Sacrifice themselves for the people they love.
That's what Deaton said they would have to do in order to save them and also another way to find the nemeton. Imogen stared at the object in her hand. It had been her fault that her uncle was taken. She should've taken more precautions to keep him safe.
Now they had to be surrogate sacrifices for them.
Her eyes flickered to her boyfriend who stood beside her, she had yet to speak to him since they all came back to the Animal clinic where they found Isaac, Allison, and Lydia filling the tubs with ice. There were also herbs inside the ice filled tubs. He looked at her, obviously feeling her staring and she looked away, hearing him sigh. She didn't want to be annoyed with him especially since they were about to die but she couldn't help herself.
"All right." Deaton started, staring at the three who were tense. "What did you bring?"
Stiles clenched the item in his hand before showing him. "Um, I got my dad's badge. Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand, so I tried hammering it out a bit." He paused, looking at the object. "Still doesn't look great."
"Well, it doesn't need to look good if it has meaning." He told him softly.
Isaac eyed the item in the young witches hand. "Is that a stethoscope?" He asked, surprised that she chose that specific item especially since it was the only thing aside from the note that her uncle left. He had half expected her to start crying like Allison had but the only thing she said was that they needed to regroup with the others.
Imogen gave him a faint smile. "Yeah, my uncle and I didn't exactly get along after I was put into his care when my mom died. It was a year after she died that I got really sick and I thought I was going to die like she did. I don't think I ever saw him look so scared before." There was a melancholic air around her as she reminisced. "After, he gave me his stethoscope and made me listen to my heartbeat and said that as long as my heart was beating I was alive so I shouldn't worry. After I got better, we started to actually get along."
She remembered how tense the two whenever they were in the same room after her mother died. Part of her had blamed him for not being there to save her mom but now that she knew the truth, she realized that he probably had blamed her as well.
Deaton gave the girl a small smile before looking at his protégé. "Scott?"
The teen wolf switched his gaze away from his girlfriend who still staring at the item in her hands as he spoke up. "My dad got my mom this watch when she first got hired at the hospital." He said, bitterly thinking about his father who walked out on him and his mom. "She used to say it was the only thing in their marriage that ever worked."
The Vet nodded, now that they all had their items, it was time to begin. "Okay, the three of you will get in. Each of us will hold you down until you're essentially..." He paused. "Well, dead. But it's not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back, someone that has a strong connection to you, a kind of emotional tether." His eyes flickered around the room. "Lydia... You go with Stiles."
"So, do I go with Imogen?" Allison asked curiously, wondering just how Lydia and Stiles had close enough for them to form a strong connection. It was no secret that Stiles was in love with her friend but could Lydia possibly return his affections?
Deaton glanced at her, "Actually, I was thinking Isaac would go with Imogen and I will go with Scott." That seem to make everyone pause.
Imogen blinked in surprise, her eyes flickering to Scott who everyone else seemed to also be looking at. Isaac shifted nervously in his spot, unsure if he had done something wrong. Scott himself, knew that his girlfriend and the blue eyed beta were friends just as long as he knew Imogen. Even though he knew of Isaac's affections for her, he didn't have to worry. He knew that Isaac was doing his best to move on from her and he didn't doubt Imogen's love for him. He looked at her with a soft look, no jealousy evident. "It's okay." He assured her.
"You sure?" She asked, she didn't want to make him uncomfortable and he gave her a nod.
The three stepped up to the tubs and she was starting to regret wearing a dress today as she stared at the ice in the water.
Scott was in between both her and Stiles, the teen wolf didn't want to end things on a tense note with her. He took a step towards her and pulled her into a deep kiss, hoping to express how much she meant to him just in case things went wrong and they actually died.
Once they pulled away, her cheeks were flushed and her blue eyes staring into his brown one's conveying a message to him. I love you. He smiled, stepping back to his tub.
The three hesitantly stepped in and sat in the cold water, waiting for the three above them to push them under. Scott felt his heart dropping at what Stiles whispered to him. His father was back in town.
Isaac, Deaton, and Lydia all shared a brief nod before placing their hands on their shoulders and pushed them down. The three surrogate sacrifices feeling darkness surround them slowly.
.
▷▷▷
.
The three shot up with sharp gasps, quickly getting out of the cold water. It was a giant unending white room that they found themselves in. They turned around, seeing the nemeton in the distance and slowly walked towards it.
Once they all stood a few feet away, Imogen could practically feel the magic power coming from it and couldn't help but reach over, letting her hand hover over it.
-
-
In a blink of an eye, the three of them found themselves elsewhere. Imogen was surprised to find herself in the backseat of a car but what was more surprising were the people in the front seats. It was her and her Uncle Ben. It didn't take her long to realize that this was probably a memory of hers once she took a further inspection at her other selves appearance.
"Can we get something to eat before we get to the new house?" Imogen asked, sitting in the front seat as she stared out the window with a bored look.
Ben hummed. "Yeah, do you want chinese?" He squinted, barely able to see outside from how much it was raining.
Imogen realized that this memory or illusion was from the night they came to Beacon Hills.
"Definitely." She agreed, looking out the front now and shrieked, seeing a figure jumping out in front of the car. "Uncle Ben! Look out!"
The doctor swerved around the figure, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. "What the hell!?" He exclaimed.
Imogen looked back. "We have to go back and make sure they're okay."
"Are you insane?" He glanced at her in disbelief. "What if they're a serial killer?" He didn't want to run into trouble on their first night back especially since he knows what lurks in the woods.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "We have to go back, Uncle Ben! What if they're hurt?!" She snapped and he pursed his lips in frustration before turning the back around. Once they got to the spot where the person jumped out, she got out of the car, ignoring her uncles protests.
The other Imogen followed behind her, furrowing her brows slightly.
The young sophomore followed the footsteps on the ground and found an inhaler on the ground. She crouched down, picking it up. Could the person that jumped out had an asthma attack? She really hoped not.
"Imogen!" Ben stepped behind, taking the object out of her hand. "You shouldn't pick things up like that! For all you know they could have some disease on them!" He fussed over her.
"Really, Uncle Ben. You're a doctor, I'm sure I'll be fine." She waved off his concern, only to jump back when the sound of howling caught their attention.
"Let's get out of here before we get mauled." He huffed, tossing the inhaler away while chiding her on the way back to the car.
The inhaler dropped in front of the young witches feet, turning around and saw the nemeton once more.
.
▷▷▷
.
The three shot up with a sharp gasp, startling the one's waiting in the room. "I saw it. I know where it is."
"We passed it." Stiles stammered, his teeth chattering. "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."
"It was the night we were looking for the body." Scott said, shivering from the cold.
"Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter."
Imogen wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering at the cold air. None of them taking notice of the tense postures that Deaton, Lydia, Allison, and Isaac were sporting. "I was there too, in the car with my Uncle." She said. "We almost hit someone."
Scott looked at his girlfriend, stunned as he recalled that night clearly now. "It was me. You almost hit me." She made an 'O' with her lips. "We can find it."
The young witch finally took note of their silence. "What?"
They all looked hesitant in answering and Isaac pursed his lips. "You guys were out a long time."
Stiles looked nervous, worried that they might be too late. "How long is a long time?"
"16 hours." Deaton answered bluntly.
The three looked at them in disbelief, having felt like they were only gone for a few hours at most. "We've been in the water for 16 hours?" Scott repeated.
"And the full moon rises in less than four."
The three were finally given towels, Imogen sighed. Her eyes flickered to her boyfriend who was checking his phone. "I should be getting back to Deucalion." He said, making the group tense.
"No, dude, you are not going back with them." Stiles said sternly.
He sighed. "I made a deal with Deucalion."
"Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?"
Isaac eyed the teen wolf. "Why does it matter, anyway?"
"Because I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help."
Imogen glanced at the Vet, giving him a pleading look. "He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong." She didn't want Scott to leave again.
Deaton pursed his lips. "I'm not so sure he is. Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies."
"So we're gonna trust him, the guy that calls himself death, destroyer of worlds?" The blue eyed beta scoffed. "We're gonna trust that guy?"
"I wouldn't trust him, no." He said. "But you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait."
They all heard the front door opening and went to check it out. It was Ethan. "I'm looking for Lydia."
The strawberry blonde stared at him in confusion, wondering what he could want. "What do you want?"
He gave her a pleading look. "I need your help."
Stiles popped his head out, glaring at him. "With what?"
"Stopping my brother and Kali..." He hesitated a bit. "From killing Derek."
They all shared a worried look, Scott realized that now that they knew where the nemeton was, they could all work together to save everyone. Lydia went with Ethan and Stiles decided to go home to get changed while Allison, Imogen, Isaac, and Scott went to grab things with their parents/ guardians scents on them.
They had stopped by Scott's place first where he had changed out of his wet clothes and grabbed something of his mom's. Then they went to Imogen's house where she also changed out of her wet clothes and they finally headed to Allison's apartment.
Scott's phone rang and for a moment he thought it might be Deucalion but it was Stiles. It seemed that his best friend was unsure of what kind of article of clothing to bring. "Just grab anything? Stiles, I'm not smelling your dad's boxers. Socks? Okay, I'll smell the socks." He hung up.
Isaac blinked. "What about me?"
Allison glanced at him. "See what you can find in my dad's closet. Anything with the strongest scent."
Imogen, Scott, and Allison stopped abruptly when they saw the man in a suit accompanied by a few officers that were standing in the office. It was Rafael McCall. "Quite an arsenal your father's got here, young lady." He said, glancing at Allison before his gaze fell on his son. "Scott."
Scott gripped his girlfriends hand, it felt like forever since he had seen his father. "What are you doing here?"
Agent Mccall eyed their connected hands. "Following one of the only leads I have. Now, since I don't know where you've been. Why don't you have a seat, and we can talk?" He said. "You too, Isaac."
Isaac who was standing in the hall flinched and stuck his head out to give the man a wary look. "How do you know my name?"
"Your name's one of the few things I know. To be honest, the rest of what's going on around here has me stumbling in the dark, even over the smallest clue."
"If you're trying to tell me that you don't have a clue, I learned that a long time ago."
The man sighed at his son's tone. "I'm really hoping to avoid the embarrassment of dragging my own son into an interrogation room. Really hoping." He gestured for them to come inside and sit down. The girls sat down while the boy's stood behind them. "I'm not gonna lie. I'm more than a little disturbed, Not only by the number of missing parents, But the fact that it's Stiles's father, your uncle, your father, and your mother."
"Mine are both dead." Isaac piped.
Rafael gave him a blank look. "Save the cliched teenage apathy for your high school teachers. The four of you know more than you're saying, And I'm fully willing to keep you here all night if I have to."
Imogen eyed the weapons on the desk and glanced at Allison, secretly gesturing to the grenade on the desk. The Argent girl hid her smirk and nodded.
"You can't keep us here." Scott snapped, they were wasting time here.
Allison stared at the man angrily. "Not without some kind of warrant."
Rafael gestured to the weapons laid out on the desk. "I've got a desk full of probable cause."
"My father is a highly respected private security consultant and federally licensed firearms dealer. That means he has to own a few weapons." The Argent girl stood up, pointing to each weapon. "Like this 175-pound draw tactical crossbow or this carbon steel marine combat knife, .50ae desert eagle. Hmm." Her eyes fell on the item that her best friend had kindly pointed out to her. "Smoke grenade with pull ring igniter." She ripped out the pin and tossed it as smoke began to cloud their vision.
"Go!"
The four immediately rushed out, taking the distraction as a chance to make an escape while ignoring Rafael's calls for his son.