Chapter Twenty Six: The Descent
"This is not what I thought it would be like when you made me bend over." She called again, her body in a jack knife position over the side of a cliff while his body dangled listlessly in the air. They were connected only by their clasped hands and Stiles was was trying to swing himself closer to the side of the cliff where there was a small foothold he could drop to.
"If we don't die up here, I'm going to kill you." He yelled back, as they both simultaneously worked to get enough momentum to swing him over to that ledge. "Okay, let go, NOW."
She reluctantly dropped him and with the loss of the extra weight, the pressure on her previous spine injury subsided and Alex was able to inch herself back onto solid ground. The rain that had been beating down on them miraculously let up a fraction and the visibility improved enough for her to peer down at Stiles who was trying again to swing himself up to her on the top of the cliff they'd just climbed.
"Again, this time with feeling!" She yelled, unable to stop the pointless commentary. After coming so close to losing him, it was the only way to distract herself from the panic that threatened to creep over her. She could feel it crushing her lungs and crackling over her ribs.
When he finally swung himself up he rolled over onto his back the same way that she had and let out a shaky breath. She fell back onto her elbows and they both took a moment to compose themselves before she could feel the weight of Stiles' glare.
"You are a pain in my ass." He yelled, launching himself upright and offering her a hand up. "Making jokes as we're about to plunge to our deaths." He shook his head as if to scold her.
She didn't have a reply. She just pulled him down into a crushing hug that knocked the wind right out of his lungs. The hug was hard, clumsy, wet, and a little awkward and Stiles stood shocked for a moment, his arms hanging uselessly at his sides. He felt her tremble beneath him, only a little and he responded by tugging her even further into his chest.
"Hey," He muttered, breath warm as it tickled the tips of her cold ears. "It's okay. We're fine."
"That was really close, though." She whispered back, eyed widening as she looked over his shoulder and saw the scene before them. "And it gets worse."
Stiles turned out of her arms and directed his gaze to what she was looking at. What had been depicted as a bridge on Stiles' map was actually a narrow strip of land that ran along the edge of the cliff. On one side the edge of the cliff they'd just scaled met the violent waves beating against its side and on the other was a swirling pool of black water that pulsated and undulated through a hole in the cliff that the water had made over hundreds of years of abuse. The mist from the massive tide pool fell around them like snow making it feel like she was viewing the world through glasses with the wrong prescription.
The bridge they were being directed to walk over was sandwiched between two very painful deaths.
"You can go first this time." Alex suggested, meaning for the words to come out in jest but her awed gazed and slack jaw made her sound wary and scared.
"Chivalry isn't dead, then." Stiles deadpanned, rolling his eyes with a slight smile. "I'm swooning."
He began moving forward, slowing down as the ground beneath him tapered off to a few inches of walking space. His hands came out at his sides to try to balance himself and Alex watched with bated breath as he continued his steady pace. She wanted to wait until he'd gotten to the other side safely before attempting the walk herself just incase the small sliver of land gave away under their combined weight. He only faltered a few times before crossing the one hundred foot bridge and stepping without injury on the other side.
"It's a piece of cake!" Stiles called with a wide smile that Alex could see right through. He was drenched from head to two and Alex knew that the spray from the Ocean on both sides would impact the traction her feet would find on the ground and her visibility while she walked across.
The wind was whipping around, the mist stinging her face as a consequence. The feeling of fear was new for Alex, true unadulterated fear. For years with her father and her team of hunters she was trained not to feel fear. It was easy because she didn't have anything that she cared about other than her sister - who was often tucked in bed at home. It was easy to feel fearless because she didn't have anything to lose - and the end of the day her sister would be fine without her and potentially, at that point, even better off.
Now, seeing Stiles smile at her from across a giant watery death trap she finally understood what it felt to feel fear. Fear of losing something you might never have the chance to have. There was another kind of fear she hadn't realized that she'd been carrying around until now, the fear of actually getting something she wanted.
It spurred her on. Maybe a little too much. She felt herself walking a little too fast to get him, desperate to be back in the comfort of his arms, enveloped by the scent she'd craved for weeks after staying at his house before moving into the loft. Desperate to have him look at her in that dizzyingly terrifying way he did that made her feel like she already knew exactly how it felt to fall off the side of a cliff.
It was still surprising when she did slip and stumble.
The air rushed past her face as her hands grasped at anything they could find and somehow, by the grace of whatever the hell still wanted her alive she'd managed to hold on to the narrow walkway, her legs dangling over the massive rush of water.
Stiles had screamed her name, carried away on the wind.
Alex let out a rush of air from her lungs that were being crushed with the weight of her own torso as she held on for dear life. Suddenly, Stiles was pulling her up to safety, wrapping his arms around her waist and hauling her right into his arms tightly. He'd run out onto the barely there strip of land to save her life and now she was sitting in his lap as he mumbled beautiful reassurances into her ear.
Both of his legs were dangling over the sides of the bridge and hers were hitched over his. Their breaths mingled as their foreheads pressed together, grasping desperately at any part of each other they could touch.
Stiles was heaving, his chest knocking into hers.
"When we're out of here I'm never letting you out of my sight ever again." He said.
"Okay." Normally she would have fought him on that, but right now, she hardly seemed to care. She was perfectly okay if he never left her sight either.
"What was that?" He was angry now, pulling away slightly to glare at her. His hands cupped her face as he stared at her. "You were you running!"
His words were rushed and mangled, slurred together in a hasty attempt to get them out while he ran his hands haphazardly over her face. Her cheeks, her lips, her neck and her eyelids. He was everywhere, she felt him everywhere.
The world screeched to halt and the noise rushing around them quieted to a dull whisper when she pulled him down to slant her mouth over his. The way her lips had folded over his was messy and a little awkward, but she persisted. The warmth of his lips lit a spark low in her stomach and she pushed herself impossibly closer, slotting herself right between his legs.
He responded with a jolt of passion she could feel down to her frozen toes. He pushed back with just as much enthusiasm and swiped his tongue over her bottom lip. His lips urged her on, pressing hard and demanding, like she was finally giving something he'd been waiting patiently for. The sensation was unexpected and electrifying and she opened her mouth in a show of surprise. He didn't disappoint when given the opportunity, sliding his tongue over hers and letting it curl up to brush the ridges of her mouth.
She made an embarrassing sound that he happily swallowed.
They pulled away gasping for a solitary breath but never leaning too far apart. His eyes were searching, hooded and dark - but they were looking for something.
Regret, she realized. He was looking to see if she had felt immediate remorse. She let him dig deeper, hoping that she was conveying everything that had washed over her in the last few minutes. Alex sat before him, completely open and baring her entire soul to him as he had so desperately wanted.
She finally looked at him with a little of the same reverence he reserved for her.
"Let's get off this death trap." Alex stuttered, eyes heavy a lidded despite the water rushing a ew hundred feet beneath them. "I think we've tested fate enough for today."
He pulled her mouth back to his for one more searing kiss.
"Just incase you never let me do that again." He explained, looking just as ruined as she felt.
Stiles lead the way carefully off of the bridge, his hand clasping hers tightly and not letting go even when they made it safely to the other side. There was a strange feeling of both peace and confusion fogging Alex's brain. She felt that new kind of fear bubbling dangerously where her hand was entwined with Stiles'.
She had barely a moment to dissect it when the seemingly sturdy ground gave way beneath them, disappearing as if by magic and swallowing them whole.
The sickening feeling of your stomach moving up through your body and into your throat overtook Alex as they fell furiously into the dark abyss. Neither of them screamed which may have been impressive but could have also been a sad reminder of just how much trauma they'd suffered that not even this could elicit such a visceral response.
Stiles' hand never left Alex's.
The ground came at them fast, but not hard. It felt like a soft cushion, the dirt and rock giving way and enveloping in a soft cocoon before stretching and bouncing them back upwards. They sprawled forward, this time hitting the ground with a solid thud.
"What the fuck was that?" Alex spluttered, her hands slapping at the ground with expletive just to make sure it was solid and unyielding.
"I'm going to go with magic." Stiles offered, dusting off his jeans after helping Alex up to her feet.
"Where the hell are we now?" Inquired Alex, "Is this on your fucking map?"
The cave was dark and dreary, there was no natural light but there seemed to be a source of light emanating from no obvious object. The walls of the cave were rounded and the sound of their breaths echoed and bounced making it impossible to tell just how big the cave was.
Alex looked to Stiles who was staring directly up at the small pin prick of light which was the hole in the ground they'd fallen through. From down here it barely looked a centimetre wide but it still came as a shock when the hole began to knit itself together, effectively sealing them down here with no escape route.
"Alright," Alex huffed, annoyed at the hurdles they'd been jumping through all day, "I understand that we had zero chance of getting out through that opening - but seriously? Like, what the fuck. One break! Just give us one goddamn break!"
She pulled her soaked jacket off of her shoulders aggressively and threw it to the ground. It was warmer down here and at least her tank top was slightly dry. Alex was starting to get frustrated. They'd almost died three times now and didn't feel as if they were getting any closer to finding any sort of clue about the witches that used to practice here, plus her back was starting to ache and she was in desperate need of a stiff drink.
"At least we know we're headed in the right direction." Stiles commented, fiddling with his phone until the flashlight shone brightly from the camera on the back. He began pointing it in every direction, carefully cataloging every nook and cranny while Alex shot him an annoyed look.
"What exactly makes you say that?" Her tone was clipped. "We just feel a few hundred feet into a dark cave, we have no food or water and no way out. If we make it out of here, assuming we don't die The Descent style, I'm going to kill Deaton, and Derek, and you! Don't think I'll feel bad about it, either."
"Yeah, we just fell a few hundred feet, and survived." Stiles looked at her liked she'd had two heads. "The ground absorbed our impact like a - like mattress or something! It was magic - if that isn't a sign that we're in the right place than I don't know what is."
Alex was preoccupied watching his lips move over words that made sense. Lips that a few short moments ago had been pressed against hers, breathing each other in and out. She felt her face flush at the memory and felt a little absurd that in the face of danger and uncertainty all she wanted was to feel those lips against her a few thousand more times.
Stiles, apparently, had other ideas because when she shook her head clear of the day dream he was trudging through the cave with his flashlight at the helm.
"Wait up, Stilinski!" She called roughly, walking briskly to catch up with him and his absurdly long strides. They couldn't afford to lose each other in here, especially if Stiles was right at this cave possessed magical qualities. "You don't think this place is like, magically booby trapped, do you?"
Stiles thought about it for a moment before replying. "I think if this is where the coven practiced or convened then, yes. It's a possibility. A magical security system, if you will. I mean think about it - we didn't fall through a hole in the ground that we just didn't see. I think it was there for a reason, concealed beyond a few well placed natural deathtraps." He huffed out a short laugh.
Their footsteps echoed, damp and loud, as they progressed through the steadily narrowing path until the sides of the cave were pressed so close together that they had to turn sideways and squeeze themselves through. The cotton of Alex tank top caught on a jagged bit of rock and ripped over her abdomen, she hissed when it broke through the skin leaving a thin cut.
"Are you okay?" Stiles asked, hearing her audible display of discomfort.
"Is this cave going to naturally crush us to death, or do you think this is magical, too?" She complained. Stiles was about to reply, probably with something playfully condescending when suddenly he fell forward, Alex barely had time to realize what had happened before she crumpled over on top of him.
"What's with you jumping me in gravely dangerous situations, huh?" He grunted from beneath her, holding her in place and turning himself over to smirk at her. His hands splayed over her hips to keep her steady. "Got a death wish kink or something?"
She rolled off of him with an annoyed huff that stemmed from being a little nervous at his proximity and confidence. He chuckled at her expense when she got to her feet hurriedly and took a good look around.
The small crack in the cave wall they'd been pushing themselves through had given way to a large stone room, it was unnaturally circular.
Perfectly circular, in fact, which Stiles seems to have noticed because he was running his hands over the smooth rock.
"Most definitely manmade." He commented under his breath, eyes straining to see up to the ceiling but it was too dark and too high for his flashlight to reach. "Check this out," He said, directing his light on the wall, "looks like cave drawings."
Alex followed him to where his fingers had found deep grooves in the stone wall. They weren't crude depictions of stick people or animals, they were symbols. An amalgamation of perfect circles and straight lines all coming together to form what might have been some kind of language.
"What do you think it means?" she asked, knowing he wouldn't have an answer but feeling the need to voice her question anyway.
"No clue." he said, "But I think it might have something to do with this."
A large rock protruding from them ground stood directly beneath the strange markings. It was the only thing in the huge room that was on the smooth floor. Stiles ran his hands over it, pushing and pulling it, shining his flashlight at different angles to see if maybe there were more symbols on it. There was nothing. It was perfectly smooth, unmovable rock. Alex stepped forward, reaching a hand out tentatively and Stiles watched her closely.
Alex knew they were both thinking the same thing - it was her blood that had been cursed and experimented with. It was her that had been touched by magic, so it stood to reason that maybe she needed to touch the magic back.
Her hand connected with the smooth rock and she waited for a warmth to rush over her, for the cave to open up, for flames to engulf them both - but nothing happened.
"That was anticlimactic." Stiles drawled, standing from where he had been propped on his haunches and examining the bottom.
The sound of a drop of water hitting the rock rang out in the cave and Stiles quickly aimed his flashlight at it. A small drop of blood from the cut on Alex's abdomen had fallen onto the stone. Stiles and Alex looked at each other meaningfully. The sound of sizzling snapped their attention back to the stone where the blood was bubbling as though the rock had been hot to the touch.
"You were saying?" Quipped Alex, unable to tear her eyes away from the unusual scene.
The sound of rushing water came quickly and before they could react, cool clear water began flowing over their feet, rising at an impossible speed. It hit their knees before she could blink and she gazed at Stiles with obvious panic, trying to come up with a plan in her head to get them out of this.
"It's okay." Stiles said, annoyingly calm. "Magical security system, remember? The cave isn't trying to drown us, just let the water rise."
"The cave isn't trying to drown us?!" She shrieked, "The cave is inanimate, Stiles!"
"Not this one." He said confidently.
It wasn't long before she couldn't touch the caves floor, but she took Stiles' instruction and let the water lift her higher and higher until the caves ceiling came rushing down at them out of the darkness.
"I'm glad you're so sure." She coughed out over the water that lapped at her face. "Try to find a crack or a hole, there must be something!"
She lifted her hands around and began trying to feel around for some kind of opening they could fit through. Stiles began flailing his arms, the panic setting in for him as he realized that he may have been wrong and the cave probably was trying to kill them.
"Starting to panic!" He shouted over the roar of the water.
"About time!"
They were running out of air and Stiles managed to get out a garbled choking sound before the water reached the top of the cave and they were completely submerged.
Alex kicked her feet wildly, her hand pushing against the ceiling desperate to find an opening until finally her hands found a ridge. Her fingers felt the cool damp air and she propelled herself to it breaking the surface of the water and inhaling a large breath of air. The hole she'd found was dark and small, the water was still rising moving her upwards.
"Stiles!" She called into the darkness, her tired arms splashing in the water in an attempt to keep herself afloat. "Stiles!" She called again, this time more desperate. The hole was small and she'd be able to feel him if he was in there. Her shouting was useless but felt somehow, necessary.
No answer.
She allowed herself to let out a sob of anguish before diving back down into the depths of the cave.
It was quiet under the water, which normally she might have liked, but all she could hear were the raging storm of thoughts that threatened to overwhelm her survival instinct. She moved through the water with her eyes open but unseeing. It was too dark and she had no idea how she was going to be able to find Stiles in pitch-black.
Maybe it was time to stop fighting so hard. Her entire life had been one never ending fight for survival, and she was tired.
So, so tired.
She was running out of air and she was running out of strength.
She wanted to stop.
She was disoriented.
Was she swimming up, or down?
Then, the tips of her fingers brushed the feel of familiar skin.
Stiles.
She thrashed wildly in the water, fighting the resistance and grasping onto his hand. She felt him squeeze it back and her body sang with a renewed strength. She tugged him forward, back the way she thought she came from and hoping desperately that she could find the small opening again. The two of them kicked their legs at a dizzying pace. They swam upwards, hopefully through the small hole and not down, towards their death.
When they broke the surface they gasped for air, gurgling and coughing.
She realized that she was crying and laughing, running her hand over his shoulders, chest and face. Stiles was struggling to get as much air as he could into his lungs as the rising water level propelled them upwards.
There was a blinding light from above that made her head spin, she wasn't sure she would ever see light again, and here they were being pushed towards it.
When they reached the top the water spilled over onto the floor and stilled. Alex pulled herself up, desperate to get out of the water and reached down to help Stiles who's body was weak with the lack of oxygen. They both fell onto their backs, legs half in and half out of the water, staring up at the warm fire lit ceiling of whatever new horror they'd landed in.
A frighteningly loud gurgling sound roared around them and they both sat up and watched with wide eyes as the water began to drain from the opening in the floor. Alex stared down at the unfathomable blackness they'd just come through with a slack jaw. The air rushed past them as it filled the space the water was being sucked from and whipped around slashing at her face and stealing the little breath she had in her lungs.
Stiles and Alex turned their heads at the same time to gaze at each other, and then wordlessly pulled their legs back from the pit.
"You saved me." Stiles was still panting, his face emotionless as he processed what had just happened to them.
"We've both done a fair bit of that today." Alex answered. "I can't keep track of who owes who, so let's just call it even."
"Well, I bet that was exciting!" A cheery female voice called from behind them.
Despite her screaming muscles, Alex jumped up, ready to throw some serious hands at whoever had decided to try her after what they'd been through. She was so not in the mood for any more surprises, and she most certainly didn't have anymore death defying antics left in her at this point.
Stiles was right behind her, mouth agape as he spluttered. "Ms. McKenna?"
"Oh, call me Meredith, dear, please." She smiled, gazing at them from over a worn copy of a Mammoth sized book. Alex realized as she looked around that they were in another library. It was smaller than the one at the Boarding House but filled with older books, ingredients in small and large vials, a huge pot situated over what looked to be a large fire pit. "How was your ride in?"
"Pretty fucking terrible, thanks." Alex answered, deadpan.
Meredith let out a bellowing laugh and placed the book in her hand on a large sprawling table that was covered with other texts. Her hair looked even more unkempt than she had seen it and her clothes were even more strange, if that were at all possible.
"What are you doing here?" Stiles asked cautiously, wondering if she was going to turn out to be friend or foe.
"Research, of course." Her smile was unwavering. "On you, Alex, dear."
"How do you know about this place?" Stiles tried again, "Are you apart of the coven that practiced here?"
"Oh, no." She shook her head like the thought was absurd. "Those witches have been deceased since, well, since you." She looked at Alex.
"Me?"
"Why don't you two have a seat, I expect you're nearly ready to keel over."
Stiles looked to Alex. She didn't see Meredith as any kind of threat - she had no weapons, besides that massive book. But blunt force trauma didn't really seem like the old hags style. So Alex nodded and they did as they were instructed, grateful for the moment of peace and then Meredith launched into her tale.
"The Sealgair Fuil Coven practiced in Scotland for centuries, they were feared and respected because of the magnitude of their power and the kind of magic they specialized in - blood magic. This coven had a rare trait among its witches, where most covens produced witches who's blood had been diluted with mortals or other supernaturals, The Sealgair Fuil produced stronger witches each new generation. Their powers grew instead of waning." Meredith began, sitting across from Stiles and Alex at the large table. "As the coven grew more dangerous and their experiments with blood magic more lethal, the more attention they drew to themselves and the more enemies that they made."
"I read about that in one of the books in your library." Stiles said, "They were targets. Hunters and other supernaturals wanted them extinct because they had too much power."
"Precisely, Mr. Stilinski." Meredith had a pleasant enough smile but it was obvious that she didn't enjoy being interrupted.
"The head of the coven traveled great lengths to request an audience with a well known seer who resided in Russia at the time. The seer prophesied that there would be three powerful witches born to the coven and they would either save the coven, or they would destroy it. Fast forward a few hundred years and the Buchanan sisters were born - they had great power, unlike anything any supernatural had ever seen before.
"Of course, word got around, it travelled down the grapevine and a small band of hunters discovered that the Sealgair Fuil coven, now headed by the sisters, had slaughtered an entire town, keeping only the infants alive in an effort to experiment further with dark blood magic. Now, not every member of the coven agreed with the decisions the sisters made, but that didn't matter when the Hunter's arrived in Gairloch. They slaughtered as many as they could without losing too many of their own."
"Let me guess," Alex drawled, wringing her hair out and letting the wayward water drip to the floor. "This small group of Hunter's were the Argents."
"Precisely." Meredith answered. "A young couple, recently risen in the ranks of the Hunter's travelled with a sizeable group of trained professionals and their two young infants. As they slept peacefully in their beds thinking they'd rid the world of more monsters - the Buchanan sisters, battered and nearly beaten, stole one infant away in the night. It was said she had hair like a golden halo.
"The witches were furious, the majority of their coven had been slaughtered and the ones that remained were too weak or frightened to exact revenge. The sisters murdered the remaining witches of their own coven that night in an effort to harness their powers, so they could perform a blood letting so dark and unnatural it required the sacrifice of their own kind."
"They killed their own coven?" Stiles said, looking confused. "I've read that the bonds of coven hood are like family."
"Yes, they are." Meredith nodded grimly. "The Buchanan sisters were wrought with fury and a desperate need for revenge against the Argents. Some texts say that they were driven mad by it. So they drained the small infant of her blood, collecting it in a pewter cauldron. They kept the child alive with the dark art of necromancy while they cursed the blood. It was a terrible thing they did to you, dear." She shook her head with a sad gleam in her to large eyes.
"Spit it out." Alex demanded, not wanting to drag this horrible story out any longer.
"They cursed you to be an object of desire to the beasts that the Argents hated and feared most. The shapeshifter, the werewolf."
"Desired?"
"A true Alpha is a very rare gift among the werewolves." Meredith explained, seemingly going off on an unrelated tangent. "It allowed a wolf to become an Alpha without being born into a pack or by taking a life. It is the highest honour and the gift comes with the most power. I've never seen one myself, though it has been a life long goal of mine."
"What does that have to do with my blood."
"The Buchanan sisters cursed you by allowing the drinker of your blood, and taker of your life to ascend ancient rules and become a True Alpha. The ultimate revenge against your family. You will never be safe as long as the curse remains in your blood. You will be tracked and hunted, killed brutally and painfully in pursuit of something that someone who could do that, should never have."
"So, what you're telling me is," Alex took in a shaky breath, trying her hardest to remain calm with the influx of new information she didn't understand. "That I'm, like, steroids for werewolves?"
"We can just remove the curse, can't we?" Stiles interrupted her useless commentary, with an annoyed look at her untimely joke.
"Unfortunately, all of my research shows that any blood magic the Sealguir Fuil coven practiced, has no reversal spell. No one has quite perfected the art the same way the Buchanan's did. You have only one option if you want to survive." Meredith stood from her chair and pulled her oddly colour cloak tight around her shoulders. "You must sequester yourself away from society. If any werewolf were to uncover the curse place upon you, your life would be in grave danger."
"One already did." Alex surmised. "His name was Peter Hale."
"But he'd dead." Stiles said, his fingers thrumming loudly against the wood of the table. "You aren't in danger anymore."
"Don't be foolish, Mr. Stilinski." Meredith scolded, "It doesn't suit you. It's doesn't matter if the threat of the week is gone - Ms. Argent, you will always be in danger. It's best to go into hiding and learn to harness what the Buchanan's gave you."
Alex scoffed. "A target on my back?"
Meredith looked confused. "Magic. In your blood."
Alex stood up quickly from her chair, feeling the overwhelming urge to be moving around. She didn't like the direction this conversation was headed in, and she certainly didn't like to be told that she couldn't do something. There was always a loophole, a solution to be found.
"What are you saying, Ms. McKenna?" Stiles inquired, leaning forward in his seat. He replied before Meredith could. "She can harness the magic, can't she?"
"It's residual, and very dark - but yes. Alex could, in theory, tap into some of the magic the Buchanan sisters transferred to you and use it to defend herself." Meredith came to stand in front of Alex, placing a withered hand on her forearm, stilling her incessant pacing. "The school I teach at is for gifted children. Supernaturals, mostly witches but we've got some vampires and even a few werewolves peppered in, I assume that might make you feel more at home. If you came with me, the school would provide room and board while the magical protective spells would keep you hidden. You would, of course, learn how to access the magic you've been given."
"Woah, woah, woah." Stiles stood from his chair now, standing behind Alex in a show of unity. "We just met you, we have no idea how you even know anything about us, or if we can trust you!"
"What would be in it for you?" Alex asked, monotone. She wasn't stupid, no one offered up protection and information this willingly.
"I'm teaching an advanced class next semester," Meredith dropped her gaze to the floor having the decency to look ashamed for having been caught trying to manipulate her. "I've hand selected the most promising witches and warlocks in their final year of classes. Curse-breaking. I know there is no reversal for your condition but it would be fascinating to study, experiment with. Think of the academic strides!" Meredith placed a supportive hand on Alex's arm.
Alex was silent for a moment and then took a step back from Meredith, letting the woman's hand fall from her arm. She stepped back into Stiles, who's hand curled around hers supportively.
"Fuck your academic strides, and fuck your Hogwarts knock-off." She said evenly, not heat to her words on in her gaze. "I'm not going to be experimented on while I hide away from all of my problems. Thank you for all of the useful information - after some extensive fact checking I'm sure it will come in handy. When we figure out a way around whatever those bitches did to me, we'll let you know."
Meredith look defeated, her shoulders slumping forward and her cloak slipping off of one. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose with one finger and cleared her throat. The small woman had clearly mentally retreated into her own head, all of her confidence and excitement melting away.
"Well, I suppose if I can't convince you otherwise-"
"Nope." That was Stiles.
"Then, I suppose we should get back to the Boarding House - I've caught more than a few chills from staying out here too long."
"How exactly, do we do that?" Stiles questioned. "The magical whirlpool of death has turned into a magical black hole of death." He gestured to the hole in the floor where the wind whistled in the great cavernous depths below.
"The door, of course." Meredith balked, gesturing to a grand set of oak double doors that they would soon find out led them out to a remote part of the beach, after that it was an easy hike to Meredith's car.
"Right," Stiles grumbled, glaring at Meredith's back, "The door. Why didn't we think of that?"
Hey guys!
One was a long one - I had to cut it in half, make it into two chapters because it was a big boy. I hope everyone is liking the direction the story is going in and I hope that Alex's characterization doesn't seem too rushed in regards to her kiss with Stiles.
I thank you all for taking the time to leave a review. It truly makes my day when I get an email that one of you lovely people has not only read this story but liked it enough to tell me! I swear the reviews are the one thing that keeps me from burnout when I write a story this long.
I up util chapter 30 written and ready to post - so we're not done yet. However, I'm in the process of writing a Dramione Fic. It's in the early stages and won't be ready to post until this one is done - so drop me a comment and tell me what you think about that. I also have a Bellarke One Shot that I'm planning on posting soon as I am nearly done editing it.
Thanks for your continued support!