only been 10 minutes. "
Lydia shrugs, trying to brush away the thought that she might become a wolf.
"She said, 'Potestatem ad ventris tui, Intra uitam spirantis, Infans ad Sepulchrum, Potestatem ad ventris tui' and then when she bit me she said ' In hoc fieri, Haec una via'. "
Deaton furrows his brow with concern and repeats the line over under his breath. "I know that incantation. One second." He quickly walks into the other room and after some shuffling, comes back with a gigantic dusty book. He slams it on the table and begins perusing the pages as if he knew exactly where it was. With a tap of finality he finds a page and slides it to her. Lydia examines the page. "I can't read latin."
Deaton takes it back, showing her the book as Stiles looks over her shoulder. "The incantation is titled 'Infantile Blessing' and it reads:
'Power to Thy Womb
Inside there is Life
Infant to Tomb
Power to Thy Womb.'
and I can tell you from my rough knowledge of Latin that she said ' This is what has to be done. This is the only way."
Stiles cracks his knuckles. "I dont- I don't understand what that has to do with us. And why the bite?"
Deaton closes the book and glances between the pair. "This may be a little awkward but... have you two been active?" Stiles avert his eyes with an embarassed cough.
"Yes. Why?"
"Well," Deaton pauses. "Think about the incantation. Look at where you were bitten. And no doubt your demeanor has changed over the past few weeks, right?"
Lydia furrows her brow not seeing the connection and suddenly it hits her. Power to Thy Womb. Infant to Tomb. It had been a blessing to her... baby? Lydia shakes her head. This isn't happening. But it explains so much. Why her clothes don't fit. Why she's so hungry. Why her feet hurt all the time now. Why she gets stomachaches everyday. All this time... So why then would it bite her in the stomach? Suddenly Stiles gasps.
"Oh shit, shit, shit, shit. This can't be happening." He says over and over. Lydia grabs his hand, knowing that if he didn't calm himself now he would go into panic. She turn back to Deaton.
"Okay. So I'm pregnant or..was. I don't understand."
Deaton shakes his head. "No you see, thats thing. I think you still are. It wouldn't make sense for her to say the incantation and then abort it. She bit the baby, not you. Thats why it healed so extremely fast. The younger the wolf, the faster the healing process. Your fetus recovered almost instantly. And, as long as its inside of you, you'll have its protection. The big question is why? Why you? Why this baby?"
Lydia shakes her head, looking at Stiles. "Yeah," she sighs. "Why me."
...
