Alas, Teen Wolf belongs to its owners whoever that legally is.
"When you cross over into the weird stuff, there's no going back. Hector has a theory on it. Calls it the law of 'Anomalous Phenomena Attraction.' He explained it to me once. Didn't really pay attention, but it boils down to 'weird shit pulls in more weird shit."
― A. Lee Martinez, Gil's All Fright Diner
"Honey, we're home!" Snow voice rang out through the empty waiting area of the veterinary clinic. Arm snugly linked through Isaac's, she seemed oblivious to the resigned expression on his face. As they reached the gate in the railing, Isaac stopped dead in his tracks but Snow put a hand on the gate and pushed it open. She pulled the reluctant werewolf through the opening.
Derek sent a questioning glance to Frost who smiled and shrugged her shoulders. Then, she held the gate open for the alpha. "Hello," a voice from the back called. Dr. Deaton joined them taking in Snow and Isaac as he entered the room. "You must be Snow. Stiles was just telling me how delighted he is that you are here."
"Stiles is my second favorite person in Beacon Hills and padawan to my Yoda!" Her head bobbed up and down as she peered around the vet looking for Stiles. "Where is he?" Deaton pointed to the back and Snow dragged Isaac with her to find him.
Turning to Frost and Derek, "And you are the one we've been waiting on."
She extended a hand, which he took. "Frost Morgan."
"Dr. Deaton. Any relation to Anand Morgan?" Deaton's smile never changed, but Frost sensed he was testing her.
"My mother."
"You'll have to give her my regards. It's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of her company." Deaton shifted his gaze to Derek. "And Derek, how did you come to keep such lovely company as Miss Morgan?"
"Please, call me Frost."
"It's a long story." Derek looked uncomfortable with Deaton's question. The vet chose not to pursue it further, but instead focused on the task at hand.
"Frost, I understand that you are here to offer us assistance. Perhaps you can help us resolve our mystery."
Disconcerted by his knowledge of her mother, she gave him a tight smile. "It's why I am here."
A few hours later, Isaac, Snow, and Stiles walked into the clinic a second time that day. Only this time, each person held a bag of food or a holder of drinks. As they entered, Frost was in the middle of addressing Scott, Dr. Deaton, and Derek.
"Not much can cause that kind of fear." She gazed into space. A wrinkle formed between her brows.
"I admit that I am at a loss. The varied location of the attacks and the lack of wounds on the victims…I spoke to the coroner who concluded that all of them did indeed die of symptoms associated with extreme fear. High levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine in the bloodstream." Deaton moved out of the way as the three teens passed out burgers, fries, and drinks. Several looks of confusion turned in his direction. "Adrenaline and noradrenaline. Part of the fight or flight response triggered by fear."
"Literally, scared to death?" Snow cocked her head in disbelief. "Frost is right that takes a lot of fear to overload the bodies natural defenses if there's not already a preexisting heart condition."
Scott nodded as he took a bite of his sandwich. "And I'm sure that I smelled Gerard at the last crime scene."
"Murpmph mumph…" Stiles swallowed the fries in his mouth. "So what can cause death by fright? Freddy Krueger?"
Snow frowned at Stiles. "Freddy Krueger? Pssh. Figament of human imagination."
"Knufflebunnies?"
Frost made a choking coughing sound. Someone placed a cup in her hand ,which she drank greedily while Snow patted her back. When she regained her ability to speak, she gave Stiles a look of disbelief. "What is wrong with him?" Frost arched an eyebrow in Derek's direction.
"Everything."
Frost rolled her eyes at him. "I seriously doubt knufflebunnies, whatever that is, caused the death of four people." Frost tilted her head in thought. "What about the Nalusa Falya?"
"I believe that the Nalusa Falya is almost extinct." Dr. Deaton paused eating as he considered the suggestion. "And I believe that the Nalusa poisons its victim after causing it to pass out from fright. The vicitim takes their own life after the Nalusa's evil causes them to murder their loved ones."
"Demon Monkeys! Nasty, icky, oozing things!" Snow's eyes narrowed and her face twisted into a grimace.
"Demon monkeys? Oozing?" Stiles looked strangely delighted by the idea.
"So not the Nalusa Falya." Derek motioned for Frost to continue.
"Apparitions. Ghost. Poltergists." Frost's lips turned down. "Although the energy to manifest enough to physically interact with this plane takes years to acquire. I can't imagine that Gerard would have had the time to do so."
"Ghosts don't have a smell," Derek added.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!" A hand slapped the metal exam table. Stiles looked at Derek and Frost in disbelief. "Ghosts are real?"
"How do you know they don't have a smell?" Isaac asked.
Scott remained quiet, but his expression suggested that the conversation was a little overwhelming.
"I'm surprised you haven't run into any yet." Snow patted Scott's shoulder gently. "Supernatural attracts supernatural. I'm surprised all you've had so far is a kanima, other werewolves, and hunters." A cheeky grin split her face. "Of course, you've met me and Frost." Frost glared at her sister and made a cutting motion at the throat. "What they have to be wondering especially after you went namesake on Derek's feet last night?"
"How about we discuss this later, sister mine?" Dark blue eyes remained narrowed on the pale blue pair.
Snow huffed out a breath of air and it came out as a puff of white smoke. "Oh, so scared, it's so cold in here." She rubbed her arms mockingly before sticking out her tongue. Still, she didn't say anything more on the subject.
The conversation continued on for another hour. The group found chairs and settled in for the long haul. "Am Fear Liath Mor?" Snow muttered.
"Am what?" Scott asked.
"Am Fear Liath Mor. The Tall Grey Man? Sends his victims into a blind panic. Nothing like blindly running down a path, sheer cliff on one side stone on the otherside to get the heart pumping or to you know fall off of." Snow gestured with her hands to indicate a man running and falling off a cliff. She even added sound effects. "PHeeeewww…Splat."
"Not a bad suggestion. The Am Fear Liath Mor exists somewhere between being corporeal and incorporeal. Do you think the mountain ash could have hindered the change in such a way, Frost?" Dr. Deaton asked.
"Yes, I think it's a good chance. Scott doesn't strike me as a the kind of guy who wants anyone dead even his enemies." Scott didn't protest the assessment, so Frost continued. "If you focused more on preventing Gerard from becoming a werewolf and not on killing him when you were preparing the mountain ash, you may have left room for the magic to come up with its on solution. The Am Fear Liath Mor was created by a similar lack of direction."
"Does it bother anyone else that she talks about magic like it has a mind of its own?" Isaac asked.
"That's not it exactly." Snow looked at Deaton, Derek, or Frost to see if they were going to explain. When none of them jumped in to clarify and continued to discuss the Am Fear Liath Mor, she dropped her voice down low and leaned closer to Isaac and Stiles. "Think of magic like water. It's a liquid so it takes the shape of whatever its put in like my cup. In this case your belief or your will replaces the cup." Snow pulled the lid off her cup and poured the contents on the tile. "But if you just pour it out on the floor it will move and flow along the surface of the table according to certain universal rules like gravity. There are certain rules that can't be broken so the magic like water flows into the cracks until it's fulfilled its purpose."
"What exactly does the Am Fear Liath Mor look like?" Scott asked.
"A tall grey man in the mist, but I'm not convinced that's exactly what we have here." Frost shoved her chair back suddenly and began to pace the floor. Her hand ran through her long black hair. "I feel like the answer is right there just out of reach but completely obvious."
Dr. Deaton watched the young woman pace agitatedly. His expression remained calm but thoughtful. "I agree it does seem as though we are missing the answer."
Scott groaned loudly in frustration. "This is insane. How many different things are out there? I thought this was a short list."
"It is." Derek glanced at Frost from where he leaned against the wall. "And there are more things out there than names for them."
Suddenly, Frost stopped in her tracks.
"Barghest."
Derek growled and Snow's head snapped up. "But mom has…?" She trailed off as she stood and walked over to her sister.
"Stiles, do you still have that map you made of the attack locations?" Dr. Deaton asked. Stiles pulled out his phone and opened the app before handing it to the vet. "All the locations of the bodies were found close to remote, little traveled roads."
"What is exactly is a barghest? And what does the location of the bodies have to do with it?" Scott scratched his head.
Stiles understood. "Black dog, Black Shuck, Hellhound? Nothing?"
"Aren't those just other names for werewolves?" Issac asked.
Snow shuddered and a shadow crossed her expression. "Not even close. More like evil, demonic ghost dogs. Their creepy semi-corporeal selves can be avoided by staying off deserted path & roads. Even the trods are not safe from them."
"Trods?" Stiles eyes gleamed as the wheels in his brain turned.
"So how do find out for sure?" Derek eye's glowed red as he looked at Frost. "And how do we stop one?"
"You don't stop a barghest. You run in the other direction and hope the human sacrifice you tripped keeps it occupied." Snow offered her suggestion nonchalantly.
"Trods? Human Sacrifices? What exactly are you two?" Stiles gave Snow and Frost a knowing look.
Frost sighed with resignation. She was silent for a moment, before smiling enigmatically. "To know for sure you'd need to get a straight answer from my mother, and, honestly, you are more likely to lay a golden egg than have that happen. But most of the time, we claim to be Tuatha De Dannan."
"Tuatha De Dannan. What is that?" Scott frowned in confusion.
"Fairy, Fae, pixie, brownie, seelie or unseelie, the good folk, banshee, selkie, kelpie, gnomes, goblins, trolls." Stiles sucked in a huge breath at the end.
Scott's eyes widened in confusion. "Like Tinkerbell?"
Stiles hit his forehead with his palm. "Dude, I don't know how you survive."
Frost laughed a tinkling sound and turned to Derek, "What do you think, Derek? Am I a Tinkerbell?"
"If anyone is Tinkerbell, it's me because I am the only one who actually spilled fairy dust on someone. I mean that one time I even got Derek…"
Derek cut her off with a growl.
"Ok, I get it you don't want me to tell them about how I convinced you that…"
This time he let loose a roar that shook everything.
"Geez Louise, panties in a wad much?" Snow span on her heels and walked out of the room. Isaac watched her go.
"Really?" Frost chastised the alpha werewolf before giving Stiles an appraising glance. "So how well do you play bait?"
A lot of exposition in this chapter, so I hope its not too boring. BTW I love reviews.