A/N: Maya was a fun character to write, because she's a new character. Also, random Mystic Force cameos that were way too fun. I've added a few notes to the end of this chapter.

Maya regarded the vanilla ice cream slowly dripping from its cone down her fingers and imagined it was the tears that wanted to slip down her cheeks. She and Remy had been getting close; she'd even found an engagement ring in his sock drawer. So Maya had taken a chance and told Remy the only secret she really had.

Apparently, the 'lapsed' part of 'lapsed Catholic' was a good theory, and Maya hoped he couldn't return the ring, only pawn it for half its price.

Asshole.

"Forget your high society."

Maya fumbled for her cell phone, dripping ice cream all over it. "Goddess," she swore before bringing it to her ear, "Hello? Gia?"

"Maya, are you okay?" Gia asked.

"Physically or emotionally?" Maya muttered as she regarded the ice cream cone for a long moment. "Wait, what's going on? Why are you calling me?"

"Apparently, Troy failed to mention a few details about Beacon Hills," Gia said, in a dryly amused voice. "It's like a shadowed version of Briarwood. It definitely feels that way. Also, fun fact, Allison Argent died fighting an Otherbeing."

Maya whistled as she slid off her park bench and chunked the ice cream cone in the trash, she wasn't going to finish it anyways. "Are you okay?"

"For the most part," Gia said. "Except the part where the friendly neighborhood Otherbeing kidnapped Jake."

Maya frowned, and then nodded to herself. Jake was the one with the crush on Gia that made her think of an over eager puppy.

"Troy's friends seem confident that they can find him," Gia said slowly, "but we're not going to leave Beacon Hills until he's back."

Maya went cold, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that I'm not leaving Beacon Hills without Jake." Gia said firmly.

"The hell you aren't!" Maya yelled, and then glared as a stranger started staring at her.

"Maya," Gia said.

"No. No, do not Maya me." Maya snapped. She grabbed her backpack off the bench with a mental wince for the ice cream on her hand and stalked into the park she'd taken refuge in after leaving Remy as she slid the backpack on properly. "Do you know what happens when people disappear? The person who saw them last, that would be me, becomes the prime suspect! I am not going to become Mickey Smith for a human puppy!"

There was silence for a long moment as Gia probably tried to parse out everything Maya had said.

"That's not all he is," Gia said finally. "He's loyal, funny, and nice. He's stuck with Noah through everything and he's helped me out when I needed it. Maya, he's a Power Ranger and I am not leaving my teammate in the hands of an evil spirit because you are afraid to step into the Tardis!"

"Power Rangers," Maya said shortly.

"Yeah," Gia said, "we're Power Rangers, all five of us. It's kind of a secret, we're not supposed to tell, but I think this counts as an exception."

"You guys left Harwood County?" Maya said after a long moment.

"Gosei, our mentor, he can teleport us back if something happens," Gia replied, "and it wasn't supposed to go down like this."

"If he can teleport you, why doesn't he do that for Jake?" Maya asked.

"Because Jake doesn't have his morpher on him, and it's nearly impossible to track us without them," Gia said.

Maya ran her fingers over her short hair as she contemplated the situation, then glared at the still sticky appendage. "That was smart," she muttered.

"What?" Gia asked.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Maya countered.

"Yeah, Troy's friend, the rich guy Justin? He's got room for us and he said there's a room for you to, if you want." Gia said.

"Good," Maya said, "Because I'm not going to be the tin dog." It felt like an exercise in her criminology class. "Here's what needs to happen," she said. "You have to bring the SUV back to Briarwood. We'll need to leave it here so that when our parents report us missing, the APB on the SUV will lead them here and not Beacon Hills. Someone's going to have to follow you to bring us back, and you have to be driving for the fingerprints."

"I'll need to talk to some people," Gia said, "but there shouldn't be a problem. Scott and Justin are practical enough to understand all of this."

Maya smiled, "Thanks Gaia."

"It's Gia," Gia retorted haughtily, "Says so on my birth certificate."

"Right," Maya drawled. "You'll call back with the details?"

"I will," Gia said. "I love you."

"Love you too," Gia replied.

Maya hung up her phone and regarded her sticky fingers for a long moment. Then she looked around. Her aimless wandering had brought her to another side of the park, a side lined with shops. "Perfect," she muttered as she shoved the phone in her pocket. She hurried across the street and through the doors of a store called the Rock Porium.

She hesitated inside the door to allow her eyes to adjust to the dimmer lighting.

"Hi, welcome to the Rock Porium," a cheerful voice called.

Maya blinked a few times and found herself facing a red haired young man of her own age. "Hi," Maya said, "I don't suppose you have a public restroom, do you?"

The man made a face, "It's for paying customers only."

"I'll buy something," Maya said and held up her sticky fingers, "I just need to clean up a bit."

"It's over there," the man said, smiling again. "I'm Chip, by the way."

"Maya," Maya replied. "Thank you."

"No problem!" Chip called after her.

With clean hands and damp hair, Maya felt a lot better. She smirked at the mirror, "And they said I'd regret my hair," she murmured as she fluffed the damp spikes. Cutting her long blond hair during finals week, fueled by too many energy drinks and sleepless nights, was one of her better decisions.

She opened the door to the bathroom and couldn't help her soft laugh. Chip was circling, and poking a tall brunette man in the same purple shirt that he was wearing, clearly another employee. "Come on Xander," he whined, "you promised."

"No Chip," Xander said, his voice warm, amused, and very Australian. He saw Maya and gave her a warm smile, "Besides, there's a customer."

"Maya!" Chip said, spinning to her with a grin, "What would you like to see? We just got all the new comic books up, and I already know that Avengers is going to rock this time."

Maya shook her head slightly, "Sorry," she said, "I'm a big fan of supporting my local comic book store; I got my comic fix earlier this week. You are right about the Avengers though."

Chip laughed, "Someone who gets it."

"Yeah," Maya said, "I could actually use some new CDs though."

"What kind?" Chip asked.

"Anything Celtic?" Maya said hopefully.

"That's over here," Chip pointed and darted towards a CD rack.

"Sorry about him," Xander said, "he's like this naturally."

"It's okay," Maya said, "My little brother Sky is the exact same way." She walked over as Chip held up some CDs.

"These are all new," Chip said, "I'm not all that familiar with Celtic music."

"That's okay," Maya said, "I'm just looking for something new." She took the CDs from Chip and began to flip through them.

The last case in the stack had a black cover with a bright red triskele. For a long moment, Maya stared at the case, not even noticing Chip taking the others from her. Her heart began to pound in her ears as she flipped the case over. A blood red triangle made of infinity symbols covered the back cover. A rising feeling of dread suffused her as she stared at the infinity triangle.

"Forget your high society."

The world snapped back into focus and Maya hauled her phone out, "Gia?" She asked as it reached her ear.

"What's wrong?" Gia replied.

"Nothing," Maya said as she studied the case. "I'm fine."

"All right," Gia said. "Me and Troy's friend Derek are on our way. Where should we meet?"

"At the mall," Maya said looking away from the case to Chip's quizzical face. "I'll be in the bookstore."

"See you soon," Gia said cheerfully.

"Love you," Maya replied and hung up.

"Are you okay mate?" Xander asked.

Maya smiled at him, "I'm just fine." She held up the CD, "I'll take this one." Maya very politely pretended that they didn't watch her leave.

Gia and Derek arrived at the mall not quite two hours later. Maya was waiting for them with a latte for Gia and coffees for her and Derek.

Derek proved to be a man her age, tall, well built, with dark hair and a five o'clock shadow. He did not look like the kind of person who drove an SUV, Jeep or not, not with that leather jacket.

"Derek," Gia said as Maya climbed into the SUV, "this is Maya. Maya, this is Derek Hale."

Derek nodded and Maya held out the coffee, "Coffee? It's black and way too expensive, but drinkable."

"Thank you," Derek said grudgingly as he took the cup.

The drive to Beacon Hills was quiet, with only the soft sounds of a classic rock radio piercing the silence. Maya amused herself with one of her new books, and Gia had her nose buried in her phone before they even left the parking lot.

Maya finished the book and looked around to find them driving through a thick forest. She put the book away and looked out the window, "Are we almost there?" She asked.

The Jeep rounded a curve and the Beacon Hills city limit sign came into view. Maya gasped, "Stop the car!" She cried.

Derek slammed on the brakes, and Maya was out of the car before he could put it in park, running to the sign. With a rising dread, Maya stared at the infinity triangle that had been carved on the sign. "Oh my God," she whispered.

"Maya, what is it?" Gia asked, grabbing her arm.

"It's the second sign," Maya whispered.

"What sign?" Gia asked, "What did you see?"

Maya looked at her sister, "I saw this sign earlier today." She looked at the Jeep, at Derek climbing out of the car to look at them. "Come," she told Gia and ran back. She fumbled in her backpack until she unearthed the CD case. "I bought this earlier," she said, "I'm not sure why, but it's the same symbol."

Derek to the case from her and looked at the triangle. Then he flipped it over to see the triskele. "Do you know what this is?" He asked her.

"It's a triskele, it means the beginning, middle, and end," Maya replied.

"It's the Hale Family mark," Derek said.

"Do you know what the infinity triangle means?" Maya asked quietly, watching the man carefully.

"No," Derek replied shortly.

Maya felt a zing of triumph as the man lied to her. She'd have to pin him down later, not when they were blocking the road. "We should go," she told him, "we're blocking the road."

Derek studied her for a moment then turned back to the Jeep.

When they were moving again, Maya cleared her throat, "I'm not a lunatic, Derek. I'm a bit psychic. It's not always useful, mostly it's like playing Blind Man's Bluff." She leaned between the seats to reclaim her CD. "I found that earlier today and I knew that I had to buy it. There's something important about this CD. And seeing the infinity triangle twice, that's a warning." Maya began to open the CD case, "If this symbol is related to the Hale Family, it might be a message for you. You should listen to it too."

"Later," Derek said, "the CD player's broken."

Maya opened the case and stared at the printed triskele on the CD. "Later then," she said.

Gia squeezed her arm, "Are you sure you're okay?" She asked worriedly.

Maya shrugged, "I'm not happy about how the triangle affects me, it's a warning through and through, it means something bad. The triskele means something good, a promise that there is something good. It's not really helpful though."

She put the CD away and looked out the window. Beacon Hills wasn't much different from Harwood County, although Harwood had a more beach community feel. She wouldn't be surprised if Beacon Hills catered to a lot of campers and hikers, surrounded by forests as it was.

They pulled up to a large condominium building and Derek parked beside an overly obnoxious purple and orange pick-up. "Welcome to Justin's place," Gia said, "you'll like it. He has an amazing kitchen."

"That's more your domain than mine," Maya replied as she slid out of the Jeep. "Thank you for the ride, Derek."

Derek glared at her for a moment then stalked up the walk to the building. Maya shared an eye roll with Gia and followed him.

Justin's apartment was rather large, Maya noticed as she walked in. It also looked like a warzone in a designer condo, with scattered mechanical parts and scorch marks everywhere she looked. Except for a large picture with the triskele on it on the wall opposite the door, between two huge, floor to ceiling windows.

Maya studied it for a moment, and then turned her attention to the people in the room.

There was a tall African American man with a calm expression on his face standing next to the triskele, talking to Troy. For a moment, Maya almost dismissed the man in the sweater vest. Then she took a second look and stopped short, causing Gia to run into her. Maya wasn't as sensitive to power in humans, not like Sky was, or Gia could be if she thought to look, but this man, he was like a roaring beacon fire in her mind, brimming with power. Maya blinked twice, rapidly, and for a moment, there was a tall, white oak superimposed over the man.

Suddenly a few things snapped into place in her mind. Auras and hints, and feelings suddenly became clear. "Gia," she said slowly, "we may need to leave."

Everyone in the room was staring at them. "What's wrong?" Gia asked.

The African American man stepped forward, "It's all right," he said, and she knew he knew her, could feel in her what she felt in him. "You're amongst allies here."

"Are you sure?" Maya asked tightly, "Are you that sure, Emissary?"

Gia gasped.

"I am sure, Wiccan," the man replied. "You are not amongst enemies."

Maya's smile was as tight as her tone, "It's a room full of werewolves, they don't always like people like us, regardless of the fact that we walk the right hand path."

A/N2: Before anyone kills me READ THIS:

Maya and Gia are witches. They're Right Hand Path, or practice white magic. They are not omnipotent or anything else. I chose this route for reasons, some of which will be apparent later in the story, and some which tie in if I decide to write a sequel. Maya is not Jennifer Blake 2.0. I'm not planning for her and Derek to be anything more than friends.