As soon as I got off the bus I called goodbye to everyone and sped my way to Derek's loft being careful not to reinjure my healing wrist. I heard an alarm go off as I picked open the lock. When I opened the door Derek was there with his claws out but they retracted as soon as he saw me. "Couldn't have picked up a phone?" I asked him annoyed before I launched myself into his arms. He held me really tight for a second and then moved me away.

"How'd you know?"

"I felt you last night," He looked at me confused "By the way how was our darling little English teacher," I snipped.

He backed away "How?"

"Some weird stuff has been happening lately," I ran both hands through my hair "Der I am so glad you are alive. I thought….when I was trying to heal you….it wasn't working. I couldn't even catch you!" He quickly pulled me into his arms again.

"Arielle you're the reason I'm alive, I can feel it. If you hadn't slowed me down, and if you hadn't tried to heal me I would have never been able to get out of there and get help,"

"I should have been there though, I should have known you were alive, I should have brought you back with us,"

"You can say all the should-haves in the world, but you still did more for me than anyone else could have." I nodded and turned to leave "You're going?" he asked me quietly.

"I just needed to see you with my own two eyes. I don't know what I would have done if I had thought you were alive and you weren't…..It would have been bad," I walked to the door.

"About me and your teacher, it sort of just…."

"Happened? Yeah" I told him giving him a half smile "Bye Der,"

"Wait," He ordered me and kissed me soundly "I'm so sorry for how I've been acting. I've just been so scared. I'm yours if you want me," I smiled and walked out.

000000000000000000000

"Do you think it'll work?" Boyd asked me seriously. I looked at him and Isaac contemplating their plan. I had been surprised this morning when I opened my door to go to school and they were standing at my doorstep.

"Yeah Boyd, I think that it's a fantastic plan. It's definitely out of the box thinking," I told him, and they smiled at me.

"Told you!" Isaac said happily.

"Do you guys have a backup just in case?" I asked, their smiles slipping.

"No, but we're headed there now, if we can think of one we will let you know. Hopefully, this will take out Kali,"

"Alright go, I'll forge some absence notices for you both. Be safe!"

00000000000000000000000

I groaned when I saw who our substitute teacher was for Chemistry, Mrs. Blake.

"Good morning. As you all know, Mr. Harris is still missing... I mean, sick. Anyway, I'm filling in while we all hope and pray for a more qualified substitute to take my place. Okay, so let's get started, shall we?"

Stiles leaned towards Scott and I "Hey, my dad said that the E.R. attending wasn't strangled but did die from asphyxiation. They just don't know how,"

"Do you think the on-call doctor could still be alive?"

"I don't know... But, Scott, there's got to be at least 20 other doctors in that hospital... at least, you know? Any one of them could be next,"

"I have a feeling you shouldn't have said that," I told Stiles just as Scott's phone rang.

"Hey, doc. Sorry, I'm in class right now. Can I call you back later?" Scott said into his phone very obviously. I listened in because whatever this was about couldn't be good.

"Unfortunately, no. I honestly thought I might never have to burden you like this, but I'm afraid, at the moment, you're my only hope. I'm going to be taken. I need you to find me,"

"Well crap," I said as Scott ran out of the room despite Mrs. Blake's protests. Stiles got his phone out to call his dad, he told him that Deaton went missing. As soon as class was over he kissed my cheek and ran off saying he was going to meet Scott at the animal clinic. I threw my hands up into the air and turned to walk to History. I ran into Aiden. Yet again.

"You know at some point you're going to have to stop stalking me in the halls," I told him smiling insincerely.

"Well, I just figured we haven't…touched base lately," He said pulling me closer to him by my hip.

"Hmmm, I wonder why?"

"Easy girl, I just wanted to let you know that I am too busy to kill Lydia today. So that means you have one more day," He booped my nose. So rude "I cannot wait till your pack,"

I ran a hand up his chest and into his hair "Oh, Aiden," I purred "I'll let you in on a little secret," He got closer to me "If you touch her in any way that she doesn't beg for, I'll rip you apart piece by piece and feed you to your brother," I yanked his head to the side and slipped the dagger I had on me between his ribs. Just enough to hurt, not enough to kill. He snarled. I leaned forward and kissed his neck. "Or maybe I'll do it the other way around," I pushed him away slipping my dagger back into its sheath, waving at him as I walked down the hallway.

My phone started to ring, it was Derek "Sup?" I asked.

"So you signed off on this plan these two came up with?"

"Of course Der, your little pups are growing up fast,"

"Really? Pups?"

I sighed "Do you have a better plan?"

"No,"

"Then accept their help. Because Derek, if you die I will find a way to resurrect you and kill you again….multiple times,"

"Love you too," he said huskily. I almost ran into a door. I think I paused too long because he let out a chuckle "Bye Arielle," then hung up. He just said he loved me. Sort of. I heard a tapping noise that sounded too familiar, so I followed it and saw Scott step into the music room cautiously.

"Do you know what a metronome is, Scott?" Deucalion's voice filtered through the door "It's a tool to help you maintain a steady rhythm once you've set the tempo. Something tells me the tempo of your life has sped up considerably in the last few hours. If you'd like, I could help slow it down to a more manageable pace,"

"How?" Scott asked him.

"By helping you find Deaton." Oh no "Your heart's pounding, but it's not fear. It's anger. I bet I know what you're thinking. Does he have something to do with Deaton's disappearance? Tell you what. If you can take the cane away from me, I'll tell you exactly where he is. Now, what do you think?" There was a lot of scuffling and I could tell Scott was not winning this little game. " Impressive, but you know I'm not the one slashing up innocent people, praying to ancient gods or gathering herbs, or whatever the hell druids are supposed to do. I am part of a pack that wants Derek dead, though. Kali is coming him for him, so there's a difficult choice you're about to face, because someone is going to die tonight, and whether that's Derek or Deaton, that's up to you."

"Just tell me where he is,"

"I'll give you a very important clue. Let the current guide you," The door opened next to me, and I couldn't really pretend I wasn't there.

"Hey, there Duke sounds like you've been as helpful as ever,"

He smirked and shook his head "Arielle, how wonderful to see you, dear. Would you like to escort me to the car?"

"Why of course, my pleasure. If you'd like I could escort you right out of town," I told him pleasantly letting him take my arm.

"Oh, that won't be necessary right now, especially since you will be joining us on the way out,"

"I think you'll be surprised at the end of your little…excursion here,"

"Why is that?" He asked his smile fading away as we reached where his car was waiting.

"You may take your pack seriously. But our family takes it to a whole new level," I turned right on my heel and left before he could get another word in.

000000000000000000000000000

Stiles kept texting me about how frustrating Lydia was and how much time they wasted before she let us know that Danny would be able to help more than she could. So he was heading back from the hospital to meet us all to go over where Deaton might be, and possibly where we could thwart the next couple of murders.

I was pacing the floor constantly checking my phone for updates when Stiles came rushing in spreading random papers all over the table in Deaton's clinic. "Okay, so, what does this kid's homework have to do with finding Deaton?" Cora asked Stiles.

"It's not just homework, okay? It's a project on geomagnetic fields. They flow through the earth. They can even be affected by lunar phases, all right? Now, look at this. This is a note from Harris on Danny's proposal," He handed the note to Lydia to read.

"I strongly advise you to choose another subject. The ideas here, while innovative and thoughtful, border on pseudo-science. Not suitable for class."

"Harris wasn't just a sacrifice. He knew something," Scott mused.

Stiles started to move the papers around "Now, check this out. Allison's dad wasn't the only one with a map, all right? Danny had one too. Danny marked all the telluric currents, okay? Now, the weird thing about beacon hills is that it actually is a beacon. You wouldn't believe how much energy flowing through the earth is around this town,"

"Stiles, look, they match. All right, there are three places, right? Where they're kidnapped, and then the place where their body was found. So, maybe where he was sacrificed is somewhere in between," Scott told us.

"Let me see that. You said there's six more bodies to be found. Deaton's one of them. Got to be somewhere in between, right?" Stiles asked marking as he went over the map, Cora stopped him.

"Stop. He's in the vault. He's in the same vault"

Cora and I got a text at the same time "Guys, hold on. It's Boyd. The plan didn't work. They cut the power," I informed them.

"It's just like he said. Go. I can save Deaton myself," Scott said despite Stiles' objections "Cora can't get there fast enough without you. Go. We can save both of them,"

Stiles shrugged and grabbed his keys "All right, let's go,"

Before we parted I called to Scott "Don't let him get in your head. He doesn't know as much as he thinks," He looked at me a little helplessly but nodded, and we ran for the car.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Stiles, Lydia, and Cora stopped in the electric room when we got to Derek's building "You guys can handle this!" I called to them and sprinted up the stairs.

I got there as Kali was yelling "Take him!" I watched as they forced Derek's claws out and Kali lifted Boyd in the air and dropped him on his claws.

"No!" I screamed. Isaac touched my arm comfortingly while keeping Mrs. Blake hugged to him for some reason.

"I'm giving you till the next full moon, Derek. Make the smart choice. Join the pack... Or next time I'm killing all of you," Kali told him. Aiden stepped in front of me moving my chin up.

"You don't have as much time, but I'll let you morn,"

I didn't even look at him not turning away from the scene in front of me, I grabbed his hand away from my chin and snapped it. He snarled yanking it away from me "If he dies, you die," They just walked around me.

"It's okay," Boyd told Derek calmly, tears welling up in Derek's eyes.

"No, no. No, it's not. It's not." He was shaking but I couldn't move, I couldn't go to him.

"It's all okay, Derek,"

"I'm... l'm sorry,"

"The full moon. That feeling... That was worth it. There's a lunar eclipse. I always wondered what... What that felt like for one of us. For one of us..." Then he collapsed into the water. Stiles and Cora moved around me Cora going to Boyd and Stiles comforting Derek. It made me snap back into the moment and I rushed forward to Boyd's side.

"Sorry Cora but you need to let go of him right now," I told her quickly tearing open his shirt to look at his wound.

"What?" she hissed at me.

"Let. Go," I told her letting my eyes glow to intimidate her. She let go hesitantly, I placed my hands on his wounds as best I could "Please let this work," I focused on how I felt when I was healing Derek, I imagined taking on the wound to lessen his, I had to focus only on him. I heard someone talking so I imagined a bubble around us and all sounds stopped. He wasn't breathing yet but I felt the claw marks between my ribs, they crawled through me slowly, nearly unbearably. I felt tears pour down my face the more it hurt, but then Boyd's chest rose. I smiled through my tears imagining that I was taking his wound quicker I gasped as I felt one of my lungs puncture. I was pretty sure I had taken half of the wound, if he died I would be dying too. I looked up and saw an actual bubble of light surrounding us. Everyone was hitting it, their mouths moving but I heard no sound. I imagined letting the bubble pop. It did and I collapsed. Both Boyd and I were being reached for. "Get us to Melissa," I told whoever was holding me. Then darkness.

00000000000000000000000

I woke up to the sounds of snores. Sitting up I glanced around at my family. Boyd was laying on a couch across from me, his middle bandaged like mine. Cora rested her head near his while sitting on the floor. Scott and Stiles were leaning against the couch I was on, heads resting on each other. Lydia and Allison were slumped in their chairs. Holding my hand was Isaac who had his arm stretched out from his sitting position by my head. I looked around for who was missing, I found him leaning against the doorway watching me back.

He stepped over everyone carefully making his way to me. Grabbing my hand he gently helped me up and when I was a little too wobbly he bent down to pick me up bridal style. He took me to the kitchen, sat me down on the counter and just looked at me. I leaned my head forward so I could press our foreheads together. "Thank you," he whispered. We stayed like that for a minute before I pulled back slightly.

"Sorry I didn't do it quicker," He lightly shook his head.

"If you had done it any other way they would know he was alive, and what you can do," Letting go of me he got a glass and filled it with water. I realized how thirsty I was, how hungry….and oh jeez did I have to go to the bathroom. I gulped down the water he handed me and tried to slide off the counter tilting too much. Derek's arm came around me "Where are you trying to go Angel?"

"The bathroom. Gotta go. Bad." He smiled and helped me there. When I was coming out I started to ask how long I'd been asleep but I didn't get to finish before I was dragged into a bunch of hugs. Everyone was crowding me and I felt a little panicked but sucked it up so I could reassure everyone I was fine. Boyd was suddenly there standing in front of me with a half-smile leaning slightly on Derek. We hugged hard. "How are you doing?" I asked him trying to assess his wound.

"Better than you, I woke up last night. Other than that…..just a little miffed that my awesome deathbed speech was ruined."

I smiled in relief "Sorry, I guess I thought you could do better," He laughed and hugged me again.

"Thank you,"

"You scared the shit out of us," Isaac cut into our moment. I smiled apologetically but felt drained of energy and had to sit down. He must have read my mind because he easily scooped me up and sat me in a chair then started rummaging around the fridge. He quickly cooked me a quesadilla and set it in front of me.

"Love you," I told him and he kissed my forehead.

"Seriously you scared us though,"

"What even happened?" I asked unsure of what exactly transpired. Everyone started to talk at once. "One at a time!" Lydia stepped forward.

"You told Cora to move and started to heal Boyd, Stiles tried to get you to stop," I looked at him surprised.

He turned red and looked at Boyd apologetically "I'm sorry, he was dead, we all knew it and then you were trying to heal him! I have been studying the supernatural the best I can since Scott was turned and everything I've read about trying to resurrect the dead was absolutely terrible," He looked at me abashedly "I thought we were going to lose you too so I went to stop you and suddenly there was a bubble of light surrounding you and none of us could get to you…" he paused and looked a little lost so Derek took over.

"You looked like you were starting to collapse, we were all trying to get to you. Nothing was working. You smiled, the…thing disappeared, told us to grab Melissa, and then passed out for two days,"

"Two days?"

"Yes, two days, and girl you scared the crap out of me," Melissa said stepping into the kitchen. She was wearing her scrubs and she looked exhausted.

I grinned at her "I've been getting that a lot today," She came over and hugged me rubbing my back.

"How are you feeling? You still have some marks left over but we were able to pull the excess air out of your lung,"

"We? Mom, it was all you," Scott told her smiling. She ruffled his hair and went to the fridge.

She sighed as she looked in "Grocery shopping, need to do grocery shopping," Immediately everyone looked guilty until Derek stepped up.

"I'd like to pay for all your groceries for a year, you saved two members of my pack and it's the least I could do," Melissa protested but he insisted until she agreed, she looked a little shell shocked. Derek got a call on his cell and he told us he had to leave right then. He came and kissed my cheek then thanked me again. Watching him leave I remembered something important.

"Deaton!" I exclaimed, "What happened with Deaton?"

"I got to the bank but couldn't get him down," Scott explained and I felt my chest hurt in sorrow "Luckily Stiles' dad is brilliant, found where we were, and shot the rope holding him. He's safe," I reached out and punched him in the arm.

"Next time lead with him being safe!" He apologized, rubbing his arm.

"While you were out though….Allison found Gerard,"

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, and he has agreed to talk to us about Deucalion, as long as you come with Allison and me," He told me trying to gauge my reaction.

"Why do we need him?"

Stiles kneeled down next to me "I think we need to understand why everything is happening. While you go talk to Gerard Cora and I will be going to talk to Peter, see if he was around when everything was happening,"

"Why didn't you just ask Derek?" I asked confused.

"Well….because I didn't think of that," Stiles told me baffled "I just figured because Peter was older.."

"Oh gosh Stiles don't lead with that, I like the way your pretty face is arranged,"

He smiled at me stupidly "You think my face is pretty?" I couldn't help the big smile on my face.

"Very pretty, now when are we leaving?" I asked clapping my hands. Everyone started to protest including Melissa.

"You are not going anywhere until you are completely healed, young lady!" She froze "Oh god I sound like my mother, Arielle honey I don't need you damaging yourself anymore this week,"

"I swear I am okay, honestly it'll probably do me some good to get out," I told her. She didn't look like she believed me until I unwrapped my bandage and showed her I was almost completely healed.

"Alright go," She amended.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I waited outside the room with Scott as Allison went to talk to her grandfather until Scott was asked for.

"Mm. Did you bring him? Oh. Oh, come in, Scott, and give an old man a little something for his pain,"

Allison stopped him with her arm "You don't have to do this,"

"If you want me to talk, this is how it's going to happen," He rebutted.

"If I do this, you have to tell us everything you know" Gerard was a little too eager when he agreed for my liking but Scott was probably able to tell if he was telling the truth better than I could.

"Arielle, why don't you join us?" Gerard called, I reluctantly walked into the room. He had the audacity to smile at me, "They found a third body?" He asked Allison.

"Another doctor, right after Scott found Deaton"

"Right after? Almost like it was expected he'd survive,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Scott asked him.

"How do you know your dark druid isn't your wise veterinarian himself? Maybe he knew you'd find him. Maybe he planned it that way," I hate to admit it but it was a possibility and Stiles had even said it. I've also never trusted him.

"He would never let anyone innocent die,"

"Don't be so sure. You'd be surprised how far some people would go to get rid of someone like Deucalion,"

"Or someone like you?"

Gerard laughed and coughed up black goo into a handkerchief "I don't go easily, though, do I? You know, Scott, you've made me something of a celebrity here. I'm a medical mystery. The cancer is now virtually undetectable, but the doctors have no clue why my body keeps producing and ejecting this bizarre black fluid,"

"I did what you wanted me to do. Tell us how to beat him,"

"You can't. I've tried,"

"Then this is a complete waste of time. He doesn't know anything. Sorry, you did this. Let's go," She told Scott and started to walk away when Gerard called for her to wait she smiled at me knowingly and then turned back to him with a serious face.

"I can tell you one thing. Deucalion may have lost his eyes, but he's not always blind,"

"What?" I asked.

"I'll have to start at the beginning. My son and I found a secret hiding spot of the wolves, he called it a Nemeton. He told me it was a sacred meeting place for the ancient Celtic druids. Druids would usually choose a large, older tree in a grove. It would represent the center of the world. There was a belief that cutting or harming the tree in any way would cause serious problems for the surrounding villages.

"What kind of problems?" Allison asked.

"Fires, plagues, strife... death and destruction of all kinds,"

"How does he know all about Celtic symbols and druids?"

"Know thy enemy, Allison. The older wolves had a relationship with the druids. They called them emissaries,"

Scott perked up "Like my boss, Deaton,"

"Do you know the myth of Lycaon?" Gerard asked us.

"It's where we get the word "lycanthropy." I said "According to myth, some Greek citizens believed they owed their lives more to Prometheus than to the gods of Olympus. And some followers even took names to honor the Titans instead of the gods…..like Deucalion,"

"Very good," and then Gerard took over the story "The son of Prometheus. Lycaon didn't just refuse to honor the gods. He challenged them. He invited Zeus to a banquet and then tried to serve him the flesh of a human being. Angered, Zeus blew the place apart with lightning bolts and then punished Lycaon and his sons by turning them into wolves. The part that's lesser known is how Lycaon sought out the druids to help turn him back to human,"

"Why druids?" questioned Scott.

"The belief was that the ancient druids knew how to shape-shift. They couldn't make Lycaon and his sons human again, but they did teach them how to shift back and forth. And so the druids became important advisors to the packs,"

"They are supposed to keep you connected to humanity," I explained "But they're a secret even in the pack. Sometimes only the Alpha knows who the emissary is. Derek had no idea about Deaton even though he was Talia Hale's son,"

Gerard looked surprised about how much I knew, but Derek had told me a lot about his life during our time together. He continued his story "I wasn't really surprised when Deaton came to arrange a meeting with Deucalion. As William Blake said, "any sinister person who means to be your enemy always starts by trying to become your friend."

"How do you know he wasn't going there to make peace?" The ever-optimistic Scott asked.

"Because I'm not an idiot. Do you know the Sanskrit fable of the scorpion and the turtle?"

"Yeah, the scorpion asks the turtle for a ride across the river,"

"And when the scorpion stings the turtle, dooming them both, what does he say to explain his behavior?"

Scott sighed "It's my nature."

"I know a werewolf's nature. I knew exactly what was coming... a trap. I think it's quite fitting that we are meeting in a distillery. You know, the process of distillation is the separating of two substances by pushing them into their different volatile states,"

I felt deceit coming off of him. It wasn't lying really but an underlining aftertaste.

"They attacked you?" Allison asked, almost angrily.

"It was an ambush," He said disgustedly. I felt pleasure rolling off of him. He was masking his senses well but I could tell. That should not be the feeling of someone who stepped into an ambush.

"Arielle, you okay?" Scott looked at me worriedly, eyes going to my ribs. I nodded for Gerard to continue, ignoring the question. He told us how because he was blind one of his pack attacked him, wanting to be alpha, and was killed. The strange thing was that when Deucalion's eyes turned red it was like he could see.

"He sees as a wolf?" Scott asked.

"He's not always blind,"

"Maybe we can use it against him," Allison told us sounding determined.

"Scott. Oh, I think about you sometimes, Scott. I do. I wonder, what if I'd done things differently? Getting the bite to cure my cancer. And I wonder when it became my nature to believe most things couldn't be asked for but had to be taken,"

"I don't believe you. The whole time that you were telling your story, I was listening to your heartbeat. It never went up. It never went down. It was steady the whole time,"

"Because I was telling the truth," Gerard said trying to sound innocent.

"Or because you're a really good liar. If you lied and it gets people hurt... I'll be back to take away more than your pain," Scott told Gerard crushing his hand.

Gerard looked panicked as we were leaving "Arielle! Arielle, you could heal me! You can fix all of this, please!"

I turned to look at him and then smiled "A little shortsighted... wouldn't you say?"

"What?" He whispered his heartbeat speeding up drastically, Scott looked between us in confusion but went with it when I walked away.