Departure ↠ Argent [3]

18. Deals with the Devil

It took me about ten minutes to get back home, and that was only because it was raining. There was enough water on the road for hydroplaning to be an issue, so I drove slow over the puddles. I didn't even realize that it was or had been raining until I stepped outside from Allison's building.

When I finally got home, I leapt from my truck and slammed the door behind me. I found myself running towards the door; whether it was me running from the rain or to get to Stiles, I couldn't tell. However, I got into the house and shut the door behind me, shivering from the cold.

The house was quiet. It was a type of quiet that you heard and saw in movies; the ones where the victim is wandering aimlessly through the house, shouting out for the killer when we all know damn well that the killer wouldn't reply to someone in that type of situation. I mean come on...it's not like the killer would shout back, "I'm in the kitchen! Want a sandwich?"

After slipping my shoes off, my eyes went to the stairway, almost as if I was expecting to find Stiles standing at the top of it. However, my eyes were only met with darkness as my mind started to imagine different scenarios of how this could play out.

I just hoped that it was Stiles I'd find.

My sweatpants make a swoosh sound as I make my way up the stairs, the light from a lightning bolt shining through the window, allowing me to see for a brief moment before it was gone. Nothing looked different or out of place, but why did it feel like it was?

"Stiles?" I say, not too loud, but loud enough for him to hear me. At this point, I was just assuming that he had fallen asleep or something along those lines, but when I pushed open his door to his room, I was wrong.

He was sitting there on the edge of his bed, staring out of the window as rain fell on it. He doesn't move for a moment as he watches closely, but that was before he sees my reflection in the window, causing his head and eyes to snap over to me. A small weak smile spreads across his face as I step inside, noticing how tired he looked.

Neither of us move for the longest moment. We stand there and stare at one another; waiting for the other person to make the first move. However, he finally speaks first. "I couldn't sleep there...I had forgotten my pillow."

He smiles after saying that, making me laugh a little. "How in the hell did you bust out of there?"

"Wasn't that hard," he shrugs, looking back at his pillow that was leaning up against his bed frame. "I had a little help from Oliver and Malia though."

"Malia?" I furrow my eyebrows. "The girl that Jade had saved back in the woods? The coyote?"

He nods, a little grin etching across his face that I didn't know what meant. "Yeah, her. I had to make her a promise though before she agreed to help me...she wants to turn back into a coyote."

"Turn back?" I say, alarmed. "Why in the hell would she want to go back to being that animal?"

"It's all she knows, Corey," Stiles breathes, looking up at me with a look that scared me slightly. "She's been that animal for more than half of her life...it's apart of her."

I'm silent as I take another step into the room, watching Stiles closely. I was a little on edge on if this was really the real Stiles, but it had to be, right? He was talking to me like normal and he knew everything else that the nogitsune couldn't possibly know. This had to be him.

"Corey, I know this is random, but..." Stiles fades off, looking back up at me. "Have you...tried to see the future lately? I know Jennifer took that away from you, but I was just wondering...I want to know what happens to...to me."