The Ties That Bind Us

The Miracle

Something in Stiles's heart twisted painfully, and he blinked rapidly to stop from crying. Glancing around, he tuned in into his surroundings. Outside the car, the sky was darkening. The sun had set. The guardians with him had signs of weariness on their faces, yet the alert expressions in their eyes never faltered. Stiles had lost track of the time, but his internal clock told him they had been on the road for a while. They had to almost be back at Court.

Tentatively, he touched the bond and found it was back. That was enough to put me at ease, and Stiles breathed a sigh of relief. Looking through Scott's eyes, at the SUV he rode in, Stiles immediately hoped he would see Malia with him. He needed to see her again. But she wasn't with Scott.

"Hey!" Scott was shouting. "Where is Malia? What have you done to her?"

There were guardians in the car, and Scott glanced around at them as he spoke. As with Stiles, no one seemed willing to acknowledge Malia or what had happened.

"Why can't I see her?" Scott insisted. "Why'd you take her away?" This was directed to anyone who would answer, and at last, someone did.

"Because she's dangerous," one of the guardians said, like it was obvious.

"She's not," Scott said, glaring around at the rest of the car's occupants, all of whom were looking somewhere else. "She's not like the other vampires. And now, I don't even think she's still a vampire."

"Prince McCall," began one of the guardians uneasily, "no one really knows what happened. You can't be sure that—"

"I am sure!" Scott said, voice too loud for the small space. There was a regal, commanding air to it. "I know. She's been saved. She's been brought back!"

The guardians looked uncomfortable, again not speaking. They were probably just confused, and really, how could they not be? There was no precedent for this.

Twenty minutes later, their convoy arrived back at Court. Stiles thought this meant instant freedom, but his guardians took their time in getting out, waiting for some signal or directions. It turned out they were waiting for Hans.

"No," he said, firmly putting a hand on Stiles's shoulder as Stiles shot out of the car and tried to race away to... well, he wasn't sure where. Wherever Malia was. "Hold on."

"I have to see her!" Stiles exclaimed, trying to push past. Hans was like a brick wall. "You have to tell me where she is."

To his surprise, Hans did. "Locked away. Far, far out of your reach. Or anyone else's. It's better if she's kept away for now."

Stiles's brain, weary from the night's activities and overwrought with emotion, took a moment to process this. "She's not dangerous," he said. "She's not a vampire, she's Gehenna."

"How can you be so certain?" Hans asked.

"Because we went through a lot of trouble to get that done," Stiles said vaguely.

Hans shook his head. "Granted, Stilinski, no one knows what's going on with Tate. Those of us that were there... well, I'm not sure what I saw. All I do know is that the McCall prince disappeared for the second time in four days and he was found in the presence of known vampires, and a criminal who has tried to kill him before. So how do I know for sure that Tate didn't have anything to do with this second kidnapping or the fact that Gerard Argent was broken out of jail?"

"Because she didn't!"

"Until we do know that," he continued, ignoring Stiles's comment, "Tate has to stay locked up while we examine her."

Stiles didn't like the sound of that. It made Malia seem like a lab animal. It made Stiles's temper flare, and he nearly started yelling at Hans. A moment later, he got himself under control.