From Ashes ✗ Stiles Stilinski - Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Maddie put a hand over her mouth as it stretched open in a lengthy yawn. Stiles was arguing about closing times with the only remaining mechanic at the shop – or was he really talking to a giraffe that happened to know how to fix cars? She could've sworn...
She shook away the fog from her brain and squinted. No, it was a person. That made much more sense.
Maddie groaned, unsure if her hallucinations were getting better or worse. She managed to close her eyes for a few minutes in the jeep at least but she was dreading heading back to the Argents to try and get some actual rest. She never really believed in all of Willow's ramblings about energies of places and inanimate objects, but the moment she walked in that door every day she could feel the hostility barraging her for merely existing. Sure, Chris, Allison's dad, hadn't actually said or done anything that could be considered accusatory as of late, but the backhanded comments from Victoria and the sickening boasting from Gerard made her life miserable.
Then, of course, there was Allison – who may never speak to her again. Not that Maddie thought she was in the wrong.
Maddie paced idly to keep herself standing as Stiles walked back over to her and the mechanic pushed the jeep into the garage. Stiles cleared his throat and Maddie stopped as he began to speak. "So, it's gonna be like an hour. Is that okay?"
Maddie shrugged. "Are there chairs in the waiting room?"
"Yeah – two, I think."
"Works for me." She dug around her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone, thinking for a second. Not extraneously, per se – but with her disturbing and sometimes horrifying hallucinations, she guessed it would be best to tell Xander about the more pressing issues before she passed out. Swiping through her contacts, she didn't bother to glance back up at Stiles as she continued. "You go ahead. This won't take long."
"...Y'know, you don't have to stay."
"Like hell," she said, her head shooting up finally as she tried at an incredulous glare. It probably didn't look that way though; she supposed all of her expressions right now were practically identical – tired. "Every time I leave you alone for more than a few minutes, you're in danger."
He gaped at her for a second. "That's not even-"
"I'll be right in." Without another glance at him, Maddie looked back down at her phone and pressed 'call' before holding it up to her ear. Stiles rolled his eyes exasperatedly, mumbled something under his breath, and strode back into the building alone. As she watched him head inside, she vaguely wondered who she was really guarding these days. The thought didn't go any further before the hoarse and exhausted voice of her watcher rang in her ear with a moderately annoyed 'hello'. "It's me."
"Me, who?"
"Xander..."
"Nope, pretty sure that's my name."
"First of all, that stopped being funny when I was nine." She huffed loudly into the phone. "I have information."
"And here I thought you were calling to say hi." Even with the slightly irate tone, it was still a bit endearing. Familiar. "Okay, what's the news?"
It all came out in one big jumble, but maybe that's because whatever was left of her filter had been tossed away in her current state. She couldn't even tell if her words were all that clear at that point, and hopefully not a huge mess of nonsensical sounds. They just poured out one after the other until she ran out of words all together. It almost blended in with the sound of Stiles arguing with the mechanic.
"Um... Yeah, okay."
She frowned, even though she knew he couldn't see it. "That made sense, right?"
"...Sure."
"Sure?"
"I got it all, kid, believe me. Although, I'm not entirely sure what the ice skating for cell phones part was all about."
"What?" she asked immediately, trying to recall the words but coming up with nothing. She sighed and shook her head. "Never mind that."
"Alright, so the Alpha has a pack."
"Right."
"One of his betas' dads got the ol' slice and dice."
"Yeah."
"By one of the wolves?"
She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again when she came up with nothing. "Well, we're not sure. Scott's looking into it."
"Then let him look into it and get some sleep." Maddie was about to protest when Xander cut her off. "Look, I know that tone. You can't keep doing this, Maddie."
"Doing what?" she asked, sounding more than a little dumbfounded. She slightly turned to the car garage at the sound of shouting but rolled her eyes, almost picturing Stiles throwing a fit over his car.
"Running yourself into the ground like this. You haven't sounded this bad since-"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she snapped back.
Xander audibly sighed. "Just...get some shut eye, kid. The world will still be there after a good eight hours. Ten, in your case. Then you can call back and maybe make some coherent sentences."
She paused, looking down at the cement sidewalk before grumbling, "I'll do what I can."
"S'all I ask." Silence passed for a short moment, but a comfortable one. "Night, Hayes."
"Night." She lowered her phone from her ear and hit the 'end' button, feeling somewhat lighter regardless of how short the conversation had been. She needed that – the familiarity of her Watcher lecturing her on something as ridiculous as sleep. It almost made her miss headquarters, although the thought made her scoff.  I wouldn't go that far.
Before she had a moment to take another slow breath, an ear-piercing, unearthly screech reached her ears, jolting her brain into red alert.
She dropped her phone in her pocket and bolted for the front door, ripping it open and looking around the waiting room.
Fear rose in her chest instantly as she found Stiles on the floor, motionless. "Oh my god!"
"Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?" she heard from the ground. Her eyes darted over to the phone beside the boy and quickly swooped it up.
"Yeah, hello?" she started, kneeling down beside Stiles and noticing his eyes wide open and darting around. Still, he wasn't moving. She tried to follow his frantic stare as she went on. "I need an ambulance! I think something's..."
Her voice dropped off completely as she found her eyes glued to the threshold leading to the garage. Blood pooled all around the beams of steel as it leaked from the crushed and severed corpse on the ground. Above it was something she had never seen before. The form almost resembled a human but the tail nearly doubled its length. Green scales covered its form and contrasted with its yellow eyes.
It screeched again – this time, louder and more menacing – and bolted out of sight in the very next second, nearly causing Maddie to drop the phone.
"Miss? Hello? Are you still there?" she barely heard from the speaker.
It'd been nearly fifteen minutes before Stiles regained full function of his limbs and proceeded to explain what he saw. It'd been barely a minute or two later when the police arrived, followed by an ambulance.
For once, when she told Sherriff Stilinski that she didn't see what happened, she was telling the truth. Although, now, she only was reminded of how she had been feet away and didn't stop it. Another person dead on her watch, another failure. She shook her head furiously as people rushed past her and red lights flashed in her face. She tried not to rub her eyes even though the light stung a bit. The day had been hellish to say the least and she was beginning to think Xander was right. Maybe if she had been fully rested, she would've realized that the shouting was for help. Maybe she could've chased down the creature that did it.
She took slow, even steps toward the back of the ambulance that Stiles currently sat it and watched as his father walked off. The slayer stopped beside the boy and looked down at his hand. "You alright?"
He looked up at her, his wide brown eyes dejected as he nodded. "Yeah...yeah, I'm good."
She meant to say 'good', or something along those lines, but the word got caught in her throat. Was it that difficult to have a peaceful conversation with him? She silently cursed her pride as it got to her, even now of all times. She swallowed hard and hugged her jacket close. "God, I just want to go to sleep."
The look on Stiles' face was curious for a second before he gave her a half-hearted smile. "About time."
She almost sheepishly rolled her eyes and punching him in the arm – this time gently, almost playfully. "Shut up, Stiles."
Even though he did flinch, afterward, he looked from her loosely balled fist to her drooping eyes that made her seem like she would pass out right there on the spot. Unfortunately, she felt as though that were a possibility. His gaze averted to the people passing as he spoke again. "I, uh, texted Scott to pick us up. The Jeep's in lock up right now so he can give you a ride home."
"Good," she said, grimacing at her response until she added, "Thanks."
It was a long silence between them before Scott pulled up in his mom's car and both Maddie and Stiles made a bee line for it. As Stiles, got in on the passenger side, Maddie practically collapsed in the backseat as soon as she closed the door. Scott looked back at her and then to Stiles. "...Is she okay?"
"I'm not entirely sure but, ah..." Stiles began with a shrug. "I think she might be a little tired. Long day and all."
She might've glared at the boy if she hadn't already been out like a light.
The ground was soft and moist beneath her bare feet as she walked carefully into the forest. A warm breeze tousled her hair slightly and the full moon shined down brightly on her. She blinked then. The full moon. That meant something, didn't it? She gazed up at it curiously and gasped. The moon was terrifyingly massive; it almost took up a third of the whole night sky. She felt that it was hanging so low to her that she could almost touch it. Her fingered twitched at her side. She raised her hand slowly and shakily into the sky, reaching for the moon.
That's when she heard it.
A howl.
It was so sudden and so loud that her outstretched arm stopped completely. She instantaneously turned in the direction she'd heard the mournful sound from. Mournful? Is that how she would describe it? Lonely, even? Whatever it was, she decided to walk towards it. Dead leaves crunched beneath her feet as she neared the recurring sound. No. No, not one sound. There were several now. Her breath caught at that moment and she stopped in her tracks.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
The howling stopped.
Her eyes snapped open to a horrifying scene. Bodies. Bloodied, severed, and moving. Halved bodies moving towards her, reaching for her with pale, clawed fingers. She knew this, all of it. She'd seen it before, hadn't she? Something was off though; the bodies – pale and discolored – all had arrows jutting out of their skin.
The longer she looked, the farther the field of bodies stretched.
"They're going to take it."
The feminine voice pierced the air, loud enough to be just behind Maddie. The slayer spun around on her heel, shock gripping at her very bones. Relief would've struck her at the sight of Lydia in front of her if not for the dirty and torn formal dress and the spatters of blood. Her strawberry blonde hair was matted with mud and her green eyes were wide – terrified – as they looked just over Maddie's shoulder.
Horror still throttled her, only allowing her voice to come out in a shaken whisper. "Take what?"
Lydia didn't turn away or shift her gaze.
Maddie mustered the strength to raise the volume of her voice, if only by a fraction. "Lydia! What are they taking?!"
The world slowed as Lydia's terror struck stare met Maddie's. She opened her mouth but words were not what left it.
She screamed; it was a sound so deafening that Maddie clasped her hands around her ears and nearly doubled over in pain. The shrill sound went on and on, louder and louder as it felt as if with it brought a weight being down upon her.
That was when a large, clawed hand grasped at her neck squeezing tightly.
Her eyes snapped open and she sat up straight at the sound of her door creaking open. It took her a brief moment to focus her eyes, but when she did, she was met with the sight of Allison half in her room and half in the hallway.
Allison's eyes were wide and she was gaping slightly but quickly shut her mouth and formed an unsure smile on her lips. "...Let me guess – slayer hearing?"
Maddie pursed her lips and looked over at the plastic storage bin that she used as a nightstand. On it, beside a small black lamp, was her phone, tethered to the wall by her charger. Pressing the side of it, the phone flickered to life, showing her the time in large, white numbers. 7:04 AM. She groaned and turned her entire body so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed.
The clock read nine o'clock last night when Scott had picked them up and she couldn't remember anything after that. She looked down, noticing she was still wearing the same clothes as last night, down to her boots. Her head swiveled back to the tall brunette. "Please tell me you know how I got here last night."
Allison nodded and almost laughed. Almost. "You've been out cold all night. Scott couldn't come near the house, so Stiles and I carried you all the way here."
"...oh."
Before Maddie said anything else, Allison went on. "Oh, and my dad wanted to let you know that sleep is very important and depriving yourself of it could get people hurt."
"Right. Got it." Maddie rolled her eyes as she stood up and stretched her limbs. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Allison backing into the hall again when a pang of guilt ran through her. "Allison! I, ah...I just wanted to- "
"No time to talk! We gotta get ready for school, remember?" In a flash, Allison had edged entirely out of the room.
"...Sure, yeah."
Maddie was about to walk over to the door to close it when Allison popped her head back in, a cheeky grin on her face. "By the way, after the game tonight, we have training."
Maddie quirked an eyebrow. "We?"
"We – as in both of us. It took forever to do but I talked my dad into it. I thought it'd be nice if we learned to collaborate a little. It might make it easier to understand each other."  Allison's smile wasn't quite as wide but it was still present as she added, "I mean, as far as our fighting techniques, obviously."
Though cautious and a bit confused, Maddie felt the corners of her mouth stretch ever so slightly upward. "Obviously."
"And Maddie?"
"Yeah?"
There was a brief pause before Allison gave a nod.
"I'm sorry, too." The smile returned almost immediately to Allison's face, this time much softer. "Now go get ready!"
The door closed and Madeline was left briefly with moderately lighter thoughts until her dream slithered back into her brain.
Arrows. Lydia screaming. That clawed hand back around her neck.
None of it made any sense. Part of her wanted to pass it off as an ordinary dream, that she was overreacting. She could even remember a time when she was younger and thought every dream was a prophetic slayer dream. Fortunately, Pennywise the clown didn't travel all the way to Scotland to murder her that year.
Still, this was no ordinary dream; she could feel it.
Something was coming.
"I am not doing this!"
"C'mon! It's not that weird."
"It's actually weirder."
Stiles dramatically rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders. "They're our friends and they're asking us for our help. Now, get over it and give me the message."
"The message you're going to give Scott?" Maddie asked.
"Yes."
"In public?"
"That's kinda what the sign outside that says 'Beacon Hills public high school' implies. Now hurry up! You're wasting my free period."
"Fine!" Maddie dug her phone out of her pocket and swiping her index finger over the front of it.
"Wait, did you seriously write it down?"
Maddie huffed, sounding more than a little exasperated. She understood, to an extent, that having Allison's family everywhere - including school - made it near impossible for Allison to talk to her boyfriend. She even understood that her parents were checking her phone daily to make sure the two had no correspondence. Still, Maddie hadn't even had anything to eat yet that morning and now her little free time was being used up by Allison and Scott.
Her eyes scrolled over the message and then they briefly flicked up to Stiles who was looking a bit impatient to begin with. This was downright embarrassing. She would never be so needlessly sentimental if she were in Allison's position with a boyfriend, so it made even more sense that she would never say anything like what was written down to someone she didn't see that way – especially Stiles. Still, it was too late; she had force herself to relay the message, for Allison's sake. She wasn't screwing up a second chance.
Looking down at the text, she clearly her throat. "I'm so sorry about the other day. I'm trying. We'll get through this."
She grimaced, not daring to look up for even a second, and continued to choke out the words.
"I know because I love you. I love you more than- You know what?" She looked up at him, noting that he looked just about as uncomfortable as she felt. "Not doing this. I'll text it to you. Go tell Scott."
The boy across from her, who had taken to looking anywhere but at her, nodded vehemently.
"Yeah, that was too weird." He then pointed to the ground right between them. "Meeting here for the next message?"
"As long as it's not like this one."
"Agreed."
Ten minutes later.
"A bestiary!" Stiles nearly shouted as he ran back to the spot outside the cafeteria that had met at previously. Maddie had run there as well, but didn't sound quite as out of breath. "The...the Argents should have one! And please tell me you know what a bestiary is."
Maddie furrowed her eyebrows. "Of course I do. What kind of question is that?"
"Okay, ask Allison if-"
"Wait, if you're looking for a bestiary, why not just ask me?"
This time, Stiles was the one who looked confused as he spoke up. "What? Why?"
Maddie pointed to herself, giving Stiles a deadpan stare. "Um, hello, Vampire Slayer. Watchers kept ancient texts on all kinds of big bads for centuries. I mean, we don't have the resources that we had, say, ten years ago, but I can drop them a text. They might know something."
An amused smile began to form on his lips. "Hold on - big bads?"
She folded her arms across her chest and glared at the boy, feeling almost self-conscious. "Shut up."
"Okay, well, you contact them but we need quick results here. The Argents might have something a little more accessible."
"Let's hope." She let out a long sigh. "How many more times do you think we're going to have to do this?"
"Is it wrong of me to say 'too many'?"
She let out a small laugh and shook her head. "See you in ten?"
He grinned at her, wider than before. "Only if you promise to use more catchy slayer phrases."
She rolled her eyes so hard, it hurt as she turned on her heel and headed back over to where Allison was waiting.