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Lacy here. And boy is it all starting to go down. Well, the entire season has kinda been that way, but you know what I mean. We're only four episodes away from the end of the season and that means major angst, like we didn't have that already, and some serious fighting going on. But first! A history lesson on the Martin family. Yeah, that was surprising. Read on!
Disclaimer: I own only Effie.
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~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~
Effie ran her hand through her hair. "You sure I don't need to come?"
"No, Ef." Stiles insisted over the line. "He's passed out on morphine now. All you'd be doing is watching him sleep. Help the others get Parrish up to speed. I'll stay with Dad."
Effie frowned. "What's with the tone, Stiles?"
Stiles sighed. "I told him I know about the bills and collectors and advances and all of it."
Effie leaned against the loft door, blocking out the others on the other side. "Stiles, you know how he feels about that."
"We promised Mom, Effie." Stiles reminded her. "We promised Mom we'd look out for each other, Dad included. How can we do that if he keeps things from us?"
"We can't," Effie admitted. "Just, go easy on him. He is the parent in this whole messed up situation."
"Deal," Stiles smiled. "go back to Deputy Confusing and let me know what happens."
Effie laughed. "You got it." Ending the call, she entered the loft again in time to hear Parrish ask what a kanima was. "The true form of a self-centered jerk face." she saw the looks she got. "What? Can you think of another way to describe Jackson?"
"We'll get back to that." Scott said, after fighting off the urge to laugh. "Just know that everyone like us, everyone with some kind of supernatural ability is on the dead pool."
"But I don't even know what I am." Parrish argued.
"I'm pretty sure they don't care." Derek threw out.
"How many professional assassins are we talking about?" Parrish asked.
"We're starting to lose count." Lydia replied.
"But is it still just professionals?" Scott questioned.
"I don't think Haigh's ever done anything like this." Parrish said. "I think he was taking a chance."
"That means anyone with the dead pool can take a chance." Effie said.
"But if Haigh had it," Parrish said. "then who else does? How easy is it to get this thing now?" he saw the looks exchanged but focused on Effie. "Wait, you haven't explained what Effie is."
Effie cleared her throat as Derek wrapped an arm around her. "I'm a druidfox."
Parrish frowned. "That sounds complicated."
"Complicated enough that I don't have a definite price on the list." Effie said. "Basically, I was born with druid magic and when I was bitten, I kept it. My eyes turn lilac and I have visions that I'm driven to paint or draw and feelings, almost like telepathy for emotions. And runes appear on my body when I use my magic while shifted."
"Only they don't," Scott noticed. "your runes haven't appeared in a while. Since Derek was taken."
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice that." Effie grumbled. "When I lost control over feeling Derek being taken, my fox and druid combined. Completely. There is no longer a distinction between one or the other."
"Is that safe?" Lydia asked.
"We don't know." Derek answered. "Deaton's never seen it happen before and he can't find anything written about it. Any reference to a druid shifters says the powers always stay separate."
Effie shrugged, dropping her hands to her sides. "Once more, I'm a mystery. But at least I'm not alone." she looked at Parrish. "How are you?"
Parrish sighed. "Confused, overwhelmed and tired."
"We're almost done." Lydia said. "I learned more about Meredith."
"Tell us." Scott requested.
"Meredith was only at my grandmother's lake house once." Lydia said. "But I think once was enough."
"How'd your grandmother know her?" Derek asked.
"She didn't." Lydia said. "She found her. Because of another woman named Maddy. The woman she loved." she pulled out a picture and handed it to Scott. "I never met her, but I saw her name everywhere. She used to be part of a yacht racing team. There plaques and trophies in the lake house from all the regattas she'd won."
"How'd she die?" Parrish asked.
"How's not the story." Lydia said. "It's what happened right before. My grandmother, Lorraine, used to work in San Francisco for IBM. She was there on a weekend, catching up on work. She started hearing this sound, like rain. But when she looked out the windows, all she saw was blue sky."
"But she kept hearing the rain?" Scott asked.
"And it just kept getting louder." Lydia confirmed. "Rain and thunder, cracking like gunshots in her head. So loud. She finally just screamed."
"Like a banshee." Effie and Derek guessed.
"She called Maddy who was planning on taking one of the boats out on the lake." Lydia went on. "But Maddy said that the sun was shining there too. So Lorraine didn't say anything."
"There was an accident." Parrish seemed to know where the story was going.
"It took them four days to find Maddy's body." Lydia said. "And then it took decades to figure out how Lorraine knew. She started with parapsychologists, like the PhD in their name made it more scientific. They built the study in the lake house according to every pseudoscientific theory they could find. None of it worked. Then she started getting into more extreme occult. Things like mediums and psychics. All of them were failures. Until Meredith. They found her at Eichen House. This fragile girl who didn't understand the things she heard. They brought her to the study. And they almost killed her. She was hospitalized for over a year. She," Lydia paused. "never really recovered. My grandmother drove her insane. And I drove her to suicide. And all she ever wanted to do was help." she motioned everyone around the table and brought out a piece of paper. It was covered in numbers and letters. "My grandmother created the code for the dead pool. They think she's the Banshee who put the names out in the first place. She left me this message in the same code."
"But she didn't leave a cipher key, did she?" Scott asked.
Lydia shook her head. It wasn't long after that that the group parted. Effie stayed with Derek as the others left, moving to the kitchen and hoping to avoid what she'd shared about her powers.
True, Derek already knew, but he didn't have to be a werewolf to pick up on the stress and pressure Effie felt over not knowing what she was.
"Talk to me, Effie." Derek said softly.
Effie kept her back to him. "What if part of my mystery can save you? What if I don't find out until it's too late?"
Derek slowly made his way over to her. "What if I'm not meant to be saved?"
Effie shook her head. "I won't accept that. I can't." she fisted her hand. "We saved Dad, Chris and Melissa. We saved Stiles. We saved Jackson, for god's sake. There has to be a way to save you."
"Only there's a difference between those situations and mine." Derek pointed out. "Mine comes with a Banshee prediction. And they predict death."
"Stop." Effie beat her fist down once. "Stop sounding so calm and accepting of this." she spun around. "Do you want to die? Do you wanna be taken from me? From our pack? Our family? Is that why you're not fighting?"
"Of course not," Derek pulled Effie close enough for contact but was still able to meet her eyes. "if I had my way, I'd never leave your side again. We'd be together for everything."
"Then why?" Effie asked, tears filling her eyes. "Why aren't you fighting to live?"
"Because," Derek licked his lips as he thought. "something about this feels like it's meant to happen. Like I'm going through this for a reason, even if I can't see it yet. And, as terrified as I am that it could mean you dying as well, I know I have to see this through to the end."
"If your end is mine as well, so be it." Effie blinked, causing her tears to fall. "And if there's some divine reason for losing my mate, I'm not sure I want to know what it is."
"This isn't the end, Effie." Derek said, his voice sure and strong. "It doesn't feel that way and I'm holding onto the belief that it won't be. We are going to be together for a very long time."
"Promise?" Effie all but pleaded.
Derek shook his head. "No but I'll do my damnedest to make sure it happens."
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"Are you going to the bonfire?" Derek asked as Effie did her homework on the couch.
Effie cocked a brow. "I'd rather jab my own eyes out with the Kanima's claws."
"Vivid," Derek laughed as he sat beside her. "don't you normally go to support Stiles?"
"Stiles isn't there." Effie pointed out. "He and Lydia are on a mission to Eichen House. And I'd rather avoid that place like it carried the plague."
Derek frowned. "Why?"
"Well, aside from housing my brother while he was going slowly insane because of the Nogitsune," Effie put her pen down. "I seem to have a latent empathic ability that shows itself whenever I'm there."
"And with all the issues those people have," Derek nodded. "it's a mental breakdown waiting to happen."
Effie nodded. "Yeah, that's-" she stopped, sitting forward with a frown.
Derek mimicked her. "Effie,"
"Stiles," Effie said her brother's name. "something's wrong with Stiles."
Derek stood, pulling Effie with him. "Let's go."
Effie stopped him. "Wait, Scott, too." she focused on Derek. "You, go to the school. I'll go to Eichen House." Wanting to avoid it or not, it was Stiles.
Derek looked like he was going to argue but nodded. "Alright," he kissed her. "be careful."
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Effie saw Parrish the moment she stopped her jeep. "Parrish!" she jumped from the vehicle. "What are you doing out here?"
"The orderly, Brunski," Parrish said. "he was the one who killed all the people on the last list. The one Lorraine left for Lydia."
Effie swallowed. "The one who abused Stiles while he was here." she looked at him. "We have to stop him."
Parrish shook his head. "I don't understand, how did you know?"
"I didn't." Effie answered. "Stiles and I are linked and I knew something was wrong."
Parrish nodded. "Alright." he pulled his gun and saw Effie's claws, tinged with flames. "Do you have a permit for those?"
Effie smirked. "They're not exactly the kind of thing permits are handed out for."
"Right," he cocked his gun. "lead the way."
Effie growled. "Gladly."
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Parrish entered the room first, seeing Brunski with a needle to Lydia's neck. "Drop it!" he ordered. "Take your thumb off that needle and slowly withdraw it from her neck."
"Young Deputy." Brunski said. "You're just a kid."
Effie wrapped her claws around Brunski's neck. "So am I." she tightened them. "Do what he said."
Brunski smirked. "Or what? You'll-"
Parrish pulled his trigger before Brunski could finish. Effie held him up for a second before letting his body crash to the ground. Effie dropped to Stiles's side while Parrish helped Lydia.
"He," Lydia tried to talk. "he killed my grandmother. He was controlling Meredith."
"He used her to create the dead pool." Stiles said.
"And he killed her when she tried to help us." Lydia finished.
Brunski suddenly laughed, spitting blood everywhere. "You-you think it was me? That I was controlling her?" he laughed more. "Idiots. She was controlling me."
Effie frowned, confused as the others.
"Oh god," Lydia suddenly said. "It's not him. He's not the Benefactor."
"No." a woman's voice sounded, causing them to turn. It was Meredith. "And, he wasn't on my list. But he was a bad person."
Effie stared, unable to believe it. Meredith was the Benefactor.
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And there we have it. Be honest, who did not see this coming? Cause I was shocked. Not as shocked as what Meredith reveals in the next chapter. I laughed so hard at Peter, I'm just saying. Also, I know I'm making Effie to be this huge mystery wrapped into an even bigger one, but I promise all will be explained during the in-between story for seasons four and five. Just hold on a little longer. Alright, let me know what you think, flame policy stands and thanks for reading.
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