"Got them red eyes in the night

Like a panther, outta sight

Gonna sing my battle cry"

Hunter by Galantis

As Deaton drove to join us at the school to help us extract the flies from the wolves, he explained what we had missed at Scott's house while on speakerphone. How Peter had Scott and Lydia enter Stiles' mind in order to pull him out. How they succeeded, but somehow another Stiles extracted itself from the initial one. But that wasn't the worst part as horrifying as it already sounded.

The first one took Lydia.

When Deaton arrived, joining us in the locker room, he started one of the showers and systematically shoved his hand down each wolf's throat, pulling out a fly from each of them as the rest of us watched in disgust. But despite how gross it was, at least they were free from the control of the nogitsune. If Void wanted to control them again, he would have to get flies into them again. I would say it's easier said than done, but none of us even knew how Void had gotten flies into them in the first place.

Once Isaac was done, Allison reached out to him, brushing his hair to the side, and I smiled at them, only for them both to blush when they noticed me watching.

Deaton then finished with Boyd and shut off the shower, shaking the water from his hands. His poor leather jacket.

"Are they okay now?" Allison asked, a gentle hand resting on Isaac's shoulder.

"I hope so," Deaton said. "The part that's worrisome is that this was most likely just a distraction for what was happening to Stiles."

"There's really two of them now?" Kira asked, hugging her waist. Boyd stood tall behind her, eyes flickering around in worry and guilt. "How's that even possible?"

"And how did the other one just take Lydia?" Riichi asked.

Deaton shrugged and shook his head helplessly. "We just turned around and they were gone. So was her car." It was clear he didn't want it to happen, so we shouldn't focus on Lydia being taken but rather how to stop the nogitsune and get her back.

Aiden seemed more angry than worried. "So, no one notices him just kidnapping her right out of the house?"

Deaton zeroed in on him, his gaze hardening. "Most of us were concentrated on the bizarre sight of a creature materializing from out of the floor," he said irritably.

"Hold on," Riichi said, "how are you so sure which Stiles is which?"

"I find it hard to believe the real Stiles would run away from Melissa or Scott," I said.

"They're trying to figure it out now," Deaton said. "Melissa is giving him a check-up and then—"

"No," Kira interrupted. "They're calling my mom, aren't they?" Deaton nodded. "They can't! The Oni will kill him!" Kira tore away from us, running out the door.

"Kira!" Boyd called before following after her.

Isaac eyed the empty spot where the two had been. "Wow, I missed a lot," he muttered.

I gave him a look, quirking up an eyebrow. "If I had a dollar for every time you've been possessed, I'd have two dollars which isn't a lot, but it's weird it's happened twice." Isaac's expression dropped, almost outright glaring at me, but come on, that meme was perfect for the situation.

"I'm surprised you're not running after them, Sara," Deaton said.

I sighed and shifted my weight. "Let's just say, I'm inclined to let the Oni figure it out without interference. If Scott and Stiles are willing to allow the check from the Oni, then I'm not going to dissuade them, as worried as I am that it won't work."

"Well, that's all fine and dandy," Aiden said, "but if the one at Scott's is the real Stiles, then the rest of us need to focus on finding the other one and Lydia."

"First, you need to rest," Deaton said, raising his hand to keep Aiden from walking out. "It's quite possible that whatever power the nogitsune used will have side effects." Aiden was about to argue, but Deaton continued before he got the chance. "Let yourself heal and rest for at least a few hours. Only more harm than good can come from rushing into this."

Ethan set a hand on his brother's shoulder. "He's right. Just a few hours. We'll be out looking for her just after dawn. We wouldn't be of any help if we found her right now."

Aiden looked down at his feet then nodded. Ethan gave Deaton a grateful smile then steered his brother out of the locker room.

Deaton turned to those of us who remained. "That goes for you four as well," he said. "Heal and rest." He smiled at us before leaving.

Isaac pushed himself up from the shower wall, still dripping with water. It was odd to see him up again, fully healed as though nothing had happened. Like no time had passed since he had been electrocuted from the cut live wire. My best friend was back and at my side again. And he met my gaze, a small smile quirking up.

I couldn't take it anymore. Allison took a step away as I wrapped my arms around his torso and whispered, "Don't do that again, Izzy. Don't go almost dying on me."

Isaac hugged me back, and I could feel his smile as he rested his cheek on the top of my head. "I won't. I promise. We swore we'd walk together at graduation, remember? And that you'd shove me off the auditorium stage."

I laughed and hugged him tighter for a few moments then extracted my arms from around him. Looking to Allison, I gestured to Isaac and said, "Remember your promise." I sent a wink her way and she blushed, a small smile creeping up on her face as she remembered what I had made her promise shortly after he had gotten hurt.

Isaac glanced awkwardly between us and said, "I'm not going to ask, but I am wondering what else I missed."

"Other than determining that Stiles had the nogitsune and the nogitsune had been kept in the Nemeton since the 1940s, not much," I said, crossing my arms.

"Oh, and Sara killed an Oni, but she keeps conveniently leaving that out," Riichi added.

I groaned and rolled my eyes while Allison and Isaac's eyes widened. "For the last time, I did it on accident, and I can't reproduce it," I argued. "It doesn't need to be repeated every two seconds."

Riichi gestured to me, looking at Allison and Isaac. "See?"

"Wait, wait, what happened when you killed one?" Allison asked.

I sighed, preparing to go through the explanation again. It wasn't as though something would become of it, so I did not see the point, but fine. At least Isaac and Allison hadn't heard it already. "It was the night Deaton used letharia vulpina to poison the nogitsune."

"Leth—what?" Isaac asked.

"Letharia vulpina, wolf lichen," I said. "Deaton traveled to Japan to see where Chris had first encountered the Oni, you know when they killed a nogitsune possessing a Yakuza boss." Isaac nodded in understanding. "The wolf lichen grew from where the nogitsune's blood had been spilled. Deaton collected some because, historically, it has been used to poison wolves and foxes, and I assume with the added bonus of it growing with nogitsune blood, it could be used to poison a nogitsune. Anyway, before that, we were bringing Stiles to the animal clinic to protect him from the Oni since the sun had set, but we were attacked outside." I rubbed my knuckles. "And when I went to punch one, instead of a regular hit, foxfire covered my fist, and I punched through it."

"But those things are definitely solid," Isaac said.

"Yeah."

"So foxfire made it intangible?"

I shrugged and shook my head. "I don't know. All I know is, with my fist stuck in its chest, I had somehow grabbed a firefly, pulled it out, and both the firefly and the Oni turned into shadows."

"We think the Oni might have foxfire of their own," Riichi explained, "which allowed her to grab the firefly which might be like their hearts."

"But then the Oni seemed to take it personally that I killed one," I added, "and another one proceeded to aim for me, but Scott jumped in the way, and he was stabbed in the stomach. If he wasn't an alpha, he probably would have died, so there's that." The locker room grew quiet as that settled into both Riichi and Isaac, with the former not having anything positive to add and Isaac growing more and more concerned about what he had missed out on, especially since Scott was his alpha and he wasn't there to protect him.

Allison stared off to the side in deep thought then mumbled, "Stuck in its chest."

"What?" I asked, giving her an odd look. I didn't even know if I heard her correctly.

Allison twitched and looked back at us. "Sorry, just thinking."

The color red and the smell of smoke and blood filled my dreams as I tried to sleep, mixed with the echoing, mechanical snarling of Oni and the voice of Void. The more I heard the nogitsune's voice in my head, the easier it was to differentiate between his and Stiles' normal voice. But that wasn't necessarily a good thing. I didn't want to get used to his voice. I wanted to stop hearing the voice. I wanted my pulse to stop rising whenever I heard it. I wanted to stop tensing at the sound. I wanted him gone.

Sara. . . My name repeated over and over throughout my dreams, decreasing in volume until it was nothing more than a ghost of a breath.

Can you see the whole board? Can you see my next move? Can you counter it?

Of course you can't.

Anything you try will be d'ohsuji. You have no tesuji left.

Hakaimono.

When I woke up soon after dawn, my entire body was tense.

I sat on my bed after only getting a few hours of sleep. It had been hard to even get those few hours as the nogitsune's voice echoed throughout my dreams over and over again. The only comforting thought that persevered was knowing that Stiles had the onore mark behind his ear, that the Oni checked him, and it was truly Stiles now. But that also meant Lydia had been taken by the nogitsune. She was all alone with Void. But the real question was why?

Why take Lydia?

Scott relayed that he had taken Stiles directly to the sheriff's station after being checked, and Noah put out an APB on Lydia's car. They also figured out that a girl at Eichen House might also be a banshee like Lydia, but by the time Noah had arrived there to speak with her, she had gone missing from the closed unit, so there was a Missing Persons' out on her as well.

Figures, all the banshees are going missing. That can't bode well.

Once morning broke, the wolves went out to try and search for Lydia. Riichi and Boyd joined Derek, Aiden and Ethan probably went out together, Isaac went with Allison, Scott stayed home to look after Stiles, and Kira was the only one who went to school. And Noah was still at Eichen House questioning all the staff about Meredith's disappearance.

Which left me, curled up on my bed in a warm sweater and fluffy socks trying to fix the links on my chain dart. Going to school didn't feel right, and I'm not a tracker even remotely. I also didn't want to go to Scott's house, not wanting to intrude on him and Stiles and whatever bonding moment they were likely having.

As I struggled to try and mend the chain, a knock on my door interrupted my concentration. Without looking up, I called out, "Come in!"

I heard my door open, but I didn't break out of my concentration until I heard my dad's voice say, "Need a hand?" I looked up to see my dad leaning on my door frame with his arms folded over his chest. He had a curious expression as he stared down at the chain in my hands. "Looks like a werewolf gave you a hassle."

"He didn't mean to," I said, chuckling then turning back to the chain.

"I've got pliers and a blowtorch in the garage." He nodded toward the hall. "That might help."

Figuring it couldn't hurt, I crawled out from under the nice, warm blanket and followed my father down to the cold garage. Sometimes I hated not having the natural, effortless body heat anymore, instead of having to actually do something to remain warm. Maybe I should've put something other than shorts on though in the late November cold.

Dad brought out two pairs of pliers and a blowtorch. We sat on either side of his workbench and then started getting to work on fixing my chain dart, with him working through one end while I worked through the other.

"What happened?" he asked as he reformed a chain link.

"Boyd," I said, using pliers to bend the metal. "The nogitsune used flies to get into the werewolves' heads and make them attack each other. So, we tried to stop it, and then Deaton helped get the flies out of them." Dad made a quiet noise of understanding, but I could see that he was slightly confused regardless. "Don't think about it too hard. Weird supernatural mumbo jumbo."

Dad sighed, lowered his end of the chain, and looked at me. "Don't do that," he said gently. "Your mom and Riichi do it too. I may be human, but that doesn't mean I can't try to help."

I shrugged and focused on the chain. "You are. You're helping with my chain."

"That's not what I meant." He reached out, setting his hand on mine to get me to lower the chain and focus on him. "There's a lot you three can do that I can't, but one thing I can at least try to do is provide support. I haven't exactly been the best at that."

I had a feeling I knew where he was going with it and started clamming up, my muscles and joints tensing at the impending uncomfortable conversation as I looked away. "Dad. . ."

"I'm sorry for not being there for you," he interrupted, "and not noticing just how much you were hurting, too. I was trying so hard to get through to your mother that I didn't do the same for you. I thought you were doing fine. Your grades were better, you had a friend, you no longer got in trouble at school. . . I didn't see it for what I should have, and I'm sorry."

Against my discomfort, I begrudgingly looked back at him and his sincere expression. I'll admit, it was nice to hear an apology for the borderline neglect of the past few years, but at the same time, he had already been showing it and making more of an effort ever since Riichi called them both out. I preferred that rather than hearing it, but I suppose he needed to say it, especially since we had been very close when I was little with him being the parent that got me into art in the first place.

Slowly nodding, I attempted a small smile. "Thanks." I pointed at the chain. "Can we get to work on this now?"

"Oh, yes," he said with an exaggerated sigh, making me chuckle, and he joined in with his own chuckle. "You know, serious conversations aren't always a bad thing even if they are uncomfortable."

"Shut up, Dad."

He seemed to notice the pull of a smile despite the words, and we got back to working on the chain links. It was a slow process, but after a bit, the chain was looking more and more like a chain again and not a bunch of broken pieces of metal.

"You said Boyd did this?" Dad asked, using the blowtorch to mend a broken link together.

"It was wrapped around him," I explained. "That boy is like an immovable mountain."

"Yeah, but this is titanium."

"Anger makes werewolves stronger." I shrugged, leaning forward to get a closer look at the link I was working on. "And he's easily the strongest out of the pack even without the anger."

"What makes kitsune stronger?" he asked.

"Mastery of abilities, probably," I muttered. "Anger wouldn't work with kitsune like Riichi. For ones like Mom and me, sure. But anger is only a temporary fix anyway."

"That's rather wise of you."

"Eh, just something that Laura told me once." I had gotten mad at Peter for doing something and then Derek for stopping me from throwing something at him, and Laura being the only responsible one had intervened. Fun times. I then moved on to the next link, using a bit of fire to help with the malleability. I'm my own blowtorch. "She said love was a better motivation. She was probably referring to what they call an anchor, something that keeps them grounded and human. Ironically, Derek's anchor is anger. Go figure."

"I'm sure kitsune could probably make use of anchors too," he said, glancing up at me. "It would be more than just keeping you grounded but also give you something to fight for." It sort of sounded like he was talking about Mom avoiding everything that had to do with the supernatural. "It could be the opposite of werewolves. Where they need something to hold them back, keep them grounded, keep them human, kitsune need something to encourage them to join in. Maybe you need the proper motivation."

By the early afternoon, my chain had been fixed, filling me with ease that at least I had a working weapon again. Although to be fair, I had the kunai or could hijack a katana from the Yukimura's, or the ninjatō that Deaton had kept from when Scott had been impaled. It wouldn't have been preferred but still.

After showering, dressing, and eating, I was about to call up Riichi or Boyd to see if they had gotten a lead or needed help with anything since Isaac and Allison found Lydia's car with the message "don't find me", but then my phone rang with Kira's name lighting up the screen.

Holding the phone up to my ear after answering, I greeted, "Hey, what's up?"

"She's here," Kira said. "Meredith Walker is here in Coach's class."

"What? How the hell did she get to the school?" I asked. "Did she walk the whole way from Eichen or something?" Naturally, I didn't expect her to know the answers to these questions.

"I don't know, but you should probably get here now. Like, right now."

"I'll tell Scott, and we'll be there soon. Make sure she doesn't go anywhere."

"I'll try my best," she promised and then hung up the phone.

Pulling on my jacket and putting my chain dart in my pocket, I hurried out my door while calling Scott's phone. The moment he answered, I said, "Meet me at the school. Meredith is there." I ran down the stairs and to the foyer of the house.

"What? Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, Kira just called." I slipped on my shoes and rushed out the front door. "I'm on my way now."

"Right, we'll meet you there."

I didn't question the 'we', assuming Stiles was going to join. "Great." I hung up the phone, climbed into my car, started it up, and drove off.

The moment I pulled into the school parking lot, I was joined by Scott and Stiles who pulled in a few seconds later. I almost paused to get a better look at Stiles as it was strange to see him back on our side after everything that had happened, but also because he was sickly pale. Well, more sickly pale than usual.

"Good to have you back, Stiles," I said, running past toward the front door of the school. The two joined in with the running.

Bursting through a pair of side doors, we looked around the hallway, seeing students milling around and going to their last class of the day. "Kira said she was in Finstock's class," I told them.

"Then let's start there," Scott said. He led the way through the students, the three of us weaving through. Students glanced at us strangely as we hurried past, but thankfully, the bell rang soon after, and the halls slowly emptied.

We found Kira outside of Finstock's office. She seemed frantic and nervous, pacing in front of the door.

"Where is she?" Stiles asked when we stopped in front of Kira.

Kira shook her head with a large shrug. "She went missing from Coach's office, but people from Eichen are looking for her around the school. I think Coach went looking for her, too."

We all turned to Scott. "You smell anything?" I asked.

"I'm not sure what exactly I'd be smelling," he said. "There's a lot of people in the school."

"Uh, maybe anesthetic, chemicals, drugs," Stiles listed. "Eichen's a medical facility, so things that smell like that, similar to a hospital but not as strong. They use unscented soaps, too."

"Oh, and Meredith probably walked here," I added. "As far as Eichen is from the school, she might smell strongly of sweat, stress, and exhaustion."

Scott didn't seem pleased with either of our lists. "Very helpful in a school full of teenagers." Yeah, I suppose stress and drugs don't help here. "Where might a banshee be drawn to?"

"Literally anywhere, Scott," Stiles said, giving him a disappointed look, and Scott sighed.

"What about Coach Finstock?" Kira asked hopefully. "If he's looking for her too, maybe we can at least find him. Do you know his scent?"

Scott nodded, thinking over the idea. "That might work." He closed his eyes and breathed in, sorting through all the scents around him. Then he opened his eyes and picked up his head. "Follow me."

And so we did.

It took us a bit, but turning down a hall, we spotted what looked like Finstock entering the music room. The music room?

We entered the room in time to see Finstock taze a male orderly with a young woman in sweats standing by the piano. Finstock chuckled a little as the orderly fell to the floor. Stopping next to him, Finstock must have seen our odd, curious expressions.

"Well?" Finstock said as if everything was totally normal. "Get her outta here!"

We didn't need to be told twice, each of us springing into action to coax the curly-haired woman, who I assumed was Meredith Walker, to come with us and out the door. We quickly led her out to the parking lot, and I was grateful class was in session because no one needed to see us escorting a mental patient out of the building without any legitimate staff members. That would raise more questions than we had answers for.

In the parking lot, Scott helped Meredith into the back of Stiles' Jeep, then he climbed into the passenger seat while Stiles sat in the driver's seat. Kira stood beside me as I leaned on the open window on Scott's side.

Stiles turned around to face Meredith and asked, "Okay, where's Lydia?"

Meredith's face blanked as she glanced between Scott and Stiles. "Who's Lydia?"

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," I muttered, expression dropping. Stiles' eyes widened as he turned to Scott then looked back at Meredith as though he couldn't believe what he just heard. Couldn't say I was surprised though. Every time we find out something new or figure something out, there comes another snag. Two steps forward, one step back.

"We should take her to my house," Scott decided after a few silent moments after her question settled in. "We need to get out of here."

"Right, yeah." Stiles started up his Jeep.

I tapped the door and said, "I'll meet you there."

Kira and I stepped back to let Stiles drive away. And once they had gone, Kira said, "I should probably head home, make sure my mom isn't up to anything. Keep me updated?"

"Will do," I said. "Hopefully, she'll be able to help us."

We then went our separate ways, Kira back into the building and me to my car.

Once I pulled up outside of Scott's house, I had arrived just in time to see Scott and Stiles helping Meredith out of Stiles' Jeep. She continued to wear a vaguely confused expression, and it made me wonder if she even knew anything about the supernatural. If she was a banshee, like we are assuming and hoping, did she know? Or was she simply willingly going along with our actions because she was glad to be out of Eichen? And if she was a human, then we technically kidnapped a mental patient. Actually, we nabbed a mental patient either way.

This is so illegal.

Great.

Please be a banshee. Please be a banshee.

I ran up to Scott's side as they walked up the trail leading to the side door, but when he opened the door and we walked in, there stood Agent Rafael McCall next to Isaac leaning on the kitchen counter. I met Isaac's gaze, raising an eyebrow, but he just gave me an uncomfortable look back. I suppose they haven't been having a fun or interesting chat then.

"What are you doing here?" Scott asked his dad as the kitchen door shut behind us.

Agent McCall looked oddly at Meredith then focused on his son. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Free period," Stiles chimed in. "We're doing group study."

McCall didn't seem to believe him, gesturing to Meredith who stood in between Scott and Stiles. "Who's she?" he asked.

Stiles wrapped his arm around Meredith's shoulders and quickly said, "She's my girlfriend."

Meredith leaned away from him as best she could while still under his arm. "You're not my type," she said. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

"Well, obviously, we have a lot to talk about." Stiles glanced between Agent McCall and Meredith. "We should maybe take this upstairs."

Meredith then looked at Isaac. "He's my type." Isaac's eyes widened, and his mouth opened in shock.

That time I couldn't hide my amusement, accidentally letting a small laugh loose as I lifted a hand to my mouth. It was too funny, and I couldn't help it, but that didn't stop Scott from nudging me to get me to stop.

Stiles simply looked annoyed. "Okay, Isaac, you can come, too."

Isaac narrowed his eyes at Stiles, his discomfort clear as day, but Stiles and his stern gaze made it clear that Isaac needed to follow, so he did, begrudgingly. Stiles shuffled Meredith around Agent McCall and toward the stairs, Isaac following close behind. Which left Scott's dad to focus on us and me realizing I should have taken the leave as well.

"Hey, Dad, I'll explain all of this later," Scott tried to deflect.

Agent McCall shook his head, for once looking sincere and not as much like a hard ass. "I don't care that you're not in school. I know your grades are fine. All I want to do is talk."

"Now's really not a good time."

Agent McCall paused and glanced between me, Scott, and the stairs. Something seemed to click in his mind. "Is something going on?" he asked, folding his hands as his expression and stance grew uneasy. "Like with the. . . supernatural thing?" He sighed, bringing a hand up to his temple. "God, it sounds ridiculous saying that out loud."

"You get used to it," I pitched in not-so-helpfully.

Scott shook his head. "You really don't."

I shrugged. "Maybe if you're not born in it, I guess." My eyes shifted between the father and son as the silence began to spread between us. I really needed to bow out. "But, uh, I think I'll give you two a minute." I pointed at the staircase behind Agent McCall and started taking a few slow steps around him. "Okay, bye."

I took off running. Wow, that wasn't awkward at all.

Quickly heading up the stairs, I hurried to Scott's room, entering to see Stiles and Isaac practically ganging up on Meredith, who sat on the edge of Scott's bed staring up at the two boys.

"Now, all you got to do is tell us where she is," Stiles was saying as I walked in.

"Okay. . ." Meredith said. "If she tells me."

Joining them and standing by Isaac's side, I assumed Stiles had been able to explain to her who Lydia was based on Meredith's response.

"If she tells you?" Isaac asked. "Can you ask her?"

Meredith smiled brightly. Any other time, I might have seen it as a nice smile from a nice, innocent girl, but something about it seemed off. Maybe a bit too innocent.

"I already did," she said.

Stiles perked up. "Perfect. Perfect!" He motioned for her to continue. "What did she say?"

"She said she doesn't want to be found."

And there it is, I thought. "Oh, of course she did," I muttered.

Meredith's smile made more sense to me then. She wasn't just a supernatural creature, maybe, held in Eichen House under normal circumstances. Something was off with her brain. Something had happened to affect its development. Did she even know why she was here? Why we wanted her? How we thought she could help?

Stiles seemed more put out than either Isaac or me at Meredith's words. But of course he did. He was in love with Lydia. That hadn't gone away. It may have grown at lot since what it used to be, grown more mature and stable and healthy, but that didn't change the fact that Stiles loved her.

"That's good, too." Stiles trailed off, blinking a few times while biting his lip. "I'm just going to take a minute." He nodded at us and walked to Scott's bathroom.

I looked up at Isaac beside me, and he made a little motion and face, clueing me in to him bowing out and joining Stiles. I could imagine what he was thinking, to be away from the crazy. But it still begged the question, had they taken any care in explaining why she was brought there?

Based on Meredith's continued gentle smiling, I decided to ask her.

"Meredith, right?" I asked with my own soft smile. She nodded. "I'm Sara."

Her smile brightened more. "Hi."

I did have to admit that despite the obvious innocence in her smile, it was rather infectious. "I was just wondering if they told you anything about why we were looking for you," I said, kneeling in front of her so she didn't have to crane her neck to keep looking up.

"Your friend Lydia is missing, and you thought I could help," she explained simply.

I nodded, figuring that Stiles had probably gotten that out of the way at least. "Perfect, but do you know why we think you can help?"

She took a moment and then asked, "Is it because I can hear things other people can't?"

I smiled again. "Yes, like our friend Lydia. Have you always been able to hear, um, things?" I didn't know how else to ask that, seriously hoping that didn't sound insensitive even if it sort of sounded ridiculous to my ears.

"No." Meredith shook her head, folding her hands in her lap.

She didn't seem too surprised by the question, so perhaps she had heard it plenty at Eichen, like in counseling with Morrell. But it made me wonder when she started to hear things. We know how and when Lydia started: in her sophomore year after a werewolf bite. It was possible that she would have come into her abilities at another point in her life, likely more gradually, if the bite hadn't jumpstarted it. But just because that was how Lydia came into her abilities, it didn't mean that was how all banshees did so.

"No?" I repeated. "Do you mind me asking when it started?"

"In high school." She shrugged, her smile dropping. "But I don't remember too much about it."

So she likely didn't remember how it started either. Damn. I was about to drop the line of questioning when another popped into my head. We still needed to know if she was truly a banshee or simply a human girl that could, unfortunately, hear voices.

"Do you know why you can hear things?" I asked.

Meredith wrung her hands, as though the memories brought up by the question made her uncomfortable. But she still answered, "A woman called me a banshee. She said it means I can predict death."

As curious as I was to ask about the woman, based on Meredith's behavior the likelihood that she might not appreciate that question was high. "That's right," I said gently, adjusting my feet. Hopefully, my next question wouldn't be bad to answer. "And have you predicted anyone's deaths lately?"

Meredith stopped squeezing her hands, though instead of being uncomfortable, her face shifted to seem more disappointed than anything else. "Yes, but I'm having trouble hearing them."

Stiles and Isaac heard what she said as they rejoined us in the bedroom, and they stood on either side of me.

"Is that why you were in the music room at the school?" Stiles asked. "Were you trying to hear the voices better?"

"Yes."

Isaac folded his arms over his chest. "Do you hear them right now?" he asked.

Meredith shook her head and said, "No."

"Is there anything we can do to help you hear them?" I tried.

She seemed to grow uncomfortable again with that question, tensing up. "I-I don't know," she stammered.

Stiles took a moment to kneel in front of Meredith, holding his hands placating out in front of him. He must have recognized her change in disposition as well. "Okay, just try to focus on the sounds around you," he coaxed gently.

"On what you're hearing," Isaac added.

"Just focus on the silence," Stiles continued.

"Listen to the silence."

Stiles glanced up at Isaac and corrected, "Focusing on the silence." His voice was sterner that time.

But Isaac didn't seem to notice. "Listening to the—"

"Okay, will you just let me handle this, Isaac?" Stiles interrupted, annoyed as he looked at Isaac. "Please? I just-I have more experience with banshees."

"Yeah, and mental patients," Isaac muttered. I sighed as Stiles started to glare at him.

Meredith didn't seem affected by the tension between the boys as she asked, "Isn't anyone going to get that?"

Her question took us by surprise. "Get what?" I asked.

"The phone," Meredith answered as though it was completely obvious.

"What phone?" Stiles asked.

Isaac began playing along before either of us, looking pointedly at Stiles. "The phone," Isaac said in conjunction with Meredith pointing toward Stiles's jacket pocket.

Yeah, playing along would be great, such as when with a toddler playing make-believe. I nudged Stiles on the shoulder, trying to silently urge him to play along as well.

"Oh, the phone," Stiles attempted, and Meredith nodded. "My phone, yes." Stiles tried to keep his voice light as he pulled out his phone, pretended to swipe the screen, and held it to his ear. Meredith seemed more responsive, smiling once again. "Hello? Yes, she's actually sitting right here." He held the phone out to Meredith. "It's for you."

Meredith took the phone, listened for a few seconds, and then handed the phone back while we looked at her expectantly. "They say coup de foudre."

I quickly stood, it hitting me like a ton of bricks. How could we be so stupid? Isaac gave me a questioning look because of my reaction.

"Coup de—what?" Stiles tried to repeat as he looked up at me, also having noticed. "What is that, Spanish?"

"It's French," I said. "French for 'love at first sight.'"

"How do you know that?" Isaac asked, his face twisting up.

"They're at Oak Creek," a voice said.

We turned around to see Scott and his dad standing in the doorway, having finished their talk, though both seemed tense aside from what they had walked in on.

Scott visibly showed the same dislike at the realization I felt, and he spoke again. "History repeats."

D'ohsuji – A skillfully bad play in Go, basically ruins any chance you have at winning, Go humor

Tesuji – a clever play in Go

Onore – Self

Hakaimono - Destroyer