The Lost McCall

Boogieman

For the next two hours, everyone waits in the animal clinic, spread between the waiting room and the examination room where Daisy is lying down. The girl doesn't move. Sometimes it's hard to tell if she's even breathing. The fear in the air is so high the werewolves can smell it. Different emotions smell a certain way and panic has a distinctive dank scent. Stiles is on the edge of a panic attack. Theo is precariously holding onto the tethers of his sanity. So is Scott.

- Is it working? - Stiles looks at Deaton. He has been asking the same question every fifteen minutes, even though he always gets the exact same response.

- I don't know. - Alan doesn't mind repeating himself. It's easy to see the boys are desperate. When people are scared, they don't respond to logic.

- Come on, Daisy. - Theo keeps his eyes on her, holding her hand like he'll pull her out of the depths of hell if he has to. Their friendship is like that. - I just got you back. Please.

Scott clenches his fists. Hearing Theo verbalize his thoughts, although they are talking about two completely different girls, is nerve wrecking. Part of him still doesn't believe this is just a coincidence. The guy had tried to destroy him once.

More hours pass and everyone gets even more uneasy. When the night starts to fall, Daisy suddenly jolts awake, sitting up and coughing hard. She actually spits blood on the table she's lying on. Deaton hands her a white cloth that soon quickly gets stained with red dots.

Her eyes dart around the room in full terror. Daisy doesn't remember getting here. She doesn't know where she is. The last time this happened, she was fourteen years old and things got bad fast.

- Easy. You're safe here. - Deaton uses a warm and calm tone, but she doesn't stop panicking until she spots Theo at her bedside.

- Hey, trouble. - She smiles weakly. - What's with the long face?

- Thank God. - Theo lets out a relieved breath and pulls her into a tight hug, finally letting the tears fall. - Don't do that ever again, you hear me?

- I'll do my best. - Daisy replies, pulling away from him and looking around with a confused expression. - Where are we?

- The animal clinic. - Scott explains, handing her a bottle of water. Daisy chugs the whole thing down in one go, not questioning the origin like she usually would. Progress, I guess.

- We didn't know where else to go. - Stiles mutters, happy tears prick his eyes at the color returning to Daisy's face. - Deaton saved you.

- What happened? - Scott's voice cracks a little. - We split up and the next thing I know...

He stops talking, his chest tightening at the memory of hearing how dangerously slow her heart was when they left the Eichen House.

- There isn't an exact name for this. It happened before, but...

- Not like this. - Theo completes, looking down and holding his friend's hand.

Before they can ask more questions, the rest of the pack members flood the examination room, one more exhausted than the other.

- How was it before? - Alan continues with the interrogation.

The room is full of people, including Liam and Mason who arrived while Daisy was asleep. The conversation in the waiting room in the past few hours was interesting. They were able to figure out a pattern in the latest events of the city, but no one knows anything with certainty.

- Usually, I'd just pass out and then wake up a few minutes later. - Daisy says, looking down. She always hated losing control. - It's usually a sign I used too much magic. Even if I didn't mean to.

Stiles is about to speak but Lydia gives him a warning look, so he doesn't bring up what the man in the basement said.

- I know this is not the best moment but we figured something out. - Liam announces after a minute of dead silence. - About the monster.

- It's just a theory but...I think the creature is a boogieman, it's feeding on fear. That explains a lot of what happened over the past few days.

The deafening silence returns at Allison's words, everyone is scared and exhausted after a long day. A creature that can feed on fear could have a feast on them right now.