After he assured me he could take care of the situation's aftermath, I left Stiles at the Sheriff's department in order to catch up to my sister. Thankfully, though there was a moment of uneasiness to the point of Allison wielding a sharp kitchen knife when I knocked on Isaac's door, the monster hadn't made a move towards her.
In fact, using his werewolf ability for my sister's protection, Scott actually scared the reptile creature off in time to stop it from doing anything other than lurk in the shadows. However, I was even more afraid of something that crept under the cover of darkness to evade recognition. Werewolves were frightening and blood thirsty but at least I knew their agenda most of the time.
Plus, I wasn't sure whether the confirmation of yet another one of my nightmares coming to life was a comfort to me as I wasn't too insane to have been making them up, or a discomfort in that I was somehow predicting the future of supernatural events and actually was going crazy because of it. I think I was leaning towards the latter.
Looking out into the shadows on the road next to the gas station which Allison and I were currently pulled into as she filled our too empty tank after such a long night, I began to feel antsy. For all I knew, the monster could be out there watching us.
The thought made me shudder.
Suddenly, the lights of the gas station flickered for a moment before shutting off completely and leaving us in more darkness than I preferred.
"Allison?" I called just as I heard my sister call for me in unison. Quickly, I unbuckled my seatbelt and stepped out of the vehicle.
But before I could make my way to the other side of the car where my twin had been standing, I was pushed against the side door violently and my vision became blocked with a large bag being placed over my head.
I screamed in shock and tried to struggle out of it but my arms were being harshly pinned to my side and it wasn't long until my vision went completely black.
What might have been five or even forty-five minutes later, I finally got fresh air when the bag was pulled from my head. However, my state was no better than before; my hands completely tethered to the back of a chair I was sitting in like hand cuffs and a rolled up towel tied around my mouth so any calls for my sister sounded muffled and indecipherable.
I bit down on the towel hard as I wriggled against my ties. Looking around, I recognized the Hale house living room immediately and felt even sicker knowing Aunt Kate may have been killed merely a few feet from me. But I wasn't alone, my sister was in a similar position to me in a chair across the room, forming a triangle between my chair and another which held my father.
"ALLISON!" I cried again. Even though my noises weren't very clear, her eyes read mine and stared at me in desperation.
The ropes on my wrists were rubbing my skin raw as I struggled and I could feel hot tears falling down my cheeks as I looked between my sister and father, trying and failing to calm my heaving so I could discover a way out; panic bubbling in my chest.
I didn't stop struggling until an eerie echoing voice made me freeze in place.
"Ever wonder what happens if a hunter gets bitten?" the gravelly tone coming from somewhere in the shadows sounded like Derek. The way the sound bounced off of the withered beams and boards made the hairs on my neck stand tall and my blood run cold. "Ever wonder what happens if you get bitten? What do you think your father would do?-"
At the mention of his name, Dad began gritting his teeth furiously and leaning forward with his entire body weight against the holds; wildfire in his eyes.
"-What do you think he'd have to do? When all it would take to change everything is one bite. One bite-"
With a sudden burst in energy and motion, our father ripped from the ropes holding him back and broke free from his chair; lunging towards us.
However, once he was free, he stopped in his tracks and straightened up with a relaxed expression painted over his face.
Dad held back his hand and waited for the henchman who must have assisted in capturing us to give him a cell phone. I squinted at the screen as he clearly showed us the source of the voice - a recording - and turned it off.
"Everything changes," He finished the sentence from the recording and the fear in my chest morphed into a boiling rage.
He moved to take my mouth cover off first before carrying on to Allison's. The minute my jaw was free I shuddered and spat out the locks of hair which had gotten caught in my mouth during the endeavor.
"Is this how we're gonna do father-daughter talks from now on?!" my sister screeched at Dad. His brow furrowed.
"No!" he spoke through his teeth. "This is how we're gonna train you."
I seethed at him. "Are you psychotic?!"
"I'm realistic. It only takes one bite to change everything and it's time you girls realize that."
"Is this about Isaac?"
"This is about your safety and learning to protect yourself," He turned to me. I watched as his eyes flickered away in a single fleeting moment of hesitation before carrying on. "Eleanor, when you were younger you came extremely close to causing disaster in this family."
"What?" my voice came out hoarse.
"I put off telling you this until it was necessary but when you were younger we were attacked.-"
My eyes narrowed at him, chest rising and falling rapidly as I tried to maintain composure.
"You didn't get bitten, only scratched, but it was always said that if claws went deep enough it could turn someone. You didn't turn, so we're alright, but don't you see how narrowly we escaped tragedy? You girls need to start your proper training to get your heads in the right mindset."
I rocked forward in my chair, struggling against the ropes in fury and spitting at his audacity to believe that monumental moment of my childhood hadn't affected us; like we had carried on just fine. "I am far from alright, Dad!"
I had always had foreign feelings inside me, hallucinations only worsened in recent years, routine instances where I had to sink my nails into my skin in order to keep me from screaming, endless nightmares and visions about things I didn't understand. And this new information helped pinpoint the source of my problems, but I was left with a cause for a disease I had no idea how to diagnose. Some infection that most doctors and specialists, therapists and family members could push aside because they didn't understand it either.
"But you aren't a monster like they are, Eleanor," his jaw hardened. "You have had post traumatic surges since then and we've been here for you through them, but I've seen you on full moons and you are still my beautiful daugh-"
"How dare you and Mom keep that from me?" tears flooded down my face now as a Navy SEAL worthy knot weaved itself inside my stomach and tightened with every word.
"Your Mom doesn't know."
"Are you serious?" I spat.
"You need to gain composure on this, Eleanor, I know it's hard but it was the right thing to do. If you think I go to drastic measures to hunt the supernatural, your mother goes a step further. You need to be educated on how this family runs our operations."
My anger melted into pain as I didn't fight the crying anymore. In a blink, I was devastated and I was exhausted.
"Your mother could have done much worse than this if you had been bitten, or if either of you were bitten now. She will always do whatever it takes to keep people safe and go by the code no matter if it breaks her heart or mine. You were young then, I couldn't lose you and I can't lose you now, Ellie."
"Consider losing us next time when you terrorize me and Eleanor just to prove a point." Allison seethed from her chair.
"It's what was best. It's what is best now," our father crossed his arms and looked between us. "I know it might be hard to hear, but I am helping you become the hunters you're meant to be."
I gnawed at my cheek. I had been told of what I was 'meant' to become multiple times now, but the phrase didn't get any more comforting no matter how much I heard it.
"Do you know why we use arrows?" Dad asked.
"They can't heal until it's taken out," Allison muttered.
Dad nodded briefly and received two arrowheads from his henchman. I recognized them as the ones we had used earlier on one of the Argents' own who was armed with wolfsbane.
"Look familiar?"
"You were gonna kill him."
"That's right," Dad nodded. "And if we find Isaac on another full moon, we will kill him. That's the hard choice we make. But it wasn't my choice."
"Gerard?" Allison questioned.
"No. See, our family has a surprisingly progressive tradition. Knowing wars and violence are typically started by men, we place the final decisions - the hard ones- with the women."
My voice came out in a whisper. "Mom."
"Your mother made a hard decision just like the one she would have needed to make if you had gotten bitten or if that scratch had turned you. Our sons are trained to be soldiers, our daughters to be leaders. -"
Dad wandered over to Allison and handed her an arrowhead before crossing the room to me, placing the cold metal into my tied up hands. Softly, he leaned over to place a kiss on the top of my head. I knew he was trying to make it clear that he was doing all of this with some twisted love, but I wouldn't cool down until Allison was safe and so was I. Besides, the fact that Dad had kept the secret of the attack from my childhood from me until now made me feel like I was going to be ill. He said I hadn't turned and I knew I wasn't a werewolf, but I had in no way walked away from the ordeal unscathed.
"Training starts now," Dad stated before motioning to his henchman. "Time them."
With that, he marched from the room and left us to struggle and saw at the ropes with the now dull arrowheads.
We worked silently for half an hour; the tears on my cheeks finally drying and Allison's breathing becoming calmer.
"Ellie?" I heard her squeak from the other side of the space. "We can do this. At least we have each other."
"Allison," I began to form a sentence but realized after I heard my voice aloud that I had no idea how to continue it.
"I know," she spoke softly. "I know you're worried and scared because of what he told you about the scratches. But we aren't in the dark with all of this anymore, we can get help, we can figure it out."
I stopped sawing for a moment and looked down at my feet.
"But we have to figure this out first, okay? We'll take one thing at a time, we can handle it. Just keep sawing."
Her words motivated me to gain motion again and I continued for another two hours, trying not to lose hope even when the rope thickness seemed to be eternal.
I kept going, thinking of Allison until a faint chill started to rise up my finger tips and arms until the numbness made me drop my arrow. My vision got slightly fuzzy as my heartbeat quickened and I began to recognize all the common signs of my urges.
Usually I could concentrate hard enough to avoid screaming, but I was utterly exhausted and weakened by the day and our past couple of hours to hold any of it back.
My sight blacked out for a moment before the Hale house living room morphed into the forest outside. I was near Dad's henchman, following the treeline and growing colder as I moved deeper and deeper into the shadows. Suddenly, Allison made her way out of the house having escaped her chair and was walking towards our car parked next to the henchman. It was then that my feelings got worse and I saw the glowing eyes in the dark which I feared.
"Allison!" I scrambled in terror but was cemented in place, panic rising in my chest.
I had to break free, Allison was in danger, and I had no control over the feelings anymore as I let the urge wash over me. I was desperate to escape.
In a long breath, I screeched at the top of my lungs and pulled against my ropes, gritting my teeth with Allison in my sights and the glowing eyes getting closer to her.
I screamed louder and kept heaving on the tethers until I heard a snap and I was propelled by momentum out of the chair and onto the floor in front of me.
The impact brought me back inside the Hale house, glancing up at Allison who had been calling my name.
Wiping the sweat from my forehead, my face crumpled and I ran as fast as I could over to where Allison was sitting. I hurried to the back of her chair and untied the ropes she had made way more progress on than I had before my episode, and fell against her now freed arms.
"I'm okay, I'm okay," she hushed. "We're okay. We got out."
Her eyes were glistening and looking down at me. I knew she wanted to ask about the scream, to talk about how it had given me enough power to rip the restraints apart in an instant, but she wouldn't bring any of it up again until I was in a more conscious and stable state.
"Come on," Allison motioned to the door and led the way while rubbing her irritated wrists.
My sickness didn't ease up even when we were hit with fresh evening air from the Hale house's forest clearing. My eyes were glued to the treeline I had had visions of only a moment earlier, paranoid of the glowing eyes which had the potential to make an appearance at any second.
The henchman leaned against his motorbike, zipping his leather jacket up and sending us a smile once we reached our car. He held out the phone and stopped the timer. "Congrats."
While I remained in a fearful trance, Allison frowned. "For what? It took us two and a half hours."
"Took me three when I did it," he smiled, and the words made Allison suppress a smirk.
My heart began to beat faster the longer we stood out in the clearing, where I had seen the monster have its sights set on Allison. Fidgeting with my sleeves, I opened the car door. "We should go."
Thankfully, Allison followed suit and started driving us away from possible danger. I turned to stare out of the back window at the henchman who watched us leave, and tried to steady my breathing as I felt the knot in my stomach fall looser with every mile we drove closer to home.
School the next day felt unnatural, as the events we were experiencing out of school hours were on such a scale that I found it hard to motivate myself to do my calculus homework or to justify changing into my baggy grey t-shirt and athletic shorts for gym class.
I felt slightly guilty for leaving Stiles to deal with his father's wrath alone at the Sheriff's station, but he persisted on assuring me that it hadn't been that bad, and that going to check on Allison and Scott was more important.
I still hadn't told him about the wrath I ended up facing from my own father in the form of kidnapping and imprisonment. I wasn't avoiding talking to him about it since Stiles was always open to listen to me with wide eyes and an open mind whenever I did, and I figured I would have to eventually considering the valuable information my father had provided about the reason I was going through what I was, but even speaking about the previous night with Allison felt strained. My mind would urge myself to say something but no sound would come out. It was like my mouth was clamped shut.
Glancing up at the makeshift indoor rock climbing wall the physical education department had set up, I stood next to Stiles and watched as Allison and Scott climbed next to each other.
I had already had my turn, paired up with Greenberg, and had scaled the challenge embarrassingly slow. Due to the exhausting full moon we had all had, and the little amount of sleep I had been able to grasp, I felt like my harness was weighing me down to the ground. To my luck, Greenberg was even slower so I didn't look like as much of an idiot as I felt.
Meanwhile, my sister seemed unfazed to everyone else; speeding past Scott and gaining distance on him. I knew she was suffering inside just like me, but it was like Allison to face the challenges and rise from them. Her strong backbone was what kept her soaring.
"For a regular human, she's sure kicking some werewolf ass," Stiles muttered from beside me, which made me crack a grin.
"Oh, Allison's more than just a regular human, that's for sure. She's pretty extraordinary," I smiled and turned my attention over to him as he remained watching the wall; Scott gaining on my sister in a sudden burst of energy.
I glanced down at Stiles' gym attire and had to bite back a laugh. While everyone else was in various dull hues of grey and navy blue, Stiles was decked out in vibrant green track pants and a bright blue shirt that read the word 'stud' over an image of a muffin.
"You're a stud muffin?" I spoke.
"Well thanks, glad you finally noticed," Stiles looked at me with a dumb smile. "You're not too bad yourself."
My head tilted back in a genuine laugh, and I moved to whack his chest. "I was talking about your shirt, idiot."
His eyes fell to where I had hit him and he smirked. "If you say so."
My cheeks were aflame and I was about to say something else when Scott interrupted by falling quickly and with great force onto the wimpy gym mats laid across the wall's base.
At the sight of it, Coach broke into a loud cackling laugh and clutched his side as the rest of the class broke out into fits of laughter as well.
"McCall, I don't know why, but your pain gives me a special kind of joy," he chuckled and shook his head. "Alright, next two. Stilinski. Erica. The wall."
Stiles shot me a grin before marching over to the climbing wall, grabbing the harness that my sister had just repelled with.
Meanwhile, his partner Erica - a frazzled girl who never spoke much- looked up at the wall with much more fear in her eyes. Gingerly, she harnessed herself in and winced slightly as she began working up the first few holds.
Heavily dressed in a bulky sweatshirt and matching pants, she was grunting and clearly struggling while Stiles had already reached the top and come back down with ease.
Suddenly, Erica began hyperventilating in her frozen spot suspended above the ground. Coach's face faltered. "E-Erica? Dizzy? Is it vertigo?"
"Vertigo's a dysfunction of the vestibular system of the inner ear. She's just freaking out," Lydia squinted while crossing her arms.
Scott moved closer behind Allison. "Coach, she's epileptic."
"Maybe it's not safe for her to be up there."
"Whoa, whoa, why doesn't anybody tell me this stuff?" Coach sputtered. "Erica! You're fine, just k-kick off from the wall. There's a mat to catch you."
We all watched in silence as Erica paused for a moment before finally kicking off slightly from the wall and repelling down unevenly, staggering herself once her feet touched the ground.
"See? You're fine," Coach encouraged in a softer tone than normal, even though he sounded completely uncomfortable. "You're on the ground, you're alright."
My own face faltered for a beat at the sound of those words. I knew how hard it was to hear someone say those words when you had a burning feeling inside that proved otherwise.
"Let's go, that's it," he continued to coax her. "Shake it off, you're fine. Walk it off."
Back in the locker room, I glanced over at Erica who was hiding alone to the side of the room, trying to avoid the whispers that everyone was sending around about her. I gnawed at the inside of my lip in thought and considered reaching out to her, even though I wasn't entirely sure if I was in a stable enough to do so. However, I figured any support would be better than none and opened my mouth to speak up.
But before I could, she closed her locker abruptly and walked out of the room with purpose. Quickly, I pulled my gym shirt over my head, replaced it with my dark sweater from this morning, and followed her.
When I made it inside the gym doors, I arrived just in time to see Erica fall into Scott's arms. I picked up my pace when I saw that she was convulsing violently; experiencing a seizure which she was prone to.
Stiles had followed after Scott just like Allison had chased after me, now rushing up to Scott's side and instructing him to put Erica on her side.
As a reflex, I pulled the cellphone from my pocket and called for emergency help.
"How'd you know?" Allison breathed out, causing Scott to turn to her with wide eyes.
He shrugged, still clutching onto Erica's hand. "I just felt it."
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a/n: there we go! i hope you liked this chapter. rewatching this ep was so weird bc i honestly forgot how f-ed up the argent family is.
also we met erica! one of the many badass bitches to grace the tw screen
thank you for all your lovely reads and votes and comments, you are all stud muffins lol
tell me what you thought of this chapter and i will see you next update! xx
(ps i saw civil war rip my soul)