I turned around to see the beds had disappeared and the walls were white tiles. I blinked and the room shifted again. Now I was standing in the school hallway, alone, with every locker open. Stepping forward, I looked around for Scott but he was nowhere to be seen. I approached a classroom with an open door and looked in.
There stood a tall figure wrapped in bandages. His face was covered entirely, except for his razor sharp teeth. I let out a gasp and backed away from the door. A roar rang out through the hallways, coming from the figure that I assumed was the real Nogitsune. Suddenly, an echo saying my name filled the hallway. I ran the opposite direction and the Nogitsune followed, slamming every locker shut as he trudged towards me. I collided into the double doors, pushing them open.
On the other side of the doors was a brightly light, large, and empty room. I ran forward into the room, leaving the hallway and Nogitsune behind. I turned to see the doors close, but they were gone. I was surrounded by bright lights and while pillars. It was dead silent, until Scott appeared before me. We both turned to look forward and saw Stiles, sitting on the Nemeton with the Nogitsune. They were playing some game that looked like checkers.
"Stiles! Hey, Stiles! Look at me!" I yelled for him, but got no response. I turned to Scott and he motioned his head towards Stiles. We took off running for him in unison.
After what felt like an hour of running, we seemed to be the same distance from Stiles. I leaned over, panting from the exercise. My heart was racing, and I had an idea.
"Maybe I can tell what he's feeling. I mean, this is Stiles, right?" I questioned, looking at Scott. He nodded, and I closed my eyes. I focused every inch of my being on Stiles Stilinski and let the emotions flood in. I felt anxious, and I knew that the feeling was from Stiles.
"He's nervous. Anxious." I informed Scott, feeling my palms start to sweat from Stiles emotions. Stiles picked up one of the white pieces on the board and moved it.
"Wait, Stiles is part of your pack. He's human, but he's still part of the pack, right?" I added, locking eyes with Scott. He nodded and stood up straight.
"So how do wolves signal their location to the rest of the pack?" I continued, letting Scott connect the dots.
"They howl." He replied, letting out a loud howl. It shook the entire room, and Stiles turned to look at us. I let out a sigh of relief and began walking closer to him. He stared into me and Scott's eyes, then threw all the pieces off of the board. The room started spinning again, and my vision faded into darkness.
When I came to, I could feel hot blood dripping down my nose. I gasped for air and stood up from the couch, looking at the Nogitsune. I could feel my eyes glowing, and I knew it wasn't Stiles.
"Guys, it didn't work. I can feel it. It's still not him." Everyone in the room's faces dropped as if they lost hope. I felt completely defeated. This was the only thing we could do besides having Scott bite Stiles, and that could kill him. My eyes began to sting as tears built up, threatening to spill over. Peter said something about a name, and Lydia pulled him aside. I listened into the conversation, waiting for whatever name they were talking about.
"Malia." Lydia whispered. Malia was no longer trapped in her coyote form, she was now a student of Beacon Hills High. I'm not sure how Scott did it, but he changed her back. She was actually a very beautiful girl. Light brown hair, pretty eyes..definitely going to have the guys going crazy.
At the sound of the name, the Nogitsune jumped forward and began dry-heaving on the ground. I cringed at the sight, watching bandages fly out of his mouth and pile up. A few moments passed before all the bandages had been expelled from his body. The Nogitsune fell back onto the couch as the figure I had seen inside Stiles mind started coming out of the pile of bandages.
"Is that the Nogitsune?" Lydia spoke as Scott kept everyone away from the body. I closed my eyes and attempted to feel Stiles emotions, and I could. This wasn't the Nogitsune. This was Stiles, and he was afraid.
"No, it's Stiles. Get the bandages off of him, quick!" I shouted, resulting in Scott pulling the wrappings from Stiles body. He looked up at Scott with wide eyes full of fear.
"Scott?"
•••••
While we were gawking over Stiles being (possibly) himself, the Nogitsune had kidnapped Lydia and ran off with her. Now we're on the hunt for her, with no idea where they went. Night was falling, and I needed a break from everything.
I went home a took a long hot shower, trying to rid myself of any thoughts of the events that had just occured. The hot water felt heavenly against my skin, and I was disappointed when I had to get out. I wrapped a towel around me and wiped the steam off the mirror to see my eyes glowing yellow. I closed them, letting my mind take control. Images of the old internment camp, Oak Creek, and a dark hallway came to me while I felt the emotion of fear. I knew my body was connecting to Lydia's feelings, meaning below Oak Creek is where Lydia was.
Something inside of me told me to handle this myself as I went to call Scott. So instead, I got in my car and drove to the internment camp. When I reached my destination, I didn't even need to think about where to go. It was like my power was controlling my body, leading me to the underground tunnels.
When I was finally under the building, I could hear the Nogitsunes voice faintly. I followed the source of the noise, and ran into Lydia.
"Olivia, what are you doing here?" She whispered, trying to keep the conversation between us. I couldn't even get my words out before the Nogitsune spoke.
"Ahh, an Empath. This could be interesting. Lydia, darling, you're free to go." My heart dropped at the words, but I knew what I needed to do. Lydia looked at me with a look of desperation and confusion, and I could feel her fear. I gave her a nod, telling her to go.
"Go, Lydia. He won't hurt me. He can't hurt me. He will use my abilities, but that's all. Tell them that I'm here, please." I pleaded, giving her a hug. She hesitated, but listened and backed away from me. I let out a shaky exhale and turned to face the Nogitsune behind me. I walked backwards, colliding with a gate. He ascended down a small flight of stairs, coming closer to me before sitting down on a step.
"What do you want?" I inquired quietly, my voice shaking.
"You, Olivia. I want you." My eyes widened at the statement, and I could feel the blood rush to my face. Even if this wasn't truly Stiles, it was satisfying hearing those words in his voice.
"Me? Why do you want me?" I questioned, pressing my back into the gate to keep as far from him as possible. He let out a mischievous chuckle, remaining in the same spot.
"Oh, sweetheart. You're an Empath. Even if you don't know how to use your abilities completely yet, you're still extremely powerful." He stated, causing me to suck in a breath. What does he mean I'm extremely powerful? All I can do is sense peoples emotions.
"You're in love with Stiles, aren't you Olivia? Oh, I don't even need your answer. I already know. It's cute, really, but it's a weakness. Emotions are weakness." He explained, standing up and inching closer to me. I turned around and tried to get the gate to open, but it wouldn't budge.
"That's why I don't want you to have emotions. You losing your emotions will cause pain on everyone else. The trickster stories are all about food, Olivia. The Coyote, the Raven, the Fox. They're all hungry. I'm the same. I just crave something a little different. I crave pain, strife, chaos." He continued to taunt me, getting closer and closer.
Tears started to spill from my eyes out of fear. He was talking about negation, like Deaton had said. I had done my research on it, and Empaths have the ability to turn all of their emotions off. They have to be triggered back on by someone they have a strong emotional connection to.
"And I'm insatiable." He whispered in my ear, pressing his body against mine. I let out a whimper and pushed my body into the gate with all my might.
"Turn it off!" He screamed, pulling my face to look into his eyes. I attempted to shake my head, but his grip was too strong.
"Turn it off or I will snap your neck right here, right now." He demanded. Deaton told me not to fall into negation, but right now I have no choice. I felt my eyes begin to glow and I shut them, focusing all my thoughts on turning every single emotion off.
And all of a sudden, the tears stopped flowing and nothing mattered.