To Silveth and Guest: Thank you both so much! As for Scott and Loki's relationship...well, we'll see what happens there. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf, only Loki.
Loki was asleep for once. She was still with Scott, curled up against him. Just as Scott was starting to drift off as well, his phone buzzed next to him. Frowning, the True Alpha looked down at the screen. Who was calling this late? His eyes widened in confusion and concern when he saw the caller ID. He picked up the phone. Despite the fact that Loki had fallen asleep, she hadn't reached a deep sleep. When she felt Scott shift against her, she sat up, the covers pooling around her waist.
"Scott?" She mumbled in confusion. "What's going on?" He squeezed her hand, shushing her as he answered the phone. Loki sighed, leaning her forehead against his shoulder as her eyes slipped shut again.
"Hey, man, what's up?" Static buzzed over the line. "Stiles?"
The sound of harried breathing panted on the other end of the phone, making concern well up in Scott. He tightened his grip on the phone, and spoke again, forcing himself to remain calm.
"Stiles, you there?"
"Scott?" His best friend sobbed out. He sounded terrified. Scott swallowed hard, and began to move. He slid his legs over the edge of the bed, sitting up. Loki straightened up as well, eyebrows creasing in concern.
"Hey, I'm here," Scott reassured his best friend over the line. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?" Loki was looking at him in confusion, and he shook his head, motioning for her to wait. Loki pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging herself as Scott listened to Stiles.
"Scott, I don't – I don't know where I am. I don't know how I got here." Stiles took a deep, shuddering breath. "I think I was sleepwalking." Scott nodded to himself, trying to focus his wild thoughts and calm his beating heart.
"Okay, um, can you see anything? Just tell me what you see."
"It's dark, it's hard to see," Stiles gasped out. "I think there's something wrong with my –" The line disconnected, cutting off whatever Stiles was about to say. Scott's own breathing began to pick up, and he redialed the number. Loki reached out to Scott, trying to comfort him, but he stood up, pacing back and forth.
"Scott?" Loki whispered into the dark room. He ignored her, redialing Stiles' number again and again.
"Come on," he muttered frantically to himself. "Come on." The phone in his hands buzzed, and Scott picked up immediately. "Stiles!"
"Scott, I don't think I can get out of here, I can't move."
"Where are you?" Scott's voice was urgent, his fear for his friend evident in every word.
"I don't know – " he said, his voice trembling with pain and fear. "It's too dark to – too dark to see much. But something's wrong with my leg, it's stuck on something, and it's – I think it's bleeding."
"How bad is it?" Scott demanded. There was no response. "Stiles, are you there? Can you hear me?"
"There's some kind of smell down here," Stiles said in response, ignoring Scott's question. "Something smells terrible. It's brutal. My eyes are watering." Stiles coughed as he spoke.
"Okay, listen, I'm going to call your dad," Scott said. He was moving to take the phone away from his ear to call the police when Stiles spoke again.
"No, no, no, no, don't," Stiles protested quickly. He sounded terrified, and he was crying again.
"But your dad –" Scott began. Whatever point he was trying to get across was cut off.
"Just please don't call him. Promise you won't." Stiles begged his friend. "He already worries about me too much, Scott, please." Scott was turning around in a circle. His hand that wasn't holding the phone was threaded through his short hair, tugging at the dark strands in frustration.
"But what if I can't find you?" Scott asked. "I can't make a promise like that." He sounded tortured.
"No, no, no. Just please, don't call him. Come find me, you can do it. He doesn't have to know, Scott, you can find me." Scott's breath was coming out in fast pants.
"I don't know if I can do this," he hissed out. Loki still hadn't moved from the bed, and she was staring at Scott in shock, her green eyes almost luminous in the dark.
"I have to call you back. I have to turn the phone off."
"What? No! Hey, wait, Stiles hold on!" Scott made a sound of disgust, tossing the phone down. He looked at Loki, his eyes round with panic. She moved towards him slowly, with her hand out, like she was afraid that he would react badly if she made any sudden moves.
"Scott," she said lowly, trying to calm him down. "What's happening?" Scott was past the point of condolence, and he whirled around, digging through his drawers as he spoke rapidly.
"Stiles is missing, I need to find him. He's hurt." His voice rose into a yell. "Isaac! Isaac, get up! I need your help." Scott pulled a hoodie out of his drawer and shoved his arms through the sleeves. "Isaac!" The Beta threw the door open, stumbling into Scott's room. His eyes were bleary with sleep.
"Why? What's going on?" His eyes came into focus and narrowed as they fell on Loki, who was wearing nothing but her bra and a pair of shorts. Unabashed, the girl bent down to retrieve her sweatshirt, zipping it up.
"It's Stiles," Scott replied, tossing a helmet at Isaac. "Get dressed."
"What's wrong with Stiles?" Isaac asked, still struggling to catch up. Scott looked up, and shook his head. His eyes
"I don't know."
Loki rushed down the stairs after Scott, Isaac close behind her. As they reached the first floor, Scott's phone buzzed loudly again. He answered it hastily, dropping his helmet to the ground in the process.
"Stiles!"
"Did you call him? Did you call my dad?" Stiles voice over the phone was quiet and weak, almost unintelligible. Loki realized with a start of serious this was. Stiles was human. He couldn't survive long in the cold, especially if he was injured.
"No. Just Isaac and Loki," Scott reassured his friend. "We're coming to find you. Did you figure out where you are? Try to find something and tell us where to look."
"It's a basement," Stiles managed to get out. "I think – I think I'm in some kind of basement." Scott shook his head, confusion evident on his face. That didn't make sense.
"In a house?"
"No. No. It looks bigger, like industrial. I think there's a furnace. But it's cold. It's freezing down here. I gotta…I gotta turn the phone off Scott, it's going to die."
"Wait, wait, wait," Scott rushed out. "What else is there? What do you see?"
"The phone's dying, I gotta go." Stiles was adamant." "Just…please…"
"Stiles, why are you whispering?" Scott asked, sounding confused. There was a pause on the other end of the phone. And then, voice broken, Stiles forced something out.
"Because I think there's someone in here with me." Scott's hand lowered from his ear as the beep notified him to the terminated call. He was still for a half a second, and then he sprang into action. He slammed out the door, leaving the other two werewolves standing in the front hall in shock. Loki reacted first, snapping out of her surprise and running after Scott. He was already sitting on his dirt bike, buckling the strap underneath his chin.
"Scott! Scott, we need to slow down!" The True Alpha paid Loki no mind. He started his bike, motioning for Isaac to climb on after him. His Beta slid behind Scott, and Loki slammed her hands down on the handlebars, stopping Scott from going anywhere. He looked at her, his eyes darker and angrier than she had ever seen him. Loki forced her voce to sound calm and even. "Scott, listen to me. You can't just go rushing off to look for him. We need a plan."
"We don't have time!"
"And we'll lose more of it if you don't listen to me!" Loki shouted back. Scott stared at her, his mouth hanging open. Loki winced, her mouth twisting in chagrin. She softened her voice again. "Scott, think. What are we doing? What are we going to do?" Scott stared at Loki, and as she looked back at him steadily, he felt his heart beat falling, slowing down. He took a deep breath, clearing his mind and focusing.
"We're going to his house," Scott said. To him, his voice sounded almost echo-y, like he was hearing it out of another person's mouth, like he wasn't aware of the words he was saying. "We'll find something there – some clue, or a scent to track." Loki nodded once, removing her hands from the front of his bike and stepping back.
"Good."
Loki pulled up at Stiles house. There weren't any cars in the drive way, which triggered confusion in Loki. Had Stiles driven his Jeep while he was sleeping? She followed Scott up to the front door. To her surprise, the door was slightly ajar. Scott frowned, but shrugged it off, throwing the door open and rushing up the stairs. To Scott's surprise, when the three werewolves reached Stiles' room, there were already two people in it. Lydia and Aiden.
"How did you know?" Scott was surprised at the presence, but neither of them looked too shocked to see him. "Did he call you too?" Lydia shook her head.
"I heard it," she replied, sounding just as frantic as Scott. Loki raised an eyebrow, opening her mouth. Aiden saw her.
"Don't ask," Aiden told her. "It gets more confusing when you ask." Loki fought back a smile, knowing that, given the circumstance, it was rather inappropriate. Lydia shrugged, turning around and looking at the bed.
"Not as confusing as this." Loki followed her gaze, and registered the scene in shock. Dozens of threads of red yarn and been tied to a pair of scissors, which had been stabbed through the mattress of the bed. The scene was sinister looking. Lydia turned back towards the werewolves.
"He uses red for unsolved cases," she explained.
"Maybe he thinks he's part of an unsolved case," Aiden theorized.
"Or is an unsolved case," Loki offered. Right now, he pretty much was. They didn't have a clue where he could be.
"Hold on," Lydia said, looking towards Scott. "Is he still out there? You don't know where he is?" Scott shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked stressed.
"He said he's in an industrial basement somewhere," Scott informed Lydia and Aiden of what Stiles had told him over the phone.
"We came here to get a better scent," Isaac added. Lydia nodded, leaning forward. She looked desperate.
"What else did he say?" She pressed.
"Something's wrong with his leg," Scott recalled. "It's bleeding."
"And he's freezing," Isaac said.
"Tonight's the coldest night of the year," Aiden said. "It's going to drop into the twenties." Loki closed her eyes. It wouldn't take long for Stiles to become hypothermic in these conditions.
"What did his dad say?" Lydia sounded somber.
"We kind of…" Scott trailed off, shaking his head. "We kind of didn't tell him yet." Lydia glared at Scott, her lips pursed with disapproval.
"Stiles is bleeding and freezing and you didn't call his dad?" She snapped. Scott looked at the ground.
"He made me promise not to," he said softly. Lydia sighed, and Scott rushed to defend himself. "We can find him by scent. If – if he's sleepwalking, he couldn't have gotten far, right?" Loki made a sound in the back of her throat, and Scott looked at her. She looked worried.
"Scott, his Jeep was gone." Lydia shook her head again. She had pulled out her phone, and she was dialing a number.
"You promised you wouldn't call his dad," she said. "I didn't."
"Lydia, hold on," Scott begged desperately. He grabbed her wrist, pulling the phone from her hand as he spoke. "I can get more help. I can call Derek, Allison."
"Everyone except the cops! Great idea!" Lydia enthused sarcastically.
"Loki can track him!" Scott insisted. He was losing his resolve, but he looked at the girl standing next to him desperately. She stared back at him, her eyes as steady and calm as they always were. "Deucalion said that she was the best tracker he'd ever met, both by human and wolf standards."
"Deucalion was right," Aiden said, glancing at Loki. "But you guys do remember that Lydia only gets these feelings when someone's about to die, right?" Scott's shoulders slumped.
"You don't have to call his dad." He resigned himself. "It's five minutes to the station." He beckoned Loki and Isaac after him, and the three turned to leave. Aiden moved to go after them, but Lydia grabbed his wrist.
"We'll catch up," she said. Aiden looked at her in surprise, but fell back a step.
"Why?" Loki asked. Lydia shook her head. Her eyes were unfocused, staring at something no one else could see.
"There is something here."
"Yeah." Isaac looked around the room, at the walls plastered with notes and evidence, the photos of crime scenes and the scissors stabbed into the mattress. "Evidence of total insanity." Scott shot a warning look at his Beta.
"We can figure out what's wrong with him after we find a way to keep him from freezing to death." Lydia nodded, her eyes coming back in focus.
"Go. We'll be right behind you."
Loki had never been in a more uncomfortable and emotional situation than Scott telling the Sherriff that his only child was missing and injured. The man's hands were shaking, and he had to physically brace himself against the desk as he fought to maintain control. He took a few deep breaths, blinking his eyes rapidly.
"Come on," he whispered to himself, barely audible. He straightened up, turning towards Scott. "If his Jeep is gone, that's where we start," he said, briskly, returning to professionalism, but with a touch more urgency than normal. He turned towards the deputy that was sitting at the desk in front of him. "Parrish," he addressed him. "Let's get an APB out on a blue 1980 CJ-5 Jeep. Cordova, I want a list of any kind of industrial basement or sub-level of any building that he could have gotten into by sleepwalking. It's the coldest night of the year so far, so if he's out there barefoot and in just a T-shirt, he could already be hypothermic. Let's move fast, let's think fast." He turned back towards the werewolves. "You three come with me."
The Sherriff led the three werewolves into his office and shut the door, turning to face them.
"Okay. Is there anything you need to tell me that I can't tell anyone out there?" He gestured back to the room they'd just left, referring to the deputies that were unaware of the supernatural world.
"Lydia knew he was missing," Scott said. The Sheriff nodded.
"Can she help find him?"
"She's working on it," Isaac reassured the man. He barely nodded, already moving on.
"Anything else?"
"I called Derek and Allison for help," Scott said.
"Can you find him by scent?" Scott motioned to Loki, and the Sherriff looked at her. When Loki saw his expression, something jarred her. His eyes were wide with hope and fear. Loki wondered, with a pang, if when she'd disappeared after her parents' death, if anyone had looked for her this urgently.
"I can try," she said. She kept her voice low and soothing, hoping that it would calm the Sherriff. Her sweet-talking did relax the tension in his shoulders marginally. "But the fact that he's in a building, and the fact that there's so strong a smell, it could make it more difficult. Obviously, the more leads we have, the better. " There was a knock on the door, and the young Deputy, Parrish, opened it from the other side.
"We got it, sir," he said. "We found the Jeep."
Scott ran up the stairs of the hospital, Isaac following close behind him. He burst through the doors that led to the roof, spotting Derek close to the other end. He was standing by the fences that guarded the high-voltage generators.
"He's not here," the elder werewolf called without turning around. "Not anymore." Scott's heart dropped, and he stopped running.
"The whole building?" The Alpha asked. Derek nodded.
"Gone." He stated simple. Scott exchanged a look with Isaac, who nodded his head.
"I'll go tell Stilinski," the Beta offered, turning around.
"See if you can find Allison. She's not answering her phone," Scott called after him. "And text Loki and tell her too, okay?" Isaac nodded and disappeared back down the stairs. Scott walked up to Derek, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the other man.
"Notice how strong the scent is up here?" He asked. "You ever hear of chemo signals?" Scott shook his head, and Derek continued. "Chemical signals that communicate emotion. And just our sweat can give off anger, fear or disgust."
"Loki can block hers," Scott remembered. Derek's face twitched.
"Loki can do a lot of things," he said disapprovingly. "But she is our best chance of finding Stiles, so long as we can give her something to go off of. Take a deep breath," Derek instructed. "Tell me what you feel." Scott obeyed.
"Stress," he said finally, sounding a little surprised. Derek nodded.
"And anxiety."
"What was he doing up here?" Scott asked. Derek shook his head.
"I don't know. But there was definitely some kind of struggle."
"With who?" Scott was concerned.
"Himself."
Loki's phone buzzed, and she looked down. It was a text from Isaac. It read, simply, he's not at the hospital. She nodded to herself, wrapping her fingers around the phone and closing her eyes, trying to focus.
Stiles, Stiles, she thought to herself, where would you go?
"If you don't mind my asking…" Loki opened her eyes. The young deputy, the handsome one, Parrish, was the one talking to her. She motioned for him to continue. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Loki barely had to pause to think of a lie. It came that naturally to her.
"My name's Loki. The Sherriff thinks one of Stiles' friends should stay at the station, in case he calls one of us with more information," she said. That wasn't so hard to believe. It was this next part that might be harder to sell. "He thinks that if one of his friends is there, he'll be more comfortable, less disoriented when he's found. So Scott and Isaac will stay with the Sherriff, and I'll stay here. Until I hear otherwise." She flashed a smile at him. Even when her lies weren't totally believable, she'd often found that people were more likely to believe her because she was charming. However, Parrish still looked slightly unconvinced. No wonder, Stiles was the Sherriff's son. He probably knew all the deputies in the station, and would doubtfully be uncomfortable by their presence when he was found. Before he could argue, Loki continued. "Does my presence bother you, Deputy?" It came out slightly more flirtatiously than she had intended, and Parrish glanced down, looking slightly embarrassed.
The scrape of the door against the wooden floor caught her attention, and she turned away from Parrish. It was Scott's father. He had his arm in a sling, but other than that he looked perfectly healthy. The FBI agent looked around, noticing the empty station. He frowned when he saw Loki, and then his eyes fell on Parrish.
"Where is everyone?" He asked. "We get a lead on our sword-wielding maniac?" Loki covered her smile with her hand, but the agent still noticed. He shot her a glare, and she coughed, shrugging innocently.
"Nope," Parrish responded briskly. He seemed quite cool towards the agent, despite the fact that he was probably meant to be respectful to a higher-up. "But we've got posters up all over town." He gestured to the posters that had sketches of the Oni on them next to the desk. Neither picture of the Oni looked realistic, and Parrish turned away with a smirk.
"Not exactly how I described him to the sketch artist," Agent McCall said coldly.
"Well, you're not exactly the highest priority tonight, Agent McCall," Parrish snapped back. The agent's eyes narrowed, and he raised his eyebrows.
"What does that mean? What's the high priority?"
Aiden pawed through the piles of papers on Stiles bedside table. A photograph was amongst them, face down. He flipped it over and picked it up. It was a picture of Scott and Stiles, probably from a few years ago. Scott's hair was longer and floppier, and Stiles' was shaved short in a buzzcut. The two friends were sitting on a bench in their lacrosse gear, talking. They seemed unaware of the photographer.
Aiden set the photo down, and picked up a framed picture next to it. It was a drawing of a tree that had been sketched on notebook paper. It was also a drawing that he recognized. Aiden turned towards the other person in the room.
"Didn't you draw this?" Aiden asked, holding out the picture for Lydia to see. A smirk was playing across his face.
"Put that back," the Banshee chastised him, no real anger in her voice.
"It's yours, right?" Aiden pressed, refusing to back down. Lydia shrugged, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
"It's one of them. I guess."
"He likes you a lot, doesn't he?" Aiden continued. His voice was mostly guarded of emotion, but there was an undertone of irritation to his words. Jealously. Lydia crossed the room, her arms folded across her chest as she stared up at the werewolf.
"Maybe he likes the drawing a lot," she theorized. Aiden held up the back of the framed picture for her to see. An index card was taped to the backing of it, and there were two words carefully written out in neat cursive. Aiden read them aloud to prove his point,
"'For Lydia.'" He smiled, and despite the situation, Lydia grinned back as she snatched the picture from him. Her phone beeped from and she dug through her bag to retrieve it. She read the text that she'd received.
"'Nothing at the hospital. Derek headed to high school, Isaac's going to find Allison…" Lydia sighed, setting the phone down and turning back to Aiden. "And Scott is with the Sheriff." Aiden rolled his eyes.
"And we're standing in a bedroom staring at walls," he said. Lydia gave him a pointed, somewhat superior look before walking back over to the other side of the room. The former Alpha turned towards the red string, running a finger down it. He pulled the string absent-mindedly, and Lydia immediately swirled around. Aiden looked at her in surprise.
"What did you just do?" She asked. Aiden stepped away from the string. "Did you just touch one of the strings?"
"Maybe," Aiden said, sounding a little defensive. Lydia reached out to the closest string, hand shaking. She ran her fingers over the yarn, and tugged the string. She looked terrified, and her breath caught as the string pinged slightly.
"What did that sound like to you?" She asked, focusing her eyes on Aiden.
"Like a string being pulled." Aiden sounded bored, but his eyes were sharp and focused on Lydia.
"You didn't hear people whispering?"
"I definitely did not hear people whispering," Aiden repeated, eyebrows raised. Lydia's eyebrows creased in concern, and she bent closer to the string, pulling it again. Her face slackened.
"You didn't hear that?" She gasped.
"Lydia, I'm not sure anyone hears what you hear," Aiden reminded her gently.
"They're whispering," Lydia informed him. She swallowed hard, straightening up and looking towards Aiden. "Something about a house." Aiden nodded, stepping closer to Lydia. They were finally getting somewhere.
"What house?" He pressed. She pulled the string again, listening, and slowly turned her head towards the opposite wall. The string she had been pulling and listening to was attached at a photograph of a building with a thumb tack.
"That one," she said, walking towards it. Aiden followed her across the room, reading the words on the sign in the photo. Trepidation filled him as he read the name.
"Eichen House?" Aiden recognized the name, but Lydia mistook his surprise for confusion.
"It's a mental health facility," she told him. "It's where William Barrow, the shrapnel bomber, was committed." Aiden nodded, heart pounding in his chest as he stared at the photo on the wall. Lydia noticed his change in demeanor. "What is it?"
"Nothing," he said, tearing his eyes away from the photograph. "I've heard of the place, that's all. Is that it?" Lydia nodded.
"That's where he is. That's where Stiles is."
Scott dialed Loki's number, holding his phone to his ear. She picked up almost immediately.
"Scott," she greeted the caller. "Anything?"
"Lydia thinks Stiles is at Eichen House," he told her quickly. "How soon can you get here?" As he talked, Scott was watching the Sheriff speak to the security guard about opening the gate. The guard seemed irritated by the Sheriff's questions, as he maintained that he hadn't seen anyone come into the building that even slightly matched Stiles' description. Distracted that he was, it took Scott a few moments to realize the silence on the other end of the phone. "Loki? You there?"
"I'm here," she whispered. Her voice was shaky sounding.
"Are you okay?" he asked, concern welling inside of him.
"Hey." Someone grabbed his arm. It was Aiden. "Give me the phone." Not waiting for an agreement from the Alpha, Aiden grabbed Scott's phone and began speaking quickly. Somehow his voice managed to be hard and soft at the same time. "Loki, listen to me. Stay where you are. We have this under control." He was silent for a moment, waiting for his friend's response. Clearly he got what he was looking for, because he murmured a quick goodbye before ending the call and tossing the device back to Scott.
Scott looked up at the other werewolf, tilting his head in a silent question. Aiden didn't answer him directly, but instead shook his head and spoke:
"I really wish you hadn't done that."
The line disconnected, and Loki's hand fell to her side. Her fingers loosened around her phone, and the mobile device clattered against the ground. Agent McCall and Parrish looked up in surprise, to see Loki staring off into space. Tears pricked at her eyes. It took a lot to make her cry, but her memories of Eichen House were some of the most terrifying of her life.
"Are you okay?" Parrish moved from behind his desk, stepping in front of the teenage girl. He placed a hand on her shoulder, gently. "Loki?" She snapped back to the present.
"Fine, sorry," she said, blinking rapidly to dispel the tears in her eyes. Parrish's eyes narrowed, and he was about to talk again when they were interrupted.
"Hey!" The deputy and Loki turned back towards Agent McCall. He was frowning at a sheet of paper in his hands. "Is this the exact transcript of Scott and Stiles' phone call?" Parrish's hand fell from Loki's shoulder as he stepped away, forehead creasing in confusion. Loki bent down to pick up her phone.
"That's what he gave us."
"Yes, but – these exact words? Stiles says 'something smells terrible. My eyes are watering.'" Parrish shrugged, and then nodded. He seemed confused as to why it mattered.
"Loki?" The teenager turned around. Melissa was standing behind her. She was still in her scrubs, with a jacket thrown over them. "Is Agent McCall here?" She nodded, motioning to the man as he walked over, having heard Melissa's question.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"My shift was over," she explained. "I just wanted to see if I could help." He nodded.
"I think I know where Stiles is," the man said. Loki froze. "But I just – I don't know how to get there, I don't remember. But I know the location."
"Where?" Loki asked. He turned towards her. Something about her expression made him answer the question. He held out the transcript to her, and she took it, reading over Scott and Stiles' conversation. She had still been half-asleep at the time, and she barely remembered it.
"He says something about a smell. It's just a hunch, but we used this spray at the – "
"At the coyote's den," Loki finished. Everything had clicked into place when the agent had started talking. "You think he's still asleep, dreaming." The agent nodded, looking surprised. Most people didn't realize how smart Loki was. But Deucalion had.
"But I don't know how to get there."
"I do," Loki said. "I go running in the woods all the time – I've run past it a few times. I can take you there." It was the truth, really. The only part she'd left out was the part where she was usually running as a wolf, not a human. But that was unimportant. Agent McCall looked at her dubiously, but Melissa nodded.
"Listen to her. Let's go."
"So, what are you two saying?" Melissa asked. The car was driving smoothly and quickly through the empty streets. Late as it was, there was no traffic whatsoever.
"I'm saying that the real question might be, how do we know he's not still asleep?" Agent McCall replied. Loki was in the backseat of the car, watching the darkened town flash by through the window.
"You mean that he's been asleep the whole time?" Melissa sounded unconvinced.
"People who sleep walk can do crazy things," Loki piped up from the backseat. Melissa looked at her through the rearview mirror as the teenager continued. "I've heard of people who cook entire meals asleep, who are found mowing their lawn – naked and asleep." Melissa laughed slightly.
"What's any of it matter?" The woman's ex-husband tried a different approach to convince her.
"Remember that townhouse we lived in?" He asked her. "I came home one night, drunk –"
"Oh, one night?" Melissa said incredulously. The agent ducked his head, looking slightly ashamed. But he continued.
"Let me finish," he said. "So I'm drunk, passed out on the bed. I get up to use the bathroom. And then, suddenly, I hear you yelling 'what the hell are you doing?'"
"Because you were in the closet peeing in the laundry basket!" Melissa said, laughing.
"Yeah, well, I thought it was the bathroom." The nurse snorted, unconvinced.
"No. You were drunk off your ass."
"Yeah, but I was convinced it was the bathroom," Agent McCall insisted. "So how do we know Stiles isn't just convinced he's in some kind of basement, and isn't actually there? I think when he called Scott, he was still asleep. And he's still asleep right now."
"And you think he's at the coyote den." Melissa repeated the earlier theory.
"Well, we're about to find out," Loki said, leaning forward. "Pull up here." Agent McCall stopped the car, and all three got out. Loki stepped hesitantly into the woods, trying to get her bearings. Making sure that the unaware FBI agent couldn't see her, she let her eyes glow red. "Okay, this is right."
Loki led the two adults through the thick of the forest, using her phone as a flashlight. She didn't really need the light; it was more so for theatrical effect. Her lip curled as she caught a whiff of the smell – the spray used to keep animals away.
"Almost there," she murmured. When she focused her senses, she could smell Stiles, very faintly underneath the strong odor. She ducked into the den, and saw Stiles. He was laying on his stomach. His face was shiny with tears, and his pale skin was almost blue with cold. "He's here!" She shouted, relief making her voice crack. She bent down gently. "Stiles. Stiles, wake up."
"No," he whispered. He began to toss and turn. "No! Wait! No!" He screamed, hysterical.
"Stiles! Stiles, it's okay!" She dragged him out of the den, struggling to hold him in place as he fought against her. Melissa grabbed him from behind. His arms were flailing wildly. The nurse wrapped her arms around the teenage boy and pulled him into a hug, both to restrain him and to stop him from hurting himself or others. Loki bent forward, lowering her voice into a calm tone. "Stiles, it's okay." She grabbed his hands. "Wake up now, please." Slowly, and then all at once, his screams stopped. The human opened his eyes.
"You're all right," Melissa told Stiles. "It's okay." He looked around, breathing heavily. Loki sat back on her heels, wiping her forehead. Stiles' eyes were wide, and he looked disoriented.
"It's okay."
"Loki! Loki!" The Alpha werewolf turned around. Aiden. Sighing in relief, she ran over to him, and he pulled her into a tight hug.
"I'm okay, nothing happened," she mumbled against his chest.
"I know." He let go of her, holding her at an arms length. "I wasn't - I wasn't going to tell you. I wish Scott hadn't called." He surveyed her face, and she shook her head. She didn't want to talk about it. She never wanted to talk about it. Aiden sighed, stepping away slightly as Derek came up to the two other werewolves, holding jumpstart cables in his hands. He looked at Loki, looking mildly confused, and she quickly plastered a normal expression on her face.
"So you think he was really just sleepwalking?" Aiden asked Derek. The other man shrugged.
"In this town there's always something more," he replied.
"What if I told you I know something more?" Aiden said. Loki looked at him sharply. Derek raised his eyebrows. "I kind of overhead…well, I listened in on Stiles talking to Scott. How he thinks he was the one who left the message in the Chemistry room. The message telling Barrow to kill Kira." Derek frowned, looking unconvinced.
"You think Stiles…skinny, defenseless, Stiles…is the Nogitsune." Derek shook his head. "A powerful, dark spirit?" Aiden shrugged.
"One, looks can be deceiving." Aiden looked pointedly at Loki, who smirked. "And two, I'm not the only one thinking it. I'm just the only one saying it."
"This thing wants to possess someone and it chooses Stiles?" Derek was still skeptical. "Why wouldn't it take someone bigger, stronger? Someone with a little more…" Something seemed to occur to Derek. "Power." He touched the metal ends of the cables together, and a large spark lit up where the metal touched.
"Derek?" Loki asked, hoping for an explanation. He looked up, eyes dazed.
"I just thought of something," he murmured, more to himself than to her. He shook his head, snapping out of his daze. "Never mind." Derek turned towards the hospital and walked away without another word.
"We should be going," Aiden said, nudging Loki.
"Yeah. Let's get home."
sorry this chapter took so long.