SEASON 5A
Pulling back Tracy's eyelid, Deaton shone a torch into her dark eye, observing it with a stern expression. Harper watched with her arms folded, her back slightly pressed against Stiles' chest. The younger teenage girl was breathing heavily, a thin layer of sweat coating her body. Some of the mercury had been cleaned off of her face, but it still stained the edge of her mouth.
"Pupils dilate under normal conditions," Deaton muttered, checking her pulse, "heart rate is 250. Evidence of allogeneic skin graft on the right shoulder. Now, this silvery substance on her lips is not something I've seen. It almost looks like mercury."
"It is," Harper's brows furrowed, making everybody look at her. "well, that's what I was thinking, anyway. Mercury is the only liquid metal."
Tracy's body suddenly jolted, making everybody jump back a little. Harper found herself pressed further against her boyfriend's chest, his large hands moving up to hold her arms out of instinct.
"Can't you just give her a shot of something?" Malia asked.
"She doesn't look to be in any pain," Deaton spoke.
Isaac frowned. "She's panting like she's sick."
Malia shook her head, "I meant a shot to kill her."
Harper pursed her lips, shaking her head slightly at the ground. Most of the time Malia seemed to take on board the pack's no killing policy, but sometimes she would suggest macabre scenarios that would make the Empath shudder.
"I generally prescribe to a code of ethics that frowns on such measures," Deaton reminded her calmly, not at all disturbed by the werecoyote's straightforwardness.
"Malia, you know we're not gonna do that," Scott added.
"How do you know she's not gonna kill us?" Malia asked, making Isaac raise his eyebrows, clearly suggesting that his girlfriend had a point.
"Yeah, what she said," the blue-eyed boy agreed, "I don't particularly fancy ending up like her dad or her psychiatrist."
Stiles sighed. "Either way, we're gonna have to let my dad know she's here."
"Agreed," Deaton nodded, "and while I may argue against euthanasia, I'm not opposed to a little..." He picked up a jar. "Extra security."
Harper realised it was mountain ash as the veterinarian flipped off the lid and sprayed Tracy's body and the rest of the room with the grey powder. It quickly collected around the edge of the room in a neat line- like magic. Stiles stared at it with furrowed brows.
"Don't worry, Stiles," Deaton spoke up upon noticing the teenage boy's face. "Tracy won't be able to cross a line of mountain ash. She's not going anywhere."
"Yeah, that's kind of what I'm afraid of," Stiles admitted.
"Well, you, Harper and I will be able to get out of here no problem. You three- not so much," he glanced over at Malia, Isaac and Scott.
The werecoyote looked like she didn't believe Deaton. Reaching her hand out, she tried to stick it out of the circle, quickly retracting it when it was pushed back by an invisible force.
"Weird," Malia muttered quickly.
"Scott and Isaac, would you two mind holding her down?" Deaton asked as he turned and grabbed a small knife, "I'm going to be trying a few more invasive tests."
Deaton began to drag the scalpel across Tracy's arm, frowning as the blade merely scraped over her skin, leaving it totally unharmed.
"What the hell?" Harper muttered as Deaton lifted up the scalpel that had snapped against her when he tried to push harder.
"I think you're gonna need a bigger blade," Stiles mumbled.
The dark-skinned man sent him an unamused look but silently agreed. A churning noise came from Tracy's neck as Deaton turned her head. Harper shared a look with the man, having been the only other person to see it. Scott, Stiles and Isaac were talking in the corner while Malia was looking out the window, bored.
"Bloody hell, do you see that?" Her voice was low as she watched the lump on the side of Tracy's neck move.
Malia walked over as Harper's fingers hesitantly moved over, touching it. She jumped when it disappeared before returning.
"Malia, help me turn her over, please."
The werecoyote obeyed, Harper helping to get Tracy onto her back and pull up her shirt. She grimaced at the sight, her brown eyes flickering over to the three boys still talking in the corner- something about Donavon.
"Guys," Harper called wearily, "come look at this."
Tracy's spine was moving- lifting up and down and turning as a snake would. Deaton moved to poke it, making Harper wince as whatever was underneath it strained back against her skin.
And then suddenly it burst.
Her back literally ripped in half, liquid shooting from it and spraying Scott and Deaton in the face. Everybody jumped back, Harper's hand to her mouth as she tried not to gag at the sight. Her spine was still moving, blood everywhere.
"What the-" Isaac was cut off as it jolted out, striking Stiles straight across the chest.
Harper shrieked as her boyfriend fell down with a thump, letting out a pained grunt. Before she could react, it had sliced her arm, making her fall down next to him. From her spot on the floor, she helplessly watched as Tracy climbed up, cutting Malia, Isaac, Scott and Deaton before running away- this time with claws and a tail.
Stiles was sprawled out on his stomach, his head twisted so it was facing Harper who was on her back, also trying to gain movement in her body. The brunette realised what was going on pretty quickly- they had been paralysed by Kanima venom.
"It wasn't a werewolf!" Stiles called, his voice slightly strained from his position on the floor.
"Yeah, no shit!" Isaac yelled back.
"Kanima," Scott panted.
"Deaton, I thought you said she couldn't get through the mountain ash," Harper recalled, her face scrunching up as she tried to regain feeling.
"I don't know how she did it," the man called back shakily, "it's a barrier no supernatural creature should be able to cross, with the exception of the Empath and a few others, of course."
"Scott did it!" Isaac called.
"Once," the Alpha corrected, "but it almost killed me."
Malia was slumped up against the wall, fury radiating from her body. Harper could also sense the panic coming from the werecoyote, most likely not used to being in such a vulnerable position.
"We should have killed her!" She growled.
"Meanwhile, she's probably on her way to killing someone else," Stiles agreed.
Deaton cut in. "Listen, everyone. We need to concentrate. Scott, Malia and Isaac, you three will probably be able to move long before Stiles, Harper and I can. But you need to focus."
"Focus on what?" Malia panted.
"Healing," the McCall boy reminded her softly.
"I don't know how to tell my body to heal!" Malia cried, her voice only raising the more distressed she got. Her panic was starting to make Harper panic.
"Malia, it's okay," Harper swallowed, turning her head to the side so that she wasn't looking at the ceiling but at Stiles.
She managed to peer past his head, finding Malia almost in tears as she cried, "I can't calm down- I can't move!"
Isaac grunted, "Mal. It's not gonna last long. We're gonna be okay. Doc, how do we focus?"
"Think of a body part. Your hands, your feet, even just the tips of your fingers."
Harper closed her eyes, trying to do as he was saying.
"Imagine them moving. See it in your mind and your body will follow."
Silence filled the room as the teenagers all clenched their jaws, straining as hard as they could to try and feel something.
"Okay," Stiles panted, sweat covering his face, 'I'm pretty sure I just felt my right leg move." He paused. "Yep, definitely felt it. Like a twinge, spasm, something. Ah!"
"I'm going to have to disagree and I think I hold an informed opinion," Deaton sighed from where he was laid out by Stiles' feet.
"Malia!" Isaac gasped when he saw his girlfriend's fingers start to twitch.
"I don't think she cut me that deep!" Malia grunted back.
Stiles' eyes widened. "Go, Malia. Keep moving."
In response, groans and pants came from the werecoyote and seconds later the sounds of feet stumbling across the floor. Harper looked over, her eyes widening when she saw Malia had managed to push herself up so she was standing.
"What's happening? I can't see," Stiles asked.
"Malia? Malia, wait for us!" Isaac called.
"There's no time."
"She's not a werewolf," Stiles agreed worriedly.
"But she has a scent. I can find her," Malia muttered.
"Malia," Scott rushed, "save her."
With no more words, Malia stepped over Stiles and Harper's bodies, stumbling out of the room and running as fast as she could after Tracy. Harper sighed and closed her eyes, realising that she was going to be there for a while now.
Minutes later, Harper began to feel something, except it wasn't her fingers or her legs- it was her stomach. The brunette cried out, her head leaning up to see if she could see what was going on with her body. Her head dropped back to the floor, her eyes scrunching up in pain as she cried out louder.
"Harper, calm down. It should come naturally," Deaton called above her panting.
"No, no," Harper whimpered, tears starting to burn in her brown eyes, "it's- it's my stomach! Argh!"
Another wave of pain hit causing Stiles starting to panic from next to her. His face was already watching her, his hazel eyes glistening as much as the sweat on his skin.
"What's going on? Is that where she hit you?" The Stilinski boy demanded.
"Not me," Harper panted, whimpering. "Lydia."
"Harper, breathe," Scott reminded her, though his tone held obvious concern for the other teenage girl, "try to disconnect yourself."
The brunette scrunched her eyes shut, slight breaths coming from her lips as she began to panic almost like Malia had. Between the pain and her worry for Lydia, who she knew it was coming from for some reason, Harper couldn't seem to come back down.
"Harper?" Stiles called, but his voice sounded distant.
She snapped her eyes back open, meeting Stiles' panicked gaze. He was chewing on his bottom lip, grunting slightly as he tried to get the Kanima venom to wear off.
"My- my ring isn't working," Harper whimpered again.
"You don't need that stupid thing," Stiles insisted, "the ring- the ring does nothing, Harper. It's all in your head that the ring's the thing keeping you strong. You're the thing keeping yourself strong, Harper. You are. It's always been you."
A placebo effect. Harper had wondered if that was the case since Derek's whole triskele thing with Liam in the back of the prison transport van months ago, but she had dismissed it, thinking that surely she wasn't strong enough to do it herself. But maybe she had been.
Harper didn't even realise it, but her breaths had slowed down to a steady pace and the pain in her stomach had started to subside. When her eyes flickered back open, Stiles was closing his in relief, a small sigh escaping his lips.
"Thank god," he muttered just as a door swinging open filled their ears.
"Hello?" Deaton called.
"I'm starting to get my feeling back," Scott hissed lowly just as a body came around the corner.
Harper turned her head, more than surprised to see Theo Raeken stood there. She had suspected Malia to have come back for them, or maybe Liam checking up on Tracy, not her Biology partner that Stiles hated with every fibre of his being.
Immediately, Theo jumped into action- rushing to Scott first who was trying to get up off of the floor. Scott groaned, leaning against the metal table in the centre of the room as he squinted his eyes at the dirty-blonde-haired boy.
"How did you find us?" Scott questioned.
Theo replied, "because you work here. I heard about Tracy, I've been looking for you."
Before Scott could say anything else, Theo reached down and grabbed Stiles under the arms, making the Stilinski boy immediately cry out a, 'no'. Harper scoffed a little to herself, knowing that her boyfriend was so stubborn he'd rather just lay on the ground for hours instead of letting Theo help him. Theo dumped him against the table by Scott, making Stiles groan.
The teenage boy turned to her next, sending her a purse-lipped smile as he bent down and wrapped his larger hands around her waist. Her body involuntarily leaned against his as he pulled her over, moving her next to Stiles with a little more care.
"We lost her," Scott muttered.
"And Malia," Isaac added as he pressed his hands against the walls, using as much strength as he could muster to pull himself up.
"I can help," Theo insisted, moving over to Deaton now.
"This is Theo?" Deaton questioned, making Scott nod.
"Let me help," the boy in question insisted again, "it doesn't have to mean I'm part of the pack. Or like you've accepted me or anything like that. It just means I can help catch this girl."
Everybody glanced over at Scott, who they knew would be making the final decision.
"Scott, I can help you."
Harper began to start feeling her legs and her stomach, a wince covering her face when she felt the dampness of her three-quarter length knitted jumper. With hands still shaky due to the paralysis only just wearing off, Harper touched the material and pulled her fingers away to reveal a crimson liquid.
"Harper?" Isaac furrowed his brows at her, making everybody look over.
"We need to find Lydia. I- the only times I connect when I'm not with the person is when it's severe. Lydia- she needs us."
...
this chapter is shit and I haven't proof read it but school is stressing me out and im not really feeling this book much idk im sorry xo thanks for reading <3