Chapter Twenty Five
...
The hospital was full of people lying on the floor. It was late (or early, considering it was almost two o'clock in the morning) but it was also a full moon, so there were more people than usual for the time. They were trembling and scared, a few people coughing miserably here and there, but they weren't dead or injured as far as Isaac and Jackson could tell. They both ignored the townspeople, stepping around them quietly as they followed Ethan's scent that was winding through the hospital corridors.
"Ethan will be all right, won't he?" Isaac asked.
"He'd better be," Jackson snarled.
He tried the two-way radio again but there was no response from Ethan or even Mrs. McCall, so they had to keep following their noses to find Ethan. Neither one wanted to mention that they were following the scent of Ethan's blood.
...
Tomika was regretting letting Lydia drive. She still didn't have the greatest control over her banshee powers, as evidenced by Lydia cutting their conversation short, her eyes glazing over, and the obvious tilt to her head as she listened to something beyond their normal hearing range. Tomika knew that they'd get to their destination safely, so she took her notebook out and placed it on her lap, her hands flat on the book as she listened as well.
White noise filled her ears and Tomika knew that her notebook was filling with words and her own familiar handwriting, so she didn't allow herself to focus on the noise itself. She would wait until it had finished, just as she'd been taught.
Tomika shuddered back to reality as the car came to a slow rolling stop. Her hands trembled slightly as she opened her notebook, flipping to what had recently been a blank page. What she read made her jaw clench and the arms on both her arms and the back of her neck stand on end.
A soft moan beside her indicated that Lydia was aware of her surroundings again, and she looked over to the redhead with concern.
"Where are we?" Lydia asked, looking around at what was definitely not the hospital.
"According to my notebook - and the letterbox - this is the Clarkson residence," Tomika said, looking from the cookie-cutter house to Lydia.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Lydia said, shrugging.
...
Sean had organised something with Sara before she started on the unconscious Druid, and Kuhle had been instructed to help Sean carry the unconscious hunters once Sara had finished. Sean had then moved around the Nemeton's clearing, gathering all of the fallen weapons, ammunition, and other paraphernalia that had fallen to the forest ground. Kuhle was 95% certain that Sean was muttering about littering and destroying ecosystems under his breath, but that other 5% was - more importantly - focused on Sara and what she was doing.
"What are you doing?" Kuhle asked in what he hoped was a conversational and curious tone, rather than an interrupting and annoying one.
"Wiping their memories. Hopefully they'll become gainfully employed without too much trouble," Sara murmured distractedly, a green mist covering the hunters' foreheads.
Kuhle considered that for a moment, then looked from the hunters to Deaton to Sara. "What are you going to do about him?"
Sara didn't respond for a long moment, her expression telling Kuhle that she may not have been aware of his question or even his presence in the first place. He fell silent and continued to help Sean pick up the mess around the clearing, wondering how long the blood stains would take to disappear.
It took Kuhle a moment to realise that the soft green glow had disappeared and he looked over to Sara immediately. She looked paler than usual and he started towards her, stopping short when Sara held up a hand.
"I'm fine. Just takes a few minutes to recover when there's multiple people involved," Sara explained. She moved over to the Nemeton, walking gingerly as though everything ached - after the fight they'd just been in, Kuhle wouldn't be surprised if that was actually the case, with the bruises to match - and she leaned against the large tree carefully. "Help Sean with the rest of them; I'll answer your question when you're back."
Kuhle nodded firmly, filled with a warmth that she'd even acknowledged his question at all. Sean simply looked as though his headache had returned. Kuhle hefted one of the larger hunters up over his shoulder. Sean shifted and gathered the rest into his arms, leaving Kuhle somewhere between stunned and awed at the sight. There was a soft noise like a wind through leaves that could have been a snort of amusement, and then Sean left the clearing, Kuhle struggling to follow after him with the heavy hunter.
Sara didn't watch them go. Instead, she kept her eyes on the Druid, who was still bound to the tree, the arrow still embedded in his shoulder, and blood running in thick rivulets down his arm. His chest was rising and falling slowly, eyelids calm and heavy, and for all intents and purposes, Deaton looked as though he was unconscious. Sara knew a thing or two about things not looking the way they should and didn't believe the Druid's ruse for a second.
The night around them was quiet, and a forest like this was rarely quiet; it felt as though everything and everyone waited with bated breath for her to speak or act or do something. Some might have felt powerful at the idea but Sara simply felt unsettled and vaguely nauseous. She'd never felt comfortable being the centre of attention.
"I could turn you into a Mute Man, you know," she said, her voice just loud enough to reach the Druid's ears.
Deaton twitched, almost involuntarily, at the thought. A Druid without a mouth, without words, was a Druid without power. He stopped pretending to be unconscious and looked up at her, glaring.
"I did consider removing your memory of magic, but this town reeks of magic, and the memories would spring back into your mind like a rubber band sooner rather than later," Sara said.
"Far sooner than you would like," Deaton agreed easily, his tone pleasant and conversational as though they were discussing the weather.
Sara ignored him. "There are other things that I could do; things that not even the books would dare mention."
This made Deaton shift uneasily as there was plenty that the books did mention that were far more unpleasant than he'd like. "The Argents were going to kill me. They... they threatened the town, Scott, and even Stiles and the other recruits. I did what I had to do to save them."
By this time, Kuhle and Sean had returned to the clearing, Sean dropping Kuhle before shifting back.
Kuhle frowned as he looked between Sara and Deaton. "Cool motive, still attempted murder. You knew what would happen if Scott attacked the Nemeton with Stiles inside it," he said pointedly.
Deaton's jaw clenched and he glared, but he didn't reply.
"Besides, what about the Nemeton the first time around? You didn't have to kill three teenagers to find their parents," Sara added.
"The Nemeton needed to be fully charged to protect the town; I've only done what I've done in the interests of the greater good! I didn't realise until afterwards how... powerful Stiles would be; I've been trying to balance the Nemeton out by removing the shoots from the stump."
"Which coincidentally released the prisoners from the Nemeton," Sean pointed out.
Deaton shrugged the best he could while bound to a tree with an arrow lodged in his shoulder. "I knew they would be able to handle them."
"That's not how they should have been handled! There are different ways to test people's strength - their strength of mind, character, whatever - this was not it. There's even a Rite of Strength, for fuck's sakes!" Sara said, rolling her eyes.
Kuhle snorted in disbelief so hard that he almost choked on his tonsils.
"Even if the Nemeton was too powerful, you could have released its energy in a far more effective and safe manner. The Amelioration of Power, for example?" Sara added, her voice scathing and sarcastic.
"How do you know about that?" Deaton asked sharply, glaring at her suspiciously.
Sara rolled her eyes again. "I dated a Druid for a year. Despite all the secrecy with you guys, you just can't resist arguing when you think you're right. Like about magical energy transfers and which transfer was better: the Druid's Rite of Power Amelioration or the witch's Power Plexus Blessing?"
"Of course, I think the witch's Blessing is safest. It's not even bias, just common sense! The Blessing distributes the power and energy between the network - which, by the way, the Nemeton is linked in a network to every other tree in this forest, ergo safety, no death required! - whereas the Rite comes back to the Druid instead."
"What does that mean?" Kuhle asked, looking between the three adults and trying not to sound like a confused child.
"It means that if a Druid has someone complete the Rite for them, then they can transfer that person's power - as well as whatever power they're aiming to fix or tap into - back to themselves, therefore increasing the amount of power they have. It basically drains a person dry of their power. So, of course, guess which one you coerced three teenagers into doing?" Sara snapped, glaring at Deaton. Her fierce expression faded after a moment as she looked at Deaton properly; he seemed tense and angry, and it wasn't just about her knowing about the Druid's Rite. "But something went wrong, didn't it?"
...
Stiles wished - not for the first time - that Roscoe just had a little more power under her hood. He didn't need anything flashy, really, just something that got him from A to B at a faster pace than he was currently going. Stiles was almost positive that he could run faster than Roscoe at this point. Boyd didn't seem to mind the speed, enjoying the fact that he was driving for the first time in... a long time. He could scent Stiles' annoyance and looked at him in the rear view mirror.
"Do you want me to get out and push instead?" Boyd asked, grinning.
"We're almost there," Stiles said, seeing the sign for the hospital up ahead.
Outside the Jeep, Caleb, Tasha, and Okami raced ahead to get to the hospital that much sooner and check that they weren't leading their Alpha into a trap. Well, not straight away, since it was obvious that this whole thing was a trap.
"I thought I'd seen the end of hospitals after getting bitten, y'know," Erica muttered, her shoulders tense and eyes flashing gold.
Allison took her hand and squeezed. "Remember the asylum?"
"The what?" Derek asked, confused at the way Erica suddenly lost her tension and smiled at Allison's words, her eyes filtering from gold back to brown.
"There was more than a train station in limbo; we found an old run-down asylum and then destroyed the rest of it," Erica said, grinning sharply.
"Very cathartic," Boyd added, glancing in the rear view mirror to smile at Erica.
Stiles and Derek didn't know what to say so they simply nodded in response. They arrived at the hospital just as a loud howl sounded: it was Ethan and he was in pain. Boyd hurried to park the Jeep and the others all clambered out, running towards the doors. Okami, Tasha, and Caleb were waiting for them, their claws and fangs out.
"Hey, Batman?" Erica called. "What's this guy look like? Y'know, so I don't accidentally kill him?"
"Remember the twins I told you about?" Boyd asked before Stiles could reply.
Erica's eyes bled to gold immediately and she snarled. "Never mind. It definitely won't be an accident when I kill him."
...
Malia arrived at the hospital with the rest of her group behind her. Yelena had managed to keep up with them at first, admitting along the way that she was a long distance runner. Long distance usually meant a slower pace though, so when Malia looked back as they left the forest line, she saw that Yelena was red-faced and winded. Not bothering to wait or ask, Malia grabbed Yelena and carried her the rest of the way.
When she was on her feet once more, Yelena straightened out her shirt, then nodded at Malia. "Thanks."
"No problem," Malia said with a shrug, heading into the hospital.
Jackson and Isaac's scents were already there so Malia started to follow them through the hospital. Jorge reached out and stopped her before she got too far, and Malia tried not to glare as she looked back at him. "What?!"
"They're following Ethan's scent," Jorge said.
"So?"
"There's three trails that cross over each other; the hunters have used Ethan's scent to confuse anyone following it," Jorge said. Then he looked and nodded over to a different hallway. "Scott's mother's scent is that way. It's more likely that they'd keep their hostages together."
Malia nodded. "Lead the way."
"Are you sure he's right?" Liam asked, looking from Ethan's hallway to Melissa's.
"Dude, Malia said Jorge's got a better sense of smell than her, and he does that, y'know, biting thing," Mason said, demonstrating with a snap of his teeth.
"Jackson and Isaac are heading into the hunters' trap; we'll help them," Yukimi said, putting her hands on Liam and Mason's shoulders.
"Good idea. Scream if you need us," Malia said, heading down the hallway with Yelena and Jorge.
"I was just going to use the two-way radio, but whatever," Liam muttered.
Mason rolled his eyes at his best friend and they walked through the other hallway, hoping to find Jackson and Isaac before the hunters did.
...
The Sheriff wondered - not for the first time since getting into the car - if it would have been easier and less painful if he'd just walked to the hospital instead. He wasn't bleeding out thanks to something Sara had done to the bullet wound, and the pain was nothing but a dull ache thanks to Scott, but dear god, the flirting between Chris and Peter was starting to make him ill. Rafe, on the other hand, looked as though he was trying to concentrate on nothing but the fact that he and Scott were both alive.
"If you snap at me one more time, I will make you submit," Peter said.
"Just try it, Hale," Chris replied.
The Sheriff groaned. "I should've let Parrish carry me to the damn hospital."
Scott frowned. "Are you still in pain?"
Rafe coughed, covering a laugh. "Not from the bullet wound, I'd gather."
"I don't get it," Scott said, his frown deepening.
In the front, Peter continued to flirt with Chris under the guise of teaching him. There was a moment, almost three minutes later, when Chris cried out in surprise. He'd finally found Allison as his anchor. Almost immediately, his eyes returned to their usual colour and he removed his fingers - previously claws - from the dashboard.
"She's all right," Chris said, his relief obvious in every syllable.
"Good. Now let's see how you go with using your claws for the first time," Peter murmured, passing the sign for Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital.
A howl filled the night around them, Scott sitting up as his eyes filtered to red. "That was Ethan."
...
Teresa, Mia, Jade had managed to find one of the cars and Mia was driving as though Ghost Riders were after them. Jade held onto the door handle tightly as they curved around a bend in the road, two tyres lifting.
"If you make me scream my own name, I will haunt you for the rest of time," Jade snapped when all four wheels were flat on the asphalt once more.
Mia tried not to grin too much. "You guys get superpowers, I get to drive."
Teresa was in the backseat, her eyes screwed shut tightly and her claws embedded in the seat on either side of her thighs. The next time Mia offered to drive, Teresa swore that she was going to run instead.
"It's not superpowers," Jade said, her angry tone turning queasy as they rounded another bend in the road.
Laughter bubbled up out of Mia and she drove that little bit faster.
...
Jackson's head was spinning and he'd was tempted to put his fist through the wall in frustration. Ethan's scent was leading them throughout the hospital without actually leading them to him. Jackson was certain that they would have had a better chance of finding Ethan if they'd just searched every fucking room one by one instead.
"We'll find him, Jacks," Isaac murmured, even though they could both scent his worry and doubt.
Even if they did find Ethan, they had no idea if he would be alive and whole or in pieces.
Jackson swallowed and forced himself to think. He pressed the heel of his palm against his forehead, wishing that his head would stop spinning. "Maybe we should split up; we'll cover more ground."
Isaac shook his head firmly. "No; we're finding Ethan together."
Jackson was equal parts annoyed and relieved. "Fine, but we're leaving this trail; it's leading us around in circles."
A howl broke out, long and loud, and it was one they both recognised: Ethan. They ran through the hallways, following the sound rather than the scent, and barely paid any attention to their surroundings.
When they came to a stop, Isaac realised that he recognised the hallway, the doorway up ahead, and he put an arm across Jackson's chest to stop him from going any further. "It's a trap; that wasn't Ethan."
"We both heard him!" Jackson hissed, his voice quiet though he wasn't entirely sure why. "Ethan's in there and he's in pain!"
A gun cocked behind them, the sound practically echoing in the hallway. They both froze when they recognised the scent of wolfsbane bullets.
"You are both right and wrong: the blue-eyed werewolf is in pain, but he is not in that room. Now move forward," the woman snapped, her gun pressed into Isaac's spine.
Jackson snarled under his breath but clutched Isaac's hand tightly and they both walked towards the door marked 'Morgue'.
...
End of the twenty-fifth chapter.
Author's note: Mia's backstory
Mia basically grew up on a racetrack. Her mother's a mechanic (as are her two brothers, an uncle, and both of her late grandparents) and races in her spare time. Mia's been driving since she was eleven years old (though there's a proudly-framed photo of Mia 'driving' at the age of six - all under supervision, of course) and eventually started street racing at the age of fourteen. At sixteen, she borrowed one of her mother's cars to race the largest street race the town had ever seen (well, most of the town, at least; most citizens were asleep and oblivious). Mia won the race against all odds, but was arrested that same night. Her juvenile records were sealed, but it was her mother's disappointment that made her change her ways. (Speaking of change, she can change a tyre in 2 seconds flat.)
Mia's favourite movies are the Fast & Furious ones because they're so cheesy and she loves the cars. Hobbs/The Rock absolutely didn't inspire her to join the FBI. (He totally did.)