viii. CURRENTS

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CARTER THOUGHT HER entire body was going to explode; they were going to have to call in a hazmat team to scrape her organs off the walls.

She never felt so much anger toward one person in her life, as she stood in front of the man with a hard glare on her face. She didn't even know what to do with herself, her stance changes every other second.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Carter began, making dramatic hand gestures by her sides. "While I was going insane, thinking that you were mauled by some incompetent Alpha, you were actually rolling around in the sheets with my English teacher? And you didn't even bother to call me to tell me that you had actually been alive this entire fucking time!" Carter snapped, her throat and chest burned from the amount of anger she was forcing in her voice.

Derek Hale stood in front of her with a pained expression. He had been anxiously waiting for Carter's silent glares to explode into a whirl wind of profanities. Cora was in the corner of the room, opting to remain silent as the pair fought. That had been the first time the three had been in the same room together since Carter uninvited herself from the loft after Isaac had been kicked out.

"Carter-"

"Don't "Carter" me," She hissed, her brown eyes darkening with anger as she moved closer to him. "Do you have any idea what happened last night? What I heard? What I thought about doing to myself? Scott, Isaac, and Boyd tried to kill themselves last night!"

"Carter, I'm sorry," Derek sighed, his hands running over his face.

Carter's eyes narrowed into slits, and before Derek could react, there was an intense stinging sensation falling across his right cheek. He didn't need to open his eyes to envision what happened and what she looked like; Carter's left hand outstretched as her eyes filled with fury.

His eyes slowly fluttered open, "I deserved that."

"You deserve a hell-of-a-lot more than a simple slap to the face," Carter let out a bitter laugh.

Whether she felt the slap or not, it still hurt Carter just as much as it hurt Derek.

He wrapped his arms tightly around the girl, squeezing her to his chest. Derek knew what he did was wrong, he should have called her the second he was up and moving around - he should've called to see if she was okay physically and emotionally.

Carter's sanity was slowly slipping from her fingers; he could see it in her eyes.

Derek saw how much that motel had broken Carter. Derek didn't need to ask to know that she heard something, thought about something awful, something that drastically changed everything in her life. Derek had always been the one that saw through Carter's tough exterior the easiest - Carter would never admit it, but he did and she knew why it was so easy for him. They were the same, through and through.

Carter couldn't help but let her lips curl slightly in anger at the sight of Jennifer Blake. All of the anger and frustration she had held toward Derek, was now targeted on the brunette teacher that had kept her brother from telling her that he was alive.

"Good morning, as you all know, Mr. Harris is still missing - I mean, sick. Anyway, I'm filling in while we all hope and pray for a more qualified substitute to take my place." Ms. Blake announced, Carter's eyes narrowing at the teacher. "Okay, so, let's get started, shall we?"

She turned to write something on the chalkboard, Stiles then leaned to his right, moving closer to Carter and Scott and whispered: "Hey, my dad said that the ER attending wasn't strangled, but did die from asphyxiation. They just don't know how."

"Do you think the on-call doctor could still be alive?" Scott wondered, his dark eyebrows furrowing.

"I don't know," Stiles replied, his voice getting lower as he moved closer to Carter. "But, guys, there's got to be at least twenty other doctors in that hospital. At least, you know?"

"Any one of them could be next," Carter added.

Scott opened his mouth to speak but just before he could get a word out, there was a loud vibration that caught all three teens' attention. Scott scrambled to pull his phone out of his pocket, ducking his head under the table, voice in a hushed whisper as he answered the call.

"Hey, Doc. Sorry, I'm in class right now. Can I call you back later?" Scott asked, Carter and Stiles only being able to hear Scott's replies. All of a sudden, Scott's voice was rising slightly in panic, "Doc, Doc, Doc, Doc, what' s happening?"

"What?" Carter breathed out, watching Scott's terrified expression.

"I think Deaton's going to be taken."

Without a second thought, Scott was packing his items, prepared to leave the school as quickly as possible. Carter refused to let him go on his own, collecting her own possessions as well. Ms. Blake threatened to give the duo after school detention.

Carter's steps ceased when she reached the doorway of the classroom, her lips pulling into a snarl as she turned around the face the teacher. "Actually, I think after school detention would work better for you, than us. Because clearly, you need to spend more time at the school rather than rolling around in the sheets with someone you hardly know."

With that, Carter whirled back around and ran after Scott, leaving Jennifer standing behind her cheeks with red cheeks as the classroom erupted with snickers and chuckles. Carter didn't care; Deaton was about to become the Darach's next sacrifice, and Carter knew that Deaton was Scott's fatherly figure. He couldn't lose him.

By the time the two arrived at the animal clinic, it was already too late. A grave look was on Sheriff Stilinski's face as his head turned immediately to the sound of the door opening.

Scott panted as he entered the clinic, but froze in his place when he noticed Sheriff Stilinski and his deputy, Tara, standing in the middle of the clinic. Carter's hand reached out and grabbed Scott's wrist, trying to keep him grounded; they were already overwhelmed with the Alpha pack and the Darach alone, but now someone close to home had been taken. The stakes seemed to be being raised.

"How did you know?" Scott breathed out, the two officers now facing the teens.

"Stiles called me as soon as you two left school," Stilinski explained, Carter nodded softly as she realized that was something Stiles would do. "I'm sorry. Your boss' car is still here."

Carter felt Scott's body begin to sway backward, stumbling back until he sunk into a chair against the wall. Without thinking, he tugged Carter down beside him, pulling his wrist out of her hand before intertwining their fingers.

"The back door was wide open," Sheriff continued. "Scott. I need you to tell me everything."

Scott and Carter looked toward each other, their looks sharing the secrets neither office would be able to decipher. The teens knew they needed to reveal their secrets if they wanted to save Deaton.

No secret remained hidden for long.

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Minutes later, Stiles found himself at the scene of the crime, the three teens watched silently as Stilinski and his deputy searched the compound. The Darach was able to outsmart them, leaving no trace that an actual crime had been committed. Stiles leaned his back against the wall with his hand on Carter's lower back, Scott was seated on a stool while Carter stood between the two boys, he refused to let go of her hand.

Sheriff Stilinski's hand clamped atop of Scott's shoulder, "All right, we're gonna do everything we can. Right now, the best thing you can do is go back to school."

Scott nodded, Stilinski then backed away and over toward Tara's position, Scott's eyes flickered between Carter and Stiles before nodding toward the back room of the clinic. They nodded softly, glancing over their shoulders as Scott led them both into the room.

Once the door was shut, the three looked toward one another, Stiles and Carter completely unaware as to what Scott was about to say.

"We have to tell him."

Raising a brow, Stiles spoke: "You mean, like, tell him, tell him? Or tell him something else that isn't telling him what I think you want to tell him?"

"You know what I mean," Scott interjects.
Stiles' fingers found themselves gripping around the cat cage tightly, "You remember how your mom reacted? She didn't look you in the eye for, like, a week."

"And she got over it," Scott counter quietly, Carter nodded in agreement. Melissa did end up having full confidence in her son. She looked past the cursed qualities, viewing them as his new abilities to protect the ones around him. "And - And it actually made us closer."

Stiles shook his head softly, his eyes locked on his father's figure through the small window on the door. "I don't know, dude. I mean, look at him. Come on, he's completely overwhelmed as it is."

"He's overwhelmed because he has no clue what's happening," Scott countered. "He's got people dying in his town, the town he's supposed to protect. And it's not his fault that he doesn't know what's happening. He's gonna find out sooner or later."

"Okay, but is now really the right time?" Carter asked, trying to get Scott to see it from Stiles' point of view. Stiles didn't want to get his dad to dragged into that like they had been; he would be putting the only parent he had left in danger. Stiles didn't know if he could handle if thinking about things ending badly for his father.

"What if not telling him now gets someone else killed?" Scott pondered.

"What if telling him gets him killed, huh?" Stiles countered. "I mean, okay, look, I get that Deaton's been like a father to you. I get that, okay? But this isn't - Scott, this is my actual father. I can't..." Stiles paused, looking toward the ground as he tried to recollect his bearings. "I can't lose both of my parents, all right?" Stiles managed to breath out, his voice soft as he glancing toward Carter, knowing that she understood the feeling. "Not both of them."

Carter gulped, trying to push away the memories of her parents as they came rushing to the forefront of her brain. Images of them laughing, teaching Derek how to control the shift on the full moon - the happier times in their family. Carter felt tears well up in her eyes; the realization that she was orphaned hitting her like a half-ton semi.

"You're right."

Stiles sighed, "No, I'm not. I'm not right. I'll tell him."

"We'll help you," Carter promised, knowing that her and Scott would be able to convince Stilinski with their supernatural abilities.

The three of them hesitantly turned to face the door, opening it only to reveal the last person any of them expected to see. Marin Morrell, the emissary for the Alpha pack, stood in the center of the clinic. She was speaking to Sheriff and Tara, regarding the disappearance of her brother.

"Please, whatever you need, however you can help find my brother." Morrell assured, Carter's body stiffened at the sight of the woman. They glanced at one another in confusion, Stiles quirking up a brow as Stilinski excused himself, leaving just the four of them in the clinic.

Morrell's gaze fell upon the three teenagers, her eyes hardening as she made her way over to them, "Listen closely, all of you. No sheriff, deputy, or detective is going to be able to find him."

"You don't have to ask us for help," Scott pointed out.

"Actually, I'm trying to help you." Morrell revealed. "Because if you're going to find my brother, then you need to use the one person who might actually have the ability to seek out the supernatural."

Carter's eyes widened in realization and her lips parted slightly.

"Lydia."

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"A Ouija board?" Lydia asked in disbelief, watching as Stiles slammed the board down in front of herself, Carter, and Cora Hale. Stiles had found Lydia in Finstock's office while Cora had been threatening the strawberry-blonde that she'd rip her tongue out of her head if she didn't stop seeing Aiden.

"Also called a spirit board," Stiles added, setting up the board and the piece which would connect them with the spirits on the other side. "And it's worth a shot."

"A shot in the dark," Lydia replied, glancing toward Carter, who was sitting to her right while blocking Cora from getting near her.

"Would you just try it, please, okay?" Stiles insisted. "Let's not forget who this is for. Scott's boss, the guy who has saved our collective asses on more than one occasion."

"Okay, so do we all do this?" Cora questioned, her finger circling around the board.

"Yeah," Stiles answered with uncertainty, nodding his head nervously before looking toward Carter. The younger Hale sighed, nodding her head in assurance, Stiles mumbled: "Yeah."

With that, all four of them placed both of their hands on the center piece, Stiles glanced between all three of the girls. "You guys ready?" He asked, Lydia looked completely done with the entire theory.

"Yeah," Lydia muttered, pursing her lips as she looked down at the board.

Carter nodded toward Stiles, Cora stating with annoyance: "Yes."

Stiles licked his lips, staring down at the board, "Where's Dr. Deaton?"

They all continued to stare down at the board, waiting for a long moment in anticipation to see if anything were to happen. Cora and Stiles' eyes slowly look toward Lydia, the strawberry-blonde oblivious to the fact that they were staring at her.

It was then that Lydia's eyes widened, the girl glancing back and forth between Cora and Stiles as she realized that they were looking at her. Carter was the only one not staring at the girl, trying to keep some of the pressure off of her. She knew from experience how difficult it was to understand an ability you know nothing about. The only person that seemed to know anything about Carter's abilities had been Deucalion, and she definitely wasn't willing to confront him about it - she decided that she would just learn as she went.

"What?" Lydia inquired.

"Aren't you gonna answer it?" Stiles asked, nodding his head toward the board.

Lydia's eyes danced around for a few moments, "Oh, I don't know the answer. I - I thought we were asking some sort of spirit."

"Well, do you know any spirits?" Cora questioned, trying to siphon as much information out of the girl as possible.

Lydia glanced over at Stiles in question, her eyebrows furrowing as she pointed a finger over at the oldest Hale in the room. "Is she for real?"

Stiles groaned, digging through his pocket, tugging out a set of keys. "Okay, these are Deaton's keys for the clinic. Close your eyes, and I'm gonna put them in your hand, and then we're just gonna try and see if you can feel out for his location."

"It's called psychometry," Carter added, trying to make the whole theory sound a little more legit by using larger words. Lydia, on the other hand, was too busy fumbling with her fingers to care.

Pointing toward her brunette friend, Lydia pointed out: "I'm not a psychic."

"You're something! Okay?" Stiles shouted. "Just - Lydia, put out your hand and-"

Lydia sighed, allowing her head to fall back and closing her eyes before sticking her hand out. Stiles held the keys above her palm, the metal jingling softly as he set them down in her hand. Lydia's shoulders flinched slightly, letting out a hum as the metal touched her skin.

"What?"

Lydia began to play with the set of keys with her fingers, "They're cold."

Stiles lurched forward slightly, looking completely done with Lydia Martin at that point. Carter didn't blame him - as much as she had come to love the girl, she wasn't exactly taking the whole thing very serious.

"Lydia, concentrate. Please. Trying to save lives here," Stiles explained bitterly. "For the love of God."

Lydia rolled her eyes before soon shutting them, tightening her grip on the keys. Carter craned her neck, watching as Lydia tried to get a feel for Deaton's location. In all honesty, the idea had been a bit farfetched - even for them - but it was better than doing nothing at all. Lydia was silent, clamping her eyes shut even tighter.

Stiles watched silently for a moment as
Lydia's eyebrows furrowed together in the middle, before questioning: "What is it? What do you see?"

Lydia opened her eyes and simply said: "Nothing."

Carter exhaled slowly, rubbing her hands over her face in exhaustion. She knew that Lydia was trying to help them, and at that moment, that was all they could ask for. Everything had become so complicated, Carter was having a difficult time trying to keep up with all the information as it twisted and turned inside her head becoming a jumbled and unorganized mess of letters and bloody bodies.

When the key scenario proved to be a failed and feeble attempt, he immediately moved onto to the next by holding out a number two pencil in front of Lydia. She cocked a brow at him, disbelief crossing her features. It definitely had not been one of their finest ideas.

"Automatic writing?" Lydia asked, looking up at the only boy in the room skeptically.

Stiles nodded his head once, his face tight with seriousness. Lydia opened her mouth to speak, quickly shutting as she realized that words weren't going to get her out of it. She grasped the pencil in her fingers before opening up the notebook placed in front of her. Carter, Cora, and Stiles inches forward watching as the lead moved across the page with ease. Carter's head tilted in confusion as she realized that Lydia wasn't writing words, but drawing a picture.

The lines of the drawing start to put themselves together, Carter noticed that Lydia was drawing a tree when they were in the midst of trying to save Deaton from being the Darach's next sacrifice.

"Lydia, what are you doing?" Carter demanded, unable to bite back her words. "Are you seriously drawing, right now? What the hell is that?"

"A tree," Lydia mused simply, her hand continued to glide across the paper. Carter's jaw fell slack as she tried to keep herself from rising to her feet and walking right out of the room.

"A tr-" Carter cut herself off, the three of them staring at the strawberry-blonde with a look of annoyance. "Lydia, you're supposed to be writing words, like in sentences, something like a location, something that would tell us where he is." Carter pinched the bridge of her nose, fighting back a groan as the familiar heat crept up her spine. "We're trying to save lives - and you're drawing a fucking tree!"

Lydia raised a brow at her panicked friend, "What's wrong with my tree? And well, maybe you should've said that I was supposed to be writing words."

From beside Carter, her sister questioned: "Isn't she supposed to be some kind of genius?"

"Genius, yes," Lydia snapped quickly, defending her level of intelligence. "Psychic...no. Honestly, I don't know why you're even bothering with me anyway. Especially since it's obvious you should be talking to Danny."

Stiles and Carter's eyes widened at her words, their heads shot up. The two locked eyes, trying to figure out why they needed to talk to Danny. Carter had been made aware that Danny had been taken to the hospital the night before, somehow getting mistletoe in his system while he suffered from a collapsed lung. Just the thought of the poisonous plant caused all of the memories from the Glen Capri motel to come rushing to the surface.

"Wait, what?" Stiles back tracked. "Why Danny?"

"Because," Scott's voice rang out, all four of them looking up see him standing in the doorway, his palm pressed against his shoulder where blood had been soaking through his shirt. Carter pulled back the collar of her shirt to see a small horizontal wound inflicted on her shoulder - she hadn't even felt it. "Last night, he was a target. But he wasn't a sacrifice."

Everything had changed in a matter of seconds.

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Carter found herself in the one place she never wanted to visit unless she absolutely had to - the hospital.

Slowly entering Danny's room, the soft beat of the heart monitor could be heard, showing that Danny had been full of life. His appearance hadn't changed since the last time they had saw him - his face peaceful, not worn by the crazy supernatural world Stiles and Carter's friends had been thrown into.

Stiles slowly made his way to the side of the bed, noticing that Danny was soundly sleeping. Stiles leaned forward slightly and whispered: "Danny, you awake?" he placed his hand on Danny's shoulder before shaking him. "Danny?" he began to gently slap the hospitalized boy's cheek. Carter and Stiles both jumped back when Danny suddenly gasped. "Wow."

Carter sighed, rubbing at her temples as her head began to throb. "Would you hurry up?"

"Don't rush me," Stiles whispered back harshly, looking at something that was on the floor next to the bed, he slowly lowered himself to the floor. Carter crept over toward him, her foot caught on the leg of the chair beside the bed and caused the wooden bottom to scrape across the floor loudly.

Danny softly stirred, his head turning to face Carter, his eyes barely open, "What are you doing?" he asked Carter, his voice sounded slurred.

"I'm not doing anything, Danny," Carter began. "This is just a dream that you're having." Stiles popped his head up, watching Danny cautiously before quickly ducking back down and returning to going through Danny's bag.

"What are you two doing in here? Why is Stiles going through my stuff?" Danny questioned.

Stiles' head popped back up, "Right - but only in the dream, remember? Dream. You're dreaming."

"Why would I dream about you going through my stuff?"

"I don't know that, Danny, okay? It's your dream. Take responsibility for it. Shut up and go back to sleep." Stiles muttered, sinking back down to the floor.

Carter, with as much delicateness she could muster, continued to make her way toward Stiles. When she approached, she crouched down next to him and peered over his shoulder to see an essay packet titled: Telluric Currents: Research Proposal.

"Oh, Danny boy, you might've actually found something here." Stiles mumbled.

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Carter looked and felt like the epitome of death as she walked into the animal clinic.

As soon as they had left the hospital, she felt like something was slowly beginning to suck the life-source right out of her body. Taking away everything that once made her beautiful, washing away the glow from her skin and showing a completely different girl. Something bad was happening to her; she just didn't know it yet.

"Okay, so, what does this kid's homework have to do with finding Deaton?" Cora Hale demanded, her brows furrowed as she looked between the four teenagers in front of her as they all stood huddled around an examination table in Deaton's clinic.

"Because it's not just homework, okay?" Stiles explained, divulging in the information he and Carter had found back at the hospital. "It's a project on geomagnetic fields. They flow through the earth. They can even be affected by lunar phases, all right? Now, look at this," Stiles began, flipping through Danny's packet of research, Scott and Carter were putting together the pieces of a blue transparent map. "This is note from Harris on Danny's proposal."

The strawberry-blonde that was stationed beside the boy leaned over, her eyes scanning over the words written in red: "I strongly advise you to choose another subject. The ideas here, while innovative and thoughtful, border on pseudo-science. Not suitable for class."

Scott's eyes widened in realization, "Harris wasn't just a sacrifice. He knew something."

"Now, check this out," Stiles continued, tugging out a map and unfolding it so that the rest of them could see it. "Allison's dad wasn't the only one with a map, all right? Danny had one, too." Their eyes fell onto it, Carter immediately noticed the long winding red and blue line trailing along the mark of the town. "Danny marked all the telluric currents, okay? Now, the weird thing about Beacon Hills is that it actually is a beacon. You wouldn't believe how much energy flowing through this earth is around this town."

"Stiles, look, they match," Scott called out, lining up the blue-transparent pieces of the map over Danny's. The wheels within Scott's brain began to turn, a theory forming in his head as he quickly grabbed a pen. "All right, there's three places, right?" He circled the location of the clinic. "Where they're kidnapped, and then the place where their body was found."

Pointing toward the location, Lydia stated: "Look, that's right on the telluric current."

"So, maybe where he was sacrificed is somewhere in between."

"Let me see that," Stiles muttered, extending his hand and snatching the pen out of Scott's grasp, "You said there's six more bodies to be found," Stiles mumbled, marking an X through various locations on the map. "Deaton's one of them. He's got to be somewhere in between, right?"

"Stop," Carter whispered, a nagging feeling pinched at the back of her brain as blurry images flashed through her mind; the pieces finally falling into place. She placed her hand atop of Stiles' before guiding it slowly toward the crossing of two lines. "He's in the vault. He's in the same vault."

Now aware of Deaton's location, the five teens were rushing to collect all of their belongings, trying to get to Deaton before the time ran out. Scott was the first to bound in the direction of the door, Carter and Stiles in tow.

"Guys, hold on," Lydia called out.

"Lydia, we don't have time," Scott pressed, turning away from the doorway to face the strawberry-blonde.

A grave expression crossed Cora Hale's face, her eyes scanning the screen of her phone. "It's Boyd - the plan didn't work. They cut the power."

Carter felt her heart lurch into her throat, a surge of panic coursed through her chest. Derek was placed in harm's way once again, she felt the back of her eyes pinch as she fought off the overwhelming urge to cry. She had already mourned for Derek once that week, she wasn't prepared to do it again knowing that that time it might actually be real.

"It's just like he said," Scott breathed out, Carter glanced at him in confusion. "Go - I can save Deaton myself."

"What?" Stiles cried out. "Scott, what about us?"

"Cora and Carter can't get there fast enough without you," Scott insisted, nodding to his best friend in assurance. "Go. We can save both of them."

"All right, let's go," Stiles stated.

By the time they made it to Derek's apartment complex, the four of them found themselves in the basement where all the power switches were. Cora, Stiles, and Lydia's faces held permanent expressions of worry ever since Carter had let out a cry of agony as four deep slashes clawed at her stomach during the drive to the complex.

"Okay, what do we do?" Stiles asked, panic is his voice as they stared at the wall of switches.

"Um-" Carter was cut off as another scream belted out of her mouth, five more lacerations marred themselves on her abdomen.

The three glanced back at her with expressions of sympathy mixed with worry before they quickly began to tug at all of the levers. Stiles' fingers quickly danced across the screen of his phone, sending Isaac a message letting him know that they were turning the power back on.

The electricity hit Carter faster than she could comprehend, her vision instantly went grainy as waves of electricity pulsed through her body. She quickly dropped to the ground, body convulsing as screams of agony ripped her throat raw, blood streaming out of her nose as she experienced Derek being electrocuted.

Her body felt completely fried and her brain was starting to shut down. She could feel Derek's ability to heal on top of her own as it started to piece her back together from the inside out. Stiles quickly lifted Carter off of the floor, hoisting her up in his arms as the four of them rushed out of the basement and toward Derek's loft.

By the time the four of them came skidding to halt in front of the already opened door, Carter was completely healed and up on her feet, water flooded the loft as a body lay still in the water. Derek's shoulders were slumped forward as he wept to himself. Boyd was lying dead in the water.

The teenage boy had his life taken away from him against his will; and Carter remembered. She remembered when her and Scott had tried to convince Boyd that being a werewolf would change everything for him - that he didn't want to become like Derek.

Cora and Carter rushed forward, feet smacking against the water. Cora heaved her own body over her best friend, tears streaming freely whilst Carter dropped to her knees, sliding across the water; the momentum causing her to crash into Derek, but at the same time, the two siblings embraced each other tightly. Derek's arms wrapped around her waist as Carter comfortingly ran her fingers through the hair on the back of his head, her shoulder supporting his head as he sobbed.

Nothing could change the fact that despite everything they had gone through together, Carter had and always would be the one there for Derek.

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not edited

RIP: VERNON BOYD