chapter sixty three
punchable faces

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

PUNCHING PEOPLE was quite fun in Odessa Stone's eyes. She loved feeling bones crack underneath her knuckles. The painful groans that reach her ears. The blood that stuck to her fists from the impact. It sounded pretty morbid, but when you could hold that much power in your hands, it would be enjoyable to anyone. So how did Odessa feel while she pummeled Theo Raeken's face into the ground?

Fucking fantastic.

And did anyone stop Odessa from tackling him, straddling him and punching him over and over? They wouldn't dare.

She never thought she would ever see him again. She thought him being dragged down into literal Hell by his dead sister would be the last time she would ever lay eyes on him. She thought she was free. But with him back, that all changed.

Punching someone was somewhat of an art form. Every part of your body is involved, doing something, working somehow. Your heart accelerates, your arm stings from excessive use, your breath hitches every time your fist hits its target. But Odessa didn't feel any of it. All she could feel was the hot, burning rage roaring through her at even the slightest sight of the boy below her.

His bleeding nose wasn't enough. She wanted him to hurt. Everywhere.

Just like she did when she was with the Dread Doctors that he delivered her to. It was only fair, right? Odessa surely thought so.

Harsh grunts left her lips as the blonde's punches were relentless and to no end. Swing after swing, Odessa hit her target with as much force and strength as possible, her ears almost ringing with the sensation and drive it took to punch someone in the face over and over again.

"It's okay," Theo barely mumbled, blood gushing from his nose and mouth that dripped down to the floor, "you don't have to stop."

Odessa breathed a chuckle, pushing her hair away from her face, her chest accelerating up and down rapidly, "trust me, I won't."

Lifting her arm once again, the blonde aimed for his face, only for her wrist to be grabbed from someone above her, "Odie, enough. Hey," Scott pulled her up from the floor, grasping her shoulders to make her look at him. He guided her away from Theo, who was still groaning on the floor, "slow down, okay? He's going back in the ground."

"You can't," Liam insisted, earning incredulous looks from both teens, "he remembers Stiles."

Odessa released Scott's gentle grip on her shoulders with a grunt, turning to the Beta, clenching her jaw, "Scott remembers Stiles. Lydia and Malia remember Stiles. I remember Stiles."

Sighing, the Dunbar turned to his Alpha, explaining, "the Dread Doctors knew all about the Wild Hunt. He can help us."

"Or he could kill us," Scott narrowed his eyes at the boy's reasoning, almost not believing his ears.

"He's my responsibility. Noshiko gave me the sword," Liam gestured to the sword in his grasp, though Odessa couldn't care less about any of that. She was pissed beyond belief, not only at the situation, but Liam himself. She couldn't understand how he could do such a thing knowing what Theo had put not only her through, but Scott as well.

There was a breathy sigh from across the room, "it's so awkward when mom and dad fight."

"Shut up!"

All three werewolves exclaimed at Theo, not amused with his joke. Odessa was seconds away from pushing her friends aside to have another beating session with him, especially if he decided to open his mouth again.

"You both are right," Hayden intervened as the conversation between the three was getting pretty heated with tension, "if Theo tries anything, we'll send him to the Skinwalkers. But for right now..."

Scott sent a pointed glare to his Beta, "he goes back now."

"Except Liam's the one with the sword," Theo, once again, spoke when not spoken to. Just what they needed.

"Shut up!"

"Your mom should've swallowed you."

All eyes turned to Odessa at her statement, to which she gave them a simple shrug without taking her blazing eyes off of the boy on the floor. There was no way she was going to apologize. If anything, all of the talking back and forth around her only made her more antsy to send her fist to his face again.

As Scott and Liam went into the other room to talk more in private, private meaning without Theo, the person they were discussing, in the room, Odessa took that opportunity to go over to Theo, only to be stopped by Hayden who stepped into her path.

Now, the Stone really didn't have a problem with Hayden. She actually liked the girl's attitude and spunk, seeing herself in the younger girl sometimes. But Odessa wasn't going to have anyone get in her way, especially those who didn't know her or what she had been through because of Theo and his actions.

"Odessa..."

"Can you give me a second alone with Theo," the blonde basically spat out his name from her lips.

"Why," Hayden asked, but already had an idea of the answer she was going to get.

The Ember glanced at her incredulously, as if her answer was obvious, "so I can beat his ass some more."

"Okay, look," Theo shifted in his seat on the ground against the fridge, blood still prominent on his nose and mouth, "I know that there's mixed feelings all around. But I might be your only option to stop the Wild Hunt."

Odessa seemed to have pondered for a moment before deadpanning, "yeah, I'm still beating your ass."

Before the blonde could take another step, however, Scott and Liam came back into the room, the former giving her a warning glance. Odessa, very reluctantly, backed off from her tense stance and let Liam help Theo up from the ground.

"I can put you back in the ground anytime," the Dunbar reminded Theo, holding up Noshiko's sword in warning and reminder of his possession of it and what he could do to Theo with it.

Theo nodded, "you also need a transformer that can handle five billion joules of electricity," seeing the confused glances in front of him, he sighed, "I know where to find one and I can show you how it works. I'll tell you if Odessa promises not to... beat my ass again."

Just as Odessa was about to speak for herself, Liam did it for her, "she promises."

"Uh, no, I don't," the blonde scoffed at his audacity, turning to Scott pointedly, "we're really gonna do this? Trust him? After all he's done to us? To me?"

Hayden narrowed her eyes, huffing, "you got a better idea?"

"Yeah, I've got an idea," Odessa nodded, putting Hayden's attitude toward her behind her, she didn't have time for this anymore, she was running out of patience, "it may not be better. But at least it's not this douchebag," taking her phone out of her pocket, she started her way through the house to leave, not wanting to be there with Theo in her presence any longer, "if you need me, I'll be at Lydia's. You know, the only one around here with a working brain and common sense."

And just for an extra petty measure, Odessa made sure to slam her shoulder with Theo's on her way out, making him stumble pathetically on his feet. She smirked to herself, walking out of her home. She knew she would only get stronger from what he had put her through. And she had just proven it.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Odessa almost couldn't contain herself around him. Even though he was one of the worst lacrosse players she had ever seen, he was most certainly the hottest in her eyes.

The dead pool was stopped and Kate Argent was gone from their lives and the McCall pack couldn't be happier. They could end their junior year on their own terms and one way of celebrating was a normal, mundane lacrosse game.

It was also the first lacrosse game Odessa would be cheering him on as her boyfriend, but she digressed.

Their relationship was still pretty new, only coming up on their one month, but they couldn't be happier with each other. It was like all the pressure they felt around each other after finding out their feelings for each other was gone when they finally got together.

And watching him put on his lacrosse jersey, Odessa especially couldn't be happier. Sitting on his bed, her legs swinging over the side, the blonde couldn't help her eyes from wandering further down his body, taking in his toned arms all the way down to his defined calves. He may not be the best at lacrosse, but it still had got his body into the best shape she had ever seen him in.

It could also be because they were running for their lives all of the time, but again, she digressed.

"Eyes up here, baby."

Odessa's brown hues snapped up to meet hazel eyes that kept her awake at night, sheepishly. She had just gotten caught and she didn't know how to act. Their relationship was still fairly new, and even nicknames were something they were both still getting the hang of. His use of baby did make her heart flutter a bit, no matter how cheesy it may sound.

Wanting to save herself from any further embarrassment, though there was essentially nothing to be embarrassed of, Odessa let a smirk grace her lips without shame, "I can't help it. You look... really good in your jersey."

Her boyfriend raised a brow, not expecting her to be so bold, "oh, yeah?"

"Yeah," the blonde got up from the bed, slowly sauntering over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, feeling the bulky pad underneath her palm before grazing her fingers down his arm, "in fact... I think you look pretty... sexy..."

Throat closing, the hazel eyed boy cleared his throat, not due to being uncomfortable, but from the way her touch made him feel, "really? And what are you gonna do about it, baby?"

There goes that nickname again.

Without intimidation at just how close she was to him, Odessa deepened her smirk, standing on her toes to whisper in his ear, "win the game tonight and you might just find out."

Her boyfriend looked down at her with wide eyes and an open mouth, impressed and a bit turned on by her forwardness. He couldn't help but lean down to press his lips firmly to hers, catching her a bit off guard. To deepen the kiss, he wrapped his arms around her waist to pick her up off of her feet, feeling his own heart flutter at the sound of her laughter from getting picked up unexpectedly.

This was where they belonged. They both just knew it...

Odessa stifled a gasp, eyes shooting open, bringing herself back to her reality she wished she could always escape from.

She was currently on Lydia's bed after her friend graciously offered her a place to stay as long as Theo was still at the McCall residence. Call her selfish, but she would not be joining the pack on anything that had to do with his help no matter how important it was. If Theo was there, Odessa would not be.

After calling Malia, and calming her down once she told her what happened with Theo being back, Odessa told her friend to get her dad, Peter, involved as another plan that could work with getting Stiles back somehow. Peter was in the Wild Hunt with Stiles—maybe he knew a way to get Stiles back as well?

Odessa didn't mean to fall asleep while in the company of her best friend. She internally scolded herself for being so rude. She hadn't had a chance to sleep, something she wanted to do when they got home from Canaan only an hour or so before, but of course Theo just had to be at her house, making staying in the comfort of her own home not an option for the time being.

Blinking away the sleep in her eyes, Odessa turned her head to see Lydia laying down beside her, staring up at the ceiling, "hey, Lyds..."

"Welcome back to the land of the living, sweetheart."

One thing to know about Lydia Martin was that the term sweetheart was a very versatile word in her vocabulary. She could be saying it in a condescending way or a sarcastic way. But with Odessa, it was different. The term sweetheart was being used in a literal sense. Because the one thing Lydia loved the most about Odessa was her heart. So when the strawberry blonde called her the nickname, she didn't even bat an eye.

The Stone chuckled, turning onto her side to look at her friend better and more comfortably, "what are you doing? Thinking about how to prove the Riehmann Hypothesis or something like that?"

"I'm thinking about Caleb," Lydia pursed her lips, taking account of the humor in her friend's question before turning back to her own haunted thoughts, "Lenore conjured him. To fill the void she felt after the Wild Hunt passed through Canaan. What if... what if Sheriff Stilinski is filling a void? What if he's filling it with Claudia?"

Brown eyes turning to the ceiling above, Odessa pondered, "that would make sense. I mean... she had a fatal disease, but then she's fine with no questions asked. She says her Jeep was stolen 20 years ago, but it's Stiles'. I know that for a fact."

"Oh, you should've seen the look on her face when I peeled back the wallpaper. She wasn't just angry. She was scared. Like she was protecting a secret," Lydia theorized, glad her friend was on her side in her thinking.

"If this is true, then," Odessa trailed, sitting up from the bed, "maybe Sheriff Stilinski needs this. Maybe it's his way of coping."

Maybe Silas was my own way of coping, the blonde hypothesized to herself, goosebumps starting to raise on her arms at the mere thought of Silas not being who she thought he was. Along with all of the things she had done with him over the course of their relationship...

The Martin sat up from her position next, shifting her body to face her friend, "what if Claudia being here is preventing him from remembering Stiles?"

Sighing, Odessa picked at the comforter on her lap, "if Claudia isn't real... someone's going to have to tell him."

And she knew it would be her who was going to have to tell him, no matter his reaction.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

When arriving at the Stilinski residence, one thing Odessa did not expect to see was a huge gaping hole in the wall on the second floor. She concluded that was the wall Lydia ripped the wallpaper to try and see what was underneath.

The Stone didn't know how the man would react to seeing her outside his front door, waiting to be let in. After their conversation at the Sheriff's Station, the blonde didn't know how her words affected him, or if they even did at all.

But to her surprise, it was almost as if the Sheriff was expecting her. He took her up to the second floor with no protest or issue—like he wanted her to see what he had found. And while stepping into the person sized hole in the wall, she was glad he did.

Looking around at the dark, empty room, Odessa immediately got a sense of deja vu. She had been in this room before. She knew this not only because of her instincts, but because she dreamt about being in this room over and over again. This was his room. This was Stiles' room.

Turning to face Stilinski, he graveled, his voice cracking with emotions he was still trying to comprehend himself, "you knew about it, didn't you? God, it was on the blueprints. It was here when we moved in. That was 18 years ago."

Swallowing thickly, while a chill ran down her spine, Odessa wordlessly turned around, only to be face to face with a bed. A very familiar bed.

"I love you so much, pretty girl."

That was the bed she used to sit on, lay on, with him. It was always with him. She could hear his voice from her dreams echoing in her head as she looked around the room as more furniture appeared.

His crime board.

His desk.

"Odessa," the blonde looked back at the Sheriff as he called her name, tears already starting to well, "what is it?"

Confused by his question, she whipped around to show him the furniture, only for it to be gone from her sight. Almost like it was never there at all. She sighed, defeatedly as the first tear fell down her cheek, "nothing."

"I don't understand how you knew this was here," Odessa wanted to correct him by saying that it was Lydia who knew and told her about it, but she knew she would have the opportunity to tell him soon, "if you want to discuss the possibility that I had a son... I'm listening."

And with that, Odessa shut the door to the room and started explaining everything she knew about the Wild Hunt and her trip to Canaan. She told him that Lydia was the one to find the room and how she was informed of it that way. She told him about Lenore and her son Caleb and the significance to it. She told him about the dreams she had had of Stiles and how she knew he was real. She told him everything.

"So, wait a sec," the Sheriff stammered after the blonde was finished explaining everything she could to the best of her ability, "so, this woman Lenore, she conjured up her dead son?"

The Stone nodded, using her knowledge of Lenore that she got from Lydia after their visit to Canaan, "she was the only one left. She had to fill a void. So she filled it with her son."

"And you saw this kid?"

"We all did. He was real. He was there," Odessa emphasized, choosing her next words carefully, "but..."

Stilinski eyed her closely, "but what?"

"She was there when everybody was taken. She saw it happen. But she didn't want to believe it. She wanted to believe in her son," the blonde raised her brow pointedly, trying to get him to start understanding where she was coming from.

"What are you trying to say? You think Claudia is not real," the man scoffed in disbelief, "you think I made up a phantom wife?"

Knowing he was getting worked up, Odessa kept her voice as emotionless as possible, "you're afraid to remember him."

Stilinski gestured to the closed door, knowing his wife was somewhere in the house, raising his voice with each word, "she's a flesh and blood woman. She's real. Everything else here is just... is just speculation. Conjecture. It's just, it's a theory based on a... on a ghost town."

Nose burning with more impending tears, Odessa pursed her lips with a slow nod. She knew there was no getting to him. Moving her blurred gaze to the side of him, her breath stilled when catching sight of something in the corner of the room.

There, on a chair, was a lacrosse jersey with the number 24 across the back and a helmet to go along with it. She knew that jersey number anywhere. It was Stiles' number. It was Stiles' lacrosse uniform.

Ignoring the Sheriff and his confused gaze on her due to her quick change of emotion, Odessa slowly sauntered over to the chair, looking down at the jersey in utter sadness.

"Eyes up here, baby."

"I can't help it. You look... really good in your jersey."

"And what are you gonna do about it, baby?"

"Win the game and you might just find out."

Her own laughter mixed with his ring in her ears as she caressed the fabric of the jersey with her finger tips, stifling a gasp when she realized she could actually touch something of his. Taking a chance, she gently picked it up between her hands and brought the jersey to chest, inhaling his scent. She choked a sob when it finally hit her. This was something of his, and nothing was ever so familiar before.

With the jersey in her hands, Odessa turned around to face the Sheriff, who was only looking at her in confusion and slight, very slight, fear, "you don't see anything?"

"I see a deeply disturbed young woman."

That sentence alone made her brown eyes harden, not appreciating being called something like that in such a manner. He needed to remember his son, whether he was ready to or not, "you're afraid to remember him because you're afraid of what it means."

Stilinski exhaled shakily, voice coming out in a mere whisper, "why do you care so much if I remember him?"

Fists tightening around the jersey in her hands, his jersey, Odessa trembly declared, "because I love him. And so do you."

Taking the risk, Odessa tossed her lover's jersey to his father, feeling her chest lighten when she watched him catch it in his hands, gazing at it without blinking. Taking in his stunned expression, she knew her job was done.

Sheriff Stilinski was finally going to remember his son. He was finally going to remember Stiles. And they were so close to getting him back.

She could feel it.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

yes i cried while writing this
yes we have three chapters + the epilogue left before this book is completed *cue more crying*
comment & vote my babes <3