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Sage
Perhaps the most quintessential of magical plants, no witch’s garden is complete without this soft and fragrant herb. A necessary component in rituals of purification, sage is also useful in workings for longevity, wisdom, protection, and, if the rumors are true, immortality.
It is said that a wish can be written on a leaf of sage and tucked underneath your pillow. If you dream of your wish during the next three consecutive nights, your wish will come true.
* * *
Scott found Stiles standing in his garden, staring at his mother’s apple tree. He purposefully stepped on a twig, causing Stiles to turn around. His expression was vacant at first, but then he gave Scott a small melancholy smile and stepped out of the garden, since Scott was not able to enter it.
They hugged for a long time.
“I thought you could use some company,” Scott said, pulling away gently.
Stiles looked at the ground and kicked at a dirt clod. He sighed softly, then looked into Scott’s eyes. “We need to dig up my mom.”
Scott nodded slowly, but didn’t say anything.
“Will you help me?” Stiles asked.
“Of course,” Scott answered.
Stiles looked at the ground and nodded. “We should do it tonight. Just you and me.”
“’Kay,” Scott replied, pulling Stiles in for another hug. “I’ll pick you up at midnight.”
Stiles shook his head. “Better make it 3:00. I looked at the ritual, and it’s not required, but it’s better if we unearth the bone just as the sun’s coming up.”
“Okay,” Scott said.
“You’re the only one that knew her,” Stiles said, his eyes bright. “You’re the only one who remembers what she looked like, and how she talked.” He stopped for a second to blink and wipe at his nose with the back of his hand. “You’re the only one who’s tasted her spinach lasagna.”
“You don’t have to do this, Stiles,” Scott said. “I read the ritual, too. It could still work without your mom’s bone. The heartwood from your mom’s tree and your blood would be strong enough.”
Stiles shook his head. “We can’t take any chances. It has to be this way.” He looked into Scott’s eyes, but Scott didn’t know what he was looking for. “We have to do this. I can do it if you’re with me.”
Scot grasped his shoulders. “Don’t worry. I will be.” After a beat, he continued, “Why don’t I stay the night, instead? We can play video games until it’s time to leave.”
Stiles gave him a crooked smile and went into the house.
The knot of unease in Scott’s stomach grew as the night wore on. His repeated suggestions that they call Derek or one of the others to join them were met with barely audible grunts. He kept checking his watch, surprised at how quickly the time was flying by.
Eventually, it was time.
He placed a hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “3 o’clock.”
Stiles’ fingers stopped moving on the controller.
Scott stayed quiet for a while to see what Stiles would do. When he didn’t say anything, he continued, “We need to get going if we wanna finish this in time for the sunrise.”
Stiles nodded and stood, avoiding making eye contact with Scott.
Scott grabbed Stiles’ keys from his desk and waited.
After a few slow blinks of his eyes and a few deep breaths, Stiles finally looked at him. “So, I guess we should go, huh?” he said, shrugging his shoulders and looking so fragile that Scott was tempted to call the whole thing off.
But, it wasn’t his call.
Instead, he gave Stiles a tiny smile, a nod, and led the way out of Stiles’ room.
Scott drove Stiles’ Jeep, one of only a handful of times that had ever happened before, and every time he looked over to Stiles, he was amazed at how still his otherwise perpetually moving friend was. Instead of chewing on his fingernails, he gazed out of the window into the darkness. Instead of tapping his feet, he sedately rubbed at a corner of his shirt with his thumb and forefinger.
When Scott parked the car, Stiles unbuckled and got out without prompting, purposefully walking to his mother’s plot. Grabbing the shovels from the back of the Jeep, Scott followed.
They stood looking at the headstone in silence, the moonlight giving it a strange luminescent quality. Scott was suddenly reminded of when this had all started, when he and Stiles had gone to the Hale house and dug up Derek’s sister. He wished he could go back and undo that. He wished he could go back and undo a lot of things.
Stiles held out his hand, and Scott handed one of the shovels to him. After another moment of consideration, Stiles pushed the head of the shovel into the ground with his foot and lifted up the moist and heavy earth. He tossed the dirt to the side.
Scott dug and also tossed a shovelful of earth. He was about to dig again, but stopped when he noticed the Stiles wasn’t moving. He looked up.
“Um,” Stiles began, his voice unsteady. “I think I need to do this myself. It’ll be stronger that way.”
Scott knew the ritual inside and out, having read it over and over again, and even talking it through with Deaton and Morrell. Theoretically, Stiles had a point, but the difference would be miniscule at best. Still, he decided not to argue, and he stepped away.
He watched Stiles dig and dig, and he didn’t notice when the tears started, but he could see the tracks clearly, cutting a path through the dirt on Stiles’ face. He remained quiet, offering an un-anxious presence, the only support he knew Stiles would let him give.
Stiles’ shovel hit the top of the coffin with a dull thunk just before the sunrise. He cleared the dirt away and pried open the lid. He tried not to look at his mother’s withered and desiccated form.
“Scott?” he whispered.
Scott was standing over him in an instant. “Yeah?”
“How much do I need?”
Squatting down near Stiles’ head, Scott answered, “Not a lot. A finger bone, maybe? If I understand how this is supposed to work, it’s the symbol that’s important, not the quantity.”
Stiles nodded.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” he whispered as he reached in, grabbing what he though was the tip of his mom’s pinky finger. He pulled. It came away pretty easily.
After Stiles closed the lid, Scott helped him out of the hole. They both turned to face the rising sun, and Stiles opened his hand, revealing the tiny piece of bone, brown because it was still covered with dried skin and other tissue.
“Can you hold this for me?” Stiles asked.
Nodding, Scott held out his hand, and Stiles tipped the tiny piece of his mother into Scott’s palm. Then he grabbed a shovel, and began the slow process of reburying her.
* * *
Mori was waiting for them when they got back to Stiles’ house, the scent of coffee bright and rich in the air. She looked at Stiles expectantly and he nodded in affirmation.
“Your father won’t be up for a while,” she said. “Do you want to get some rest first?”
“No,” Stiles answered, softly. “I’m gonna go take a shower, though.”
Mori and Scott watched as he trudged up the stairs.
“Come on,” Mori said, tilting her head towards the kitchen. “The coffee just finished brewing.”
They poured cups of coffee for themselves and sat down at the kitchen table.
“How did it go?” Mori asked. She took a sip of her coffee.
“Well, he got the bone,” Scott answered. “He’ll be fine,” he said, sounding more like he was trying to reassure himself than Mori.
Mori nodded. “When is your mother coming over?”
“8:00, I think?” Scott said. “I think she has to be at work by 10:00.”
“And, Derek will be here by then, as well?” she asked.
Nodding, Scott took a drink of his coffee. “Yup.”
“He needs to know, Scott,” Mori said. “We need him for the ritual to work.”
“I know,” Scott said, gripping the coffee mug like it was a lifeline. He closed his eyes. “Stiles tried so hard to keep all of this from him. We’ve been hiding all of this for so long. And now, we’re basically forcing Stiles to tell him everything. The people that know about this stuff? A lot of them don’t live very long.”
“If we cannot complete the ritual, then we all die,” Mori replied.
“Yeah,” Scott answered softly.
They sat quietly for a while, drinking their coffee and pondering their uncertain future. Derek showed up, letting himself in and pouring himself a cup.
“Morning,” he said, sitting down at the table.
“Hey,” Scott said, in greeting.
Mori gave him a friendly nod.
Stiles came down the stairs just in time to open the door for Melissa. He stood silently, blinking at her until she gathered him into her arms, holding him close and stroking the back of his neck, as silent tears made their way down his cheeks.
“I’m here for you, Stiles,” she whispered. “I will always be here for you.”
He nodded and pulled away from her, closing the door when she stepped into the house. Melissa poured a cup of coffee for each of them, and then started a new pot. They were all sitting around the table trying to make small talk when the sheriff finally wandered bleary-eyed into the kitchen.
“Oh!” he said, surprised when he saw them all. “Were we supposed to have breakfast today?”
Melissa got up, patting him on the arm and smiling as she walked past him. She poured him a cup of coffee, black with two sugars, the way he liked it, and handed it to him before gently guiding him into the living room. The others followed.
“What’s going on?” he asked, sounding worried. “You’re all making me nervous.”
Stiles settled into the couch and took a deep breath. “Have a seat, dad. We have something we need to tell you.”
The sheriff looked at his son, bracketed on either side by Scott and Derek. Derek’s eyes were focused on Stiles’ tapping foot, while Scott seemed to be mesmerized by the steam rising out of his coffee mug. John turned to his left, where Melissa was sitting, smiling at him reassuringly, and then looked to Mori, who had a similar expression on her face.
“Apparently,” the sheriff began, “there’s something that my son, my son’s boyfriend, my son’s best friend and his mother, and the foreign exchange student who used to live with us know, that I don’t, and you all decided you needed to get together on my day off to tell me about it. Is that what’s going on here?”
Stiles laughed nervously. “Well, when you say it like that…”
“Jesus Christ, Stiles!” the sheriff exclaimed. “Just tell me already before I have a freaking heart attack!”
Stiles startled, his eyes growing wide. “Werewolves are real!” be blurted out.
“What?” the sheriff asked, sure he must have misheard something.
Derek covered his face with his hand while Scott grimaced. John turned to look at Melissa and Mori, but it looked like it was their turn to avoid eye contact with him.
“You know all of the weird things that have been going on for the last six years?” Stiles said quickly, before his dad could yell again. “Since Scott and I were sophomores in high school? Well, Scott got bitten by a werewolf so he turned into one, and then we kind of found out about this whole underground world of supernatural things, and then Mori showed up and she turned out to be part of this crazy ninja clan, and I guess actually Lydia kind of is too, which is why she decided to go to college in Japan, which is good ‘cuz when we went to her lake house that summer before senior year? Yeah, we almost died there, well twice actually because there was this angry water spirit, but the ninjas helped us get rid of it, but then they got mad and tried to kill us, it’s a long story, but we’re all friends now, so that’s cool, but there’s a forest spirit now who might wake up and destroy the whole world, and we kind of need your help to stop it.”
Everyone, including Scott and Derek, was staring at Stiles like he had lost his mind.
“Did you say ninjas?” John asked.
Stiles gave him a flabbergasted look. “Out of all that, what you heard was ninjas?”
“Is this some kind of joke?” the sheriff asked, looking like he was about to get angry.
Melissa placed a hand on his arm, causing him to jump. She looked him in the eyes and shook her head, “No.”
“Um, I think it would probably be easier if we showed you,” Stiles said. He looked at Scott and Derek, but grimaced. Then he looked at Mori.
“Oh! Mori! Do your invisibility thing!” Stiles said.
The sheriff turned to Mori, who looked him in the eye. Between one second and the next, she was gone. John stood up, trying to backpedal, but not getting very far because of the recliner he had been sitting in.
“What just happened?!” he asked. “Where’s she go?”
Mori reappeared, an amused look on her face, causing the sheriff to lose his balance and fall back into the chair.
“Is this some kind of trick?” John asked.
“No trick,” Mori said, shaking her head. “I am a Night Flower. Stiles likes to use the term ninja. We hunt supernatural things that try to hurt people.”
John stared at her for a while as he tried to get his breathing under control. “Why does Stiles call you ninjas?” he asked.
Mori laughed. “Well, our uniforms do look like what one would imagine a ninja might wear. And, we tend to use traditional weapons: katanas, throwing knives, poison darts, that sort of thing. We can be very sneaky when we want to be.”
The sheriff suddenly turned back to Stiles. “Wait a minute, did you say Scott was a werewolf?”
Stiles swallowed and nodded. He grabbed Derek’s hand. “Derek, too.”
The sheriff looked at Derek, then at Scott, then back to Derek again. Derek glanced at Stiles, who gave him a small nod. Derek shifted.
“Oh my God!” John shouted, standing up from his chair again, hand going for a revolver that wasn’t there.
Derek shifted back again.
“Dad, please sit down,” Stiles said. “Derek’s not going to hurt anyone, and neither is Scott. Look, I never wanted you to know about any of this because I thought you would be safer if you didn’t know. I already lost mom, and I don’t want to lose you, too.” He took a deep breath. “The truth is, we can’t keep it a secret from you anymore. There’s something coming, and we can’t handle it by ourselves. We need your help.”
“Let’s say I believe all of this,” the sheriff started, pointing his finger at Stiles to silence him when it looked like he was going to press the issue. “Look, I haven’t even been awake an hour yet and you spring this on me! For crying out loud, give me a chance to take it in! What do you need me for? You have werewolves, and apparently a whole clan of ninjas. Melissa’s a nurse,” he said, gesturing at her. “I’m just a cop, Stiles. All I have is a gun. What can I do that you can’t?”
Stiles’ eyes were bright as he looked at his dad. “You’re my dad,” he said, his voice cracking. “Mom didn’t plan any of this, obviously, she couldn’t have, but when she planted that apple tree, she gave us a way to save us from what’s about to happen. But, we need your help because you’re the only family I have left. We can use that to stop this forest spirit from waking up and basically destroying the whole world.”
"A forest spirit?" the sheriff asked, incredulously.
Stiles nodded.
The sheriff dropped his face into his hands. “This is insane,” he said, shaking his head. “This is absolutely insane. Do you believe any of this?” he asked Melissa.
Melissa smiled sadly at him. “It’s true, John. All of it. If they say they need your help, then they need your help. If you don’t, they’re going to do it anyway, but they explained the ritual to me, and it really would be a lot stronger if you were part of it.”
“Ritual?” he asked.
“For the forest spirit,” Mori said. “We’re trying to make sure that it doesn’t wake up.”
“Ritual,” he repeated. “That doesn’t sound ominous.” He looked into Stiles’ hopeful, yet worried, eyes. “Okay, kiddo, we are going to have a very long conversation later once this is all settled, but I’m in. What do you need me to do?”
Stiles smiled. “Well, your part is pretty simple, actually, so you don’t need to worry too much. We just need you to sprinkle some water on a seed.”
* * *
Aloe
Associated with the moon and with water, aloe is useful for guarding against evil influences and household accidents. It is often found on gravesites, as it is believed to help promote a peaceful existence until the deceased enters their next cycle of life.
In Africa, practitioners of magic use aloe to bring good luck and to drive away evil. Burning it on the night of the full moon is said to bring a new lover by the new moon.
Because of its association with the moon, aloe is often used in spells and rituals related to the moon and lunar cycles, such as dreams, family, fertility, gardening, healing, and sleep. Aloe sap applied to the third eye can enhance meditation and expand awareness.
* * *
Stiles turned the borer over in his hands. Deaton had shown him how to use it, and had told him that even though apple wood was quite hard, the tree wasn’t very old. Because of that, the trunk was relatively small, and he wouldn’t have to go too deep to reach the heartwood. They only needed a little bit, and Deaton promised it wouldn’t hurt the tree. Like his mother’s bone, it was the symbol that was important, not the quantity.
He placed a hand on the tree, the bark rough against his skin, then pressed the tip of the borer against it. Giving it a few experimental turns, the instrument was soon embedded in the wood. It drilled into the tree much faster than he thought it would, and he was soon pulling out a core sample, a thin piece of wood, less than the width of a pencil. He couldn’t tell which part of it was the heartwood, but he was sure the Night Flowers would be able to figure it out.
“Thanks, Mom,” he said, placing his hand on the tree again.
After watching the wind rustle through the leaves for a bit, he brought the core sample inside. Mori was in the guest room, the room she had stayed in when she had been a foreign exchange student. She was packing for her return trip to Japan.
Stiles knocked.
“Come in!” she called out.
He opened the door, and Mori smiled when she saw him.
“Hi, Stiles,” she said, folding a shirt and placing it in her suitcase. She noticed the piece of wood in his hands. “Is that from your mother’s tree?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know what part of it is the heartwood, though.”
She accepted the piece of wood from him reverently, as if it were a sacred object of immeasurable worth. Stiles smiled wryly. He supposed in some ways, that was actually true.
“Here,” she said, pointing to an area of the wood were the lines from the growth rings were very close together. “This is the heartwood.”
Stiles nodded slowly, his eyes unreadable. “Is it enough?” he asked.
“More than enough, I think,” she replied, placing the wood gently in a box lined with cotton, next to his mother’s bone. She covered them both with more cotton before placing the lid on the box and putting it into her suitcase.
“The powder will not be ready to use until we add pollen from your mother’s tree,” she said, telling him what he already knew, though he didn’t mind the repetition when they were trying to do something that was so important. “But, we will do what we can up to that part, and I will return in the spring when the tree is in bloom so that we can complete the next phase of the ritual.”
“We’re leaving for the airport in a hour, right?” he asked.
“Yes,” Mori said. “I’m almost finished packing.”
“I’ll be downstairs,” he said, moving towards the door. “Let me know when you’re ready to go.”
She smiled and nodded, and he left her room.
* * *
Rosemary
An herb associated with the Sun and with fire, rosemary acts as a memory aid and can help with learning. It is because of this benefit to memory that rosemary is often included in workings for love, friendship and remembrance. As a protective and purifying herb, it can be used to ward against demons and bad dreams.
The scent of rosemary is said to help with one’s spirit, providing for a youthful outlook, and pleasant memories, and it is said that a rosemary sprig burned in a candle’s flame can warm a cold heart.
* * *
“There she is,” Derek said.
Stiles looked in the direction Derek was pointing and saw a tall blonde woman coming down the escalator. They had gone to Russia to meet Lilyana the summer after Stiles had graduated from high school, so that Stiles could talk to another Spirit Walker. As she had not been trained in the use of her abilities, there wasn’t that much she was able to tell them, but she was a well-known healer in the little town that she lived in and she and Stiles were able to share their experiences. She had agreed to come for a visit when the apple tree was in bloom to help them with the ritual.
Stiles waved when she looked in their direction, and she waved back. Almost fifty, Lilyana could easily pass for a woman in her early thirties. Her straight as a board platinum blonde hair swished as she walked and Derek and Stiles soon found themselves wrapped up in her long arms.
“Stiles! Derek!” she exclaimed with her heavy Russian accent. “Is so good to see you!”
“Did you have a good flight?” Stiles asked.
“Oh, yes, very well!” she said, nodding vigorously. “Let me get suitcase, and we go!”
“How do you think she keeps her eye shadow from smudging on an 12 hour flight?” Derek asked under his breath when Lilyana was out of earshot.
Stiles gave him a scandalized look and Derek danced out of the way when Stiles tried to elbow him in the ribs.
“Lilyana’s here to help us! Be nice!” Stiles whispered.
Derek laughed. “Nice would be telling her that blue, gold, and green is a bit much for casual eye makeup.”
“Oh what, you’re the Gay Werewolf BFF, now?” Stiles asked sarcastically.
“She looks good for her age, though, doesn’t she?” Derek asked. “Do you think it’s all the herbs she uses, or her Spirit Walker power? If it’s the Spirit Walker thing, that would be good for us,” he said, pulling Stiles close, nosing at his temple, and kissing him on the cheek. “Werewolves age slowly because of our healing ability. If you age slowly too, then we can age slowly together.”
Stiles shook his head and looked into Derek’s eyes. “What has gotten into you?”
Derek shrugged and smiled, his eyes filled with mirth. If someone had told Stiles five years ago that Derek would ever have this expression on his face, he would have laughed and called them a moron.
“Okay, I have suitcase,” Lilyana said, pulling said suitcase behind her as she walked back to them. “You two! So adorable! Always with the hugging and kissing.”
“Right,” Stiles said, cheeks red as he pushed away from Derek, who was trying not to laugh. “The car’s this way.”
The car ride back to Beacon Hills was uneventful, Derek and Stiles filling Lilyana in on all of the details about what had been going on over the past few months. Stiles showed Lilyana his mother’s apple tree as soon as she was settled in. Mori, Kaori, and Kaede had arrived a few days ago and had given him the almost completed powder. It was a new powder, something the Night Flowers had never made before, and hopefully would never have to make again, but the recipe and circumstances for its use were carefully recorded against future need. When they handed the glass vial to Stiles, the powder inside was very fine and off-white. Once he added the pollen and completed the final steps of the recipe, it had taken on the barest hint of pink. They named it “Wisdom Beyond All Knowing” in honor of Claudia.
Mori had given the instructions on how to collect the pollen and helped guide him in the final steps in the preparation of the powder. Deaton had explained to him how to use a cotton swab to pollinate the blossoms, by rubbing some of the pollen onto the pistil of each blossom he wanted to grow into an apple. He’d pollinated every blossom he could reach, just to be on the safe side. Now, all they had to do was get fruit to set on a tree that had never borne a single apple in all of the years it had been alive.
Lilyana caressed the bark of the tree, as if she were petting an animal.
“Can you feel it, Stiles?” she asked. “This tree longs to be mother, but she does not know that happiness. She was wounded, long time ago. Now her humors, they spin and spin inside instead of going to the flowers to make new life.”
Stiles widened his eyes. “Wait, do you mean you know how to fix it?”
“Living beings, they are not machines, Stilinski,” she said. “But yes, she can be healed.”
“Should I get Kaede?” Stiles asked, anxious to get started.
“No,” Lilyana said, shading her eyes and looking up into the sky. “Is already past noon. Is better to do at noon. I will rest and prepare myself for healing. We do tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Stiles said, following her into the house. “Is there anything you want me and Kaede to do?”
“No, Stiles,” she said, turning and placing a palm on his cheek. “Just do not exert yourself too much tonight. We need your strength for tomorrow.”
He nodded and watched as she made her way up the stairs.
“That sounds promising,” Derek said, somewhere behind his right shoulder.
He spun around and smiled as Derek pulled him in for a hug and a kiss. “When we were first starting to figure out we were up against, I wasn’t sure we were gonna figure a way out this time. But, I think we’re gonna make it.”
Derek buried his fingers in the hair at the back of Stiles’ head. “It’s your Spirit Walker energy,” he said. “It attracts bad things, sometimes, but good things come, too.”
Stiles smiled and clung to Derek, drawing reassurance from his warm and solid presence. He pulled away and tugged at Derek’s elbow. “Come on. I wanna take a nap.”
“I thought Lilyana said not to exert yourself,” Derek said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
Stiles sighed and gave Derek one of his patented Are you trying to be this dense or is this how you actually are ? looks. “You know, sometimes napping just means napping,” he said, turning from Derek and walking towards the stairs.
Derek smiled and followed.
* * *
Mandrake
Associated with the planet Mercury and with the earth element, mandrake is a potent herb for increasing fertility and is highly valued as an aphrodisiac. Mandrake also possesses well-documented narcotic properties and can be used as an anesthetic, however care must be taken that a mandrake induced sleep does not become a permanent one.
There is much folklore surrounding this herb. It is said that the root of the mandrake shrieks horribly when pulled from the ground, and anyone who hears the sound will die. It is also fabled to grow under the gallows of murderers. Neither of these assertions are true.
The magical signatures of this plant are many, and include protection, love, prosperity, and health. In order to activate a dried mandrake, one must place the root on an altar undisturbed for three days, then place it in warm water overnight. The root will then be activated and ready for any magical purpose.
* * *
The Spirit Walkers stood in a circle holding hands around the apple tree. The sun was shining bright above them, just a few minutes until it reached its highest point. Though she had never tried to heal a plant before, Lilyana was the only one with any real healing experience. Ordinarily, she worked with people, and the occasional animal, but now she was going to be leading them in the healing of the apple tree, with Stiles and Kaede there to offer support and power as necessary.
Lilyana closed her eyes, and the other two followed suit. Even with his eyes closed, Stiles could see the tree. It must have been Lilyana, he figured, because he had never been able to do anything like that before.
“You see the energy above the roots?” she asked. “We must untangle this.”
“Can you do it?” Kaede asked.
“Might be difficult, but yes,” she answered. “The sun is at the zenith, offering us its strength. We start.”
The sunlight was bright on the leaves of the tree, nourishing and warm. Stiles could sense the slow progress of sap, pulling water up from the ground and bringing it to every leaf and bud. There was a sudden lurch when Lilyana began drawing his power, like someone pulling on a piece of string coming out through a hole in his chest. It was a weird sensation.
“This should not be problem,” Lilyana said, probing at the knot of energy with her mind. “The wood is already healed, long time ago. But, the energy is still crooked and tangled. We make straight.”
The sun made its slow journey through the sky as they worked, and Stiles got the vague impression of someone holding an umbrella over him at one point, though he never opened his eyes to confirm it. His thoughts melded with that of Lilyana and Kaede’s, as they sought to clear the flow of energy in the tree. Lilyana’s skill was admirable, though painstaking, and he hardly understood what she was doing or how she was doing it. Eventually, sunlight gave way to starlight, and even if it seemed only a hour or two had passed, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it was almost midnight as Lilyana straightened the last tendril of energy, causing the whole tree to suddenly burst forth with light, each flower glowing with the potential for new life.
A soft sigh simultaneously passed each of their lips as they opened their eyes and let go of each other’s hands. Derek’s hands were on Stiles’ shoulders, and Stiles turned around in the moonlight to face him, his eyes bright with joy and hope. Pulling Derek’s head towards him, he pressed their lips together, kissing him softly.
“We did it,” Stiles whispered. “The tree is healed, and the fruit should set now.”
Derek lifted his eyes to the tree, which looked pretty much the same as it always had, though there was something different about it that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He smiled and kissed Stiles again.
“Are you tired?” he asked. “The three of you were at it for over twelve hours.”
“A little,” Stiles said, “but I feel pretty good, actually.”
He turned and took a few small steps to close the gap between him and Lilyana, sweeping her up in an embrace. “You were amazing,” he said, a note of reverence in his voice.
“Thank you,” she said, pulling away, but keeping a firm grasp on his elbows. “You were not bad yourself. Go, take your werewolf to bed. We must rest for next part tomorrow.”
Stiles nodded. After a friendly nod to Kaede, he grabbed Derek’s hand and led him into the house. He was asleep almost before he hit the bed. Derek lay for a while with Stiles’ head on his chest, gently stroking his soft hair as he watched the moon through the window. He would have to leave in a few hours to pick up Lydia, and even though Stiles said he felt fine, Derek had a feeling he would be back with Lydia before Stiles woke up.
He could hear the conversations the others were having in the house, but he didn’t try to listen in on what they were saying. Instead, he let their soft voices lull him to sleep, his arms wrapped tightly around Stiles’ warm body as his eyes slowly closed, and his cares faded away.
* * *
The Spirit Walkers once again found themselves standing in a circle around the apple tree.
“This is different from yesterday,” Lilyana said, as they joined hands. “I can heal, I do not know how to grow fruit.”
“If it doesn’t work, then it doesn’t work,” Stiles said. “But, I think we should try. We could just wait for the apples to grow normally, and then harvest them in the Fall, but then all of you would have to fly back, and I just think the sooner we get this done the better. Who knows what could happen in six months?”
Nodding, Lilyana closed her eyes. Stiles and Kaede followed suit. As before, an image of the tree flared to life in their minds, only this time it was practically pulsing with life. There was no trace left of the tangled knot of energy that had been sitting at the base of the trunk. Instead, a strong and steady stream of glowing yellow life was slowly pulsing its way up from the roots.
Since Lilyana was the one who led them the previous day, both Stiles and Kaede waited to see what she would do. She examined one of the flowers, tracing the flow of energy from stem to petal, stamen to pistil. The lines of energy were so tiny and fragile, just like the flower’s veins, but at the flower’s heart was a bright pinprick of fierce white light, the beginnings of the seeds it might bear given time and proper nourishment.
The three Spirit Walkers focused on this single flower. Time wasn’t something they were able to give, but they had power to spare. Again, Stiles felt the sensation of a string being pulled out of his chest as Lilyana drew on him for the working. She wrapped the flower in layer upon layer of Spirit Walker power, like a magical glowing onion, and as she wrapped, the innermost layers collapsed in on themselves. Held in place by the outermost layers, with nowhere else to go, they were absorbed into the flower itself, accelerating its maturation process.
After a while, Stiles noticed that the base of the flower was beginning to swell. It shuddered, dropping its petals, but continued to grow as Lilyana filled it with light. He drew in closer and saw that five seeds were beginning to form. Since Lilyana was focusing on the fruit itself, Stiles decided to focus on the seeds. With nothing else to serve as an example, he began to mimic Lilyana, only on a much smaller scale, wrapping the tiny seeds in layers of energy, forcing them to grow as the outer layers pushed the inner layers into the seeds. When he realized what Stiles was doing, Kaede began doing the same. Between the three of them, they soon had a tiny apple hanging from a branch about halfway up the tree. Over the next few hours, the apple continued to grow, and they would take turns focusing on the fruit and each of the individual seeds, and even on the specific pathway of energy that led from the roots to the particular stem that the apple was attached to, in order to make sure that the apple got the nourishment it needed to form properly. They pulled sugars and proteins in from the surrounding leaves, and drew water and minerals up from the ground, and soon the apple began to change from pale green to mottled green and gold, with just a touch of blush.
Three hours after they had started, there was a beautiful pink lady apple, heavy and perfectly formed, hanging amongst the apple blossoms.
Stiles reached out to pick it, but Lilyana stopped him. “This is the tree’s first fruit, yes?”
Stiles nodded.
“We leave on tree for now,” she said. “Is special day for her. Like first child. We rest. Continue in morning.”
“Okay,” Stiles said, yawning and stretching suddenly. “It’s not even eight o’clock yet, but I feel like I could fall asleep again.”
“Growing an apple is not easy,” Kaede said. “It will take many months for the tree to grow the remaining fruit. We must rest if we are not to make any mistake tomorrow.”
Stiles took a deep breath. “Yeah, okay.” He turned slightly, reaching out behind him to grab Derek’s hand. “Let’s pick up Lydia and get ice cream at Udder Delight! I haven’t seen her yet.”
“You just like going there ‘cuz you like saying the name,” Derek said, shaking his head and smiling.
“That is not true!” Stiles exclaimed, sounding scandalized. “They have awesome ice cream!”
“Should I call Allison and Scott?” Derek asked, pulling his cell phone from his pocket.
Stiles brightened at the suggestion. “Yes! It’ll be like old times! Just the five of us!”
“You mean back to when you didn’t trust me as far as you could throw me?” Derek asked, eyebrow raised.
“That’s like ancient history!” Stiles exclaimed, throwing his hands wide. “You didn’t trust me either!” he said, pointing his finger at Derek.
Derek grabbed the offending hand out of the air and kissed Stiles’ knuckles. “I trust you now,” he said, smiling up at him with soft eyes.
Stiles playfully shoved him away. “Go, call the minions. I’ll get the keys.”
Stiles drove to the ice cream shop, holding Derek’s hand most of the way there. “Who could have guessed five years ago that any of this could have happened?” he asked, not really expecting an answer.
“Only a fortune teller,” Derek said, smiling. He placed his free hand over his and Stiles’ clasped hands.
“Wait, what?” Stiles exclaimed, stealing a surprised look at Derek before whipping his head back to watch the road. “Are those real?”
Derek chuckled and shrugged. “Who knows?”
Lydia had insisted on driving herself, and she was already there waiting when they pulled up. Stiles leapt from his car, and ran over to her, wrapping his long arms around her.
“Ah!” he exclaimed, lifting her up and twirling her around. “I missed you, Lyds!”
Laughing as Stiles set her back down, she rose on her tip-toes to kiss him on the cheek. “I missed you, too.”
“Hi, Lydia,” Derek said, kissing her cheek in turn. “Should we get a booth and wait for Scott and Allison?”
“Yeah,” Lydia said, turning and heading towards the entrance. “I know it’s not the season, but I hope they have the wild blackberry.”
After they ordered, they sat down in a large corner booth.
“So, how’s the ritual going?” Lydia asked. “I assume since you both seem pretty happy that we have a nice apple on the tree now, ready for tomorrow?”
“Yup!” Stiles said, biting into the weird basil and strawberry ice cream he always insisted on getting when they went there. “This whole thing has really been an eye-opening experience. Someone should really be recording all of this stuff so we can train other Spirit Walkers if we find them.”
Lydia and Derek continued to eat their ice cream as they stared at him in silence.
“Oh,” Stiles said, eventually, when it became apparent neither one of them was going to speak. “I should be writing this down.”
Lydia laughed. “Who else, Stiles? Only a Spirit Walker could really understand what it’s like. I’m sure Kaede and Lilyana will help you if you asked, but from what I understand, you’re the most powerful Spirit Walker the Night Flowers have ever encountered. Ever! You’ve done more than there is even anecdotal evidence for. You’re the logical person to record this, because it just so happens that you know the most about it.”
“Even if what I know is basically nothing?” he asked, more of a statement than a question.
“Even if what you know is basically nothing,” Lydia affirmed.
Scott and Allison chose this moment to step into the ice cream shop. Lydia giggled, leapt from her chair and ran to Allison, who gave her a firm embrace. Scott shook his head and smiled, then went to order at the counter. He and Allison always shared a banana split.
“I missed you,” Lydia said, smiling brightly at her best friend. Her eyes quickly scanned, taking in Allison’s outfit. She tugged on Allison’s beige leather jacket. “This is adorable; is it new?”
Allison smiled coyly. “Seventy-five percent off at Macy’s!”
“Get out of town!” Lydia exclaimed, swatting her playfully on the shoulder.
Stiles scooted closer to Derek so Allison could sit down. Scott joined them shortly with an enormous banana split: two bananas, five scoops of Neapolitan ice cream, whip cream, caramel AND hot fudge, sprinkles, and of course, two cherries on top. Allison quickly grabbed a spoon and dug in.
“I don’t know how the two of you eat all of that without barfing,” Lydia commented, a horrified expression on her face.
Allison smiled and swallowed. “Well, Scott usually eats most of it.”
“That is SO not true!” Scott exclaimed, looking shocked.
Stiles laughed and took another bite of his ice cream.
“This is nice,” Lydia said. “I really miss all of you. We need to do more things like this where we can pretend our lives aren’t freaking crazy.”
Stiles smiled softly and looked down at his ice cream. “Heard from Jackson, lately?” he asked.
Lydia shook her head. “He sends a text every once in a while to see how I’m doing. I know Danny talks to him.”
“Are things better with his pack?” Derek asked.
“I think so,” Lydia said, with a small shrug. “Apparently, they have a banshee. Probably makes things interesting.”
“Do you think he’ll ever come back?” asked Scott.
“I don’t know,” Lydia said. “Things seem a lot less dangerous over there. They don’t have a Spirit Walker drawing in all the crazy,” she said, giving Stiles a wink.
“Hey, that hurts, Lydia,” Stiles said, pointing at the center of his chest. “Right here.”
“Oh, come on, Stiles!” Allison teased. “You know you love the attention.”
Stiles reached up and grabbed Derek’s face, startling him into a half-shift. “Attention from ridiculously hot werewolves? Yes, I will take all of that, with a side of curly fries! Crazy murder ninjas and apocalypse spirits? No, thank you!”
Derek delicately removed Stiles hand from his face and set it on the table.
“Speaking of which,” Lydia began, “we are ready to put the current ‘apocalypse spirit’ situation to bed, aren’t we?”
Stiles nodded. “Yes. We have the whole ritual worked out. The druids and the Night Flowers have both given their approval on it, and are pretty sure it will work.”
“Pretty sure?” Lydia asked.
“It’s not chemistry, Lyds,” Stiles said, attempting a reassuring smile. “If it makes you feel any better, you can help us do a practice run tonight, so you can see how the whole thing is supposed to work.”
“Yes,” Lydia said firmly, “I would like that very much.”
* * *
Mugwort
An herb closely linked to the earth element, mugwort has long been used to drive out demons and to offer protection against possession by evil spirits. In earlier times, when travel was often done on foot, mugwort was carried to ward against wild beasts, poison, and stroke. Its mystical uses are many. Strategically placed throughout the home, it will prevent evil from entering, and is said to cure madness and aid in astral projection. Rubbing the plant over ritual tools will increase their powers, particularly tools for divination.
The ritual signatures for mugwort are as follows: strength, precognition, protection, dreams, divination, fertility, and healing. Mugwort has long been used to promote vivid, lucid, and prophetic dreams, however, it must be noted that vivid dreams can sometimes lead to nightmares.
* * *
Stiles reached for the apple that he, Kaede, and Lilyana grew the previous day. Grabbing it carefully in one hand, he cut it from the tree with a special knife that Kaori had given him. The apple was firm and heavy, its scent pungent and sweet, the kind of fruit that would draw you to it if it ever made its way to the produce section of a grocery store. Stiles admired its colors, pale green and yellow, overlaid with a pink blush. He resisted the temptation to bite into it.
The others trailed after him as he went back into the house. They would need everyone today.
Stiles looked around the living room, at the people who were his family now. There were more people in his house now than had ever been since his mother died.
“Thank you, everyone, for being here today,” he began, setting the apple down on the coffee table and pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket. Looking up, he locked eyes with Scott, who gave him a brave smile and a slight nod.
Stiles nodded back, cleared his throat, and began reading from the paper. “We invoke the sacred bonds of family to undo that which was done in fear. We invoke Brother Sun and Sister Moon to bless this work, so that love might pierce through anger’s veil. We offer ourselves so that we might bring hope into the world, so that love and life might flourish, and that all may know peace.”
Swallowing, he folded the paper into a tiny square and put it back into his pocket. A tense silence filled the room as he picked up the apple.
“This apple came from the tree that my mother, Claudia Stilinski, planted over ten years ago.” Lifting the apple so that everyone could see it, he continued, “This is the first apple that tree has ever produced.”
He took a deep breath, lowering the apple, and took a moment to look everyone in the eye, until he finally locked eyes with his father. “When my mom died, it was just me and my dad. It wasn’t much of a family, just two people, but it was mine.”
He found Scott, again. “Of course, I’ve always had Scott, who was like a brother to me. And, Melissa,” he said, his voice cracking as their eyes met. “Thank you for being there when my mom couldn’t be.”
Melissa nodded, and looked away, wiping a tear from her face.
“To say that the last six years have been crazy would be an understatement.” Several people in the room chuckled softly under their breath at this, and Stiles smiled. “But, I need you all to know, that you are my family now,” he said, lacing his fingers with Derek’s.
“Something is coming that could very well mean the end of all life as we know it,” he continued. “I can’t stop it by myself. But, I think that we, as a family, we can stop it.”
Letting go of Derek’s hand, he knelt by the coffee table and began cutting up the apple, setting the seeds aside in a small bowl. There were five of them, tiny and black, each holding the promise of new life.
“This is apple comes from my family,” he said, as he continued cutting. “It’s a part of us. We eat it now in memory of my mother, Claudia Stilinski, in the hope that she will join us in spirit, that our endeavor might bear fruit, and bear it abundantly.”
Grabbing a piece of apple for himself, he passed the plate to Derek, who grabbed a piece of apple before passing the plate on. Once everyone had a piece, Stiles lifted his piece of apple.
“To Claudia,” he said.
“To Claudia,” everyone echoed, before they each ate their piece of apple.
He picked up a small terra cotta pot filled with soil that they had prepared the night before. Scott, Derek, Erica, and Allison each also picked up a pot, as they had been earlier instructed to do. Stiles handed one of the apple seeds to each of them.
“We are family,” Stiles said, looking at each of them. “We are pack. We plant these seeds as hope for the future, as a promise to those who will come after us. We will not fall to despair.”
They each made a small hole in the soil of their pots, and dropped a seed into it before covering it back up.
“A pack is built on relationships,” Stiles continued. “We are but a small part of it.” He turned to his father, who had moved to stand behind him. Why he decided to show up in full uniform, including his gun, Stiles will never know, but he appreciated the effort.
“We honor the relationship of father to son,” the sheriff intoned as Stiles handed the pot to him.
“We honor the relationship of mother to son,” Melissa said, as Scott handed his pot to her.
“We honor the relationship of Beta to Alpha,” Isaac said, when Derek gave him his pot.
“We honor the relationship of Beta to Beta,” Boyd said, accepting the pot Erica was holding out to him.
“We honor the relationship of human to human,” Danny said, as Allison gave him her pot.
As they sprinkled water onto the seeds, Stiles said, “We give sustenance to these seeds so they might grow and be strong, to stand against that which might do harm to this world, so that they might someday bear fruit and feed those who are hungry, so that those who need shelter might find it beneath their branches and leaves.”
There was another handing off of pots, so that Stiles, Lydia, Mori, Kaede, and Lilyana were now sitting in a circle in the middle of the room, each with one of the small terra cotta pots in front of them.
“Druid and Night Flower, working together. This is unprecedented, “ Kaori said, holding up the vial of “Wisdom Beyond All Knowing.” “This powder is made from the bone of one who is truly loved, as well as the heartwood of the tree that she planted. The same tree which bore the fruit that we ate. The same tree that gave life to the seeds in these pots. It is only because of her actions that we are able to complete this ritual today.”
She handed the vial to Deaton, who carefully added a small amount to each of the pots.
Stiles held up the knife that Kaori had given him to cut the apple from the tree. It was a knife from the family who specialized in knives, and its edge was sharp enough to shave the scales off of a butterfly’s wing.
“Much blood was spilled to waken the kami that threatens us now,” he began. “blood spilled in anger and hate.” He pressed the blade against his palm, and blood welled up immediately. “I spill my blood out of love,” he said, allowing a few drops to fall into each pot, “Love for my friends, love for my family, and love for my pack.”
When he was finished, Derek placed a Band-Aid where Stiles had cut himself.
Joining hands with others in the circle, Stiles continued, “We who are strong must protect those who cannot protect themselves,” he said, borrowing from the hunter’s code that Allison had modified years ago. “We give of ourselves to make these trees strong, so that they might protect the weak, the lonely, and the scared. We make this offering in the hope that our actions will reach out ahead of us into the future, and will continue to do so long after we are gone.”
He locked eyes with Lilyana, who nodded, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. The others followed suit, and they were soon able to sense the fierce white sparks that were the seeds in each of the pots, as well as the golden haze that filled the room, the resulting residual power from the portions of the ritual they had performed thus far. Those in the circle could sense Lilyana gathering this energy up and adding it to their own considerable strength. Much as they had used their power to grow the apple, they were now attempting to get the seeds to sprout into saplings.
As if they somehow knew the reason for their existence, the seeds soon gave way, one after the other in quick succession, sending up pale green leaves on slender stems. Stiles opened his eyes, smiling at the new life before him. It seemed like their eyes had been closed for only a few minutes.
“How long were we out?” he asked Derek, surprised at the dryness in his throat.
“A little over an hour,” Derek said, massaging his shoulders.
“That would explain why I feel so stiff,” he groaned, as he tried to unfold himself from the position he was sitting in on the floor. He scowled at Mori, Kaede, and Lydia, who quickly stood up as if they had only just sat down. At least Lilyana seemed to be as stiff as he was, even if she was almost fifty years old.
“Freaking ninjas,” he muttered under his breath.