What Would You Do Without Me? // Teen Wolf

It's.. Alive?

It was only late afternoon when Stiles arrived home from the preserve, though the sun was beginning to set. He had long since stopped being afraid of what lurked in the dark in Beacon Hills, he'd faced far more scary things than teenagers with knives or high school bullies. So, when he got a text from Deaton about a book he might be interested in, Stiles decided that the cool fall air and remains of sunlight were the perfect conditions for a walk to the vet clinic rather than taking his jeep.

"Hey Doc!" Stiles called as he pushed open the door despite the closed sign, then hopped over the desk. He loves Mountain Ash. Even though he doesn't entirely trust Deaton sometimes, the Mountain Ash around the clinic makes him feel safer than anything. If there was ever a supernatural apocalypse, he'd come here.
"Hello Stiles." Deaton greeted as he passed into the back room, looking up to smile before looking back down at the herbs he was mixing. A part of Stiles wanted to ask what he was doing and one hundred other things but he refused, asking Deaton questions was like talking to a brick wall and about as productive, it wasn't worth the time it took for Deaton to reply with something that just didn't make sense.
"You said you had a book?" Get in and get out, that was the important thing, plus Stiles was tired after a day of communication with Arabella. Deaton stopped what he was doing and turned to open the door to a cupboard and retrieved an aged book from inside. He set it on the table but pushed Stiles' hand away when he tried to touch it. Not a good start.
"I would rather this remained here where I know it's safe, but you can come by to read it any time or take pictures of the pages if you want to continue your work at home." He'd definitely be taking pictures of it, the less time spent around Deaton the better, even if he did feel safe in the vets, besides, if he printed the photos he could annotate and highlight things.
"Cool." He said simply, reaching out again for the book to open it and start flicking through, just to see the kinds of things that it had inside and why Deaton wanted him to read it. It had some similar things to the books that Peter had shown him, creating a slightly sour taste in his mouth. He'd come all this way for no new information.
"You may want to direct to chapter thirty four." Deaton said when he saw Stiles' face fall and hey that may just be the first direct instruction Deaton has ever given to him and damnit it better be useful.

He did as he'd been told and flicked to chapter thirty four. Deaton was right, this was amazing. It spoke all about leylines, about the Earth's magic, the core of magic itself. Stiles used some magic to ensure his hands were steady as he took pictures of each page, no doubt Lydia would want to see all of this and eventually others would want to see too. Maybe Derek would be interested. He slipped his phone away then, in favour of looking up at the Vet in front of him.
"So what, it's.. Alive?" He asked with furrowed brows, mind still running rampant about everything that he'd learnt.
"In a way. It isn't alive in the classic way, more in a way there's probably only words for in Latin." Deaton said with what looked like a fond smile and it looked out of place on his face. This was all very out of character for him and Stiles felt suddenly unsafe even if his magic was assuring him that it wasn't the case. Uncomfortable then, maybe, instead.
"Right so.. How does that help me?" Stiles then probed, failing to understand the sudden openness from the vet that he'd never experienced and why on Earth this was in any way relevant to him. There was way bigger things on his plate right now than this.
"You took pictures of each of the pages, go home and read them. You'll understand. It may be useful in future." Deaton said, back to his vagueness, apparently. He'd wanted Stiles to have this information but wanted him to work for it himself, as he always had. Stiles returned right to the sour mood being here put him in.

"Well, in that case, I'm off." Something about leaving felt wrong, like there was something else he was supposed to ask Deaton about or there was another reason for him being there that he hadn't attended to but he couldn't imagine what it was considering he never planned on seeking help from the Druid with everything going on in his life when he had so many other ports of call that he could speak to. He pushed the feeling away, putting it down to the hurting animals in the clinic that he could probably heal if he put his back into it and said goodbye to the doctor to return home. He couldn't shake the weird feeling the entire walk home, immune to the cold in his favourite slightly oversized hoodie that he'd stolen from his dad and mulled over it. He'd never felt like that in the clinic before but he knew he was getting more powerful with each day that passed so maybe it really was just all the injured animals that gave him the need to stick around. Once he was home again, the feeling was mostly forgotten, he had other things to think about.