"Woah, what do you mean I'm stuck here?" I breathe, holding my hands out. I wasn't sure if I heard her right. "There has to be a way back. My friends-"

"They can fight this battle without you," she says, her tone still emotionless. It made me furious how calm she was about this. "You were lucky enough to escape death the first time around, Corey. But a second time? We can't allow it."

I clench my fists. "Take me back!"

She's still calm. "We can't do that-"

The next thing I know, I'm punching her. My hand is smacking against her cheekbone as her head flies to the side, but it didn't look normal. It looked as if I had just punched a dummy. She stays still for a moment before slowly bringing her head back to where it was, staring at me as if I hadn't done anything. Her eyes were so emotionless, it gave me the chills.

"You seem to forget that I'm not an actual person," she says, her eyes distant. "Pain won't hurt me."

I fling my wrist, my knuckles still hurting from the punch. "I don't care what you are...I have to go back!"

She readjusts her folded hands. "You need to know the rules."

"Why in the hell do I need to know the rules if I can't go back?" I counteract, wanting to see some type of confusion or panic in her eyes, but there was nothing.

Jennifer stays perfectly still. "You need to come to terms with why you're still here. You're a weapon Corey; you are capable of more worse things than you can imagine. You being here protects your friends; don't you want that?"

"The only way I can protect them is when I'm there," I snap back, taking a step away from her as I place my hands on top of my head. I start to pace out of frustration, thinking of a way to come back to them. To come back to Allison.

Jennifer watches me closely. "Let me show you."

My eyes flick back up to her. "Show me what?"

"Show you why you're here," she nods, lifting her chin as she outstretches her arm for me to take. "Only if you want to understand."

Of course I wanted to understand. I wanted to know why my conscious was trying to tell me what to do and how to follow the rules. I wanted to see what I was capable of. The only thing I was scared of was losing my motivation to get out of here. I worried that whatever she was going to show me would change my thoughts about leaving.

I weighed the pros and cons of the situation before taking a step towards her, my heart racing out of control. My small hand reaches out and grabs her own before I'm plunged into darkness again, something I was growing used to by now. Visions dance in my head before one of them sticks, feeling as if I was watching a movie, only Jennifer was right there with me.

"What is this?" I breathe. We were standing in the chemistry room, watching Cora, Lydia, Stiles, and I play with a ouija board. I recognized the situation; this was when Deaton was taken and we needed to find him before he was sacrificed. I wasn't sure why this had anything to do with me being here.

"Remember this?" Jennifer says to me, watching the four of us with close eyes as I take a step towards us. "This is just one of the many situations that I was talking about."

Many situations.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, looking back at her as I step up in front of the table, watching Stiles hand me a pair of keys—Deaton's keys.

Jennifer stays still. "A banshee's scream enables a seer to see farther into the future at a direct time, but you already knew that. What you didn't know was that every time you looked at the future, you altered the time line."

"I didn't alter anything," I snap back, looking over at her. "I saved Deaton's life!"

Jennifer's tone changes then. "At the cost of Boyd's. Boyd wasn't supposed to die that night—Deaton was. But when you looked into the future and told your friends where to find him, it changed Deaton's fate. The universe is a mysterious place, Corey. There's always different paths to take, and you chose a different one that night that wasn't supposed to play out. At the cost of saving Deaton, you sacrificed Boyd."

I was speechless. I wasn't sure if I should even listen to what she had to say, but I was hypnotized. I was numb. "W-What?"

"Whatever you save, the universe takes," Jennifer says, her tone back to normal. "It's all about balance."

"Boyd..." I fade out, looking back at the table to watch Lydia scream. There was no sound however as I watched Stiles and Cora slam their palms to their ears, but I just held onto the keys and waited. "Boyd died because of me."

"Deaton would have died if you hadn't of used your ability to find him," Jennifer states, but it didn't make me feel any better. I hated that my ability used her face to tell me all of this.

I shake my head. "So life for me is basically picking and choosing who dies? What path to take?"

"That's one way to put it," she nods. "Sometimes though, there's bigger consequences on different paths that you take. That's why you are here; so you can't alternate the timeline."

"You said that this was one of the many situations," I breathe, remembering what she had said a minute ago. "What else did I mess up?"

She doesn't even have to stop and think. "You don't realize it when you do it. That's the beauty of it all. Despite how many things you've changed, everything still manages to turn out on top. At least that part of the universe is on your side."

"You didn't answer me," I snap, angry at myself that I had this ability. "What other instances?"

"I can't tell you that," she says simply. "There's too many...you wouldn't be able to determine what's real and what wasn't."

"Then lesson learned," I state, walking back over to her. "I get it; I can't use my abilities anymore. Now let me go, please."

She holds her ground. "Corey, you don't get it. You're here so you can't be of use to Deucalion. If he knows what you know, too many mess ups in the timeline will occur. It's too risky."

I was growing more frustrated by the second. First she tells me what I can and cannot do, and then she tells me that I can't go back. The two things weren't just matching up right to me. "At least let me see Allison...please."

Jennifer stares at me for a long moment, thinking about what to do. I could tell that something was spinning in her mind to tell me no, but then she surprised me by holding out her hand again. It didn't take much thinking this time from me before I grab it, being plunged into darkness again. Images swirl before the next thing I know, I'm standing in the clinic, staring at myself in the ice water.

A chill runs up my arms at the thought of the cold water before I hear Allison shout from behind me. "What happened! Scott-"

"He was there with us," Scott says to her, grabbing her arms to contain her. I saw then that she was crying and fighting against him, angry yet upset. "He should have came back. Maybe the connection wasn't that strong."

Allison gets really angry then as she rips her arms away from Scott, her hard eyes meeting his own. "No...you do not have the right to say that. God, Scott, I-"

She cuts off then as she breaks out into tears, her head falling into Scott's arms.

"Don't lose hope yet, Allison," Scott breathes into her hair as she grips his shirt, her sobs echoing in my mind. I wanted to reach out to her and hold her like Scott was. It's felt like forever since I last held her like that.

Allison looks back over at me in the tub, tears streaming down her face. "Corey, please come back."

"I'm here," I shout before I realized what I was saying. "I'm right here!"

I felt like I was back on the other side again; invisible to everyone. Only this time, Allison couldn't see me either.

Suddenly though, I hear a loud crash in the other room. It sounded like a chair or something else being thrown, making me wonder what in the hell was going on now. Allison lifts her head off of Scott as the two look at the doorway, wondering to themselves what that was all about. It didn't take long before a figure appears in the doorway, making my fists clench.

"What in the hell did you do to him!" I hear Deucalion boom, eyes blaring red. Scott steps in front of Allison as Deucalion walks forwards and grabs Scott by the throat, claws against his neck. "The lunar eclipse is in a few hours, and I don't have a move!"

Scott gasps as Allison backs away, and that was when I saw that there was a dagger laying there on the table behind her. She was reaching for it. "He-he's going to c-come back."

"You better hope so, or else Allison over there won't have a heart to care," Deucalion roars, making me infuriated. I couldn't do anything but stand there and watch as Deucalion threatens my girlfriend and nearly kills my friend.

Jade appears in the doorway then, cuts healing on her face. "Deucalion; put him down. This isn't his fault."

Deucalion's eyes clear. "Your right, it's not his fault...it's hers."

Something sparks inside of me as I watch Deucalion throw Scott onto one of the tables nearby, the objects on top flying left and right. Deucalion marches towards Allison as she quickly grabs the dagger, pointing it towards him. She trembles as tears continued to fall, and I could tell on her face that she knew she couldn't beat him with something like a dagger.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Deucalion laughs before his smile goes cold. He reaches out and rips the dagger from her hands before throwing it into the wall across the room, it sticking in the plaster. My heart races in my chest as I watch Deucalion walk towards Allison, pressing her up against the wall.

"Wake up," I breathe under my breath, talking to myself as I looked back at the tub. Jennifer looks over at me and at what I was doing as I kneel down by myself in the tub, hearing Allison's screams in the background. "Wake up!"

As if myself heard it, my eyes dart from behind my eyelids. I watch with joy as I start to move in the tub of water, starting to wake up. Jennifer starts to walk forwards out of fear as she shakes her head. "Stop-"

"Wake up!" I scream one more time, feeling myself start to slip away to consciousness. Darkness starts to close around the edges of my vision when I see Jennifer there in my face, her expression written with defeat. I was going back, whether she liked it or not.

"Remember what I said," she says, knowing that she couldn't keep me here any longer. "Don't let Deucalion get what he wants! Don't try and change the timeline!"

And then, she was gone.

Water fills my lungs as I choke on the substance, feeling the water against my skin. I use my hands to push myself up out of the tub as a gasp fills the room, everyone's eyes landing on me. I hear Allison gasp out of relief before I open my eyes, seeing the same thing I had seen a minute ago. Deucalion still had her pressed up against the wall, eyes red.

"You got lucky this time," Deucalion snarls at Allison as he steps away from her, letting her run to me. She continues to cry as she wraps me in a hug, not caring whether or not I was wet.

"I thought I lost you," she shakes her head. "God, please don't sacrifice yourself ever again."

I smile at her. "I know where he is. I know where your father is."

Her eyes are bright as she looks at me, something telling me that we were running out of time. She stares at me before I see Jade walk back into the room, Lydia in her grasp. Lydia was thrashing against her as she tried to get away, a couple of claw marks on her arms. I hated Jade for hurting her.

"The eclipse is in three hours, Corey," Deucalion informs me as Allison helps me out of the tub, grabbing me a towel. "So do what you do best."

I wasn't sure what he was meaning at first, but then I realized that he wanted me to look into the future. That was why Lydia was here; to scream. If this would have happened before I had gone under, I would have been all for it to take down Jennifer, but now after listening to her tell me not to expose the future, I didn't want to.

But I didn't have a choice.

"Lydia, scream," Deucalion says to her as she takes a deep breath, her mouth forming into an O shape. I went to cover my ears to stop myself from seeing the future, but the sound hit me before I could do anything to stop it.

I'm plunged into my mind as I find myself standing in a metal building; one with a spiral shape on the wall. I hear sounds of struggle before I turn around and see Deucalion and Jennifer fighting, Derek and Scott there as well. I watched it all to every last detail; like what moves Jennifer used and even Deucalion himself. It didn't take long before Lydia's scream fades, sending me back into reality. I gasp as I come back, feeling weak after sacrificing myself and then seeing into the future.

Deucalion steps forwards. "What did you see?"

I hesitate. I couldn't tell him...I just couldn't. "I can't tell you."

"What!" Deucalion booms, red eyes glowing again. "Tell me! You said you were with me!"

I shake my head. "I can't tell you; it will mess up the timeline-"

"Fine," Deucalion says as his claws extend. He pushes Allison to the ground as he steps towards me, eyes burning into my own. "If you won't tell me, then I guess I'll just have to take it from you."

I didn't have enough time to process what was even happening. The next thing I know, I feel a sharp pain directed on my neck as Deucalion's head falls back, Allison's scream echoing in my mind as images flash before me. I knew then that Deucalion was stealing my memories; my visions. He was draining me of them.

By the time Deucalion pulled his claws out of my neck, I had no energy left. He gasps as my eyes go blank, my legs failing on me as I fall to the floor below. Everything next came in flashes; first there was Jade yelling at Deucalion, then Allison was at my side, and then Scott was leaving with Deucalion. I didn't realize what was happening to me before I heard Lydia scream at Allison.

"Put him on his side!" she shouts as their hands push me over, the water in my hair dripping down the side my face. It was then I realized that I was shaking uncontrollably; like I was having a seizure. I felt utterly weak and useless as I focused on Allison's hand on my hip and her other in my hand, the only thing keeping me sane.

But I knew that whatever Deucalion had just stolen from me and what he had seen wasn't what was going to happen now; something else more terrible was going to happen, and I was the only one who knew it.

We were on a different path.

----------

I hope that all makes sense. I wanted to get the point across that sometimes what Corey sees, isn't what should happen. Think of it as knowing what's to come, trying to change it, but only screwing it up in the process. Time is a confusing thing to me, so I hope you guys understand.

On another note, there miiiight only be one more chapter left. If not, then two. Maybe an epilogue as well, but I haven't thought that far ahead just yet.

As much as I'm excited about 3b, I don't want 3a to end :(