"𝐒𝐎 𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘, Scott, Stiles and Allison will need to be surrogate sacrifices for their parents,” Deaton explains again. I’m sitting on top of one of the tables with my legs crossed as Stiles, Scott, Allison, Isaac and Lydia are all standing around the three tubs they’ve spent the last hour filling up with ice and water. 

    “But you can bring us back. You can…you can bring us back, right?” Stiles questions nervously, biting on the edge of his lip as I notice Lydia reaching out and squeezing his hand reassuringly. I quirk an eyebrow curiously. Since when were they a couple?

    “If it goes right the three of you will be dead for a few seconds but there’s something else you need to think about. This is a dangerous thing for more reasons than one,” Deaton explains, not instilling much hope in us, “You'll be giving power back to the Nemeton, a place that hasn't had power for a long time. This kind of power is like a magnet. It attracts the supernatural, the kind of things that a family like the Argents can fill the pages of a bestiary with. It will draw them here, like a beacon.”

I swallow hard at the thought of more supernatural creatures in Beacon hills that’ll probably try to kill us.

    “Oh, lovely.” Stiles comments sarcastically but everyone ignores him as Scott speaks up.

    “Is that it?” he questions, crossing his arms. Deaton hesitates for a moment before answering.

    “No. It’ll also have an effect on the three of you,” Scott, Allison and Stiles share nervous glances, “You won’t be able to see it, but you’ll feel it everyday for the rest of your lives. It’ll be a kind of darkness around your heart, and permanent, like a scar.” 

    “Like a tattoo,” Scott mutters. I raise an eyebrow slightly at Deatons words.

    “Are you guys so sure you want to do this?” I question. 

    “We don’t have a choice. We have to save them.” Scott says, Allison and Stiles nodding in agreement. 

    “Alright then. What did you bring?” Deaton speaks up. I lean forward on my arms curiously as the three of them each pull objects from their pockets. Stiles speaks up first. 

    “Um, I got my dad’s badge. Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand so I tried hammering it out a bit. Still doesn’t look great,” Stiles mutters as he holds the shiny object firmly in his grasp.

    “Well, it doesn’t need to look good if it has meaning,” Deaton reassures him before glancing over at Allison. 

    “Is that an actual silver bullet?” Isaac speaks up.

    “My dad made it. It’s kind of a ceremonial thing,” Allison explains, “When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the code.” 

    “Scott?” Deaton moves on to him. Scott pulls out a small round watch from his back pocket and holds it up as he looks at it closely. 

    “My Dad got my Mum this watch when she first got hired at the hospital. She used to say it was the only thing in their marriage that ever worked.” I look down as Scott mentions his parents. I wonder if my parents were married or not. When I was younger I’d always imagine them out there somewhere, searching for me. I guess as I got older it became more realistic that they are most probably dead or abandoned me.

    “Okay, the three of you will get in. Each of us will hold you down until you’re essentially…well, dead,” Exactly like in my vision, “But it’s not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back, someone that has a strong connection to you, a kind of emotional tether,” Deaton explains before pausing as he eyes them. 

    “Lydia…you go with Stiles.” Stiles glances up at Lydia with wide eyes as she offers him a small reassuring smile. 

    “Are you sure? I mean Scott and I both have to go under,” Allison speaks up nervously as she glances at Scott. Deaton hesitates for a moment as he glances at Isaac. Scott watches her sadly before speaking up. 

    “It’s okay,” he mutters softly before walking past her to stand in front of one of the tubs. I get up from the table and walk over to them, standing slightly behind Isaac. 

Allison is the first to enter her tub, letting out a gasp at the icy coldness of the water before she lays down, followed by Stiles and Scott. 

Deaton positions himself behind Scott, placing his hands on his shoulders; Lydia and Isaac following suit with Stiles and Allison. 

I watch nervously as they’re pushed beneath the surface of the water, my gaze unwilling to move from them as they fight against the forces holding them down before they stop moving. 

I let out a breath and shove my shaking hands into my pockets as Deaton turns to face Isaac, Lydia and I.

    “It’s done,” he speaks up, “They’re dead.”  

~~~

I groan uncomfortably as I shift my position in the small plastic chair I’m attempting to sleep in. Deaton brought them in from the waiting room about an hour after Scott, Stiles and Allison went under. 

    “How long has it been now?” Isaac speaks up from his position in the chair across from me. 

    “5 and a half hours,” Lydia answers, hunched over her chair beside Allison’s tub as she watches over her carefully. 

    “Should it be taking this long?” Isaac questions. We all glance over at Deaton who is standing by one of his tables, flicking through a book. 

    “It’s hard to say. I’ve never performed something like this before, only heard of it in passing,” Deaton answers. I furrow my eyes. 

    “How do you even know it’s going to work then?” I question. Deaton hesitates for a moment before replying. 

    “It will work.” We all go quiet after that, drifting back into our thoughts. 

    “You kids should go home; get some rest. It could be a while longer before they wake,” Deaton suggests. 

    “I’m not leaving her,” Lydia says as she continues to watch Allison. Isaac nods in agreement. 

    “I’m fine here. It’s probably best if I don’t go back to the loft right now anyway,” I mumble as I shift in my chair again, pulling the large hoodie over my knees as I pull them to my chest. 

    “What do you mean?” Isaac questions, looking up from his chair. I shrug my shoulders lightly. 

    “Aidan and Ethan will question where I’ve been and I doubt they’d be too happy if they found out it was with you guys,” I explain. Isaac hesitates for a moment before speaking up. 

    “Why do you live with them?” he questions. I shrug my shoulders lightly. 

    “Where else would I go? They’re all I’ve got.”

    “What happened to your parents?” Lydia speaks up. I let out a small breath as I look down at my hands. 

   “I don’t know. I was 10 years old when Deucalion found me and I don’t really have any memories before then. He told me I’d been abandoned and they found me wandering the woods,” I explain. 

    “And didn’t you ever question it?” Lydia asks, “I mean why wouldn’t you remember anything before 10 years old?” 

    “Sure I questioned it when I was younger but I quickly learnt I wouldn’t get any answers.” No one speaks up again as we continue to watch the three dead teenagers before us. 

I roll onto my side, resting my head on the armrest of the chair as I find my eyes slowly drifting shut. 

~~~

The next time I open my eyes, the sun has begun to set and red rays of light are filtering through the small windows of the clinic. I blink slowly and a yawn escapes my lips as I stretch out my aching back. 

    “Ugh, what time is it?” Isaac questions, letting out a loud yawn as he stretches out his legs. 

    “It’s 6 O’ clock. It’s been 16 hours already,” Lydia answers as she walks up to us, light bags present under her eyes as she bites her lip anxiously. 

I slowly sit up from my chair and walk over to the side of Scott’s tub, my brows furrowing lightly as I observe his unmoving body. It’s unsettling how dead he looks. 

Without warning, Scott suddenly jerks up, splashing out of the water with a gasp. I let out a shocked yelp as I stumble backwards, nearly hitting my head on the table but Isaac quickly steadies me. 

Allison and Stiles wake up right after Scott, jumping up from the cold water. 

    “I saw it. I know where it is,” Scott gasps out. 

    “There’s a stump, this huge tree. Well, it’s not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it’s still big though, very big,” Stiles explains. 

    “It was the night we were looking for the body. The night I was bitten by Peter.” 

    “I was there too, in the car with my mother,” Allison speaks up, “We almost hit someone.” 

    “It was me. You hit me. We can find it,” Scott says, his eyes filling with hope. I fumble with my hands in my pockets as we stare at the three teenagers uncomfortably. 

    “What?” Allison questions our looks as Lydia passes her a towel. 

    “You guys were out a long time,” Isaac tells them. Stiles tilts his head. 

    “How long is a long time?” he asks.

    “Sixteen hours,” I mutter. Their eyes all widen in shock.

    “We’ve been in the water for sixteen hours?” Scott questions, his eyes wide. Deaton sighs.

   “And the full moon rises in less than four.”

~~~

    “Stop touching that.” Stiles slaps my hand away from the stereo for the third time since we’ve left the animal clinic. 

    “So you want us to drive in silence?” I question, raising an eyebrow as I glance at the spastic boy. 

Stiles and I are at his house to grab something that belongs to his dad so that Scott can follow his scent while the others go to Allison’s apartment to find something from her dad. 

    “Fine,” Stiles groans, turning up the volume of the radio as some heavy metal song starts playing. “You happy now?” I roll my eyes. 

    “Yes, as a matter of fact this is my favourite genre of music,” I tell him, moving to turn up the volume but he slaps my hand away again. 

    “Uh uh, no touching.” 

A few AC DC songs later, the jeeps comes to a halt outside of number 129 Woodbine lane; a cream coloured, weatherboard house with two dormer windows framing the second floor. 

I unclip my seatbelt and climb out of the jeep, hurrying after Stiles as he’s already unlocking the front door. 

    “This way,” Stiles calls as I enter the house behind him, closing the front door before we head up the wooden staircase. He continues down the short hallway to the end where he opens the door on the left, his dad’s room. 

    “Okay, something with his scent on it,” Stiles mumbles to himself as he quickly heads over to the bed, sniffing the pillow before putting it back down, “Uh, I should just call Scott.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket with shaking hands and starts to dial Scott’s number as I take a look around the Sheriff’s room. 

My gaze falls onto one of the framed pictures on the wooden side cabinet; a picture of a young Stiles and Scott wearing halloween costumes. Stiles is wearing a brown cloak and has a homemade lightsaber strapped to his waist while Scott is a pirate I assume by the patch that covers his left eye. I chuckle lightly, I can tell Stiles must have been upset at Scott for some reason as his eyes are red from crying and his arms are crossed while little Scott has a small frown on his face. 

    “Scott…yeah, I have no idea what I’m looking for here,” Stiles speaks as he walks around the room, his phone held to his ear with one hand while he starts searching through his dad’s laundry basket. 

    “What about his boxers? Would that work?...There’s literally nothing else Scott!” Stiles groans in frustration, running a hand through his hair.

I glance around the room for a moment before noticing a pair of socks on the floor next to his bed. 

   “Stiles, would those work?” I ask him, pointing to the socks. 

   “Uh, Scott, how about socks? Yeah, okay. I’ll meet you guys there.” Stiles turns off his phone and shoves it back into his pocket before quickly grabbing the socks. 

    “Okay, let's go. We’re going to meet the others by the entrance to the reserve,” Stiles quickly explains before rushing before me out of the room. 

I follow behind him as he pushes open the front door, both of us startling slightly at the strong gust of wind that rips the door out of his grasp. 

    “I didn’t think it was going to be stormy tonight,” I comment as we both rush outside and into the jeep as it starts to rain. 

    “It’s Jennifer; she must be messing with it,” Stiles deduces as he quickly turns the jeep into ignition and reverses out of the driveway.  

    “Seatbelt.” It takes me a moment to register what Stiles said before I pull the belt across my body and clip it into place with a roll of my eyes. 

I glance out of the window nervously as the closer we get to the reserve the worse the weather becomes. Stiles takes a deep breath, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly as the rain starts to come down so hard on the windscreen it’s almost impossible to see the road. 

    “Come on, come on…” he mutters quietly to himself.

Lightning flashes before us followed by a loud cracking noise. 

    “Stiles look out!” I exclaim as a tree crashes down in front of us. Stiles quickly swerves out of the way. The jeeps wheels slide on the wet road and the last thing I see is a tree coming toward us before my vision goes black.