It's Just a Pull

XXVIII

You quickly learn that Scott cannot drive stick.

That's not entirely accurate. Scott can drive stick, he just cannot drive stick well, which is helping exactly no one in the Jeep's nerves.

Lydia's face is turning red with the strain of trying to keep her scream within herself, and you cast a shield spell on yourself and everyone else in the car just in case. Your thigh pressed up against Stiles's is giving you enough power to keep it up, but you're on the brink of passing out yourself.

"We're almost there Lydia," you hear Stiles whisper to her, "Just hold on, okay?"

You're struck, in this car at the brink of unconsciousness, by his tone. There is so much love for her there, just in those few simple words. Hopefully in love, just like you told him.

You want to be upset. You want to be selfish, and hateful, and angry because your soulmate is once again making you his second choice. Because no matter how he looks at you, how he kisses you, Lydia will be his first choice.

A scream breaks your thoughts, and the strain of keeping Stiles, Scott, and yourself from significant ear damage knocks you out.

---

You wake up in the Jeep an undisclosed amount of time later. No one else is in the car, and you groggily stand and climb out of the vehicle.

The parking lot of the clinic is empty outside of the Jeep, but a car flies into the lot almost as soon as you've gotten out of the car.

Mrs. Martin comes sprinting past you. "Where's my daughter?"

"Inside, I think," you croak, but she's gone before you can finish saying anything.

You wait in the parking lot for a few moments, but no one exits the clinic. There's pain in the middle of your chest for a moment, and the bonds that normally sat just beneath everything else flare to life.

It drives you to your knees on the asphalt, clutching at your head as the colors around you spin and flash. Then, as suddenly as it started, it stops.

Some bonds have changed, but you don't have the mental capacity to process any of it. Instead, with shaky hands, you dial your first saved contact.

"Jordan?" you say when the line connects, "Can you come get me?"

---

The plate of offerings you leave for Hell to take from as it needs is empty when you get home.

---

A few nights later, you're curled up in the corner of the living room while Jordan sleeps on the couch. Mr. Argent is also in the living room, shotgun loaded and ready to go should anything happen. You're both watching Jordan, waiting for something to happen.

Jordan fidgets on the couch, thrashing beneath the blanket you threw over him almost an hour ago. His eyes open suddenly, and he sits up so fast that your head almost starts spinning in sympathy.

Jordan moves mindlessly through the apartment, eyes glowing a burning red-orange. You stand, but Mr. Argent motions you to stop from across the room. Jordan leaves the apartment without being stopped, and you and Mr. Argent follow after a moment.

"You shouldn't be coming," he murmurs to you, referring to your current state of dizziness and weakened power. Hell has not been cooperating with you as of late, and you have a feeling that it is only going to get worse.

Since the night you helped rescue Lydia from Eichen House, you've been overwhelmingly tired and drained. You've had to pull your protective spells back, and Hell has not been satisfied with a single offering you've given it.

"If it has a chance of killing my brother, I'm coming. I don't trust any of you to keep him safe," you bite back, teeth gritted against the spinning of both your head and the bonds around you.

"Alright, but I can't cover you and him at the same time," Mr. Argent says, and you smirk up at him

"Wouldn't dream of needing you to."

---

You're kneeling next to a body on the stairwell when Scott, Stiles, and Liam arrive. He hasn't had a pulse in minutes, but you can't stop staring at him, hoping to see his chest rise and fall with breath.

The guys come toward you, but stop before they can approach the body. It seems they hear something else, because they begin to move quickly past you.

By the time you catch up, Jordan is standing in the center of a bus full of dead kids, telling Scott that it's a trap.

The next few moments pass in a blur. The Beast appears, Jordan sets himself on fire, and before any of the rest of you can react, they disappear into the treeline.

"What the hell is happening?" Scott asks, almost rhetorically.

"It's getting smarter," Mr. Argent says with a sigh.