Notes:

I don't really have much to say for the notes of the next two chapters because I'm posting them all at once. I was debating, though, if I should separate them and post them sparsely throughout the month. But then I felt kind of bad for making you guys wait for like 2 months, so I just decided to post them all at once. I always tell myself that I should wait, and if I do ever write an excess, I should periodically post them so that I'm not leaving you guys waiting for months. But then whenever I write in excess, I'm just so excited to post it, but I just post all of it.

/

Stiles POV:

One hour later, in a car ride...

Lydia and I were eating sushi in the backseats while Rei was napping in the passenger seat, and Damon was driving us to the coordinates that I had put into the GPS in the car. It actually surprisingly wasn't that far away from Beacon Hills, but when I looked at the map, the only thing I could see was a forest. So it kind of made me trust the lady a little bit more because maybe she really did live in a remote area where there was no post office because, as far as all the maps say, there was nothing there. Well, that was my original thought until we saw a very dilapidated town sign, it said: Welcome to Canaan.

There were houses all over the place; it looked like a town that was just abandoned. The vegetation was overgrown everywhere, and there was not a soul in sight. Everything was looking even more sketchy than I had originally thought. The moment I saw the welcome to town sign, a Google search for the name Canaan, and surprisingly enough, I got a hit. Well, I got a hit from 30 years ago.

Apparently, there was a town very close to Beacon Hills called Canaan, but after the last map was printed 30 years ago, it was never printed on a map ever again. Hence the town didn't exist anymore. Things were getting more and more suspicious by the second, but we were already here, and it wasn't that far of a drive, maybe like an hour and a half, so we just continued on.

"I'm not the only one getting creeped out, right?" Lydia says, looking around after we stepped out of the car since we arrived at the coordinates.

"No, no, this is fucking weird," I say, also looking around for someone.

Rei was looking around with a weird look on his face.

"What?" I ask.

"We're not alone," Rei says, looking around.

"Yeah, I can see you, lady," Damon says loudly to an older woman staring from a window across the street.

Everyone's eyes shift to her in a second. Then, finally, she just smiled and walked out of her house.

"Sorry, I was just being cautious. You outnumber me." She said, stepping closer.

I frowned; it seemed normal; I mean, other than the freaky abandoned town surrounding us, everything seems to be going okay for now.

"Which one is Stiles?" She asked after she got a few feet from us.

I raised my hand,

"Me. Where's the book?" I asked.

But instead of answering, she just looked at me kind of weirdly but then smiled again and held her hand out.

"Money."

I took out the $550 and placed it in her hand. I was a little reluctant to let it go, but the book was worth it to me. It would solve all of my problems quickly.

She creepily smelled the money and then counted it. Before she put it in her pocket and walked back to her house. About halfway down the little cobblestone walkway, she turned around and beckoned us to come forward and follow her.

If this wasn't already creepy enough, I don't know how keen I was to follow her into her house. In this creepy abandoned city that doesn't exist on any map unless you go back 30 years.

But after Damon said that there was nobody else in the town, just her, I decided to just follow because there was nothing else I really could do about it. At this point, she had my money, and if the book were in our house, I would have to go get it anyway. So we all reluctantly followed her into her house.

But we were pleasantly surprised when we walked in. I wasn't exactly happy, but I was shocked in a good way, at least this time, that the inside of her house was in pristine condition. There was not a speck of dust anywhere; her house was not dilapidated or dirty in any way. It was the complete opposite of the town around her. There was a lot of outdated stuff like the appliances and whatnot, but it just looks like a grandma's house. Like a house that belongs to a really old person who isn't up-to-date with technology. But it was a nice interior compared to the outside all around her.

I started to trust her just a little bit more.

By the time all of us got into the house, the lady was placing down four glasses of lemonade on her kitchen table and beckoning us to sit down. At this point, I kind of trusted her at this point. At least I believed that she was telling the truth up until this point. So I sat down and grabbed a glass of lemonade. I sniffed it, and it just smelled like lemonade, so I took a sip, and it was perfectly fine. Actually, it tasted pretty good.

Lydia followed suit and also grabbed a glass of lemonade, and after she saw that I drink from it, she also took a sip.

To keep up his human pretenses, Damon sat down and took a large gulp from the glass, not really caring if it was poisoned or not because it really wouldn't affect him anyway.

But my teacher had this weird look on his face and didn't move from the doorway. That was the only thing that made me not trust her completely. Because Lydia, Damon, and I didn't seem to see any problems with the inside of her house. But we had the least experience out of all four of us. And this was a weird scenario that we had never run across before, so as much as this seems to be real and less shady as time went on, I relied on the instincts of my teacher because obviously, his instincts were better than mine.

Rei POV:

This town is weird.

This woman is even weirder.

She's not human.

That much I could tell by a mile away.

But for some reason, I just can't pinpoint it at the moment. But something about this place is making me feel weird.

I feel like someone's playing a trick on me. Me? Getting played? Not happening.

But I don't know what trick they're playing. Obviously, the woman is doing something, but I can't figure out what it is. It's something that I have felt before but never this strong and never this all-encompassing.

I felt at the moment I entered this town.

I was napping for pretty much the whole car ride, but the moment we entered this town, I felt a zap of electricity running through my body. Telling me that something was wrong. I can slowly see the rest of them letting down their guard, but I'm not an idiot like my reckless student and his reckless friends.

The weird feeling intensified after I stepped into the house.

It reminded me of something that I had done before.

It reminded me of illusion magic, but it was so well done that I couldn't break through it.

All I knew for sure was this town was her domain, and even if I am aware of what is going on around me, I can't do anything to stop it, which made this lady very dangerous.

I hope what Stiles is expecting to happen happens.

Because the moment stuff starts to go to shit, I plan on leaving.

I love my new student and all, but I am better off outside of town helping rather than staying here a nd getting trapped in the illusion along with them.

Stiles POV:

"So, where is the book?" I ask again after I see her sit down without having a book in her hand.

"I know I said I would just give you the book but to quell an old woman's heart, can you tell me why you want to know about the wild hunt?" She asks.

"If we say no?" Damon says.

"Then you can have your money and be on your way." The lady says seriously.

"Well, I guess I don't mind telling you. Our town is currently suffering from the Wild Hunt. And people are starting to disappear, and everyone is forgetting about them, and we want to stop it. So that's why I need the book, I have searched Google for days, and I can't find any information pertaining to the wild hunt. Up until I found your book." I said, explaining it.

The woman nodded her head and smiled sadly,

"Will you allow me to tell you a story about it. Or do you just want the book and want to leave immediately." she asks.

"What kind of story?" Lydia asks.

"The story about this town, about Canaan, about what happened 30 years ago." The woman says.

"Okay, sure," I say as I was curious.

It didn't click in my head until the story started. It didn't click about why this town was abandoned until she started the story.

"30 years ago, this town was buzzing with people. I remember the day exactly, April 8, 1987. It was the 35th anniversary of our town; we called it Canaan Day. There was a block party being held. Children were running around and barbecues grilling meat, and laughter and happiness all over the place. At first, nobody knew there was a problem. Actually, we didn't suspect there was a problem at all until the very end. And by we, I mean myself. Oh, I forgot I have to introduce myself, where are my manners? My name is Lenore. I was a resident of this town 30 years ago. And I'm still a resident of this town, but at this point, I'm the only one left. Because 30 years ago, the wild hunt rode through this town, and there's nobody left. Everyone was taken. And they spared me. Those monsters that looked like Cowboys, they took every single person in this town except me. I am the only person that ever remembers anyone. Everyone else forgot all the people that were disappearing. Nobody would listen to me when I told them that their children were missing or that their mothers were missing. Nobody listened to me. Because I was the only one that could remember. I was the only one that remembered everyone that disappeared. Maybe that's why they spared me. Maybe that's why they left me here alone. Maybe that's why..." Lenore said, slowly repeating the last line over and over with a crazy look on her face.

"Why you?" Damon asked, not caring about her mental breakdown.

Her eyes shifted to him creepily.

"Ghost Riders are monsters that are connected with souls in a way, and maybe they respected me or hated me, but they left a banshee, like myself, alone with nothing and nobody, not even the souls of those who were taken," Lenore said.

I turned to Lydia as she looked at me, and we both had worried looks on her face.

"Where did you get the book from? Did you write it?" I asked.

But at this point, Lenore didn't want to answer questions anymore; she looked as if the conversation continued to grow upset. The more she talked about the gross riders and the wild hunt, the more upset she looked.

B ut she wasn't reluctant to give information; she just seemed to be upset by what she was talking about, considering that her whole town was taken away from her and she was left all alone for 30 years. So you can't really blame her.

But things were starting to fall into place in my mind. It made so much sense why this town doesn't exist anymore. It also brings the shocking reality of what the ghost riders do.

They made a whole city that's not even an hour away from Beacon Hills disappear completely from maps in the world. I never even heard of this place in history. That means they erased it from the history books. And this town was an example of what happens when nobody stops them. Does that mean that would also happen to Beacon Hills? And if Lydia and I hadn't moved out of town, would Lydia be the only one left? Would she end up like Lenore?

No, I wouldn't let that happen.

Eventually, after a few minutes of mothering and grabbing her head like she was in pain, she stood up suddenly and walked into a different room. And then, after a few minutes, she walked back out and beckoned us to follow her again as she walked out of the room and, from the sounds of it, down some stairs.

I was starting to trust her less and less at this point. But unfortunately, I am still in the book, so I followed with Lydia and Damon by my side. Halfway before we entered the hallway, I was pulled back by my shirt from my teacher.

"Be careful. She's been in this town for a very long time. Her power has grown exponentially; she's not your average banshee anymore. I don't think you should follow her downstairs, book or no book." Rei said.

But then he let go of my shirt.

"However, since I believe that I could take her out should I need to. I think you should try to break the illusion yourself."

"What illusion?" I asked Rei, but he disappeared.

Damon looked shocked at the spot where he disappeared because I didn't get to tell him anything about my teacher yet. I wasn't sure if I could trust him, honestly. At this point, Damon still thinks I'm just a werewolf.

"What the hell was that?" Damon asked.

"Later. Let's just take care of this first, and as my teacher said, let's be on guard because if she's a banshee, she's dangerous." I say as we follow her down the stairs into her basement.

The basement looked a little bit shoddy as it was dusty and dirty. But it was like any other normal basement. There wasn't much in it—just a square little room with Lenore at the bottom. So I wasn't completely spooked until once we all stepped downstairs, the door locked behind us, and a young boy glitched into reality.

At this point, we were screwed.

There was no speech or melodramatic evil villain moment.

The moment the boy appeared, all three of us were knocked unconscious.

/

Notes:

Anyway, I really like this chapter—this chapter and the next chapter are really good. At least in my mind, they're really good. And I hope you guys like them too. This arc where they're all in Beacon Hills is going to stretch out for a little while.

I wanted it to just go into the originals, but I need some time to pass. Because some things that I want to happen in the story need to happen in the background, and for that to happen, there needs to be a stretch of time that Stiles and everyone else is actually doing something, and I'm not just time skipping every now and then. Because I feel like just skipping time ruins a story, so I have to make little side adventures happen while I give myself time.

But unfortunately at this part, I need a lot of time so this escapade in Beacon Hills is going to happen for a while. So I think this book is also going to be 50 chapters(or more) because I need the time.

{I am going to switch perspectives in some chapters like I'll go to see what Peter's doing, and then I'll go to see what Hayley is doing, maybe even what Klaus is doing. But at the moment, we're just going to stay at Stiles because he's in the center of the action at the moment.}