chapter twenty one
supernatural chess board

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WHEN GETTING a text from the Sheriff asking for help in catching his possessed son who escaped from Eichen House—you can't simply say no to the man. So when reading the text, Odessa immediately responded with a yes.

The Stone still couldn't bring herself to wrap her head around her nightmare she experienced the night before—and she decided to put it in the back of her mind. She knew from previous nightmares of memories that where she came from wasn't the safest or the most pleasant, but she didn't know she used to get severely beaten because of her lack of control.

Sheriff Stilinski was gracious enough to pick the blonde up from her house and went on their way to the Argent apartment as he filled her in on what exactly happened the night Stiles left Eichen. When Stilinski got back from L.A., which seemed to be a waste of time, seeing as the scans of Stiles' brain was just another trick of the nogitsune, he was informed that his son had left Eichen House and no one had seen him since. Odessa couldn't help the sense of deja vu she experienced when hearing he was missing.

After greeting Argent and Derek, who followed closely behind the Sheriff's car on the way to the apartment, and greeting Allison with a hug at the front door, the group sauntered into Argent's office where Allison had brought out different weapons to use on the nogitsune that wouldn't hurt Stiles in the process.

"This is everything non-lethal I could find," the brunette introduced, leading everyone into the office.

Argent sighed, looking down at the different items on his desk, "take all of it."

"What's the plan here?"

"Our best shot right now is for Derek to try and pick up Stiles' scent at Eichen House," Argent answered the Sheriff, who looked down at the different items with hesitancy in his tone, "especially if he went through something stressful there."

Stilinski's face scrunched with uncertainty, "should all five of us be going to the same place?"

"Where else has Stiles been showing up?"

"School," Allison answered her Father, "the hospital."

Odessa sighed, "is anyone else getting deja vu like I am, right now?"

"Yeah, hold on. We did this already," Derek motioned to the blonde, agreeing with her, "he disappeared. We started looking for him. Then walked right into a trap at the hospital."

"He's getting us to repeat the same moves."

"So, what do we do," Allison asked, "wait for him to come to us?"

The Hale shook his head, "he can't. Not if the oni finds him when the sun goes down."

"Scott's working on them right now, with Kira."

That explained why Odessa woke up to an empty house. Apparently, Void visited Kira's Dad at the school, prompting the rest of the Yukimura's and Scott to finally get to the bottom of the history of the nogitsune and how Kira's Mother was involved.

"That's our problem," Argent almost scoffed, seemingly coming to a conclusion, "we're all trying to outfox the fox."

Glancing around at the uncertain and skeptical faces, Sheriff sighed, bowing his head, "listen," he started, "I'll understand if anyone wants to back out."

After a moment of silence, everyone seemed to make up their minds all at once. Odessa didn't need to rethink anything. She would do anything to get Stiles back.

"I won't be the first wolf to run from a fox," Derek concluded, grabbing a taser, causing the blonde to let out a chuckle at his casual tone.

"Apparently I'm carrying a lightsaber."

Allison ignored her Father's attempt at a joke, instructing everyone in the room, "Dad, you me and Derek hit Eichen House. Sheriff, it's you and Odie in the hospital. We all meet in the school."

With final nods, the five went their separate ways. Odessa didn't know what they would find at the hospital, but she silently prepared herself to protect the Sheriff from anything that came their way.

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Odessa was glad to see the hospital lights up and running again. The last time she was there, she was visiting Isaac to take his pain, the lights above them still flickering. Beacon Hills Memorial was quiet compared to the outside world the Ember and her friends were currently living in. The stillness in the atmosphere almost made her thoughts too loud for her to handle. And an elevator ride where she could practically be able to hear a pin drop wasn't helping.

Sighing deeply to herself, Odessa kept her brown eyes on the elevator doors. From next to her, Stilinski shook his head to himself, almost in disbelief and amusement as to how much his life had changed in such a short time.

"You know what," he started, the silence of the elevator keeping his voice quiet, almost intimidated by the stillness, "I don't know how you guys do it," he continued, not noticing the blonde next to him almost close to tears, "you're all so strong. You're fearless. Hell, you guys even manage to keep your grades up."

Odessa almost scoffed, keeping her watery gaze downwards, "I can't speak for the others, but I'm failing Math... horribly."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to have a chat with the teacher."

"Hm," was her only response, trying to keep herself together. She inhaled sharply, looking up toward the ceiling to keep her tears at bay.

Noticing this, Stilinski flipped the switch in front of him to stop the elevator, giving her his full attention, "hey. You okay?"

"I just want him to be okay," Odessa whispered, almost embarrassed to be on the brink of breaking down in front of Stiles' Dad, "he doesn't deserve any of this. I just want him to be okay."

"Hey..."

The blonde shook her head, not letting him respond, "I'm not fearless. I'm always scared out of my mind. I mean... there's Stiles who isn't himself and stupid shadow ninja's trying to kill us. And on top of all of that, I still don't know who I really am or where I came from," she dropped her head in her hands, letting out a muffled cry, "it's just so messed up."

Stilinski brought her into his arms, consoling her the girl he thought fondly of, trying to calm her down. Every time he had seen Odessa with Stiles, he couldn't help but observe his son and how he acts around her. It was like the two knew what the other was thinking without even realizing and acknowledging it. Stilinski admired how loyal she was to not only his son but to the whole pack. She was important to Stiles, which made her just as important to him.

He rubbed her back softly, calming her down as her nose was buried in his uniform, "you know what's funny," he murmured, "you sound just like a cop."

His comment made her chuckle into his jacket before pulling away, wiping her tears, "I'm sorry. This is probably the last thing you need right now," even though there was a sense of embarrassment still there, she couldn't help but relish the feeling of a Father's touch. Something she had been deprived of her whole life.

"Don't apologize, Odessa," the man smiled reassuringly, rubbing her arms in comfort, "it happens to the best of us. And hey," she brought her eyes to his, listening intently, "you're gonna be okay," after getting a nod in return, he moved to turn the elevator back on, only for his phone to buzz in his pocket.

Odessa read the notification with furrowed brows, "what's that?"

"Someone's breaking into my house," the man graveled, closing the notification and going into an app on his phone, "after Stiles started sleep walking, I had some security precautions put in. Motion sensors. Cameras."

Watching Stilinski go through the app, the screen stopped on a live video feed, "that's his room..."

When zooming into the video, the two held their breath at the sight of Stiles sitting actually on the bed, looking right up into the camera placed at the corner of the room. Odessa could feel a shiver go down her spine at the small mocking wave Stiles gave the camera, which could only mean he knew they were watching him.

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Odessa and Stilinski didn't hesitate to head right to his house and call the others to meet them there. The blonde didn't know what they would face at the residence, but made sure to keep her guard up anyway.

Going into Stiles' room, they found it to be empty of anyone. When looking closer, they found that something in his room was tampered with.

"What is all this? What are these sticky notes for?"

"Stiles' chess board," Odessa answered Argent, crossing her arms while looking down at the board, trying to find the significance in the nogitsune changing the positions of the pieces. They still had the names of the supernatural stuck on them. The blonde couldn't help but keep her gaze on her own chess piece a little longer than the others.

Stilinski nodded along with the Ember, "this is what Stiles used to try and explain to me about all of you."

"Well, maybe it's a message from Stiles," Allison offered, looking up from the board, "the real Stiles."

"You think there's any reason my name's on the king?"

"Well, you're heavily guarded," Stilinski explained to the Hale, "though I guess the alarming detail is that you're one move from being in checkmate."

Argent sighed, proving to himself again that the chances of saving Stiles while destroying the nogitsune was growing slimmer and slimmer, "it's not a message from Stiles. It's a threat from the nogitsune."

"He's at the loft," Allison concluded, "that's what he's trying to tell us."

"And he wants us to come there."

"Night's falling."

"This couldn't sound any more like a trap."

Stilinski shook his head at Argent's suggestion, "I don't think it is."

"I think your opinion might be slightly biased, Sheriff."

"Actually," Odessa interjected, gesturing to Stilinski, "he might have a point. The nogitsune feeds off of fear. What better way to get people scared if they think they're falling into a trap."

Stilinski nodded gratefully to the blonde before continuing his thought strongly, "what we're dealing with here is basically someone who lacks motive. No rhyme, no reason, right?"

"Meaning what?"

"Our enemy is not a killer. It's a trickster. The killing is just a by-product."

Even though Argent was the most unconvinced out of the group, Derek wasn't that far behind, "if you're trying to say it won't kill us, I'm not feeling too confident about that."

"It won't," Stilinski confidently spoke, "it wants irony. It wants to play a trick. It wants a joke."

It wants chaos, Odessa thought to herself.

"All we need to do is come up with a new punch line."

Argent glanced out the window, "the sun is setting, Sheriff. What do you have in mind?"

After some more convincing, the group ventured their way to the loft. In the car, Odessa insisted on going in with the Sheriff to face his son, who wasn't actually his son.

Sheriff slid open the doors to the loft, coming to see Stiles' figure gazing out the large window in front of him. While Odessa stayed at the doorway, Stilinski stepped a few paces forward while Stiles turned to face them.

"Hi, Dad."

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hehehehe