She saw nothing, she felt nothing. She was a celestial being, floating in a deep, impossible part of space. The dark figure that came to her in her bedroom now came to her in her subconscious. She couldn't see it, just as she couldn't see her own hands in front of her.

But she knew it was there.

It had no voice, but it spoke in her mind, like an intruder had placed a foreign string of text in her very skull.

Sweet...smart...small...

Lydia Martin...

Sweet...smart...small...

In the back of her mind, there was a chant. The same haunting chant she'd heard from the music teacher's piano. If she had a body, she was sure that another icy chill would have run down her spine at the sound.

Join us...Lydia...

Sweet...smart...small...

Join-

But Lydia woke from the dream before the darkness could finish its sentence. She had a lingering feeling, however, that she had heard more than she could fully remember when she woke.

She could swear she heard more to that last sentence.

Join-

Join...

Join us...Lydia...or...


It was irritating going to school every morning when she now knew what went on in the real world. Werewolves. Giant lizards. Human sacrifices.

Dark, hooded figures.

And she was forced to keep sane while sitting in a classroom learning about things she already knew. Ridiculous, really.

Her classes were relatively normal and undisturbed all day, and Lydia had at least gotten some sleep last night, even if it was filled with horrifying nightmares and voices. She was relieved, however, when the bell rung for lunch.

Join us, she thought as she walked over to her lunch table with her tray. What the hell does that mean? Join us or...or what? What did it say? And if it was chanting, does that mean it has something to do with the sacrifices? The druids?

Darach?

She wanted to scream out in frustration. She hated not knowing. She hated sitting by helplessly as she slowly deteriorated once again. She slammed her tray down on the table and sat down, angrily adjusting her bag. Stiles' head snapped up from the papers scattered all over the lunch table, startled. He was the only one at their lunch table today while Scott and Allison dealt with...whatever they dealt with. Scott was still shaken up by his near suicide, obviously, and his vow to keep his grades up wasn't exactly working too well. Lydia suspected they were dealing with the fact that Derek was going to be hunted down by the Alpha pack if he wasn't dead already.

"What?" Stiles asked.

Lydia looked up at him, looking around the room while she feigned ignorance. "What?"

"You have a..." he pointed his finger at his face, "face."

"A face."

"Yes! A face!"

Lydia just rolled her eyes, trying not to think about how she lied to him yesterday. She changed the subject, pointing at the papers on the lunch table. "What are those?"

Stiles seemed to drop the "face" thing rather quickly, looking down at the papers and completely sagging in his seat. "More stuff about the murders. And stuff about Darach. And other stuff about wolfsbane cause it doesn't really make any sense. When you poisoned all of us at your party, the wolfsbane didn't just affect the werewolves, it affected the humans too."

Lydia furrowed her brow. "Who says? They were probably just drunk and stupid."

Stiles seemed to hesitate a little, his eyes taking on a faraway appearance. "No...no,I wasn't drunk."

Judging by the appearance in Stiles' eyes, the wolfsbane must have done something terrible to him. Not to mention, he looked exhausted.

Lydia usually didn't pick up on these things when it came to Stiles, but now she was recognizing the way his hands pushed through his hair like he wanted to rip it out, and the way he sagged in his chair, defeated. She noticed the way he would sometimes get a look of utter panic on his face like the world was coming to an end, but he would quickly steel himself and get back to working on whatever crazy thing he was working on.

"Anyways, what I'm wondering is: why did it affect me at the party but not when Coach blew that goddamn whistle in my face thirty times? Jerk," he grumbled.

Lydia was going to respond with one of her theories when something caught her eye and made her heart sink to her feet.

The darkness. The hooded figure stood in the far corner of the cafeteria, unnoticed to everyone but Lydia. It was staring at her. As she watched, it began to move, which made her sinking heart start pounding, because it never moved before.

It was floating across the floor and past students. She could feel the color draining from her face to the point where she thought she might pass out. Through the ringing in her ears, she could hear Stiles calling her name.

It was so close now...coming towards her...

No. No, it wasn't coming towards her.

It was going towards Stiles.

She moved her gaze to Stiles who was saying her name with concern in his eyes, reaching across the table to grab her freezing hand. She just stared at him, her mouth open is horror as the thing moved behind Stiles and Stiles was going to get up and come towards her but Lydia screamed.

"Stiles, don't move! Don't move!" Her voice shook and Stiles' eyes widened as he sat back in his chair and stared at her, terrified.

The figure was standing behind him now, but Stiles made no sign that he felt it. It brought its hands up, hovering on either side of Stiles' head. Lydia thought her heart would burst out of her chest. She made a whimpering noise at the back of her throat as Stiles sat still, unknowing but terrified of whatever Lydia was seeing.

And then it spoke in her mind once more.

Join us...Lydia...or he will pay.

And as if to make its point, the darkness put its cloaked hands on either side of Stiles' head.

Stiles' face drained of all color, as if someone had sucked his blood from his body, and he moved his hand towards his heart like he couldn't breathe. His eyes widened and he was making some coughing, choking noise while the figure just stood, hardly touching him. He pushed his chair backwards just as Lydia bolted up from her chair on instinct and screamed.

"NO! STOP! STOP!"

And it did. It disappeared without a trace...no wisp of smoke or wind. It just disappeared like she had changed the channel on the TV. Gone.

Lydia ran to the other side without hesitation as Stiles gasped and clutched the table in front of him to keep from falling off the chair. His hand was still on his heart and as Lydia skidded to a stop, kneeling beside his chair, he looked down at her with wide eyes and shallow breathing. The color had returned to him, at least.

"Stiles?" Lydia asked, panicked, grabbing the hand that wasn't clutching at his chest. It was absolutely freezing cold and shaking.

Now that her hearing was back to normal, she could hear the abnormal silence in the cafeteria as everyone was looking over at them, mumbling or putting their hand over their mouths or even suppressing laughs. She had no idea what that whole scene must have looked like to them, but for once, she really didn't care.

"What..." Stiles tried to say through his gasps, "Lydia, what...?"

He shook his head, not even comprehending.

"I said I'll tell you, Stiles. I'll tell you. We have to get out of here," she whispered, trying not to cry.

Stiles looked over at her, absolute panic in his eyes. They were communicating in that strange way again. Lydia tried her best to tell him it was okay, that she would explain, even if that was the complete opposite of what she was feeling. This wasn't okay. She was beginning a game of Russian roulette with his life and who knew what she would have to do to make it end?

But Stiles nodded and stood up, still holding the table for a moment before running a hand through his hair again. He began to walk with her, leaving his papers and her lunch behind. She stood by his side, as she didn't know what the darkness had done to him and she didn't know whether he would fall over or not.

They moved through the cafeteria doors just as the kids began chattering again.

Lydia and Stiles made their way outside the school and into Stiles' jeep before anyone had the chance to ask questions.

Stiles seemed to be back to normal as he closed the driver side door, though his hands still shook. He gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were white while Lydia shrank back into her seat, taking a deep calming breath.

Stiles snapped his gaze towards Lydia, but Lydia didn't look at him. Her brain was reeling. How could she join them? What did that mean?

"Lydia," Stiles said. She had expected his voice to be firm and harsh, but it was soft and comforting. She closed her eyes for a moment before turning her head to speak to him.

"It was the same thing I saw in the fire. A dark shape, like a man in a cloak with a hood on, but the face was just...not human. And after the fire it was in my dreams and just now in the cafeteria it grabbed you and it said-"

She stopped. This was too much. She couldn't tell him what they said. It would worry him and it could put his life further in jeopardy but also, she couldn't explain it. Why would the dark figure choose Stiles' life as a bargaining chip to get her to join them? Why not her parents or Allison or even Jackson for that matter?

Deep down, she may have known the answer to that question, but she dare not let it surface.

"Lydia, what did it say?" Stiles pressed, inclining his body in his seat so that he was closer to her.

She looked him straight in his eyes. Warm, golden brown eyes. They were so honest and so good-hearted, it made Lydia's heart surge in her chest. She can't keep lying to him.

"Look, whatever it is, you're not gonna deal with it alone, okay? So you might as well tell me," he reasoned. His voice was still soft as ever as they sat in the silence of the jeep.

Lydia put a hand over her eyes and sighed, leaning back in her seat. "They said they were going to make you pay if I don't join them. Don't ask me what that means, because I really don't know."

Before Stiles could say anything, she removed her hand from her eyes and sat up again, hoping to get her message across. "But this is my problem, Stiles. I'm the only one that can see it, and I'm the only one who can stop it." She hesitated before saying the next part, but decided it needed to be said. Her voice was a whisper now. "And I'm not going to let it hurt you again."

She had expected the words to feel odd coming out of her mouth when they were directed at Stiles, but instead they felt normal and right. She felt no awkwardness or crooked air around them. Somehow, it had become a completely natural thing to sit in Stiles' jeep and assure herself that he'd be safe.

She guessed that ever since the fire - that one split second of absolute terror and dread that stole her when she thought he would die -, Stiles' safety had taken a special little place in her heart. She never, ever, ever wanted to feel that way again.

Stiles was looking at her, and he didn't look scared or confused like she had expected. In fact, there was kind of proud awe in his eyes and a quirk to his lips that he seemed to be trying to hide.

"What?" Lydia asked, self-conscious.

"What? No, nothing, I just..." he sat back in his seat so that he was looking out the windshield, the small smile still on his face."Seriously, I had totally convinced myself that you couldn't get any more perfect but then suddenly you've got this wonder woman side to you and...sorry." He looked back at her, sheepish. It seems Stiles' crush for Lydia seeped through his mental filter for a moment, and he was currently trying to put it away again.

She was annoyed when she felt heat rise in her face, but she was just about to tell him it was okay when he perked up again.

"But, seriously, though: if we're kicking dark omen ass, then we're doing it together."

Lydia opened her mouth to retort, but Stiles sat up straighter and spoke clearer, cutting off her thought process. "You just told me that some creepy thing in a cape is out to get me personally, and I'm still going to help you, so there really is nothing you can say to make me back off."

For once, Lydia didn't know what to say. He had a point; he knew the stakes now, and he experienced firsthand whatever god awful power the darkness held inside itself, yet he was still offering to help.

Lydia crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to look defeated. "Fine," she breathed nonchalantly, looking out her window.

In the corner of her eye, she could see him smile as he started the ignition, and she had to suppress her own.