Stiles Stilinski-Gilbert

Chapter 49

It's the night of illuminations and Stiles is standing beside Jeremy, Jenna and Alaric, listening to Carol Lockwood give her speech.

"As a long-time member of the historical society, I am especially proud to be kicking off this day of festivities. Thank you, volunteers. Tonight, we turn off our town's lights and flare up our lanterns in honour of the night of illumination started by our founders 150 years ago. Here's founding family member Tobias Fell with a history lesson." Mrs Lockwood announces.

The crowd of volunteer's clap.

"What are we doing here?" Jeremy asks.

"Tobias Fell is the head of the history department. I didn't have a choice." Alaric informs.

"Okay, right. That explains why you're here...why are we here?" Stiles inquires.

"Well, I'm the one who can fail you if you don't help me out." Alaric smirks.

"Aunt Jenna, your boyfriend's abusing his power." Stiles whines.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I can come up with a suitable punishment later." Jenna smiles at Alaric.

Jeremy and Stiles look at each other before fake gagging, causing Jenna to shove them. Elena comes back from the bathroom just in time to see Jenna push them.

"Sorry I'm late...what did I miss?" Elena queries.

"Just Carol Lockwood's speech." Jenna informs.

"And the fact that were basically being blackmailed to join them." Stiles adds.

"You didn't miss anything." Jeremy tells Elena.

"The first night of illumination was held in celebration with the newfound prosperity that Mystic Falls enjoyed after the war." Tobias Fell informed from his spot on the stage.

Stiles wonders if it was started because the founders believed that they had killed all of the vampires.

Jeremy laughs.

"What's so funny?" Elena questions.

Jeremy doesn't say anything and instead looks at the stage. Stiles gets the horrible feeling that Jeremy is talking with Anna.

"The founders, they placed lanterns over the doors to indicate that it was safe for their neighbours to come outside again." Tobias Fell continues.

Stiles watches as Jeremy seems to be listening to something with his head slightly tilted to his left. And then Jeremy smiles. Stiles coughs making Jeremy look over at him. He sends him a look and Jeremy takes a step to his right, looking guilty. Yep, he was talking with Anna.

"The night was an opportunity for the community of Mystic Falls to come together, a chance to strengthen ties with neighbours, business owners and the..." Stiles tunes out the rest of Mr Fell's speech.

Stiles pulls his phone out and pauses before thinking fuck it and sending a text.

'What do you know about banishing ghosts?' – Stiles

Stiles then puts his phone back in his pocket and waits.

#####

The group ended up moving into the Grill for some food. Elena has laid out all of Stefan's journals on the table and has been reading through them ever since they sat down. Stiles has one of them open in front of him and is trying not to laugh at Stefan's description of his life. Damon and Stefan's hatred for each other when they both first got to town makes so much more sense considering the way that Stefan seems to view Damon. If Stiles were Damon, he probably would have stopped communicating with Stefan a long time ago.