The Devil Inside

Chapter 14

"We can't. Not if the Oni find him when the sun goes down." I said, my chest tightening.

"Scott's working on them right now, with Kira." Allison explained.

"That's the problem. We're all trying to outfox the fox." Chris crossed his arms.

"Listen. I'll understand if anyone wants to back out." Sheriff stood up straighter.

"It wouldn't be the first wolf to run from a fox." Derek picked up a weapon. Chris handed Stilinski the light-saber.

"Apparently I'm carrying the light-saber." He sassed, causing me to laugh because that's what I was just thinking.

"Dad, you and Derek hit Eichen House." Allison ordered. "Sheriff, its me, you, and Ashlyn at the hospital. We all meet at the school."

"Sheriff, Allison and I set off for the hospital and Sheriff took me in his patrol car.

"Hey, Ashlyn." Sheriff spoke up as we pulled onto the road with Allison following.

"Yeah?" I looked over at him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I-I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. Look, I know that you and Stiles broke up. But I just want to make sure you're okay."

"You mean with my best friend and ex boyfriend being an evil fox? My life being taken over by the supernatural? Yeah. Just dandy." I felt tears sting my eyes.

"We're going to find Stiles. He's going to be okay. You're going to be okay. I've see you kids go through hell and back. You'll survive." Stilinski said as he parked the car.

"I'm not so sure I will." Tears escaped.

Stilinski jumped out of the car and came over to my side, opening up the door and pulling me into a hug. "You're going to be okay." We stood there for a moment just hugging each other until Allison walked up beside us. 

We headed into the hospital and got into an elevator.

"You know what, I don't know how you guys do it." Stilinski spoke up. "You're all so strong. You're fearless. Hell, you even manage to keep your grades up."

"I'm failing econ." Allison spoke up.

He sighed. "Is that Coach's class?" Allison nodded. "Well, I'll have a talk with him." Allison sighed deeply. "Hey. You okay?"

"I'm not... fearless. I'm terrified." Allison then started full on crying. "I'm always terrified. I... I act like I know what I'm doing, but I don't. I don't know if Isaac is dying right now. I don't know if I made a mistake with Scott. I don't know what my dad is thinking. I don't know if we should trust Derek. I don't know... I don't know anything."

Sheriff brought Allison into a hug and she sniffled. "You know what's funny, kiddo? You sound just like a cop." We chuckled. "Hey, you're gonna be okay. You both are."

"Okay." Allison sniffed. Sheriff's phone went off and he took it out. His face turned into a look of concern as he looked at it.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Someone's breaking into my house. After Stiles started sleepwalking, I had some security precautions put in. Motion sensors. Cameras."

"Is that his room?" Allison asked.

I looked at the screen and sure enough. Stiles, void, was sitting on his bed. He looked so pale and sick. Stiles waved creepily at the camera.

*****

"What is all this? What are all these sticky notes?" Derek asked. We were in Stiles' room looking at his chess board. Each piece had a note taped to it.

"This is what Stiles used to try and explain to me about all of you." Stilinski explained. Stiles was nowhere to be found.

"Cool, maybe it's a message from Stiles. The real Stiles." Allison offered.

"You think there's any reason my name's on the king?" Derek asked.

"Well, you're heavily guarded. Though I guess the alarming detail is that you're one more from being checkmate." Sheriff pointed out.

"It's not a message from Stiles." Chris spoke up. "It's a threat from the Nogitsune."

"He's at the loft. That's what he's trying to tell us. And he wants us to come there." Derek ran a hand through his hair.

"Night's falling." I pointed out as I looked out the window.

"This couldn't sound any more like a trap."

"I don't think it is." Stilinski spoke up.

"I think your opinion might be slightly biased, Sheriff." Chris said.

"Hear me out. What we're dealing with here is basically someone who lacks motive. No rhyme, no reason, right?"

"Meaning what?" Derek asked.

"Our enemy is not a killer. It's a trickster. The killing is just a by-product."

"If you're trying to say it won't kill us, I'm not too confident about that."

"It won't. It wants irony. It wants to play a trick. It wants a joke. All we need to do it come up with a new punch line."

"The sun is setting, Sheriff." Allison started panicking.

"What do you have in mind?" Chris asked.

Stilinski turned on his heel and we all followed him. Headed off towards the loft. The Sheriff and I ran up to the loft first before anyone else. I took a deep breath as did he before opening up the door.

Stiles was standing in the middle of the room. He turned around and looked scared. "Dad, Ashlyn."