Quote: "Silver and gold the Gods have denied them, whether in mercy or in wrath, I am unable to determine."
Published: January 7, 2019
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Chapter 17: "Silverfinger"
The warmth of my body temperature was back to normal after whatever the shadow figure did to me. I feel at the mark behind my ear that feels like a backwards five as Allison, Isaac, Scott, and I listen to Chris Argents story about the mysterious figures.
"His eyes were glowing." Scott says to Argent as I listened to his story.
"There was something almost ritualistic about it." Argent tells us. "Like it was looking right into his soul."
"That's the same thing it did to me." Isaac says.
"The same thing happened to me as well." I input.
"That's what they did to everyone." Allison states as she cleans her dad's wounds that he somehow got.
"Not everyone." Scott says. "They only came after the werewolves."
"Did you not see what happened to me or what I just now said?" I ask Scott dumbfoundly. "Not only with me, but they also went after Lydia."
"Anyone with a connection to the supernatural." Argent informs.
"Then who was the guy they went after in Japan?" Isaac asks him.
"A Kumicho." He says. "A Yakuza boss. It was my first gun deal. I was only eighteen and it was supposed to be a simple exchange. Except Gerard left out the minor detail of the buyers being yakuza. He wanted to see if I could adapt in the moment. Testing my ability to uh, improvise."
"Or your ability to survive." Allison adds.
"The moment the sun went down it was like they just materialized out of the shadows. They had swords, not curved like katanas but straight, black steel. Like ninjatos."
"What did they want?" Scott asks curiously.
"To get to the kumicho. They cut down every living thing in their way."
"Did they mark him like they did us?" I ask as I touch the mark behind my ear agian.
"Not exactly." Argent answers.
"What was he?"
"I don't know. But there might be someone who does. There were a few others who survived that night. One of them was a man named Katashi. They called him Silverfinger because of an unusual prosthetic. And it looked like he was getting ready to take them all on himself. I've known for a while Katashi was in the country. I spent yesterday tracking him down.
Isaac points out at the cuts on Chris' face. "Didn't look like he wanted to be found."
"Not particularly, no."
"You think he knows what they are? Or what they want?" Scott questions.
"Maybe."
"What if he doesn't want to talk?" Allison asks as her dad stands from his seat.
"What if he doesn't remember you?" I also ask.
"He'll remember this." Chris says as he turns a box to face us and he opens it up to reveal a gray metal mask broken in pieces wrapped in a cloth. It was the same mask that the figures were wearing that we encountered with. "I know I didn't kill it. I'm not sure you can." Scott picks up a piece of the mask to examine it. "But I slowed it down long enough for us to get out of there."
"What was behind the mask?" Scott asks as he looks at the broken piece.
"Darkness. Absolute darkness."
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An hour later Scott and I make it to school and after an encounter with the twins, who are going to be watching over Scott because of the so called demonic ninjas, as the twins call them, were looking at him when the sun came up and they disappeared.
Scott and I got away from them as the two of us follow Stiles into the chemistry room.
"So then Zoey starts talking about phosphors and the key having chemicals on it, right?" Stiles explains about what I guess, with what I was talking about last night. "And so that made me think of the chemistry closet and the fact that someone had to let Barrow in-" He walks up to the chalkboard where him and I saw the automic numbers the other night when Barrow tried to kill Kira. "It's gone." He looks over at the blank board. "Okay, okay, it doesn't matter though. It doesn't matter, I've still got the key." He walks over to the storage closet as he grabs his keys out of his pocket. "What the hell? I had it - I had it here. I had it here this morning, I swear to God, I had it his morning."
"The key you were talking about last night?" Scott asks as I get completely confused.
"Yeah, I showed it to you, right? Didn't I show it to you?"
"No, you just told me about it. I never actually saw it."
"Well, I - I know I showed it to you." Stiles says looking over to me.
"I, uh - to be honest I don't really remember much of yesterday's events. I was completely wasted last night." A look of slight disappoinment washes over his face. "I only vagly remember seeing an extra key on your ring yesterday morning, but thats about it."
Stiles then looks over back to the chalk board as he starts to walk over to it and explain more of what happened. "I was here a couple of hours ago. And the message left to Barrow spelling Kira's name was right there on the board in my handwriting and I had the key to the chemistry closet."
"So you," Scott starts. "Unlocked the chemistry closet so Barrow could hide in it from the cops and then you wrote him a message to kill Kira?" He asks confused.
"I know - I know - I know how it sounds, but look at this." Stiles says as he pulls out a folded up piece of paper. "This is a news report that came out about Barrow when they caught him, okay? About the shrapnel bomb that he used. See this? See what he did? He put nuts, bolts, and screws. And then he hid the bomb and the detonator in a box that he wrapped as a birthday present. What does that sound like to you?"
"Coach." I say when realization crosses my face. "The joke we played on Coach."
"That was my idea. You remember that?" Stiles asks us. "That was my idea. That's no coincidence. It can't be."
"I don't want to sound like we're trying to tell you that you're wrong. But I don't think you're trying to kill people either." Scott tells Stiles.
Stiles crumbles the piece of paper that's in his hand. "It was here. It was all here."
"Hey, are you feeling okay?" I ask as I place my hand on his arm. "You look really tired."
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just haven't been - sleeping really."
"Why don't you go home. Take a sick day or something." Scott tells him.
"Come on, I'll drive you." I say. "My grades are perfectly fine to miss a day."
There's no way Scott and I could tell him about the dark figures now, he's just got way to much on his mind.
>>> >>> >>>
I just leave my car at the school to pick up later and I drive Stiles' jeep. But instead of driving Stiles home like I said I was going to, I instead drive him to the hospital. He, of course asked me questions of what we were doing here and I explained to him why.
The two of us are now in a patient room as my mom has been asking him questions.
"Blackout. But not for that long." Stiles tells her. "And sleepwalking, which I used to do a lot as a kid. Um, also having some really bad anxiety."
"Panic attacks?" Mom asks him as I listen intently.
"Yeah, a couple. Oh, and I temporarily lost the ability to read. But that might have had more to do with this giant magic tree and the whole human sacrifice thing."
"I recall something vaguely about that, yes. How many hours of sleep are you getting?"
"Eight."
"A night?"
"In the last three days." My eyes widen at his answer not knowing anything about this. "Yeah, definitely eight."
"Been feeling irritable?" Mom asks as she walks away to look in a couple of drawers as she starts to prep a few things.
"Yeah. Possible to the point of homicide."
"Inability to focus?"
"No, the Adderall's not working?"
"Impulsive behavior?"
"More than my usual? Hard to tell."
"Vivid dreams during the day?"
"Okay, basically all of the above." Stiles answers as I get tired of hearing all of this and I have him face me.
"How come you've never told me about any of this?" I ask him as mom walks back over to us.
"Because - because I didn't want you to worry about me."
"Hey, Stiles, I will always worry about you." I tell him as I grab his hands with mine. "With the world we've been living in, there is never a second of any day where I never stop worrying about you."
I sigh as he brings me into his chest and I feel my eyes start to water as he squeezes me to him.
"Thank you." He slightly whispers to me. "Thank you for always being there for me." I nod in his chest as I squeeze him one last time and we both look up to face my mom.
I look at her as she has a small smile on her face from our interaction.
"Do you know what this is?" I ask her.
"I think so."
"Uh, what's that?" Stiles asks as he looks at the needle in my mom's hand wearily.
"Do you trust me?" She asks him.
"When you're not holding a needle."
"It's Midazolam." She says as she injects the liquid into Stiles' arm. "A sedative."
"Why'd you give me a sedative?"
"Because you, Stiles, are one profoundly sleep-deprived young man. You need rest and you need it now." Mom tells him as I stand up from the hospital bed. "Lie down."
"Okay, how long's it take to - oh, not long at all." Stiles says as mom helps him to lie down on the hospital bed.
Mom pulls the blaket up from the bottom of the bed as she covers Stiles up with it.
"Get some rest."
"Thanks, mom." Stiles says right as he falls asleep.
I sniffle a cry as a tear slides down my cheek. I watch as mom sadly sighs out and she turns off the lamp from the side of the bed. She gives Stiles one last look before walking out of the room and I quickly follow behind her.
"Mom." I call after her as she turns to face me. "Is - is he going to be okay?"
She walks up to me as she wipes the stray tear from my cheek. "He's going to be just fine." She says as she brings me into a hug and I hug her back tightly.
"Thank you, mom." I tell her and I quietly walk back into Stiles' room.
I smile at his sleeping form and I pull up a chair next to the bed. I take his hand in mine as I intertwine out fingers together. As I lay my head on the side of the bed I give his hand a squeeze as I slowly start to drift off to sleep.
>>> >>> >>>
"Hey, Zoey. Zoey wake up." I stir awake and I look up to see Scott is the one who woke me.
I sit up and I look over to the empty hospital bed. "Where's Stiles?"
"I don't know. I was just about to ask you that."
"Mm, I don't know either. He must have woke up while I was still asleep."
"Let's go find him." Scott tells me and I stand up from the chair as the both of us exit out of the hospital room.
"So, what happened tonight with the demonic ninjas?" I ask Scott as we walk through the halls.
"One of them stabbed dad in the shoulder from behind." He says not bothering to sugar coat it.
"What? Is he okay?"
"Yeah, I think he's going to be fine. We rushed him straight here after the Oni left, that's what Allison said they were called."
"So, what are they exactly?" I ask.
"They're known as Japanese demons. I guess they're looking for someone who is possesed by a dark spirit called a nogitsune."
"Guess we got the demonic part of them right."
"Yeah, and once they realize that we're not carrying this dark spirit, they won't hurt us."
"Well, that's definitely good to know." I say as I touch the mark behind my ear again. We continue to walk down the halls and I pear into a room to see someone facing away from us. "Scott. Found him."
Both Scott and I walk into the empty room.
"Stiles?" Scott asks. "You okay?"
Stiles turns around to face the both of us. "Yeah, fine." A small smile grows on my face as I notice that he seems to look a lot less tired. "What's been going on?"
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Hope you all enjoyed the double update.
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