(Double update. Why? Because I can 😌)

...

Y/n sits on the lacrosse field with her sketch book, staying out of the way as her friend and boyfriend practice their shots. A breeze ruffles her hair, and she looks around, frowning in slight confusion. She could have sworn she heard the faint sound of hooves on the grass. She looked to Scott to see that he had heard something too. "Did you feel that?" The Alpha asked, to which she nodded.

"Feel what?" The couple turned to Liam who hadn't sensed anything amiss.

"There was somthing on the wind." Y/n said.

"It was probably nothing." Scott offered. Y/n didn't really agree, but she didn't argue. "All right, let's keep going." He tossed a ball to Liam.

"Or we could call it." Liam countered.

"We gotta work on your back shots."

"Why?"

"Liam. They suck."

"What are you talkin' about?"

"Your back shots. Which suck." Liam only shrugged and picked up a ball before promptly sending it over his shoulder and right into the goal. Shot, after shot, after shot, Liam managed to make it past Scott, proving that his back shots were actually very good. "I must've been thinking of someone else."

"Yeah. Maybe someone else who should be Captain?"

"We'll make it."

"You'll be a great Captain, Liam. Don't down yourself so much." Y/n encouraged. Just then the flood lights around the field went out, sending the teens into almost complete darkness.

"Well, guess we have to go now." Liam said.

"No, we don't." Scott's eyes shone red in the darkness prompting Liam's own to shine yellow. Y/n followed their example, her amythest gaze piercing the night. All three supernaturals used their natural night vision to continue their activities. They kept going like that for a while, long enough for Y/n to sketch the two in action, although she realized the figure that was supposed to be Liam didn't look quite right. It was more lean, and the hair wasn't as long as it should have been. She tilted her head in interest before lightly shrugging, turning the page to try again, although she wouldn't get that chance as Liam suddenly dropped the ball, eyes trained over Scott's shoulder. The Alpha looked back, but didn't see anything. "What's wrong?"

"Something's happening to Mason." Lacrosse sticks and sketch books were abandoned as the Beta ran off, the seniors following after him to see what was happening. Liam led them to the library, and Scott and Y/n were the first to enter. From the shadows Mason and Corey jumped out, wielding a fire extinguisher and a chair respectfully, to defend themselves.

"Whoa, whoa! It's just us!" Y/n yelled, all of them breathing heavy from the sudden shock.

Corey put away his chair as Mason told them what happened. "They were here. The ghost riders."

"Here? Just now?" Scott asked.

"I thought they left when the storm left." Liam said.

"I guess not, because two of them were right up there." Mason pointed up towards the upper level of the library.

"What were they doing?" Scott wondered.

"We didn't see when we came in. We only saw them when we turned invisible."

"You saw them with Corey's gift?" Y/n asked, all eyes turning to the chimera who's own widened at the attention.

"You brought him into this?" Liam accused, only for Mason to step between his best friend and boyfriend.

"He was trying to protect me."

"They didn't seem to care about us. They- they walked right by us." Corey spoke up, trying to ease the tension a bit.

"'May be observed by those who have the sight'." Y/n recited. "They didn't care about you because you peered through the veil. They didn't mark you."

"Then what happened?" Scott questioned.

Mason and Corey looked at each other, trying to recall the events, before Mason answered. "Uh... Then they just jumped down and left."

"That's it?" Liam's brows furrowed in confusion.

"Yeah." Corey nodded.

"They didn't take someone? There was nobody else in here?" Scott asked.

"No. It was just us."

"It could be possible that you wouldn't remember if there was." Y/n said, the five all looking at each other, wondering what was going on.

Later that night Y/n was perched on her bed, rereading the few pages in her grimoire that mention the ghost riders, seeing if there was something she missed as she idly twisted the triple moon ring on her forefinger. When a knock came to her door, she didn't look up as she told the visitor to come in, not until the someone spoke. "Hey, honey." Y/n's head snapped up in surprise. Where she expected Alan to be in her doorway, M/n stood instead.

"Mom?" She breathed in shock.

"I was heading to bed soon and I wanted to check up on you." M/n's soft smile made Y/n start to tear up. The girl then jumped from her bed and rushed to her mother, practically collapsing into the woman's arms as she let out a surprised sound. "Whoa. What's wrong, sweetie?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm acting like this. It just kind of feels like I haven't seen you in a long time."

Y/n missed the almost sad smile that tugged at M/n's lips, only focusing on the feel as her mother stroked her hair. "I know. Although with everything going on and the things that have kept both of us busy, it's not that surprising." That's right. Ever since M/n brought Y/n to Beacon Hills and moved in with her old friend Alan Deaton, M/n had become something like a homeopathic doctor. Her remedies often include rare ingredients that she has to travel for long periods of time to collect. "But I promise, I'm going to be around for as long as you need me."

"I need you forever."

M/n let out a little laugh. "For now, maybe. But now I think it's time for you to get some rest. You can read more tomorrow." When M/n stepped away to head to her room, Y/n held onto the end of her shirt, something she had done when she was a child and was scared.

"Wait. Can I stay with you tonight?"

She was a little surprised at the request. "I thought your boyfriend was staying the night?"

Y/n shook her head. "Scott went home earlier. He wanted to get some rest before practice tomorrow."

A look of confusion flashed in M/n's eyes for a moment before her smile covered it up. "Of course you can stay with me tonight." M/n put her arm over her daughter's shoulders, leading her down the hall to her own room. The witches climbed under the covers, M/n pulling the blankets over Y/n's shoulders like she used to when she was younger, pressing a kiss to the teen's head before turning the lights off, laying down and closing her eyes. Y/n wasn't tired yet, not in the least bit. For some reason she just wanted to stay awake and stare at her mother's sleeping face, holding onto her hand as if she might disappear if she were to fall asleep and let go. But her familiar scent, the sound of her steady breathing, the slow thump of her heart was acting like a lullaby, and slowly Y/n's eyes started drift shut.

The next morning, after having a nice breakfast with her mother that M/n had made, Y/n sat on the front porch waiting for... Something. She sat there for a good thirty minutes, just sitting patiently, before the front door opened behind her, and she looked over her shoulder at M/n's voice. "Aren't you supposed to be at school by now?" She asked as she folded her arms and lent against the doorjamb.

"I should be. I was waiting for..." She frowned as she couldn't really remember what she was waiting for.

"Are you waiting for someone to pick you up?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, either way you're going to be late if you don't get going now." With that M/n turned back into the house and closed the door, leaving Y/n alone with her jumbled thoughts as she went to grab her bike. Thoughts like why did she have a sudden ache in her chest, and why did her eyes burn like she was fighting tears?

Y/n pedaled all the way to school, unable to recall when exactly the last time she had to do that was as she put it on the bike rack. Then she went inside, made her way through the halls, and met Lydia by a set of lockers like they usually did. And together they waited, idly chatting and watching fellow students pass by while Y/n leaned against a locker with a blue lock. They lapsed into silence as the bell rung and very quickly the halls emptied, yet they hadn't moved, just now realizing they didn't remember why they were even waiting in the first place. Lydia suggested that they hurry to class and Y/n agreed, but not before giving the blue lock a curious glance.

In Math, while waiting for the class to start, Malia was going through one of her text books, using her yellow highlighter over several paragraphs. But she suddenly stopped in the middle of a sentence, eyes lingering on the word 'style'. After staring at it for a moment she highlighted the word with her red marker before continuing on with the yellow one. She glanced up when Y/n and Lydia walked in, each taking their seats next to and behind the coyote.

The bell rung and class was started, Ms. Flemming getting up from her seat to hand out the graded test papers. "I'm impressed. With most of you. It really speaks to your study habits and your commitment to your own education. Everyone else, see me for extra help." She gave Malia a meaningful look as she gave back the test that was graded a D-. As the teacher passed Malia glared, gripping the desk with her claws and letting out a small growl.

"Malia, calm down." Y/n whispered as Lydia distracted the teacher.

"Ms. Flemming, um-"

"I already told you Lydia, I don't give extra credit for alternate equations based on your own theoretical findings."

"Well, okay then."

"Malia, you're okay." Y/n whispered, and her voice was enough for Malia to calm down quickly, her claws going away as she relaxed. The girls relaxed, the almost scare done and taken care of. As class progressed Y/n couldn't hardly focus. Her mind just couldn't process anything on the papers in front of her, instead being muddled with unanswered questions and the strong sense of wrongness that seemed to cling to her bones.

Lydia took a little break from her notes, sighing as she let her pencil fall to the desk. She closed her eyes as she stretched her neck, but when she opened them again she noticed something odd. The desk to her right, which had been empty moments before, now held a woman with scrubs, a white lab coat and a stethoscope over her shoulders. The woman was looking straight forward and unmoving. Lydia glanced around before she leaned towards the woman and spoke in a whisper. "Excuse me, who are you?" The woman didn't respond. "What are you doing in this class?" The woman slowly looked over at the banshee and her mouth started to open. Just like the previous night the deafening sound of a train passing through seemed to come from the woman and echo around the room making Lydia cover her ears. She gasped when the sound stopped and the woman disappeared. She whipped her head around, looking for anyone or anything related to what just happened. When she saw nothing she allowed herself to come down from the fright, resting a hand on her head.

"Lydia," Y/n quietly called, the strawberry blonde looking up to see her friend's concerned gaze, "are you alright?"

"I don't know." She answered honestly. This made Y/n even more worried, and as soon class was over Y/n pulled Lydia aside to ask her what happened. Lydia then told her about the train she had heard both the night before and during class with the mysterious doctor woman.

"Sounds like you had more premonitions about the ghost riders." Y/n said. "There was something in my grimoire about connections with banshees, witches, hellhounds, and ghost riders. Besides hellhounds hunting with riders, I still have to read up on what those connections are."

"Maybe. I just wish it wouldn't threaten to deafen me with how loud they were."

Y/n went to respond, but the words died on her lips as they entered another hall, movement catching her eyes. She caught a glimpse of red and grey flannel, and the sight of it made her gasp. Before she even realised what she was doing she was running down the hall, Lydia's calls of confusion falling on deaf ears as Y/n burst through the double doors. When she stepped out the figure was nowhere to be seen. It was suddenly nighttime, and she was in completely different clothes. She looked around, but there was no one in sight.

Then a voice seemed to float on the wind, swirling around and picking up the leaves on the ground. "You know me. Oh, thank God. You know me." She turned to find the voice, yet she remained alone. "Do you see him?" She looked behind her, her eyes glowing in the darkness, seeing a blurry figure of a rider and crows. She turned forward again, arms held out as if she was holding someone's hands in front of her. "Do you see him? All right, come on, come on!" She's pulled forward by an invisible force, but her feet follow anyway. "This way, this way." She's pulled around a corner but is suddenly stopped, a rider coming towards her. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Okay, this way, this way." She turns, only to feeling like she's being surrounded.

"They're everywhere." She pants as her eyes dim.

"You're going to forget me."

"I won't..." She denies, turning towards the parking lot. "I can't!" She runs forward, a feeling pulling her towards something.

"Y/n, look out!" Malia yells, grabbing her sister just in time to avoid being hit by a passing car. The car honks angrily. Malia growls after the car while Lydia, who had previously been standing nearby with wide eyes and her hands over her mouth, became angry as well, stomping to stand by her friends as she yells after the car about watching where they were going. Malia put both hands on the witch's shoulders as she looks her over for any potential damage. "Are you okay?"

"I'm- I'm fine." She breathes, but Malia and Lydia don't look very convinced.

"What were you doing?" Lydia asks.

Y/n looks between the both of them, hand coming up to clutch her pendant. "Trying to remember."

...

"Malia? What are you doing down there?" Malia stirs at the sound of her sister's voice, opening her eyes to find herself curled up in the corner of Y/n's room on a small pile of her's and Malia's own blankets. Malia frowns as she sits up, not remembering having come to Y/n's house or making the makeshift bed. A rattle of metal and a small grunt of surprise made Malia look over to Y/n who had just tripped over Malia's bag of chains and cuffs. Malia glared tiredly at the bag, letting out a small growl. She only stopped when Y/n assured she was fine. She had stored them in Y/n's room for safekeeping after she had learned to gain control by focusing on an anchor which was Y/n and... what? Malia couldn't help but feel like there was something missing, not to mention how odd Y/n has been acting lately. Malia got up, shuffled over to the bag and crouched over it, picking up and examining the cuffs with a thoughtful expression. "Mal?" Malia glanced up at her.

Lydia cautiously walked into a storage room at the school, receiving a strange call from Malia to meet her there. "Hello?" She called into the semi-darkness.

"Over here." Y/n answered.

Lydia looked over to see Malia standing against some supports, her chains set up and already clasped on her left wrist with Y/n standing nearby. "Has it really come to this?"

"Can you give me a hand?" Malia asked.

"If this is a new after-school club," she sucked air through her teeth, "count me out?"

"I've got a problem." Lydia raised a brow at Malia's claim. "I'm growling at people in class and at anything that bothers Y/n. I'm clawing at my desk. I tried turning the floor of Y/n's bedroom into a coyote den." Malia held the cuffs out a little towards Lydia. "Do these look familiar to you?"

"No. Why would it?" Malia seemed a little disappointed at that answer. "Malia, do you really think this is going to keep you safe?"

"They used to."

"This is where I used to bring Malia for the full moon before we came up with the lake house solution." Y/n said. "But I remember sometimes I wasn't able to make it back here in time."

"You weren't down here with me. Scott wasn't down here with me. Y/n was sometimes late."

"Right, so if Y/n was sometimes late..." Lydia trailed off.

"Who else was it?" Malia tugged on her cuffed hand, trying to reach the one still free, but it wouldn't reach.

"You couldn't have done it alone."

Y/n's phone vibrated. She pulled it from her pocket and found a text from a certain werewolf. "It's Scott." Scott had asked her, Malia, and Lydia to come out to the preserve, saying he had something to show them. Lydia drove them down there, and when they got close enough Scott had turned on a flashlight to let them know where he was.

When they climbed out of the car and made their way to him, he gave them each a flashlight as well before explaining what happened. "I went to bed at home and I woke up out in the woods. About a mile out. But I think there's a reason why this has happened." He turned and led the way into the preserve passed the No Entry After Dark sign. "I've been out here before. We both have." He looked at Y/n and she nodded in confirmation. "It was the beginning of sophmore year the night before tryouts for First Line. I remember because it was all I could think about."

"What were you doing?" Malia asked.

"We were looking for a dead body."

"Half body." Y/n corrected. "I remember not wanting to spend my last night of summer searching the woods for it."

"That's morbid." Lydia commented.

"So then, what were we doing out here all alone?" Scott wondered.

"I wish I could help you, but I only knew Y/n then."

"I was still a coyote so I might've tried to eat it."

"Deaton said that my subconscious is trying to tell me something. But I- I need you guys to help me figure out what it's saying."

"Maybe you were just curious teenagers. You heard there was a body." Lydia offered.

"But how? I never watched the news. And I didn't have a police scanner."

"It was a full moon, and I was usually very reluctant to go out on those nights." Y/n recalled.

"Your mom works at the hospital. Maybe she got called in and you overheard her?" Malia said.

"My mom wasn't home that night." They paused in their walking. "I live five miles away from here, Y/n a little farther. How did we get here?"

"You drove."

"Neither of us had a car."

"You ran."

"I couldn't have. I had asthma."

"Y/n teleported you here."

"I didn't know how to do that back then."

"Y/n ran off ahead and got caught." Scott continued to remember as they continued walking.

"I was chasing... Something." Y/n frowned, not really sure why she had been running in the first place.

"I was hiding, but they knew that I was here."

"Maybe you made a ton of noise with your asthmatic breathing." Malia thought.

"How would they know that it was me?"

"Because they caught Y/n and figured you wouldn't be far behind your girlfriend."

"We weren't dating," she denied, "this was a little before he met Allison. Why did the Sheriff even know me?"

"And why would the Sheriff even think that I was out here?"

"Because like most deaths in this town, it was related to the supernatural." Lydia pointed out.

"No one knew I was a witch yet."

"And I wasn't supernatural." Scott said. "I mean, this was the night that I was bitten. I wasn't a werewolf yet. And we weren't out here alone." They stopped walking again, now in the same area Scott had been hiding that night. "I know this sounds crazy. But I think I had a best friend. And I think he was out here with us that night."

"It doesn't sound crazy." Malia assured. "I know that someone besides Y/n chained me up and I think they wanted me to stay human."

"I came to school this morning and I was sure I was supposed to meet someone." Lydia admitted. "But I couldn't remember who it was supposed to be. At first I thought it was Y/n, but when she showed up we were both still waiting."

"I was almost late to school this morning because I kept waiting for someone to pick me up." Y/n told. "I had to ride my bike to school, and I can't remember when I last had to do that. For a while now I've had this feeling like..." She reached up to hold her pendant again, something she's found herself doing more and more often. "There's someone missing. Someone so, so important."

"What if we're all missing the same person?" Scott asked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the candid Sydney had taken of them and showed it to the girls. "And I think that he was in this picture."

The picture showed the four sitting on a bench, Y/n and Malia perched on the tabletop while Lydia and Scott sat on the bench. "He was sitting right there." Y/n pointed to an empty spot where her legs were, almsot as if she had been making room for someone.

The four had gone to the animal clinic where they sought help from Alan and M/n, the teens explaining to them what they had all been feeling. Alan set up and suspended the blue tinted glass shard over a small flashlight on a table, turning the light on in the otherwise dark room. "Now she just magically writes down all the answers?" Malia asked.

"It's not quite that simple." Alan answered as he sat a pen and paper on the table.

"It never is." Lydia sighed.

M/n smiled a little as she elaborated. "Spirit writing is a way for the conduit, in this case, Y/n, to connect to the spiritual world. This can provide answers to certain questions, or allow you to glean some knowledge you didn't previously have."

"I would prefer using my paints," Y/n started as she sat down at the little table, "but the last time I did that it took all night, and I don't think any of us want to wait that long. Plus automatic writing isn't as complicated as spirit painting."

"Now hopefully the silence, the darkness, and the light will allow you to find a more comfortable, relaxed, trance-like state." Alan said as M/n moved to stand across from her daughter.

"Y/n, I want you to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and relax." The teen did as told, taking a deep breath and willing her muscles to loosen. "Focus on the light and let your magic reach out." When Y/n opened her eyes again they were shining brightly as she picked up the pen.

The adults gestured for the other three to follow them, and they moved to stand just outside of the room, far enough to allow Y/n to do what she needed, but still able to watch her. "I have to warn you. We may not be able to access these memories." Alan spoke.

"Why not?" Lydia asked.

"The legend has always been that the Wild Hunt takes people. But if what you're telling us is right, the truth is much worse."

"They erase people from reality." M/n added.

"How did we remember somebody who has been completely erased from our minds?" Scott wondered.

"Maybe he hasn't been." Malia said, gesturing to Y/n with her head when they all looked at her. Y/n was now writing almost manically, hand moving so fast across the page it threatened to tear.

"Whoa, is she okay? Should we stop her?" Scott asked as he went to go do just that when Alan held him back as M/n moved forward.

"Y/n, you can stop now." She spoke softly.

"Y/n? Y/n? Slow down." Alan came forward and flicked off the light causing Y/n's hand to still. She slumped in her seat, eyes still glowing and head tilted slightly as if she was listening to someone speak.

"Is she okay?" Scott asked.

"Y/n?" Lydia called.

"She'll be alright." M/n assured.

Malia frowned in concern, but glanced down at the paper Y/n had been scribbling on. "What does 'mischief' mean?" She asked as she set it down for the others to see. The word 'mischief' had been written over and over.

"That's not what she wrote." Scott realized. When looked at from a slight distance, the groups of the words ended up forming six letters.

Y/n's eyes dimmed as she took a deep breath, finally coming out of the trance. She then glanced between all of them. "What the hell is a 'Stiles'?"

~~~
Published: 3/15/23

Oh? What's this? A witch has appeared! Possible heartbreak is on the horizon!

P.S. don't forget about the Q&A #2 coming up! there's still plenty of time to ask some questions because it won't be published until after the book is finished.