Effects of Darkness [Book Two]

16: Guardians

Ariel breathes heavily as she trails behind Jennifer and Stiles, who follow Derek as he carries Cora through to the garage, letting Stiles move to lead them through the doors and to the ambulance that comes into view.

"It's still here," Stiles breathes in relief as he rushes towards it and pulls open the doors hastily, allowing Derek to carry Cora in and set her down on a gurney.

"Derek, over here," calls Jennifer and Ariel turns, trailing behind Derek to the front of the van, not wanting to leave him alone with the woman, though she stops when she sees what Jennifer is looking at.

The body of the ambulance driver lies with his dead eyes staring up into nothingness, making Ariel shiver. She takes a step back towards the back doors.

"Julia."

Ariel sucks in a sharp breath at the voice of Kali coming from somewhere in the garage and she starts to slowly creep back.

"It is you."

An inaudible gasp escapes her as she stumbles, a pair of hands dragging her into the ambulance. She exhales heavily, wide eyes taking in the sight of Stiles as he yanks the doors shut and checks the locks. He quickly kneels down next to her and clasps a hand over her mouth, trying to reduce the sound of her panicked panting as he wraps an arm around her shoulders, both of them keeping still as they wait for the sound of footsteps to fade away -- seeming to follow after Jennifer and Derek.

After a moment, Stiles's grip loosens and he drops his arms.

He turns to look at Ariel, "Sorry," he says sheepishly as he checks on her. "Are you okay?" he tries to ask, but stops as Ariel suddenly leaps forward, grabbing a disposable bowl from the side before promptly throwing up.

Stiles gapes for a second before grimacing as he watches her, seeing her heaving up black vomit, squinting as another white substance mixes with it.

He swallows when he recognises it, "Mistletoe," he whispers grimly, making Ariel's gaze shoot to him as she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

Exhaling, she sits, slouching back and letting her head rest on the side of the ambulance, but her eyes stay on Stiles pleadingly.

"Don't tell Sky about this yet," Ariel whispers.

"But --"

"No, Stiles," Ariel shakes her head. "She can't be worried about me right now."

"She'll kill me!" Stiles whisper hisses.

"So will I if you tell her!" Ariel argues with narrowed eyes.

"Argh!" Stiles exclaims in frustration, flailing his arms slightly. "Fine. But when she finds out, I never knew, okay?"

Ariel smiles, "Deal."

Stiles lets out a breath, eyeing her before looking over at Cora's unconscious form, "I don't want you to end up like that either," he mumbles.

"I'm okay right now, Stiles," Ariel assures quietly. "I promise."

"Okay," Stiles mutters, nodding. "We're okay."

He watches Cora for a moment, "You okay over there?" he asks, making Ariel look over to the girl too.

She shuffles her way over to Cora's side and listens for a few seconds, heart dropping when she doesn't hear any movement.

"Oh, no," she whispers, trying not to panic. "Oh, no."

Stiles shoots forward, staring at Cora with wide eyes, "Please don't tell me she's not breathing," he pleads anxiously.