All three of us burst out of the water, desperately gasping for air, our expressions wrought with urgency.
"I saw it. I know where it is," Scott declared, scrambling out of the water in haste.
"We passed it. There's-- There's a stump, this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it's still big, though, very big," Stiles began describing the Nemeton.
Scott added a vital piece of context, "It was the night we were looking for the body."
"Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter," Stiles reminded him, exchanging a meaningful glance with Scott.
Allison, too, recalled her involvement, saying, "I was there too, in the car with my mother. We almost hit someone."
Scott, connecting the dots, gasped, "It was me. You almost hit me."
"We can find it," Scott suggested, casting hopeful glances at his friends.
"What?" Allison questioned, seeking further clarification.
Isaac looked at me, and I remained silent, prompting him to say, "You guys were out a long time."
"How long is a long time?" Stiles asked, concern creeping into his voice.
"16 hours," I muttered, delivering the disconcerting news.
"We've been in the water for 16 hours?" Scott echoed, visibly shocked.
"And the full moon rises in less than four," I added, leaving us all in a tense silence.
"Ok, then I need Deucalion," Scott said, his determination apparent.
"No, dude, you are not going back with them," Stiles objected strongly.
"I made a deal with Deucalion," Scott revealed, causing further apprehension among the group.
"Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?" Stilinski mused, voicing our collective unease.
"Why does it matter, anyway?" Isaac inquired.
"Because I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help," Scott reasoned.
"He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong," Allison urged Deaton.
"I'm not so sure he is. Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies," Deaton tried to convince us, emphasizing the dire circumstances.
"So you're telling me we're gonna trust him, the guy that calls himself death, destroyer of worlds? We're gonna trust that guy?" I interjected, my sarcasm tinged with skepticism.
"Thank you," Stiles muttered in agreement.
"I wouldn't trust him, no, But you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait," Deaton explained before our discussion was interrupted by an unexpected guest at the front door.
As we made our way to the door, I followed behind, and when the visitor was revealed to be Ethan, I couldn't help but step closer, my curiosity piqued.
"What do you want?" I inquired, my gaze locked onto Ethan's.
"I need your help," Ethan replied, his eyes locked with mine.
"With what?" Stiles chimed in, stepping up beside me.
"Stopping my brother and Kali... from killing Derek," Ethan disclosed, laying bare his urgent request.
It took some convincing, but eventually, Stiles agreed to let me go help Derek, with the understanding that Lydia would accompany me. Our shared goal of finding our missing loved ones ultimately trumped any other reservations, despite Stiles' flimsy excuses.
_____
"We're well aware of the lunar eclipse, so don't assume Kali's just going to twiddle her thumbs waiting for it to level the playing field. She's coming, and my brother's joining her," Ethan explained to Derek.
Derek wasted no time, rising from the table and stating, "Good enough for me."
Derek, with a hint of resignation, asked, "You want me to run?"
Peter, not one to sugarcoat, responded, "No. I want you to stay and get slaughtered by an alpha with a psychotic foot fetish. Of course, I want you to run. Sprint, gallop, leap your way the hell out of this town."
Cora chimed in with her own perspective, saying, "If you want to fight and potentially die for something, that's fine with me, but do it for something meaningful." Her words triggered a flashback to a similar conversation with Allison.
Derek, looking for reassurance, questioned, "How do you know I'm going to lose?"
"We don't, but I'll bet she has an idea. Don't you, Lydia?" Peter inched closer to Lydia, and I instinctively moved closer to her as well.
"Calm down, Stella," Peter urged, noticing my unease.
"I don't know anything," Lydia confessed, her voice quivering.
"But you feel something, don't you?" Peter pressed.
Derek, his tone gentle, asked, "What do you feel?"
"I feel like... I'm standing in a graveyard," Lydia responded, her words sending a shiver down our spines.
Well, that was ominous.
____
I was bombarded with text messages and missed calls from Stiles – 4 missed calls and 24 unread texts. Finally, I decided to call him back.
"Stop calling and texting me!" I yelled at him, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"Yeah, sorry. I was just making sure you're okay," Stiles responded.
"Well, I am. Bye," I kept the conversation short and sweet, hoping to avoid a lengthy chat.
"Stella, she's here," Ethan informed me. I put my phone in my back pocket and stood next to Lydia.
"Where is he?" Kali demanded, eyeing the three of us.
Lydia snapped her fingers. "I think he said he was heading out to do some shopping, run a few errands, the usual... werewolf afternoon," she said, clearing her throat.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Kali approached us, and I took a clear look at her feet.
"Someone in desperate need of a pedicure. I'd be happy to give you a referral," I retorted, offering her a sarcastic smile.
Lydia looked at me, visibly shocked. I suppose I knew more about girly things than I let on.
Kali glared at me and started moving closer, but Aiden growled, warning her to step back.
"Oh, really?" Kali said, looking at Adien.
"Did someone take their little assignment too seriously?" Kali started circling around Aiden.
"She is not the problem," Adian sighed.
"Maybe the problem is where your loyalties lie," she snapped at him.
"Oh, God. Is this about to get really violent?" Lydia commented.
"Probably," Ethan and I said in unison.
Suddenly, Jennifer descended from the ceiling. I grabbed Lydia and pulled her out of the way to prevent any glass from injuring her. On the other side of the desk, Ethan braced himself.
"Stay down!" Ethan yelled.
"So who wants to go first?" Jennifer taunted.
Kali stepped up first, attempting to kick Jennifer, but she effortlessly blocked every move and pushed Kali to the floor. Then Aiden rushed in, attempting to scratch her with his claws, but she dodged easily and subdued him.
"Aiden!" I yelled, starting to get up, but Lydia pulled me back down.
Ethan stood up, growling, and started removing his shirt, while Aiden did the same. The twins began to morph together, but Jennifer quickly intervened, pulling them apart. Kali managed to get up from the floor.
"That's right, Kali. Look at me. Look at my face. Do you know what it takes to be able to look like this, to be able to look normal?" Jennifer taunted.
"I don't care," Kali snapped.
"It takes power. Power like this," Jennifer made the glass shards rise up into the air, every shard pointed at Kali.
"I—I should've—I should've ripped your head off!" Kali screamed.
A shard of glass pierced Kali's body, causing her to collapse on the floor, blood flowing from every wound.
Jennifer then turned to me and Lydia. I grabbed Lydia's hand and positioned myself in front of her.
"Oh, Stella, always saving your friends," Jennifer mockingly lamented.
I looked behind Jennifer and saw the twins separating. Jennifer noticed them too. The twins hurried toward Jennifer, but she effortlessly turned them around and snapped their necks, causing them to fall to the floor.
"What's the line Coach likes to say? 'The bigger they are...'" Jennifer trailed off.
I pushed past her and looked at both of them, no longer in their merged form. Ethan and Aiden were now separate individuals. Tears welled up in my eyes, and one fell on Aiden.
"What do you want from me?" I asked, my voice trembling.
"Oh, not from you. I want Lydia to do what she does best. Lydia, I want you to scream," Jennifer said, addressing Lydia.
Lydia began to scream, and I covered my ears to muffle the sound.
A few minutes later, Cora and Derek entered the room. I was comforting Lydia to keep her calm.
Cora rushed over to us to make sure we were okay.
"You did this for me?" Derek asked, looking around at Kali and the twins.
"For us. For anyone who's ever been their victim," Jennifer responded, addressing Derek.
"Bullshit, you've been nothing but trouble," I blurted out. I got up from Lydia's side and started charging at Jennifer, but Cora held me back. Hot tears streamed down my face.
Derek looked at me and then back at Jennifer, his face revealing that he had snapped.
"Stop talking to me like a politician. Stop trying to convince me of your cause!" Derek snapped at her.
"Fine, I'll convince you of someone else's. Scott. You can save his mother, Stiles's father," she said.
"How?" Derek asked, his arms crossed.
"I need a guardian, and that's a role that can either be filled by the three parents I was forced to take or by you," she explained.
"I can't help you. I'm not even an alpha anymore," Derek shook his head.
"All I need is for you to help me get Deucalion in the right place at the right time," she said.
"You just killed three of them on your own. What do you need me for?" Derek looked around the room again.
"You haven't seen him at his strongest. I have. And if he's got Scott with him, I don't stand a chance unless I have you," she told him.
"Derek, don't trust her," Cora warned.
"I have the eclipse in my favor, but the moon's only going to be in the earth's umbral shadow for 15 minutes. That's the extent of my window. There's no decision to struggle with. Help me kill him, and the others live. Just help me," she pleaded.
____
Derek reluctantly agreed to accompany Jennifer.
Derek's decision to go with Jennifer was solely to save the parents, not to assist her. Meanwhile, Lydia, Cora, and I rushed to Deaton's side.
"Cora, grab that table," Deaton ordered as we entered.
"Grab his hand. Here you go. Take his hand," Deaton instructed me.
"Can you save them?" Cora inquired anxiously.
"Only if they start healing on their own," Deaton mumbled, his attention focused on the injured twins.
We waited anxiously for signs of healing, and it took a while. I glanced at Aiden and noticed his chest was moving up and down. Quickly, I shifted my gaze to Ethan, who was also showing signs of life. I approached Aiden and waited as his eyes slowly opened, locking onto mine.
"I knew," he mumbled to me.
"What?" I asked, a bit puzzled.
"I knew you liked me," he said with a grin.
I couldn't help but pat him gently on the chest.
"Okay, lover boy," I said, returning his smile.