A/N:
Whoever said senior year was easy is a mean, mean liar. I've never been busier in my life, and that's a lame excuse for not updating for almost two months, it is, but I kind of had a writer's block and a graphic's block and everything block and everything just fell out. But I'm back now, and I'm determined to be consistent with my updates. I'm very excited about this chapter because as of NOW the main plot shall begin to be revealed, and I'm so excited to see what you guys think of it and what you speculate for it! Now I'll shut up, and I hope you enjoy the chapter and leave your comments!
"Wait, so you want to go looking for the body of an eight year old girl in the woods?" Eva summed up as she stared at the two teenagers, frowning a little, "Because you think there's something else out there, another werewolf?" She finished as she turned to Stiles, who nodded slowly. They'd spent an hour explaining to her Malia's case, including why Stiles' dad was so keen on solving it.
"Okay, I'm coming." Eva finally breathed out, and Stiles almost opened his mouth to complain before Eva turned to look at him, "I'm fine." She told him briefly, and Stiles pursed his lips when she tilted her head towards Scott, and eventually sighed and nodded, "Okay." He muttered, and glanced sideways at Scott, then reached back to scratch the back of his neck. "We gotta go before dad gets here." Stiles told them, watching Scott nod with a fiery determination in his eyes before he left the room.
"We still have lots of talking to do." Eva muttered as she turned to Stiles once Scott left, "There's still so much I need to tell you. Something very important."
Stiles pulled his brows into a frown when he'd realized this was not just about them anymore, "I might as well just tell Scott so we'll talk in the car." She breathed out hesitantly, and Stiles licked his lip before he reached out to take her hand, "You don't have to, if you don't want to."
"But I have to." Eva shook her head once, "Now, come on. Scott is waiting for us."
Stiles nodded quickly before he reached for the case file on the desk and led Eva downstairs. "You lead the way, I'll be on the bike behind you." Scott started as he picked up his helmet. "No, you should ride with us." Eva said quickly, before she glanced sideways at Stiles. She was meant to only tell Stiles about the suicide and the car, but now she knew that this might actually be something too big for just having Stiles' and her head in it – and as much as she hated to drag Scott into this too, it felt right to tell him.
Stiles held the door open to Eva just as Scott shot him a confused look, quirking his brow. Stiles shrugged once as he closed the door and moved around to get into driver's side, before he glanced over at Eva and then through the rearview mirror at Scott, "Alright," He started as he started going through the case file, his eyes scanning over the coordinates and the exact position of the car crash, "Alright." He breathed out before he pulled out his phone to enter the coordinates into the GPS, and he nodded once before he propped the phone on the dashboard.
Scott and Eva had remained silent until Stiles had finally started driving, then he glanced sideways at Eva. The brunette took a deep breath before she started, "You know what happened, yesterday, right?" She started, her eyes flickered to meet Scott's gaze in the rearview mirror, and once he nodded, she sighed, "I…the first day in Eichen House, I knew something was off with this place. Something was completely not right about it. And not just because it was a…facility to treat mental illness." Eva whispered, trying to sound a little respectful to the patients there, "Something was just off."
"Then why did you keep going?" Stiles asked, and Eva shrugged, "I brushed it off because I thought I was just being oversensitive." Eva explained, "But the more I went there, the more I knew something bad probably happened there. I read that…some druids have the ability to see the past or the future if they come in contact with a significant object, person, or place from either tense." Eva explained, "And I figure the bad feeling was just because of the…more violent treatments."
"But on the first day, I met a patient." Eva whispered, eying Stiles nervously as she spoke, starting to twiddle with her fingers again, "His name is Daniel. I knew he was different. Something about him was…not right. He seemed too sane to be in there, but one of the nurses there told me that he'd been kicked out of so many foster homes that Eichen was the only place that could take him in."
Stiles pulled his brows together, this time concerned and somewhat…upset, "So what about that Daniel guy?" He breathed out, his fingers tapping the steering wheel. Eva didn't pause too long to take a breath, "I went looking for him, yesterday." Eva said quickly, "And I went downstairs. I knew that the…violent patients were kept downstairs, but it was like something drew me there. And it started getting cold, and I could hear whispers, echoes," She quickly corrected as she turned to Stiles.
"Turn right," Scott said quickly before he nodded for Eva to continue, and she pressed her hands against the dashboard as Stiles did a sharp turn. "But I started hearing someone screaming. In pain, I could tell." Eva mumbled, "I think. And when I turned to leave, Daniel was just there and he said…" Eva had never actually stopped to let herself think of the brief interaction she'd had with Daniel, her mind was too wrapped up in everything that happened after, that she only realized how significant that could be until now, "He said You can hear the screaming too." Eva mumbled as she frowned.
"Then what happened?" Stile urged her to go on as Scott gesture for him to make another turn, "Then I just pushed past him and started going back upstairs, and I heard him."
"The patient who hung himself." Stiles finished when Eva didn't continue. She nodded slowly, "But...he kept saying something…" Eva whispered, and her hear began racing in alarm when she realized she could barely remember what he was saying when he hung himself. "I...it was a riddle." Eva mumbled urgently before she turned to stare at the windshield, "I can't remember it."
"Eva," Scott started, smelling the anxiety and catching the rise of her heartbeat, "It's okay. Maybe you're just disoriented still." He tried to reassure her, and Stiles quickly nodded along. Eva frowned as she relaxed back into the seat, and eventually sighed, "Of course." She muttered, and before she could start speaking again, Stiles was stopping the jeep. "We gotta walk from here." Stiles turned to Eva, who looked somewhat relieved she didn't have to tell the rest of her story just yet.
The three got out of the car and started on their way along the rugged terrain of the reserve, following Scott who was holding the phone.
"If your dad is right, there's probably another werewolf out there that we don't know of." Eva muttered as she glanced sideways at Stiles, who nodded once, "I know." He mumbled, "And if it turns out to be three triplets, that join together into a three headed hound of hell, I'm seriously not up for it."
Scott glanced over his shoulder at Stiles before he breathed out a sigh, "Yeah, me neither." Scott muttered as he looked down at the phone again as they walked. They remained silent, Scott leading the way with Stiles and Eva following along. "Are you okay?" Stiles whispered when he'd noticed Eva's eyes focused on the ground, and she looked up at him before she nodded quickly, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm thinking."
Stiles nodded once, wanted to ask her about what she was thinking about until a howl sounded off in the night, and Stiles jumped, knocking the phone out of Scott's hand and down the boulder they hovered around, into a puddle of water. Eva lifted both brows as she stared at Stiles, chewing on the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling as she watched Stiles' face redden visibly in the darkness. He looked up at Scott, who turned to somewhat glare at him. "Sorry, buddy." He mumbled, "I just," He started as he turned to Eva, "I hate coyotes. They always sound like they're mauling some poor, helpless little animal." Stiles whispered as Scott jumped over the boulder.
Eva watched as Stiles almost skidded down to land on his ass, but he didn't. He quickly turned to take Eva's hands and held her down as Scott picked up the phone, "Still works." He breathed out, before he glanced back at the two of them, then continued walking, Stiles following with Eva close behind. Stiles glanced around as Scott look at the phone and tilted his head, "Let me see that flashlight," Stiles whispered as he took the flashlight from Scott, "I think we found it." Stiles started as he went ahead, and Eva glanced sideways at Scott, before she followed quickly after.
"Uh…why wouldn't they…isn't this evidence?" Scott asked, and Eva looked up at Stiles as he shone the flashlight on the car that was turned over. Eva could already sense it creeping up on her, that bad feeling again. "Probably too much of a pain in the ass to tow out." Stiles whispered as the three of them.
"Look at this," Stiles started as they got closer, "Do you see those?"
"Aren't animal claws supposed to be closer than this? Like…a lot closer?" Eva whispered, gesturing to the claw marks on the door, before she looked up at Scott, who moved his hand over the claw marks. Stiles breathed out heavily, flickering his gaze between them and the car, "Then it definitely was another werewolf." Scott said, and Stiles leaned down to run the flashlight's beam through the inside of the car.
"What did you find?" Eva asked, frowning when Stiles had pushed himself inside the vehicle to pull something out. "That's just…" She stepped back a little when Stiles stood up with a doll in his hand. Scott turned to Stiles, and they shared a look of recognition before they both looked down at the doll again. Eva flickered her confused gaze between them before she looked down at it.
"I'm hungry." The child-sounding recording played off the doll, and Stiles screamed as he jumped back, tripping over his own feet to fall into the undergrowth. Scott quickly stepped back, letting out a strangled of fear, and Eva let out a screech as her hands shot up to cover her face. She slowly peered down at the doll through her fingers before she eventually let her hands down and looked down at Stiles, who was still regaining color, "I think I had a minor heart attack." He whispered, and Scott let out a weak laugh before he let his hands fall to his side as well.
When Scott looked up, he narrowed his eyes, "Guys," He muttered, "Please tell me you see that."
Stiles frowned as he got up quickly, stepping beside Scott to look at the same direction he was looking at, and Eva stepped around Scott to look too. They were staring at a pair of blue glows, and they could hear the growls all too well. "Eva," Stiles whispered quickly as he stretched his arm in front of her to push her behind him, just as Scott stepped forward. "Scott, wait, wait!" Stiles called out as Scott took off after the blue glows when they disappeared, and he almost followed him had it not been for Eva gripping his hand with both her own, and shaking her head quickly.
"This is not good." Stiles started as he flickered his eyes back to where Scott had run off, and Eva frowned as she took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, "He'll be fine. He'll come back." Eva whispered as she looked up at Stiles, before she glanced back at the car. She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she looked down at the doll again, before she turned to Stiles, "Maybe there's more evidence we haven't seen." Eva tried to distract him as she stepped towards the car again, moving her hand to rest it over the claw marks.
That's when the world shifted around her, and all she could feel was the feral need to the tear through someone's throat. Eva could only see red, her eyes flickering across the car towards the woman and the six year old inside the car, screaming for help. She took her chance, and with her teeth she pulled the little girl, her set sharp of teeth wrapping around her neck as she tugged her out, feeling the warm, tangy blood rush into her mouth, fill her with the greatest pleasure.
Her claws worked away at their bodies until she looked up, and her red vision flickered into an almost normal one when she saw herself in the side mirror – but Eva knew she wasn't staring at herself, she was staring at a semi-shifted were-animal. Werecoyote.
Eva gasped as she stepped back, almost stumbling to the ground. Stiles quickly reached out and grabbed her, "Eva, what is it?" He questioned as she gasped, and she looked up at Stiles with wide eyes. "It's Malia." She breathed out, and Stiles frowned, shaking his head in confusion, "It's Malia, she's the…she's a werecoyote." Eva explained hurriedly, and Stiles blinked as his eyes flickered towards the car then back at Eva again. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive." Eva started again as she stepped away from Stiles and turned to look at the car again, "She's a werecoyote. I saw it." She whispered before she looked up at Stiles again. He took a deep breath and glanced around, "We have to find Scott." Eva told him, "Don't worry, Scott won't do anything to her."
"It's not her I'm worried about." Eva countered quickly, "I didn't just see her, Stiles. I was her. I felt what she felt. She's…she's a monster. She's completely out of control, and she probably won't hesitant to hurt him if she had the chance. It's him I'm worried about."
Stiles drew in a breath through his teeth before he nodded, "We have to find him then." Stiles looked down at Eva again, "Can you run?" He told her, and Eva nodded slowly – hoping for her sake that she was at least a little bit physically fit to capable of running right now. "I hope we don't have to." She muttered as they started towards the direction Scott had run into.
"Scott!" Stiles called out as they walked through the terrain, Stiles' hand gripping the flashlight, the other holding Eva's tightly. "Scott!" Eva called out as well, glancing around, before she stopped walking when she heard something. A humming, someone was humming…a child was humming. "Do you hear that?" Eva whispered as she looked back, trying to determine where the humming came from. The tune made shivers run through her spine, and she looked up at Stiles again, who had stopped walking as well and was shining his flashlight at something in the distance. Eva's attention turned away from the humming as she stepped beside him, "What is it?"
Eva turned to look forward, and she blinked once as she stared at what the flashlight's beam illuminated. "Is that a-"
"Coyote's den, yeah." Stiles whispered, "Malia's den." They both turned around when they heard Scott whisper, and the trio exchanged hesitant stares before Eva started, "Should we…?" Eva whispered as she tilted her head towards the burrow in the boulder, and Scott shook his head once, "We're already too close. If we go in there, she won't come back. We need to know how to find her."
"And then what?" Stiles asked, and Scott shook his head slowly, trying to find something to say, "I don't know, we help her."
Eva felt Scott and Stiles' argument drown out when she heard the humming again. She stepped away and frowned, turning towards the trees as she started to follow the sound of the haunting tune. Her eyes flickered across the darkness, before she reached into her pocket to tug out her iphone and turn on her flashlight, flickering the light around to illuminate her way as she walked deeper into the reserve.
The humming had started echoing around her, the way it did only made shivers run throughout her body. But it didn't stop her from moving, but she'd had the sense to turn around and call for the boys, "Stiles!" She called out, "Scott!" Eva frowned as she moved her light back, waiting for either of them to show up or even answer her calls, but neither did, and she turned forward again when the humming demanded her attention.
"We follow, we lead, but we only do when you pass, we do when you leap."
Eva frowned – that didn't sound like a child. It sounded like a man, a scared man, whose voice was shaking. "Hello?" She called out as she started hurrying towards the voice.
"Dress in the darkest black, but I remain darker still."
Eva knew she was getting closer to the voice. She followed the whispers, "We follow, we lead, but we only do when you pass, we do when you lead." Eva hadn't even realized she was running until she burst through the bushes, and the color drained out of her face when she saw the source of the whispers.
She was standing in the middle of the camp, the fire was still burning, tents still set. But that wasn't what horrified her – what horrified her was the woman lying on the ground with a bullet in her head, and the man hovering over a baby seat with a gun pointed at the little baby inside it. "Dress in the darkest black, but I remain darker still."
The man's voice shook, and Eva could tell out the same fear in it – a lot similar to the one the boy in Eichen had in his own. He seemed almost reluctant, the tears running down his face, as he held the gun in shaking hands, "Sir," Eva started calmly, and almost stepped back when he turned to look at her, a crazed look in his eyes. "Sir…What are you doing?"
"We follow, we lead," He started again, and Eva stepped towards him again, but his voice got louder, "But we only do when you pass!" He cried out through his teeth, "We only do when you leap!"
"Is that your baby? Is that your wife?" Eva gestured towards them, trying to remain calm even when her heart was jumping inside her chest. "Dress in the darkest-"
"Listen to me," Eva demanded, "Listen to my voice." Eva tried to sound confident as she stepped towards him, glancing sideways when she spied something move out of the corner of her eyes, and she caught a red glow. Scott.
"It's okay. I'll help you, just put the gun down." Eva whispered, trying to placate the man, "Just put the gun down, sir."
"Dress in the darkest shade of black," He whimpered as he moved his gun point from the baby, but pressed it under his chin, "But I remain darker still."
"No…No!" Eva screamed before felt her breath go out with the sound of the gunshot as the man dropped limply to the ground. Her eyes flickered over his figure as the tears welled up in her eyes, her phone dropping to the ground. But what demanded her attention was the whimpering baby in the car seat, stirring. Eva felt her chest tighten with anguish for the baby, and she quickly stepped forward to lean down in front of car seat, undoing the buckles to pick her up.
"Sshh…" She whispered as she sat back on the ground, turning the baby's face away from the dead man as her eyes still stares at him, "It's okay." Eva swallowed thickly as she patted her back gently, rocking back and forth, "It's okay."
Eva didn't even acknowledge Stiles and Scott getting out of the bushes until she saw Stiles kneel down in front of her. His eyes flickered from the baby in Eva's arms to her eyes, still wide and glassy with the tears that had welled up within them. "Eva." He whispered, trying to turn her gaze away from the body, "Look at me."
Eva looked up at him, her hands still patting the baby's back, but she'd stopped rocking. "It's okay." Stiles whispered as he leaned closer to wrap his arms around her, minding the baby in her arms, "It's okay." He whispered against her hair and closed his eyes.