CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX:
MIGHT BE DANGEROUS

     "IT'S THE NEMETON." STILES TOLD the two girls as they quickly made it out of Morrell's office. "That's where she's keeping them. It has to be."

     "Stilinski." The familiar voice made Elaine freeze in her tracks. Her heart dropped to her stomach before she finally looked up and saw her father standing there.

     "All right, look, go to Derek, okay?" Stiles told the two. "He and Peter, they've been there before so they'll know where it is. Tell them it's the root cellar, alright? They'll know." He gave Elaine a kiss on the cheek before the two were quick to scramble away, Elaine ignoring her father's call for her.

     "Your dad's in town?" Lydia whispered.

     "Apparently so." Elaine muttered.

The two made it to Derek's loft with Elaine knocking on the door, patiently waiting for the door to open before Peter Hale was the one to slide the door open. Elaine had to refrain herself from rolling her eyes and instead crossed her arms over her chest.

     "You." Lydia spoke first, causing Elaine to glance between the strawberry blonde and Peter.

     "Me."

     "You."

     Peter sighed in realization. "Me." He stepped aside and allowed the two to enter the room. "Derek we have visitors." The two stood in front of Derek, repeating the words that Stiles had told them, and were surprised with Derek's response.

     "You don't know where it is?" Elaine asked in disbelief.

     "But Stiles said you'd been there." Lydia frowned.

     "We have." Peter answered. "But after a few memorable experiences there, Talia-Derek's mother and my older sister―︎decided that she didn't ever want us going back. She knew how dangerous it was and took the memory of its location from us."

     "But then how are we supposed to find it?" Lydia questioned. Peter just shook his head and Elaine shot her hand out, and not a single word was uttered from her mouth as a chair went flying across the room and slamming into the wall, shattering. She snapped her head towards them.

     "I need someone to do better than I don't know. My mother, along with Noah and Argent are on the line." Her eyes flashed purple before she closed her eyes, tilting it slightly as a pain shot through her body before she shook it off and looked at them again. "I'm sorry. I just can't lose my mom. She and Scott are the only family I have."

     "We'll find them." Lydia assured, placing a hand on the girl's arm. She then looked towards Peter and Derek. "Thanks anyways." She grabbed onto Elaine and led her out of the home and the only thing the male wolves could do was exchange concerned glances.

After receiving a text from Stiles to meet him at the vet, Lydia and Elaine arrived with Allison and Isaac already there along with Deaton. A map was laid out on the table in front of Stiles as he started explaining to them the possible whereabouts of this nemeton.

     "It has to be on a telluric current. Or maybe even at the axis of two or where they all intersect." Stiles began. "I just know it's where Derek took Paige to die."

     "My dad and Gerard were there once." Allison spoke up, leaning against the table as she looked down at the map. "But Gerard said it was years ago, and he couldn't remember where it was. And my dad obviously isn't here to tell us now."

     "Yeah, mine either." Stiles mumbled.

     "Then how do we find this place?" Isaac questioned.

     "Elaine, can't you do a locator spell?" Stiles asked, turning his attention towards the girl who was staring down at the map. She looked up at him and sighed, shaking her head.

     "Even if I did, it wouldn't be strong enough without one of their blood samples. If I have an object it would simply show me flashes, which won't help since the woods all look the fucking same." She clenched her jaw and closed her eyes. Stiles looked at his girlfriend before reaching over and placing his hand on top of hers.

     That's when the group all turned their heads to look at Deaton. "There might be a way. But it's dangerous. We're gonna need Scott."

     "I don't want that traitorous asshole near me." Elaine muttered. "I might accidentally send him flying through three walls." She gave the man a sarcastic smile. "Especially right now."

     "What do you mean?" Allison frowned, looking at the girl with furrowed eyebrows.

     Elaine looked at the group and just shook her head. "I don't know. My magic has just been so aggressive and out of control lately. I mean, you saw me throw a chair at Derek's loft, shattering it to pieces." Lydia nodded her head. Stiles looked at the girl he loved, and he couldn't help but remember Rebekah's words when she had brought Elaine back. And he had a feeling her words were about to come into play.

     "Let's find our parents, and then we'll deal with your magic, alright?" Stiles softly spoke and Elaine nodded her head in agreement.

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

Elaine would've gladly agreed to be submerged into water, but Allison and Stiles were quick to deny that fact seeing as they were potentially going to die for a few moments before being brought back. Stiles didn't think her soul would be able to handle such a thing, especially with this being a dark magic type of situation. When Elaine saw her brother, Stiles, and Deaton walk into the room, she found herself clenching her jaw and quickly looking away from Scott just as he had turned his eyes on her.

     They filled three tubs with water and then bags of ice. When they were finished with that, Deaton was the one to speak up. "All right. What did you bring?"

     Stiles went first. "Um, I got my dad's badge. Jennifer kind of crushed it in her hand, so I tried hammering it out a bit. Still doesn't look great." Elaine placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a small reassuring squeeze.

     "Well, it doesn't need to look good if it has meaning." Deaton assured the boy.

     "Is that an actual silver bullet?" Isaac suddenly spoke up, grabbing their attention to look towards Allison who was holding the said object.  

     "My dad made it." Allison softly whispered. "It's kind of a ceremonial thing. When one of us finishes learning all the skills to be a hunter, we forge a silver bullet as a testament to the code."

     "Scott?" Deaton asked.

     He looked up before opening the palm of his hand to reveal a watch. "My dad got my mom this watch when she first got hired at the hospital. She used to say it was the only thing in their marriage that actually worked." He looked towards Elaine, meeting her eyes for a split second before watching her quickly look away. He knew that she felt betrayed by him, and he made a promise to himself that he would make up for it.

     "Okay, the three of you will get in." Deaton started. "Each of us will hold you down until you're essentially. . . well, dead. But it's not just someone to hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back, someone that has a strong connection to you, a kind of emotional tether."

     Lydia looked towards Allison with a small smile before going to step forward only for Deaton to stop her. "Lydia. . . you will be sitting out on this one."

     "Are you sure?" Allison spoke up. "I mean, Scott and I both have to go under." There was a moment of silence before Allison turned towards Isaac in realization before looking back towards Scott. Scott nodded his head.

     "It's okay." He assured before moving forward and getting prepared to get into the ice cold water.

The three stood behind their tubs, and Elaine turned her head to look towards Scott, finding him already looking towards her, and she gave him a small nod to which he returned. She gave Stiles' hand a small squeeze before watching as the trio all got into the water, letting out sharp gasps at the cold temperature. Lydia stood against the wall, watching with scared eyes. Deaton stood behind Scott, Elaine behind Stiles, and Isaac behind of Allison.

     "By the way, if I don't make it back and you do, you should probably know something." Stiles looked towards Scott as he spoke. "Your dad's in town." Elaine placed her hands on Stiles' shoulders as Isaac and Deaton did the same with Allison and Scott, and when they were sure that the three were ready, they pushed them under the cold water. And in the process of doing this, Elaine did something she did before. Something that had almost killed her the first she had done.

She linked herself to Stiles without even realizing it, unprepared for the consequences that would soon follow with it.