CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN:
DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

UNLIKE STILES, ALLISON, AND SCOTT, her adventure in the woods wasn't connected like theirs were. Instead, her adventure was when they were all in the woods together, when they were fighting Peter. Elaine stood behind the tree, watching as her younger self ignored Argent's orders and got out of the car, running towards her brother that was laying on the ground. The old memory played out how she remembered it, but that wasn't what drew Elaine in.

Instead, she turned away from the memory and found herself walking deeper into the woods. She heard footsteps, and she found herself walking closer to them until she saw her mother standing there, her birth mother. Rebekah stood there as if she were listening, before looking up at the sound of a scream and deciding she should make her way towards the commotion.

"She was there. . ." Elaine whispered to herself. She backed away from the tree she had been hiding behind before practically tripping over herself and landing to the ground, causing her to sit up and find what it was she had tripped over. However, what she wasn't expecting to find was the nemeton sitting right there. And before she knew it she was back and Stiles was gasping for air as he came up from the water, but Elaine found herself sitting up from the floor like she had passed out.

"What the hell happened?" Elaine questioned, looking up towards Deaton, Lydia, and Issac with confused eyebrows. She stood up and made her way towards the four, turning just as the trio came up from the water.

"I saw it. I know where it is." Scott was quick to shoot up, jumping out from the water and out of the tub, the other two doing the same thing.

"We passed it, there's a stump, this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it's still very big, though, very big."

"It was the night we were looking for the body."

"Yeah, the same night that you were bit by Peter." Stiles continued.

"I was there too, in the car with my mom." Allison quickly told them. "We almost hit someone."

"It was me." Scott said in realization. "You almost hit me." He was quick to turn towards Deaton. "We can find it." But the group were all staring at them in shock, except for Elaine who was too busy trying to figure out why she woke up on the floor.

"What?" Allison frowned.

"You guys were out a long time." Isaac was the one to break the silence.

"How long is a long time?" Stiles asked, glancing towards Elaine only to frown when he noticed the look on her face.

"16 hours." Deaton answered.

"We've been in the water for 16 hours?" Scott asked in surprise.

"And the full moon rises in less than four." Deaton nodded.

"Deaton, I have a question." Elaine suddenly spoke, causing the group to look towards her. She looked up to meet the adult's eyes before asking, "Why did I wake up from the floor?"

Stiles and Scott immediately looked at the girl in concern before glancing towards Deaton, wanting the answer as well. He sighed. "After Stiles went under and was. . . dead, you just collapsed to the floor."

"Lovely." Elaine muttered. She shook her head, running a hand through her hair before changing the subject. "Alright, what are we going to do about the full moon, our parents, and the alphas."

"I'm going back." Scott answered.

"You're kidding, right?" Elaine asked, meeting Scott's eyes.

"No, dude, you are not going back to them." Stiles was quick to agree with Elaine.

"I made a deal with Deucalion." Scott simply defended.

"Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the Devil?" Stiles looked at the rest of the group.

"You're unbelievable." Elaine scoffed.

"Why does it matter, anyway?" Isaac looked towards Scott.

"Because I still don't think that we can beat Jennifer without their help."

"Let me find Jennifer." Elaine stated. "I could beat the bitch all by my goddamn self." Her eyes flashed purple for a quick second before it faded and another pain shot through her head, causing her to wince.

"He trusts you more than anyone." Allison stated, looking at Deaton. "Tell him he's wrong."

"I'm not so sure he is." Deaton didn't remove his gaze from Scott as he said this. "Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies."

Isaac looked at the man in surprise. "So we're gonna trust him, the guy that calls himself Death, Destroyer of Worlds. We're gonna trust that guy?"

"I wouldn't trust him, no," Deaton denied, "but you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait." The sound of the front door creaking open caught their attention. Deaton glanced at the group before walking out of the room.

"I'm looking for Lydia." It was Aiden's voice. Scott and Lydia moved to join Deaton's side.

"What do you want?" Lydia carefully asked.

"I need your help."

That's when Elaine and Stiles made themselves known with Elaine asking, "With what?"

"Stopping my brother and Kali. . . from killing Derek."

Elaine let out a scoff of a laugh. "This just keeps getting better and better." She walked forward and opened the gate. "Join the party! Everyone's fucking invited." She looked towards Lydia who nodded before walking out and joining Aiden's side. "Hey, idiot. So match as a scratch on her body I will shove your body through the seven gates of hell before bringing you back and violently ripping your heart from your chest." She gave him a sarcastic smile before slamming the gate shut and turning on her heel, shoving past Stiles and Scott, entering the room they had been in moments prior to the Alpha's arrival.

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

"Just grab anything." After much convincing from Stiles, Elaine finally agreed to go with her brother, Allison, and Isaac to the Argent apartment. Scott was currently on the phone with Stiles who was at his home, trying to find something for Scott to use in order to find their parents. "Stiles, I'm not smelling your dad's boxers. Socks? Okay, I'll smell the socks."

"What about me?" Isaac asked from behind Allison.

"See what you can find in my dad's closet." Allison pushed the door open, allowing the four into the apartment. "Anything with a strong scent." She opened the door to her dads office only to stop in her tracks when she saw Scott and Elaine's father sitting in Argent's chair with all of their weapons placed on the table.

"Quite an arsenal your father's got here, young lady." Rafael spoke, looking at the Argent girl.

Elaine only laughed. "Well I'll be damned! I think our special guest has arrived, Scotty!"

"Scott, Elaine." Rafael stood up as he looked at his two children.

"What are you doing here?" Scott glared.

"Following one of the only leads I had." The man answered. "Now, since I don't know where you two've been, why don't you have a seat and we can talk? You too, Isaac."

Isaac appeared from behind the corner. "How do you know my name?"

"Your name is one of the few things I know. To be honest, the rest of what's going on around here has me stumbling in the dark, even over the smallest clue."

"I don't see the trouble." Elaine mocked, crossing her arms over her chest. "I thought you were the master of stumbling in the dark." Elaine smiled. "Well, this was fun times and all Rafael, but I think I'm going to have to sit out on this one. Have fun investigating the others though." She turned around and shoved past her brother, ignoring her father's harsh yells for her to come back. She couldn't deal with him. Not right now. Not when she was on the verge of breaking, and destroying everything in her vicinity.