Chapter 39. Echo House

Stiles had been poisoned, well— the Nogitsune had been poisoned anyway. Which mean that it had been expelled from Stiles’ body for the time being, which meant mine was ripe or the picking— as soon as I let it in. Which Deaton had advised me not to do.

To ensure that I wouldn’t let the Nogitsune in, Deaton had caught my mom up on everything that has happened these past few days between the Nogitsune, Stiles, and myself. We were all sitting at the table in my kitchen when he decided to do it, because he had a plan— a plan that he devised after he received my text message earlier that day.

“Kasey is the most vulnerable now, especially since the Nogitusne is no longer residing in Stiles. I have a way to possibly ensure her safety, but it’s a bit drastic.” he had said. My mom had her face buried in her hands, shielding her eyes.

She let out a heavy sigh, “What does that mean… drastic? Is she going to be put at risk or something?”

“Quite the opposite,” he declared, “my sister, who knows just as much about this as I do, is working at Eichan House right now… and I believe that it would be in everyone’s best interest if Kasey were to stay at Eichan House, that way she is being watched at all times and has someone with my sister’s expertise at a moments notice.”

I had thought that Eichan House was a hospital. A small hospital that was possibly a few hours away from my house. I didn’t think that it was a mental institution. My mom knew it was though, and she her reaction to Deaton’s suggestion was justified.

“You want to put her in a mental institution? The same one that Barrow came from, no less? I don’t think that’s a good idea—“

“Mellisa, if I may,” Deaton cut her off with a soft smile, “I have grown extremely fond of Kasey and Scott. I look out for them as if they were my own, I would never put her in a hostile situation. Especially when an evil spirit is trying to possess her.”

And that’s all the convincing my mom needed before she decided that maybe Deaton’s suggestion was the best idea at the moment. The Nogitsune can’t get inside of Stiles’ because his body is out of commission, and now that the Oni is out of me… there isn’t anything stopping him from pursuing me.

Which leads us to now, sitting in the office of registration of Eichan House. My mom and Scott were both here, but Scott remained outside— afraid to come in. I don’t blame him. I was afraid to step inside myself.

“It’s only for 72 hours… just enough time for Deaton to figure out how to stop it.” I said to my mother as she scribbled her signature on the paper. The receptionist had left the room to grab a pair of shoes for me.

She sighed, “I know… I just can’t but feel like I’m pushing you away.”

“You’re not,” I assured her, “mom trust me. It’s better that I’m in here. I can’t hurt anyone in here.”

Her eyes widened, “You didn’t hurt anyone.”

“Yet.” I mumbled.

The nurse came back into the room with a pair of slippers and my change of clothes. They were extremely plain and simple. It made my stomach hurt. I can do this. It’s only three days. I have to do this to make sure that Stiles and Scott will be okay.

“First 72 hours there’s no phone calls, no e-mails, no visitors. We will be taking you from here to a brief physical. In the morning you’ll be assessed by a staff psychologist, speak to a social worker, and attend group therapy.” she explained as my mom dropped the pen onto the table.

She was starting to panic. I can’t blame her, the thought of sending your child to a mental institution from three days to help ensure that she won’t be possessed by an evil Japanese spirit, it a lot to take in. Especially over night.

The nurse sat the brown slippers on the table, “You will be wearing these, Kasey. No laces allowed. You don’t have a belt on do you?”

I glanced down at my jeans and shook my head from side to side, “Nope.”

“And please empty your pockets in here,” she said as she slid a white bin across the desk. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and placed it in the bin. That was all I had.

The nurse smiled and pointed to my neck, “And that necklace.”

My hand shot up instantly to the anchor necklace that has not been removed since Stiles gave it to me. I didn’t want to take it off. I didn’t know that I would have to take it all. I bit down on my lip as I unclasped it and carefully placed the necklace in the bin.

I went to work on taking my Vans off and sliding the slippers on. My mom was spinning around in her chair before she stood up, “Kasey you can’t stay here. I—I think this is a bad idea. You can’t sleep here you there’s too much going on and—“

“Mom,” I cut her off with a sigh as I stood up beside her, “I’m going to be okay. And I haven’t been able to sleep for weeks, I’ll be fine. Trust me, okay?”

The nurse stood up and grabbed at me arm, “You ready, Kasey?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled before giving my mom a squeeze and letting the nurse lead me down the hallway.

We ascended some stairs, and my eyes were wandering around the stairwell as I tried to figure out what my new home for the next 72 hours look like.

“I’m the part of the bird that’s not in the sky.”

What the hell is that? I glanced up the stairs in confusion, to see a guy tying some type of sheet to the stairs. I had seen enough movies to know what that meant— and I started to run up the stairs.

“Kasey! Kasey, wait for me!” the Nurse shouted in a panic.

I glanced at her in confusion, “That guy up there! He’s going to kill himself!”

“I can swim in the ocean, yet still remain dry.” the guy chanted as he expertly tied the sheet around his neck. My heart was pounding as I tripped up the stairs. He can’t kill himself, not on my first day. I can’t let that happen.

“STOP!” I screamed as he climbed up onto the railing.

“SOMEBODY STOP HIM!” An extremely familiar voice shouted up the stairwell. I gasped and the nurse snatched me up as his body fell down right in front of me. His eyes were wide and his body was convulsing before it stopped and hung in the stairwell.

I looked down, and directly below me, Stiles and a dark skinned nurse were standing on the stairs. What the hell is he doing in here?

He was looking at something down in the lobby, where a group of patients were gathered, watching the suicide take place. My eyes widened when I saw it— the Nogitsune. I knew that it was the Nogitsune, because who would would have their head wrapped in bandages and would be slithering between people before disappearing in a flash.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

☾  ☾   ☽  ☽

“Okay, I understand the whole 72-hour thing, I do, but I really need to use the phone.” I rushed out to my nurse as she led me down the hall to my room. I needed to call Deaton and tell him that the Nogitsune is here— and that me being here, and Stiles being here, is not good. Not good at all.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to Stiles before my nurse pulled me down the hall, away from the incident.

“The addict that occurred is being taken care of.” she assured me before sliding the key into the lock on my door.

My eyes widened, “You think that was an accident?”

“Incident.” she clarified.

My head bobbed from side to side momentarily, “Slightly better. Still need to use that phone though. I— just five minutes? Two minutes? Thirty seconds? Please, I really really need to call someone.”

“Would you like to go to sleep Kasey, or would you like to be introduced to our five-point restraint system?” she asked with a quirked brow.

“I would go with sleep,” a voice from behind me called out. I jumped slightly, not knowing that someone had been in here. When I spun around I let out a sigh, well this is just fantastic.

My roommate is Malia freaking Tate.

The nurse closed the door and locked us inside. I sprung forward, pounding my fist on the wood. “Hey! Hey wait! Come back!”

“There’s no point in yelling, they won’t come back unless we start killing each other.” Malia stated. She had her back to the iron wrought headboard with her knees pulled up to her chest.

I let out a sigh and pressed my forehead to the door, “I need to get out of here. This was a very bad idea.”

“You’re Kasey, right? Scott’s sister?” she asked. I don’t know why she was talking to me. Can she not tell that I’m really not in the mood for small talk? I’m trying to plan an escape from a mental institution.

My head slowly turned to face her, “Yes. We’ve met. You’ve tried to kill me, twice actually.”

“Sorry about that,” she chuckled, “can’t really blame me though right? You kind of ruined my life.”

My eyes widened considerably, “What? How did we ruin your life? We helped you? We got you turned back into… well into you.”

“So I should thank you for turning me back into myself, so I could go and face my dad without telling him that I’m responsible for my mother’s and little sister’s death because I turned into a coyote?” she scoffed.

“Well… when you put it like that it does sound kind of bad…” I sighed before sulking over to the empty bed. The mattress was paper thin, the springs jutting out through the top. Jesus this was going to be Hell.

Malia nodded, “There was a suicide, right? That’s what you and the nurse were talking about?”

“Uh, yeah…” I responded. I don’t really think it was a suicide. I think the Nogitsune got into that person’s head and made him kill himself because he knew that Stiles and I were both here and he was trying to send a message.

I’m the part of the bird that’s not in the sky. I can swim in the ocean, yet still remain dry.

What the hell does that even mean?

Malia nodded again, “Yeah and since it’s Monday the suicide rate’s a lot higher.”

“Okay then,” I breathed out as I shot her a confused glance. This was going to be the longest night of my life. I can’t go to sleep. I don’t know what’ll happen if I do, and especially with the Nogitsune here. I wish I could tell Stiles to stay awake, but I have no idea where he is.

“I heard it by the way. It happened in the stairwell, right?” she asked me, her eyes lifting from her nails to my face.

I swallowed nervously, “Yeah. How’d you know that?”

She smiled faintly, “I heard the echo.”

“The echo? What do you mean?” I asked quietly. Suddenly becoming extremely interested in this conversion and the information that Malia has.

“It’s this place,” she began before swinging her legs off the side of her bed, “something about the way that it was built. Everything echoes… eventually. That’s why they call it Echo House.”

“How do you know all of this?” I asked slowly. It’s not that I don’t trust Malia, I mean she hasn’t given me a reason not to… but I don’t know if her story is credible.

She quirked an eyebrow, “Everyone hears the story eventually. A boy named Oliver told me. He’s rather social.”

“Oh,” I said before glancing out the window. The sky was dark and the leaves were slightly rustling in the trees. I was going to have to force myself to stay awake all night. It was going to be extremely hard, because I’m exhausted.

Malia yawned and stretched back on her bed, “You should probably just sleep it off. The first day’s always pretty rough.”

“If only it were that easy,” I mumbled before pulling my knees up to my chest. I just want Stiles to hold me and tell me that we’re going to be okay. I just want the Nogitsune to disappear and never come back into our lives. I just want to be okay, for once in my life I want to be okay and not have to worry about something going wrong.

☾  ☾   ☽  ☽

“Were you up all night?” Malia asked as she stretched her arms and pushed her hair out of her eyes. She had woken up a few minutes ago, just laying there looking at the ceiling. I decided to not say anything until she addressed me.

I nodded, “Yeah I kind-of can’t go to sleep, so..”

“Interesting,” she mused as the locks on the doors clicked. I let out a sigh of relief and hopped off the bed, sliding my feet into the cheap slippers that were provided. I changed into the clothes that the nurse had given me last night about four and a half hours ago. I was running out of things to do to keep myself entertained.

The outfit wasn’t all that great to be honest. It was a pair of gray sweat pants, without the drawstring, and a navy blue t-shirt. The brown slippers really didn’t go all that well with the outfit but I guess the staff really doesn’t care.

I need to find out a way to get into contact with Stiles and Morrell today. I just hope I can find them without getting sent off somewhere.

“We have some free time in the common area for awhile. Most of the patients are there, except the violent ones. They’re kept in the closed unit.” Malia explained before standing up and walking out of the room.

I guess this whole friendship thing we had going on was already over. I let out a sigh and made my way out of the room. I followed the cluster of patients as the led the way to the “common area” as Malia called it.

Stiles should be there, at least, he should be if he’s even really here. I couldn’t tell if I had maybe hallucinated him last night or if he was really here. I thought about it more and more during the night— and the possibility of him being a hallucination had become extremely likely.

The “common area” turned out to be the lobby and an outside pavilion area. I kept my distance from the patients that were scratching at their arms or chanting things under their breath. A guy with shoulder length brown hair started ranting about being nailed to a cross, and that was enough to send me on my way.

“Hey, where’s the phone?” I asked a random girl sitting on a bench. Her eyes widened as I addressed her and I took a step back immediately. She looked like a weirdo, all spaced out and confused.

She didn’t say anything, instead she pointed towards a set of double doors leading inside, I saw a girl already on the phone. I sighed as I made my way over there, only to be cut off by two guys. Great.

The girl was hunched over, whispering things that I couldn’t really make out because she was so far away, but my sliver of pain ran along the side of my temple. The kind of pain I have whenever I’m around Lydia and her banshee ability is coming through.

I watched the girl stalk away, only to find out that one of the two boys in front of me— was Stiles. I stood there momentarily, watching him mess with the phone while the other boy leaned against the wall. Stiles hit the buttons and held the receiver to his ear before muttering something to the other boy and turning around.

His eyes landed on me and for that brief moment the world stopped spinning. It was just him, looking at me, and then me, looking at him. There was no Nogitsune or Oni trying to tear us apart. There were no werewolves, and druids and Admonere’s and banshees. There was just us.

“Kasey?” he whispered in disbelief. He didn’t know that I was being admitted. I didn’t tell him because, well because he was kind of still recovering from the incident at the Animal Clinic and I didn’t want to give him more to be stressed about.

I nodded once and he ran at me, arms wide as he pulled me against him. This hug felt real. This was the real Stiles. The Nogitsune was nowhere to be found as he held me and mumbled apologies into my hair.

“Who is she?” the boy asked in confusion.

Stiles pulled out of the embrace slightly, “My girlfriend.”

“Oh, are you new as well?” he directed his question towards me this time. There was something about him that was rubbing me the wrong way— something I wasn’t very fond of.

I nodded, “Yeah… just got here last night.”

“What’re the odds of that. You both come in at the same time.” he chuckled as he clapped Stiles’ on the shoulder. Why would Stiles admit himself into Eichan House?

Stiles shot his friend a look, “Oliver, now isn’t the time.”

Oliver.

This was the person that Malia had talked about. I remember her saying that Oliver was the one who told her about the way the building was built, how everything eventually echoes and you can hear it.

“You’re Oliver.” I stated as I looked at him, really looked at him. He had cropped brown hair and dull brown eyes. His skin was pasty and he had a small gut, but he seemed friendly enough. Despite the fact that there was a little warning bell ringing in the back of my mind.

He quirked an eyebrow, “How do you know who I am?”

“Oh, uh… Malia, my roommate, she told me about you.” I responded awkwardly.

Stiles jerked back at the sound of her name, “Malia? As in Malia Tate?”

“Yeah,” I said quickly, “she’s here for some reason. She left me this morning but she should be down here somewhere.”

Stiles glanced over my shoulder and nodded his head once, “Found her.”

I squinted my eyes as I took in the sight of Malia. It was as if she heard us speaking about her, because she turned her head and saw the two of us, her eyes were narrowed as she approached us.

“Malia, this is Stiles, my boy—“ I was cut off by the audible smack that came from Stiles’ cheek as Malia’s hand came into contact with it. I was stunned momentarily as I tried to figure out what the actual hell was happening.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I screamed at her as I tried to help pull Stiles to his feet, but before I could two Orderly’s grabbed a hold of Stiles and myself, even though I had nothing to do with what just happened.

“HEY! MALIA!” A man shouted as he rushed over to us. He snatched up Malia as if she weighed nothing.

Stiles squirmed around on the ground as the Orderly pressed his knee into his back, “She hit him! Get off of him!” I shouted as I kicked the Orderly in the face. His nose crunched and blood began to pour out on the cement beside Stiles’ head.

“That’s it! Take her to the closed unit!” the man who had grabbed Malia released her and snatched up my other arm, my slippers skidded across the concrete as Stiles started screaming my name. I have no idea why the hell I just did that.

“Get off of me! Stop!” I screeched as I flailed around in their holds, but it was useless. They were a lot stronger than I was, and my body was running on empty thanks to my lack of sleep.

“ENOUGH! ENOUGH!” A conducted and familiar voice shouted over the commotion. Morrell slipped through the crowd and appeared in front of me, her eyes narrowed at the two Orderly’s that were practically dragging me.

She folded her arms across her chest, “Brunski, I need to see Kasey and Stiles in my session. Now.”

The man who seemed to be Brunski grunted, “She just assaulted one of the Orderly’s, if you think—“

“Let her go,”  Morrell seethed. The other Orderly released my arm and Brunski did the same. He moved his mouth by my ear and whispered, “This isn’t over” before stalking off with the other Orderly.

I rubbed at my upper-arms over the burning skin form their tight grips. Stiles pushed himself off the ground and ran over to me, wrapping his arms around me as he glared daggers at Brunski and his second in command.

“Come on.” Morrell said as she led the way back into the building, Stiles reluctantly released me as we followed behind her.

☾  ☾   ☽  ☽

“I want to go back to the topic of guilt today. It might surprise you to hear me say that guilt is a good thing. It’s a rather mature emotion. Malia, you said something about guilt the other day. You said it came with a visceral reaction?” Morrell prompted, trying to get the backstabbing bitch to speak.

I should have known not to trust her. She’s already tried to kill me twice, why would I think that she wasn’t still a threat? Now Stiles has a sore face and the Orderly’s hate us both— which I know can’t be a good thing.

Malia sighed as she glanced at me wearily, “I said it made me feel sick to my stomach.”

“Guilt often becomes physical.” Morrell explained. Oliver, who was sitting on the other side of Stiles, started coughing manically into his hand. I watched him closely, still not trusting him in the slightest. Morrell glanced at Stiles, “You feel it in your gut. It’s not just psychological.”

I, too, glanced at Stiles— because he was looking at something in the corner. My eyes followed his and I nearly fell out of my seat when I saw the Nogitsune in a white coat, talking to another patient. He slowly looked over to us and Stiles gasped as he adverted his gaze. I grabbed at his hand and squeezed it tightly.

“You saw it?” he whispered.

I nodded once, “Yeah.”

“How does guilt make you feel, Stiles?” Morrell questioned, obviously trying to get him back into reality. She had seen his slight moment of panic.

Stiles glanced up at her in confusion, “I’m sorry, what?”

“Guilt. What does it make you feel?” she persisted. His eyes slowly made their way to me before dropping to the floor, “Nervous.”

“Like a sense of urgency?” she asked, her eyebrow raising as she became interested.

Stiles didn’t say anything, but he nodded once.

She then shifted her gaze on me and I had to resist the urge to groan. I was not informed that I was going to have to be a part of share-circle. I’m here to get her help so the Nogitsune doesn’t take over me when I got to sleep— not talk about guilt.

“What about you, Kasey? If you had to pick one word to describe guilt for you, what would it be?” she inquired.

I sighed before meeting her gaze, “Panic.”

“Like, Stiles said… that sense of urgency. You feel an urgent need to make up for something you’ve done. To apologize. These are healthy responses.” she said with a nod of her head.

Something was touching my thigh. I could feel four digits slowly raking up the material of the sweatpants. I swallowed nervously as I glanced down, I started to breathe erratically when I saw the bandaged hand.

My skin was pricking with the needles of anxiety as the Nogitsune pulled his hand away and disappeared. I ran my hand over the back of neck repeatedly, trying to stop myself from having an anxiety attack. I can’t do this now.

“Does anyone know what we call a person that does not experience guilt?” Morrell asked as her eyes darted around the circle.

Oliver raised his hand, “A sociopath?”

“That’s correct,” she mused.

I was about to lose it. I can feel my hold slipping and I was about to lose my shit. I can’t do this. I can’t be in here. This thing, this evil Japanese spirit is in here and it is taunting me. I was supposed to be safe here, but apparently Deaton was wrong. This place isn’t safe, not for me, not for Stiles, not for anyone.

“I’m sorry, everyone, but we need to take a break. Come with me Kasey and Stiles, I need to speak with you two for a minute.” Morrell said as she stood up.

Stiles and I both looked up at her in anticipation. Finally, she was going to help me like Deaton said she would.

☾  ☾   ☽  ☽

“It’s called a Lichtenberg figure. They appear on lightning strike victims. The fact that they’re appearing on you after a shot of wolf lichen is both significant and strange.” Morrell said as she assessed the lines on Stiles’ back.

I don’t know how I didn’t notice them. They were purple and pink, they looked like scars from claws that had penetrated his skin, several times over.

“By significant and strange do you mean hopeful and optimistic?” Stiles asked as he watched Morrell walk over to a cabinet.

“When the marks fade, the Nogitsune’s grip over you will return. I believe that is why he is taunting Kasey. He is trying to get to her while you are still out of commission, that way he can have her now and stop delaying the inevitable.” Morrell explained, her back to us as she dug through the cabinet.

I blinked in confusion, “It told me that I have to let it in. Why can’t it just get inside of me? Why does it need my permission?”

“Because, Kasey— it wants to take complete control over you. It wants to become you. This is not just a simple possession, you have to open that door in your mind to let something this dark in.” she said before spinning back around to face us, handing Stiles a bottle of pills.

He took them in confusion, “What are these? Sleeping pills?”

“Amphetamines. Sleeping is exactly what you two don’t want to do right now. You’re vulnerable when you’re asleep.” she said.

I rose an eyebrow, “So all we have to do is stay awake?”

“For now,” she nodded quickly,” if your friends haven’t figured something out by the time those marks are gone, I’ll come find you.” she was addressing Stiles.

“To tell me what to do?” he asked her.

She didn’t blink as she said, “No, to give you an injection. Pancuronium bromide. It causes respiratory paralysis.”

“That sounds a lot like killing him.” I said in a harsh tone. I thought she was supposed to be helping us? She isn’t helping me in the slightest, and now she’s telling Stiles’ that she’s going to kill him?

What the hell?

“It’s used for lethal injection, yes.” Morrell responded.

“So when the Nogitsune takes over, you’re going to kill him?” I demanded, my hands balling into fists at my sides.

The whole reason I’m even in this place is to prevent anything from happening to him, and now she’s talking about trying to kill him?

“I’m going to do what I’ve always done. Maintain the balance.” she snapped.

My eyes widened, “How is that maintaining anything!? The second that you kill him, it’s coming for me. And it’s going to get in, because if Stiles’ dies, I’ll literally lose my mind and that door is going to be opened, and then you’re going to have an even bigger problem. Because once that thing is inside of me, it’s going to be damn near impossible to stop.”

“That’s why,” she hissed, “I’m not going to let that happen.”

“Okay then. I’ve missed our talks. Thanks for the illicit drugs.” Stiles snapped as he turned on his heel and made his way towards the door.

He stopped dead in his tracks as Morrell began to speak, “Stiles, stay awake.”

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This is like, my favorite episode ever. I just love it and honestly, as I'm watching the episode and writing it at the same time, I'm waiting for Kasey to just pop up on the screen. Morrell is bein' a lil bitch, as per usual. I've got some more twists coming your way guys, so stay tuned!

I just want to get this finished already tbh, lol. It's stressing me out with season four getting so close!

And I know I've said this like a gazillion times, but Amanda has a new account. Her last one was deleted and we are trying to get her fans back, so if you haven't followed her new account, @azaleahs yet, go and do it! Both of Us is being posted on there, and she has a new story called Insanity that she is posting as well!

Be sure to fan, vote, and comment! -Sasha xx