A couple of weeks have gone by. Strange things are happening at the Hale-house, but nobody talks about it. They are making progress and everybody helps out as much as they can. The mood in Hesters house is depressing, and both Eric and Troy spend more time alone than with the girls. Lydia discovers that because of the horrible thing that happened at the Hale-house years ago, she gets visions that makes it hard to enter. There's a car parked at the crossroad, and Alex wonders a little about that.
"It's a little creepy out here." Scott kept peeking over his shoulder as he gathered the tools that were spread around on the front porch. "I always feel like we're being watched." He handed them to Stiles, who put them in the toolbox. "What do you mean?" Stiles didn't look at him; he was struggling to fit all the tools in.
They had finally received the windows and doors that were ordered weeks ago, and all hands had been on deck to install them as fast as possible. Derek didn't want to do too much on the inside until they could lock up the house, so for the last couple of weeks, they had worked on the outside paneling.
Stiles and Scott hadn't participated so much. Scott had been busy at Dr Deaton's clinic, and Stiles had landed a job as a pizza-delivery-guy, so he hadn't had much time to be there either.
"What do you mean?" Stiles looked at Scott and repeated the question. "Who would that be?" Scott shrugged and stared into the woods. "I don't know. It's just a, a, a feeling." He grabbed the broom and started to sweep the porch. "Maybe I'm just imagining things." He chuckled a little. "The others have been here all day everyday, and none of them have mentioned anything."
Derek and Chris were on the other side of the house, struggling to fit the backdoor. Somebody had made a mistake, so the opening was too small. Chris had taken the blame although everybody knew it wasn't his fault. He still felt responsible, because he had been the leader of this project.
Allison had gone into town to pick up some supplies and Isaac was helping Alex gathering wood for the outdoor stove. The plan was to have a little barbeque tonight. Lydia, Melissa and Mr Stilinski was invited also. The three of them hadn't been at the site at all for the last couple of weeks, and would probably get a surprise when they saw the house again.
"Maybe you should tell them." Stiles closed the toolbox and grabbed the handle. He managed to lift it a couple of inches off the floor, before he put it down again. "Oops, it's too heavy, you have to put it away." He pushed the front door open with his shoulder as he gestured for Scott to pick up the toolbox. "I mean, even if it could just be your mind playing tricks on you, it's better to be safe than sorry."
-o-o-o-o-
Allison had started to get excited about moving into the Hale-house, but the last few days, she'd began doubting herself. She wasn't particularly superstitious, but knowing that a lot of people had died in the house, she'd almost started to believe in ghosts. At first it wasn't anything she could put her finger on, but every time she came back there, something didn't feel right.
One morning, when she noticed that all the cups and water bottles that they left in random places were nicely gathered together on the porch, she decided to do a test. They always collected the tools before they left, but Monday night, she'd left a hammer on the window sill. When they came back the next day, the hammer was in the toolbox.
It was a little embarrassing, so she hadn't mentioned it to anybody. It could of course had been Derek coming back during the night, but it didn't seem plausible. She and her dad had come there everyday at the same time as Derek, and he'd almost always left only a couple of minutes after them. Not enough time to search for tools.
It wasn't only the hammer. Last night, she'd made sure she was the last one out, and she'd left a necklaces on the floor. This morning, before breakfast and before her dad was out of bed, she'd driven out there by herself. Shivers went down her spine when she found the necklace hanging from a nail loosely hammered into the door frame.
There was no unfamiliar scent in the air, so she was pretty sure no strangers could have been there. Driving back home, she wondered again if she should share this with someone. She was surprised that nobody else had noticed anything, but she decided that guys were probably less perceptible.
-o-o-o-o-o-
When the blueprints went missing, Chris wanted to ask who took them, but then he wondered if he'd misplaced them himself. Two days later, they were back where he'd been sure he'd left them in the first place. It could have been Derek who'd taken them home for some reason, or maybe Allison wanted to take a closer look.
He always left his tool-belt on the staircase, but one morning it was on the floor. He could have sworn he was the last one out the day before, and he couldn't understand who'd knocked it down. Chris decided to have a chat with Derek about it. It wasn't that it was such a big deal. Anyone could have taken a stroll through the woods and been curious about this building.
If a couple of youngsters from Beacon Hills had been there during the night, it was a little disturbing. They hadn't done any damage yet, but Chris wondered if they should guard it. If they didn't manage to stop unwanted visitors, whoever it was could suddenly decide to trash the place.
With the doors and windows installed he felt a little better, but he wanted to make sure they could lock it up too.
They'd had the doorhandles and locks for a while already, and Chris didn't want to leave the site tonight without attaching them. The problems with the backdoor threw them off a bit, but it should be possible to secure the house before nightfall, even if he had to do it alone.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Doing the insulation was extremely boring, but Alex did it without complaining. Derek and Chris wouldn't let him do anything else, and this was a way for him to feel that he was part of this. After the little incident with the bathroom window, he could understand that they didn't want him to touch anything that could break.
It was a small window, and Chris had asked him to hold it in place for a moment while he leveled it. Alex thought he had a good grip, but when Chris was about to tack it to the sill, it slipped out of his hands and fell inwards. That it didn't break was just pure luck.
Alex knew that Chris had been less than impressed with his skills already, and this was the final straw. After that he wasn't allowed to touch anything else than the fiberglass.
From the beginning he'd been in charge of food supply, and he felt that he was redeeming himself somewhat when he served them lunch and supper out there in the woods. Sometimes he used the outdoor stove, but mostly he went to the loft to cook before he brought the food back to the site.
Every day, Derek left the loft by the crack of dawn while Alex and Isaac took their time with the morning ritual. They normally got there sometime before noon, bringing sandwiches for Derek, Chris, and Allison. After working for a few hours, Alex went back to start supper. Sometimes Isaac came with him, but they got so easily sidetracked by each other, that Derek had to call and nag them.
Sometimes Scott and Stiles came to help out. Stiles had odd work-hours at the pizza-place and was there more randomly, while Scott tried to come every afternoon. All of them, except Derek and Chris, left as the sun was setting in the west. When Scott was not there, Allison stayed behind also.
Almost every evening, as they left the site, Alex had noticed a car hidden between the trees by the crossroad. He hadn't mentioned it. This area was a popular place for people to walk their dogs, or young lovers to get away from their parents. The driveway to the Hale-house was about a mile long, so he assumed that whoever owned that car wasn't going anywhere near it.
Alex couldn't see what make it was, it was too dark between the bushes, but he was pretty sure it was the same car every time. He did wonder if anyone else had noticed, but hadn't bothered to ask. The car could have been gone before Derek and Chris left, and Isaac was always too concentrated on the driving in the dingy old Toyota.
-o-o-o-o-
Jade was slowly getting back to her old self. She had still a hard time recollecting what had happened at the baseball field. She knew that Hester was killed – that she remembered vividly – but the rest was a blur.
Troy and Joy had filled her in somewhat, but they couldn't tell her if anyone in Derek Hale's pack had been fatally injured. The only thing they knew for sure was that both Allison and Chris Argent were alive and well, and that the girl had acquired Hester's Alpha-status.
Alex was also alive, and he'd made it clear that he wouldn't come back to them, but it wasn't such a great loss. Jade had never really got to know him properly, he'd just been like a servant and not worthy of her attention.
She'd tried to get Troy to comfort her, but he was clearly not interested. He had stopped talking about revenge, but spent most of his days alone, running in the yard or working out on the porch. At night she assumed that he was in bed, but she didn't know for sure if he was even in the house.
Eric tried to keep the house in order and made sure they all got fed. He and Joy went out shopping together from time to time, but other than that, he too spent most of his time alone. He avoided coming to her room. The thing that they'd had together while Hester was alive was just a memory now. She'd snuck into his room on a couple of occasions, but he wasn't there.
The business was suffering, but Jade couldn't care less. They had enough money to live comfortable for the rest of their lives without having to lift a finger. Hester had wanted her to take over, and had trained her for it, but Jade had never really enjoyed working with real-estate.
Her dream had always been to travel. Her grandparents – who had started this business in the first place – had told her about their visits to strange and exciting places. They had sent postcards from all over the world, making Jade eager to join them. She never got a chance. On a trip to the Middle-east their plane crashed. For a long time, Hester had hoped that being werewolves they could have survived, but when the plane was recovered it became clear that the impact had been to great for anyone to make it.
Their wedding bands had been the only things that had made a identification possible, and Hester had kept them in a chain around her neck. Jade knew that the rings were possibly lost forever, but according to Joy, Chris Argent had mentioned that he – sometime in the future – would be willing to disclose where he'd buried Hester's body. Jade wanted those rings; she was sure that if she could find those rings, everything else would fall into place and she'd feel whole again.
She didn't care about the body itself. Mr Argent had probably made sure that she could never, ever be resurrected, so wherever she was buried, it would be better to leave her there. Disturbing a grave more than necessary would be disrespectful.
Jade looked at the clock. It was way passed midnight. Her sister was playing softly on the grand piano, and she wished that she could have joined her, but she couldn't remember how to play. It saddened her. The one thing in her life that she really enjoyed was gone.
-o-o-o-o-
Lydia didn't like being there, but Allison had urged her, and she couldn't come up with any good reason to decline the invitation. She really didn't want to decline, and hoped that the bad feelings would go away when the house was finished and occupied with live people. At the moment, her brain was bothered with all the deaths that had occurred here.
She knew the story about what had happened to the Hale-family. Allison's aunt did a terrible thing back then; targeting innocent people like that. The Hales had lived in peace for generations, and according to Mr Argent, they had protected the inhabitants of Beacon Hills.
Lydia never had anything to do with them in the past, although a couple of them went to her school. They didn't mingle much with the other students, but she vaguely remembered that they were polite and that they never got into any trouble.
Standing by the house now, she could feel their pain. It wasn't as bad as before, but she didn't have any urge to enter.
When Allison grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the house, Lydia struggled with herself. Maybe it would be better to just get it over with. If it was true; if Allison was going to move in, she would have to come visit.
Allison paused and turned around when she obviously noticed Lydia's reluctance. "What? Come on!" She took the few steps up on the porch and waved Lydia closer. "What's the problem?"
In a flash, Lydia could see multiple people huddled together, covering their face with anything they could find. The image got distorted by a cloud of smoke, before it went away again. She grabbed on to the railing and breathed heavily. Nobody, except for Allison seemed to have noticed.
Her friend jumped off the porch and wrapped her arms around her. "What happened? Are you not feeling well?" Allison's voice was loaded with concern. Lydia wiped her eyes and tried to compose herself. "I, It's just... too many deaths. They shouldn't have left the basement intact. I can't..."
The disappointment in Allison's face was impossible to ignore, but Lydia couldn't help herself. She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I can't go in there."
She could see that Allison got it, and she nodded in understanding. Then she rushed over to Derek and nudged him pretty hard in the side. Lydia couldn't hear everything she said, but a few tidbits floated through the air.. "...basement...Lydia...her visions...do something..." Allison gestured with her arms pointing first towards the house, then towards Lydia.
Derek turned and looked at her before he shook his head. "...nothing...I'm sorry..." He seemed to be thinking hard before he again shook his head. "...Deaton...later, Allison...sometime, but not now, I'm sorry." He'd raised his voice somewhat, but Lydia could still not hear it all.
The subject was put to rest after Derek followed Allison back to Lydia. He patted her shoulder. "I thought about picking the whole foundation apart, but it would be too expensive." He sighed. "It carries bad memories for me too, and I will try to do something about it, but it'll have to wait."
Allison cut in. "But you said that Dr Deaton could do something. Can I ask him?" She shifted her gaze between Lydia and Derek. "I mean...just to try." Derek shrugged. "Sure you can ask, but can we leave this for now. Nothing can be done now."
Lydia smiled at him. "I don't want to cause a lot of trouble. As long as I'm outside, I'm fine."
-o-o-o-o-
The atmosphere in Hester's house – or really Joy and Jade's house – was extremely depressing. Eric did his chores, but not much more. He didn't interact much with the others, except for when he and Joy went out to get food or other necessities. Troy spent most of his days outside in the yard. The only thing that was expected of him since he came to the house was to be available for Hester at all times. Without her, he seemed lost and confused.
Jade was starting to get back to her old self, but the brain injury was still bothering her somewhat. She was supposed to take over the business, but she wasn't able to concentrate on anything for an extended period of time. Joy tried to act normal, and she did look after the finances, but without any help from her sister, there wasn't much she could do.
They were well off; they would never have to lift a finger for the rest of their lives, but it couldn't continue like this. Troy's ranting about revenge had dissipated, but Eric knew that he was still thinking about it.
Not a day went by that Eric didn't miss Alex. He was smart, witty, and joyful to be around. Everything would have been different if he'd been there. When Eric took the car out in the evenings to go to Beacon Hills, it was a very selfish decision. He didn't tell the others where he went, they probably believed that he just needed some alone time.
It wasn't so far from the truth. It was an escape, but he told himself that he needed to learn more about their enemy. For the first couple of nights, he'd looked at them as such, but lately his view had changed. Derek's pack was like a family. A little weirdly put together, maybe, but a family nonetheless.
The laughs they shared, even the little bickering that occurred ever so often, were proof that these people had a genuine fondness for one another. Derek acted more like a big brother than a pack leader, but nobody seemed to challenge his position. The few times Alex was there, Eric had noticed that he'd already fund his position in the pack, and that he seemed to be well liked.
Eric didn't want to fight these guys anymore; he wanted to get to know them and hang out with them. He felt bad for having these thoughts, but with Hester and Alex gone there were nothing left for him in the mansion.