I didn't know what to think of everything that has just been revealed to me. Obviously I didn't believed Stiles would ever purposely tell Barrow to kill Kira, he is the most kindest and sweetest person I have ever met so that only leads to more questions. Why did Stiles have the key to the chemistry back room and why did he give Barrow a clue to kill Kira? I went asleep with a lot more questions than answers but with me needing to wake up in a few hours for school so I didn't dwell on them too much.
Stiles dropped me to school but I didn't see much of him after that, actually I didn't see much of anyone besides Lydia. She had filled me in on the events the night before, shadowy ninja like figures who carried swords came and marked everyone of our friends. Once you were marked you went into shock and had to be physically shaken out of it. It happened to Isaac the night before and I guess with everyone being the same place it was easy for them to attack everyone at the same time. No one knew exactly what these mysterious figures were and why they were marking everyone but it didn't seem good.
"Do you think they'll come back, you know to get Stiles and I?" I asked, nervously fiddling with my sleeves, I didn't want to be next.
"I don't know but what I do know is that come at night", she chewed the inside of her lip. She must've noticed how nervous I was as she says. "Why don't you stay around mine tonight?"
"Really?"
"Yeah in case they do come, I want to be there for you to help you out of that shock". I know she was being caring and I appreciated that but I wish she had told me I didn't need to come over and need to be taken out of shock.
Lydia drove me home to grab a few things for tonight. We rented a movie to watch together and bought a few snacks, I think Lydia thought this would make me feel better. She was right, after munching on some unhealthy snacks and watching the latest action movie, I felt so much calmer. I hadn't thought about the spooky ninja or stiles once and the impending doom that he could be responsible for Kira's murder attempt.
Before going to bed I went to Lydia's bathroom, to wash my face and brush my teeth, my nighttime ritual. I borrowed one of her dressing as her house has suddenly become cold. The house was dark and quiet, empty since Lydia's mum had gone out with some friends. Her dog Prada followed me out of the bedroom but once I reached the bathroom he refused to follow me in, even whining a little like he was trying to tell me something but I ignored it and watched him run back to the bedroom. I started running the tap, letting the cold water run for a second before splashing it into my face. I tensed as the cold air stung my face, I wiped the water off my face with my hand and continue to brush my teeth. I finished my gargling some mouth wash, my least favourite step, it always burnt my tongue. I leant over the sink to spit out the minty liquid into it, spitting excessively so that the harsh taste would leave my mouth. I lifted my head looking at my reflection in the mirror when I noticed something from the corner of my eye, a dark figure moving I flinched at the sight. My heat skipping a beat and quickened it's pace, I looked behind me and there stood three shadows coalesces into a a human figure, they had masks and their eyes glowed a light green they didn't look anything like I expected especially with them being described as ninja, they looked more like warriors. I was expecting this, I knew soon enough it'd be my turn to be marked by them. Thoughts raced through my mind, would it be painful? How long would this mark last? What was it for? Are they protecting or attacking me? They stepped forward in unison, closing in on me. I took a step back, backing into the sink, I had no where to go. I took a deep breath knowing my friends were okay after this gave me some reassurance that I would be to, panic seized through my body as one put their hand behind my neck. I assumed I wouldn't be able to feel them, with their ethereal appearance, I was wrong. In one swift motion the figure slide it's hand behind my ear, I felt a sharp pain and my body began to viciously shiver, a coldness surging through my veins. I dropped to the floor not being able to control what was happening to my body, my vision became blurry and the figures disappeared into the walls. Prada had finally found the courage to come into the bathroom, he whined loudly and started to lick my face, this is why he was acting strange earlier he could sense them.
The next few moments were a blur, Lydia came into the bathroom, she turned the shower on, heating and steaming up on the bathroom. She wrapped a few towels around me, warming me up. I didn't even remember when I stopped shivering or when I finally came back around to reality. My eyes were fixated on the shower, I watched the water as it went down the drain.
"Emily, you okay now?" Lydia asked sweetly rubbing her hand against my arm. I nodded even though I wasn't entirely sure if I was.
I can't remember what happened after that, next thing I know I work up in Lydia's bed with Prada snuggled by my feet. When I went back into the bathroom in the morning, I put my hair up into a point and grabbed one of Lydia's mirrors pointing it towards the back of my head so I could see behind my ear. It was a double sided mirror so I turned it around to the magnifying side to get a closer look. Behind my ear was what looked like a backwards 5, I rubbed my finger against the mark, it wasn't painful and neither felt like it disrupted my skin. It seemed for now like a harmless symbol.
Nothing exciting happened to me over the next few days, Alison filled me in on what the ghostly figures are. They're called Oni and are summoned to do a task without any personal motivation. Alison's dad had an encounter with them when he was younger so at least we have some knowledge on them and what they could marking us for. The marks seem to be harmless as I thought, the oni are looking for a spirit of some kind that posses' the host to have control of it's body and the Oni mark those who are not possessed. So now we have two things to figure out, who has summoned the Oni and who is possessed ?
It was what I assumed would be an ordinary night, I had fallen asleep quickly only to be woken up by my phone vibrating. I flung my arm across my bedside table and grabbed my phone. The bright screen stinging my eyes, I forced them opened to see Scott's name appeared on my phone screen, I squinted assuming my eyes were deceiving me, Scott hardly called me especially not at this time of night. However the name didn't change, Scott was calling me, I answered.
"Emily, I need you to go and check on Stiles", he said it so quickly, it took me a while to understand what he was asking me to do. He breath was shaky, he was worried.
My jaw tensed. "What do you mean?"
"I think he's in trouble he called me talking about him being lost and h-his leg, he said his leg was bleeding".
My heart dropped. "Why would his leg be bleeding?"
"I don't know Emily just go check his room", he snapped. "please".
I looked through the window into Stiles' room, he always kept his blinds opened so that we could see each other if we ever needed each other. His room was dark but wasn't too dark, I could still see inside it, his room was undisturbed except for his bed. Which he had clearly been sleeping in, I say had because he wasn't there. My mouth tasted funny, my tongue felt too big in my mouth and I felt like I was going to be sick, Scott's breathing became louder in my ear. None of this was making sense and was happening so fast. Stiles was lost, his leg was hurt and I didn't know where he could possibly be.
"Emily?"
"He's not there".
A bunch of swear words left Scott's mouth, he took a deep breath. "We're coming over".
He hung up the phone leaving me confused as to who the we he was referring to was. I threw on my hoodie, joggers and some trainers all of which didn't match. I ran over to the Stilinski's drive. Sheriff Stilinski was working late tonight, so his car wasn't on the drive but my stomach dropped when I saw that neither was the jeep. Headlights beamed down the road before they were facing me, burning my eyes. I shielded them with my arm as the car came closer. The lights shut off revealing Lydia and Aiden sitting inside the car.
"Lydia what are you doing here?" I asked as she walked past me and to the front door.
"I heard something, I think Stiles is in trouble", she answered placing her hand on the door handle and pushing down. The door slowly creeped opened, it was unlocked.
"Why wouldn't he lock the door?"
I follow Lydia up the stairs to Stiles' bedroom. "What were you doing on his drive?" She turned to me before entering the room.
"Scott called, he said Stiles is in trouble, that his leg was bleeding. He didn't say much but he's on his way over here".
She bit her lip, her nostrils flaring slightly. "We need to look for anything that will lead us to Stiles".
"Something like that". Aiden pushed past me and walked over to Stiles bed. My heart began to pound when I realised what he was referring to. There in the middle of Stiles' bed were scissors impaling his mattress. The red string he uses on his notice board were wrapped around the handle of the scissors abs were still connected to the board. It made no sense, what could this possibly mean?
Heavy footsteps rushed up the stairs and towards Stiles room. I turned my attention away from the menacing looking scissors and towards the door frame, Scott and Isaac soon standing in it. "What are you guys doing here?" Scott asked when he saw Lydia and Aiden in the room with me.
"I heard it", Lydia vaguely responded.
"Don't ask", Aiden quickly adds before Scott says anything. "It gets more confusing when you ask".
"Not as confusing as this". I said bringing Scott's and Isaacs attention to the bed. Scott's eyes widened as they fixate on the scissors and his uneven jaw slightly twitched. "He uses red for unsolved cases".
"What do you think it means?" He asked, stepping towards the bed.
"Maybe he thinks he's a part of an unsolved case?" Aiden suggested.
"Or thinks he is an unsolved case", Isaac adds.
I chewed on my lip, the events of the other night still in my mind. I still had no idea whether Stiles was really involved is Kira's kidnapping and the worst thing is I don't think he knows either. 'Thinks he's a unsolved case' this must be linked, but do I tell everyone. I know this would kill Stiles for them to know, or for them to think of him any differently, that's why he hadn't told them yet.
"Is he still out there?" Lydia asked, a twinge of annoyance in her voice. "Do you not know where he is?"
"He said he's in a industrial basement somewhere. We came here to get a better scent". Scott replied, my heart sunk I had hoped they'd have some inclining as to where he is.
"What did his dad say?"
"We kind of... didn't tell him yet".
"Stiles isn't bleeding and probably freezing somewhere and you didn't call his dad!"
"Scott seriously?" This wasn't making me feel hopeful about finding Stiles.
"He asked us not to. We can find him by scent", he tried to reassure us. "If he was sleepwalking he couldn't have gone far, right?"
"Scott, his jeep isn't on the drive". When I said this his face dropped, he must've been in such a rush he didn't even notice.
Next to me Lydia, get her phone out of her purse and starts dialling a number. "You promised you wouldn't call his dad. I didn't".
"Lydia, come on I can get more help", Scott protested before Aiden shut him down.
"You know she only gets these feelings when someone is about to die right?"
"Don't call his dad. It's five minutes to the station".
"You guys go, Aiden and I will stay here. There's just something here I can feel it".
With everyone on edge I don't think now would be the best time to mention the discovery made other night. We need to find Stiles and I don't know if telling them that Stiles is a possible accessory to kidnapping and attempted murder will help locate where he is... I think.
Sheriff Stilinski was pissed and upset when Scott told him but he didn't let that affect how he dealt with the situation. He fired off information to one of the deputies, he called Parrish, to put an APB out, he asked another to get him a list of industrial basements or anything similar in the area. We had more people looking for him, Scott called Derek and Allison and let them know. The deputies left the room to do as ordered, everything happened to fast, everyone was moving so fast around me. I felt overwhelmed, I didn't know how to handle this, my heart felt heavy, like concrete in my chest. The thought of losing stiles, the thought of not finding him, of him freezing out there... I couldn't think like that. I had to get my head straight and focus on finding him.
"We got it sir, we found his jeep". Parrish informed Sheriff Stilinski.
They found his jeep outside the hospital but when we arrived it was dead and he was no where to be seen. Scott and Isaac must've smelt his scent as they wandered away from the group that were going to the basement and I followed them as they made their way to the roof. Derek had already got there before us, he was standing on the roof looking over at the view of Beacon Hills.
"He not here, not anymore", he said.
"The whole building?" Scott asked.
"Gone".
"I'll go tell Stilinski", Isaac harshly rubbed the back of his neck.
"Go see if you can find Allison". Scott said.
My phone began to vibrate aggressively in my pocket, I felt sick at the thought that it could be Stiles. I exhaled when I saw Lydia's name on my screen. "Hey what's up?"
"He's at eichen house", she exclaimed.
"What... how do you know?"
"I just know". From everything that's happened I've learned to trust Lydia with these things so I didn't question her further.
"I'll let Scott and the Sheriff know now".
I ended the call and rushed over to Scott, who had walked over to talk to Derek. "It's Lydia, she knows where Stiles is"
He nodded and we ran to find Sheriff Stilinski. He was hesitant with this lead, he didn't really know about Lydia special powers neither had seen how correct she had been about everything because of them. With time being of the essence he had to make a decision to spend time searching the hospital where his jeep is, or explore this other lead that has no actual evidence he is there. No matter the choice he'd make Scott and I were on our way to Eichen house.
Lydia and Aiden were already there waiting outside, the sheriff decided to follow this lead and trust Lydia. He was obviously skeptical as when he arrived he was questioning Lydia excessively about how she came to this conclusion. The answers were always the same, I just know, I can feel it, trust me. I had never been inside the Eichen house before, it was dull and depressing, the walls were a horrible shade of yellow. I don't know if this is a place for people who have lost their mind or a place where people lose their minds. I don't think I could ever stay here, the staff walked around in an all white uniform making it seem so clinical, something feels hostile here. I didn't have much time to wander about and explore this haunting place, we had to get to the basement. Sheriff Stilinski lead the group, torch in hand he made his way to the basement door, kicking it open. I felt nervous, my heart was pounding so loudly against my chest, I'm pretty sure I would be sick at any moment. I want to find Stiles, of course I do but I don't know what state I'm going to find him in especially with his injury on his leg. I remember when Stiles has sleep paralysis before, that worries me... this scares me.
"Stiles!" Lydia's shouts echoed throughout the basement, they were loud and would easily be heard by anyone in the basement. So why was no one answering ? "Stiles!"
The basement wasn't big, so it didn't take long for us to realise no one was here. The ground looked undisturbed, it was covered in dust but nothing seemed out of place, no footprints on the floor, no blood from his injury, nothing.
I looked over to Lydia whose brows were knitted together. "I don't get it. This has to be it".
"Then where is he huh?" Sheriff Stilinski chest rose and fell heavily, anger slowly seeping into his body. "Where is he? Where is he?" He towers over Lydia shouting at her.
My protective instincts kicked in and I moved between Lydia and Sheriff Stilinski.
"This isn't her fault, so leave her", I snapped at him. Anger has risen in me as quickly as it left him. He retreated backwards, his eyes darted to Lydia cowering behind me.
"I'm sorry".
"Come on, let's go". I wrap my arm around Lydia's shoulder and lead her out of the basement. I was frustrated, I was confused, upset and annoyed. I was feeling a lot at this minute and my mind was racing but I would never take that out on Lydia. She told me she made the connection because of Barrow, a mental taste filled my mouth, maybe I should've told them about what we found out. Maybe the connection could've been made earlier and we could've crossed this place off of our list earlier, Lydia wouldn't have felt responsible. I didn't feel brave enough to admit my mistake and apologise for it, I tried to I opened my mouth but no words came out.
It was raining outside, I sat in the curb outside Eichen house, Lydia, Scott and Aiden next to me. The sheriff had left to continue the search for Stiles. The rest of us felt helpless.
"Guys", I bit my lip. It was time I was honest to my friends. Me keeping this secret is hurting Stiles more than telling it would. "I need to tell you something, something I should've told you earlier but I couldn't make sense of it and I don't think Stiles could either. Well, until tonight".
"What do you mean?" Scott asked shifting his weight on the curb.
I told them about what we found in the chemistry room, the chalkboard, how it matched Stiles and what it meant. "Tonight, him being lost, the scissors, the red string, I realised it was him confirming that he had something to do with Kira's disappearance. I think tonight he's gone missing, I think he's trying to protect us from him somehow. I don't know why he would be in a basement or why his leg would be hurting but right now it's the only thing that makes sense".
"Why didn't you guys tell us earlier?" Lydia asked.
"It wasn't my place to tell and I knew Stiles would if it was something important".
"That's why he connected the string to Barrow, that's why I brought us here. There's a connection I knew it". After this revelation you'd think Lydia would be happy but her face dropped even more.
"I knew". Scott said so quietly I almost missed it.
"What do you mean you knew? Did Stiles tell you?"
"On the phone he mentioned something about the message in the chemistry room being his fault", his mouth twitched. He was picking up rocks on the side of the road and throwing them, clearly frustrated.
"I don't understand why he would do that though?" Lydia shook her head.
"I don't think he does either, the Stiles I know would never do that? So either someone is framing him and making him believe it's his doing or..." I said, scared to carry the sentence on, to acknowledge the worst case scenario.
"Or?" Lydia asked.
"Something more sinister is going on".
The next half an hour went by in a blur, Scott received a call from his mum, they found Stiles. He was in the woods, I don't know how she knew to find him there but I don't care I'm just so happy he's been found. They took him to the hospital as he was outside most of the night, in the freezing cold, barefoot and in his pyjamas. I watched him as he slept peacefully in the hospital bed, he looked so calm. Not like someone who would tell a mad man to kill Kira. That isn't the Stiles I know, it's not the Stiles I'm watching. I felt a twinge sensation in my chest, like my heart was hurting. I couldn't stop the tear that fell down my cheek and onto the floor, neither could I stop the couple more. That was such an emotional rollercoaster and the thought of losing Stiles made me feel so overwhelmed and heart broken. I would feel lost without him, I wouldn't feel like myself. I, I don't know. Looking at him, I don't just want him, I need him. Not in the way that I need to depend on him but in the way that now knowing life with him I wouldn't ever want to experience it without him. There's a burning fire inside me, longing for his touch, his voice to tell me he's alright. I think... no, I know, I love him. I've never felt love before, never thought I could but this is the most powerful emotion I've ever felt and it wouldn't make sense to be anything else. I love Stiles... my Stiles.