Avalon's outfit:
Car Impound Lot -
School / Turner House -
Chapter Thirty-Three
â¡Memory Lostâ¡
Avalon sat in the passenger side seat of the Turner family car with her a bored expression as Lydia climbed onto the driver seat. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath while holding onto the steering wheel before opening her eyes again and looking into the mirror with a hum.
Stiles flails awkwardly in the backseat before sitting up. He looks at her with an eager expression, clearly expecting a revelation of some kind. "What?" He asked but Lydia, still staring at her reflection, "This is a perfect shade for me. I forget the name." Lydia said making Avalon look over at her. "It looks nice." She said makin Lydia smiled at her, "Thank you."
Stiles looks at two girls with a mix of incredulity and exasperation, "Can we please stay on topic?" He asked and Avalon sighed before sitting back in the seat and looking at her friend. "We've been here for over ten minutes and no one is getting anything. And you do realize that I'm not actually a witch, right? I'm just called one because I have magic." She said and before anyone could say anything they heard a coyote howl making them all get out the car to see a coyote running over.
Avalon pulled out some clothes out of her bag right as the coyote turned into Malia. "I don't think they're dead." Lydia said as Avalon handed Malia the clothes, "They're dead. Probably torn apart. The only thing I don't get is why there's no blood." Malia said making Lydia sigh. "They're not dead. If they were dead, I would sense it." She said and Malia shrugged as she put on the clothes, "If they were alive, I'd smell it."
"Yeah, I'm not getting anything either." Scott said making Stiles look at him exasperatedly, "Scott, what are you talkin' about? You were in his head for four minutes! I timed it." Stiles said. Scott shrugs, at a loss for options as to explain the evening's events, shrugs tiredly, "Well, it's not an exact science... And he's a kid. Maybe he's too freaked out to remember?"
"Why does it matter if they're dead?" Malia asked looking at Stiles confused, "Dead is dead, okay? If it's just a robbery, we can't help them. And, if it's something supernatural, my dad can't help them." Stiles said making Avalon raise her eyebrows at him. "Sounds like you want it to be supernatural..." She said and he shrugged slightly.
"It's been, like, three months since anything's happened." He said and Lydia scoffed lightly, "Yeah, and once a week, you drag me out of bed like I'm some sort of supernatural metal detector." She said and Stiles looked at her in offense. "Okay, it is way more often than that." He said making her roll her eyes.
"You can't tell me that you think this is just some series of impossible coincidences?" Stiles asked and Lydia rolled her eyes, "What we're saying is maybe that wouldn't be so bad." She said before she walked away. Malia flipped her hair over her shoulder slightly as she grabbed Avalon's hand before they followed behind Lydia.
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Avalon sat on a stool in front of the photo background while Sydney goes to take her yearbook photo. Just as Sydney is about to take Avalon's picture, Stiles rushes up to her. "Avalon, so-" He says right as the flash goes off, and once Avalon realizes that he messed up her picture, she gives him a look that causes him to back away apologetically.
"My bad! Sorry, go ahead. You look awesome." He said and she rolled her eyes and sighed before looking back over at Sydney with a smile, preparing to get her picture taken a second time, only for Stiles to once again interrupt and try to update her, inadvertently getting in the frame just as Sydney clicks the button. "Once- oh!" He said and Avalon glared at Stiles, "Are you trying to be annoying?" She asked.
Avalon tries her best to get the picture right on the third and fourth tries, but Stiles once again steps in both times just like before. The students in line begin to get impatient and start to grumble loudly about how long it is thinking.
"Stiles!" Avalon said as Sydney gives Stiles an impatient look as well, "You're still in the photo." She said. The chattering from the people still waiting in line gets louder as Stiles looks at them with a guilty expression, "Sorry..." He said. Finally, Avalon loses her patience and groans once again as she gets up and lightly pushed Stiles to the picnic table outside where Scott, Malia Lydia are sitting.
"You ruined it." Avalon said as she sits on the table in between next to Malia while Stiles balks at this accusation. "Why would I want to ruin your yearbook photo?" He asked and she shoot him a look, "Oh, I dont know, maybe because you haven't signed up for your own photo yet?" She said and Stiles smiles smugly as he digs into his pants pockets.
"Yes, I did!" He said, pulling out a folded up sheet of paper and unfolds it before showing it to her, though he doesn't look at it for himself. "It's blank." Malia said making Stiles frown and look at the paper, and it's clear by his surprise that he thought he filled it out.
"Or maybe you're sublimating the stress of graduating by avoiding key milestones?" He said making Avalon, Lydia and Malia share a confused look before turning to stare blankly at Scott, and when Scott notices the silence, he looks up at them and gestures toward them with the pen in his hand.
"Psych paper." He said and the girls nodded in understanding, "Ohh..." They all said and Stiles tries to redirect them to the task at hand, gestures wildly to get their attention. "Hey, the deputies searched the car. No slugs, no exit hole. And, the address Alex gave my dad? It's an abandoned house." He said and they all just raised their eyebrows.
"Come on! Missing parents? Suspicious guy on horseback? Magic bullet? Who's coming with?" He said excitedly and they all just shook their head. "I have to retake my photos because of you." Avalon said and Malia shook her head, "I have to study." She said and Lydia pursed her lips. "Yeah... not interested..." She said and Stiles turned to Scott, "I cannot miss any more classes." He said making Stiles looks very disappointed in his best friend and continues to protest as Scott tries to explain himself.
"Guys-"
"I missed thirty-eight last semester."
"Scott-"
"Lydia's mom is the only reason I'm still in school." Scott said before smiling at Stiles while shrugging, "We can go after school." He said. Stiles, offended by his friend declining his request to skip school and investigate immediately backtracks.
"You know what? Forget it. I'll take Liam." He said before turning to find Liam only to sigh when he finds Liam passionately making out with Hayden on a nearby park bench. After a moment, Scott, Avalon, Lydia, Malia and Stefan look over and see them kissing and well, though the only one who looks surprised and annoyed by this is Stiles.
"Yeah, I'm not taking Liam."
A second later Sydney walks up to them with her camera, "Can I get a candid?" She asked and Stiles shook his head. "Uh, no-" He started to say but Stiles and Lydia pulled him down to sit in between them and Malia and Avalon both scoots over so they're all in the frame.
Stiles sighed before pulling the shard of glass he found in the windshield the night before out of his pocket and hands it to Scott. "Okay, fine- if you can explain to me why this is blue, I'll let it go." He said and Scott looked at the glass with furrowed as he notices the translucent greenish-blue color. But before he can ponder how this happened, Sydney snaps him out of his reverie.
"Everyone smile!" She said and Scott tucked the shard into his pocket and looks up at the camera as he, Avalon, Lydia, Malia, and the reluctant Stiles smile and Sydney to takes a photo of them.
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"Thirty-nine?" Stiles asked as he, Avalon and Scott walk up to the school doors. Scott and Avalon nodded in agreement that they will be skipping yet another class as they leave the school. However, just as the double doors have closed themselves, they're opened again by Avalon as she walks in front of the boys who are shoved back into the school by Natalie, who is clutching their shoulders tightly and steering them through the doors with a stern expression.
"None you are going anywhere. Thirty-eight classes, Scott. I had to beg the superintendent!" Natalie says as she lets go of the boys' shoulders while they all stop in their tracks and try to reason with her, "Mrs. Martin, Scott is the sworn protector of Beacon Hills!" Stiles said and Natalie just looks at him unimpressed.
"He can protect it at 3:30."
Stiles sighs as the three turn to walk back to their class. Natalie watches them as they walk away from her, and Stiles lowers his voice to whisper to Scott and Avalon. "We're not waiting 'til 3:30."
A few minutes later they all sat in class they're watching a documentary that is clearly boring all of the students. Avalon, Scott and Stiles are staring at the clock, and after a moment, Stiles squints strongly at the clock and gestures with his fingers, as though he was trying to use some kind of supernatural power to make the clock move until it read 3:30.
A little while later the bell rings making three quickly shoot up and run out the room.
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Scott, Stiles and Avalon pulled up to the Turner family's house in Stiles' Jeep and get out. They stare up at the house, which looks completely abandoned making them frown at the sight of it as they consider what they're dealing with. "That's not creepy at all." Stiles said.
"Twenty bucks it's haunted." Avalon said before they walked inside and Scott shines a flashlight as they glanced around. The entire place was empty had everything was covered in dust and spider webs. The floorboards creak under their feet as they walk into the dining room, where two plates, two water glasses, and two wine glasses are sitting on the table, which like the foyer and living room, is covered in dust, spider webs and bits of dried up leaves.
After glancing around the room Scott turns to Avalon and Stiles. "You wanna split up?" He asked and Stiles looks at him as though he's lost his mind, "Uh, absolutely not." He said making Avalon playfully raise her eyebrows. "Scared Stilinski?" She asked making him roll his eyes before lightly pushing her towards the stairs making her laugh.
Like the rest of the house, the staircase is rickety and covered in cobwebs. Upstairs, they peek into every room they pass; while the rooms are completely free of furniture, decorations, or other personal belongings, they are at least clean and free of dust and cobwebs, unlike the downstairs.
"Maybe Alex got the address wrong?" Scott suggested and Stiles shrugged, "Or he lied." He said making Avalon glance at him confused. "Why would he lie though?" She asked as they kept walking down the hall until they made it to a room at the end. Avalon slowly walked up to the door and opened it to reveal a clean, bright, and full of furnished bedroom of a typical pre-teenage boy. It is clear by the photos on the wall that this is Alex's bedroom making them all glance around confused.
"Well, he didn't lie..."
"Why didn't the cops say anything about this?" Scott asked and Stiles slightly shook his head, "They don't know its here. They can't come here without a warrant, and there's no owner of record to serve a warrant to... So, unless there's some kind of threat or imminent danger, they wouldn't come in." He explained.
Before anyone could say anything a noise from downstairs caught Avalon and Scott's attention. "What?" Stiles asked, "I think I heard something." Scott said and Avalon nodded in agreement.
They walked downstairs and into the dining room and they glanced around for a moment before Avalon glanced back at the table making her eyes widen. "Scott." She said, tapping his arm making him look at her before following her line of sight. The dishes were no longer on the table, if it wasnt for the circles left behind in the thick layer of dust where the plates and glasses were just sitting, one would not know they had even been there.
They went to walk into the kitchen but the sound of floorboards creaking in a different direction made them stop and look back. They glanced at each other before quickly walking into the other room. But, as soon as they turn the corner toward the door, they runs straight into Liam and Mason, both of whom gasp in fright before realizing it was just Scott and Avalon.
"What-what are you doing here?" Liam asked and Scott sighed, "This is Alex's house. What are you doing here?" He asked. "This is where the compass led us." Mason said making them look at him confused, "What compass?" Avalon asked and Mason steps forward and holds out his right hand, which is holding the compass they stole from Mr. Douglas' cabinet at school.
Avalon frowned as she looks at the compass and sees that the needle is spinning around, seemingly of its own accord. "Why's it doing that?" Scott asked and Mason shrugged, "I have no idea." He said. Liam pulls his phone out of his pocket and looks at the screen before holding it out for them to see. The compass app has been pulled up, but the needle on it is also spinning around, with a "??" in the center where the direction should be indicated.
"They're all doing it." He said but before anyone could say anything they all suddenly heard a thumping noise upstairs which apparently all of them heard. They glanced at each other before quickly running up the staircase, the other three quickly running after her, to find Stiles recovering from shock.
"What happened?" Avalon asked as Stiles glanced around alarmed, "He was here. He shot at me!" Stiles said making them look at him worriedly and confused. "It was one of the guys you saw in Alex's memory."
"The guy who took his parents?"
"No, no, no... They weren't just taken- they were made to disappear. That's why there's no furniture, that's why they weren't in any of the photos... They were erased." Stiles said before turning around and opening the door to Alex's room. They quickly walked in only to find the room completely empty, no desk, no bed, nothing on the walls. It was empty.
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Lydia sat alone in a dark, empty classroom, deep in thought, when Malia and Avalon walks through the door toward her. "Got your text. You said you needed our help?" Malia asked and when she and Avalon walked up to her, they see that Lydia has pulled up a web page on the Wild Hunt on her laptop making Malia groan.
"Oh God- that kind of help." She said and Lydia looks at Malia with worry, "Something terrible is going to happen." She said and Avalon nodded slightly. "Okay, what is it? What's with the Wild Hunt?" She asked and Lydia slightly shook her head, "I don't know... That's why I need your guys help."
A little while later they still sit in the empty history classroom, where they are researching the Wild Hunt on Lydia's MacBook. "When did you have the premonition?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed, "I was with Stiles. We realized it was the Wild Hunt. The Riders, the horses... Souls getting swept up..."
Lydia turns the laptop so Malia and Avalon can see the page on the Wild Hunt and Malia leans over her shoulder and reads a sentence aloud, "Those who see the Wild Hunt, beware, for you are already lost."
As Malia reads realization crossed over Lydia's features, "Horses- he saw them. He saw the Wild Hunt!" She said as she quickly stood up. "Where's Stiles?" Lydia asked and Malia and Avalon frowned in confusion.
"Who's Stiles?" Avalon asked and Lydia's eyes widen for a moment before she quickly ran out the class room. "What just happened?" Malia asked and Avalon shrugged slightly, "I'm not entirely sure..."
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Lydia walks into school the next day with her books in hand. Students are milling around in the entrance hall, and ahead to the right, Liam, Mason, Hayden, and Corey are standing next to the row of lockers as they talk.
When they see her, they all smile and wave at her, but it's clear by the confused look on Lydia's face that something doesn't feel right to her as she watches the students walking and talking around her. After a moment, Malia and Avalon walked into the hall and stops with a frowned when they notice Lydia standing with a confused expression on her face.
"Hey, you okay?" Avalon asked and Lydia stared past her slightly, "I have this feeling that I was supposed to do something..." She trailed off as Scott joins them in front of the double doors and looks confused himself. "Do what?" He asks and Lydia looks concerned by her lack of memory.
"I can't remember..."