"You don't play with fire
unless you wanna
get burned."
"Jade. Get up," Max hobbled into his sister's room, almost breaking the door with how hard he had threw it open as he started to tear the covers onto the floor.
"What in God's name do you want?" she grumbled, burying her face in her pillow. She could already feel sleep trying to take over her body again, and she didn't try to fight it off. There was a chill in her room as she tried to adjust to the sudden coolness.
"You need to heal my leg, Stiles is missing and we need to find him. Get up and help!" Max sighed as he flopped down onto the bottom of her bed, clutching his chest as he could feel a panic attack starting to kick in.
"What do you mean Stiles is missing?"
In her whole life, Jade had never felt more awake than when she heard those words being spoken. She jumped up, almost kicking him in the ribs in the process. Her hand hovered over his leg as she muttered an incantation while simultaneously trying not to freak out.
Leaving Max to sit on the bed and wait out his panic attack which was increasingly getting worse, she pulled open a drawer in her desk. She sat herself cross-legged on the carpet, placing four candles in a circle around her. This was a case where she really needed the candles, so she'd get a definite location.
The orange hue lit up the room as she could feel a warmth creep up her arm from the flame. Breathing deeply, she sliced into her palm with the silver handled knife, deeper than what she usually would. "Stiles Stilinski." Blood ran down her wrists, falling onto the map as she spoke clearly.
"Lydia called. She has a banshee feeling," Isaac and Scott burst into the room, slowing to a stop when they saw the ritual that was happening.
"Eichen house," Jade wiped her blood stained hand onto a rag next to her, glancing up at the three teenagers who were staring down at her.
"I'll go with Scott to find Lydia, you and Isaac head up to the sheriff's office and we'll meet you there. We'll go to Eichen soon," Max ordered, jumping to his feet, finally after slowing down his breathing.
Jade grabbed her car keys off her bed side table, sharing a nod with Isaac as they passed, slamming the front door behind them.
Maybe she'd have to rethink her policy of not driving over the speed limit. Just for special occasions like now, though.
~
Jade pressed the button on her key, hearing a beep behind her as the car locked. She ran ahead of Isaac, pushing open the double doors to the sheriff's station. She couldn't ignore the feeling that was coursing through her body; like popping candy, making her feel like uneasy, as if it wasn't possible to sit still.
Walking up to the front office, she slammed her hands down on the desk, startling the man who was typing away on the computer. "Hi. How can I help-"
"Where's Stilinski?" she raised a brow, ignoring the exasperated sigh from Isaac and the confused glance that he shared with the deputy.
"Could I ask what it's related to?" he queried, crossing his arms. He didn't want to just tell this random teenager where the sheriff was; for all he knew, she could be here to kill him. That would definitely do him no favours in getting a promotion.
"Listen, Parrish," she squinted, reading the small block writing on his name tag. "If you don't get Stilinski out here right now, it's not gonna be pretty. So please, for the love of all things above-"
"Sorry, she can get a bit violent when she's nervous," Max interrupted, laying a hand on her shoulder in greeting. He ignored the protests and punch in the ribs that he was met with, letting Scott take over the conversation. For some reason, his cousin was quite good at persuading people. Maybe it was the alpha instincts in him or maybe it was just how good he was with people.
"It's about his son," Scott said, trying to highlight the urgency in his tone and the desperation in his eyes. It seemed to work when the deputy nodded, disappearing down the corridor.
It fell quiet, the four of them not even daring to breathe. The faint sound of phones ringing echoed throughout the room, bouncing off the walls. No one knew how they were going to break the news to Stilinski.
"What's happened to Stiles?" Noah immediately asked, his brows furrowed in concern as he rounded the corner.
Jade and Isaac took a seat outside of Noah's office, deciding that they shouldn't overcrowd him when he found out. She racked her brain, trying to come up with something they could do to help. Noticing a box of oreos sitting on the desk beside Parrish, she dragged her chair across the floor, wincing when it made a loud scraping noise across the floor boards. Food always helped her think. And if that didn't work, at least it distracted her, so it was a win-win situation in her opinion.
He looked up from the files he had been searching through, raising a brow. The girl was sitting beside him with her knees up to her chest and was after stealing his box of oreos, munching away on them as they sat on her lap. "I'll buy you another box," she grumbled, covering her mouth with her spare hand.
Throwing an oreo to Isaac, she clapped loudly when he caught it in his mouth. Turning to Parrish, he shook his head, warning her not to try it. But when did she ever listen to adults? Like, seriously. Give her one example. Her and the werewolf cheered when he caught it in his mouth, still shaking his head but not being successful in hiding a small smile. God, it was 6am and here he was eating oreos with two teenagers. And they said being a cop was a dangerous, exciting job.
Gasping quietly, she threw the half eaten box onto the desk, throwing open the door to the sheriff's office. "I think I have an idea."
"What is it?" Noah asked hopefully, trying to ignore the stinging of tears in his eyes, making his vision blurry.
"I think I can get into Stiles' head and see where he is. But the problem is that it'll only work if I can recognise where it is. It's hard to explain what I'll do, but it should work. I'll need an emotional connection, Scott, so you need to help."
Everything began to swing into full motion, a silent buzzing ringing in her ears as she finally felt as if they could get somewhere with this.
Isaac pulled down the blinds so that no one would be able to see what they were going to do. Scott placed his motorbike helmet on the floor, as he threw nine candles into Jade's arms while Max gave her another nine. They'd actually been surprisingly fast at getting home and back with all of her supplies.
This was going to take a lot of willpower- and a lot of magic.
"Have you done this before?" Noah stood with his hands on his hips, panting after moving all of the furniture to the outskirts of the room. They'd already got an APB out on Stiles' jeep while they were waiting. He couldn't deny that he was nervous about their plan, even though he still didn't fully get what was meant to happen. But it was the only plan they had right now, and he'd take that risk if it meant knowing his son was okay. Stiles was all he had left, the only living reminder of his late wife, Claudia. He couldn't lose him. He just- he couldn't.
"Once before. It worked, but I did pass out for like three days. That was probably because I was only ten, though. It'll be fine," she nodded, trying to reassure herself as well as Noah, brushing off the panicked looks from everyone.
She thought it was best if she sugarcoated it, leaving out the details that they had to move houses because she burnt down her old one. Maybe if she had a positive outlook, the spell would work better. She didn't know if her logic made sense, but it didn't matter. It was happening, and there was no backing out now.
A knock on the door snapped them out of their worrying. Parrish peeped his head around the frame, standing tall. He stopped for a second, confused as to what was happening. They all looked as if they'd been caught doing something they shouldn't. He regained himself, deciding it was better if he didn't ask questions. Questions always led to more problems and he gathered this was something he didn't want to get involved in. "Sorry, sir. I don't mean to interrupt, it's just we've found the jeep."
Everyone turned to look at him with wide eyes, as if he'd just said he was going to bomb the place. He put a foot out the door, just in case they were going to rush at him. In his defence, the blonde was scary and he'd only known her for less than five minutes.
"Go," Jade nodded after Noah had looked at her, as if he was asking for permission. "All of you go. Scott and I can do this on our own. Just message us if you find him and where you'll be heading to next. We'll catch up, don't worry."
The door soundlessly closed behind them as they followed their only lead that they had so far.
"Fuego. Luces tenues. Cerrar," Jade muttered the three incantations, flipping through the pages of her spell book that was laid out in front of her. The candles lit up, at the same time as the lights went out. The door clicked, a small silver piece of metal turning as they were locked in. "Sit down."
Scott sat opposite her, wringing his hands together as he waited for the next instructions. He wondered what would happen if he accidentally knocked over one of the candles. Surely having them lit in here was a fire hazard.
Jade pulled out the knife from a few hours ago, holding it over the flame. She pinched her skin on her leg, feeling the handle start to heat up and burn her hand. Their only source of light was from the candles, illuminating the blonde's features; the dark circles under her eyes that she hadn't had time to cover up with concealer, the curls that were bouncing at the bottom of her hair and the nail marks on the side of her neck from scratching her skin to shreds throughout the day.
"Alright. I'm going to slice into my palm with the knife and then I'll do the same with you. Next, we're going to put our hands above the spell book, dripping the blood onto the page. Then we have to press our hands together before laying them on top of the page. It might feel weird, but whatever you do, don't take your hand off. It'll bring me right back here. Got it?"
Scott nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. He'd already read through the spell while she'd been getting the knife ready. Half of the time she must forget that he's literally fluent in Spanish. He grimaced when she cut into her hand, as if she was doing something easy, like sticking a knife into butter.
He held his palm out, waiting for the pain and then it it him. It felt like she was pouring rubbing alcohol onto a fresh wound, stinging the shit out of him. Digging his foot into the floor, he resisted the urge to pull away.
"Above."
Simultaneously, they raised their hand above the page, blood oozing.
"Together."
They pressed the palms of their right hands together, holding it for five seconds. She bit the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't gag, after feeling the stickiness of the blood that was steadily pumping out of both of their hands.
"Onto the page."
Jade knew it had worked, but she still hated it even more than the first time. Out of all the spells she could perform, this was by far her least favourite.
It felt as if her lungs were compressing together, giving her too much air and then stripping it away in a matter of seconds. Her head was going to explode, like she needed to scream as loudly as she could. It felt like she was on a rollercoaster, flying up and down, getting thrown backwards and forwards in her seat.
But she knew that no matter how much she thought she was going to die in this second; she would not let go of the spell book.
When the ringing in her ears stopped, she opened her eyes, blinking. She saw through Stiles' eyes what was happening, but she lost track of reality for a second. It made her panic when the severity of what she was doing hit her.
She had no control of her body and no control of Stiles. She was just here. Existing with no purpose. Like she could fade away into nothingness if she wanted too. She could give instructions but couldn't make sure they were carried out which sent the control freak part of her crazy.
She looked- or more so Stiles looked at his leg, which was bleeding profusely.
"Who's there? Who are you?" Stiles yelled, screaming in pain when he tried to move his leg again. He stopped talking when someone in the shadows started speaking a foreign language.
"Stiles," Jade spoke naturally, hearing her voice echo throughout his head. His eyes widened as he looked in every corner of the room.
"Okay, so you can hear me. You're alright, we're gonna find you, yeah?" she said calmly, trying to make her voice sound lighter, more positive.
"Oh my God, I'm going crazy. This is it," Stiles whispered, holding his head in his hands while he tugged on his leg again, trying to get it free from whatever it was caught on.
"You're not going crazy. I've done a spell, okay, I can see where you are. I need you to look around the room, alright? Look around the room so I can try and see if I know where you are."
Stiles shook his head, his breathing getting faster as whoever was in the shadows continued to speak what seemed to be Japanese. He cried silently as he done what Jade had said and looked around the room. God, he was going crazy. He was doing what the voice in his head said. Was that not the first thing you weren't meant to do? Why didn't someone just kill him already and put him out of his misery?
"Not who are you, Stiles. Who are we? It's getting colder. Did you notice that we stopped shivering?" the voice from the shadows spoke again.
Stiles froze, his gaze focused on a creature that he could clearly see now. "I'm talking to myself now but Jade if you are there, please find me. Please, Jade, I can't stay here. Or please just kill me already because I'm freaking out and I can't stay here with... this. Please, Jade, just please get Max, find me."
"Stiles, where are you? We'll find you, I promise."
"It's dark, can you see-"
Jade gasped, her back making contact with the floor as her eyes tried to gain focus again. She propped herself up on her elbows, everything slowly starting to gain colour and a shape.
"Are you okay? I promise I didn't take my hand off," Scott whispered, kneeling to the side of her. His forehead was creased with lines of worry that softened out when she sat up normally. "You're bleeding."
Jade groaned, raising a hand to her nose and taking the tissue that her cousin had offered her. She closed her eyes, trying to stop the flow of blood, but she was too weak to even try it. She doubted she'd even be able to make a couple of feathers float around the room. Crawling to her bag that was in the corner of the room, she dug through it until she found a small, white-capped bottle. Emptying two pain killers into her mouth, she swallowed them dry before resting her head against the wall.
"I took my hand off, not you," Jade glanced down to her left arm, refraining from gasping when she saw the state it was in. When she pulled up her sleeve, there was burns travelling all the way from her fingertips to her elbow. It was a good thing she had let go of the book, otherwise her hand might have been damaged beyond repair.
Scott's lips parted slightly in shock, eyes wide as he stared at the melting flesh on her arm. "Oh my- will you be able to heal that? Did you find Stiles, do you know where he is?"
"I have no clue where he is. His leg is absolutely fucked if someone doesn't find him soon though. There was this weird thing that was talking to him in a different language, Japanese, I think. It was like a creature. I don't know- it's head was wrapped up in bandages but I could see it's teeth. Creepy thing it was. He was right about one thing though, he's in some kind of a basement."
He grabbed her by the shoulder, not wanting to hurt her arm, when she stood up and nearly hit the floor instantly. Gritting his teeth, he took some of her pain, his veins turning black as he prayed she didn't notice. By the glare that was sent his way, she had noticed.
"Don't take my pain. I'll be able to heal it later, I just need to recharge a bit," she sighed, grabbing her dark oversized hoody from the back of a chair and carefully pulling it over her head. Flicking her hair out the back of the jumper, she pulled her lips into a tight line, staring at Scott. "Let's find out where Noah is and then let's find Stiles."
She inhaled sharply when her hand that wasn't littered in burns made contact with the cool door knob. When she heard the door click open, she bit back a smile, thankful that her simple non-verbal spells were still working. The pain killers had obviously kicked in and were doing wonders already.
"We've got posters up all over town for your guy," Parrish smirked to himself, raising a brow at Rafael, who stood directly in front of his desk. The least he could do was keep up with annoying the FBI agent. The Sheriff would appreciate it. His line of sight turned to behind the man when the sheriff's office door creaked open.
Scott and- who he assumed was Jade, after hearing her friends call her that multiple times- appeared from behind the wooden frame, shifting anxiously on their feet.
"Any news on Stiles?" Jade sighed, returning to her seat beside the computer, shovelling more oreos into her mouth while simultaneously trying to keep her burnt hand covered up. She groaned, casting a worried glance with her cousin when the deputy shook his head.
Scott stopped at the doorway, the breeze from the night air hitting him in the face. He was heading to Eichen House, after Lydia had also confirmed that that was where Stiles was. Max had rang and said he was at the hospital with Melissa, but there was still no sign of him there either. The two of them were going to stay there, just in case he wasn't at Eichen. Jade was still sitting in the chair, glaring daggers at Rafael's back while chomping away on more food. "You coming?"
Jade felt guilt twist in her gut when she saw the anxiousness in Scott's face. Suddenly feeling sick, she pushed the oreos away. Painting a small smile on her face, she wiped the fallen crumbs onto the floor. "Yep. Meet you there, okay?"
Rafael walked out a minute or so after his son, leaving the waiting room to fall into silence again.
Jade got irritated after a second, yawning as she stretched and stood up. The ticking from the clock was getting on her nerves. It was taunting her, reminding her of how much time they were wasting. She tapped her finger on the desk to catch Parrish's attention, which it did. "Word of advice. Just be as sarcastic as humanly possible when talking to Rafael. Oh, and also add in some comments like 'do you have a warrant' and stuff. It literally annoys him the most."