Animals

28.

STILES' POV:

I sat in the middle of the couch, Callie to my left, and Kira to my right. I had my elbows on my thighs as I held my hands up to my mouth, exhaling loudly, "Here, it'll calm you." I looked up at Noshiko who set was pouring a hot liquid into two cups, one for me and then one for Callie. Callie, she hadn't said a word since last night, and whenever she looked at me, she was simply give me a tight lip smile that she forced.

"What is it?" I asked as I held one cup out and Callie wrapped her hands around it.

"Tea."

"What? Like magic tea?" I asked as I picked up my own cup.

"No, chamomile tea. Drink it." I nodded my head at her before I brought the cup up to my mouth to sip it.

"He's not safe here." Mr. Yukimura said as he entered the room with his hands in his pockets.

Noshiko looked up at her husband, I took a peek at Callie but she was staring into the cup with no expression on her face, I sighed and looked down at my own tea, "He's not safe anywhere." Noshiko spoke.

"But Allison killed one of them." Kira said as she looked across me to see her mother, "Doesn't that mean something? She kill an oni."

"Is that even possible?" Mr. Yukimura asked.

"I'm not sure how." Noshiko admitted to us all.

"But she did it." I jumped ever so slightly at the sound of Callie's voice, "She killed one of them." she never looked up at any of us.

"Yeah, then they killed her." I said and I felt Callie tense up beside me, "Allison's dead." I set down my cup and held onto my own hands, "Now I guess the only good thing is it looked like I'm dying too." I didn't look at Callie, but I felt her eyes finally on me.

Noshiko got up from her chair and came and sat on the edge of the couch between Callie and I, "He made a powerful move by splitting the two of you."

Kira set down one of the pieces that belong to the chess game on the table in front of me, "So what's our move?" she asked.

"At this point, you need a divine move." Mr. Yukimura said.

"What's that?" Callie asked, setting down her cup of tea.

Noshiko looked up at Mr. Yukimura then said, "In the game of Go, it's what we call a truly inspired or out of the box move." she paused, "The nogitsune has had sente, the advantage, until this point. What you need is a divine move in order to turn the game around."

"Okay, so is anyone feeling divinely inspired?" I asked with the slight shake of my head.

"Mom, you said you trapped it in a glass jar, right?"

Noshiko shook her head, "It wasn't the jar that trapped it. It was where I buried it."

"The Nemeton." I said finally making eye contact with Callie before she looked back over at Noshiko.

"A place I don't know too much about."

"Who does?" Kira asked.

"Deaton." I said, "Deaton does."

****

CALLIE'S POV:

"Callie, will you please just talk to me," Stiles said quietly once the Yukimura's had all exited their living room, "Cal," he tried again, "At least tell me what you're thinking about, please."

"My real parents."

Stiles was silent for a moment then scooted closer to me, "What about them? Like you're ready to know who they are?"