Hibrideach (Book Three *Teen Wolf*)

Chapter Three

Beacon Hills is cloaked under a powerless black blanket. Literally. According to the bits and pieces Charlie was able to pick up while doing a quick gas stop, the power outage occured sometime the night before and people are growing more and more annoyed by the lack of electricity by the second. One man walks by her car, grumbling about all the stored meat he's hunted going bad due to no cold air.

"Is this a typical day in Beacon Hills?" Avery asks as rejoins her by the car. He chews on a vibrant red string of twizzler and offers her one.

"No," she says, and grins playfully. "We usually have power."

Avery throws the offered piece of candy at the sarcastic blonde. "Ha ha."

"I thought witch doctors were supposed to eat purely organic herbs and vegetables," Charlie says as she steals a twizzler from him.

"I've only been stateside for a few hours and you're already corrupting me," he jokes. Avery shrugs his shoulders after the blonde has a hearty laugh. "I told you that I no longer consider myself a witch doctor. I don't live by the rules anymore."

"So, why did you help me?" She asks and her face scrunches up in confusion. "Why are you still helping me? I mean, it's kind of a moot point now."

Avery sighs at her last statement. It's the same thing she said to him before boarding the plane when she was trying to talk him out of coming with her. When he asked why she didn't want him there, she clamped her mouth shut. She didn't have it in her to tell him the truth-- that she has no intentions of telling Derek and the others, and that she didn't want the only person who knows that she's dying have to watch her slowly slip away from this world.

"I'm here to help you for as long as I can. The herbal remedy you drink may not save your life in the long run but it will sustain you. Buy you a little more time."

"Until it doesn't," Charlie says, reiterating a previous statement he once made to her.

"Eventually your body will develop a tolerance to it." He stares away from her. "Once that happens, it's up to you, and you alone, to hold on."

"Or until the first cry of the hybrid."

Silence falls over them. Neither have brought up the prophesied words her mother spoke just before their departure. Avery had decided it best to wait until Charlie brought it up for discussion. He studies the blonde standing next to him, gauging whether or not to continue on with her statement. When she pulls the gas pump out of her car and slams back into its holder, he knows she's not ready to talk about it yet.

The rest of the ride through the town consists of dimly to brightly lit buildings and houses, depending on the power of the generator or the amount of candles lit. Charlie's house is one of the few without any source of light coming from inside. It's as dark and empty as when she left it four weeks prior.

"Home sweet home," she says and pulls her body out of the car. Avery follows close behind with their few bags while she unlocks the door.

The scent of furniture polish assaults her nostrils and Charlie finds herself fighting back a series of coughs and sneezes. A note spotted by the rays of the light on her phone explains why.

Charlie,
        When you were gone for more than three days, I started coming to keep your house from collecting dust. Lydia helped. She says a new Prada bag will be a sufficient 'thank you.'
                                                Welcome back!!
                                                  Allison&Lydia