The first thing that Allison noticed when she entered the reception area was the counter on the wall that Lydia mentioned earlier in their motel room.
"Didn't you say that the counter was set at 198?" Allison questioned with a certain hint of fear in her voice as she spoke causing Lydia to turn towards her with a look of apprehension on her face.
"Yes? Why?" Lydia replied slowly, obviously picking up on Allison's tone as she glanced back towards the ravenette.
"Because this counter now says 201. It's gone up by three in the past 30 minutes… That can't be good." Allison announces with dread while she turns back to Hope and Daphne.
"Are three Werewolves going to die tonight?" Allison directly asks Hope as she knows that the Tribrid is the most likely to know if something was going to happen.
"They didn't before… They won't this time either. But we need to move now in order to make sure the Wolfsbane affected Wolves don't end up hurting themselves– Crap!" Hope assured them before her superhearing picked up on a handsaw roaring to life upstairs and she disappeared in a blur and a gust of wind.
Daphne also disappeared in a soundless pop leaving Allison and Lydia alone.
"You know… I'm really starting to hate when they disappear like that." Allison complained as she levelled an unimpressed face towards the slightly amused Banshee who was trying not to laugh at the Huntress' offended face.
Allison gently smacked Lydia on her upper arm as she muttered in annoyance. "Shut up."
"Come on. We probably should catch up to them." Allison mentioned as she pulled Lydia outside but she came to a sudden halt at the door as she saw Scott standing in the parking lot, holding a burning flare in his hand.
Lydia bumped into Allison with an 'oof' as she felt the ravenette's hand tighten in her own grip with a small grimace at the sensation.
The strawberry blonde poked her head around Allison's taller frame. "Oh… Shit."
Lydia took in the sight of Scott and frowned at his wet appearance until she looked down at the puddle of liquid he was standing in and her heart dropped when she saw a large red container with a nozzle.
The moment Lydia realised what Scott was standing in the smell of gasoline overwhelmed her sense of smell and she moved her other hand up to block her nose from the intense smell.
Stiles was running down the stairs from his shared room with Scott, calling out his name. "Scott! Don't!"
"Ethan's alright… He's pissed. But he's no longer wishing to cut himself open with a handsaw to release his brother that he thought was stuck inside him." Hope advised Allison using their bond, making the ravenette jump slightly at the sudden interruption.
"It's a good thing my affinity is for fire." The Tribrid announced with a fair amount of pride coming through the bond.
"Dear Merlin! You are such a pain in the ass! Now get that wonderful ass in this room and use that power to snap these two Werewolves out of their hallucinations. Because unlike you darling, fire is not my forte." Daphne groaned in exasperation.
Allison blinked at the updates from her soulmates as she finally snapped out of her own shock, running over to Stiles. "Stiles!"
The lanky boy turned as he watched Allison and Lydia join him as they all stood out of the range of the pool of gasoline. "Do you two know what's happening? Please say you do!"
"Sort of." Allison answered before expanding on her answer. "We know that it's powdered Wolfsbane making all the Werewolves act strangely. Hope's already taken care of Ethan and is making her way over to Isaac and Boyd to help them snap out of it while Daphne is stopping them from injuring themselves."
"Hope mentioned to break them out of the hallucination that we need to burn them. Like a cigarette lighter or a heater or… A road flare." Lydia informed Stiles as she looked over to Scott in utter fear.
"How do we help Scott? He's covered in gasoline! A small spark or fire will light him up like a Christmas tree!" Stiles exclaimed in unadulterated fear as he stared at his best friend.
"Isaac and Boyd are fine. I've put them to sleep so they can rest off the effects of the Wolfsbane. I also stole Coach's whistle and created a replacement so he stops spreading Wolfsbane all over the bloody place!" Daphne relayed through to Allison while Hope made her entrance by jumping over the barricade.
Hope landed with a solid thud and glowing amber eyes as she quickly assessed the situation. "Daph? Can you put that fire out?"
"On it!" The blonde Ice Witch was standing in the same spot where Hope jumped over the ledge and simultaneously summoned the flare to herself while using her ice magic to snuff out the flame before it even reached her.
Hope waited for the flare to land in Daphne's hand before rushing Scott with her superior speed. The Tribrid moved Scott's rather pliant form against the school bus and held him there with her forearm across his gasoline sodden chest as she scrunched up her nose in disgust at the overpowering smell.
"Holy crap, she's fast!" Stiles exclaims in shock before shaking himself out of his stupor when he realised that his best friend was being held against the bus with relative ease and he wasn't even attempting to fight back. "Hey! Let him go!"
"Ally, can you keep him back please? I promise I won't hurt Scott." Hope softly requested the Huntress through the soulbond.
The archer could feel Hope's sincerity through the bond but that didn't stop her from raising an eyebrow of skepticism at Hope's request.
However, Allison abided to the brunette's request and reached out to stop Stiles from approaching the two Werewolves. "Stiles. Please trust me. I promise that Hope is going to help Scott. Just please give her a chance?"
Hope smiled at Allison's words as she was filled with contentment at her second soulmate's trust in her.
Scott's eyes glowed a dull gold in response to Hope's glowing eyes shining at him but the brunette girl could tell that Scott wasn't trying to intimidate her. Scott was simply reacting out of instinct to the danger around him and Hope certainly filled those parameters quite easily.
There were 3 different options going through Hope's mind at this moment on how to help Scott, but two of them required her to either use her magic or unleash her Wolf on the younger Werewolf. However this could possibly alter Scott's ambition to become a True Alpha and that was not something that the Tribrid wanted to do.
Hope's third option was to use her Vampire side… Although, strangely enough to the Tribrid who grew up with her family compelling everyone they can for an easier life for themselves and Hope. Compulsion might be the most subtle out of her three sides which was highly amusing to the youngest Mikaelson since her family used to make it so obvious when they compelled the people around them.
"Scott. Calm down." The Tribrid's pupils widened and contracted as she spoke with a singular purpose as she used both her Werewolf and Vampire powers.
The universal traveller was hoping that her compulsion ability mixed with her Queen status would hopefully work on the Werewolves from this universe. If it works then Hope knew she could get through this night without needing to resort to violence. The Tribrid knew that Allison would greatly appreciate it if Hope didn't start a fight with her ex while he wasn't exactly in control of himself.
Thankfully with the way Scott wobbled slightly as his eyes turned back from a pale yellow to his regular solid brown with a hint of a glazed look on his face. It certainly seemed as though her powers worked on him.
Hope's sunset orange eyes narrowed a little bit as she mentally asked herself if there were any restrictions on her compulsion powers.
The Tribrid now knows that she can compel Vampires from her universe, Wizards and Witches from Daphne's universe and currently, she's also pretty sure she'll have a 100% hit ratio of controlling the different types of Werewolves across the three universes as well as humans from whichever universe she's in.
The brunette sighed as called over her shoulder to the lanky boy who was still being forcibly held back by Allison. "Hey Stiles!... Or Lyds! By any chance do either of you know how to remove gasoline from human skin? Would a shower work?"
"I'm not completely sure… I've heard that you use sand or baking soda on a spill. Which we'll still need to do for that." Lydia blinked at the question as she looked at Stiles with a thoughtful expression on her face before pointing to the ground.
"Lemon juice." Stiles answers simply as he looks over at Scott with a curious glint in his eyes.
All four girls turn to look at him in surprise at the easy answer from the teenager.
"What? I have to fix my Jeep frequently and my hands sometimes get coated with gas or oil." The younger boy explained as he felt like he was put on the spot.
Hope shook her head slightly with a touch of amusement crossing her features but turned back to the young Werewolf that she was still forcibly holding against the bus to stop him from hurting either her or more likely, himself.
"Scott. You're gonna go up to your room, go into the bathroom and lock the door behind you. Once you are alone, strip down to your birthday suit and clean your entire body with the lemon juice before taking a shower to wash off the scent. Oh… And allow Stiles to help you if you need it. After your shower, dry yourself and get dressed in some clean clothes. Then burn yourself on the motel heater in your room." Hope gave Scott a list of things to do before handing him a large yellow bottle of lemon juice that she summoned using her magic.
"You will not remember this conversation after you burn yourself. Go." Hope compelled the younger Wolf and let him go.
Scott moved robotically towards the motel, completely bypassing Allison, Lydia and Stiles.
The younger Stilinski blinked dumbfoundedly as he watched Scott walk past him like a zombie.
"What the hell just happened?? Actually, different question. Where the hell did the lemon juice bottle come from?" Stiles wondered aloud as he turned to face Lydia.
Instead of either of the girls on the ground answering him, the answer to Stiles' query came from above.
"I'm a Witch Stiles. I can summon items to myself or Hope with ease. As for the rest, well… The Darach sabotaged this trip by placing powered wolfsbane into Coach's whistle." Daphne announced before tossing the whistle down to Stiles to check.
"We've been able to break Ethan, Isaac and Boyd out of their hallucinations before they could hurt themselves or others by giving them a slight burn to activate their healing abilities." Hope added as she approached the group but she stopped more than a few metres away.
"So if you could dispose of that awful smelling whistle that would be wonderful." The Tribrid remarked with a small smile but kept her distance away from the foul smelling whistle.
Stiles observed the small object in his hands before narrowing his eyes on the hole at the top, noticing a very fine dust coating the edges of the whistle. Stiles covered the top of the whistle with his hand and blew into the whistle.
The lanky boy slowly lifted his hand to see the telltale tiny specks of purple, black and white cupped in his hand and Stiles' heart dropped a little as he whispered, "Wolfsbane."
Hope and Daphne felt an eerie feeling of disaster about to strike, causing the Tribrid to swiftly move towards Allison and Lydia in order to protect the pair from the oncoming danger. Daphne, on the other hand, managed to apparate multiple times in quick succession. First she apparated down to Stiles before apparating him into room 213 with Scott, after safely ensuring that Stiles was away from the danger approaching Daphne apparated beside Hope creating a barrier in front of the two girls from this universe.
Suddenly the gasoline spill exploded in a burst of heat and Daphne immediately countered it with an icy blast before the flames could even get close to the 4 girls.
The sound of tribal drums beating menacingly off in the distance caught Hope's attention first causing her to shift her attention towards the desert in a defensive stance. This movement captured the attention of the other 3 girls causing all 4 girls to witness a woman with scars across her face and body disappear in a flash of fire and darkness, almost like she teleported away in the blink of an eye.
"Was that the Darach?" Lydia murmured as she shuffled up behind Hope and placed a frightened hand on the Tribrid's shoulder in order to steady herself.
"Yes and no… It was the Darach visage but she wasn't here in person. She must've used astral projection and a bit of magic to start the fire. I think she wanted to get one last scare in before leaving us alone… Although I think she's learned that we're not as powerless as she expected. I doubt she'll come after us until she's completed all her sacrifices and she gains as much power as she can." Hope mentions almost offhandedly as she keeps her gaze on the desert for a little while longer.
Allison frowns slightly as she looks over to Hope's tense form. "What if we take the battle to her instead and not allow her to complete her sacrifices?"
"I mean, we could… But I'll admit I'm worried about this universes' future if we interfere now. There are some events that need to happen that I can't change otherwise this universe may tear apart at the seams. But there are some things that I wish to change like ensuring that Lydia will never end up in the hands of Eichen House…" Hope offers with a sombre expression before cutting herself off before she could mention Allison's untimely fate aloud.
Daphne noticed Hope's sudden silence and used the soulbond to figure out why Hope cut herself off before she could continue her train of thought. This caused Daphne to look away from her other 2 companions and subtly hid her emotions from Allison so the Huntress wouldn't learn about her upcoming death from the Ice Witch.
"So what do we do now?" Lydia remarks in a quiet tone as she was subconsciously reflecting on the potential future Hope just announced that she could've had if not for the universal travellers interference in her life.
"Get some rest and tackle this in the morning? It's been a long day of driving and it's going to be another long day of travelling back home tomorrow since the track meet has been cancelled." Hope pointed out with an exhausted sigh as she shrugged off Lydia's hand from her shoulder before making her way towards the staircase.
Lydia couldn't help the loud groan that escaped her. "Seriously! We travelled all this way to simply go back after staying at a creepy ass motel for a night! What the hell was the point of this trip?"
"To protect the Werewolves from trying to kill themselves?" Allison pointed out with a raised eyebrow in her best friend's direction.
This remark sobered the strawberry blonde immediately as she let out a small noise of acknowledgement before trailing after the Tribrid in silence.
As the 4 girls returned to their room Hope finally was able to take note of where Alexandria was sleeping soundly on one of the beds and couldn't help a small chuckle at her feathered companion.
"At least someone was able to get some sleep through all the madness of tonight." Hope mentioned before shifting the Thunderbird towards the edge of the pillow she was sleeping on.
"Daph? How about you share a bed with Allison seeing as you're both so much closer since the beginning of our little trip." Hope teased her wife and second soulmate with a cheeky smirk plastered on her face.
A sweet blush covered Allison's cheeks while Daphne turned her head to glare slightly at the Tribrid. Lydia snorted at Hope's mischievous demeanour and Allison's reaction at being called out by the brunette girl.
"What makes you say that?" Allison awkwardly retorted as her blush deepened.
"Maybe because you kissed Daphne earlier tonight?" Lydia quickly interjected before Hope or Daphne could reply as she wanted to tease her friend a little more.
Allison blinked once then twice. The ravenette turned to face Hope and saw a wide smirk with all-knowing eyes gazing back at her.
Allison chuckled nervously as she wasn't exactly sure what the correct way to go about kissing someone who was already in a committed relationship with someone else but were both interested in her.
The Huntress opened her mouth then closed it, repeating this action a few times before shifting her eyes to the side with reddened cheeks as she didn't know how to handle herself in this situation.
"Hope, Lydia. Stop teasing her. Ally? Can you do me a favour and take a deep breath and breathe for me, darling?" Daphne lightly scolded the other two girls in the room before approaching Allison and placing her cold hands on the Huntress' heated cheeks.
At the sudden change in temperature against her cheeks Allison jolted at the sensation and took a sharp gasp of air, not realising that she hadn't taken a breath since Lydia mentioned that both she and Hope had watched her kiss Daphne.
Hope's teasing stopped as she joined Allison and Daphne and caressed the Huntress' arm in a comforting up and down motion. "Hey, love. I'm not upset or angry that you and Daphne kissed if that is what you are worried about. You're our soulmate. I'm ecstatic that you shared a kiss with Daph."
Lydia rolled her eyes slightly at the girl's overprotective nature over Allison and removed her denim jacket before sliding into the bed with Alexandria causing the golden coloured bird to wake up momentarily. Alexandria whistled quietly before shifting closer to the Banshee, giving a sense of security for the strawberry blonde, lulling Lydia into a calming sleep.
Allison let out a sigh of relief at the sincerity in Hope's voice and the truthful feeling radiating throughout the soulbond reconfirming the Tribrid's honesty. "Okay. Thank you."
"You don't need to thank us, Allison. Not for this." Hope reiterated with a small frown.
"I was concerned that you would be angry because I practically ambushed Daphne." Allison tried to explain.
Daphne shook her head and let out a light laugh. "You didn't ambush me Allison. Surprised? Maybe. But I was a very willing participant in our kiss. To be honest, I assumed that you would've kissed Hope first rather than me."
Hope frown deepened at that statement while Allison tilted her head to the side in confusion, nearly mirroring the Tribrid's thoughts as she questioned the blonde. "Why would you think that?"
Daphne froze slightly at the query as she looked over at Hope for a moment in consideration before answering. "Between the two of us, you've spent more time with Hope than with me… I also thought that, perhaps, I was acting too cold towards you as I've never really done the whole 'dating' thing before. Hope and I just jumped right into a full-fledged relationship. It's… a little disorientating."
Allison blinked in surprise at Daphne's inner fears being voiced to both her and the Tribrid. Hope reached out to pull the blonde into a side hug and pressed a loving kiss against her temple as she muttered sweet nothings into the Witches' ear.
The ravenette felt compelled by the emotions running through her soul to move forward, wrapping her arm around Daphne's other shoulder. The Huntress rested the side of her head against Daphne's as she hummed in contentment. Somewhere between moving to Daphne, the other two girls reached out to complete the connection between the 3 of them. So they were all hugging in a tight circle.
The girls remained in that position for nearly 5 minutes in comfortable silence as they all soaked in that indescribable feeling of complete understanding from the bond.
Hope was the first to break apart from the hug, pressing another kiss against the corner of Daphne's mouth and smoothly taking Allison's hand in her own before placing a kiss on the back of her hand. "Good night, love."
The Tribrid made her way to the bed with the sleeping Banshee and hopped in on the other side of the bed. Alexandria acknowledged the Tribrid's attention with a small snore which brought a smile to the brunette's lips.
"Good night, darling/Hope." The blonde and ravenette quietly replied as they made their way to the other bed.
- - -
Allison was grateful that she wasn't the one driving on the way home from the Glen Capri when she learned about all the problems surrounding Lydia with Eichen House and her mother. Allison practically leapt through the console as she observed her best friend's slightly terrified features.
"Ally… I'm sorry I didn't tell you until now, but to be honest, I only learned the full truth of my mother's negligence yesterday." Lydia mentioned as she shifted her gaze away from the ravenette in guilt.
Allison managed to reach the strawberry blonde's face and gently turned Lydia back to face her. "Hey, Lyds. I'm not upset with you. I'm more concerned for you. Do you have any plans to get out of that house before your mother moves forward?"
Lydia's green eyes met Allison's russet coloured eyes for a moment before looking over the archer's shoulder towards the brunette who was driving. Allison followed her friend's line of sight to watch as Hope's facial features shifted from anger to malicious intent.
"I'm going to compel Lydia's mother to emancipate Lydia and she can move in with Daph and I. As for Mrs Martin…" Hope veered off as an evil grin spread across her face.
The Banshee's eyes widened drastically as she blurted out. "No killing my mother Hope! … Or torturing her… Or mentally breaking her."
Hope pouted as she glanced at Lydia for a moment to check if the other girl truly meant what she said before grumbling out an angry, "Fine."
"Can I at least compel her out of Beacon Hills?" Hope questioned in frustrated annoyance as she shifted her gaze back to the road.
Lydia narrowed her eyes at the Tribrid before answering cautiously. "Only emancipation and leaving Beacon Hills. No threats Hope!"
Hope rolled her sea blue eyes but took Lydia's request to heart. "Whatever."
- - -
Hope was chatting idly with Lydia about her new living arrangements, asking if she needed anything else in particular to make her home more comfortable until Aiden decided to butt his way into their conversation.
However before Hope could tell the Alpha Twin to piss off the fire alarm blared out causing both of the Werewolves to jump at the sudden loud noise.
Lydia glanced between the two wolves before she slowly reached for her backpack as she wished to move away from the potential fight that may break out between the Queen of the Werewolves and the straight Alpha Twin.
As the Banshee moved to round the corner she nearly ran into another body and nearly yelped in shock at the appearance of the youngest Hale Werewolf.
"Is there a problem? Actually what are you doing here? You don't even go here?" Lydia's bitchy tone came into play.
There was a meaty thud behind the strawberry blonde that almost had her turning her head to see what happened but the hand on her shoulder stopped her as she seemingly knew that it was Hope that joined her and levelled a glare at the younger Werewolf.
Cora glanced at the newcomer with little interest before crossing her arms as she stared at Lydia and ignored the other girl's questions as she stated. "You don't have very good taste in guys, do you?"
Lydia's eyes narrowed at the girl in front of her as she retorted angrily. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"She thinks you're with Aiden." Hope mentioned with a roll of her eyes.
Lydia groaned as she defended herself against this baseless accusation. "For fuck sake! I'm not with Aiden! I'm not fucking Aiden! I couldn't give two shits about Aiden!... Speaking of… Where is Aiden?"
The Banshee's tirade was cut off as she wondered why the other Werewolf didn't show up and glanced at Hope who was smirking proudly as though she was pleased with her recent actions. "Ah. Never mind."
The other Werewolf looked confused for a moment but brought back her annoyed tone as she continued, not really listening to the strawberry blonde. "Yeah, Derek would like to kindly ask you to stop seeing Aiden."
"Oh my God. Are you deaf? I thought Werewolves had enhanced hearing?" Lydia complained while Hope chuckled at her friend's distress.
But the next sentence from the Hale sister had Hope growling at the younger wolf. "Which means if I catch you with him again, I'm not going to pull the fire alarm… I'm going to pull your tongue out of your head."
The glowing orange eyes and growl from the Werewolf next to the strawberry blonde caused the other girl to flinch slightly and she reached forward to grab Lydia. However Cora never got close as Hope thrusted her palm against the younger girl's chest with enough force to push her halfway down the hall and onto her ass with a groan.
"You do not get to touch her!" Hope seethed out between clenched teeth as she held back her full strength.
Stiles came around the corner quickly as he heard some animalistic growls that he's only heard from Werewolves but came to a sudden stop as he noticed Cora on the ground and a protective Werewolf standing slightly in front of Lydia.
"Are you alright Lydia?" Stiles asked as he took in the scene in front of him.
Lydia touched Hope's shoulder and the girl's eyes returned back to their human colour as she turned back to observe Lydia for a moment before taking a step back so she was standing at the Banshee's side.
"I'm fine. 'Sweetheart' here thought it would be a good idea to threaten me. Hope obviously didn't appreciate her attitude and knocked her on her ass." Lydia answered as she grinned at the younger wolf.
The other girl growled and kip up to a crouching position with her fangs, claws and glowing golden eyes on display.
Stiles frantically glanced around to make sure there was no one else in the vicinity to cry 'Werewolf' before rushing in front of Cora. "Hey! No! Derek said no violence at the school!"
Cora growled at him before angrily stating, "She started it. I'm gonna finish it."
Hope chuckled, almost wishing for the other girl to attack her before shaking her head. "What do you want Stiles?"
The lanky boy glanced quickly over his shoulder at Hope with a small frown before turning back to Cora as he told her once again to calm down.
After getting the Hale Werewolf to retract her fangs and shift her eyes back to normal. Stiles classified that as a win even though her claws were still out in a threatening manner.
"Actually I was hoping you might be able to help us locate Dr Deaton, Lydia. He's gone missing and there are signs that the Darach has taken him for one of their sacrifices."
Lydia grimaced at the news and decided to follow Stiles but she bought Hope with her as she didn't trust Cora.
The group of four made their way into one of the empty classrooms that Stiles had picked and sat at one of the tables in a tense silence as the Hale Werewolf continued to glare in Hope's direction while the Tribrid ignored the other girl, angering her further.
Stiles came back to the three girls and set a cardboard box on the table that Lydia was sitting at with a bang and pulled out the contents as the strawberry blonde read the box in scepticism. "A ouija board?"
Hope couldn't help herself as she let out a small snort at Lydia's remark.
Stiles ignored the girl as he set up the ouija board in front of Lydia, turning the board so the letters were the right way up from Lydia to read before placing the pointer on the board as he explained. "Also known as a spirit board and it's worth a shot."
"A shot in the dark? Also wouldn't Daphne be a better choice for this considering she's a Witch? I mean ouija and Witch practically go hand in hand." Lydia bit back in annoyance as she glanced over at Hope wondering if this was a skill she possessed.
The Tribrid shrugged in reply to Lydia's quiet question, making the Banshee look at the board in apprehension but also answered the other query aloud. "Daphne may have better luck with a ouija board but she's currently with Allison working on something else to help Deaton."
Stiles looked surprised at Hope's answer, not realising that she and Daphne were willing to help them but shook his head slightly turning his attention back to Lydia as she flipped the pointer around so it was facing the right way.
Hope chuckled quietly at the unconscious action from Lydia as her perfectionist side came out in that moment. Lydia rolled her eyes as she seemingly knew why Hope was laughing at her as she does the same thing at their house as Lydia moved in nearly a week ago now. If anything wasn't in its correct place she would shift the items so it was back in its intended place.
Stiles snapped his fingers as he tried to regain Lydia's attention. "Hey! Can you please focus? Let's not forget who we are doing this for, Scott's boss. The guy who has saved our collective asses on more than one occasion. Yeah?"
Lydia pursed her lips a little at the action but released a breath as she noticed that Stiles was stressed about the older man's disappearance. "Fine."
The Banshee was the first to place her fingers on the pointer followed by Stiles and Cora. Lydia levelled a quick glance over her shoulder to the Tribrid before motioning the other girl to join them as well.
Hope scoffed a little but moved forward at Lydia's request and reached over the strawberry blonde's shoulder to place her fingers on the pointer as she murmured into Lydia's ear. "Just so you know. I've never done this before so don't expect a miracle."
Lydia just hummed softly in acknowledgement as she looked at Stiles for the next cue on what they should do.
Stiles breathed in and out a few times as though he was bracing himself for some kind of supernatural event as he firmly and clearly asked. "Where's Dr Deaton?"
The group of four waited for a few quiet moments as Lydia wondered if the pointer would move due to Hope's inclusion but as she glanced up she was met with expectant stares from Stiles and Cora.
Lydia looked between them a couple of times before calling them out. "What?"
"Well, aren't you going to answer it?" Stiles questioned her with a hopeful look in his eyes.
The Banshee once again glanced between the two of them again before blinking incredulously at the pair. "Oh, I don't know the answer. I thought we were asking some sort of spirit…"
Lydia veered off as she shivered slightly at the memory of Death overtaking her body.
"Do you know any spirits?" Cora asked boredly.
It took a few seconds for Lydia to realise that someone was speaking to her and she quickly released the pointer and brought her fingers under the desk to pick nervously at her nails. "... No." The strawberry blonde replied demurely as she shifted closer to Hope.
The Tribrid could hear Lydia's heart rate pick up suddenly at the question about spirits and tilted her head slightly as she wondered what could've set the Banshee off like that.
"Anything else you'd like to try?" Hope questioned as she moved the board away from Lydia, dismissing this method Stiles thought might activate Lydia's ability.
Stiles just groaned a little in frustration at Hope's dismissal but scurried around in his pockets to pull out a set of keys.
"Dare I ask how you got those?" Hope wondered in thinly veiled amusement.
Lydia smirked at Hope's interaction with Stiles as he tried and failed to come up with a reasonable explanation before simply closing his mouth in defeat and facing Lydia again.
"These are Deaton's keys to the clinic. Close your eyes and I'm gonna put them in your hand and we're gonna try and see if you can feel out his location. It's called psychometry." Stiles explained.
Lydia just blinked at him blankly as she's fairly certain that Hope mentioned that was one of her powers. The Banshee turned in her spot as she faced Hope with a thoughtful expression on her face
"It might work." Hope answered with a shrug.
Lydia took a deep breath as she turned back around to face Stiles' confused and annoyed expression, "Is there something you two want to share with the class? Lydia each time I bring up a new idea you look back to Hope for what… clarification? Why?"
The strawberry blonde felt a spike of guilt for keeping this from Stiles as she answered quietly. "Because I'm not a psychic… I'm a Banshee."
Cora's eyes widened a little at the announcement as this trip finally became worth her while whereas Stiles just stared at Lydia for a couple of moments before flailing his arms around as he muttered to himself, Deaton's keys jingling violently at the wild swinging.
Hope sighed a little as she moved bodily between the other Werewolf in the room and her friend. The Tribrid kinda wished that Lydia didn't tell Stiles but ultimately, it was Lydia's choice who she told about herself.
Somewhere along the line of Stiles' near incoherent mumbling he narrowed his gaze on Hope. "And you! How would you know what Lydia is capable of, huh?"
"Because I'm the one who told her that she is a Banshee." Hope stated calmly with a raised eyebrow.
"Now, how about you hand over the keys to Lydia so we can move on and try to find your friend, hmm?" The Wolf Queen reasoned with the taller boy.
Stiles came to a reluctant stop in his pacing before dropping the keys into Lydia's awaiting hand.
The Banshee shivered slightly at both the weight of the keys and the coldness of the metal hitting her hand.
"What? What is it? So you see something?" Stiles quickly asked at Lydia's reaction.
Lydia glanced up at Stiles for nearly 10 seconds with an annoyed expression on her face as the bit back. "No, Stiles. They're cold."
Before Stiles could even argue back, Hope reached over and pulled the keys out of Lydia's hand and placed them on the table much to the Banshee's confusion.
"You would've glimpsed something by now. Either Deaton's keys don't hold much importance to him or you're not able to use psychometry yet." Hope answered Lydia's unasked question.
Stiles grumbled again at Hope's interference before placing a piece of paper in front of Lydia and supplying a pencil between two fingers.
Lydia blinked as she looked at the pencil and Stiles before shrugged her shoulders, not understanding what the boy would like her to try this time.
"Just try to think of Deaton and write." Stiles explained with a groan.
"What? Like automatic writing?" Lydia wondered aloud.
Stiles only sighed once again and held the pencil out expectantly for the girl to take. Lydia looked a little apprehensive taking the pencil from Stiles but as she took it she just sighed and put the pencil to the paper.
After a few minutes Stiles peered over the piece of paper wondering what Lydia was writing since the last time she did something like this she was writing 'HELP ME' backwards on the blackboard and he missed the signs that Peter was using her.
The sight of a drawing of a tree stunned Stiles and he pointed out. "Lydia, what are you doing? What the hell is that?"
"A tree." Lydia answered easily.
"A tr–" Stiles was about to blurt out angrily but reined himself back at the sight of glowing orange eyes from the girl standing beside the strawberry blonde.
"I was expecting something more like sentences or a location. Something we could use to find him." Stiles admitted through gritted teeth as he held back his anger.
Lydia lifted her head from the piece of paper and looked at Stiles' barely restrained anger before turning to look at Hope and rolled her eyes before snarkily retorting. "Well maybe you should have led with that."
Before Stiles could snap back at the girl Lydia continued her thought process as she continued her drawing. "Honestly, I'm not even sure why you're bothering with me anyway. Especially when it's obvious you should be talking to Danny."
This remark sidelined any snarky comment that Stiles was going to make as he looked at Lydia. "What? Why Danny?"
Instead of Lydia answering this the answer came from the classroom door as Scott stood in the doorway. "Because Danny was a target last night but he wasn't a sacrifice."
At this announcement Stiles and Cora left the classroom with Scott leaving Hope and Lydia in the room. Hope picked up the veterinarian's keys and twirled them in her finger a few times before snapping her fingers and summoning a map of the table beside Lydia gaining the other girl's attention.
"Hmm… I wonder…" Hope muttered a locator spell under her breath, "Sequitur."
The keys in Hope's hand shifted in their dangling position. Hope was holding them in and moving her hand over the map until she felt the keys pull down closer to the map resting over the First National Bank.
Lydia frowned a little as she read the name on the map as a memory resurfaced. "Hey… Isn't that the same bank whose logo was imprinted into my arm for a week?"
"Yep." Hope answered.
Lydia looked back at her drawing before staring at it in startled horror. "Hope?"
The fear in Lydia's tone had Hope facing her friend within a microsecond with worry etched on her face. "What's wrong?"
"It's the same tree… Isn't it?" Lydia questioned as she continued to stare at her own drawing in fear.
The Tribrid sighed but nodded her head. "Yeah. It is."
"This is important. Like really important, isn't it? I can feel it." Lydia mentioned almost as though she was both trying to convince herself and begging for Hope to claim that this strange feeling she was feeling wasn't real.
Hope pursed her lips a little, not wishing to tell Lydia about the importance of the Nemeton just yet but she also didn't want to leave the other girl in the dark. "It is very important. I can't tell you. You'll need to figure it out on your own, Lydia, just like Allison."
Lydia could only groan at Hope's response as she grumbled some incoherent words under her breath.