Somehow I end up standing here, leaning against the lab table at Beacon Hill's Veterinary clinic, surrounded by a group of people who had been all but strangers to me a few days ago. In fact, some of them are still strangers, but now they were the only people who can help me get my dad back.
I survey the room. To my right, Lydia and Stiles are standing next to each other. I see a thick red ring around Lydia's throat and a pained expression on Stiles face. I get the sense I am the only person in this room that actually understands how he is feeling and how debilitating the pain and guilt is. To my left is Isaac, who has taken to rubbing careful circles around my back, and the vet/emissary Deaton. Though a complete stranger, I feel a special kinship with him in a way I wasn't expecting. I guess my newfound knowledge of his link to my family made me feel like he was trustworthy, despite having never met him.
"It has to be on a telluric current," Stiles says, breaking my concentration, "or maybe at the axis of two, or where they all intersect. I just know it is where Derek took Paige to die." Only understanding half of that statement, I stay silent. It frustrates me to no end that I have such a limited understanding of the forces at play here, yet so much is at stake.
"How do we find this place?" Isaac asks
"There might be way," Deaton admits, "But it's dangerous. We're gonna need Scott."
With that information Stiles goes outside to try and get a hold of Scott. Lydia follows him, and soon I'm left alone with Isaac and Deaton. I feel both of their eyes on me, but I keep my focus on the red brick walls. Isaac had told me that this was the location where Deaton performed his duty as an emissary, and I felt both comfortable and wildly uncomfortable here at the same time.
"Eleanor," I hear Deaton say and I look up at him, "I hate that we are meeting under these circumstances. I knew both of your parents very well. Your mother incredibly talented and your father is such a kind man. I will do everything in my power to ensure he returns safely to you."
"Thank you," I whisper, feeling my eyes pricking with unwanted tears.
"I know this must be a lot for you to take in, I can try to answer any questions you may have."
"I have one," I admit, though I really have much more than one, "This place we are looking for, the..."
"Nemeton."
"Yeah, the Nemeton, how are you all so sure that's where Ms. Blake is keeping our parents?"
"As you know, Ms. Blake is a druid. Just like me, just like your mother, and just like you," Deaton says, walking over to his cabinet and taking out what appears to be just plain soil. He opens the jar and empties a pile of the soil onto the counter. I watch in awe as it falls into a pile of perfect circles, all nestled within each other. "In our past, druids would seek out the oldest tree in the forest whose roots spread the deepest and furthest. The roots provided life and connectivity to the entire forest and thus we believed this tree acted as a representation of the center of the world. In Beacon Hills this tree was cut down years ago, but a few key events have happened since. After Ennis, the alpha your mother worked with, lost his beta he attempted to turn a teenage girl."
"Wait," I interrupt, "My mother wrote about this. She said that the bite didn't work. Is that the Paige girl Stiles was talking about?"
"Yes," Deaton responds, "Her body rejected the bite. According to Derek she died in a cellar next to the Nemoton, and on the roots. Her blood sacrifice gave back a bit of power to the tree, and when Julia, or Ms. Blake, was nearly killed by Kali, she survived by taking that power for herself. Performing the final ritual at the Nemoton would give her the power she desires, because then all of the rituals would come full circle. Do you understand?"
I look down at the soil on the table. I find my hands subconsciously drawn to the shapes, and I let my fingers run through them. I start from the middle and work my way out, drawing roots between each circle to the next. I look up to see Deaton giving me a small, encouraging smile and I respond with a nod.
"Isaac, would you mind helping me carry come things in here?" Deaton asks Isaac, who had come up behind me, and the two of them leave me alone.
I can't help but wander over to the medicine cabinet and peer in at all of the jars. I see labels for things like mistletoe, wolfsbane and mountain ash. I wonder if my mother hadn't been killed, would I know what all of these were used for? I feel guilty even thinking about the future when so much of my life is just hanging in the balance, but I can't help but imagine one day learning.
I'm interrupted by the sound of a large metal bathtub, the kind that is used to wash dogs, being placed on the floor across from me. Soon two more appear and I wearily eye them in confusion. I wonder just what this dangerous task Deaton has in store for us is, and what on earth it has to do with a tub. Isaac meets me eyes when he is placing the third tub down, and I can tell he feels the same way.
"Eleanor, could you pass me that hose over there?" Deaton asks, directing me a ring of hoses hanging off the wall. I hand it to him and watch as he attaches one end to the sink and uses the other to start filling up a tub. Part of me wants to ask what he is planning, but the other is too scared to find out.
"Hey," I hear Isaac say as he walks over to me, "How are your legs?"
"They feel fine," I say, though they have been aching for hours.
"You don't need to lie to me El," Isaac says.
He reaches his hand out to grab onto mine. I feel him squeeze my palm, watching as his veins run black. The pain from my legs all but evaporates and I sigh with relief. Isaac stifles a wince, but smiles at me nonetheless.
"If all this gets too much, you tell me, okay? We can leave." Isaac says
"I have to do this Isaac, whatever it is. I have to get my dad back."
Before he can argue further, the clinic begins to fill back up with people. Scott comes rushing in the door. Stiles and Lydia follow after him, and I can see the hint of a complaint of Stiles' lips. Sprung into action, we all meet back at the counter, but the room is tense with anticipation.
"If you find it, are you going to tell them?" Stiles asks, continuing on what must have been an earlier conversation. Filling in the blanks, I realize that they are discussing Scott's role in the alpha pack.
"I can't stop Jennifer without them," Scott argues. I think about to the incredible power Ms. Blake displayed earlier, and I can't help but agree.
"How about we concentrate on finding your parents first?" Deaton interrupts, and all eyes turn to him.
"What's the plan?" I ask, eying the now full baths.
"Essentially, you, Scott and Stiles need to be surrogate sacrifices for your parents."
"We die for them?" Scott asks, and I feel goosebumps cover my arm at the thought.
"But he can bring us back," Stiles inserts, then looks over at Deaton with wide eyes, "You can... you can bring us back, right?"
"You remember the part where I said it was dangerous? If it goes right the three of you will be dead for a few seconds. But there's something else you need to think about. This is a dangerous thing for more reason than one. You'll be giving power back to the Nemeton, a place that hasn't had power for a long time. This kind of power is like a magnet. It attracts the supernatural, the kind of things that a family like the Argents can fill the pages of a bestiary with. It will draw them here like a beacon."
"It doesn't sound any worse than anything we've already seen," Stiles says, and I shiver thinking about what they have already seen.
"You'd be surprised at what you have yet to see," Deaton answers ominously.
"Is that it?" I ask, hoping that it is because I don't know what more I could take.
"No," Deaton responds, "It will also have an effect on the three of you. You won't be able to see it, but you'll feel it every day for the rest of your lives. It'll be a kind of a darkness around your heart and permanent like a scar."
Silence fills the room, but no one interjects. Deaton tells us all to go back to our houses and find something of significance that belongs to our parents. I take one look at Isaac, who is holding the keys to my car, and feel like we are headed into an argument.