Chapter 4

That afternoon, Scott sat on the edge of his bed and glanced anxiously at his phone. Malia sat on his computer chair and spun idly, while Lydia stood in one corner with Stiles, her arms wrapped nervously around her waist. Liam sat on the bed next to Scott, his forearms resting on his knees while he surveyed the room somberly.

No one spoke.

Scott had already told them what he'd learned about the Seelie Court, and they had verified the information with the copy of the Beastiary that Lydia still had. It had been a bittersweet moment to use the Beastiary; a painful reminder that Allison was gone, a pleasant reminder that she had once lived.

Worse than that, the Beastiary had shared far more about the faeries than those two men had. Tales of creatures with different colored skin and pointed teeth breaking into people's homes, stealing their children, and replacing them with trolls and goblins called changeling's. Stiles' joke that maybe he was a changeling had fallen flat. And those were the tame stories. The other stories told of faeries luring humans into the forest only to play horrid pranks on them that usually ended in their deaths.

The faeries sounded just as mischievous as the kitsune, but twice as deadly.

Scott's phone buzzed and he jumped, punching his code into the screen to unlock it. A text stared up at him.

Ellie Thistle: I'm here.

Scott lifted his head slowly. All eyes were on him.

"She's here." Stiles, who had been standing with one arm across his stomach, the other clenched into a fist at his mouth, unfurled like a lanky cat and clapped his hands together.

"Alright, people, let's do this. The first one to strap that iron bracelet around her wrist wins."

"Are we sure we want to do this?" Lydia whispered with a meaningful glance at the door. "If she is a faerie, and we offend her…" Silence answered the implications of her statement. Scott shared a look with Stiles. As always, his best friend looked unruffled – in an anxious, twitchy kind of way – and his brown eyes were focused and determined. A great weight pressed down on Scott's chest, momentarily making it difficult to breathe. He knew Stiles looked at him that way because his best friend trusted Scott to get the pack through this.

Scott could not fail them, especially Stiles. Scott hadn't told him that he might already be under Ellie's faerie glamour, or who the men in black were. He'd wanted to, but in the end Scott had been afraid it would trigger some kind of faerie trap around Stiles' mind. First, Scott needed to figure out if Ellie really was a faerie. If she was, then he could figure out a way to free Stiles from her glamour.

"We have to know," was all Scott said. Apparently, it was all that needed to be said. Nodding, the pack rose to their feet and strode from the room. Scott caught Stiles' arm before he left, pulling him to a stop.

"Hey, man, everything alright?" Stiles asked, turning to face him.

"Uh, yeah," Scott began hesitantly. Be careful, Scott. Tact. Use tact. "Did anyone…different…talk to you yesterday?" Stiles' eyes narrowed, understanding and recognition coating his features with suspicion. Of course Stiles would catch on. Stiles was too sharp to be tricked into revealing information. Scott held his breath. He would just need to ask him outright.

"Why?" Stiles asked slowly.

"The information I learned today…two men in suits told me about it. One had blonde hair and a beard, the other had-"

"Black hair and a ridiculous mustache," Stiles interrupted, his voice barely above a whisper. Stiles' eyes searched his, and Scott saw the same lost feeling he knew shone in his own. "What does that mean? Can we trust them?"

"I don't know," Scott whispered and released his best friend's arm. "But I…we need to know for sure." Sticking a hand in his pocket, Scott curled his fingers around the iron bracelet lying there. "We have to figure out the truth." Stiles rubbed his chin and looked away, mulling over the words, before he looked at Scott again.

"Okay, then, that's what we'll do." Forcing himself to smile, Scott clapped Stiles on the shoulder and left the room.

Scott opened the front door to admit Ellie Thistle into his house. She stood on the front porch with a backpack hanging from one shoulder, and a bicycle helmet draped from her slim fingers. Behind her, Scott spotted a pink beach cruiser propped on the porch.

"Hi," Ellie said brightly and ran a hand through her bangs, messy from the bike ride. Fleetingly, it occurred to Scott that Ellie was very small and slim limbed to be a fearsome faerie. She barely reached his chest. "Do you think my bike will be safe there, or should I bring it to the backyard?" Scott shook his head, mouth open without producing any sounds. Is that bike iron? Can she ride it? Are bikes made out of iron? Confusion robbed him of speech.

"This neighborhood is safe, if you don't mind the occasional bum or mugger," Stiles stepped in to save him. "You should be fine."

"I doubt anyone would mess with this house in particular," Liam added more quietly from the back of the group. Lydia whirled to him and swatted his arm in warning, but he merely flinched and frowned. "What? It's true."

"Well," Ellie said calmly and patted her curls into place. "That's good to hear. So." She paused and cradled the helmet against her stomach, her hazel eyes roaming over each of them in turn. Scott's scalp prickled. Is she using her glamour on us? How can we tell? Damnit. "Where do you want to study?"

"Bedroom," Scott blurted at the same time Stiles said, "Kitchen." Scott turned and stared at his best friend, who held out his arms in utter exasperation. A tinkling giggle returned Scott's attention to Ellie.

"The kitchen it is," she said with a soft smile aimed at Stiles. Given her height, Ellie had a way of gazing up at him through her lashes that even Scott noticed. Scott's head whipped towards his best friend, heart pounding, looking for some type of reaction, some response that said he was under a glamour, whatever that was. All Scott saw was faint color rise to Stiles' cheeks as he shifted away, ran a hand through his hair, and pointed awkwardly to the kitchen.

"Shall we?" The pack closed in around Ellie like some sort of honor guard, or prison escort, as she stepped inside. Ellie jumped and shuffled forward, her shoulders rounding in on herself and her movements becoming stiff.

No one spoke as everyone took a place around the table. Ellie sat at the head of the table farthest from the door. It placed the entire pack between her and the exit, if she tried to run. When Scott slid into his own seat by Kira, he couldn't help but wonder if that was not, in fact, a good idea.

"So." Ellie's voice cracked slightly. She paused to clear it and tucked a stray hair behind her ear, eyes glued to the wooden table. "Do you have…your notes?" Her eyes darted up fleetingly towards Scott before lowering once more. She looked immensely uncomfortable under the weight of their combined stares, fidgeting restlessly in her seat.

Belatedly, Scott realized that everyone had left their bags in his room.

"Uh, yeah, upstairs." Scott pointed to the roof above their heads, and Lydia sighed.

"I'll get it."

"I'll help," Kira stammered and loped after Lydia from the room. Which left Ellie alone with Stiles, Scott, and Liam, all wrapped up in such tense silence Scott choked on it. Scott listened to the sound of the clock chiming. He listened to the sound of Stiles' rapid heartbeat, to Liam's ragged breathing, and to Ellie.

Strangely, he couldn't hear anything from Ellie. He saw the pulse fluttering in her neck, noticed the way her fingers toyed with the glass leaf necklace, saw her eyes flitting nervously about the room, but he couldn't hear anything. It was like she was in a little pocket of emptiness, a void he couldn't reach.

"Um…do you like Biology?" Ellie asked nervously, the leaf pendant twirling in her palm. Scott narrowed in on the movement, calculating. Is that how she glamours people? Her shoulders tensed as if she could feel his scrutiny.

"Does who like Biology?" Stiles asked in his typical impish way.

"Everyone," Ellie replied, her tone lightening.

"Well, to answer that, I'd have to ask every person on earth, so it looks like you'll have to keep wondering," Stiles replied dryly. Normally, people might have stopped and stared at Stiles quizzically, trying to understand if he was being serious or not. But Ellie laughed. Low and soft, a strangely intimate sound that ran cold fingers down Scott's spine. Stiles stiffened in his own chair, his fingers drumming a nervous beat on the table.

"Then what about just you?" Ellie glanced up through her lashes again at Stiles when she asked, a faint, hesitant smile on her lips. Stiles' met her stare, and he stopped, almost freezing in place, his adam's apple bobbing and his lips parted wordlessly. Fear coiled in Scott's stomach.

"I like Biology," Scott blurted, interrupting the moment. Ellie glanced at him in surprise with a blink, and Stiles stared down at his fingers on the table as if collecting himself. "I want to be a veterinarian. Like my boss. I work at an animal clinic." Shut. Up. Scott clamped his lips shut before he revealed anything else and watched Ellie cautiously. Her face brightened.

"You do? My parents own a farm. Well, my dad does," she corrected with a soft smile. "My mom's a CEO. I love the farm though. We have a ton of different animals, but horses are my favorite. Is your boss a small animal vet or a big animal vet?"

"Uhhh…" Scott glanced sidelong at Stiles, who shrugged his shoulders. "Both, I guess." Liam coughed on a laugh and quickly ran a hand over his mouth to hide the sound. Ellie's eyes twinkled.

"I see." She smiled, revealing big white teeth in a way that made Scott think she actually did understand. It set Scott on edge. Fortunately, Kira and Lydia flounced back down the stairs at that moment, sparing them from further conversation.

"Here you go," Lydia said and handed Scott his textbook and spiral notebook. Scott reached for it absently, but Lydia paused, hand hovering a few inches from his. Scott met her penetrating stare with wide eyes. Lydia's eyes darted down to his pocket and her eyebrows arched expectantly. Scott's lips parted. Oh.

Fumbling in his pocket, Scott pulled out the bracelet and kept it cupped and hidden in his palm as he accepted the notebook. Lydia gave an infinitesimal nod of her head before sliding into the seat next to Stiles, slapping his books unceremoniously on the table. Stiles muttered a thank you and flipped open the book like he actually meant to study.

Ellie watched them curiously through hooded lashes, her fingers still against the leaf pendant.

Scott set the textbook aside and handed the notebook, with the bracelet against his fingers, towards her.

"Here," he offered, trying to keep his voice even. "Why don't you take a look so we can make sure we're all on the right page?" Ellie gave him a strange look but reached forward to take the notebook. Everyone around the table tensed, waiting for their fingers to connect.

Ellie grabbed the notebook and the bracelet in Scott's fingers. She jumped, and every muscle in Scott's body clenched, preparing to stand his ground or retreat, attack or defend. With a blink, Ellie set the notebook on the table and lifted the bracelet, splaying her hand.

Scott stared at her pale, tiny palm in confusion. The iron bracelet lay there like a small, coiled snake, but her palm looked perfectly fine, except for a soft pink flush. His eyes burned with the force of his stare and he rubbed them absently.

"Is this yours?" she asked inquisitively.

"Uh, yeah," Scott blundered and grabbed it from her hand. Ellie kept her palm hovering in the air, watching him blankly. "How did that get there?" Scott laughed hoarsely, and Stiles cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sorry about that, uh…" Trailing off, Scott stuffed the bracelet into his pocket and glanced around the table. Kira was looking at Ellie with something like sympathy, Lydia was staring at Scott with wide eyes, Liam looked like he wanted to laugh, and Stiles was watching Ellie with narrow eyes like she might transform into a bug at any minute.

Everyone jumped when Ellie rose suddenly to her feet, her chair scraping back against the wood.

"Actually, I'm not feeling very well," she murmured and gathered her things without looking at anyone. "Maybe we can put this off for another day?" Before anyone could respond, Ellie grabbed her bike helmet from the back of her chair and rushed around the table. Scott rose without thinking and blocked her path, making her stumble back a step. Liam rose with him and stepped around to his side, the loyal beta with arms folded across his chest. Ellie retreated another step.

"Ellie-" Scott began. Ellie gazed up at him with wide, fear-filled eyes, and Scott choked on his next words.

"Scott, you're scaring me," she whispered. "You're all scaring me." Across the table, Stiles rose to his feet as well, both palms planted on the wood. Lydia's lips were working silently, and Kira plucked at the folds of her pleated skirt. Scott could only stare in stunned silence as Ellie edged around him and practically ran for the door.

"Ellie, wait!" Somehow Stiles managed to intercept her and reach for her hand, the one not gripping the helmet. With a yelp, Ellie recoiled from Stiles hard enough that her book bag and helmet went flying, clattering loudly to the floor. Stiles stumbled to a halt, hands lifted innocently, and Lydia clapped her hands around her ears.

Ellie stood cowering in the foyer like a wounded animal, watching them with bright eyes and cradling her hand to her chest.

The same hand that had touched the bracelet.

Scott's eyes widened. At the time, he hadn't seen anything, but now…now, he could see a faint red welt upon her skin, in the firm of a coil. It's a brand from the bracelet. Noticing his stare, Ellie glanced down at her hand, and when she lifted her head, there was anger in her eyes. Her lips thinned in displeasure.

"What did you-" A crash like thunder broke over the house, making the floorboards and ceiling shake with the force of the boom. Scott lost his balance and flailed, watching as Liam grabbed onto one of the walls to catch himself and Stiles almost fell into Ellie, who braced him with her tiny body. Lydia screamed and clutched the edges of the table, and Kira tried rising only to fall back into her seat.

The glass over Scott's front door shattered, falling against the floor like drops of rain. In the next second, the door itself flew forward and crashed against the doors, broken clear off its hinges.

And there, standing in Scott's doorway, was a huge, stumpy thing with wrinkled green skin and an under bite like a bulldog. Pointed ears twitched on either side of its fat head, and beady black eyes scoured the room. The thing paused when those eyes landed on Ellie.

The only thing Scott could think was that it looked like a troll.