Eli returned home with Mrs. Macall, who had offered to let him stay until his father returned from work the following day. Stiles had joined them, as his own father had been extremely busy recently, and he was staying with Mrs. Macall until his dad was available. The two were currently playing a game that Eli had gifted to Scott for his birthday. Scott had recently saved enough money to buy a new game, which was now occupying most of his time, leaving Eli with some space to think.
Seeing that Scott and Stiles were thoroughly engrossed, Eli quietly got up, slipped outside with a small bag slung over his shoulder, and made his way toward the forest. As he crossed the tree line, the old Hale house appeared before him, and that strange, familiar feeling washed over him once more.
After wandering around the outside without finding anything unusual, Eli took a blue candle out of his bag, lit it, and entered the house. He walked to the room where he had last encountered the ghost but found it empty, with only a small patch of melted wax on the floor as a sign of his previous visit. Determined, he searched the house, climbing the creaky stairs carefully to avoid any steps that seemed too weak to hold his weight.
Reaching the top floor, he noticed a faint blue glow coming from beneath a closed door. Moving toward it with the candle in hand, he cautiously opened the door. Inside, he saw a woman staring into a black mirror, her back to him. Although she wasn't crying, Eli could sense deep sadness emanating from her—this time tinged with a bitterness he hadn't noticed before. He placed the candle down behind her, but she didn't disappear this time. She continued gazing into the mirror.
Eli took out two more candles, positioning them in different areas of the room and lighting them as well. Then he decided to wait. Eventually, he drifted off, only to be jolted awake by a pair of blood-red eyes staring directly into his soul. He nearly jumped but steadied himself quickly.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked the figure softly.
Suddenly, a strange feeling swept over him, and a vision materialized before his eyes. He saw a woman watching two children, a boy and a girl, playing in a yard. The vision faded, and the woman spoke, her voice low and cold.
"You shouldn't be here, boy. It's no longer a safe place," she warned.
Eli replied, "You shouldn't be here, either. You should move on to a place of peace."
The woman let out a hollowchuckle. "There's no paradise waiting for me." She slowly turned toward one of the candles, her voice growing almost demonic as she said, "Only revenge remains." She swept her hand through the flame, causing it to flicker wildly as a chill spread through the room. The fire held steady, however, and the tense atmosphere settled slightly.
Eli, feeling her pain, asked gently, "Do you need help?"
Elsewhere, in a dark, foreboding room, a pot bubbled with a strange, color-shifting liquid. A golden staff carved with animal skulls circled around the pot, emitting an eerie light that stretched from the staff to the liquid, causing it to bubble and hiss. The figure holding the staff reached out, picking up a clawed hand from a nearby table. In a strange tongue, he muttered a curse, dropping the hand into the pot before slamming the staff to the ground. A wave of energy rippled through the room, and in the silence that followed, a black fog rose from the now still liquid, coalescing into a humanoid form. Twin points of purple light appeared where the eyes should be, and the staff-wielder commanded, "Find it."
In an instant, the fog vanished.
Meanwhile, Stiles, who had noticed Eli's absence when he got up and saw the door open, ventured outside. Unable to find Eli in the house, he remembered Scott telling him about Eli wandering in the forest at night and decided to check there. Just as he was about to call out, a strange feeling came over him. He felt like he was being watched. Turning slowly, he looked down the street and froze.
A tall, shadowy figure stood in silence, its presence both eerie and imposing. Instinctively, Stiles whispered, "Eli?" But the shadow didn't respond. Realizing the figure was much taller than Eli, Stiles shouted, "Hey! My dad's the sheriff!" hoping to scare it off. But instead, the shadow dropped to all fours, its bones cracking and shifting as a pair of strange purple eyes glowed in the dark.
Without a second thought, Stiles took off, running toward the forest. A large wolf-like creature gave chase, its heavy steps close behind him. Just as it was about to catch him, Stiles crossed a tree line and suddenly found himself at the entrance to the Hale house. Turning, he saw no sign of the creature. Back at Mrs. Macall's house, the shadowy figure prowled through the forest, sniffing the air, disoriented but quickly refocusing its pursuit.
Stiles, now at the burnt remains of the Hale house, tried to reassure himself that this was just a weird dream. He had pinched himself several times, hoping to wake up, but it hadn't worked. "How did I get here so fast?" he wondered aloud, knowing the Hale house was nowhere near Scott's place. He cautiously pushed open the creaky door and called out, "Hello? Eli?"
Upstairs, Eli heard the faint sound of Stiles's voice and whispered to himself, "Stiles?" He glanced at the ghost, who seemed to be weighing whether to accept help from a child, and made his way down the stairs. As he approached, he saw Stiles heading up the stairs, facing away from him.
"What are you doing here?" Eli asked quietly.
Stiles spun around with a high-pitched yell, clutching his chest in surprise. Eli chuckled. "Damn it, don't do that!" Stiles said, catching his breath. Eli, still amused, asked, "Weren't you supposed to be playing games with Scott?"
Stiles shook his head. "This dream is so real," he murmured, looking Eli up and down, clearly confused. Eli frowned and nudged him, "Hey, answer me. Why are you here?"
Stiles finally snapped out of it. "Okay, okay. I came looking for you. You weren't in the house, and this... strange wolfman chased me!"
Eli's face grew serious. "Wolf-man?" he repeated, a memory surfacing of the strange man he'd seen at the hospital who was now his supposed landlord.
Stiles nodded. "Yeah, it was weird. One second it was standing on two legs, and then it dropped down on all fours, with a snout where its face should be."