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Aires pov...
"What do the different colour strings mean?"
"Huh?"
"The strings. What do they mean?" I whispered whilst I mindlessly wrapped the string around my finger.
After the shit show at the school, I took off, however Stiles had caught up and dragged me into his jeep. I was pissed but wasn't complaining, he was the only person whose head I didn't want to rip off. However, rolling around on his bed, I still felt slightly nervous- slightly unnerved.
"Well, I sort of have a code." He mumbled back as he stepped away from a board and plopped onto the bed in front of me. "They are all different stages of the investigation."
"Oh. I didn't even know you had an investigating board."
"Yeah, I put it together around the time of the darach."
"I didn't even know that." I whispered to myself whilst I tugged on the ball of string in my hand. "I don't really know anything anymore, I'm barely here. Same as with Scotty and Lyds, I used to be so close to you guys and now it's like I'm peering in from the outside of the circle."
The longer I thought about it, the more I realised I had drifted away from the group. Somehow, I went from being around only Scott and Stiles to my life being consumed with partying, Drugs, Aiden and Allison.
Everything had changed.
"Ree-"
"What do the colours mean?"
After letting out a defeated sigh, Stiles slowly moved his body closer to mine, and I resisted the urge to recoil away. "Well, green means solved, yellow is to be determined, blue is just pretty."
"What does the red mean?"
"Unsolved."
A small snort fell from my lips as I rolled my eyes. "You only have red on the board."
"Yes, I'm aware. Thank you."
"Question."
"Yes?"
"Did you get a suspension for pulling the alarm?"
"No, but I have detention every day this week and I'm being forced to take two extra AP classes, I chose biology and psychology so at least I'll be with you. It's okay though, we were on to something."
"Even though there was no solid proof of Barrow being there? You know, proof other than me being locked in a room with him and having to look the guy in the eyes whilst he attacked me. Proof other than the crazy girl who has hallucinations and literally keeps accidentally swapping between two different realities."
"Ree, don't say that."
"Its all true, Stiles."
Maybe I was just crazy.
"You have been right every time something like this has happened. You figured out about Matt, the Darach, Lydia, the formal. Every time you have had a bad feeling about something, you were right. Don't start doubting yourself now, okay?"
"There was no scent, no traces, no bomb. And I got you in trouble."
"Okay, look." He whispered whilst slowly untangling the string around my finger. "Barrow was there, you saw him-"
"What if I just imagined it?" I shot back, unsure of myself, unsure if any of it was real. "What if he didn't attack me and it was me attacking myself?"
"You saw him. I saw the pure terror in your eyes, okay? He was there, you saw him. You felt it. You knew it. He attacked you. And look if you wanted to, I would go back to that school right now and search all night just to prove it. You're not crazy."
"You really believe that? I don't even think Aiden bel-"
"I believe you."
Before I had the chance to say something back, Stiles' arms wrapped around my waist whilst he shot off the bed. He had me flung over his shoulder, leaving me to dangle as he snatched the keys to his jeep and ran down the stairs.
"STILES, PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"
"WE'RE GOING TO THE SCHOOL."
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"Stiles." Aires warned in a low voice. "What is going on?" She whisper hissed as the two raced down the halls.
He hadn't told her what they were doing, what they were looking for. He had been silent in the jeep, leaving her to slowly go out of her mind.
The two came to a sudden stop outside the chemistry classroom. Tilting her head to the side, Aires glanced at the boy, only to see a look of panic and terror swam in him as as he slipped into the room. Hesitantly, she followed, despite everything in her telling her to run the other way.
"What are we looking for?" She mumbled as the boy swung open the door to the chemical supply closet. "Okay, that is supposed to be locked."
"Notice anything else?"
"Well for starters it reeks of chemicals, and its a mess, look at all the broken beakers."
"So if someone was to be in here whilst the chemicals spilt..."
"Their scene would be covered." She slowly whispered. "And this classroom is just around the corner from Coach's office and the locker room."
"It is-"
"Wait, he was in here? You think he was in here?"
Stiles wasn't answering her, instead he was staring off somewhere in the distance, unmoving. Pushing aside the bad feeling in her chest, Aires dropped onto her knees. With wide eyes, as her fingers hovered over the small blood droplets mixed with staples.
"He performed the operation here. He was in here waiting, hiding. He came to the school for a reason, one that wasn't just so he could hide out. He was here to kill somebody."
All the events of the day began to click in the girl's mind the longer she thought about the significance of what had happened.
"Oh my god." She whispered, horror lacing her words as her hand shot up to her mouth. "Barrow chose this room for a reason, just like he chose to hide in the locker room. Everything in his plan has worked. He hid in the locker room because he knew I would find him, he looked me in the eyes so he would know I knew that he knew what I was. He specifically shut off the lights to fuck with my head, he attacked me, left scratches and marks for a reason. It was all apart of his game."
She had felt connected to everything that was happening in a way she couldn't explain. From the moment she woke up from the spell, after she had escaped the violet door, she knew she had come back into something new, almost as if she was now playing a game. It wasn't her own mind that was trying to drive her insane anymore, it was now other people as well. Someone was trying to make her transform into the version of herself that hid behind the violet door, someone was trying to bring out that side of her.
She knew it, she just didn't know who yet.
"What the fuck is that?" Stiles' voice snapped the girl out of her trance, bringing her attention to the numbers on the board just beside them.
"Atomic numbers." She mumbled before grabbing a lump of chalk.
"Is it a formula?"
"Not really, at least not one that makes any sense. 19's potassium. 53's iodine. 88's radium. The first two make potassium iodide but throw in radium and it completely fucks up the whole equation. Whoever wrote this in class is definitely getting held behind next year." Whilst the girl mindlessly rambled about the numbers, she wrote the letters beside them whilst explaining basic chemistry to the boy on her side.
"Potassium is k?" He asked, his voice filled with disbelief as he gave the girl a mixture of a frown and a smirk.
"Yep, it's from kalium, the scientific neo-Latin name."
"Jesus, Ree. You are too fucking smart."
"Anyways." She mumbled with an eye roll. "See, so if they wrote this in their exam then they have-" Aires voice trailed off as she finished writing the last letter on the board, it spelled a name.
Kira.
Suddenly, the girl's eyes turned a bright violet, awakening something inside of her. The things she had just felt moments ago had completely vanished, leaving her with the smallest hint of a smirk as she stared at the board. But just as fast as the smirk came, it disappeared, leaving her paralysed in shock.
"Ree, we need to go." Stiles urged whilst tugging on the Hales ' arm.
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While Stiles filled in Scott with everything that the two had discovered, Aires sat in the backseat with her head in her hands. For a second, in the classroom she felt a spark of excitement, like something was going right. It lasted for a spilt second, however, it scared the living life out of the girl. She hadn't told the boys what had happened though part of her knew she should, but if she said it out loud then that would make it was real.
Suddenly, Scotts voice broke through the air, startling the girl. "HE'S GONNA KILL HER AND SHE IS JUST SAT IN THE BACK OF THE JEEP DOING NOTHING."
Stiles fists wrapped around of Scotts shirt as he picked up the McCall and slammed him against the jeep. "Don't fucking start, this isn't her fault. You didn't fucking believe her, Scott, so don't you dare try to place the blame on her." He hissed through clenched teeth.
An uneasy feeling settled in Aires stomach as an idea popped into her head. It was risky, extremely risky, no just for her but for everyone around her. The consequences of her idea could cost her everything, but it was a price she was willing to play.
Quickly, the Hale jumped over the seats and hopped out of the jeep.
"Ree, what are you doing?"
"I have an idea. Just stay there."
As her eyes fluttered closed, Aires ran through her idea one last time. She was doing something she had done once before in her life, something she wasn't ever supposed to do because of dangerous it was. With the little thought she had given her plan, something was bound to go wrong, she just didn't consider the worst of what could happen.
Summoning the version of herself from her subconus was dangerous, she was willingly letting the girl into her head, even if it was just temporary. She was giving the version of herself almost full access to her mind, it was the only idea she had. Let the girl have access to her mind and figure out the game.
It was her only option.
"Aires, Aires, Aires." The variant whispered with a smirk. "What are you doing?"
From across the street, Stiles and Scott watched the girl with caution. Aires' eyes flickered over to them to before going back to the variant.
"Scott and Stiles can't hear you." The variant hissed, as if reading her mind.
"I don't believe that." The Hale shot back. "Do you know what's happening?"
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. That's for you to figure out."
"Tell me."
"Let me in."
Once again, Aires was left with an ultimatum.
"No." She mumbled firmly.
"Let me take control Aires, I'm your true self anyway-"
"No, you're what i'm supposed to turn into but mixed with darkness. I was never supposed to turn into you, just myself at full potential. You're corrupted. You will never be me."
"Are you sure about that? Your best friend's little girlfriends life depends on this. Let me in Aires."
"No."
"I said let me in."
The variant took another step closer to the Hale, leaving very little room between the two. Slowly, the variant brought her hand up to the side of Aires face and rested it on her cheek.
"Let me in Aires."
"No."
A piercing pain ripped through the Hales ' body as a scream left her lips. Every cell in her body felt like it was exploding, the pressure in her body continued to build until she dropped onto her knees and dug her hands into the ground.
Keep going Ree, she repeated in her head. This is all part of the plan, let her get further into your head.
Her idea was working, the longer the variant tried to break the girl, the more Aires was able to get into her head. Everything was working, the hold the variant had on the Hale was strengthening, giving Aires more access to the variant's mind. It was a trade for a trade.
She was finally in the variant's head.
Several images flashed through her mind, ones of Lydia swatting air, to Lydia in the hallway, to a large abandoned red brick building. A gasp fell from the Hales lips, bringing her screams to a stop as she shoved the variant away from her with a smirk.
"You didn't get in my mind, but I got in yours." She whispered before turning on her heel and sprinting towards the two boys.
"LYDIA WASN'T HEARING FLIES, SHE WAS HEARING ELECTRICITY."
"Wait a second, Barrow was an electrical engineer. He worked at a power substation."
"Oh my god, that's where Kira is."
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As the three pulled up to the power station, Lydia jumped out of her car, alongside Morgan, and came running to the three.
"You figured it out?" The strawberry blonde asked the Hale.
"Yeah, how did you?"
"I told her to scream." Morgan answered with a small smile, flooding Aires chest with a warm fuzzy feeling as she watched Lydia lean into the brunette.
Over the weeks Lydia and Morgan had grown closer, making Aires feel slightly better about her absence. Everyone was fine without her, and she didn't know if that felt good or stinged.
"Stay here." Aires whispered to Stiles with a glare strong enough to scare anyone into a shiver.
"No." He shot back defensively.
"Stiles." Aires hissed again whilst frustratedly crossing her arms over her chest. "Stay here. I mean it."
She didn't voice the fact that her nerves had spiked tremendously the closer they got to the station, for whatever reason she desperately wanted the boy to stay as far away from the building as possible. There was a darkness she could feel, the same darkness she felt when Stiles touched her skin.
"Ree-"
"STAY HERE!"
Quickly, Aires turned on her heel and took off, determined to try and save Kira's life though Scott had already entered the building with the same mission moments before. The further the girl got into the building, the more side tracked she became, it was like there was a gravitational pull tugging her in a different direction, one away from where Kira was.
With an irritated growl, Aires made a quick detour to put the itching feeling in her mind at bay. Suddenly, she found herself standing in a dark storage room with boxes scattered all over the floor.
"We're losing the game Aires." A voice overdramatically whined.
"What do you mean? What game?" The Hale hissed at the pissed off variant who lurked in the corner of the room.
"You don't see it but all this time I was just trying to prepare you, to get you to be your strongest so you could win the battle-"
"No, you wanted me to let you take complete control over me. You wanted me to chaos death and chaos for your own enjoyment."
"While that may be slightly true it doesn't change the fact that what I said is also the truth, you were just too naive to see it and now it's too late."
"TOO LATE FOR WHAT?" Aires demanded.
For weeks, she had been losing her mind. She was forced into hallucinations that made no sense and had received several warnings from different people. She had been losing control, maybe tonight was the night that she would find out why.
"Your downfall has just begun and yet you're already exhausted, you haven't even fought yet-"
"I have fought my whole life, don't give me that bullshit."
"Let me amend my words then." The variant hissed with a hint of a smirk. "You haven't even fought the most important battle yet."
Back in New Orleans, Freya said that the battle between Aires and her subconscious would be the most important fight of her life so the variants words did nothing but confuse her.
"What game?"
"I'm sorry Aires, it's too late. I tried to warn you, train you, make you stronger. If you let me be in control I will win. We will win."
"AGAINST WHO?"
"Something is about to rip right through something you love, you're going to lose it all. And do you wanna hear the cherry on top? You caused this, you let him out. And now, your gonna get bit in the ass for it."
She was just beginning to play a game against someone who had already made several moves. She was against something she let out, and it was already winning.
"The game starts now."
All of a sudden, an earth shattering scream rippled through the air as the electric blew out, causing the building to shake from the blow.
"What the fuck did I cause?"
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Aires pov...
I somehow found myself sat in the police station, the last place on earth I wanted to be. And what was worse was that I was being questioned by Scotts asshole of a Dad.
I had felt sick to my stomach ever since the power station, unable to understand what had happened. I hated myself so much for what I had done, for what I had potentially caused.
"So when did you get there Aires?"
"At the same time." Stiles answered.
"At the same time as Scotty and Stiles." I added.
"By coincidence?"
"What do you mean coincidence?" Stiles shot back.
"That's what I'm asking you. The three of you arrived at the same time. Was that a coincidence?"
"I'm sorry, are you asking me?" I muttered with a fake frown.
"I think he's asking me." Scott mumbled as he turned to frown at me.
"But I asked so he's talking to me." Stiles whispered, causing everyone in the room to groan.
Fighting the urge to laugh, I rolled my eyes as I let out a low scoff. "Why would he be talking to either of you when he started off with me? He's talking to me."
"Ree, he was talking to me."
"I think he's asking all three of you." Lydia snapped whilst shooting a glare in my direction.
I was being an asshole, though the man in front of me deserved it.
"Okay, let me answer the questions." Rafael yelled before throwing his hands in the air frustratedly. "Let me ask the questions, so-"
I shoved my hand in the air whilst I uncomfortably shuffled on the couch, being shoved in a room with Scott's dad for such a long time had me itching to sneak out the room and shove pills into my mouth.
"Yes, Aires-"
"Miss Hale." I corrected with a hint of a smirk on my lips. "I will be saying nothing else to you other than what I have witnessed until I have my guardian and lawyer present so there's no need to keep me here. And yes, why would I request my lawyer unless I was guilty of something or was hiding information? The answer is to put it simply that this is a complete and total waste of my time and being in your presence is also exhausting. So, unless you're planning on charging me then legally you can't keep me here. I have already given you my witness statement with as much detail as possible and I can't possibly see how you throwing stupid questions at me will benefit either one of us. Your grasping at loose threads Agent McCallI. You have all the information, do what you will with it. I have already given you what I know. Do you plan on charging me?"
"No-"
"Then I will be leaving. Any other information you may need you can send an email to my lawyer, have a good rest of your evening."
He could email Elijah and ask anything else, I was done with his bullshit. I rose from my seat and strutted towards the door before stopping and glancing over my shoulder. "Aren't you guys coming?"
Instantly, the rest of the group shot out of their seats and practically ran through the door. Before closing the door, I glanced to Noah who sat behind the desk grinning, he gave me a quick thumbs up before I turned my head and slammed the door behind me.
"Thank fuck that's over." I groaned with a roll of my eyes.
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Aires pov...
It had been the longest day of my life, and I wanted nothing more than to sleep. I slipped into the apartment and tiptoed my way through the hallway. It was silent, until I passed Chris' office where harsh whispers lingered behind the wooden door. I should've knocked, I should've asked what was happening. But I decided to ignore the curiosity that prickled at me.
After Stiles had dropped me off, I had snorted the last of what I had. I was flying through my stash, and even then it wasn't enough.
I walked into my room, kicked off my shoes and jumped on my bed whilst patiently waiting for Aiden to arrive with more drugs. With the doctors appointment I had in the morning, my nerves had been messing with me all day. It wasn't usual for Melissa to demand me go back after a blood test she had done days before, especially when the McCall chose not to tell her what was wrong over text.
And it unnerved me.
Shuffling onto my bed, I slipped on my headphones and put on Lana Del Rey before shooting Aiden a text. I was trying to be patient, trying not to get worked up. He was coming with drugs, he was coming with my saving grace.
After throwing my phone onto the bed, my bedroom door creaked open and I watched as three black figures with masks appeared stood in the corner of my room.
"What the fuck." I whispered under my breath before rubbing at me eyes to test if they were deceiving me, however, the mask figures still remained in my room.
"Guys seriously, after today can we just call it a night." I snapped with a roll of my eyes.
With Halloween tomorrow, I was sure it was Aiden, Ethan and Alex trying to fuck with me. I wouldn't have put it past him.
But the longer they stared at me, the more pissed off I grew. "Seriously Aiden, I'm really tired and I just want to..." A ping from my phone broke me from my ranting, and with a scowl, I picked up my phone to read the text.
Aiden: There's traffic, I'll be there soon love.
He wasn't in my bedroom.
Three masked figures stood in the corner, watching me, and he wasn't one of them.
Him I wouldn't have doubted to pull this type of prank, but I knew Scott or Isaac wouldn't have. A sickening sensation swam in my chest, squeezing it so hard to the point that any oxygen that managed to squeeze its way through burned my lungs.
Who the fuck was in my room?
We were stuck in a deadly staring game with either of us refusing to move. I didn't know who I was looking at, didn't know what they wanted. It made me sick to my fucking stomach. Suddenly, the figures made an advance towards me whilst pulling out long swords from their chests. Panic shot through my veins, making me spring from my bed as I made a beeline to my semi-open door.
"CHRIS!" I screamed at the tops of my lungs, so loud that the mirrors in my room shattered under the pressure of my voice. "CHRIS! ALLISON!"
"AIRES!" Chris yelled back just as the door swung shut in my face.
"CHRIS!" I screamed again whilst frantically shaking the doorknob, only for it not to move.
Spinning on my heel, I watched as one of the masked figures lunged at me and in return I sent it flying out the window with a crash. One of the two left advanced at me with a vengeance, swinging its sword so fast to the point that I was barely able to dodge its aims.
One of their hands suddenly gripped the side of my face, squeezing my jaw so tight that I knew it would bruise the next day. The feeling of it touching my skin paralysed me. And on some strange instinct, I forced my eyes shut as I trembled under its hold. A coldness shot through me, it corrupted my body whilst I prayed for Chris to break down the door.
I was violently shaking, violently trembling. I wasn't letting them hurt me, I wasn't letting them leave. My eyes shot open as I let out an ear piercing scream. A violet forcefield exploded from my chest as I dropped onto my knees, I could feel the blood tears staining my cheeks as I let out every ounce of frustration and anger that swam through my body.
I was still screaming when Allison broke down the door.
"AIRES!" She screamed as she flew into my room with Chris and Isaac hot on her trail.
"Who the fuck are they?" I choked out.
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THINGS ARE REALLY PICKING UP NOW.
XOXO