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h2strongspan style="font-size: 12.0pt;"A/N – Hey everyone! Oh my GOSH, it has been a hot minute. I'm talking at least a year and a half. I'm sorry to say that I had a bit of a health crisis, and then had to scramble to graduate, and then do the "Oh my god, I need to make money to survive" thing. Unluckily for you all, however, you get an update. We're so close to being done! I am absolutely gonna rewrite most of the previous chapters too./span/strong/h2
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p class="Textbody"strongPersephone xo/strong/p
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p class="MsoNormal"It was silent, this time. Usually when his friends returned from whatever kind of mind journey they had been on, they cried out as they emerged, or panted as if they had forgotten how to breathe. This was different. Had he not been trying to read the micro-expressions on Lydia's face, Stiles wouldn't have noticed when Jackson's hands went slack and his claws slid out of the base of her skull./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Lydia shook her head, trying to throw off the remnants of Morinna's past, the smell of damp in a stuffy apartment and the echo of traffic several storeys below./p
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p class="MsoNormal""Hey," Stiles murmured, not wanting to startle her. She blinked at the floor./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Next to her, Jackson was examining his hands and then his forearms as if he hadn't seen them before. He swallowed and the looked up from them, eyes focusing in on Ethan, who was hunched against the wall opposite./p
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p class="MsoNormal""My memories," he said, voice thick./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Ethan gave him a measured look. "You didn't find them?"/p
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p class="MsoNormal"Jackson shook his head, mouth suddenly very dry. "I found them," he said hoarsely. "I saw… I saw us, Ethan."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"The werewolf lurched forward to embrace his boyfriend, tucking his head under his chin. "I know," he whispered, rubbing slow circles into his back. "You needed them back. I knew you needed them."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"Jackson nodded./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Next to them, Morinna was silent and unmoving, save for a single tear sliding down one cheek. Stiles felt a pang of pity, just for a moment, as she sat alone in the root cellar./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Lydia looked up abruptly, reorienting herself. "Get up," she said brusquely. "We need to hurry."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"There was something wrong. Stiles could tell; she seemed paler than usual, little spots of bright pink on her cheeks, and she spoke with authority but not certainty./p
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p class="MsoNormal""You didn't tell me," Morinna said, hard-voiced, eyes still fixed on the air in front of her. "I didn't know it would be like that."/p
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p class="MsoNormal""Well, it was," Lydia dismissed her. "There's no time to dwell on it."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"She stood up, as much as one could stand up in a low-ceilinged root cellar, and felt around for the hatch./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Stiles eyed Morinna suspiciously, wondering what had happened inside her head. "Are you al-"/p
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p class="MsoNormal""em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Stiles/em," Lydia snapped. "Help me open this thing."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"By the time he had stood up, Lydia had already prised it open and was searching for a stable root to pull herself up with. Stiles sighed and reached down to lift her up, arms banded around her thighs. He followed her out, hauling himself up with his uninjured arm, strength helping him out of the root cellar in a way he couldn't have hoped for before he had left Beacon Hills. He turned around as soon as he was out, ducking his head back down through the hatch to look at Morinna's wan face./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal""Come on," he said gently, stretching his arms out towards her./p
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p class="MsoNormal"She got up, expressionless, and let him haul her up above ground. She didn't stand up when she got to the edge, kneeling, jaw tense as if she was trying not to cry. Jackson and Ethan followed, faces grave and distracted./p
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p class="MsoNormal""Damn," Lydia muttered, rifling through her bag. Stiles could hear the clink of glass bottles jostling. "Anyone got a lighter?"/p
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p class="MsoNormal""Are we setting fire to it?" Ethan asked sceptically, eyeing the Nemeton./p
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p class="MsoNormal""Not without a lighter, clearly," Lydia said, annoyed, pulling out a little wooden box and shaking it. "Nobody? Great. I was meant to burn this and draw symbols with the charred wood."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"She slid open the top of the box and pulled out a crudely pointed piece of wood, turning it between her fingers./p
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p class="MsoNormal""A magic wand?" Jackson clarified./p
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p class="MsoNormal""In a sense, I guess. It's part of the Nemeton. I collected it a few days ago to practice on, but there was no time," Lydia explained. "Many ritual traditions used pointed objects – wands, knives – to direct energy to the right place. I suppose I could use it that way instead. But I still need something to draw with. I'll figure it out."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"They watched as she pulled several glass vials out of her bag, setting them on the ground in a neat row. Inside were mixes of what looked like herbs, ash, and petals./p
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p class="MsoNormal""Sit on the Nemeton, Morinna," she ordered, sighing when she was met with a blank expression. "The stump. Sit on the stump."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"Morinna clambered to her feet and crossed over to the wooden surface, climbing onto the middle of it to kneel there. She felt a sick, squeezing feeling in her stomach. "How is this going to hide me?" she asked, voice wavering. "He can still track me here. Anyone could track me here, even if they couldn't smell me from within the ritual."/p
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p class="MsoNormal""I just need you to trust me," said Lydia, not looking at her. She continued to rummage through her purse, pulling out an organza pouch full of jewellery. "Put this on," she said, chucking it towards her. "Then pass them around."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"Morinna pulled out a little silver pendant, cold to the touch, in a curled and jagged symbol. "An ankh," she recalled, recognising it from her reading. "From an Egyptian mystery school. Are you using Egyptian magic?" She passed the pouch on to Stiles, who pulled out his own./p
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p class="MsoNormal""This is an emergency ritual. I'm using whatever the hell kind of magic I can find."/p
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p class="MsoNormal""That fills me with hope," Morinna muttered, hugging her knees to her chest./p
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p class="MsoNormal""The rest of you need to spread out and keep watch," Lydia instructed, and Stiles, Ethan and Jackson immediately followed, spacing around to look into the trees at the edge of the clearing./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Lydia pulled her phone out of her pocket, tapping on the screen for a second and then setting it down on the stump. Morinna could see a compass on the screen, the needle pointing jut towards her./p
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p class="MsoNormal""Morinna," she said gravely. "In a few minutes, I'm going to ask you to do some things. I need you to do them without question. If you hesitate too much, things might be ruined. Ok?" Lydia waited for a tentative nod before proceeding, calling out to those around her. "That goes for you all too. Even if you think what I'm doing is dangerous, interrupting me will be worse."/p
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p class="MsoNormal""What?" Morinna, Jackson and Stiles all yelped at once./p
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p class="MsoNormal""Ok," Ethan said coolly at the same time./p
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p class="MsoNormal""Starting from now," Lydia said quickly, ignoring Stiles' look of anger. She pulled out a small silver knife from her bag and, before anyone could register what she was doing, drew it across her palm with a clean sweep./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Morinna smelt it immediately, the smoky smell of blood and desire making her chest hot and achy. She bit down on her lower lip and closed her eyes, focusing on the breathing./p
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p class="MsoNormal""Lydia!" Stiles objected./p
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p class="MsoNormal""Keep watch!" Lydia called back. "No interruptions."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"She flexed her fingers, watching the blood pool into the palm of her hand, and finally dipped the edge of the Nemeton fragment into it. She walked over to the piece of stump just behind Morinna, who stretched back to watch her. Lydia began to draw a symbol, a long key-like shape with several lines across it, some branching off on only one side./p
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p class="MsoNormal""em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Voco super Septentrionalis,/em" she began to say, the language guttural and harsh. "In this corner I ask you for em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"constantiam/em, and I offer heather, holly, and pine."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"Lydia pulled the stopper from one of her glass bottles and began to walk slowly around the Nemeton, sprinkling small amounts of the mixture onto the ground. "With this em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"ur/em I seek to temper passion with restraint. With this em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"tinne/em I seek the power to restore balance and justice. With this em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"ailim /emI seek to progress with wisdom."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"As she closed the circle, a strange quiet seemed to settle over the clearing. Jackson and Ethan both looked around incredulously, though Stiles hadn't seemed to notice, looking irritated still and glaring out into the trees./p
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p class="MsoNormal""em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Nunc etiam assidua virtutem. Sic fiat semper./em"/p
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p class="MsoNormal"Morinna watched as the strange powder on the ground seemed to bubble and fizz, letting off faint curls of smoke. Lydia continued her methodic speech, emptying glass bottles here and there. She seemed to be working clockwise, drawing strange symbols, facing compass directions. Morinna didn't feel much at all./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Until she finished the last circle of strange, purple powder with a flourish. Now things were silent – so quiet that Morinna slumped sideways for a moment, somehow caught off balance. She caught herself and looked out at the others, unsure, wide eyed. Even Stiles had noticed something – he had paused his current pursuit of scratching underneath his wrist splint with a stick and was gaping in their direction./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Lydia stepped closer to the stump, her mouth moving. Morinna frowned at her before realising she was speaking. Impatiently, Lydia waved a hand and then held it towards her as if she were pressing on glass. Catching on, Morinna held her own palm out and pushed it towards her. When they connected, the air around them seemed to shimmer – light leaking out from the outline of their hands./p
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p class="MsoNormal""You're shut in," Lydia said, only she wasn't speaking. With a jolt, Morinna realised that it was almost like hearing her own thoughts but in someone else's voice. "Try not to panic. It's temporary."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"With a shaky breath, the girl nodded. "Okay. If he can't get to me."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"Lydia gave her a guarded smile. "He can't. But we're not done yet. The thing you do – absorbing emotions, energy… I need you to do it now. Don't hold back. You can't hurt us from in there."/p
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p class="MsoNormal""But why?" Morinna asked, unease beginning to crawl in. "Isn't the ritual finished?"/p
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p class="MsoNormal""It's started," Lydia corrected her. "All rituals need energy. We're shielding you and for that to last for a while, we need energy to keep it up. Absorb the energy around you, and imagine yourself putting it into the Nemeton."/p
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p class="MsoNormal""The stump?"/p
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p class="MsoNormal""The stump."/p
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p class="MsoNormal"Morinna searched Lydia's face and then nodded hesitantly. A pit of guilt bloomed in Lydia's stomach. The Morinna that remained from their little trek inside her mind didn't seem to be the headstrong, dramatic, harsh girl that she had grown to dislike. This Morinna seemed unsure and scared and truly young./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Balance, she supposed. Balance in all; to restore Jackson to the present, they had pushed Morinna towards the past./p
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p class="MsoNormal"But it was too late now. And Lydia hadn't lied, not exactly. This ritual would certainly shield Morinna from Leo; it just so happened that this outcome was temporary, and a side effect of a greater goal: shutting down the Nemeton once and for all. Duplicity aside, there was no reason that Lydia couldn't do all in her power to protect the girl when the ritual was over./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Lydia stepped away from the stump to watch her plan unfold. Morinna closed her eyes and pressed her palms into the wood, taking a few breaths to center herself. After a few moments she began to relax and feel the energy around her./p
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p class="MsoNormal"It was like standing in a spice market. The aromas of herbs and smoke and rich fruits overwhelmed her in a matter of seconds, filling her head with a sort of fog as if she was inhaling a thick cloud of incense. Her skin seemed to buzz with it, heat zigzagging up her spine. She was careful to push it straight back down into the wood beneath her hands./p
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p class="MsoNormal"This was unlike anything she had ever felt before; so used to absorbing energy with a hunger that had been suppressed for too long. She had never tried to let it go, to channel it, to direct it elsewhere. Now it seemed to wash over her, revitalising her in a strange, temporary way; the difference, she supposed, between drinking water and swimming in it./p
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p class="MsoNormal"It was like, she realised with a cold shiver, being alive again./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Movement to her left caught her eye. Jackson and Ethan were standing up straight, looking out into the trees. Lydia stepped forward almost automatically, everyone on high alert./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Leo had arrived./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Morinna faltered, pulling herself back almost immediately. She was safe, she reminded herself. She couldn't even hear what was happening out there. He couldn't get to her./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Still, it was hard not to be distracted. They were arguing, yelling, though she didn't know what. In moments, Leo had lunged at Ethan, and it all seemed to explode into chaos./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Everywhere, flashes of sharp teeth, glowing eyes. Lydia had run to the edge of the clearing, hands held purposefully in front of her as if she was looking for a place to intervene, though what she hoped to do with no weapon Morinna could only guess. Stiles seemed to have the same concern, as he tugged on her elbow, trying to get her away from the scuffle of claws./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Morinna swallowed and shut her eyes. "You're safe, you're safe," she whispered to herself, concentrating on the powerful thrum of energy she felt. She was getting hot, she realised, her hair sticking to her forehead in a way it hadn't since she turned. She didn't even know it was possible for her to sweat./p
p class="MsoNormal"The heat was rising exponentially, and when a wave of blistering hot energy washed over her she felt herself swoon and lose balance. She opened her eyes just in time to see Leo, with a face of fire, launching himself at her, teeth bared sharp and glistening./p
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p class="MsoNormal"She panicked./p
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p class="MsoNormal"All of the noise seemed to return to the clearing in one great rush, and even the wind in the trees sounded to her like a deafening roar. Time seemed to slow. All she could process was Leo, terrifying, gliding towards her, claws aimed for her throat, and she fell backwards, and then Lydia was screaming, and it seemed even louder than it could possibly be./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Like an invisible force had barrelled into his side, impossibly, Leo arched sideways, inches from her face, disappearing just in time for Morinna to smack her head on the stump. She lay for a moment, the wind knocked out of her, vision swimming in and out of focus. The yelling seemed so far away./p
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p class="MsoNormal"emThe ritual/em, she remembered, and weakly rested her hands once again on the wood, met the familiar energy, felt the familiar heat. She was hot again, feverish, so hot that she felt cold in the tips of her fingers. She was so tired. It couldn't hurt, surely, to slip into a dream…/p
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p class="MsoNormal"Snarls, close to her head, and shouts. She was jolted back to the present, and lifted her dizzy head up to see… Isaac? She blinked. Isaac, Scott, Malia, bursting through the treeline, eyes glowing./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Leo ran towards them with an inhuman noise of pure rage. Was the Nemeton moving, or was she? Nausea rolled over her and Morinna slumped down once more./p
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p class="MsoNormal"Seconds or minutes?/p
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p class="MsoNormal"Her skin hurt, burnt like fire ants were crawling all over her. Something seemed wrong. The energy felt like molten rock, weighing her down. It took all of her strength to lift her head./p
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p class="MsoNormal"In time to see Leo, knocked down by Scott./p
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p class="MsoNormal"In time to see Malia, seizing his arms behind his back./p
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p class="MsoNormal"In time to see Isaac, going for the throat./p
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p class="MsoNormal"She knew the moment that he died. She knew because she felt his dying cry, his essence slipping out of his body, as she absorbed it, pushing it thoughtlessly into the stump./p
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p class="MsoNormal"In the clearing, two girls screamed, their voices impossibly loud, twisting together in a horrible, shrieking harmony. One of them, kneeling on a burning tree stump, realised in that moment that something had gone wrong. If the ritual was working as intended, she shouldn't be able to hear anything at all./p
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p class="MsoNormal"A wave of black, smoking, dying magic rippled beneath Morinna's knees. She only heard Lydia shout "No!" before it shot out into the clearing like a shockwave, and then none of them could hear anything at all./p
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