Lunar Ellipse Part 1

                                    

                                          
    I gasped loudly as I burst up from the water. On either side of me, Scott and Stiles did the same. The water wasn't cold anymore and we were in a new room. It was white and completely bare. The ceiling was lined with fluorescent lights that were a little harsh if you ask me. 
                          
    Scott was the first to get out, then Stiles rushed over to help me out. Even in half-death he was a gentleman. My dress clung to my body and my hair laid flat, still dripping water. I was more interested in Stiles, though. His wet shirt stuck to him, showing every bit of his lean muscle and broad shoulders. When did he get that?

                          
    We turned around to realize the room was not, in fact, bare. Down at the other end was the Nemeton. I started to walk towards it, my boys following. The Nemeton was flat and about four feet tall above ground, but it was wider than Stiles' jeep. There must've been a thousand little rings in the trunk, and moss grew in between the cracks.
                          
    I stopped to let Scott check it out first. Scott pulled up his sleeve to look at his tattoo like it meant something important. I grabbed Stiles' hand as Scott reached out. He laid his palm flat on the trunk, and then it was like he was in a trance. His eyes rolled in the back of his head and he was completely still.
                          
    I sighed and reached out well. The second I touched the stump, I heard Scott say, "Are we seriously doing this?" I looked around, surprised to find that I was in the Preserve. 
                          
    "You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town," Stiles replied. I was watching the three of us a year and a half ago when Scott was first bitten. 
                          
    "This is a bad idea," my former self complained. Stiles grinned at me, and even from here I could see how much he liked me. How had I not been able to notice it before? 
                          
    "Probably. Come on." Stiles put his arm around my shoulder to make me walk with him. Everything was going like it had that night, down to the very last touch. 
                          
    Stiles and my old self ran, Scott following behind as he wheezed out our names. Why hadn't we stopped for him?
                          
    The dog barked at Stiles and I, and we fell to the ground. I guess I hadn't noticed it then, but now I saw Stiles put his arm around me like he was protecting me from the animal on instinct. 
                          
    I walked closer to watch as Sheriff grumbled at Stiles. When they left, I shook my head, turning to figure out how to get back to the Nemeton. I ran smack into the trunk. 
                          
    That hadn't been there before, had it? How could I have missed something like this? Was this where it was?
                          
    I was the first to sit up from my ice bath which had no more ice in it, gasping and panting and sputtering, then Stiles and Scott. Isaac ran to me, pushing my hair out of my face to see if I was okay. 
                          
    "I saw it, I know where it is," Scott said, getting out. 
                          
    "We passed it. There's-. It's a stump, a huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It's cut down. But it was still big though, very big," Stiles rambled, climbing out of his tub while I stayed in mine, shivering and pulling my knees to my chest. 
                          
    "Th-the night w-w-we were looking for the b-b-bo-body," I stammered. It seemed like my body heat wasn't coming back to me, like the blood was just frozen in my veins. "When you were bitten by P-P-..." I could finish the name, and Stiles rushed over to me, pushing Isaac away to pull me out of the water. 
                          
    "We can find it," Scott said seriously while Stiles wrapped me in the blanket laid out on the slab. He rubbed my arms gingerly, and I saw the looks on their faces. 
                          
    "What?" I asked.
                          
    "You guys were out a long time," Isaac answered.
                          
    "How long is a long time?" Stiles said.
                          
    "16 hours," Deaton sighed. We stilled, aside from the shiver that I couldn't control. 
                          
    "We've been in the water for 16 hours?!" Scott asked nervously.
                          
    Then because that wasn't bad enough already, Deaton added, "And the full moon rises in less than four."
                          
    "I have to tell Deucalion," Scott sighed, sitting on the edge of his tub. 
                          
    "S-Sc-Scott, s-stop. You can't g-go back with the-em." I was shaking like a storm in Stiles' arms. "We ne-. We need y-you." 
                          
    "I made a deal with Deucalion," Scott replied. I gave up on trying to talk, letting Stiles do it.
                          
    "Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like a deal with the devil?"
                          
    "Why does it matter anyway?" Isaac asked.
                          
    "Because I still don't think we can beat Jennifer without their help," Scott answered. 
                          
    Allison looked at Deaton with a frustrated smile. "He trusts you more than anyone. Tell him he's wrong."
                          
    "I'm not so sure he is," Deaton replied, earning a blue-lipped open-mouthed stare from me. "Circumstances like this sometimes require that you align yourself with people you'd normally consider enemies."
                          
    "Like P-P-. Like Peter," I forced out. Deaton gave me a worried look, but nodded at me. 
                          
    "So we're gunna trust him, the guy who calls himself death, destroyer of worlds? We're gunna trust that guy?" Isaac asked from next to Allison. He looked like he wanted to help warm me, but Stiles would die before he'd let that happen. 
                          
    "I wouldn't trust him, no, but you can use him to your advantage." Deaton had a small conspirator smile on his face. "Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait." Scott seemed to like that idea.
                          
    "H-h-how?" I asked.
                          
    "Okay, why isn't she getting warm? She feels like ice still," Stiles said worriedly. 
                          
    "I'm fi-fine," I said.
                          
    "I said there would be lasting effects. Perhaps yours is showing through body temperature," Deaton replied. 
                          
    "So she'll be like this forever?" 
                          
    "No, it should even out in a few days. But she'll probably always be cold."
                          
    "That sucks. I h-hate the cold," I grumbled unhappily. We all went still (well, as still as I could) when the little bell on the tinkled to let us know someone had walked in. Deaton walked to the door to see who it was.
                          
    "I'm looking for Lydia," Ethan said. Lydia and Scott walked to stand beside Deaton.
                          
    "What do you want?" she asked.
                          
    "I need your help," he said.
                          
    Stiles sat me on the edge of the tub so he could poke his head out and say, "With what?"
                          
    "Stopping my brother and Kali." I jumped up to stand behind Lydia so I could stare at Ethan. "From killing Derek."