From Ashes ✗ Stiles Stilinski - Chapter 25: Chapter 25

May 2003
Madeline Hayes was a brilliant test taker, not that she was learning anything terribly difficult. It was, after all, only the second grade and she was only eight.
Still, she continuously impressed her teacher, Miss Hammond, with just how easily she picked up things - for instance, math. She loved math (because she was good at it, mostly). Numbers were always simple - concrete. Two never decided it suddenly equaled five because numbers can't decide anything. They couldn't change like characters in books and she never had to explain why like in Science class. Everyone already understood why, because it was just math.
Some of her more aggressive peers didn't seem to share her enthusiasm, especially Trista, the girl who pathologically cheated off of her tests. Maddie always let her, without even a hint of a fight; she knew better than that these days. In a way, she didn't mind it. After all, at least this way she wasn't going to get beat up and - even better - it was proof that she was good at it. Good at something. Her mother worried that she was too young to be having such sad thoughts but Maddie never did. What was wrong with wanting to be good at something?
Maybe she'd even be a Mathematician when she grew up (regardless of the fact that she didn't even know how to spell mathematician).
Or maybe a teacher. That would be nice.
Even as she scribbled crooked numbers onto the the blue paper as slowly as possible so that the black-haired girl to her right could successfully copy her work, she felt an odd sense of pride knowing just how good she was.
7 x 5 = _______
She smiled, knowing she didn't even have to count by fives on her hands anymore.
Maddie was just about to write down the five when her hand stopped and her number two pencil fell from her grasp. The world began spinning quickly and she gripped her head with both hands. Whispers...she could hear whispers, so soft that she thought that she couldn't tell whether or not she was actually hearing them or making them up.
"Into every generation..."
"...make your choice..."
"We are alone."
In that instant, she felt the strangest sensation. Her skin prickled feverishly until the feeling sank all the way down her her bones, latching onto each one of them one at a time and spreading around them like armor.
Maddie didn't realize how angry her bully looked to her right as she stood up, one hand still gripping her forehead, and walked to her teacher's desk slowly. The middle aged woman with streaks of gray running through her red hair looked at the little girl, concerned. "Maddie? What's wrong?"
Maddie didn't speak but instead gave her teacher a pleading look and shook her head wildly.
The woman quickly grabbed a pad of tear off notes that read Wiesbrook Elementary in large, bold lettering and quickly jotted something onto the paper. She handed it to the girl with a kind smile. "Go see the nurse, alright?"
She nodded and rushed out of the class room. It didn't stop; the feeling only grew stronger. It was like a ball of light and energy erupted in her chest and spread out to her fingertips and toes. Even to her eyes and ears. Everything.
It didn't hurt her, but something about it made her stomach knot. That was when she ran - as fast as she could, faster than she had ever been - to the nurse's office. Even after resting for the remainder of the day, she couldn't quell whatever was stirring inside her and that frightened her more than anything.
It was, after all, only the second grade and she was only eight.
"Again."
Forearm. Forearm. Knee. Rest.
"Again."
Forearm. Forearm. Other knee. Rest.
"Again."
Over and over, the same pattern on repeat.
Maddie was in no mood for this. After they had gotten back from their awful group outing, Maddie had waited nearly an hour for Allison to crash before she headed down stairs to the basement. Since then, though, she had done nothing but this - and it had been at least forty-five minutes.
"No offense, but I think I used to do this exercise," she began, taking a step back from the punching bag and wiping the sweat from her brow,  "when I was ten."
"Muscle memory." Chris Argent stood across the room with his arms folded and the same stern stare on his face. "For your reflexes. If you stop exercising those reflexes, they'll be the first to go."
She shrugged, unraveling the athletic tape from her hands. "And they'd still be ten times better than the average human being."
"You're not facing human beings." He voice had gotten a bit louder.
"Are you sure?" She wadded up the tape and tossed it roughly in the trash bin across the room. "I feel like I should be worrying more about a bullet to the head or a sword cutting me in half than the wolves."
A false smile and sarcastic laugh echoed from the hunter. "Hunters and Slayers have been allies for years. Centuries of-"
"When we were working for the old Watcher's Council, you mean," she cut him off promptly. "From what I understand, they were all killed and we haven't been on such good terms since then."
Chris remained silent for a moment before answering again, his voice low. "That's  an alliance we're actively attempting to repair. The point is, we currently have a common enemy."
"Do we?"
He stayed quiet that time.
"Also, why not train Allison at the same time?" She felt a bit bitter at mentioning it, as she still hadn't talked to Allison about the secret she'd kept from Maddie. "Wouldn't it be easier than training us separately?"
"You and Allison are at two different levels; you can't be trained the same way. Regardless of her aptitude, she's still very new to all of this." He paused for a moment, as if he had to struggle to get the rest out. "What it comes down to is that you're a Vampire Slayer, she's not. She's not going to be as strong or as fast as you. She doesn't have enhanced senses. It wouldn't be fair."
Maddie looked down and retreated back to the punching bag - this time, with no tape.
From the top of the stairs, a delicate hand gripped the railing tightly. Two pajama clad feet hesitantly retreated as well back out of sight and of earshot, clearly having heard exactly what they needed.
She couldn't recall how late she had stayed up that night but it had been at least late enough for Chris to go back upstairs. Still, Maddie kept going. Kept training. She went on for so long that her knuckles became red and sore. It wasn't enough though - not to drown out the thoughts of earlier that day. Not to drown out the voices.
No, not voices. One terrible voice.
She hadn't gone to bed when she was tired - mostly because it wasn't something she could appropriately gauge anymore. She was always tired and with good reason. There was always something that needed to be taken care of. There was always a lead. There was always a problem. The one thing there seemed to be none of was time to sleep.
The next day was no different; she only seemed to catch an hour or two of rest before she found herself throwing on some wrinkled clothes she hadn't bothered to fold and messily putting on her dark eye makeup.
Now, she sat in Chemistry - of course - and held her head up in the palm of her hand. She didn't seem to care much about whatever Mister Harris was going on about. In fact, she instead found herself wondering if he and Xander were related somehow. Sure, Harris was a pretty common last name but she still found it vaguely amusing to think of the two of them at a family reunion together.
Once the bell rang again to announce lunch, Maddie bolted for the exit almost immediately. She wanted to find Allison and ask if she was alright. The fairer brunette had said next to nothing to her all day and she wasn't quite sure why. Besides, it never hurt to ask.
Unfortunately, when she turned the corner to the hall her locker was in, she stopped and released a long, frustrated sigh, noting who was at the other end.
Five Minutes Earlier, Elsewhere
"What do you think of Maddie?"
The question had passed from Stiles' lips before he could think and reign it back in. Scott's eyebrow quirked upwards as the question caught his attention and caused his to stop unloading his books into his locker. He looked over at Stiles questioningly, who was currently looking over at the lockers across from them.  His eyes were a bit unfocused as he stood there, thinking. He couldn't even tell that he was actively staring at where Maddie met up with Allison everyday just before they headed to the cafeteria for lunch. And why did he know that, anyway? Seemed like an odd thing to remember.
Scott shrugged as he shut his locker. "I dunno. I guess it's nice having back up that isn't Derek. But she's kind of always..."
"Stubborn? Defensive? Intimidating?"
"Not here," Scott said, which quieted his friend immediately. "Detached, you know? I mean, do we even really know her?"
Stiles paused for a moment longer, thinking back to Maddie's brief time in Beacon Hills. All of the short answers, the deflecting questions with violence, the side switching. They really had no idea who she was for the most part - that didn't stop him from trying to piece what he did know together. She clearly cared what Allison thought of her - after all, she agreed to train the girl. But when she really came out of her shell was with people like Lydia and Erica. Normal people (or previously normal people). "Well...I can't imagine eight years of slaying monsters really made her the sharing type."
"I don't know; it just seems like she doesn't trust us. How can we work together if we can't trust each other?" Scott sighed. Stiles leaned his shoulder against the closed lockers and stayed quiet for a while before he noted his friend's eyes grow wide. "Wait, why are you asking about Maddie?"
Stiles scoffed loudly, nervously. "Pfft! No reason! Just, ah...making conversation. Shootin' the breeze." He took a moment to look at his best friend, whose eyes shined with amusement as a wide, surprised smile began to spread across his face. Stiles expression didn't change. "What?"
"You like Maddie."
Stiles gaped at Scott before clamping his mouth shut and shaking his head. "Dude, I don't like Maddie. That- that would be insane and idiotic..." He paused for a second and his eyebrows furrowed worriedly. "...and would make me kind of a masochist.  And will you stop with that look?"
Scott still couldn't withhold his grin but continued. "You totally like her."
"I do not like her," Stiles argued back. "And shouldn't you be, I don't know, looking for Allison like you said you would?"
Something seemed to click with Scott once Stiles said that and his entire expression shifted to shock. "Right! Yeah. I'll just..."
"Yeah, you do that." Stiles tone was a bit edgier than usual. "I'll meet you in the cafeteria."
As Scott walked off, Stiles knew this wouldn't be the end of the conversation. There was something horrifying about hearing something like that out loud. Of course he didn't like her. He didn't know what possessed Scott to say something so outrageous in the first place. All he did was ask a simple question - an unbiased question, in fact. They never really talked about including Maddie in their little group and he was only wondering if she was actually a part of it or not.
But no - Scott leapt to conclusions. Terrible, terrible conclusions that were completely unfounded.
He breathed an exasperated sigh. No, he definitely did not like Madeline Hayes. She was rude. She was mean. She was -
"What is it now?"
...standing right in front of him. Her makeup seemed darker than usual, but maybe that was the dark bags under her eyes. Her usual pinpoint death glare was even a bit off - like her eyes were glazed over slightly. Even her hair looked like it hadn't even been brushed. She looked so... "Tired," he muttered out loud, only that hadn't been his intention. Tired was an understatement anyway. She looked dead on her feet.
Her eyebrows furrowed. "What?"
"What?" he repeated, as if he didn't even realize he had said anything at all.
"What did you just say?"
He took a moment before his mind wrapped fully around the mix up. Still, it bothered him; she seemed like she was about to pass out at any moment. "I, uh...I said you look- are you okay?"
Maddie looked at him warily, her eyes focusing a bit more and narrowing on him. Even then, she took another long moment before answering. "...I'm fine." She looked like she was thinking about something - or maybe that was just her checking out for a moment due to the fatigue. Was she sleeping at all? The slayer shook her head slightly, as if snapping herself out of a trance. "What's going on? Why are you over here?"
As if she thought he was just waiting for her. Pfft. God forbid anyone else had a locker in this hallway. He wanted to say it out loud but something stopped him. Arguing would be a one-sided fight at the moment with her in that state. He'd spare her the humiliation and himself the pain. "Well, um..." He had to think of something quickly before he was just some weirdo waiting for her in the hall for no reason. Which wasn't true. At all. Obviously. Something suddenly clicked in his head. "Oh yeah! There's supposed to be three."
She seemed even more dumbfounded. "Three? Three of what?"
"Wolves," he said quietly. "Betas. That leaves one that we don't know about."
He saw her face drop and practically hit the linoleum. The great thing about her apparent sleep deprivation was that there was nothing to hide her emotion (although she was still clearly trying). On the down side, he saw it all. Her eyes were wider and looking to the ground. Her jaw clenched tightly as she drew in a shaky breath. Pain - every bit of her face was in pain. There was no resolve, no rage. It was like...She's not even here. It was curious and suddenly he couldn't help but want to know why that had been her reaction in the first place.
Another inhale. This one was sharper as she looked back at him, with the wall behind her gaze still cracked. "Who?"
Stiles sighed. "We don't know."
She looked away again. It was weird; almost like this Maddie was even more intimidating. Like it had never been what she was or how she carried herself or how much war paint she wore. This was a very raw look through a window that must've been boarded up for ages. There were so many emotions passing from her now - erratic, overbearing emotions. It almost worried him - hell, it almost scared him. He watched her gather herself calmly, looking at anything but straight ahead at him. "Any leads?"
"Not yet," was his lame response, considering how far from his mind the topic was at the moment. Instead, his main focus had become Maddie's strange behavior. He softened his tone a bit before speaking again. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine," she snapped almost maliciously as her glare shot over to him. It didn't last very long at all though as she closed her eyes and shook her head before they opened again. "I'm fine." Her eyes darted over to her locker and stayed there for a while. "Have you seen Allison?"
"I think she's already in the cafeteria." He nodded in the direction of the large room. "C'mon. I'm meeting Scott there anyway."
She still didn't look back at him this time. Instead, she sighed and shook her head slowly. "No, I gotta go to the gym." She must have expected his questioning look because she didn't even give his a side glance before she rolled her eyes. "It's a training thing. Allison's dad is on my case about it."
"So what? You're just letting him tell you what to do?" It slipped out. That seemed to be happening a lot lately.
This also seemed to irk Maddie slightly, just enough for the corner of her mouth to twitch downward and for her glossy stare to narrow on him. "I live there, idiot. If I have full access to their base of operations, throwing a few punches between classes isn't a big deal." Stiles opened his mouth to counter but the girl held up her index finger to stop him. "Drop it. I'm going."
Stiles' shoulders slumped dejectedly and he nodded. "Fine. Okay. Just try not to pass out in the gym."
There it was: that deep, irritated frown. If he didn't know better, he would've thought that was the only expression she had. Suddenly, the thought of that cocky, Cheshire cat smile wriggled into his head and with warning, the memory of her laugh barreled right through as well. He shoved the images out of his brain (and rightfully so, because he didn't think about her that way) just in time for her to answer. "Shut up, Stiles."
"You are so defensive, you know that?" He tried not to laugh or grin in response; that would denote playful banter in lieu of childish arguing, which was really what it was. Clearly.
Maddie huffed and spun on her heel, doing a full one hundred eighty degree turn and stomping away. Stiles had only just took a step back to head toward the cafeteria when he noticed that she turned around again from much farther away, her chestnut hair whipping around her face as she did so. "When you have a lead, call me. I'll go with you guys."
He looked mildly offended, which he was of course - even if it was only in  defense of his best friend who could certainly keep them both safe. Most of the time. "We don't need a protector!"
"No," she began, her tone forceful and agitated. "You need someone to stop you both from doing something stupid."
He exhaled loudly and shook his head. "Mads-"
"Stiles," she replied in a dangerous voice. He wasn't sure if it was because they were arguing or because he had called her by the name she seemed to dislike most. Her near-black stare reflected something different though and whatever it was, it made the boy's rebuttal fall away entirely. Most would mistake it for concern for his (and Scott's) well being but that couldn't be right at all. "Just call, okay?"
He swallowed and nodded faintly. "Yeah...sure."
Without another word passing between them, she rushed off down the hall and eventually out of sight while Stiles was left in the hallway to shake off the feeling in his gut.
Even as he headed into the packed cafeteria, it didn't go away.