Notes:
I'm back, so soon too. I don't know I guess I was just in the mood to write. And I wrote two chapters. So after this one, I will upload another one. I really like the next chapter and at the endnotes, you'll see my I don't know what you would call it but you'll see it at the end of the chapter. Nothing really too exciting happened in my life. I started my two classes of summer school. But like not summer school like I got left-back and I need to take extra courses but like I'm taking extra courses in the summer to get ahead. I don't know if summer school always had a bad connotation to it when I was younger but I guess in College summer school is a thing. I don't know I'm still not used to saying it even though I've been in college for a while now.
Anyway, my cousins came over to visit. I should say cousin singular. My cousin and my aunt came over and brought good food and I ate good food. Other than that nothing really happened. I took some cute photos of my dog. And I guess on Friday I'm going to do one of those juice cleanses. Honestly, when I originally read about it I was excited but as the days progress I'm getting less and less excited. I'm actually kind of terrified because I get hungry and then my stomach hurts and then I can't breathe. And I don't know why but it happens and so I hope I can actually do the cleanse and not break. Because I don't have a strong will and I tempt into temptation all the time.
/
Stiles POV:
Two days later, we hit a standstill, we had the information, but the memory thing was the problem. The moment we entered the town, we were affected by the Ghost riders; even if we knew we were forgetting people, we couldn't remember who we forgot. It was irritating. I have yet to confront my mother; I just didn't know if I could handle it.
However, Damon helpfully and irritably pointed out that maybe talking to my mother may lead to finding out more about the memory thing because she was our only proof that memory was altered because my mom died, and somehow she is here while my father is not. My mother was also the only proof that the Ghost Riders can influence the town that they're in.
Because as far as I know, every single person that I asked has confirmed that my father is dead and that my mother is the one who's clearly alive. So inevitably, we had to go see my mom.
We were going to rely on Damon's compulsion so that we could all enter together. I did not want to go alone, and Lydia was willing to come with me, but then Damon wanted to come along, and then my teacher also wanted to come along.
So eventually we decided to go as a group. However, my teacher and Damon are considerably older than me and look older than me, not someone I would bring home from a school trip. I could play it off as their college roommates, but in my teacher's case, that might be pushing it.
Also, as far as I remember, my mother is not stupid. Also, she can tell when I'm lying. She has that innate superpower, just like my father, that whenever I lie, they can tell, even if I'm lying very well. When I was younger, she always knew when I was lying. Like every single time, sometimes she would let me get away with it, but she knew. I never figured out how she did that.
We contacted Jordan, well Lydia contacted Jordan, to figure out when my mom left work so we could catch her when she was coming home. I also forgot to mention to Jordan that Lydia came back home with me. I felt like he was very suspicious, but he wouldn't betray our trust, at least.
I didn't want to surprise my mother too much, so I parked my Jeep in front of her house, which seemed different. The lawn was well kept; there were a bunch of decorations outside the house that we would normally never put there. It just seemed different.
To be honest, I double-checked if I pulled up to the right house because it looked that different. The house was still the same house; it's just the little things that made me doubt myself for a second. I got out of the car and waited by the front door. I had my key, but for some reason, it didn't work. Maybe she changed the locks? I don't know why, though.
We only had to wait for 10 minutes before her car pulled up. It was my dad's cruiser. Everything about the car was the same; it was very eerie and creepy. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw my mother walk out of the car. As much as I had been avoiding her, I also haven't seen her since she died. And that was a long time ago. Lydia met her once in kindergarten, I think, but I don't know if she remembered.
I was half expecting my mother to not remember me or to just not know who I was, and then I could easily spot that she was a fake. But it didn't happen like that.
"Oh, what a surprise! Stiles, your back home from college! This is the best gift ever." My mother said as she ran up to me and hugged me.
I was so stiff I couldn't move. Clearly, my face could show that I was uncomfortable because I did not expect her to be so much like my mother. I wanted to believe that she was fake, that this was just a creation made by the Ghost Rider; I just wanted something to make it seem fake so that I could separate myself from this.
But she seemed so real.
Her hair was in the exact same style as before; she was the same height, her hug felt exactly the same, so warm and comforting. Everything was the same; this was my mother. It took a few minutes but eventually, I just relaxed in the hug and hugged her back so tightly I didn't want to let go because this was my mom. I missed her so much.
"Woah, there, kiddo, you're going to squish your mom here. I bet you're glad to see me, but you're suffocating me. Haha. I missed you! You've only been gone for a few months; it feels like years. But I guess that's just how every mother feels when their child leaves the nest for the first time for college. Well, anyway, I can't wait to hear all your stories. Oh, I'm sorry I didn't notice; who are your friends?" My mother said in a rush, that's where I got it from my word vomiting.
She was clearly pointing at Damon then to Rei, but her eyes lit up when she got to Lydia.
It took a second but recognition sparked in her face, and she exclaims happily,
"Oh my, Lydia Martin, I haven't seen you in ages. I didn't know you went to college with Stiles; what a good surprise."
Lydia smiled,
"Hi Mrs. Stilinski, it really does feel like forever, haha, but I recently joined Stiles in college. It's been fun. Ah, let me introduce you; this is Damon, a friend from college, and this is Rei; he's Stiles' peer mentor at college." Lydia said, smiling nicely after telling a bald-faced lie.
My mom frowned for a second, but it went away quickly. But since I was observing the conversation from the outside, I also noticed my teacher frowned for a second, but then he also schooled his face, and I couldn't tell what either of them was thinking.
"Well, very nice to meet you, please come in, mind the mess; if you let me know you were coming ahead of time, I would've cleaned up." My mother said, putting her key in the doorknob and letting us all into the house.
After seeing her unlock the door, I remembered something,
"Hey, m-mom, did you change the doorknob recently? My key wasn't working." I asked.
My mother's face left confused, and she admonished me,
"Stiles, we haven't changed the doorknob since you were three, maybe you left your key at college, or maybe you used the wrong key." That was the answer she gave.
But honestly, it just gave me more proof that the Ghost Riders could influence the world or at least the town that they're stealing people from. The thing is that we did change the doorknob 3 years ago because 3 years ago, someone broke our door, that someone could have been myself but either way, if the door was broken and we needed to get a whole new door plus the doorknob. Meaning we changed keys.
So the key that I have on my keyring is the key that unlocks the house. However, my dad made this key for me. And since my dad is not here, maybe the doorknob that he replaced and the keys that he made disappeared along with him. But at this point, it's all just speculation; it could be good speculation but speculation nonetheless.
Of course, I didn't say anything; it would be no good to tell my mother something that she couldn't remember happening. It would just lead to confusion and make us look suspicious.
It took a minute for my mother to clean the table, removing case files and her cup from this morning when she was probably drinking coffee. But soon enough, the table was clear, and everyone else sat around the table, and my mom served drinks.
It was iced tea, and it tasted just how I remembered it, a dash too sweet and a dash too sour, and no matter how many times we changed the recipe, it always ended up the same. Drinking it was nostalgic because once my mother died, I was never able to recreate it, no matter how many times I tried.
After I drank, everyone else helped themselves to it, and everything was going fine until Damon drank it. He took a pretty big sip and then coughed hard.
I laughed,
"You must've been thirsty." I joked, misreading the moment.
But he didn't stop coughing, and it sounded like he was choking.
My teacher helped, I think?
He slapped Damon on the back very hard, as you could tell by the sound of the slap, but all of a sudden, Damon stopped coughing, and everything was back to normal.
But my teacher's face looks comprehensive.
"It must have gone down the wrong pipe, huh?" My teacher said, looking at Damon imploring him to seemingly agree with him.
"Yeah, must've," Damon said, confused.
Damon POV:
Five minutes before, he drank the iced tea.
Stiles' mother was weird. She seemed normal, but she seemed normal in the same way that Caroline's mom seemed normal. It just seems like she knew more than she was letting on.
But she seemed so normal. I just ignored it. I chalked it up to Stiles being weird and his family being weird as well.
Everything was going fine.
We got introduced, and she invited us inside, she cleared up space for us at the table, and she served us some iced tea. I wasn't even thirsty, but I was being hospitable because I was trying to come off as a normal college student friend.
So I decided to just take a good sip of the iced tea; it's not like it was going to hurt me...
Well, I thought so, until after I took a sip, I started to cough a lot. At first, I thought she might have spiked the iced tea because the back of my throat started to burn. But I drink so much alcohol I shouldn't be feeling the burn anymore. Especially not from a mixed drink.
It reminded me of something, but at the moment, I couldn't place it because I was coughing too hard. It started to make my head hurt.
I started to choke; I kind of felt like I was dying, not literally, but it was painful, that was until Stiles' weird, mysterious "teacher" slapped me on the back. I felt like it wasn't going to work, but all of a sudden, all of the pain just disappeared, and I stopped coughing. He must have done something that was not normal, but I couldn't figure it out, and I wasn't going to mention it with the company we had.
I just sat back down in the chair and apologized. Rei wanted me to go along with the story that the liquid went down the wrong pipe, and obviously, it didn't, but I would play along for now.
But we were definitely talking about this once we were in private.
Rei POV:
Stiles' mother was odd.
Not too much, unlike her son, but she was odd in a different way. I don't know much about his family, but I assume at least one of his parents has to be not human for him to be a part werewolf. However, I don't know if it was his mother or his father, as I didn't get around to asking that question.
But my money is leaning on his mother as the time we spend with her has progressed.
I don't think my student has noticed it yet, though.
She is very good at hiding that she is not human; I only noticed it because she slightly slipped up; she probably would not have if she knew she was in the presence of beings that were not human.
Though she might already know, considering that the vampire doesn't have a heartbeat.
But earlier, when Lydia lied straight to her face, she could obviously tell whether it was because she heard her heartbeat or she knew Lydia well enough to know when she was lying, but I'm almost positive it was the heartbeat. Considering how they said they hadn't seen each other in a long time. And going from what Stiles had said that his mother died when he was younger, there would be no time for her to know Lydia well enough.
Also, the fact that she spiked our drinks with Vervain.
It's why Damon started choking the moment he drank it, and everyone else was fine.
At this point, she must suspect that Damon is a vampire; well, no, I would say she knows. And vampires aren't the most friendly type, there are rare cases where they are, but most often than not, they're bad people, considering their diet at least.
I assume that she has assumed the worst and thinks Damon is tricking her son and her son's friend and probably even me.
I would mention this to Stiles, but I'm kind of curious to see how this would play out, so I'm just going to keep this information to myself and only intervene if someone's about to die.
It's no fun if there isn't a little bit of mischief going on.
I'm not a Kitsune for nothing.
/
Notes:
Oh, I just had a terrible idea. I just had a terrible idea. Oh, I really want to write it. It'll just be so funny. It's going to be so weird but it's going to be so funny. I'm tempted to put it in the next chapter. Oh, I'm so tempted to put in the next chapter. It's going to make for so many good jokes. Oh, I have to. Well if y'all weren't excited enough for the next chapter be prepared for the funniest thing that's going to happen. It just came to my head. And I don't really know if I should write it but I think I'm committed by writing this note.
~For the next chapter in the middle somewhere close to the end of the chapter you will see why I am saying this. But until then I sound like a crazy person so see you when I see ya.
