Chapter Four

When I woke up next it was to an unfamiliar face staring at me. I shrieked and jumped up before realising that it was the Sheriff.

"Oh my God! Please don't do that ever again." I laughed weakly, pulling the covers up to my chin.

"Shannon do you remember anything from last night?" He asked seriously. I looked at his face before my eyes were attracted to the shiny badge that was pinned to his chest.

"What do you mean?" I asked, sitting up properly.

He pursed his lips and shook his head. "You were with my son last night. Do you have any idea where he is?"

I blinked rapidly in shock. "What? No I wasn't. I was here." My mind brought up the memory of my muddy feet but I quickly dismissed it.

"You must have been sleepwalking." He muttered quietly to himself but I managed to hear it. "If you ever find yourself somewhere and don't know why. Give me a call and I'll come and get you." He handed me a card which I took.

I was extremely confused at this point and only managed to nod. He left as quickly as he'd appeared and I was left not understanding what had just happened. "That was so weird." I mumbled before throwing the covers off and heading downstairs for some breakfast.

Mum showed up not long after, helping herself to a slice of my toast and winking at me. I was glad to see her somewhat back to normal as her fussing over me all the time was becoming a bit too suffocating and irritating. I only hoped nothing else would happen that would cause her to revert back to that state.

"Do you have work today?" I asked, noting that it was a Friday, finally. She nodded and bit into the toast, swallowing before checking her watch.

"Yes, now in fact if I don't want to be late." She waved goodbye before grabbing her bag and car keys and heading out.

I sighed as I was left alone once again, I looked at the time on my phone and saw I was also going to be late if I didn't start getting ready soon. Heading back upstairs and changing didn't take long thankfully. A beep was heard outside and I cautiously went to look out of the window. A smile appeared as I saw it was only Mary in her new car, something she was always ranting about because it wasn't the one she'd originally wanted. She was a bit spoiled but I loved her anyway.

"Get in! We're going to be late!" I laughed as I picked up my bag, locked the door behind me and ran over to get into the passenger seat.

"Thanks, I thought I was gonna have to walk to school." I put my bag under the seat and stretched my legs in the limited space.

Mary scoffed and looked at me out of the corner of her eye. "As if, the only reason I haven't been picking you up recently is because someone doesn't text me in the mornings like she used to."

I laughed. "I'm sorry. But I promise, everything is back to normal." She nodded, satisfied and concentrated on driving until we got to the school. She pulled into a space near the entrance and we both climbed out.

"Today is going to rock." She declared, linking her arm with mine and leading the way.

"Why is that?" I asked, making sure to keep a grip on my bag, which was liable to fall off.

She laughed as if it was obvious and opened her locker which we'd just arrived at. "Because I have English with Tom!" She squealed, before realising how loud she was and covering her mouth, looking around to see if anyone was looking at us.

I snorted and opened my locker, which was right next to hers thankfully. "Have you even spoken to him? Ever?"

She scowled and knocked me gently with her elbow. "Don't hate. Today will be the day, I can feel it."

"Whatever you say."

Sure enough she did manage to speak to Tom, in answer to his question of "Can I borrow a pencil?" She squeaked, handed it to him, then flushed a beet red.

From the seat next to her I gave her a thumbs up and a wink to which she scowled and tried to kick my chair. I chuckled and turned back to the front just in time to catch as disapproving look from the teacher.

I flushed and bent my head to avoid her glare.

That was really the only interesting thing to happen at school that day, I didn't see any of Scott or Stiles which I was extremely thankful for, we only had one class together anyway that we didn't even have today. Something I was extremely thankful for.

I got the bus home and smiled as I walked into my house, finally nothing bad happened to me today. I was feeling very upbeat and happy before someone threw a bag over my head.

I inhaled in shock and started choking, my hands coming up to my throat to try and pull the bag off my head. Whoever was behind me, grabbed me around the waist with one hand and started dragging me backwards. I let out a shallow scream, unable to produce a lot of sound as the bag made it difficult to. I thrashed in their grip and struggled with all my might, stilling slightly when I felt sharp nails in my side.

What was that?

I regained enough confidence to start struggling when I felt the person begin to lift me up. Where the hell were my parents? I wondered panicking when I flew through the air for a few seconds and landed on something soft and leathery. The back seat of a car.

Now that the person had let go of me I was able to get grasp the bag on my head and was about to pull it off.

Hands grabbed mine and held them down at my side. "Oh no you don't." I didn't recognise the male voice that spoke and this made me even more worried. If it was Stiles I knew that I was likely to live, but this wasn't Stiles. I didn't know who it was.

I started to cry, my hands were pulled in front of me and tied together with what was most likely rope. I felt a hand pat my head before a door shut, another opened and I jerked backwards as the car started to drive. I was beginning to find it hard to breathe and let out a low pained noise.

I felt my eyes start to droop as I wasn't getting enough oxygen and the exhaustion from the adrenaline began to set in. I let my head rest against the seat behind me and tried to calm myself down and stop the tears. I managed it just in time for the car to stop, the panic began to settle back in, the feeling of nausea associated with panic came flooding back as well and there was a definite frog in my throat.

I couldn't swallow, I could barely breathe and I wanted this to be over. I felt a hand grab my arm through the panic and I was lifted out of the car and slung like a sack of potatoes over my kidnappers shoulder. It hurt a lot, my stomach rebelled against the feeling that I was upside down and his shoulder was meaty and hard, pressing itself into my stomach even more as he walked.

I heard a door open and I was taken off his shoulder and put onto something soft.

What felt like a hundred voices started speaking over one another at the same time. "Are you serious? Who the hell is that? What do you think you're doing?"

"One question at a time." My kidnapper spoke.

A hand took the bag off my head and my eyes squinted as I tried to regain my sense of sight. "Shannon? Peter why have you kidnapped an innocent girl?" A tall, dark haired male spoke.

"Because Derek, you and I both know she's not just some innocent girl." Peter, my kidnapper, snapped.

"What is she?" Derek asked the dark skinned, older man who looked a lot like the vet who treated my old dog Skip.

The man frowned and walked over to me, avoiding the person who was sat next to me who now that I realised he was there, was staring at me avidly. There was only one person who was able to make me feel this way, extremely agitated and scared and that was Stiles.

I allowed myself a quick glance and my suspicions were correct, I saw that luckily someone had the foresight to put some duct tape over his mouth, his eyes though, were free to stare right at me and it seemed as though he was trying to burn a hole into my skull with the intensity of his gaze. I gulped nervously and kept my mouth shut as the man reached my side.

He kneeled next to me and gave me a comforting smile. "Hello Shannon, my name is Alan Deaton and I'm not going to hurt you. I'd just like to look at your eyes."

I kept my gaze cautiously turned to the ground until someone, Peter I guess, gripped my chin from behind and forced my face up. I gulped again and found myself trapped by brown eyes. I felt my body completely relax and my mouth dropped open a bit. Deaton seemed to be in the same trance and the both of us struggled to pull ourselves out.

Peter tugged my head in a different direction when they started to notice something was happening and that meant that I was staring straight at Stiles, another gaze I was unable to get myself away from.

"What was that?" Derek asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest and frowning at the interaction between us.

"Yeah what was that?" I heard a familiar voice and felt myself calm down as I saw Scott McCall, he was looking at me sympathetically but at the same time cautiously. As if I wasn't to be trusted for some reason.

"Scott." I whimpered. "What's happening?" He blinked rapidly and looked down at the ground. He looked back up and walked over to sit next to me.

"I'm sorry about this Shannon if I knew that Peter meant you when he said he knew someone who could help, I never would have let him take you. I know you're scared but nothing is going to happen to you." He promised, taking one of his hands in mine and patting it gently.

I nodded and exhaled shakily. Now that he had moved I saw the rest of his friends standing there, Lydia, Allison, Isaac and his mother. They were all in on this, they were all seeing my humiliation. I found myself blushing and frowned even more, knowing they could see my red eyes and teary cheeks.

What a horrible day.

Deaton seemed to come out of whatever state he was in and blinked quickly. "I know what we can do." He looked at me and placed a finger on my forehead and one on Stiles'.

I gasped and felt myself thrown back into nothing, I landed on a cold hard floor and stood up quickly. Surrounding me were white walls, white everything, I felt my breathing start to accelerate and stumbled when I heard Deaton's voice.

"Shannon if you can hear me, I need you to find Stiles."

I snorted. "I don't want to."

"Shannon, the one who tried to hurt you isn't Stiles. He's been possessed and I need you to help him."

"What do you mean possessed?" I started to walk forwards, finding my way blocked by a huge white wall, I felt along it to try and find a door of some kind.

"He's been taken over by a nogistune. An ancient demon that thrives from chaos. If it's not removed from him, Stiles will die."

I found a door and pried it open, using all of my strength to do so. "How am I supposed to help? I'm not anything special. Where am I?"

"Shannon you are special, you just don't know it yet. I'll explain more when you wake up. You are in Bardo, the inbetween state of dead and alive."

My eyes widened in fear, the door I'd opened led to a dark hallway with one flickering light. I turned around to go back the way I had come but the door had disappeared.

"I'm scared."

"Nothing can hurt you." Deaton soothed. "Nothing is real."

Easier said than to believe, it all seemed real. I couldn't see anything as the light had now completely given out. "Shannon." A voice drawled. "Let me in Shannon." I gulped in fear and found myself begin to panic again. The voice sounded as though it was. Right. Behind. Me.

I turned quickly and let out a breath as there appeared to be nothing there. I held a hand out in front of me and began to walk forwards, hoping there was a way out somewhere close.

My hand came into contact with something soft.

And alive.