The Ties That Bind Us

The Believers

"She threatens everyone, yes."

"And she's still alive?"

Malia nodded. "Yeah. It'll take more than old age to kill her off. She's tough. She was actually a guardian for a while."

"Really? So she gave it up to—uh, to stay with her kids?"

"She has very strong ideas about family—ideas that honestly sound kind of sexist to me. She believes we should train and put in time as guardians, but women should eventually return home to raise their children."

"Not the men?"

"No," Malia said wryly. "Real men die in battle."

"Oh man. I'll have to remember that."

Malia made a sound almost like 'don't.'

During the trip back, Scott could hardly wait to tell everyone about the news. He started off with how Stiles had been called in to see the queen, excited that the queen had wanted to 'praise' him. Everyone seemed impressed except Lydia. The look on her face told Stiles that she was sure her mom most definitely hadn't called him in for that.

Scott then told them about the offer to live at Court and go to college at Lehigh. "I still can't believe it," he mused. "It sounds too good to be true."

Lydia knocked back a glass of champagne. "Coming from dear mama? It is too good to be true."

"What do you mean?" Stiles asked. "Is he in trouble?"

"What, bodily? Nah. Relax, little guardian. Just keep in mind that Mom doesn't do things out of the kindness of her heart. Well," Lydia amended, "she's not a total bitch. I think she means it about worrying about the McCalls. She liked your parents. However... You've got radical ideas. She might want to hear different opinions, or she might want to keep an eye on you, keep you from causing trouble."

Or maybe she wants you two to get married, Stiles silently added.

Kira didn't like any of this. "Lydia's right," she said. "They could be trying to rein you in. You should go live with Uncle Derek. You don't have to go to a half-breed school."

"But he'll be safer if he does," Stiles admitted. He started to add more, but just then, that headache from yesterday returned. It was like all the air around them was pressing on his skull. He put his hand on his forehead.

"You're sick again?" Scott asked, worried.

"Have you always had trouble flying?" Lydia asked him.

Stiles gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the pain. He had had an entire day without the trickster—and what a good day it had been—so much he was almost feeling normal again. But now, there he was, trashing inside his head, making everything—

EXPLODE.

The headache was unbelievable, in a way Stiles hadn't thought that was possible. It felt like the trickster was trying to rip open his skull to get out.

But that was just the beginning.

Because suddenly all around him were faces. Ghostly, translucent faces and bodies—just like Erica's. And oh God, they were everywhere! Stiles couldn't even see the seats or his friends. Just those faces—and their hands. Pale, shining hands reached out for him. Mouths opened like they would speak, and all of those faces looked as though they wanted something from him.

Thicker and thicker the faces grew. While none of them actually spoke, there seemed to be a buzzing in Stiles's ears that grew louder as more and more of them came. Two new figures joined the crowd. They should have blended into the rest, but they stood out: Scott's parents.