I got a call the next morning from Allison. She said that Stiles escaped from Eichen and no one knows where he is. Scott and Kira are heading to the school because Stiles apparently attacked Mr. Yukimura. Allison told me that her dad and Derek are being let out today and are going to help look for Stiles. So she needs me to come with her to the station. I agreed and she told me she was going to be at my house in 10.
So that is where I'm at now. I slipped on some maroon colored skinny jeans and a grey spider-man shirt. I put my hair up in a bun and put some mascara on my eyes. Slipping on my while vans, I heard a car honk. I bounded down the steps and grabbed my bag then headed out. Allison and I set off for the police station.
We made small talk and got to the station in 10 minutes. Walking in, we saw Derek and Allison's dad getting harassed by Parrish.
Stilinski walked out. "I'll take care of this, Parrish."
"Sheriff, I'm not kidding. This thing;s a few watts from being a light-saber." Parrish said, holding up the weapon that Chris uses against werewolves. That caused me to laugh a little. Derek and Chris whipped around and looked at me.
"I said I'll take care of it." Stilinski motioned for us to follow him into his office. "The specialist I saw in LA told me the thing that every doctor says when he's trying to avoid a lawsuit." He said as he closed the door. "'We can't say for sure.' And then I spoke to Melissa. These are brain scans." He held up two pictures. "My wife's and Stiles'. I knew they were similar. But those are the same. Exactly the same." I craned my neck to look at the x-rays.
"And I'm assuming this isn't possible?" Derek asked.
"Not even remotely."
"So the trickster is still playing tricks." Allison spoke up.
"But why this trick?" I asked.
"If this thing inside him, if it's using his mother's disease as some sort of psychological trick, then this isn't just a fight for his body. It's also a fight for his mind. Right?" Stilinski asked.
"You know, he's left people severely injured." Chris spoke up.
"And others severely dead." Derek sassed.
"That's why I need you two. I need people who are experienced in this kind of thing. I need you to help me stop him." Sheriff explained.
"And by stop him, you mean trap him." Allison said.
Derek, Sheriff, Allison, Chris and I all headed back to the Argent's place. Chris began to take out different weapons and set them on his desk.
"This is everything non-lethal I could find." Chris said.
"Take all of it." Allison nodded.
"What's the plan here?" I asked.
"Our best shot right now is for Derek to try and pick up Stiles' scent at Eichen House." Chris explained.
"Especially if he went through something stressful there." Derek spoke up.
"Should all four of us be going to the same place?" Sheriff Stilinski asked.
"Where else has Stiles been showing up?" Allison asked.
"School, the hospital."
"Okay, hold on. We did this already." Derek spoke. "He disappeared. We started looking for him. Then walked right into a trap at the hospital."
"He's getting us to repeat the same moves." Allison furrowed her brows.
"So, what do we do? Wait for him to come to us?" Stilinski asked.
"We can't. Not if the Oni find him when the sun goes down." I said, my chest tightening.
"Scott's working on them right now, with Kira." Allison explained.
"That's the problem. We're all trying to outfox the fox." Chris crossed his arms.
"Listen. I'll understand if anyone wants to back out." Sheriff stood up straighter.
"It wouldn't be the first wolf to run from a fox." Derek picked up a weapon. Chris handed Stilinski the light-saber.
"Apparently I'm carrying the light-saber." He sassed, causing me to laugh because that's what I was just thinking.
"Dad, you and Derek hit Eichen House." Allison ordered. "Sheriff, its me, you, and Ashlyn at the hospital. We all meet at the school."
"Sheriff, Allison and I set off for the hospital and Sheriff took me in his patrol car.
"Hey, Ashlyn." Sheriff spoke up as we pulled onto the road with Allison following.
"Yeah?" I looked over at him.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I-I'm fine."
"You don't look fine. Look, I know that you and Stiles broke up. But I just want to make sure you're okay."
"You mean with my best friend and ex boyfriend being an evil fox? My life being taken over by the supernatural? Yeah. Just dandy." I felt tears sting my eyes.
"We're going to find Stiles. He's going to be okay. You're going to be okay. I've see you kids go through hell and back. You'll survive." Stilinski said as he parked the car.
"I'm not so sure I will." Tears escaped.
Stilinski jumped out of the car and came over to my side, opening up the door and pulling me into a hug. "You're going to be okay." We stood there for a moment just hugging each other until Allison walked up beside us.
We headed into the hospital and got into an elevator.
"You know what, I don't know how you guys do it." Stilinski spoke up. "You're all so strong. You're fearless. Hell, you even manage to keep your grades up."
"I'm failing econ." Allison spoke up.
He sighed. "Is that Coach's class?" Allison nodded. "Well, I'll have a talk with him." Allison sighed deeply. "Hey. You okay?"
"I'm not... fearless. I'm terrified." Allison then started full on crying. "I'm always terrified. I... I act like I know what I'm doing, but I don't. I don't know if Isaac is dying right now. I don't know if I made a mistake with Scott. I don't know what my dad is thinking. I don't know if we should trust Derek. I don't know... I don't know anything."
Sheriff brought Allison into a hug and she sniffled. "You know what's funny, kiddo? You sound just like a cop." We chuckled. "Hey, you're gonna be okay. You both are."
"Okay." Allison sniffed. Sheriff's phone went off and he took it out. His face turned into a look of concern as he looked at it.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Someone's breaking into my house. After Stiles started sleepwalking, I had some security precautions put in. Motion sensors. Cameras."
"Is that his room?" Allison asked.
I looked at the screen and sure enough. Stiles, void, was sitting on his bed. He looked so pale and sick. Stiles waved creepily at the camera.
*****
"What is all this? What are all these sticky notes?" Derek asked. We were in Stiles' room looking at his chess board. Each piece had a note taped to it.
"This is what Stiles used to try and explain to me about all of you." Stilinski explained. Stiles was nowhere to be found.
"Cool, maybe it's a message from Stiles. The real Stiles." Allison offered.
"You think there's any reason my name's on the king?" Derek asked.
"Well, you're heavily guarded. Though I guess the alarming detail is that you're one more from being checkmate." Sheriff pointed out.
"It's not a message from Stiles." Chris spoke up. "It's a threat from the Nogitsune."
"He's at the loft. That's what he's trying to tell us. And he wants us to come there." Derek ran a hand through his hair.
"Night's falling." I pointed out as I looked out the window.
"This couldn't sound any more like a trap."
"I don't think it is." Stilinski spoke up.
"I think your opinion might be slightly biased, Sheriff." Chris said.
"Hear me out. What we're dealing with here is basically someone who lacks motive. No rhyme, no reason, right?"
"Meaning what?" Derek asked.
"Our enemy is not a killer. It's a trickster. The killing is just a by-product."
"If you're trying to say it won't kill us, I'm not too confident about that."
"It won't. It wants irony. It wants to play a trick. It wants a joke. All we need to do it come up with a new punch line."
"The sun is setting, Sheriff." Allison started panicking.
"What do you have in mind?" Chris asked.
Stilinski turned on his heel and we all followed him. Headed off towards the loft. The Sheriff and I ran up to the loft first before anyone else. I took a deep breath as did he before opening up the door.
Stiles was standing in the middle of the room. He turned around and looked scared. "Dad, Ashlyn."