Happy Holidays everyone! Even though it's Christmas I am still updating! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
As soon as I see Derek's prone body I rush over to him. I have to get him conscious again. I start to shake him, but it isn't having any affect. Panic starts to rise in my chest, but I squash it down. Now is not the time or the place to be having a panic attack. Not that there really ever is a time or a place for one in the first place. Not knowing what else to do, I reach out and tug on the bond, at first it doesn't do anything, but the stronger I pull, the more it seems to get to him. Finally I lay on hand over his heart and the other on the side of his face and make one more pull, and his eyes snap open. "Where is she?" He sits up and then almost falls back down, so I catch him and help him regain his balance.
"Jennifer? Gone, with Scott's mom."
"She took her?"
"Yeah. We gotta get you out of here. The police are coming right now, and we gotta get you the hell out of here."
"What about Cora?"
"She's healing and should be awake in a few hours. Isaac got her and the other wolves out so it's just you and me. I'm gonna stay to hold off the cops. You have to get to the house with the others. I'll try to be there soon."
"Stiles-"
"Derek, you need to be with them right now, you need to heal yourself. I'm fine."
"No you're not. Healing her took a lot of your strength. You need to recharge just as much as I do."
"Maybe, but someone needs to be here to see if the cops know anything more, and that someone can't be you. I don't want them trying to connect you to any of this. And Cora will be awake soon, so you need to be there with her. She will probably be willing to tell the pack what happened to her and you should be there to hear it. I'll be fine. I'll sit down and relax, and get out to the house as soon as I can. I promise." He still looks like he isn't going to go, but once I get him outside and the fresh air hits him, I can tell that he will go. "I love you. See you soon." He shifts to his full wolf and disappears into the tree line.
I go back to the entry hall and wait out whatever it is that is coming. I know the cops will have heard something, and that is better than nothing. But when I look up to see who is coming through the doors, I am not all that happy about it. It's Scott's dad. "Oh, just perfect." The d-bag that left him and his mom for no apparent reason. Just decided that family wasn't that important to him anymore. Scott lived with him for a while after that, but that didn't last long. His dad was never around, so he moved back home. He and I were pretty young then, about eleven or so, but I remember everything this guy put Scott through. The fact that him and my dad never got along either doesn't really help anything. He always had it out for my dad when mom died. Thought he drank too much. Actually tried to tell dad to go to an AA meeting. And even at the worst of the drinking, he was never that bad. When he makes his way over to me, I know this is going to be fun.
"A Stilinski at the center of this whole mess, what a shocker. Think you can answer some questions without the usual level of sarcasm?"
"If you can ask the questions without the usual level of stupid." Really don't like this guy. Does it show?
"Where's your dad, and why's no one been able to contact him?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen him in hours." At least I can answer that honestly.
"Is he drinking again?" What is it with this guy and drinking? Projecting maybe?
Being petulant and all, I let out an obvious sigh. "What do you mean again? He never had to stop."
"But he did have to slow down. Is he drinking like he used to?" No, he isn't and you might have known that if you hadn't walked out on your kid and wife.
"All right, how about this? The next time I see him I'll give him a field sobriety test, okay? We'll do the alphabet, start with 'F' and end with 'U'."
He doesn't look too happy, and that makes me well, not happy, but at least pleased with myself. "How about you just tell me what the hell happened here."
I let out a breath, here is where the lies have to start. "I don't know what happened here. I was stuck in the elevators the whole time. Got in a pretty shitty nap."
"You're not the one who put the name on the doors, are you?"
"What name?" He doesn't tell me but leads me over to the elevator and when they close Argent is spelled out across them. Shit. He starts to ask me if I know the name and I tell him yes, I go to school with Allison Argent. I can't really hide that because it is something that someone with his level of clearance will have access to. He tries to ask me a few more questions, but it feels more like an interrogation than anything else. "I don't think I want to talk to you anymore without a layer present, this sounds more like you accusing me, then asking questions. And since I don't have a parent or guardian," the word is hard for me to get out, "present, you can't really do anything. So I am just gonna go home and get some sleep before School tomorrow, capiche?" Since there really isn't any reason he can hold me I get to go. But home is not where I am headed.
I call Allison to see where she and her father are. She says they are at their apartment. I tell them not to go anywhere, I am on my way now. Then I call Derek. "Hey, don't think I'm gonna make it out to the house after all. Sorry."
"What's wrong? I felt your anger earlier."
"Oh, just Scott's douche bag of a father coming back into town trying to stir shit up. If you could warn him for me that would be amazing. But that isn't why I am calling. There was a name written on the elevator doors, it said Argent. I think Allison's father is the third Guardian. I am going over there now to make sure nothing happens, and see if we can plan something to figure out where they are being kept. If they're not dead yet."
"Stiles, you can do this. I know you can." I am glad that he doesn't say that they are still alive. He knows the reality of the situation, he has been there before. I am not made of glass, and he doesn't treat me like I am. For that I am grateful.
"Thanks. I will keep you updated on what is going on."
"Okay, be safe."
"You too." I hang up and by the time I get off the phone I am in front of the Argent's apartment building. When I get upstairs, I am surprised to see Isaac there already. I know that he and Allison have been growing closer since the summer, but I didn't think they were this close already. Then again I spent two months searching for Boyd, and then this whole Alpha pack, and Darach thing happened, and I guess I haven't been as focused on the pack as I was. But Derek has been there, so that is good. But when this is all over, I am going to make massive apologies. Cookies usually work for that kind of stuff. I am sure they will accept cookies.
I tell Chris that it is his name on the doors, and that he is going to be the third sacrifice. Allison thinks it might have been Morrell who wrote it trying to warn them, but if that is what she is doing, then she is a little late and needs to get on that a lot faster. The eclipse is only two nights away. And Chris tells me not to give up hope. I am barely holding onto it right now.
"They could already be dead. I can't feel the bond to them. It is just gone."
"I don't think so. There's something about Jennifer's tactics. It's like she's still positioning pieces into place."
"And you're one of them." Allison looks really worried, and really she should be. Two of the pack member's parents, two pack members, have been taken already.
"Then let's not wait around to see the next move. Everything she's done has been on the Telluric Currents, so Mellissa and the Sheriff have to be somewhere on one of those currents right?" I can hear what he's saying, and it makes sense, but everything that's been happening, and all the tiredness from casting is taking its toll on me. "Stiles, if we are going to find them we will need your help."
"You seriously want to go after her? I mean what if she just takes you like the others, huh? No offense, but what's the difference between you and them?"
"I'm carrying a .45"
"And she has more power than you can possibly imagine. That storm that cut all the power, yeah she caused that. She amplified it to make it strong enough to do what it did. She is strong enough to keep up a glamor, like, permanently. She can take it down when she wants, and it can be forced down, but it doesn't take anything from her to keep it up. If I were to try that, it would either fail after ten minutes, or I would faint from exhaustion. I don't think you fully grasp what it is you are dealing with here."
"Look, the first priority is to find your dad and Mellissa and to do that I need your help. The one thing we don't have is time."
I don't take long to make up my mind, but I really don't think that he should be putting himself in danger. I want to send him to the pack house, and leave him there. I am sure Allison feels the same way, but I don't' think that will happen. "Where do we start."
Chris pulls out his maps and spreads them out using the black-light to show the markings. "The places where the sacrifices are taken and killed have been different. I think the placement has to do with the strength of the current. So there's the school, the animal clinic, and the bank."
"Wait. See hasn't succeeded at the bank. Allison and Scott saved Deaton. But that's just one place so far. We are going to need more help."
"Lydia." Isaac says what I am thinking.
"What could she do?"
"She has a talent you could say." I'm not sure I should say, but Chris seems to be trustworthy.
"Talent?"
"She's a Banshee." Chris looks shocked for all of two seconds, and then the calm comes back.
"Explains a few things."
"Yeah." They start to pull out a whole bunch of weapons. I knew Allison wouldn't let her dad retire. They are getting ready to check the bank. It's morning. I can't believe it's dawn already. No rest for the wicked and all that I guess. I call Derek and tell him what is going on, and that I want him to stay with Cora until the back up to one-hundred percent. And that he should keep the pack at home. I want to make sure they are all safe, and I don't really care about appearances at this point. Hopefully we will be able to figure some things out.
I get some clothes out of the jeep to change into, and the head to Lydia's to talk to her, and offer her a ride to school. Time to try and put those Banshee powers to use.
"What can I do? I get that I'm some human Geiger counter for death, but… I don't know how to turn it on and off yet." She wants to help, I can tell that she really doesn't know what to do. Jackson is there too, but I think he is going to the house instead of school. As much as I might like it if one of the wolves was there, it is probably better that they aren't going to be. Then Lydia gets a contemplative look on her face.
"What is it Lyds?"
"She was surprised to find out I was a Banshee. What if that's not the reason she was trying to kill me?"
"Then why did she?"
"That's what we have to find out."
At the school we are at a loss for where to start. I send a message to Ethan hoping that he shed some light on what Deucalion is planning, but also to see if he and his brother have made a decision on what we offered them last night. The first few classes pass by slowly and I am too distracted to actually pay attention. All I can do is think of how to solve this problem. And with half the equation missing, it is making it kind of hard.
We are headed to lunch when check my phone again to see that I still have no messages. "The twins aren't texting me back." I don't know what to do. How can I find the answers without knowing what I'm looking for?
"Look maybe we can just go over there and…" I don't know what she was going to say, but we both hear my phone go off, and I pull it out of my pocket to check it. It's from Isaac, and now I can feel the fear and sadness that is coming from Allison and him. "What is it?"
"It's a message from Isaac. Jennifer, she took… she took Allison's father, she took him. She's got all three now." As I am trying to put my phone back in my pocket, my hands start to shake and I miss the first time. I can feel a panic attack. It's right there, and I don't think I can stop it.
"There's still time. We still have time right? Stiles?" Yup it's started. My breathing gets shallower, and the hyperventilating is starting. I try to calm myself like I was taught all those years ago, but none of the techniques I learned are helping. "Are you okay? What is it? What's wrong?" I spin to face away from her, I don't know why, to find something to stop this from happening, like the answer will be right there? I make a full circle and face her again, but my eyes are stuck on the ground and my hands are vibrating at my sides. "Stiles?"
I have to tell her, can I even speak? "I'm having a panic attack." Okay so that got out. Her eyes go wide and she looks a bit scared, like she doesn't know what to do. I can feel my phone vibrating in my pocket but there is no way I am cognitive enough to answer it. Lydia looks around the hallway and then seems to make a decision. She starts pulling me down the hallway, and I realize that we are headed for the locker room. Good. Away from people. That's good. My phone keeps going off but I still can do anything about it. As I stumble into the room, I end up on the floor leaning against the lockers and Lydia kneels down with me.
"Just try and calm down. Try to think of something else. Anything else."
"Like what." I can barely speak.
"Good things, Happy things, uh, friends family." I give her an incredulous look, or at least I try, because really? "Oh, I mean- not family. Oh God, okay. Oh, just… try and slow your breathing."
"I can't, I can't." This is bad. I can't breathe, barely any air is making it into my lungs, and I feel like I am on the verge of passing out. I haven't had a panic attack this bad since mom died. The few that I have had in the last year don't even compare. Maybe if I pass out, I will be able to breathe again. And right as I think it's at its worst, Derek bursts through the door. I barely blink and he is by my side wrapping me in his strong embrace and is kissing me. Not the kind of kiss I really ever want to have, but when he pulls back I am breathing. Still shallow, but it is evening out. "Thanks. How'd you do that?"
"I know you get them sometimes, so I looked into how to stop them. Best way is to hold your breath and when I kissed you, you did."
"I did?"
"Yeah, you did." He is looking at me with worry in his eyes, but he hasn't let me go, and I am grasping him back like my life depends on it. I don't want to ever let him go.
"Thanks. You're really smart."
"If he was really smart he would tell you to sign up for a few sessions with the guidance counselor." She says it in a mocking tone, trying to lighten the mood, but then it hits me. Where can we go to get answers.
"Morrell!" Derek helps me up and we race off to the guidance office. It's just after lunch so the halls are clear, and everyone's in class. Not even knocking we open the door, and sitting in the chair opposite the desk is Danielle. She was a friend of Heather's I think. That sends a punch to my already bruised gut. I feel like I should have talked to her. Even if it was just to trade stupid stories about our dead friend. The only person missing is Morrell. So my mouth moves before I can think. "Are you here to see Morrell?"
"No, I thought this was gym class."
"Sweetheart, we're not in the mood for funny, do you know where she is?" Lydia, sticking to business. Gotta love her.
"If I did, I wouldn't be waiting here for twenty minutes. So how about you three back out the door and wait your turn?" She gives Derek and appreciative glance, and I just want to cover him with my own body so that she can't see him. Jennifer really did mess up my whole possessiveness over him. Or maybe it's just the wolves around me rubbing off on me.
"We're not here for a session."
"Well, I am. And I've got some serious issues to work on."
"You were friends with Heather right?"
"I was her best friend. We've been working on this three times a week."
Hold on, did you say Ms. Morrell's twenty minutes late?"
"And I don't know why either. She's always on time."
Lydia looks at me with a grave face. "I was seeing her at the beginning of the semester, she was never late."
"Then she's not late. She's missing." The only question is why. Is it the Alpha's or is it Jennifer?
"What if we're not the only ones who think she knows something?" And this is why Lydia and I make a great team. We think alike.
"Then I want to know what she knows." Not wasting any more time, I move to go around her desk and start rummaging through her files.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to find her." Danielle looks like she is ready to burst on us, so I try to stay as cool as possible.
"Those are private."
"Yeah, she's kind of right." Lydia really?
"That one's yours." I hold out a folder to Lydia and she takes it from my hand.
"Let me see that." She starts flipping through it and Danielle starts to stand up. Then I see the drawing of the tree that Lydia has been doing of late.
"Wait Lyds. That's your drawing."
"I know, it's a tree." Danielle is now looking over Lydia's shoulder trying to sneak a peek.
"Yeah, it's good too."
"Thank you."
Back on task. "No, But that's the same one, though."
"Same as what?"
"It's the same one I always see you drawing in class."
"It's a tree. I like drawing trees." She is looking at me like I hit my head or something. Derek is staying by the door, not saying anything, but is giving me silent courage and strength.
"No, but it's the exact same one. Don't you see? Give me your bag." I don't even give her a chance, I take out her notebook and start flipping pages until I hit a drawing and then place them side by side. It's like exactly the same. I keep turning pages and they are all the same. Derek has moved closer, and Danielle is backing off. "See."
"Okay, you can have my session. You have bigger issues."
"What is this?" She sounds afraid. This is part of her power. It is trying to tell her something. As I am looking at her tree, I start to notice something odd about it. So I turn it, and keep turning, then it is completely upside down.
"I know where they are. Well I don't, but you do Derek. It's the root cellar. It's something called a Nemeton. It has to be there."
He looks sad for a moment before answering. "I don't know where it is either. After Paige, my mother wanted to make sure that I would never go back there and took the memory of its location from me." Then Derek's ears perk up a bit and it looks like he is listening for something. "Someone's looking for you."
"Shit. Okay, stay here with Lydia. Try to think if there's a way that you can retrieve that memory. It's probably the FBI wanting to talk about Dad. Get out of here when the coast is clear. Love you." I lean in and give him a quick kiss before slipping out into the hallway and getting accosted by Agent McCall. He says something about my dad, and his car still being in the parking lot, and about him being officially missing. Then he pulls me into an empty classroom so we can talk some more.
"Stiles, why do I get the feeling that you know something that would help us find your dad?"
"If I did, why would I not tell you?"
"If it meant helping your dad why wouldn't you?"
"So you're asking me to tell you what I wouldn't not tell you?"
"First, I have no idea what you just said. Second, how about you just help me help you?"
"Well I don't know how to help you help me tell you something that would help you if I don't know it."
'Are you doing this on purpose?"
"I don't know anything, okay? Can I just go?" I really want to. I still have to figure out how to find the Nemeton, and I don't know how to do that.
"Where are your other friends?"
"You mean Scott?"
"I mean Scott. I mean Isaac Lahey, Allison Argent, Erica Ryes, Vernon Boyd, Jackson Whittemore, the twins Ethan and Aiden. I've been told most of your little clique didn't show up at school today."
"I don't have a clique. And if you had stuck around long enough you might know that your son and I aren't as close as we used to be."
"Stiles come on. There's been a pretty disturbing level of violent activity in this county in the last few months, several murders tied to this school. I don't know what's going on here, but it's serious. And- Hey." So I started to drift mentally from the conversation. He is just saying the same things I already know and I don't know what he thinks I am going to be able to tell him. Shouldn't he be out here looking for answers? I doubt that any of them lead to me. I can't stop thinking about how I have to find My dad and the others, and then there is stopping Jennifer and Deucalion, and really, how am I supposed to do all of it? "Your dad is missing." I know that. And the look I give him tells him as much. "Fine. But I don't want you going home alone. You have someone you can stay with tonight?"
Deaton appears in the doorway then. "He's with me." McCall doesn't look convinced but when he says that he is a friend of the family and that I work at the animal clinic he runs, McCall lets me go. I am shocked that he is there in the first place, that I just run with it. Really anything at this point to get me the hell out of there.
Once we reach my jeep I can't really hold it in any longer. "Really! Now you choose to get up off your ass and do something! I mean thanks for getting me out of there, but really! What could you possibly want with me now? I have about six billion things to do and less than two days to do it."
He doesn't flinch back from my onslaught, just stands there perfectly still as if he was expecting it all. And he probably was. Damn future vision powers. "I know what you are searching for, and no I don't know where it is, or can I see it in any vision. But I wanted to tell you, that you can find it. You have the ability. All you have to do is ground yourself, and enter a meditative state, then stretch your power out to search for a natural power source. But you will probably need most, if not all, of the pack to anchor you. Spreading yourself out like that is dangerous, and I can't tell you what will happen while you are searching, but I now that you will be able to find it that way."
I almost apologize to him, but there is too much to do, and I still want to hit him, so I don't. I just turn and get in the jeep muttering out a thanks and start to call Isaac, and text the rest of the pack. They all are going to get to the house, even though most of them are there already, and I am going to pick up Isaac and Allison on my way.
When I do pick them up, they both get in the back and Isaac keeps and arm around her and one hand in hers. I knew that the two of them were getting close, it is starting to show more and more. I am happy for them, it is pretty shitty circumstances, but as well that ends well I suppose.
At the house the rest of the pack is waiting for us outside, and they all look antsy. Derek meets me at the jeep and puts an arm around my waist as we walk up to the house. When we get up the stairs Cora is waiting just in front of the door and she looks a bit uncomfortable. Kinda like Derek did before I made him join in on puppy piles. But she does reach out and pull me into a quick hug with a muttered 'thanks' before pulling away.
We move downstairs so I can use the isolated space to help focus. Derek shifts to his wolf form so he can help me get to my meditative state, and the others work themselves around the room. Derek lies down and I curl myself into him allowing myself to indulge in the smell of his fur and the comfort it brings me. I am so tired, I've been awake for almost forty-eight hours and I really could use a nap right about now. But there are other things that need to be done. So I settle myself in and start to focus on the power in my chest, and letting it flow out of me and into the world around me. I can feel the pack and their bristle over the feeling of my magic on their skin. It continues out past the house and into the preserve. I have never gone this far before, and Deaton was right. If I didn't have the whole pack here with me now, I might get lost in this feeling. I keep searching hoping that I will find the Nemeton and our parents.
Sorry this couldn't be a happier update. No Stydia kiss in this fic. Derek felt the edge of panic and came to Stiles as fast as he could. Also, no sacrifices. While that makes for great story plot lines and all that jazz, I think that there had to be another way to find it. I mean huge magical beacon, really? Also there has been enough death in this fic, and we aren't quite done with it yet. But I can't wait to give you guys the the next chapter. Major changes happen there, and I so want to share that with you, but unfortunately that will have to wait until Saturday...
Please tell me what you think, and thanks for all the support!
Happy Holidays!