CHAPTER NINE

THE RETURN OF JESSIE HANSEN

Allison had rushed to her apartment with Scott and Isaac in tow. Derek rushed Marissa to the hospital, hoping Melissa could look at her and tell him if she and the baby would be alright. Nuala had run off after getting her bearings about her and the twins stayed at the loft. When the first three arrived to the apartment, they found Chris bloody, beaten and bruised on the hallway hardwood floor. Allison had freaked out, running to her father's aid immediately.

Now, she was patching him up as he explained himself to them. "They came out of the shadows. One of them, I could see his eyes, like a firefly."

Isaac flinched at the memories of his own experience.

"Dad, do you know what that means?" Allison asked her father, treating the cut on his head.

"I think they might have been after me," Chris admitted. "His eyes were glowing. There was something almost ritualistic about it. Like it was looking right into his soul."

"That's the same thing it did to me," Isaac agreed, his fingers feeling the marking behind his ear.

"The same thing it did to everyone," Allison said.

"Not everyone," Scott corrected her. "They only came after the werewolves."

"And Lydia," Allison added.

"Anyone with a connection to the supernatural," Chris explained.

"But they went after Marissa," Scott argued.

"She's Derek's mate, it counts," Chris told him.

"Then who was the guy they went after in Japan?" Scott asked.

"A kumicho," he stated. "A yakuza boss. It was my first gun deal. I was only 18 and it was supposed to be a simple exchange. Except Gerard left out the minor detail of the buyers being yakuza. He wanted to see if I could adapt in the moment. Testing my ability to improvise."

"Or your ability to survive," Allison interjected bitterly at the mention of her biological grandfather.

"The moment the sun went down it was like they just materialized out of the shadows," Chris continued. "They had swords, not curved like katanas but straight, black steel. Like ninjatos."

"What did they want?" Scott asked him.

"To get to the kumicho," Chris sighed. "They cut down every living thing in their way."

"Did they mark him like they did us?" Isaac wondered.

He shook his head, "Not exactly."

"What was he?" Scott asked after hearing the man had transformed when the robed figured all stabbed him.

Chris didn't seem to know, "I don't know. But there might be someone who does. There were a few others who survived that night. One of them was a man named Katashi. They called him Silverfinger because of an unusual prosthetic. And it looked like he was getting ready to take them all on himself. I've known for a while Katashi was in the country. I spent yesterday tracking him down."

"Didn't look like he wanted to be found," Allison gestured to his injuries.

"Not particularly, no," he agreed.

"You think he knows what they are?" Scott asked hopefully. "Or what they want?"

"Maybe," Chris admitted, not very optimistic.

"What if he doesn't want to talk?" Isaac posed. "What if he doesn't even remember you?"

Chris stood from his desk chair, turning a wooden box on his desk and opening it. He peeled back the cloth inside to reveal the broken pieces of a mask, "He'll remember this."

Scott listened to him speak as he picked up the largest piece of the mask. "I know I didn't kill it. I'm not sure you can. But I slowed it down long enough for us to get out of there."

"What was behind the mask?" Scott asked.

"Darkness," was his solemn answer, "absolute darkness."

"Wait," Isaac perked up, "we never told you what happened to me. And you don't have the mark on you. If they didn't attack you—how did you know they were here?"

Chris looked at the three teenagers who were eagerly awaiting his answer. He didn't want to get their hopes up, but he couldn't lie to them. "I was tipped off by an unlikely ally."

"Who, dad?" Allison pressured him, not wanting vague answers.

"Jessie Hansen."

Before school, Scott went home to change. When he entered his bedroom, Jessie was there on the bed. This time he knew it was his mirage of her because she was dressed up, like their Winter Formal, makeup and all. He thought she was beautiful that night too. He immediately needed to confront her about the rave, "I saw you last night. You—you were there. It was really you I know that."

"I know," she nodded. "I know what you know, Scott."

"Why would you come back and not come back to us?" Scott asked, feeling hurt and angry. "Why stay away?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe seek me out? Confess your feelings to the real thing and you'll stop seeing me."

"I don't want to!" he raised his voice, his emotions running on high.

Jessie stared at him gently, accepting his anger.

He started breathing deeply, "If you're here, and you're not really back... then maybe you'll never really come back. Seeing you this way is the only thing I have left of you. I don't want to lose that."

She stood up, standing close to him. She held his face in her hands, letting him look into her eyes that he knew weren't really there. But he could see them and feel her brushing up against him. It was real enough.

"I love you too," she whispered.

He briefly closed his eyes, shaking his head clear, "That's just what I want you to say."

She nodded, agreeing, "Yes, it is. But maybe it's true."

There was a moment charged with emotion when he lost all of his sanity, leaning down and pressing his lips against hers. He knew she wasn't really there, that it wasn't really her, and he probably looked ridiculous right now. But he didn't care. She accepted his kiss, softly kissing him back. He felt her arms loop around his shoulders as he wrapped his arms around her waist and sucked in every ounce of reprieve he could steal in this fragmented moment.

A knock at his bedroom door startled him out of his precious moment of peace and happiness, and the next second his mother was opening the door, "Sweetie, are you okay?"

He shook himself out of it and turned to look at her, "Yeah, fine. Did you see Derek and Marissa at the hospital? Is she alright?"

"She'll be just fine," Melissa smiled. "As far as I can tell, so will the baby. But I sent them to Deaton anyway since I'm not up on all the medical needs of supernatural fetuses."

Scott gaped at her, "Marissa's pregnant?"

Melissa's smile fell, "Yeah... you didn't know. She's four weeks along."

Scott's brain was on hyper drive at the thought of Derek Hale becoming a father. It was almost as crazy a thought as the mere existence of werewolves used to be to him. But he couldn't deny he was happy Derek had love in his life again, and a family.

"Okay then," he accepted, "that's great."

"You'll explain to me what happened last night later?" Melissa said. "I gotta go back in."

He nodded, "Yeah, I will, I promise."

Scott rode his motorbike down the street towards the school, his ears picking up the sound of two motorcycles on either side of him. He knew it was the twins as he parked his bike and yanked off his helmet, "You guys going to be doing this all day?"

"All day," Ethan confirmed.

"All night," Aiden added.

"Is this about being in my pack?" Scott sighed.

"This is about you being the target of demonic ninjas," Aiden corrected him.

"You mean the demonic ninjas that pulled swords out of their chests and completely kicked our asses?" Ethan posed.

"Yeah," Aiden said, "those demonic ninjas."

"I don't need anyone to protect me," Scott argued.

Aiden protested, serious expression on his face, "They were looking right at you when the sun came up."

"And they also disappeared," Scott pointed out. "Argent thinks that they could just come out at night."

"Since this is our first experience with demonic ninjas," Ethan began, "we're thinking we should play it safe."

Scott sighed, "All day."

"And all night," Ethan smirked, he and his brother following the alpha into the school hallway, all the way to his locker.

Scott opened his locker and got what he needed, speaking into the space, "Okay, one thing first. I need to talk to Stiles and let him know everything that happened last night. Without you."

"No," Aiden scoffed.

"Yes," he emphasized an order, "and I don't want you listening in. No wolf hearing."

"How would you even know?" Ethan asked.

He paused, smirking into his locker, "I'm a true Alpha. You have no idea what I can do."

Stiles had pounced on Scott with Georgie by his side and nearly dragged him into the chemistry room, "So, then we saw my key had phosphors on it, something that's in chemicals, right? And so that made me think of the chemistry closet and the fact that someone had to let Barrow in..." he stopped short when he saw the blackboard, everything was erased. "It's gone." He gulped, remembering his keys, "Okay, it doesn't matter though. It doesn't matter. I've still got the key." He went to the chemistry closet and pulled out his key ring, fingering through them for the not-so-mystery key only to find that it wasn't there, "What the hell? I had it—I had it here. I had it here this morning, I swear to God, I had it this morning." Stiles sighed, "I know it was there, it was all here. The key, the message on the blackboard in my hand writing."

"So, you unlocked the chemistry closet so Barrow could hide in it from the cops and then you wrote him a message to kill Kira?" Scott asked, not liking the conclusions Stiles was drawing.

"I know how it sounds," Stiles admitted. "But look at this," he dug out a cut out newspaper article and unfolded it. "This is the news report that came out about Barrow when they caught him, okay? About the shrapnel bomb that he used. See this?" he pointed to a line he had highlighted, "See what he did? He put nuts, bolts and screws—then hid the bomb and the detonator in a box that he wrapped as a birthday present. What does that sound like to you?"

Scott paused, "Coach..."

"That joke we all played on Coach," Georgie emphasized their involvement.

"But I thought of it," Stiles pointed out. "You remember? That was my idea. That's no coincidence. It can't be."

"I don't want to sound like I'm trying to tell you that you're wrong," Scott responded carefully. "But I don't think you're trying to kill people either."

Stiles stared at the blank blackboard, muttering, "It was here. It was all here."

"Yes, it was," Georgie held his face in her hands and made him look at her. "I saw it all too, Stiles. The key and the message, okay? It was here."

He nodded, letting her hug him.

Scott regarded him with concern, "Dude, are you feeling okay? You're looking really tired."

"He's barely slept," Georgie admitted. "No matter what I try."

"I'm fine," Stiles whispered.

"Why don't you go home?" Scott suggested. "Take a sick day or something."

"That sounds like a good idea," Georgie agreed, looking up at her boyfriend. "Come on, I'll go with you. I can miss a day. We both can."

Allison stared at her phone while in the car with her father and Isaac.

They're after Kira too.

She knew it was from Jessie. So, she immediately called Scott.

"Hey," he answered.

"Scott, I just got a tip from Jessie," Allison rushed the words out. "She said they'll be after Kira too. It's not just you they want."

"I was thinking that too," Scott admitted. "She definitely has a connection to the supernatural."

"What are you going to do?" Allison asked, worried.

"I don't know yet."

Instead of going home, Georgie dragged Stiles to the hospital to get himself checked out, "We don't know if everything has to do with the ritual, maybe it's human."

So, he followed her in and they checked in with Melissa. She stared at her computer screen, "Dr. Gardner's not back until next week. Do you want to try waiting for one of the urgent care doctors or-"

She saw the distress on Stiles face, tears threatening to fall out of his red-rimmed eyes, "Stiles. Are you all right?"

He stumbled away from the counter, Georgie's hands holding his elbows, "I don't know. I guess—I guess not really."

Melissa stood from her station and walked around in front of him, "All right, kiddo. All right," she led the two teenagers down the hall. She set Stiles up in an empty room, holding a clipboard as he sat on the bed.

"Blackouts," Stiles listed off what was going on for her, "but not for that long. And sleepwalking, which I used to do a lot as a kid. Um... also having some really bad anxiety."

"Panic attacks?" Melissa asked.

"Yeah, a couple," Stiles told her. "Oh, and I temporarily lost the ability to read. But that might have had more to do with this giant magic tree... and the whole human sacrifice thing."

Melissa smiled sarcastically at him, "I recall something vaguely about that, yes. How many hours of sleep are you getting?"

"Eight," he answered.

"Stiles," Georgie chided his vague answer.

"A night?" Melissa asked to clarify.

"In the last three nights," Stiles sighed. He stared at his shaking hands, struggling to count on his fingers. Georgie held his hands in hers to calm him.

Melissa set down her clipboard and walked over to a table with other medical supplies on it, "Been feeling irritable?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, "possibly to the point of homicide."

"Inability to focus?" Melissa asked.

He sighed, "No, the Adderall's not working."

"Impulsive behavior?"

"More than my usual?" he quipped. "It's hard to tell."

"Vivid dreams during the day?"

"All of the above," Georgie answered.

"Do you know what this is?" Stiles asked as she walked back over to the bed.

"I think so," She smiled gently, brandishing a syringe.

Stiles stared at it, "What is that?"

"Do you trust me?"

"When you're not holding a needle," he remarked.

She smiled at the joke and lifted up his shirt sleeve to wipe it before sticking the needle into his arm and pushing down the plunger, "It's Midazolam. A sedative."

"Why'd you give me a sedative?" Stiles asked.

"Because you, Stiles, are one profoundly sleep-deprived young man," she told him calmly. "You need rest and you need it now. Lie down."

She and Georgie helped Stiles lay back on the bed, Georgie pulling the blanket over him to his shoulders. "Okay, how long's it take to-" he cut off his question when he immediately felt groggy, "Oh. Not long at all."

Melissa nodded, smiling, "Get some rest."

He settled into the bed, his eyes slowly falling closed, "Thanks, mom."

Melissa stopped short at the term, staring at the young man she cared for. Georgie smiled at the woman, whispering, "He thinks the world of you."

Melissa smiled at the girl, "Maybe you should head home and rest too. Has he ever woken you up?"

Georgie nodded, "A few times here and there. He had pretty bad nightmares. But it's calmed down some. I'll be fine here. I don't want to leave him."

"Okay," Melissa agreed, "Just keep quiet."

Georgie was sitting there for a few hours in an uncomfortable chair next to Stiles when her phone began to ring. She saw Scott's name and picked up, worried, "Scott?"

"Georgie!" he greeted, relief in his voice. "Where are you? Are you with Stiles?"

"We're at the hospital," Georgie explained. "We saw your mom and she gave him a sedative to help him sleep. He's out right now, will be for few more hours."

"Then can you meet me at my house?" Scott asked her desperately. "Kira and I are about to head there now, before the sun goes down."

"What? Why?" Georgie asked, confused. Scott never told her and Stiles what happened at the party after they left.

"The things that attacked Isaac showed up last night," Scott explained quickly. "We can't kill them and they're fast, and skilled. They went after Ethan, Lydia and Aiden and did the same thing they did to Isaac. Even to Derek and Marissa. They all have the same kind of symbol on their heads because of it. But as soon as the sun came up, they disappeared. And Argent thinks they only come out at night."

"And it'll be night soon," Georgie sighed. "Same thing? Cold skin, the shivering and fear?"

"Exactly," he told her. "Argent says they go after people connected to the supernatural. So, they could be after me, Kira, even you. So, please just head to my place right now."

Georgie was touched that Scott wanted so badly to protect her, but her eyes were still trained on her sleeping boyfriend, "I can't just leave Stiles. What if they come after him too?"

"He's human," Scott pointed out to her.

"So is Marissa," Georgie stated. "And your mom treated her for hypothermia last night. They went after her for being connected to Derek. What if they come after Stiles for being connected to you or me?"

She heard Scott sigh, "Come on, Georgie. Stiles once stopped talking to me for not saving his dad from getting hit by a car last year. I can't imagine he'd forgive me for letting you get attacked by these demonic ninjas when I could have protected you."

Georgie bit her lip hard in thought before she finally caved, "Fine. I'll meet you there."

"Thank you, hurry," he rushed out before hanging up.

She drove as fast as she could, pulling up to the McCall house just as Scott and Kira arrived. She was shocked when Scott gave her a tight hug before letting both girls into the house. Georgie looked out the window nervously as she shut the front door and locked, "Scott, it's almost night."

"I know," he said as he rushed around the house, shutting all the windows and locking them. "But Allison, her dad and Isaac are working on something that could help."

"I don't want to sound pessimistic or anything," Kira began, "but you really think that's going to keep them out?"

He still continued to lock the windows, "Actually, we have a kind of security system. Things happened over a month ago, a lot of things, and we had my boss help make a few changes to the house."

"Your boss?" Kira asked. "Do you work for a security company or something?"

"No, he's a veterinarian," Scott answered as he closed another window.

"You had a vet put in your alarm?" she asked skeptically.

"It's not that crazy after you meet the guy," Georgie assured her.

"But I can't arm it," Scott added. "Only my mom can."

"When is she coming home?" Georgie asked worriedly.

"Don't worry," Scott told her earnestly as they made their way through the upstairs to close all the windows. "She'll be here."

"The sun is going to set any minute, Scott," Georgie emphasized nervously.

But then Scott heard a car pull up outside, "That's her now."

The three of them rushed down the stairs but stopped short when they saw Agent McCall sitting in the kitchen. Scott glared at his father, "What are you doing here? And why do you still have a key?"

McCall got defensive, "I'm just here to talk to your mother."

"About what?" Melissa asked, walking into the house with her boyfriend, Gavin, behind her.

"About him actually," he pointed an accusing finger at Gavin.

"Me?" Gavin asked him, almost amused at the clear jealousy.

"Yeah, I did a background check on you," McCall sneered.

Melissa held up her hands, glaring at her ex, "Excuse me—you did what?"

"Gavin McGarretty," her ex ignored her protest. "Word around town is you just showed up to take over the Beacon Hills cemetery. But no one really knows where you came from."

"Tell them to listen to me talk," Gavin emphasized his deep Scottish accent.

"Scott..." Georgie whispered, tugging his jacket sleeve and pointing out the window where the sun was starting to go down.

His eyes widened, "Dad, you need to leave."

"I will when I get answers," his father snapped, still facing Gavin angrily. "I looked into you, the only Gavin McGarretty I could find in Scotland died twenty years ago."

"That would be my father," Gavin snapped. "Gavin McGarretty the second, I'm the third. I've got a brother too."

"There's no birth certificate for you in Scotland," McCall narrowed his eyes.

"Both my brother and I were born in Berlin," Gavin explained. "But we grew up in the highlands."

"You do not have to explain yourself," Melissa told her boyfriend earnestly.

"Did he tell you he had a wife?" the Agent asked her. "That she died violently ten years ago?"

"Yes!" Melissa glared at her ex vehemently. "He also told me that he was there. And he was attacked as well."

"I lost a wife and child that day," Gavin added stoically. "It makes me angry when men like you push your family away and walk out on them when I would have done anything to have mine back."

Scott gulped when he saw one of the demonic ninjas materialized in the shadows of the living room, "Dad. Leave. Now."

McCall turned around to face his son when he noticed the new figure, "Who the hell is this?"

He stepped forward, brandishing his weapon, ignoring both Scott and Gavin telling him not to. He didn't have time to react before the ninja pulled out his steel sword and stabbed him through the chest, making both Georgie and Kira scream. Melissa ran forward and put pressure on his wound.

The side door opened with a bang. In fear, Melissa and Gavin dragged her ex off behind a wall as Derek slid into the room, fully transformed and growling. Scott let his transformation take over as he and Derek tried to fight off the ninjas. Scott shouted to his mom, "Mom, the ash!"

Kira and Georgie locked hands, standing in the kitchen. Georgie looked to her side to see one of the ninjas standing over them threateningly. She backed away, pushing Kira behind her, when the twins crashed into the house through the window, claws and jaws out.

They growled at the ninja and attacked. Scott finally overpowered his opponent and tossed him out the window just as Melissa clutched a glass jar in her hand from her bag. "Mom, now! Do it now!"

Melissa looked around cautiously, seeing the twins toss another ninja back out the window they broke in with. She followed after Derek who was pushing the last one out the side entrance, immediately throwing the jar onto the threshold. It shattered and mountain ash poured out of it, creating a perfect line that she knew formed a protective perimeter around the house.

There was a collective relief but not a total relaxation in the group as the demons lined the entrances of the house, waiting to get it. Kira and Georgie stared in rapt fear at the demon standing right outside the front door in front of them. Kira reached out slowly, her hand clashing with the barrier, forcing her back. Georgie didn't try the same thing, and neither girl saw Aiden staring at Kira suspiciously.

Derek and Scott stood at the side door as Gavin and Melissa carried Scott's dad into his bedroom. Derek stomped lightly on the floor, "All of the baseboards are ash wood?"

"Uh, yeah, it was Deaton's idea," Scott answered. "And where the hell did you come from?"

"I've been following you," Derek replied like it should have been obvious.

"For how long?" Scott gaped at him.

"All day."

"Kira? Right?" Aiden asked the girl next to Georgie, earning a wary look from his brother and the witch. "You gonna tell us what you are?"

Kira stared at him in fear, "What? What do you mean?"

"Scott!" Melissa's voice called downstairs. Scott ran up to his room where she and Gavin were trying to suppress his father's bleeding, "This isn't good!"

He mumbled deliriously, "Need to call for backup."

Scott stared down at his father, "How bad is it?"

"From the way that his arm is rotated, the tendon looks torn," Melissa breathed, trying to wrap the wound somehow. "We got to get him to the hospital. Should we call Stiles' Dad?"

"No offense to the Sheriff," Gavin started. "But he can't face those things."

Scott felt fear in his chest at the fact that they'd just exposed everything to this guy, "Listen, about what you saw..."

Gavin held up a hand to stop him, "It's okay, Scott, I already knew."

"You knew?" Scott gaped at him – how was it that everyone seemed to know everything and nothing at the same time?

"You met my brother," Gavin said. "Connor – at that bank when you saved Deaton. You don't have to worry. What we have to worry about is that those things won't leave until the sun comes up."

"At the rate he's bleeding, he's not gonna make it that long," Melissa stressed.

"Aiden..." Ethan warned his brother as he stared at Kira.

Aiden ignored him, catching Kira's wrist, "Watch," he pushed her hand into the force field, showing his twin that she couldn't pass through it. "She can't go through it either." He stared down at the girl suspiciously, "So, what are you?"

"A kitsune."

Derek had just walked in to say the same thing, but instead a smug feminine voice answered from outside the house. Everyone turned, some gasped, and others gaped at the sight of Jessie walking up the porch steps, standing just outside the screen door. She wore a black top underneath and short long sleeve brown jacket that latched around her neck. Her hair was longer and darker, but most of her face was hidden behind dark tinted aviator sunglasses, none of them could see her eyes.

"Jessie?" Derek whispered.

She smiled gently, "Hey."

"You're back?" Georgie asked in shock.

The girl nodded, "I am. For good, hopefully. We can have a special reunion later. For now, I need you guys to trust me. Where's Scott?"

Georgie didn't take her eyes off of Jessie for a second as she called out to the alpha, "Scott! Get down here!"

A few moments later his footsteps could be heard, his worried voice calling back, "What is it? What's wrong?"

He stopped short when he saw Jessie in the door. His eyes got wide and his jaw fell slack, "Jessie?"

"Hey Scott, mind if I come in?" Jessie asked as if he knew she was coming over just to chill.

He numbly shook his head and the twins growled as she effortlessly opened the screen door and walked passed the mountain ash. Scott still stared at her, wondering if she was really there, "You're here?" he looked at Georgie, "You see her too right?"

Jessie looked confused at the remark but Georgie nodded nervously anyway, "Yeah, I see her too."

Scott didn't wait another second before he launched himself forward and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as if any second now she would disappear. She gracefully accepted the hug, letting her arms encompass him just as tightly. It felt like they would have held each other for as long as they could, but Jessie had to force herself to pull back, speaking urgently, "Listen, Scott, you have to let them in."

"What?" he gaped at her as if she was crazy.

"They're not going to hurt you if you just let them do what they have to do," she explained. "They're called the Oni. Their purpose is to destroy the Nogitsune. It's a dark spirit that possesses supernatural beings or people connected to the supernatural. And after everything that happened, they're here to check us."

"What the hell is an Oni and Nogitsune?" Aiden growled.

Jessie stepped a half-step away from Scott to speak to everyone, "It's a dark kitsune. There are thirteen kinds, but this one is nasty. It's called void – it feeds off of pain and chaos. The Oni are making sure that it isn't in any of us, that's the symbol behind our ears. It means you're still yourself."

"Our ears?" Scott asked.

Jessie pulled her hair back, turning her head so he could see the symbol etched into her skin, "They found me in Portland."

The bleeding out FBI Agent was growing dangerously pale under Melissa's red stained hands, choking out, "I need to speak to Scott."

Melissa regarded him sarcastically, "You're kidding, right?"

"Don't patronize me, Melissa," he replied weakly. "You know why—you know why I really came back, don't you?"

"And as usual your timing sucks," she snapped. "You're not talking to him. Not like this. So, you stay awake and we're gonna get you out of here as fast as we can."

Jessie looked around the group, "Scott, you and Kira and Georgie have to let them test you. Once they see you're not the dark spirit they're looking for, they won't hurt you. It isn't pleasant but we need to let them find this thing. The Nogitsune is unlike anything we've ever faced before Scott, I promise you that. I also promise, that I would never let you get hurt. I wouldn't be telling you to do this if I thought anything else bad would happen. You can't fight them."

Scott looked into his reflection in her glasses. He slowly reached up and pulled her sunglasses off of her nose, revealing her eyes glowing bright cobalt blue. Looking into them finally, he could see the plea and the truth in what she was telling him, practically begging of him.

"Okay."

Aiden's head snapped towards the alpha, "You're kidding right?"

Scott shook his head, "Let them in, Jessie."

She nodded, looking from him to the girls, "Don't worry, okay? It fades away soon."

Jessie half-turned and swiped her hand over the mountain ash, an invisible force sweeping the dust away so the Oni could step into the house. Jessie went to stand with Scott, taking one of his hands in hers as the a ninja stepped up to him, Georgie and Kira. The three Japanese demons placed their hands on the left side of each of their heads, their eyes glowing bright yellow like little fireflies.

Each of them felt like all the warmth from their bodies was being sucked out as they seized and lost all their strength. Scott's hand twitched out of Jessie's as he and the girls fell to their knees. After what seemed like an eternal moment, the Oni removed their hands, and disappeared in a poof of black smoke.

Jessie crouched at Scott's side, holding his face in her hands, "You're going to be okay."

Scott reached for something to say, but no words escaped him until her face was disappearing from view. He could have sworn he heard Derek say, "Jessie, where are you going?" before blackness seeped into his vision.

When he came to only a minute later he had no time to question Jessie being gone until his mother and Gavin carried his father out of the house and into the car, all of them rushing to the hospital. Melissa shouted to the trauma nurse that met her at the entrance, "Hey, stab wound to the left chest. Possible collapsed lung. Pulse is weak."

They put him on a stretcher and took him off. Georgie had come too, tugging on Scott's sleeve, "We need to find Stiles."

He nodded and walked with her to where Stiles' room was. He stopped, grabbing her hand when they passed a room and he saw Stiles standing in the middle of it. Georgie walked in, "Stiles?"

He stayed still, at first not responding to her voice.

"Stiles?" Scott tried. "You okay?"

There was a lag before Stiles turned around, seemingly normal, "Yeah, fine. What's been going on?"

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long. I'm going to try and update again before New Years because I'm going on a post-college graduation trip for a month out of the country and won't be updating for a while. Let me know what you think of Jessie's return, something's off with her.

REVIEW!

RegalGirl94