After his headache finally cleared, Eli slipped his ring back on. He had taken it off before eating the cactus fruit so he wouldn't have to compete with it for the small amount of energy the fruit offered. Now, feeling clearer, he picked up the focus marble and tossed it up and down in his hand. Just as he suspected, when the marble touched his skin, a subtle, cool sensation covered his body, a calming aura that immediately disappeared the moment he let it go.if I keep it on me, this feelings should stabilize
Earlier in the nurses' lounge, he'd found a small reel of wire used for jewelry-making. Sitting down on his bed, he carefully wove the wire into a mesh that could hold the marble, leaving enough room for it to touch his wrist. After creating the mesh, he strung beads along a length of thread, crafting a simple bracelet to wear around his wrist. Two hours later, he admired his work—a blue bracelet with a wire mesh cradling the marble.
The effect was immediate; as soon as the bracelet touched his wrist, Eli felt lighter, as if a weight had lifted. This strange sense of calm was exactly what he needed.
Eli gazed out the window, noticing a cluster of trees near the hospital entrance that seemed to call to him. A strange, subtle pull tugged at his attention. I'll have to check that out later, he thought. But first, he had something else to address.
. Driven by an unsettling gut feeling, Eli walked down the hospital corridor, his stomach tightening as he approached a particular door. By the time he reached it, he felt as if he might be sick, but he steeled himself and raised his hand to the doorknob, slowly turning it as the door creaked open.
Inside, he saw the familiar ghostly spiral that had appeared around Peter Hale on his first day at the hospital. The air in the room felt dense with anguish, the tension pressing in from all sides. His eyes focused on Peter, lying on the bed wrapped in thick layers of gauze. Peter's essence seemed to be engulfed by the ghostly tornado swirling around him.
Eli struck a match, but the effect was immediate—the heart monitor sped up, and the ghostly spiral spun faster, almost threatening to lash out at him. Not wanting to provoke an attack, he quickly lit a candle and blew out the match. A sigh of relief escaped him as the ghostly energy slowed and the heart monitor steadied. Eli lit a few more candles from the first and placed them around the room. Gradually, the ghostly funnel slowed even further, though it continued to flow toward Peter.
Unlike the female ghost he'd encountered in the old house, these spirits seemed trapped in their rage, unable to calm down or move on. Their presence was tormenting Peter, and though Eli didn't mind if Peter suffered, he couldn't deny that these spirits deserved peace. The candles, at least, would offer them a brief respite.
As Eli stepped out of the room, his eyes fell on the door. He noticed a label reading, "Meredith." Making a mental note, he resolved to check the room regularly to make sure the spirits didn't shift their focus and consume her, too.
Returning to the front desk, Eli checked the time and was startled to see it was already 6 p.m. Somehow, the day had slipped by without him realizing it. Stiles and Scott were supposed to come by soon, and he planned to go back to Mrs. Macall's with them. He waited by the hospital entrance, but his attention kept drifting back to the cluster of trees outside. The strange pull he felt toward them had only intensified.
Unable to ignore it, he walked toward the trees. As he passed one tree in particular, the scenery around him suddenly shifted, and he found himself in the forest in front of the Hale house. The air here felt different—thicker, and the time was darker, as though a lot of time had passed as he moved through the trees. Pushing aside the unease settling in his stomach, he approached the house.
Steeling himself, he entered and made his way up the stairs to the room where he had last encountered the female ghost. She was there, her back to him as she stared into the mirror, just as she had before. The candles he had left were burnt down, so he pulled out two fresh ones, lighting them and setting them in the room.
"How are you feeling?" he asked gently. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
The ghost turned slowly, a sorrowful expression on her face, and shook her head. Though she didn't speak, her answer was clear—there was little he could do to help. After a moment, she began speaking in the strange, otherworldly language of ghosts. She explained, through bits and gestures, her desire for revenge against those who had wronged her. But those people had already left Beacon Hills, and without leaving the house, she had no way to find them. "I want to join my family," she whispered, a distant sadness in her tone.
Eli frowned. "I understand that you're angry, and I don't mind if you want to hurt Peter... but this anger is only hurting you and the other spirits. It's corrupting you."
A deep chill fell over the room, and the ghost's voice dropped to a low, haunting tone. "Whatever it takes," she replied. The candles flickered erratically, as though reacting to her anger, and for a moment, Eli feared they might go out. He steadied himself, deciding not to press further for now. He wondered if upgrading the candles might help bring her some peace, but he wasn't ready to spend his energy on shapeshifters without understanding their motives.
After a moment's pause, he asked, "I can't stop you, but can you help me understand something? What are you, exactly? What is a shapeshifter, and what do you want with humans?"
The candles flared, and the ghost looked at him sharply. "Boy, mind your words," she said, her voice sharp and laced with warning. "We are humans too. Do not think of us as monsters simply because we were born different." Her voice softened, though bitterness lingered. "This is the very fear and misunderstanding that brought us here."
As the ghost began to speak, something shifted in the room. The flickering candles dimmed, and a cold sensation wrapped around Eli, drawing him deeper into her world. She didn't just recount her memories—she showed him, pulling him into haunting scenes from her past. Shadows and blurred images crystallized into moments that felt unbearably real. He saw a family huddled close, faces etched with fear. He felt the sting of betrayal, the gut-wrenching despair as trust fractured. Rage and sorrow washed over him in waves, emotions so powerful that they seemed to carve into his own heart.
Each scene bled into the next, her emotions latching onto him, sinking deep as though they were his own. When the memories finally receded, Eli's chest felt heavy, his throat tight with sorrow. Her anguish left an ache that pulsed beneath his skin, and his mind struggled to separate his feelings from hers. He turned away from her for a moment, catching his breath as he tried to calm the swell of empathy that lingered, sharp and painful.
After a long silence, Eli glanced outside, noticing the full moon glowing high in the sky. Time had slipped by without him noticing. His voice came out quiet and thick with emotion as he said, "I'm sorry, but I have to go." He didn't want to leave her, but he knew his mother was probably worried sick by now. He promised to return the next day with fresh candles, hoping they might help her find even a moment's peace.
He made his way down the creaking stairs and out of the house, trying to shake off the lingering weight of her memories. In the forest, he caught sight of a faint blue circle on the ground—the exact spot where he had killed the strange wolf. Kneeling down, he noticed a layer of ash, untouched and shimmering faintly in the moonlight. He pulled out an empty vial, and as he reached toward the ash, it rose, almost as if beckoned, and slipped into the vial on its own.
"Cool," Eli whispered, sealing the vial, feeling a spark of curiosity at this supernatural substance.
Turning back toward the forest, Eli expected to pass through the trees and find himself back near the hospital. But as he walked past the first tree, the landscape didn't shift. The Hale house loomed behind him, and the forest stretched endlessly ahead, dark and unchanging. Confused, he kept walking, telling himself that maybe the strange force just needed a moment to "reset." But with each step, a growing unease gnawed at him.
Then, a sound broke through the silence—a faint, rhythmic drumming, echoing from somewhere within the dense woods. Eli froze, his eyes darting to the shadows around him, but he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. The drumming grew louder, the pulse so deep it felt like it vibrated in his chest. He continued forward, the sound pulling him along.
In a distant clearing deep within the forest...
A faint, otherworldly glow illuminated the trees as the source of the drumming appeared: a figure draped in golden robes, his attire intricate and ceremonial, catching the moonlight in glimmers. The man lifted a staff high above his head, muttering in a strange language with a resonance that seemed to ripple through the woods. With each strike of the staff against the ground, the drumming intensified, echoing like a heartbeat.
Blood-red pupils gleamed in his eyes as he raised his gaze to the full moon above. A final, thunderous strike of the staff sent shockwaves through the forest, and the ground around a massive tree stump in the clearing began to tremble violently. Red light crackled from the stump, illuminating the clearing with an eerie glow. As the drumming reached a feverish rhythm, the air around the stump seemed to tear, the force extending outward in waves.
Back with Eli...
As the drumming crescended somewhere in the distance, Eli's vision began to blur, the forest spinning in a dizzying swirl. The ground beneath his feet felt as if it were slipping away, and suddenly, everything went white. He was yanked forward, pulled into the very heartbeat of the forest, as though reality itself had bent to throw him somewhere unknown.
With a blinding flash, he was hurled forward, landing hard in the middle of a deserted road. Dazed, Eli stumbled to his feet, shaking as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. He found himself on a lonely stretch of road, with dark forest on either side, the only light coming from the distant moon.
As he steadied himself, he noticed a figure watching him. A man in gold robes stood just across the road, his expression twisted into a sinister smile. The man's blood-red eyes glinted with a dark, unsettling amusement as he took in Eli's disoriented state.
Eli swallowed hard, his pulse racing as he managed to ask, "Who... who are you?"
The man's smile widened, his eyes narrowing with cruel intent.