Jordain lay on his couch flipping over a queen of hearts card over and over. He flipped it over again but the face changed, it was burnt out, instead of looking like the normal queen of hearts. He flipped it over again a couple more times making him think of a few nights ago.
"You going to do a magic trick?" Jordan asked as he watched Ava mess with a lighter a couple of times.
"No, but you are," Ava replied making Jordan raise an eyebrow.
"I only know one trick and it's with a playing card," Jordan said.
"Well, this one involves a lighter and your hand," Ava said making Jordan raise an eyebrow as he chuckled.
"This is sounding less like a magic trick and more like assault," Jordan said and Ava chuckled while smirking.
"I already have a record of what adding assault of a deputy. It's a little dangerous, yes." Ava said smirking. "But it's not as bad as being lit on fire in a deputy sheriff's car. Which by the way, you walked away from unscathed." She said and he shook his head, smiling.
"Not entirely. I had to pay for the uniform." He said making Ava laugh.
"Give me your hand," Ava said holding her hand out. He stared at her for a moment before placing his hand on hers.
"I think I've seen something like this in a movie," Jordan said as she turned his hand with his palm down.
"Lawrence of Arabia," Ava said instantly. "You made me watch near the end of the summer."
"Remind me what the trick was?" Jordan asked and Ava smiled.
"Not minding," Ava said smirking before flicking the lighter on.
Ava held the lighter under Jordan's hand for a few seconds before quickly pulling his hand back. "Ow, son of a..." He said making her laugh.
"You can last longer than that. This time...I want you to do something different. Don't think about the flame. Don't think about the heat. Don't think about it hurting. Don't even look at it...Look at me." Ava suggested and Jordan stared at her for a few moments before nodding.
"Okay," Jordan said making her smile and Jordan held out his hand.
Ava held the lighter under his hand before flicking it on and holding it so the flame touched his hand. She stared at him while he seemed to be in a trance. And a few minutes later, Ava hissed pulling her hand away and making Jordan snap out of his trance.
"Ow."
"What? What happened?" Jordan asked.
"My thumb was too close to the flame," Ava replied and Jordan looked at her thumb which had a small red mark.
"Are you okay?" Jordan asked as she showed him her thumb and how the red mark was disappearing.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I've healed. What about you?" Ava asked. Jordan looked down at his hand and wiped the smudge away but his hand was completely alright like the flame was never there. "Did it hurt?" She asked and he looked at her and shook his head making Ava grab his hand and intertwine their fingers. "When you were looking at me...Your eyes kind of drifted. What were you thinking about?"
"A dream."
"What dream?" Ava asked raising her eyebrows.
"I've had it here and there for about six months. I'm walking in the woods,
carrying a body. But it's completely burned. I can't see who it is or who it was." Jordan said and Ava nodded slowly.
"Where are you taking it?" She asked.
"A clearing. There's a huge tree in the middle of it. You'd think it was
a thousand years old... But it's been cut down. It's just a stump." He said and Ava sighed softly before nodding.
"It's real. It's a real tree. In a real part of Beacon Hills. It used to be the centre of a grove of trees called a Nemeton." Ava said and he furrowed his brows.
"What's a Nemeton?" Jordan asked.
"A sacred meeting place for Celtic Druids. They were scientists and healers
thousands of years ago."
"I've never seen this place," Jordan said and realisation crossed her face when she remembered what Deaton said.
"But that's why you're here. It drew you here. That's what it does. It's a beacon for supernatural creatures. It might even make them more powerful. What else happens?" Ava asked.
"I put the body down... I... I lay it down on the rings of the trees and..." Jordan trailed off.
"What?" Ava asked
"Nothing. That's it. That's the end of the dream." Jordan said but Ava didn't believe him.
"You do know I can hear your heart skipping a beat, telling me you lying...but I won't push." Ava said making Jordan look at her shocked before thankful.
Jordan continued to stare at the cards as the memory replayed in his head. Jordan quickly sat up hearing a groan similar to the girl in the memory and quickly grabbed his phone before shooting her a text.
🔥🔥
Malia and Ava move from the wall to Tracy's body before they stare at it. Scott, Stiles, Deaton and Stilinski ran into the room and Malia turned to them. "It wasn't us," Malia said.
"What the hell happened to her?" Stilinski asked as Deaton knelt next to her.
"There were these people...They had masks. Um, there...There were... Three of them. I think there were three." Malia stuttered.
"What... What are you talking about?" Stiles asked and Malia turned to him tears in her eyes.
"They were strong, Stiles." Malia stuttered.
"They had a weapon. Stiles, we didn't do this." Ava finally spoke.
"She's not changing back," Deaton said. "We're going to need to get her out of here."
"What, hey...Not." Stilinski said. "This is a crime scene. We call the coroner."
"I think the coroner might be very confused by this girl's severed reptilian tail," Deaton said.
"I don't care..."
"You should. Unless you're prepared to hold a press conference announcing the presence of supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills." Deaton said and Stiles turned to his father.
"Dad, he's right."
"Maybe at the clinic, we can figure out how to change her back, then call the coroner?" Scott suggested and Stilinski started muttering while pacing.
"Dad, you've already crossed it. More than once." Stiles stated and Deaton looked up at him.
"Sheriff, please. Let me help. I've dealt with things like this before." Deaton said and Stilinski stared at him.
"Just do it fast."
🔥🔥
"Stiles," Melissa called as she walked up to the group.
"How bad is it?" Stiles asked.
"Could have been worse," Melissa told them. "Theo, nice going on that tourniquet. You probably saved her life. All right. She's about to go into surgery. So it's going to be a while. Any other supernatural details that I need to know about or do we just stitch her up and hope for the best?" Melissa asked.
"It was the tail," Kira said making Melissa look over to her and Scott nodded.
"Yeah, Tracy cut her with the tail, if that makes a difference," Scott said and Melissa nodded before walking away.
"But it wasn't just Tracy. There were the others." Malia said and Ava nodded in agreement.
"The guys in the masks," Ava said.
🔥🔥
"If 99.9% of our DNA sequence is the same as other humans, what could account for the missing 0.1% difference?" Mrs Finch said placing the chalk down after finishing writing up the notes. "Ava?"
"Nucleotides." Ava noticed not looking up from the mythological book she was reading.
"That's right." Mrs Finch said and Kira raised her hand. "Yes, Kira?"
"Can there be more than one species in the same DNA?" Kira asked.
"No, but there can be multiple sets of DNA in the same individual. We call that a chimaera." Mrs Finch answered making Ava shut the book loudly with a clap.
"Of Course," Ava shouted forgetting where she was. "Sorry, Mrs Finch."
"Anyone knows where that term comes from? Ava? For interrupting."
"Greek mythology. It's a lion with a goat coming out of its back and a tail that ends in the head of a snake." Ava answered sheepishly.
"That's right, Ava." Mrs Finch said. "But that does get us into the next topic of mutation. As you know from the reading, DNA is a fragile molecule. Isn't it, Scott? Or did you miss last night's assigned reading?" Mrs Finch asked making Scott look up.
"Kind of..." Scott said making Mrs Finch raise her eyebrows.
"Kind of or yes?"
"Mostly yes. Well, then thank you for another helpful transition in the topic. Drop forms. All those now acutely aware that they do not belong in this class, you should fill one out." Mrs Finch handed out a couple to a couple of people before putting the rest on her desk. "The rest will be on my desk."
🔥🔥
"Did you get in to see Lydia?" Scott asked as Stiles, Malia, Allison and Ava walked up to him and Kira in the library.
"No. I tried using my free period but she's still in the ICU and no one outside
the family is allowed in. Jordan visited her earlier and said she was doing good but we couldn't see for ourselves." Ava said.
"We got one thing," Malia added as she sat down in front of the Beastiary.
"Anything in here about half-werewolves, half-Kanimas?" Allison asked making Ava turn to her.
"The Chimera." Ava corrected making everyone apart from Scott and Kira look at her confused.
"Um, what?" Stiles asked confused.
"Chimera. It's a creature made of incongruous parts." Ava said and Scott nodded.
"And if Liam said he found two burial sites, it means Tracy's not the only one," Scott said.
"Who's the second Chimera?" Kira asked looking at all of them.
"And why would they bury them?" Allison asked.
"Deaton thinks it's part of their process," Scott said and the twins nodded
"The people in masks." The twins said simultaneously.
🔥🔥
Ava sighed from the pile of books all about Mythological Creatures before turning to Malia. "What time is it?" Ava asked and Malia looked at her phone.
"Almost 8 pm." She responded and Ava got up and started gathering her things. "We should get going, they'll be no deputies."
"Hey...Stiles, Ava and I are taking off." Malia said as Stiles was mumbling in his sleep. "Stiles, wake up and go home. I'll meet you there in a bit." Malia said and he just continue to mumble. Ava and Malia looked at each other before walking down the stairs.
🔥🔥
Ava and Malia walked into Tracy's room in her house and Malia sat down on the bed while Ava looked around. Malia stood up after a few minutes and started looking at the drawings on the walls.
Malia sucked in a shaky breath before something caught her eye. She hit Ava in the shoulder before walking over to the desk and picking up a book with a note on it.
"Here's the book you asked for. Cheesy stuff, but still a fun, scary read."
Malia pulled the note off before gasping slightly. "Av," Malia called making Ava walk over to her. "It's the masked men."
"The Dread Doctors." Ava read as she grabbed the book. The second she touched the book she remembered the masked men. "We need to show the others."