"ℴ𝓊𝒾𝒿𝒶 𝒷ℴ𝒶𝓇𝒹"

Almost two days have passed since the cross-country team arrived back in Beacon Hills, and all the supernatural teenagers and company are extremely relieved to be as far as possible away from the horror story that is the motel. The second she had gotten home, Ophelia tried to get in contact with Derek. With no surprise, all her missed texts and phone calls had been left unanswered, but Cora had picked up, telling her the good news that her brother is in fact alive and well. With a small fraction of the crippling worry and concern lifting off her shoulders, she would then go to get in touch with Elijah, having hopes that he or any of her siblings would have some sort of idea on what a Darach is. Weirdly enough, a few days ago the girl wasn't entirely threatened by the dark Druid. To her, it was just another witch. However, now that her friends' lives have been threatened and she had seen at first hand just how close all of them had been to leaving for good, she wants to know everything and anything she can about what they're up against and dealing with.

Five rings later and Elijah still hasn't picked up, which is odd because he always has his phone on him. Her eyebrows furrow but she tries to not to let herself be concerned just yet. So, she opts for Rebekah. The woman answers the phone after a second, although Ophelia promptly hangs up when she hears how the voice on the other side definitely isn't the one that belongs to her sister. Naturally, Kol is next. "Oh, finally!" Ophelia exclaims with a sigh of relief. She down the rest of the glass that had been previously full to the brim of blood, and collapses onto the leather couch that has been calling out to her for the last hour. "Where the hell is everyone?"

"Sister, yes, lovely to hear from you, too."

Her eyes roll at how heavily coated in sarcasm his voice is, and she instantly imagines the wide grin that is on his face despite his feigned annoyance. "You as well, but it's an emergency."

Ophelia hears footsteps and a few seconds later she can make out the phone being placed onto speaker, the background chatter quieting down as Kol wildly gestures for them to shut up. "What do you mean, emergency?"

A scowl replaces the smile that had been on her face, and her eyes narrow at the familiar voice that has piped in. "Elijah, what the actual fuck? You never ignore me!"

"Ignore you? I- Oh, I see..."

"Yeah, he's figured how to put the bloody thing on the 'Do Not Disturb' function," Kol explains to her with a tone. "It's a right pain in the ass for all of us."

"Well, tell Bex that someone's stolen her phone." Her eyes narrow further at the silence she receives. "What's going on? I'm not stupid."

"About that..."

The same voice from earlier floats out of the speaker, and she gasps, her eyes widening considerably in surprise. "Imposter!"

Quiet chuckles can be heard from the Mikaelson siblings as they share a look, knowing that it's better to update the younger girl in on their current problems. "No, it's me, Lia," the female voice corrects. "It's Rebekah. Long story, but I'm in the body of a witch."

"Holy shit," Ophelia murmurs to herself, rubbing her temples with her thumb. "Are we all getting comfortable with body swapping, now? How the fuck did this happen?"

"I'll give you the short story," Kol says. "The key words are... Esther, alive, but a vampire. Mikael, alive and murderous as usual. Finn, also alive and very, very murderous. Vampire mother was feeling homicidal toward the baby, but now is dead, courtesy to our long-lost sister... Yeah, that's about it. Oh, and did I mention we have another sister?"

She blinks repeatedly as she is bombarded with new information. "Great use of 'keywords,' Kol. Where's Nik? Wait, wait, hold on. Did you just say you have a new sister?"

Kol tilts his head to the side, before grimacing at the scowls and irritated glares that he is receiving from Rebekah and Elijah. "...No?"

"Is that my favourite sibling?" The protests that occur as soon as she hears the words from Klaus makes her grin widely, and she takes notice how the usual pep in his voice has returned. "Fi, what's this emergency I've been hearing from the other side of the compound?"

Ophelia hesitates, despite hearing how willing they are to help her. Now that she's aware of how much shit her siblings are dealing with in New Orleans, she's more reluctant to dump her own problems onto them. But then she remembers how she had been helping coax Scott away from taking his own life a few days ago. "Hey, Nik, and we're definitely catching up on all this later. The reason I'm calling is... well, we've got some supernatural trouble."

"More than what you normally have with the werewolves?" Elijah asks in concern.

"Yeah, and it's multiplied by, like, a hundred. Problem one: a pack full of Alphas is here, and they're going to want to kill me pretty soon because I might or might not have killed one of theirs because he snapped my neck..." She sighs at the chorus of groans she receives. "Yeah, I know. Problem two, and this is mainly why we're having this conversation. Have any of you heard or had experience with something called a Darach?"

Kol stares at the phone, his eyes widening in bewilderment. "Sorry, a what?"

"Darach," Ophelia repeats slowly. "I've been told it's a type of dark Druid. They've been sacrificing humans here, and the other day it was my werewolf friends that almost died."

"Once," Klaus answers her previous question. "I'm assuming based on how easy it was to kill him, he hadn't completed all of the sacrifice-ritual stuff."

A breath of relief leaves her parted lips as a glimmer of hope gleams brightly inside her. "All right then. How do I kill this prick?"

"Magic," the older hybrid states simply. "That's the only way I know of. Or if they're weak enough, maybe you can do it normally. Rip the heart out, cut off the head, you know... the works."

"Yeah, well, both of those are problems because the only witch I've got here isn't an actual witch, long story, and the prick is definitely strong. I think we're up to six sacrifices by now, would've been nine if it worked on my friends."

This time, it's Rebekah that speaks up. "If you've got a sort-of-witch, don't they know anything about this Darach?"

"No more than I do," Ophelia answers with a sigh. The last thing she wants now is to ask for her older brother to pay her a visit, but she doesn't get the chance to muster up the courage to do it before he offers himself.

"Give me five days, little sister," Niklaus tries to reassure her. "Let me deal with the wedding here, and I'll come down and see this mess for myself."

"What? Who's getting married?" Ophelia questions in confusion. "Oh, 'Lijah, did you finally get the balls to ask out Hayley?"

"It's her and Jackson," the suited Original mutters in distaste.

"Who now?"

Klaus stifles a chuckle at the sudden change of attitude from his older brother. "I'll give you all the gossip when I come see you, Lia. Do you think you'll be okay until Tuesday? Wednesday at most."

Although she wants to retort with 'People are being sacrificed, of course we can't wait,' Ophelia simply nods. Even though her friends in Beacon Hills mean the world to her, her family will always come first. Which means keeping Hope away from murderous grandparents, getting Rebekah her actual body back, and dealing with the newly discovered sister. "Yeah. Thanks, Nik, I know it's not easy to leave."

The man scoffs. "Shut up. You know I'd move hell and Earth for you."

Ophelia cracks a grin at his words, and she stands up off the couch when spotting something press up against the sliding glass door leading to the backyard. "Love you, guys. Please stay safe. Oh, and tell Mikael and Finn I say they can go fuck themselves."

"You too, Fi. Will do."

She sighs as the call cuts off. Even with the small amount of hope she feels knowing that there is a way to kill this creature, she somehow feels even more concerned than she had a few minutes ago. Now, all her thoughts will be heavily consumed with the worries of Hope being murdered and the curious questions she has about the long-lost Mikaelson sister.

The girl opens the doors to the garden, her anxiety quickly departing as she becomes distracted with the coyote who eagerly bounds inside, paws padding across the soft carpet to jump up on the couch. "What should we watch tonight, hm? How about... Oh, no we can't do that." Ophelia raises her eyebrows at how the animal innocently tilts her head to the side. "No, it's too sad, we'll both cry." She sighs at the whine of disapproval and rolls her eyes in defeat. "Fine, but it's all your fault."

The rest of the night consists of the two watching 101 Dalmatians until Ophelia falls asleep with the coyote's head in her lap.

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

"Fi, where the fuck have you been?"

The girl rolls her eyes at how loud Stiles' voice is, ignoring the multiple heads that turn her way at the interruption of nearby conversations. She's used to it. "Hi, Stiles, lovely to see you. How was your night? Sleep okay?"

"Yeah, actually, I- No, no. I'm telling you off." His eyes narrow when she arches a brow and gestures for him to continue as they walk through the crowded halls of the high school, trying to get to their upcoming chemistry class. "You turned your phone off last night."

Ophelia hums at the statement. "I did. What, did someone die?" The lack of response causes her to stop in her tracks, and her fingers tightly dig into his arm. "Did someone die?"

Stiles' lips purse into a firm line. "Danny almost did," he corrects grimly.

"Oh, shit," she murmurs. Even though she wouldn't call Danny a friend per say, she still rather likes him. "Is he okay?"

He nods as they begin to walk again, and he lowers his voice. "Yeah, Melissa saved him at the hospital. But that's not really the point. Ethan brought him in."

Ophelia's eyebrows furrow in confusion. She glances to him as she weaves around a group of girls. "What's the problem with that? He didn't hurt Danny, did he?"

"No, but-"

"Okay, so lose the accusatory tone," she scolds. "What happened to Danny, without accusing Ethan of almost killing him?"

"I'm trying to tell you if you stop interrupting me! He was poisoned with mistletoe."

Now she's shocked. "Danny? With mistletoe?" Her eyes dart around with worry she had been too loud, then hisses, "But he's not supernatural!"

"I know," Stiles agrees with an incline of his head. "That's what we're trying to figure out. There's more. Two doctors went missing. And... my dad found one of the bodies."

"Shit," Ophelia mutters again. "Sacrifices, right?" At his nod, she groans and drags a hand down the side of her face. So much for telling Klaus that they would be fine until Wednesday. So much for her hope that the Darach would possibly pause their business until then. Then it hits her that she knows someone with a medical degree. "Melissa-"

"She's fine," Stiles reassures her with a slight smile. "Isaac and Scott stayed with her through the night. Anyways, Dad said that the body they found, the doctor died from asphyxiation, but they just don't know how yet."

"Right, so definitely sacrifices," Ophelia concludes. "Great." Slipping inside the half full classroom, the two take their usual seats on their shared lab desk, the third seat in the middle saved for Scott. Whilst waiting for the lesson to begin, she decides to share the news that one of her brothers would be dropping by next week with hopefully a way to help stop the Darach.

"Thank fuck," Stiles whispers to her in relief. "We need some help around here and fast. Love Deaton and all, he's great, but someone who actually knows what they're doing."

Her chuckles are muffled as she purses her lips together and twirls the ballpoint pen in her fingers. "I'm hoping he's gonna bring a witch." When she sees his facial expression, she doesn't bother to conceal her laughter.

With furrowed brows, Scott takes the empty seat and looks between the two. Stiles' eyes are so wide that he's afraid they might detach off from his friend's head. "What's so funny?"

"We're gonna meet a real witch," the Stilinski murmurs in awe.

Scott only appears more confused than before. Before he can ask a question regarding what the fuck they're going on about, their substitute teacher enters the room. "Good morning!"

Ophelia's eyes flick toward the woman, and she has to refrain herself from loudly groaning. So far, Jennifer Blake has done absolutely nothing for the girl to hate her. That's the problem. She didn't need to do anything. Ophelia had already decided weeks ago that she hated the teacher.

"As you all know, Mr Harris is still missing-"

"Hopefully dead," the hybrid murmurs to herself. Scott and Stiles share a look, but then both of them shrug in agreement. It wouldn't be the worst.

"- I mean sick," Miss Blake corrects in a hurry. "Anyway, I'm filling in while we all hope and pray for a more qualified substitute to take my place. Okay, so let's get started, shall we?"

As their teacher is occupied with writing on the chalkboard, Stiles leans toward his friends, specifically Scott, so they can hear him a little better, like he has completely forgotten both of them have enhanced hearing. "Hey, so my dad said that the ER attending wasn't strangled but did die from asphyxiation-"

"They just don't know how," Ophelia adds, reciting exactly what she had been informed of earlier.

Scott slowly turns his head to her, once again, thoroughly confused. "Hold on, how the hell do you know this?"

"Already had the gossip session today, bud."

He nods. "Okay, so do you think the on-call doctor could still be alive?"

"I don't know," Stiles honestly replies. "But Scott, there's gotta be at least twenty other doctors in that hospital, at least. You know? Any one of them could be next."

"It's like Russian roulette." Ophelia rolls her eyes at the exasperated looks she receives. "Wrong audience, apologies."

Scott seems to have ignored the no phones warning from a few minutes prior, catching his friends' attention as his cell begins to vibrate. Ophelia's eyebrows raise expectantly, and the werewolf bends down to look like he's tying his shoe. "Hey, Doc, sorry I'm in class right now, can I call you back later?"

Stiles subtly gestures for her to listen in, to which she looks at him in irritation. 'Shut up, then,' she mouths back. Her eyes widen in shock as she hears Deaton simply tell Scott,

"I'm going to be taken. I need you to find me."

"Doc! Doc, Doc, what's happening?" The veterinarian hangs up and Scott finally sits back up, pure fear etched across his face. 

"Scott," Ophelia quietly begins. "We need to get out of here. Now."

Stiles looks between the two, not having heard anything apart from the alarm in his best friend's voice. "What's going on?"

"It's Deaton," Scott murmurs, tapping his pencil repetitively on the desk. "He said he's going to be taken."

"What the fuck are we waiting for?" Stiles questions a little too loudly, nearby students turning to him in annoyance. Thankfully, Miss Blake hadn't heard. "Let's go."

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

By the time Stiles and Ophelia get to the clinic, they are a few minutes behind Scott who had definitely broken the speeding limit on his journey over. They immediately see the law enforcement vehicles parked out the front, Stiles having called his father as soon as they had gotten out of the school. Ophelia's heart drops as she catches sight of the familiar car a few metres away. "Isn't that Deaton's?"

Stiles' eyes follow her pointed finger, and he sighs, taking the keys out of the engine and tapping the steering wheel with his palm once. "Shit, yeah. C'mon, Scott has to be inside with my dad."

Hearing the distant race of Scott's heart, Ophelia just about speeds through the front door. The worry she feels for her friend is crushing. She can tell how much Deaton means to him, so it makes it even more important for her to help find the man. Noah glances to the side at the jingle of the bell and gives her a small smile as she quickly makes her way to comfort the boy beside him. Ophelia's eyebrows raise in question once she takes a seat beside her friend, and she looks up to the Sheriff. "Anything?"

The slight shake of his head is enough to tell the two newly arrived teenagers that there's nothing. Noah sighs and pats Scott's shoulder reassuringly, glancing between the three with a sympathetic expression. "We're gonna do everything we can, but right now, the best thing you guys can do is go back to school."

Ophelia's eyes squint slightly in concentration as she glances around the reception area for anything. Scott waits a few more seconds until the Sheriff is occupied by one of his deputies, then nods across to one of the rooms and gestures for his friends to follow. "Of course, you chose the bloody cats," she complains.

As soon as she shuts the door behind her and he is certain that any unwanted ears won't be able to hear, Scott sighs and states, "We have to tell him."

Stiles folds his arms over his flannel. "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 responds with an eye roll.

"No," Ophelia deadpans. "Absolutely not. Have you lost your fucking mind?"

Stiles points to her in agreement, emphasising his point with a slow, dramatic nod of his head. "You remember how your mom reacted? She didn't look you in the eye for, like, a week."

"And she got over it," Scott corrects, trying to sound as convincing as he can. "And- and it actually made us closer."

"Scott, I stand by my point. Unless it's vital, you stay silent. You'd only be putting him in more harm. Harm that we can keep him out of and keep him safe from."

Both boys fall silent at her firm warning until Stiles adds, "She's right. I mean, look at him." The three peek out the glass window in the door, watching the older Stilinski rub his forehead with exhaustion at something he is being told. "Come on, he's completely overwhelmed as it is. He doesn't need this, too."

"He's overwhelmed because he has no fucking clue what's happening," Scott protests. "He's got people dying in his town, the town that 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."

Ophelia pinches the bridge of her nose as she overthinks everything that is being said. "Okay, I might agree with that. Just a little bit. But right now, we can keep him out of it because we can deal with it on our own."

Stiles nods once more, returning his eyes back to Scott almost pleadingly. "Yeah, is now really the right time?"

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

"What if telling him gets him killed, huh? I mean, okay. Look, I get that Deaton's been like a father to you. I get that, okay? But this is my- Scott, this is my actual father. I can't... I can't lose both of my parents, all right? Not both of them."

Ophelia's heart clenches as she looks up to him and finds the tears welled up in his eyes. Claudia Stilinski is an extremely delicate subject and is something that is only rarely talked about in discussion, if at all. Because of that point, she only knows the basic details of how the woman had died: how the cause had been dementia, and how Stiles had been incredibly young, far too young, to have to experience watching his mother slowly deteriorate over time. She can see both points. Sure, eventually it might be the right decision to bring Noah into everything. For example, if Stiles no longer had the energy to leave things out or to keep lying. She can also see the other side, very, very clearly. She knows exactly what it's like to lose someone you love to the supernatural, and it's obvious how desperate her friend is to keep his father out of their dangerously dark world. Just because Stiles doesn't agree with it now, doesn't mean enveloping Noah Stilinski into the supernatural is completely off the charts for the future.

"You're right," Scott admits with a heavy sigh.

Stiles purses his lips together, hesitating for a moment before shocking both the two opposite him. "No, I'm not. I'm not right."

"You're not?" Ophelia questions in disbelief.

"I'll tell him."

Her eyes widen. "You will?"

"And we're going to help you," Scott answers, directing a brief pointed glance to the girl.

"Yep, no, we will. With you all the way." As Scott goes to open the door, she catches Stiles staring at her, like he is trying to gauge her feelings toward his decision. She sighs. "Hey, it's your choice. I'm with you whatever that is. Always and forever."

Stiles gives her a weak smile, not taking her words lightly. It's blatantly obvious to everyone that Ophelia Stone wouldn't do anything for anyone. "Thanks, Fi," he whispers. The girl smiles back in return and lightly squeezes his arm before following after Scott.

All three stop in the doorway, their eyes wide and mouths apart in surprise. Ophelia hadn't seen Marin Morrell for a while, not properly laying eyes on the woman since she had been the one to lock herself, Scott, and Derek in the bank vault with the rampageous Cora and Boyd. So, seeing the high school's counsellor in Deaton's clinic is only a little bit of a shock. "Please, whatever you need. However you can help find my brother."

Stiles' eyebrows furrow in confusion as he looks over to Scott and Ophelia who are standing to the left of him and mouths, Brother?

The second that Stilinski and his deputy excuse themselves, Morrell realises that she's caught the teenagers' attention and briskly makes her way over to them. "Okay, listen closely, all of you," she quietly speaks, her voice containing an urgency and desperateness that almost, almost makes Ophelia's anger disappear. "No sheriff, deputy or detective is going to be able to find him."

The blonde scoffs, her eyes faintly glowing red as she clenches her fists together. "You seriously have the nerve to come over-"

"You don't have to ask us for help," Scott interrupts, stopping the hybrid from potentially trying to kill their guidance counsellor in front of law enforcement. He glances over to Ophelia, who takes a deep breath to try and centre herself.

"Actually, I'm trying to help you," Marin corrects with amusement. "Because if you're going to find my brother, then you need to use the one other person who might actually have an ability to seek out the supernatural besides you."

Ophelia sighs as realisation falls over her face. "Lydia."

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

Ophelia had somehow convinced Stiles to let her drive the Jeep, scaring the living daylights out of him when she had practically floored it the entire way. As a result, it takes the pair roughly five minutes to return to the school, Scott a while behind as he had maturely decided he didn't want to break any more laws for the rest of the afternoon. Speeding on the way over to the clinic had been more than enough for him. Despite the Stilinski's self-proclaimed 'genius' plan to pull the fire alarm, it takes them a while to find Lydia. But Ophelia surprises the boy by somehow managing to find the strawberry blonde's voice amongst all of the chaos. "Let go," Lydia calmly states from down the hall.

Ophelia's eyes narrow into slits, and the growl she lets out causes Stiles to dryly swallow. "Okay, Fi, let's just take a breath and try to avoid bodies at the s-"

"Stiles, you're going to want to kill her just as much as me," she responds curtly. She ignores his look of confusion, brushing past him to burst into Coach's nearby office that is containing her best friend and a familiar face.

"I said-"

"She said let go," Ophelia repeats, her gaze burning holes into Cora's forehead. She slowly trails her glowing eyes down to Lydia's wrist, where the youngest Hale has her hand tightly wrapped around in a bruising grip. "Also, I'm saying let go, and you really don't want to mess with me."

Cora's jaw clenches as she looks between the three, settling her stare back onto Lydia. The girl's confidence hasn't wavered once, her racing heartbeat the only thing betraying the facade. "I'd let go before she rips your hand off of your fucking arm," Stiles adds, keeping his tone steady.

A short breath of relief leaves Ophelia's lips when the werewolf finally drops her hand back down to her side. "Greatly appreciated." She continues to ignore Cora as she checks her best friend for any other injuries along with Stiles, who seems just as concerned as she is, if not more. "You okay, love?"

Lydia gives her a brief nod, her eyes flicking between her friends and Cora who rolls her own. "Yeah, thanks. What's wrong?" Stiles and Ophelia share a quick look before sighing when the girl raises a brow quizzically at them. "What do you need?"

Stiles fills her in on what had happened at the animal clinic, explaining how Deaton is missing and how their school counsellor is not only with the Alpha pack, but is his sister. All the while, Ophelia keeps a watchful eye on Cora, her thoughts swimming in her mind as she questions why her newly made friend was hurting her other friend. Cora rolls her eyes once more as she finally meets the piercing gaze of the hybrid. "I was telling her to leave Aiden alone," she says simply.

Lydia scoffs. "You were super nice about it, too. Real polite."

"He's an Alpha, and he's part of Deucalion's pack, who last time I checked almost killed Derek, multiple times."

Ophelia allows her eyes to glow once more, just to slightly scare the girl. "Cora, I like you. Really, I do. But if you ever, ever lay a hand on Lydia again, I will make sure you never lay a hand on anything else for the rest of your fucking life." Her lips twitch when she hears the uptick of Cora's heart, her skin blanching ever so slightly at the threat everyone knows is very real. "Great. Now we're all on the same page, Lyds, we need you..." She trails off as she finds herself unsure of what to say. "Actually, I'm not exactly sure what we need you to do."

"Lucky for us, I do." Stiles brightly smiles and opens the door for the girls to leave, making sure to then scowl at Cora deeply as she moves past him.

A few minutes later, Ophelia stares at the box laying on the lab desk before her, and briefly shares a glance of disbelief with Lydia. The group had found an empty science classroom, taking advantage of most of the students having gone outside, courtesy of the fire alarm. "Are you kidding me? This is your plan?"

Lydia nods, her expression only featuring exasperation as she finally looks up from the Ouija board. "Agreed, this is stupid."

No one knows what the hell Lydia is or how to trigger her abilities. It's evident that she's good at finding dead bodies, however, this time they don't want to find a dead body. They want to prevent it from happening. "It's worth a shot," Stiles protests as he lifts the lid of the box and takes the board out.

"A shot in the dark..."

Stiles huffs a small sigh, takes the planchette out, then places it in the middle of the board, only for Lydia to roll her eyes and turn it around so it's in the correct position. "Could you just try it, please?" His voice is full of impatience and at this point, he is clearly open to try anything. "Okay, let's not forget who this is for. Scott's boss, the guy who has saved our collective asses on more than one occasion."

At this, Ophelia hums in agreement. "Yeah, good point. You're all only alive because of him. It's kinda funny if you think about it, a vet saving your 'collective asses.'" She chuckles at the look of incredulity that flashes over Stiles face, the boy offended that she thinks it's all because of Deaton's help.

"Oh, wait. Should we all do this?" The three look over to Cora who had willingly tagged along, trying to hide just how interested in this she actually is.

Stiles hesitates for a second and nods. "Yeah. Yeah."

Shaking her head in amusement, Ophelia's tightly pursed lips help to muffle her giggles. "This is ridiculous."

"You guys ready?" After receiving a mix of impatient and unconvincing 'Yeah's and nods, Stiles takes a deep breath and motions for them all to place their hands on the planchette. "Where is Doctor Deaton?"

Silence.

Finally realising two out of the three are staring at her expectantly, Lydia's eyes widen. "What?"

Stiles nods to the board. "Aren't you gonna answer it?"

"Oh, I don't know the answer," she quickly says. Her eyebrows furrow as she glances to the hybrid, who is trying her absolute hardest not to burst into laughter. "I thought we were asking some sort of spirit...?"

"Well, do you know any spirits?" Cora queries.

Ophelia snorts.

Lydia looks at the werewolf incredulously and turns to her friends whilst pointing back over to Cora. "Is she for real?"

"Time for plan B," Ophelia announces, removing her hands from the board and raising her eyebrows at Stiles. "'Cause this one is shit."

"Why the fuck do you think I have a backup plan?"

"Do you?"

Stiles rolls his eyes. Then, he sighs in defeat. "Yes, yes, I do. Plan B. Okay, these are Deaton's keys for the clinic." He takes out the keychain from his pocket, holding them up in the air for everyone to see. "Close your eyes, and I'm gonna put them in your hand," he directs to Lydia.

"When I said a back-up plan, I was hoping for something better than the last one," Ophelia grumbles. In the corner of her eye, she can vaguely spot Cora's lips move into a small smile, definitely in agreement.

"And then we're just gonna try and see if you can feel out for his location. It's called psychometry."

"I'm not a psychic," Lydia corrects nonchalantly.

Pursing his lips together in sheer frustration, Stiles sucks in a deep breath and tries to stop himself from yelling. "You're something! Okay, just, Lydia, put your hand out."

Ophelia sighs, leaning her chin into her palm as she watches her friend reluctantly hold up her hand. "Man, I'd kill for a witch right about now. Like, literally, I would." It was in Niklaus' best interest to hurry up with whatever wedding is happening in New Orleans. Not that she ever disliked Hayley... This is just far, far more important than Hope's mother getting married to someone who isn't one of her older brothers.

"Fi, you know that I love you, but please shut up," Lydia retorts in annoyance.

"Uh huh, yep, sorry."

Tension fills the air as Lydia closes her eyes and Stiles slowly drops the keys into her hand. Almost instantly, the girl flinches. "Ooh."

Cora and Ophelia share a look, both suppressing their urges to grin as Stiles' eyes widen in surprise. "What?"

"They're cold," she states innocently with a shrug of her shoulders.

Ophelia could have sworn either one of his eyes twitched out of frustration, or his heart stopped beating for a few seconds. "Lydia, concentrate, please," he stresses. "Trying to save lives here, for the love of Satan."

Now smiling proudly, Ophelia nods in approval at his choice of words. "There we go."

Lydia shuts her eyes once more, the room falling completely silent out of anticipation. When her eyebrows knit together, the blonde leans closer to her friend, hoping that she's seeing something, even though what Stiles has asked her to do seems completely insane.

"What do you see?"

She takes a few seconds, but Lydia finally looks up to them and sighs. "Nothing."

"Well, this was hopeless. What's plan C?"

"I don't have a backup plan for a backup plan, Fi."

"Huh, that's new."

Stiles' fingers drum silently on the table as he tries to ignore her pointed look. Finally, he cracks. "Fine, I have a backup plan for a backup plan-"

"And a backup-backup plan for a backup plan," she finishes with a chuckle. "I know you better than you think, mate."

He glances to Lydia, who is already over anything else that he could possibly suggest to her. "Automatic writing," he states as he holds out a pencil.

"Oh, yeah I've heard about this before," Ophelia adds, giving Lydia a small smile of reassurance when catching her eyes. "Could work."

"Bullshit," Cora mutters to herself, wincing slightly when she receives a kick to her shin underneath the table from the hybrid. She nods slowly at the girl's wide eyes. "Shut up, got it," she murmurs.

"Automatic writing?" Lydia repeats, scepticism lacing her voice as she hesitantly takes the pencil into her hand. The nod she receives from Stiles is curt, almost like he is leaving her no room to decline.

The four are silent once again, the only sound filling their ears being the pencil scratching against the paper as Lydia begins to draw. Ophelia's eyes narrow as she leans closer to her friend, her gaze not leaving the notebook. Stiles sucks in a deep breath. "Lydia, what are you doing? What... what the fuck is that?"

Without looking up from the paper, Lydia innocently answers, "A tree."

Ophelia snorts once more.

The scowl on Stiles' face quickly returns as he sends the blonde a glare, returning his narrowed eyes back to the girl continuing to draw. "A tr- Lydia, you're supposed to be writing words- like, in sentences, something like a location, something that would tell us where he is."

She looks up. "Well, maybe you should've said that."

He blinks slowly, eventually turning to Ophelia for another opinion. She grimaces. "Yeah, she's got a point..."

"Oh, my God," Stiles murmurs. He places his head in his hands.

"Isn't she supposed to be some kind of genius?" Cora asks.

Lydia places the pencil down and nods. "Genius, yes. Psychic? No. Honestly, I don't even know why you're bothering with me, anyway. I mean, especially since it's pretty obvious you should be talking to Danny."

"Danny?" Ophelia repeats slowly. "Why the hell would we want to talk to Danny?"

"Because..." The new voice causes their heads to snap over to the doorway, Scott standing in the frame as he looks between each of them. "Last night, he was a target... But he wasn't a sacrifice."

Ophelia stares at the werewolf blankly. She isn't sure if she just isn't smart enough to catch onto what is being said, or if the others are just as confused as her. "What?" After a few seconds, her lips part in realisation. "Oh..."

Then the intoxicating, metallic scent fills her nose, and her eyes widen as she jumps out of her chair, racing straight over to Scott whilst biting into her wrist. The werewolf softly sighs, his right hand leaving his blood-stained clothed shoulder when she gives him a pointed look. "It's nothing, really."

"The large hole in you says otherwise," she retorts with a click of her tongue. Holding her arm out to him, she narrows her eyes. "Drink. Now. Before I force it into you."

"Oh, God," Stiles mutters in disgust, making sure to keep his eyes away from the sight as Scott reluctantly drinks the hybrid's blood.

"Care to explain how this happened?" Ophelia asks rather harshly, but the venom in her voice isn't directed to Scott, it's to whoever had the nerve to hurt him. "I'll kill them, I swear to-"

"Deucalion," Scott answers rather tentatively, giving her a small smile out of thanks when he looks down to find the wound in his shoulder almost completely healed. "He was in the music room."

"What the fuck was he doing here?" Ophelia presses. Her jaw has clenched tightly, the anger for the Alpha werewolf returning as soon as she had heard his name fall from Scott's chapped lips. Now more than ever, she wants to kill him.

The rest of the group follow Scott and Ophelia out the room, the former quietly telling her that he would explain properly later. Cora is closely behind the blonde, and she raises an important point. "Hold on, isn't Danny still in hospital, though?"

"Yeah," Stiles replies. Cora should know by now that wherever Danny is located, it would never stop the Stilinski from interrogating him. Ever. "That's where we're going right now."

Ophelia sighs. "Why did you just say we?"

"'Cause you're coming with me." She stares at him for a few seconds before nodding in agreement. He would need the backup to get past security and the front desk, anyways. At least, that's what she tells herself.

"I'll meet you there," Scott adds, turning all the attention over to him.

"Why?"

As his answer to Stiles, he holds up his phone displaying a text message from Allison. 'I think I found something,' it reads.

"So, that either means she found a dead body, something to do with the Darach, or she's baiting you to go over and have sex."

Lydia snickers. Cora smirks. Stiles rolls his eyes. Scott scowls. "Fi, shut the fuck up. Please."

𝘏𝘪 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴!!

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

𝘒𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴.. 𝘈𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮?

𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴,
𝘓𝘪𝘷 𝘹𝘹