"Hey! I'm here!" Stiles cried breezing into the Preston house swinging his backpack off onto the hallway armchair. He followed the sounds of weird music into the kitchen dining area at the back of the house. The music had a warbling quality with off-beat drumming. Strangely enough Diana was sat in a large ring of candles painting her nails on the white tiles that was the kitchen floor.

"Hey." She greeted, not looking up from the finishing touches of her nails.

"Err, hi." Stiles said looking at the set up strangely. "What's going on here?" He asked gesturing to the candles. He himself had, had a strange day seeing a Kanima for the first time, so to see his friend in a very magical set up wasn't something that he was prepared for, he was reaching his magical limit.

"I am attempting to ground myself which should work so much better now that you're here." She gestured to the empty space before her in the circle. "Come, sit down."

Stiles stood over the large church candles carefully and lowered himself to the floor sitting cross legged as she was facing her.

"So a Kanima, right before your eyes. You freaked out?" She asked with a smirk blowing on her wet nails. In the dim light they were an almost black colour but in reality it was burgundy.

"Yeah, yeah quite freaked out. Could have died." Sitles nodded.

"Pfft" Diana retorted.

"Don't pfft me, I could have." Stiles defended. Diana levelled a look at him, her eyebrow cocked and her face deadpan.

"I was in no danger at all." Stiles realised out loud. Diana nodded,

"I was in no danger, because you have all these protection spell on me, I might not be in danger again." Stiles said hedging.

"Not quite, there are a few loop holes that I am trying to close." She screwed the top back on her nail varnish and blew on her left hand nails again.

"Such as?"

"Such as, poison, I can't veto everything you eat or drink, if I used an anti-poison spell you would never be able to get drunk, or have mildly spicy food. If I did a 'no blades' type spell you wouldn't be able to use cutlery, and on and on. Magic is funny, the wording is everything as well as the intention, if I intend for you not to get hurt then those spells work better but if I go for a wording specific spell then I have to be really careful about pronunciation and they get lengthy. Currently you have ones for impact, infection, impalement, animal attacks, starvation, dehydration, extremes of temperature, disease, magical afflictions and a word specific one about poisons."

"You've put all of those on me?" Stiles asked bewildered, "When?"

"Oh, the night you slept over, sometimes at school when I randomly took your hand, and when you stayed over." Diana shrugged.

"Well thank you, I think." Stiles said carefully. He eyed her again, "You got anything else, an anti were one?"

"You want me to make sure you don't become a werewolf?" Diana asked. Her hair was braided back down her head and the stray strands caught the light of the candles making it seem like they were spun copper.

"I don't know, I see what Scott can do and sometimes I'm jealous, you know?" Stiles said gesturing, "But then there's other times like on the full moon when I think that it's the last thing I could ever want."

"I get what you mean." Diana said nodding. "To be so animalistic, so raw, and then other times so bound for pain and destiny."

Stiles nodded. He looked into her eyes shocked to find they had changed colour.

"Di?" He began, "Your, your eyes, they're changing colour." He leant forward a little for a closer look.

Diana's eyes widened, "What colour?" She demanded.

"Like they're alternating between brown, blue and really vivid green." Stiles said, "What does that mean?"

"I don't know." She said her voice trembling a little. Instinctively Stiles reached for her hand gripping it tightly in his. Diana could see him floundering about in his head for a moment, the gears furiously turning before he said firmly; "Breathe with me."

Copying his movements she gripped his hand, reached out and clasped his other one and breathed deeply with him.

It was as if through their hands and touching knees she was tethered to him. Through him the world around her, the earth below them. A sense of heavy solidity seeped into her through where they touched as if she had unknowingly been adrift.

Tears seeped from her eyes as they settled back to their original colour.

"I don't know what's happening to me." She whispered not letting go of him.

"I think I do." Stiles said unsurely. "You said that everyone is a cup, right? And that when I picked up the symbol I unknowingly fused our cups together, I have the bigger rock. Now, you are an empty cup, the universe is piling in the power, the magic that you would ordinarily have not been able to have. You need me to be your rock, the steadying of the two." Stiles said carefully choosing his words.

"So after today…" Diana began,

"You needed me; you needed the grounding that I provide you." Stiles said nodding. "I think that could be why your magic is going all over too. We pulled the rock out your cup so the universe is swirling about what will fit."

"I think I understand you." She said.

"Good, that's good. Now maybe you can tell me what we are listening to?" Stiles laughed.

"Oh that, it's Celtic and Norse music. I thought it might help with the whole control thing."

"Did it?" He asked, Diana laughed shaking her head no. "Can we turn it off?"

"Sure." She let go of his right hand and flicked her left to the speaker system in the corner of the large room. It switched off but the feeling of happy grounding began to wear off.

Panicking she snatched Stiles' hand back. The feeling returned.

"We're gonna have to figure out a way around this you know." Diana said shaking his hands up and down, "We can't be touching each other all the time."

Stiles laughed, "I don't know, beautiful girl needs to touch me, kinda good for my cred on the team."

Diana smiled and rolled her eyes. "Oh of course, how silly of me, it's all about what Greenburg thinks."

Stiles pulled a face, "Greenburg?! Hell no, that guy is so weird."

Diana looked pointedly at where they were sat. Stiles followed her gaze. "Erm, yeah, different kinda weird." They both laughed together at the ridiculous nature of their situation.

"You done much of the English homework?" Diana asked after a long moment, Stiles shrugged, "Not as much as I'd have liked."

They carried on talking like that until Diana's stomach rumbled and Stiles' posture began to slump.

The candles had burnt low now and outside was fully dark.

Diana slowly pulled her hands out of Stiles' grip smoothing the back of his palms with her thumbs.

"I think we should probably call it a night." She said, "You have that thing with your dad about not being alone and I should probably get some food in me and go to bed."

Stiles nodded, standing quickly he reached out his hand to her she took it letting him pull her up. She was just on her feet when dizziness overcame her, she stumbled forward into Stiles. He caught her by her elbows, gripping her tightly as she rested on his chest.

"Sorry, forgot how long I'd been sat down." She muttered.

Stiles didn't say anything just continued to hold her.

"You think we could talk to Agnes before I go?" He asked. "Wanna see if she'll have anything to say about this. You know, confirm my theory."

Diana picked her head up off of his chest, "That would actually be a great idea." She took his hand again and led him away out of the candle circle that she doused with a wave of her hand.

Not long later they stood before the uncovered family mirror staring back at themselves.

"Agnes?" Diana called, "You there?"

A young woman floated into the frame beaming at who she saw.

"Diana! You have Stiles with you!" She reached forward as if to embrace them both but was stopped suddenly. Instead she clasped her hands together at her chest.

"Agnes, did you, have any issues when you and Richard first bound one another together?" Stiles asked carefully.

"What do you mean?" Agnes cocked her head.

"Explosive power, needing to touch him? That kind of thing." Diana said.

Agnes pursed her lips.

"Explosive power?" she repeated. "Have you recently tried a rejuvenation from the earth? Without Stiles?" She asked her tone reprehensive.

"Well, yeah, I did a meditation with my Aunt. I'd used a lot of power that night of the game." Diana shrugged.

Agnes sighed pinching the bridge of her nose.

"The routes of the traditional are not available to you anymore." She said tersely. "Did you not read my book of shadows?"

"Yeah, I skimmed almost most of it." Diana shrugged.

"Well in it I describe my experiences, how I needed Richard with me for large spells that would drain a normal witch to the point of death, how the only rejuvenation I needed was his touch. If you try to pull from the earth Diana you will only pull the earth into you, now ordinarily this would have been fine as a non-bound soul but for a bound soul you will only succeed in pulling it through you. You binding to the earth has become Stiles, by doing as you did pulling from the earth's power you overloaded yourself causing a vortex that then needed to be put back."

"That's why it burned." Diana realised. "Why it burned inside me, there was nothing to hold it to me, it needed to be released back where I pulled it from."

"Wait you can't use normal magic?" Stiles asked.

Agnes shook her head, "No, our Diana is very different now. Ordinarily being from such a long line as ours would have made a very powerful witch indeed but now, bound as she is to you, she is even more powerful. Balance is needed, she is finding out all over again which magic is to be hers, which cards are hers to pull from the deck." The woman dressed in brown skirts and stays shrugged, "She will need help and patience, my rediscovery lasted me two years."

"I can't be like this for two years!" Diana exclaimed her voice cracking with shock.

"Maybe more, I do not know." Agnes said. "In the mean time I would recommend keeping Stiles close and safe."

With that she turned her back and faded until all the pair could see was their own reflections once again.

Seeing that the conversation was over Diana followed Stiles down the stairs to the front door. He scooped his bag off of the leather arm chair stopping just before the now open door.

"You know, maybe you should look at the book she wrote, if she is our only source on this then we should know what she knows."

Diana nodded fiddling with her sleeve,

"I will do don't worry. And if I have any other outbursts like earlier today I will let you know so you can come and be my Batman." She smiles softly at him. He beamed back then frowned,

"What did happen with Logan by the way?" He enquired.

"Well, he followed me out of school, hopped in my car and then tried to berate me about telling you things as well as trying to use runes to control me. As if those would work when I was in that state." She scoffed.

"Yeah, as if…" Stiles said his voice trailing off. "You, nah it's nothing." He started cutting himself off before his thought was vocalised.

"No go on, what was it?" Diana insisted. Stiles took a deep breath and let it out with a gush.

"Well, there's this secret rave kicking off at a warehouse just outside of town in a few days and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me." He shrugged. "I mean it's probably going to devolve into something to do with the Kanima but it could be nice to just go out you know."

"I'd love to Stiles, that sounds fun. Besides if it does become something to do with the Kanima then at least I will be there to help out." She replied, his face lit up in response.

He left with a spring in his step that hadn't been there before, heading out into the night that was just getting dark.

Diana shut the door, sealed the wards on the house and set about finding where she had left Agnes's grimoire. She had some extracurriculars to catch up on.

Hey, you seen Jackson? Stiles asked.

No. I thought you were keeping an eye on him. Diana said, Stiles could feel the frustration rising in him, that was certainly not from him.

Well I thought Scott was. He's not turned up to morning practice. He answered.

Stiles stood by Scott in the changing rooms having just finagled his way out of directly answering about the missing co-captain of the lacrosse team.

"Sorry, but I only got two myself." Danny answered with a half shrug. Scott had been unable to get any tickets the prior night and they were verging on desperate.

"Well do you even have a date yet?" Stiles asked,

"I'm working on it." Danny gritted out.

"Okay, okay, hear me out, you give us the tickets and you devote your life to abstinence." He said only half joking. Dreading having to tell Diana that he'd failed.

Danny was given an escape route from the conversation as Isaac gripped the backs of Scott and Stiles jerseys and tees.

"How, do you two losers even survive?" He demanded incredulous.

"What are we supposed to do?" Scott asked, "No-one's even selling."

Isaac looked past them to two other boys in the locker room with tickets,

"Wait here boys." He patted Stiles' chest as he pushed between the two.

"What is he doing?" Scott wondered watching him walk over to the other boys.

They watched idly as Isaac creatively suggested to the two young gentleman that the tickets would be best served in his possession, wincing.

"Yep, that's excessive." Stiles said, "That'll bruise." Scott winced heavily while Stiles failed to look surprised.

You know your puppy Isaac just hurt a couple guys. Dude is excessive.

Isaac pressed the newly acquired tickets into the chests of Scott and Stiles, sniffed then left them with "Enjoy the show".

Really excessive. You have your ticket right?

Sure, got it this morning from Lydia. Diana said, he could feel irritation coming from her in waves.

You okay? Feelin' kinda tense there. Stiles asked fiddling with his ticket.

This Matt guy is a pain in the arse. He has decided that I am the source for all things Alison. Won't leave me alone. Diana said through their link.

Yeah, he cornered me and Scott this morning.

Scott and I.

Yeah, Scott and I. Stiles rolled his eyes. Message remains the same Di.

Sorry. I just wish he would leave me alone. Ahh crap, he's looking at me like he's just asked me a question. Gotta go.

He smiled to himself as he stowed the ticket in his backpack heading out to begin his school day. He loved being part of a duo with Diana, not only did he admit that it made him feel safer than learning about being a very breakable human in a world of magic and werewolves but it also meant that he had a partner in a way that Scott was drifting from being. Stiles thought to himself 'Sure, Scott was his brother in every way that mattered but he had a girlfriend and a curse/ blessing to deal with, they weren't just two guys practicing lacrosse shots with each other in the back yard anymore. And yeah, he didn't do that with Diana either but with her he felt a weird kind of relief, the knowledge that he could go far, far way and yet still she would be there. And him for her he expected.'

At the end of the school day Stile was nowhere to be found, the jeep was gone, Diana stood by her car chewing her bottom lip deliberating whether to reach out to him and ask where he was or not.

Diana scanned the car park thumbing her keys and, to her dread, accidentally made eye contact with Matt.

At the vets Scott works for. How soon can you be here?

Relief swelled in her heart, something about Matt just did not sit right with her. There was something off about the guy.

Ten minutes.

Ten minutes later she was stood before the counter in the back room of the vets.

"Ketamine?" Scott asked, Diana pushed her hair back moving to stand next to Stiles.

"The same stuff we use on the dogs, just a higher dosage." Deccan explained, "If you can get close enough to Jackson it should slow him down enough to buy you some time."

He retrieved a small mason jar of black powder looking at Stiles he said,

"This is some of what you will use to create the barrier. This part is for you Stiles." He pointed at the young man, "Diana can't help with this, although I would recommend that you cast something to keep everyone in the building distracted."

"One Bacchanal coming up." Diana nodded.

"That sounds like a lot of pressure." Stiles reached for the jar, "Can we maybe find a slightly less pressure filled task for me?" Diana smiled pulling the jar from his hand.

"Ooo, mountain ash." She raised her eyebrows at Deccan.

"It's believed by many cultures to protect against the supernatural." He explained. Diana blew a raspberry,

"Believed, as if this whole building isn't riddled with it." She scoffed looking over the jar.

Deccan stood looking at Diana expectantly.

"Oh come on. This is a bit granny sucking eggs here. You have to admit."

"What does mountain ash do?" Stiles asked, Deccan looked at Diana to answer. She smiled at Stiles,

"This makes it difficult for people like Scott to cause any trouble. And it also amplifies certain spells I can cast, I used some in a protection spell for you a while back."

"Stiles is warded? I didn't know you could ward people?" Deccan asked his curiosity sparked.

"Sure you can, this one is warded to high heaven and back." Diana handed him back the jar. "Shouldn't have any impact on this though." She finished.

Stiles returned the jar to the metal table, "Okay so then what? I just spread this around the whole building and then neither Jackson or whoever is controlling him can cross it?"

"They'll be trapped." Deccan agreed.

"Doesn't sound too hard." Scott said. Diana huffed a half laugh,

"Sure, but powder is just powder until you add something to it." She said,

"Like gunpowder, it needs a spark to ignite it." Deccan agreed.

"You need to have the intention, the belief behind it for it to work." Diana said.

"But, magic is your thing." Stiles insisted panicking a little.

"Ours, and for this, there isn't magic involved per se, it is just more intention. You're tied to me yes, but you're still mortal, still able to imagine things, intend things." She shrugged, "That is all that this requires." She rested her hand on his arm giving him an encouraging squeeze.

"If this is going to work Stiles, you have to believe it." Deccan said imploringly. Stiles didn't look convinced.

"So, with one of my spells," Diana began pulling their attention to her, "I don't just blindly follow the instructions and wait for things to happen. Because doing that makes sucky Witches and just messes to clean up of wasted herbs. No, you I have to know the intention behind it, imagine the outcome that I want, breathe through the possibilities and feel where it will go. Sometimes it requires deviation from the instructions but others it doesn't. This will be the same. You imagine the outcome, breathe and let it become reality."

"Okay, breathe, reality. Got it."

"You'll do great." Scott said firmly, clapping a hand on Stiles' shoulder.