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Step by Step, We'll Get There	By : Sasunarufan13 Category: S through Z > Teen Wolf Views: 4677 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf nor profit of it. Jeff Davis owns it.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
Author's note: I had a bit of trouble putting this chapter together, so I hope it isn't too bad!
Warnings: Hm, angst I guess? There's nothing really specific that needs a warning I think
I hope you'll like it!
Chapter 13
"Cora's gone?" Stiles repeated, his voice sounding weird in his own ears as if there was some kind of echo.
Someone had taken Cora? Why? Where? What the hell were they planning with her? Was it meant as some kind of attack on Talia?
Or was it …
"Yes, she unfortunately is," Deaton confirmed, putting his phone into his pocket and retrieving a small briefcase from underneath his desk. "I'm afraid that I'll have to cut our meeting short. As you'll undoubtedly understand, the mayor requires my assistance."
"Wait, shouldn't the police be called?" Stiles questioned, the papers of his notebooks crinkling and bending when his fingers tightened around the sides.
Cora was gone.
"I'm certain they were called," Deaton said, remaining completely unruffled as if he hadn't just received a phone call from a terrified mother. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go now. We'll have to continue our discussion another time."
He was politely, but firmly ushered out of the office and Deaton locked the door before striding out of the hallway, leaving Stiles behind. Scott was still seated behind the desk when he emerged from the hallway and the smile his friend threw him told him Deaton hadn't said anything to him about Cora having been abducted.
"Hey, man, did Deaton manage to help you out a bit?" he asked grinning.
"Er, yeah, he did. Say, I'm off now, I still have to buy some stuff for dinner," Stiles fibbed and thanked the gods when Scott just nodded, not paying attention to his heartbeat after being best friends with him for so long.
There was a part of him that wanted to stay and tell Scott what had just happened, but what would that do? It wasn't like Scott could do much and he wasn't close with the Hales to start with. No, Stiles' best chance now was to go home and wait for his dad to arrive so he could get some answers.
Not that waiting would be easy, not when he knew Cora was missing and all his mind could do was come up with all kinds of reasons why someone would kidnap her, but he couldn't do much now.
Not yet at least.
So he would play the waiting game and hopefully at least some of his questions would get answered today.
Dad didn't come home until the early morning hours and Stiles knew that meant bad news. He didn't even need to look at his dad's haggard face or smell the pure frustration rolling off of him in waves.
"You didn't find Cora yet?" he asked anyway, his fingers clenching around the doorframe of dad's bedroom.
"Kid, shouldn't you still be asleep?" Dad threw a pointed look at the clock, which announced it was barely past six.
Stiles ignored that. "Did you find any leads to Cora yet?"
"How do you even know she disappeared?" Dad frowned, halting in changing his shirt for a fresh one. "Did you listen to the radio again?" His disapproval was tempered by a note of exhaustion and Stiles wondered whether he'd been up all night, going over every piece of evidence they had.
He probably had, because that was just how the sheriff was.
"I was with Deaton when Talia called him," Stiles answered impatiently. "Dad, do you have an idea where she is?"
Dad sank down on the bed and ran his hands over his face. "No, Stiles, I don't yet. We're still going over what we have so far, which is not a lot," he said bitterly and sighed. "I only came home for a quick change of clothes and then I'm going back to the station. What were you even doing at Deaton's?"
Ignoring that question as well, Stiles nibbled at his lower lip before asking meekly, "Do you – do you think she got kidnapped by the serial killer?" It was a question he barely dared to ask aloud, his stomach cramping and twisting together at the thought alone, but he needed to know.
He needed to know whether in a few days' time he might see Cora's name added to the growing list of victims – a list which was becoming way too long.
"I don't know, son," Dad said quietly, his eyes dark and sombre. "I hope to god not. So far the Hales haven't been contacted yet, so whether it's the serial killer or someone trying to take revenge on the family remains to be seen. I'm hoping we'll get some breakthrough today."
"If I can – " Stiles started to say, but was abruptly cut off by the older man, who cut his hand through the air almost violently.
"No, you're not going to get into the middle of this," Dad stated firmly and stood up. "We don't know who's behind this and I won't have you bringing yourself in danger. I don't want you anywhere near this case or snuffling around in the files, do you hear me, Stiles? I'm serious about this. If I find out you've been sniffling around, grounding will be the least of your worries."
The look in his eyes said there would be no arguing or protesting against it and Stiles raised his hands hastily. "I promise!"
"I mean it, Stiles, if I find out that you started your own investigation," Dad started to work up to a rant, but Stiles cut him off before he could really get into it.
"Dad, I swear I won't!"
Dad still looked like he didn't quite believe him, which while rude was quite understandable as well, but he sighed and motioned for the younger man to leave the bedroom. "All right, I'm going to finish up here and then I'm back to the station. You got any plans for today?"
Aside from obsessing over Cora?, Stiles thought, but that would probably only lead to yet another lecture about keeping his nose out of this, so instead he said, "I was thinking of going over to Lydia's. You know, spend some time with her before she leaves."
Dad nodded approvingly. "That's good. I'll see you tonight then."
"You're eating dinner here?"
"Yeah, can't promise I won't go back afterwards, but we'll have dinner together," Dad confirmed and then shooed him off. "Go on now, go catch some more sleep before you turn into a zombie."
He actually hadn't caught much sleep at all while waiting for his dad to return home. He'd dozed off for a bit, but every time he would fall into a deeper sleep, he'd startle awake again. So yeah, he was tired, but given everything that was happening he doubted he'd be able to rest well.
Still, a nap wouldn't hurt he guessed. At least it would make his brain sharper for the upcoming research he was planning.
"How much do you know about the murderer going around and offing people?" was the first thing he asked when Lydia opened the door.
She stared at him unimpressed. "Really, Stiles?"
"Look, I need your help, okay?" he said, a bit agitated, and squeezed past her inside. "I know this has something to do with a ritual, but I haven't been able to figure out which one it is yet or what the goal is and with Cora having been kidnapped, I don't think I - "
"Wait, Cora's been kidnapped?" she asked abruptly and slammed the door shut. "Cora as in Cora Hale?"
"Yep, that one. Talia called Deaton when I was there and I heard the whole conversation. My dad's looking for her, but they don't know yet what the kidnapper wants, so unless the kidnapper reaches out today, I don't think …" he trailed off and swallowed, not wanting to finish his sentence.
Not that he needed to; comprehension dawned upon her face and she pressed her lips together, crossing her arms underneath her breasts. "You think her abduction has something to do with that serial killer?" she asked knowingly; her eyes briefly flickering towards the notes clutched against his chest.
He shrugged. "I don't know," he said evasively. "But don't you think it's one hell of a coincidence that after so many murders, Cora gets abducted? I'm not saying a random abduction can't happen, but I don't know. It just feels too much of a coincidence."
"Does the police have any idea how long the killer kept his victims?" Lydia asked, going straight to business as he'd expected.
That was why he'd come to her. She was one of the smartest people he knew and would be able to make connections even he missed. If there was anyone who could help him figure out what the ritual was about, then it was her.
Following her up the stairs to her room, he answered, "Five to seven days on average. That's their assumption at least, because the family of some of the victims hadn't heard of them in a while, so it could be longer than that even."
"If the kidnapper is the killer, then we have around five days to find Cora," she mumbled, closing the door behind him. "That's not a broad window. I take it they haven't been able to narrow down the possible places she could have been taken to?"
He shook his head, sitting down on her bed and spreading out his notes. "As far as I know, no, but dad didn't want to tell me much."
"Not a surprise there," she clucked her tongue and sank down next to him, crossing her legs and picking up some of the pages. "How do you want to do this?"
"I was thinking that you could focus on finding which ritual is being put together, while I concentrate on figuring out why the victims keep being dumped in one specific field," he explained, handing over the rest of the notes detailing the victims' deaths and some general information he'd pulled down from the internet about rituals. It wasn't much yet, but he hadn't been able to concentrate last night.
Lydia settled herself more comfortably against some pillows and booted up her laptop, placing her notes next to her on a pillow. She pulled her hair back into a simple ponytail and started typing.
His own laptop was just in sleeping modus so after logging back in, he was instantly greeted with the five tabs he'd pulled up last night before having given up when his brain had refused to cooperate. Now, however, the thought that Cora might have been taken by the serial killer spurred him on to look at the pages more properly.
Was he completely certain that Cora had been taken by the killer? No, not without more information. Did he believe it was a random kidnapping or at least only targeted towards the Hales and not necessarily tied to the murders? That he couldn't wholeheartedly believe either. His gut feeling was telling him there was reason why Cora had been kidnapped; he just needed to find out what that reason was. If it was tied to the killer, they needed to be act very quickly before the murderer could add a seventh victim to his growing list.
If it did turn out to be a random abduction, well, that person could better hope they wouldn't be caught then, because going up against the Hales was a very stupid thing to do.
Now, what was so special about that damn tree stump?
It was a couple of hours later, after they'd taken a short break to eat lunch, that Stiles found his attention straying more and more to his phone. It had been silent the whole day so far with only one message from Scott asking him where he was and one from his dad to warn him he'd be home an hour later.
Surprisingly Theo hadn't bothered him either and while that was rather odd, considering the man hadn't left him alone since their less than fun conversation in Stiles' bedroom, he wasn't about to be sad about it either. The less he heard from Theo, the better in his opinion. He still needed to figure out a way to get rid of that guy for good, but for now Cora and the mysterious ritual were taking precedence over a creepy dude who was clearly messed up in the head.
Erica hadn't texted him once either, even though he'd expected at least one message to ask him where he'd been last night considering he still slept over at her place. She didn't send anything, though, and it took him a bit to realise that the reason behind that was probably the same one driving him to do this research: being close to Derek, she was probably out there helping look for his missing sister.
Thinking about Derek had his stomach flipping uncomfortably and he worried his lip between his teeth; his eyes flashing between his screen and his phone. He wanted to contact the Beta, let him know that –
Yeah, what? That he was there for him, but that he couldn't see him, because Theo would flip his shit? That would lead to some very uncomfortable questions probably; ones he couldn't answer because there was a chance Theo might find out and that was the last thing he wanted.
But not saying anything, especially now that his youngest sister had been kidnapped, was something he couldn't do either.
"Either you pick up your phone and text or call whoever you're thinking about or you don't, but make up your mind, Stiles," Lydia's irritated voice ripped him out of his thoughts and he started, whipping his head around to stare at her.
"I wasn't …"
The look she threw him told him quite clearly to cut the bullshit and he smiled embarrassed, grabbing his phone and scrambling off the bed, nearly tripping over his own shoes. "All right, I'm just going to …" He jerked his thumb to the corridor and she waved him off, her attention already back on her notes.
He pulled the door closed behind him when he stepped out into the corridor and after staring at his phone for an embarrassing long time, he typed 'How are you holding up?' and sent it before he could think twice.
The words stared back at him and he groaned, thumping his head against the wall as he realised how utterly fucking lame he sounded in that text. He should have just left his phone alone, because this was just stupid. Who asked someone whose sister had been kidnapped how they were holding up? Obviously not great!
The phone ringing in his hand had him freezing up for a second, his heart beating quicker as he wanted Derek's name appear on the screen. His hesitation whether he should pick up was quickly halted when Lydia cleared her throat meaningfully from inside her room.
"Pick up the phone before I shove it down your throat," she said calmly and yeah, okay, if that was how it was going to be …
"Hey," he greeted lamely, aware that it had been quite a while since he'd last seen or spoken to the older man.
"Hey," Derek returned exhausted.
Leaning against the wall, Stiles started fiddling with a loose thread of one of the loops on his jeans. "How are you feeling?" he asked and cringed. One stupid question after the other.
There was a short pause on the other end of the line before Derek released a long sigh. "Not that great," he admitted and Stiles imagined him ranking a hand through his hair. "I've been out searching since I got the call, but nothing."
"Did you hear anything from, you know?" Stiles fumbled, not wanting to say the word 'kidnapper' aloud, even though they both knew he could be talking about one thing only.
"No," Derek replied shortly; frustration like the edge of a knife underlining his voice. "They didn't try to contact us at all. We have no clue who's behind this, so it could be anyone."
"Did anyone see it happening?" That had to be the case because why else would Talia have called Deaton to say her daughter had been abducted instead of just missing?
"Laura did," Derek said curtly. "She and Cora were planning to head out to the mall and Cora had gone ahead to the car. Before she could get inside, another car stopped and somebody dragged her into it before speeding away. No license plate and Laura didn't get a good look at them, so we don't know anything at all."
"I'm sorry, Derek," Stiles said softly, knowing it was inadequate, but not knowing what else to say. What did you say to someone whose little sister had been taken away?
"Yeah," Derek said softly and silence fell between them for a while before he broke it again, "Thanks for calling me."
"It was a text," Stiles said dumbly and shook his head. "I'm sorry I can't do anything. Dad threatened to do something worse than grounding if he caught me investigating."
A humourless laugh escaped the Beta. "Stiles, I don't expect you to do anything; your dad's right. This isn't something you should get into the middle of; it's too risky. I'm just … It's good to hear your voice again."
"Yeah," Stiles said softly, closing his eyes. It was good to hear Derek's voice again too. He hadn't realised just how much he'd missed hearing him talk until he heard his low voice through the phone.
"I have to go now, search through another part of the Preserve we haven't done yet," Derek said and Stiles heard branches break underneath his shoes. "Maybe – maybe we can meet up again once all this is over and Cora's back?" he asked hesitatingly.
If they get Cora back. "Yeah, sure," Stiles smiled weakly. "I'd love to."
"I'll talk to you soon," Derek promised.
"Sure, I hope you'll find her soon."
"Yeah." A deep sigh. "Me too."
Beeping filled his ears when Derek hung up and he lowered his phone, staring down at the white carpet with unseeing eyes. He wasn't sure whether it'd been a good idea to reach out to Derek again. At least not until he'd found a way to fix his problem with Theo, but … It'd been good to hear his voice, even if the circumstances were beyond shitty.
A door opening had him looking up and he met Lydia's gaze. "You're ready to get back to the research?" she asked softly.
He threw one more look at his phone, of which the screen had gone dark, and nodded, stuffing it in his pocket. "Yeah, let's continue."
"I think I found it," Lydia broke the silence several hours later.
It was inching into evening and the time when he needed to leave in order to be on time for dinner and he'd started to think they would be researching for days. There was nothing online about whether a tree stump could have a significant meaning in a ritual and he wondered whether the place had merely been a coincidence after all.
"What did you find?" He shuffled closer to her, glad that she at least had made more progress than him.
She tapped on the screen where a diagram was shown of a perfect circle with an X right in the middle of it. Seven people had been drawn around the circle with lines connecting them to the X. Each person had a symbol drawn next to them and he could recognise four as ones depicting the four elements of nature.
"I've looked through various rituals and compared the preparation and 'ingredient list'," her grimace was full of disgust, "with the information you pulled from the police files and this ritual seems to be the one the killer is setting up."
"What does it do?" The explanation next to the diagram was naturally in Latin, because they couldn't make it easier than this and he read through it quickly, words like 'power', 'harness', and 'moon' popping out immediately.
"I spent some time translating it," she said and thank god for that, "and basically the ritual seems to be used in order to draw all the power of a great natural source towards you, effectively harnessing that power for your own use."
"Great natural source?" he repeated with a frown. "What does that mean?"
She shook her head, biting down on her lower lip. "I'm not really sure," she admitted chagrined. "The text is rather vague about that. It seems to assume that the reader of this ritual already knows what it is and merely needs this explanation to know how to set it up. As far as I can gather, this source seems to be like some kind of natural magical power source, like a rock or a tree; things that have been considered to contain magical powers since ancient times."
"Okay, I can guess why the four elements are used then," he mumbled, staring at the circle and the way the seven people were drawn around it with one person standing at the top right across the X. "But what position do the first two victims take up then? And let's say that psycho took Cora – what's her purpose in all of this? The first two victims died with no real connection to any nature element."
"Look at these symbols," she said and tapped on one which resembled some kind of animal with its fangs displayed in a display of fury. "One victim looked like she'd been mauled to death by an animal, right?"
"Yeah, the first one."
"And this one," she tapped on another person which simply had a sleeping, neutral face as symbol next to it," the second victim was stabbed."
"Yeah, with a knife. Nothing else was done to him. Where are you going with this?"
"They both represents our sides," she stated matter-of-factly. "One victim needs to die through an animal attack, because we're partly animal. The other victim dies by a human hand: our human side. Both sides keep each other in balance and both sides are needed in this ritual for that exact reason."
"Okay, I guess that makes sense," he said and grimaced. "But what about Cora?"
"Here the text gets murky again," she sighed and rolled her shoulders. "It speaks of sacrificing the blood of someone tied to the natural source."
"But why would Cora be … The Hales own this land," he suddenly realised, shooting up again. Heart pounding, he stared at Lydia, whose eyes widened a touch in comprehension. "That's it, right? The Hales practically own this land, this town, so whatever this natural power source bullshit is, it stands to reason that the Hales would be tied to it because they've been here for so long!"
"The Hales are old blood," she whispered, tracing her finger across the circle. "It can't get better than that if you want to complete a ritual like this one."
"Shit, so they took her to drain her of her blood." He jumped up and started pacing back and forth, needing to do something to work off this restless energy. "I don't know what this person is planning to do with all this supposed power they'll gain after completing the ritual, but it can't be anything good."
The whole harnessing natural power for your own by killing people didn't seem like something a good person would do. What exactly they hoped to do with all this supposed power was anyone's guess, but it was more than clear that they had to be stopped before it would come to that. He really didn't want to find out what would happen if they were too late.
"Does it mention any particular time restrictions, certain moments that the ritual needs to be completed at?" He might not know much about magic, but he did know that most rituals seemed to work with time indications, like only performing them during a full moon or only on a particular day in a particular month and so on. If this ritual had a specific time indication as well, they might be able to figure out through that how much time they had left to find Cora and stop the ritual.
"Let me take a look," she murmured and scrolled down the page, mouthing the words soundlessly. "Six of the seven murders don't have a specific time indication, but the last one – which will also complete the ritual – has to happen on the night of a supermoon, as that will act as a conduct to channel the natural power more easily."
"A supermoon? I think they mentioned it on the news; isn't there supposed to be one soon?" he asked rhetorically, sitting down on the bed again and pulling his laptop on his lap. "Yeah, here, the next supermoon is scheduled for … next Saturday."
Fuck.
"Shit," Lydia echoed his thoughts troubled, leaning over his shoulder to stare at the news website with the article about the supermoon displayed prominently on top of it. "Next Saturday gives us only …. Shit."
It gave them only five days maximum to find Cora on time. Five days to find a missing girl and stop a dangerous ritual with no information whatsoever about the killer and where he could be hiding Cora.
Stiles didn't like their odds. At all.
AN2: Like I said, for some reason this chapter gave me a bit more trouble than the others. I hope it wasn't too bad overall!
Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
I hope to see you all back in my next chapter!
Cuddles
Melissa
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