Author's Note: So I'm back! With a new chapter, quicker than I originally thought I would. I really want to take this time to thank AshDustQueen for taking this especially hard chapter and whipping into shape. This chapter would have sucked without her and I'm so grateful. I want to thank you all for commenting, favoriting, and reviewing this story. Your enthusiasm keeps me going. So I yammered on long enough, please enjoy the chapter.
It was not too long after Stiles' explanation of the events leading up to the present that Lydia and Danny made their excuses and left with promises to meet at the library early the next morning. Stiles thought about making dinner, however, he was exhausted, both emotionally and physically.
Instead of something more elaborate, Stiles quickly made and ate a sandwich before heading upstairs. He got into his pajamas and climbed into bed. He pondered all that had happened, including the attack, and finally spilling the beans to Lydia and Danny. While he considered everything, he gently drifted off to sleep.
Stiles opened his eyes and discovered that he had returned to the place he had been dreaming about, right where he had left off. The girl sat across from him, legs crossed, and a strange, pensive look on her face. Her eyes were shut. It was weird to see the contrast between her previously exuberant self, and her current, still state of being.
As he watched, the girl's eyes snapped open, and her lips stretched into a smile. "Nice to see you again, Stiles." She cocked her head. "I really wasn't expecting you back so soon."
"What happened?" Stiles asked. "I mean, the last time I was here—"
"—You made a choice to save your friends," the little girl shrugged. "And that comes with consequences."
Stiles shivered at her ominous tone. "What consequences?"
The small child stared at him for a long time, her sight once again seems as if it was piercing through his body to the very core of him. "You three are joined now."
Stiles frowned. "What?"
The girl just smiled an eerie yet enigmatic smile. "You'll figure it out for yourself soon enough."
Stiles rolled his eyes. 'Why does everyone in the supernatural world with an even a little bit of knowledge have to speak in freaking riddles, he thought. Is it to be cool, or something?
The little girl just giggled at his actions, her eyes bright with mischief.
Then, to his own surprise, Stiles found himself suddenly blurting out a question. "What's your name?"
The girl froze, a strange look crossing her face before it was shoved behind a neutral mask. "You can call me Halina."
For some reason, that name sounded familiar, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't think of a reason why.
Stiles shook his head, refocusing. "So...Halina. Do you have anything else to tell or teach me?"
Halina just gave him another creepy smile. "Your energy levels are not back to where they need to be do anything constructive."
Stiles rolled his eyes. "Seriously?"
She smiled faded into a stern look. "It can seriously hurt you if we try any magic right now, Stiles."
"So why exactly am I here?"
Halina shook her head. "To be completely honest, I have no idea how you have the strength to travel here. That should be impossible so soon after what you just went through."
"Then how?"
Halina beamed up at him. "You are more powerful than I even I thought."
Stiles' mouth dropped open, his eyes going wide. "Seriously? Me?"
After all the times Stiles had been called useless because he was a powerless human, it was surreal that he might have powerful magic. Stiles shook his head. But again this whole thing is taking place in MY Dreams so this is basically surreal city he thought.
"So what do I do now?" Stiles said, as crossed his arms and glared down at her.
Halina's smile seemed to grow impossibly brighter. She patted him on the knee. "Now, you wake up, Stiles."
Stiles groaned as his phone ring and, without opening his eyes, he flipped his hand around to find it. Once he had grasped it he opened his eyes and, seeing that it was Lydia, he quickly answered it.
"Where the hell are you?" Lydia demanded. "You were supposed to meet us thirty minutes ago."
Stiles checked the time on his phone and groaned. "Sorry, sorry. I'll be there in fifteen."
"You better be," she threatened, before hanging up. Stiles scrambled out of bed, quickly threw on his clothes, packed up his laptop and the rest of his things., He hurried downstairs and headed towards the door.
"Stiles." He whipped around to see that his father was sitting on the couch. He winced inwardly as he thought about their last conversation. Stiles had completely forgotten about it with the whole Lydia and Danny thing overshadowing everything else.
"Uh, hi Dad." He waved awkwardly. "How's it going?"
"Where are you going?" The Sheriff said, raising an eyebrow. "You just got out of the hospital yesterday."
Stiles rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. "I was supposed to meet Lydia and Danny at the library?"
His father stood up and walked over to him and crossed his arms, wrinkling his brow "Since when have you been on speaking terms with Lydia Martin and Danny Mahealani?"
"They came over yesterday, to thank me, I guess," Stiles said, scrambling for the right words. He didn't want to completely lie to his father, especially after the Sheriff had confronted him back at the hospital, so he stuck mostly to the truth. "And I guess we...bonded?" He shrugged. "Lydia wanted me to help her study for an upcoming math competition and Danny just decided to tag along."
His father's eyebrow rose. "Seriously?"The Sheriff ran a hand over his head and sighed. "I guess that would be okay, but Stiles…" The Sheriff threw him a concerned look. "I really don't want you driving, you just came out of a coma for god sakes. And besides, with this killer on the loose, I really don't think you should be out. Especially after what happened in the woods." His dad gave him a pointed look.
"Come on, Dad. It's not like I'm going to party or something!" Stiles whined. "I'm just going out to the library."
The Sheriff fidgeted as he thought it over. "Stiles…"
"Please, Dad, I feel perfectly fine and the library is just a few miles away."
"Fine." The Sheriff gave a resigned sigh. "You can go." Stiles grinned excitedly at his father. He opened his mouth to respond. "But with a few conditions," the Sheriff cut him off, raising a hand. "First of all, I want your butt back in this house no later than sundown. I will be working tonight, but I will be sending my deputies to patrol around here so I will know if your car is not parked in the driveway."
"Dad, it's summer…" Stiles wasn't happy at all, what about his date with Julian? He had thought about mentioning Julian for a while now, but their relationship was so new. And his father would not at all be happy about the age difference, and with him being the Sheriff of Beacon County he would have no problem pressing charges against Julian for shit like statutory rape or something. Despite the fact that they had only kissed once.
The Sheriff glared at him, and Stiles snapped his mouth close. "I also want you to text me every hour and to tell me you're okay."
Stiles wanted to whine about how unfair this was, but this was real to expected after everything that had happened. "Okay."
The Sheriff crossed his arms and glared down at his son. "And I haven't forgotten about the talk we're supposed to be having, not by a long shot," The Sheriff said, shaking his head. "But right now, I don't have the time. However we will be having that talk, you understand me?"
Stiles swallowed and nodded. "O-Okay."
The Sheriff shook his head and smiled wryly at Stiles. "Now get out of here. You don't want to keep Lydia waiting." He shooed him towards the front door and headed back to the living room.
Stiles grabbed his things and headed out the door. He knew that he got off relatively easy, and he was thankful his father was being more gracious than he thought he would have been in the same situation.
"You're late," Lydia said, glaring at him.
Stiles dropped his bag on the table. He looked around the room that Lydia had reserved for them. "My Dad held me up. You know he's worried and all that," he sighed. Then he held up the cardboard coffee carrier of Starbucks coffee. "But I bought refreshments. Am I forgiven?"
Lydia opened her mouth to talk but Danny stood and quickly rounded the table to take a coffee with his name scribbled on it. He took a sip and smiled at Stiles. He ruffled Stiles' hair playfully, and although Stiles was a bit annoyed, he still found himself rubbing his head against Danny's palm.
"Hey, dude," Stiles nodded to Danny.
"Thanks," Danny said before he turned around and made his way to the spot on the other side of Lydia. He sat down opened took a book off the top of the stack of books.
Lydia whirled around to glare at Danny, who just smiled at her unrepentantly. She finally rolled her eyes and snatched the coffee with her name on it. "There better be slim milk in this, Stilinski."
"Yep, skim milk, no-foam latte, hotter than the sun."
Lydia's eyebrows rose as she took a sip of her coffee. "How?"
Stiles looked away and blushed. "Uh, I have my ways."
Lydia just shook her head and Stiles finally sat down across from her.
"Okay, so what did I miss?"
Lydia picked up a legal pad that was sitting on top of an open book. "I took notes on everything that you said yesterday." She flipped her hair. "It helps to have an eidetic memory."
Stiles stared at her incredulously. "You wrote down everything I said?"
Lydia rolled her eyes. "Of course I did; this would it make easier for me to cross reference everything." She sighed. "We are here to research, after all."
She gestured to the tall stacks of books beside her. "I have already started."
He frowned at the distance between him and Lydia and scooted closer. He was expecting for her to yell at him, but she said nothing. Once again, Stiles couldn't help but notice the lack of sexual attraction he felt for Lydia. Six months ago, his boner would be practically trying to burst out of his pants from being so close to her. But to his continued surprise, he still only felt a bone-deep comfort by being so close to Lydia.
"Yeah, we haven't found anything yet, though," Danny sighed, breaking Stiles out o his wayward thoughts. "It's going to be a long day."
Lydia nodded in agreement. Then she turned, putting her hand on Stiles' arm. Her gaze suddenly reminded him of Halina's piercing stare.
"What?" Stiles asked, tapped nervously on the table
"Why didn't you take this to Deaton?" she asked, bluntly.
"It came to me last night that Deaton is this town's magical guru, and it is logical that you would have taken this to him, but you didn't. Why?"
Stiles looked away and sighed. "Because I don't trust him."
"Why?" Danny asked, finally looking away from his book. "From what you told me Deaton has helped you before."
"He's helped the pack," Stiles sadly, and shook his head. "Unfortunately for us, I'm not packing."
"Why does that matter?" Lydia asked, sharply.
"Deaton is the pack Emissary, and I don't know if he has to tell Derek about this. And I don't want Derek poking his big snout into this," Stiles answered.
"That's not all," Danny assumed, being way too perceptive for his own good.
Stiles ran a hand over his buzz cut, " He's kept things from us that would have otherwise helped us." He shook his head, "I don't know, Deaton just comes off as really shady, man."
Once again, Stiles was astonished that Lydia didn't press the issue; she simply nodded.
"Well, I guess it's going to come down to us finding the answers on our own." Lydia shoved a book into his hands. "I guess we have to get to work."
Stiles groaned and stretched, wincing at the cracks his joints made as he moved. He turned to look at the tall stacks of books that he still had to go through. They had worked in that study room all day, only taking a short break to eat lunch at a nearby diner. Stiles ate all the curly fries he wanted, while Lydia looked on with disgust as she primly ate her salad and drank her Evian water. Danny had laughed as he ate his own burger. During their short break, they didn't really talk about the supernatural; they stuck to normal things like the movies they wanted to see, upcoming parties, town gossip—Lydia was a fount of gossip on that front—and books they read.
It astonished Stiles to find that he really had a lot in common with Lydia and Danny. However, as he thought about it, maybe it wasn't all that surprising after all. Lydia and Danny were the two smartest kids in the school. He just knew that Lydia was going to Valedictorian and that both Danny and Stiles would probably have to compete for Salutatorian. It really surprised him, though, how easy it was to talk to them. Stiles didn't have to try to fit in, he could just be himself.
So it was a pleasant surprise to him how quickly their lunch went, and before they all knew it they had paid the check and headed back to the library. They had been talking about the latest Marvel movie when Stiles received a text from Julian.
Julian had wanted to check in on him and see if he was okay. And Stiles had quickly reassured him that he was fine and he was simply out with his friends. As they continued to walk, Stiles' attention was completely on his phone as he exchanged texts telling Julian about being out with his friends, while Julian lamented about how much he missed Stiles. Stiles had smiled down at his phone, a warm feeling at the thought of actually being needed for once washed over him.
"Stop day dreaming, Stiles." Lydia had snapped, as they headed inside the library.
Stiles rolled his eyes and put away his phone, before turning to her. "I'm not daydreaming."
"That goofy smile says otherwise, Stilinski," Danny snorted.
Stiles rolled up a receipt from his pocket and threw it at Danny, who caught it, before looking up and laughing.
"But seriously, you have that soppy look on your face," Danny said, lowering his voice as they passed the reception desk where the librarian was busy checking out books for an elderly man. He threw Stiles a teasing smile, "Got a new girl?"
Lydia went still and spun around to look at Stiles. She looked him up and down.
"You do look sappy," Lydia whispered accusingly, crossing her arms.
"I'm seeing someone, okay?" he blurted out, louder than he meant to. This was the first time he had actually admitted it to anyone. Hell, with them being on the outs, it was surreal that Lydia and Danny would know even before Scott.
"Hush, before the librarian kicks us out," Lydia hissed. She shook her head. "Now, spill."
Stiles took a heavy breath, before he finally said, "Look, his name is Julian and he's a college student at UC Beacon Hills ."
"A college man." Danny nodded in approval as they made their way between the shelves. "Nice."
"Since when have you not been straight?" Lydia demanded.
Danny snorted again. "It's been pretty obvious since he was going around asking if he was attractive to gay guys."
Lydia just rolled her eyes as they made their way to the study room. They all took their seats and sat down and got to business. They spent the rest of their time researching and taking notes. They sometimes exchanged books and discussed their own theories and the entire situation of the monster and Stiles' magic.
It was several hours later when Stiles' phone vibrated again. Distracted, he pulled out his phone and after he finished reading a passage in his current book he finally turned to read the display. Stiles's eyes went wide as he stared at the display.
"Oh, shit." He stumbled out of his chair, practically falling on the floor. "I got to get home. Dad wants me back at the house before sunset."
Lydia sighed in disappointment as she looked at the time on her laptop. "Fine, it's almost closing time anyway." Lydia put her laptop away and stood up and started to neatly stack up to the books. "I can't believe we didn't find anything."
Stiles shook his head as he finished shoving the discarded snack wrappers and chip bags into a trash bag. "It's like that, sometimes. You just have to dig a little deeper."
"Hold up, guys," Danny said excitingly. "I think you guys should see this."
Stiles dropped his bag and both of them hurried over to peer over Danny's shoulder.
"It says here that a witches coven can only combine magics with each other like we did that night that monster attacked." He pointed out a section. "It's called an Alignment."
"A coven, like a witch's coven?" Lydia snorted. "Like flying broomsticks, and dancing naked under the full moon?" She huffed and rolled her eyes. "That's a little illogical."
"So are werewolves, and Kanimas," Danny pointed out.
"And there is Deaton," Stiles added, nodding in agreement. "Magical Guru extraordinaire."
Danny looked at the book and pointed out another section. "It also says that new covens forming often feel the need to be physically close to each other. Like how we have been practically all over each other since the attack."
"So a coven." Stiles shook his head. "Just when I thought my life couldn't get weirder." His phone beeped again, and Stiles groaned. "I have to get going, but I'm definitely going to be researching this tonight."
Stiles picked up his bag of trash and shoved it into his backpack.
"I'm going to check this out," Danny announced, holding up the book.
"Just be sure to email us anything you find out," Lydia all but ordered.
"Will do," Stiles promised, giving a sloppy salute.
As Stiles made his way out of the Library, he couldn't quite wrap his mind around this newest revelation. It was right on his face the entire time and he had missed it. Was the magical...a witch? Stiles wrinkled his nose. This was like a section out of a novel or something. However, Stiles could slap himself for completely missing this logical conclusion.
It was just so weird. Stiles was used to being the powerless human of the group. No abilities or badass skills, other than research. He wondered what Derek would think about him now. He shivered because he knew Derek would not at all be happy that he had a group of supernaturally powered humans in his territory.
As Stiles drove out of the parking lot, he was resolved that he would try to keep all of this under wraps as long as possible.
