Chapter Text
In the end, it wasn’t Scott that saved him
“What do you mean you won’t train me?!” Stiles’ jaw drops in disbelief. “Why not?”
“I have my reasons, Stiles,” Deaton replies unhelpfully.
“You’re kidding me! So you complain about how I can’t defend myself against the supernatural but you won’t give me a way to hold my own against were-creatures with super strength?!” Stiles all but growls, “Come on Scotty, help me out here!” Stiles turns to his friend with a huff.”
“I dunno man...” Scott looks to Stiles, then back over at Deaton, “I mean, Deaton’s our emissary! He knows what he’s doing. If he says that you shouldn’t learn magic, I think we should trust him.”
“I’m sorry, what? ” Stiles can only stare in shock, “I think you missed the part before where he was telling you to essentially kick me out of your life. ”
Scott looks down at his shoes but doesn’t answer.
“Scoot?” Stiles’ can’t help the way his voice wavers as he takes in his friend’s response, or lack thereof.
“Look, man... It’s for the best... right?”
Each word seems to drive a knife deeper and deeper into Stiles’ heart.
“I mean, you said it yourself. You can’t hold your own against werewolves. It would be better if you just stayed out of everything. We don’t need you anymore. Lydia and Peter are more than capable of researching for us now. We can’t afford to have someone so wea- uh... normal in the pack. You’d just be a liability.”
“So that’s all I was to you? A researcher? Scotty, I thought we were brothers .” Stiles hisses. Something inside him shatters when Scott doesn’t try to argue the past tense, saying that they still are, they still can be. He can practically feel his heart break as a sharp pain takes his breath away. “Apparently I’m just an idiot.” Stiles says, pushing past Scott and making his way to the door.
As he’s opening the door, Stiles can’t help but hesitate. Turning, he looks back at the pack. One-by-one he looks everyone in the eyes. Most of them can’t even bring themselves to meet his gaze. Only Lydia and, surprisingly enough, Peter don’t avoid his eyes. Lydia meets his gaze easily, an unidentifiable glint in her eyes. Peter, on the other hand, has what Stiles could only call a compassionate look on his face. But, this is Peter, so clearly Stiles is reading that wrong.
Right?
Regardless, Stiles isn’t sure what to make of either of those observations.
“I- I just can’t believe Scott would just- just abandon me like this!” Stiles is pacing back and forth in the dining room, his father sits at the table, watching and listening as Stiles rants. “I can’t just forget about all this!”
“Trust me, Stiles... I’ve given up all hope of ever being able to get you to have a sense of self-preservation.” Stiles’ dad tries to lighten the mood a bit. It does manage to get a small chuckle from Stiles, so it’s at least partially successful. “But that’s part of what makes you you . You won’t sit by while innocent people are in danger. And I know nothing I could say would ever make you leave this alone and, even if there were, I’d never ask you to. So instead, I’ll ask you this: What are you going to do about it?”
Stiles looks at his dad, shocked. “W-what?”
“If you don’t have the pack backing you up, how are you going to keep yourself safe? Don’t look at me like that,” Stiles’ dad rolls his eyes at the look on Stiles face, “Give me some credit, I am a sheriff . We both know you wouldn’t be bringing this up to me unless you had a plan.”
“There’s a witch in Nevada...” Stiles explains with a huff, “Caleb. He’s helped me get info when Deaton insisted on being... Less than helpful.”
“Like he is now?” Stiles’ dad raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Uh, apparently he knows a coven just outside of L.A. that would be willing to, well, take me in for a while. You know, teach me magic.” Stiles bites his lip.
“And how long is a while?” The sheriff raises an eyebrow at his son.
“That’s the thing... we don’t really know. I mean, it varies from person to person. And then this is a fairly new coven... Most covens wouldn’t ever consider teaching someone from outside their personal bubbles. Too much of a risk, I guess. I’m lucky that there’s some people willing to teach me at all, much less that close to us. But they’re a new coven, they don’t exactly have much experience teaching. It could take anywhere from a couple months to years before I know the basics.”
“Wow...”
“Yeah...”
Stiles had honestly thought it was going to be harder to convince his dad to let him do this. But now Stiles was driving through some residential streets looking for the address that Caleb gave him.
Stiles pulls up to a small two story house. He can see a couple cars in the driveway as he parks on the street. The moment he sees the cars a sick feeling settles in his gut.
Something’s not right...
He frowns. There isn’t exactly anything suspicious about there being more than one car in the driveway. Quite the opposite, in fact, considering he’s meeting a coven of witches. Meaning, more than one. But still... he can’t shake the feeling.
Stiles isn’t sure what he should do. This isn’t exactly an opportunity he can just pass up. There aren’t that many options for a human in the supernatural world. Pretty much just learn magic or be turned into a were-creature. Or become a hunter, he supposes.
Pushing down the feeling, Stiles walks up to the door and knocks.
“One sec!” A young man’s voice calls out. Stiles fidgets with the hem of his shirt as he waits.
“What am I getting myself into?” He grumbles to himself under his breath.
The door swings open. A man frowns at him, clearly not happy with someone showing up at the door.
BadbadbadbadGetoutgetoutgetoutNownownow!!!!
He doesn’t know what’s making him feel this way. It’s much more likely that he just has the wrong house than something bad going on. Mentally he shakes the thoughts from his head as he speaks up, “Uh, hi. I’m from out of town. I’m supposed to be meeting some people but I think I have the wrong address or something. Sorry I-” Stiles voice catches in his throat as he sees something in the hallway behind the man.
Crap. CrapcrapcrapCRAP!
There’s a line of mountain ash farther down the hallway, blocking off a doorway.
The man’s eyes flit to where Stiles is looking, then back at him before narrowing.
Stiles turns around to sprint back to his jeep and—
A hand yanks the back of his shirt and pulls him into the house. The door slams closed as the hunter pulls out a gun.
Stiles holds up his hands, “I don’t suppose you’re inviting me in to give me directions, huh?” Stiles grins nervously.
Now that he’s farther into the house, he can see that the living room looks like murder scene. Scratch that, all things considered, it probably is a murder scene.
“Shut it, kid.” The man scowls at Stiles.
“Look, man, I just—” Stiles lunges at the man mid-sentence, catching him off guard. He manages to knock the gun from the hunter’s grip as they go tumbling to the ground.
Who knew his flailing limbs would ever come in handy?
Scrambling to his feet, Stiles rushes to the door.
And promptly collapses with a shout as his leg explodes in pain.
Stiles gasps as he sees a crossbow bolt sprouting from his calf. As he stares at his leg, all he can see is coach Finnstock on the ground with a bolt from Stiles’ trap in his midsection.
Stiles’ heartbeat pounds in his ears and suddenly he just can’t breathe . His vision swims, but Stiles is vaguely aware that the lady has reloaded her crossbow and is aiming at him.
I should move . Stiles thinks numbly. He doesn’t. He can’t . It feels like there’s an elephant sitting on his chest as he sits there, eyes glued to his leg, to the crossbow bolt.
Thoughts of doors and riddles and shadows and chess fly through his head.
There’s a commotion, people are talking, but Stiles can’t seem to make out any words even though it’s taking place just a few feet away. People are moving around (fighting? He can’t tell right now) and there’s a loud thud. Then another. The edges of Stiles’ vision are going black and he doesn’t know why.
There’s a hand on his shoulder and Stiles flinches back. He cries out as the motion jars his wound and pain laces up his leg.
There’s someone new leaning down in front of him. She looks to be a little older than Stiles, somewhere in her early twenties. She’s got long, black hair pulled up into a ponytail.
She looks worried.
The last thing Stiles sees is the panicked look on her face as everything goes dark.
Stiles wakes up in bed. He's... Well, he’s surprised to say the least. Stiles isn’t sure what he expected to find when he woke up. But it certainly wasn’t this.
Stiles looks around. He’s in a small, well lit bedroom. It’s sparsely decorated, the walls are bare and the only furniture in the room is the bed Stiles is laying on, a simple wooden dresser, a tall bookshelf, and a small desk. Stiles swings his legs over the side of the bed. With a frown, he realizes that his leg is healed. It’s a little sore and there’s a scar, but other than that he’s fine. That also means he wasn’t turned in his sleep or anything, but that also means he doesn’t know how he was healed.
He gets up and pads to the door.
Stiles is in an apartment. The bedroom opens up to a short hallway that leads to a small living room and connected kitchen. There’s a bathroom to his right and a door Stiles thinks is another bedroom to his left. Though, as Stiles looks around a bit more, the living room is less of, well, a living room and looks more like an improvised greenhouse. There are pots scattered around with thriving plants living inside them. Stiles recognizes wolfsbane in a couple of the pots near the window.
The lady from before is in the kitchen, humming to herself as she makes something. Stiles walks out into the living room.
“Oh! You’re awake!” She smiles awkwardly at Stiles. “How’s the leg? I’m not the best when it comes to healing...”
“Uh, it’s fine. A little sore, but yeah.” Stiles answers hesitantly.
“That’s good. Um, I’m almost done making lunch if you’re hungry... I wasn’t sure when you were going to wake up so I made sure to make extra,” She offers, “I’m Artemis by the way.”
“Stiles,” He answers after a moment. He’s still not sure whether he can trust this person or not. Eventually he just mentally shrugs. She saved him and he’s curious as to what the hell is going on. “What, uh... What’s going on? I mean, why are you helping me? Were you a part of the coven? Like, I mean, are you a witch? Is that how you healed me?”
“Okay, slow down there,” Artemis gives Stiles a bemused smile as she makes the ‘time out’ gesture. “Let’s see... What’s going on is that a hunter managed to stick you with a poisoned crossbow bolt and I brought you back here to heal you. I’m helping you because I’d like to think that’s what a decent human being would do. I’m not a witch and therefore not a part of the coven. So, uh, that’s not how I healed you. I did use magic to heal you though,” Artemis counts off her fingers as she answers each question.
“Wow... You- you actually managed to answer all that.” Stiles grins sheepishly, “Not many people can keep up with my rambling.”
“Well, it would be nice if you could keep it down to one or two questions at a time in the future,” She shoots him a mischievous grin.
“Sorry, noted.” He takes a seat at the small table with an apologetic nod. Artemis brings two plates of a pasta dish to the table.
“So, why were you at Estelle’s place?” Artemis asks as they eat.
“A friend of mine, Caleb, sent me here,” Stiles starts.
Artemis nods, “I know Caleb. He’s a good man. One of the best witches this side of the country too.”
Stiles files that bit of knowledge away for future reference. It’s not like he knows a lot of witches to compare Caleb to but apparently he got lucky finding a good one.
“Uh, yeah... So he told me that Estelle’s coven was willing to teach me magic. Guess that’s not going to happen.” Stiles sighs, pushing the food around on his plate.
“Oh? You want to learn magic? Why, if I may ask?” Artemis leans forward with interest.
“Well, my friend Scott got bitten by a wolf and, y’know, turned. Shit happened and now he’s an Alpha. I want to learn magic so that I can hold my own and help him.”
Artemis nods with a thoughtful hum, “I se...” She studies Stiles carefully and he has to fight the urge to squirm under her scrutiny. “Well,” Artemis starts slowly, “I wouldn’t mind teaching you the basics if you want. As I’m sure you’ve seen, I have a spare room, and it’d be nice to have some company around here.”
“What?!” Stiles sits up in surprise, “You’d be willing to teach me?” Then his eyes narrow in suspicion. “Why?”
Artemis’ head tilts to the side in thought. “Well, a few reasons, I guess,” She starts with a small shrug. “I mean, I certainly understand that once you’re brought into the supernatural world, there isn’t any going back whether you like it or not. You need a way to defend yourself and I don’t see any reason I shouldn’t give you one.”
“But why me? Why would you let a complete stranger into your home? And what’s in it for you?” Stiles presses.
“Well, first off, why not you?” Artemis shrugs, “And I trust Caleb’s judgment. If he was willing to help you then so am I. As for what’s in it for me?” Artemis pauses for a moment as she considers it. “Well, admittedly, not that much. Like I said before, it’d be nice to have some company around here. And maybe even some help down the line once you start to advance a bit in magic.”
Stiles can’t sense any malice or deceit in her words. Perhaps he shouldn’t be so quick to agree, but there's something in him that seems to just know that this is a good idea. “Well, if you’re offering I’m certainly not going to turn you down.”
“Well, I am offering, and I’d be happy to help. Besides, I’ve found that sometimes my magic picks up on things that I don’t really notice, not consciously at least. And right now it’s telling me that I should help you.” She raises an eyebrow at him, “And I’ve got a feeling you know what I mean.”
Stiles thinks back to the feeling that he had before he got to the witches’ house. And right now he’s got a good feeling that just says that this is the way to go.
“Yeah. I guess I do know.”
The first order of business after lunch was to go drive out to get Stiles’ jeep. In the meantime, Stiles calls his dad to let him know about the recent turn of events.
“Why am I not surprised...” His dad groans, “Of course things would go wrong immediately.”
“Don’t say that like it’s my fault!” Stiles scowls, sinking back into his seat.
“Look, just... just be careful. If that’s even possible for you.”
“Gee, thanks for that vote of confidence,” Stiles rolls his eyes with a fond grin on his face.
“Keep me updated, Stiles.”
“Will do Daddy-o!” With that Stiles hangs up. Turning to Artemis, he asks, “So, I never asked... Why were you at the witches’ house?”
“Well, I was there to deliver some herbs. Witches’ magic tends to rely on potions and rituals and the like. I keep some of the rarer supernatural herbs that are necessary for some of the more complex brews.”
Stiles hums in acknowledgement.
“But now that we’re on the topic, I do have a couple of questions for you. First off, I already know you want to learn magic for more combative purposes,”
Stiles nods, idly staring out the window as he listens to Artemis.
“But would you rather concentrate on more offensive or defensive magic? I mean, either way I’ll teach you a bit of both, but which one is your main goal?”
Stiles thinks about it as he watches the buildings fly past him in the window.
Offensive or defensive... Both ways he’d be able to help protect his friends but, really, his goal is to be able to keep up with the wolves, right? So clearly offensive is the way to go.
“I’m gonna have to go with offense there.” Stiles nods decisively.
“Cool, cool,” Artemis is quiet for a moment as she thinks, “Okay. Well, do you have any previous experience with magic? Not necessarily with casting it, just in general. This is kinda important, it can affect the way your magic reacts to outside sources of magic.”
“Really?” Stiles’ heart sinks. There’s no way this is going to work out then .
Artemis raises an eyebrow at Stiles, but waits patiently for a response.
It’s a good couple of moments before stiles manages to swallow past the lump in his throat. “Uh... Well, the first thing was that I managed to close a mountain ash circle even though I didn’t have enough powder to begin with...”
“Okay, that’s good!”
“Then there was... well... It's a bit of a long story, but basically Scott’s emissary used me, Scott, and his girlfriend Allison, as ritual sacrifices so that we could save our parents from a darach.”
“W-what?” Artemis glances at him in confusion. “Y-your emissary... ritually sacrificed you?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re still alive...?”
“Well, it was like a magical ice bath or something that pseudo-killed us...” Stiles tries to explain.
“And how did that turn out, exactly?” Artemis’ eyes narrow in suspicion.
Stiles bites his lip. “Well, it- uh... It ended up with me... gettingpossesdbyaNogitsune. ” The last part comes out rushed, as if Stiles says it fast enough it might not matter.
“Nogitsune... that’s a type of kitsune, right?”
Stiles... expected more of a reaction than that. Maybe it’s still coming.
“Yeah. The void type.” Stiles shudders as he thinks of a classroom full of snow and demons.
“Wow.” That’s all Artemis says.
Stiles sighs in defeat.
“Well, I guess you wouldn’t want to train someone as messed up as me... You can just drop me off at my jeep. I’ll get out of your hair.”
“What? No, I just—” Artemis stumbles over her words a bit, “It’s not a problem. Well, it is a little, but not that much. I’m... I’m just trying to figure out a way to say ‘that’s good’ without saying ‘that’s good’. Because it really sucks that you had to go through that. But it’s actually a good starting point.”
“Wait, what?!” Stiles can’t believe what he’s hearing. “I’m not- I mean- All that doesn’t mean, like, I dunno, I can only do like, dark magic or whatever?”
“No, you’re not limited to the darker sides of magic, even though those aren’t inherently bad. But that’s another topic for another day. And, let me start off by saying that I am really not trying to make light of what you went through but from a magic standpoint, that’s really good. I mean, not the best, but it’s certainly a better starting point than most.”
“I- I don’t... What?” Stiles feels like a chunk of ice he never noticed in his stomach has finally melted.
“Well, pretty much any human could pull that trick with the mountain ash powder if they were determined, and with a lot of training they’d be able to pull off some more complicated magic. But experiences with powerful magic, like possession, leave a mark on you.”
“Isn’t that bad?” Stiles’ head is practically spinning in confusion.
“Well, I mean yeah, it doesn’t necessarily leave a good mark on you,” She holds up a hand to stop Stiles as he takes a breath to ask a question, “But that isn’t a deal breaker. The important part is that you have that mark. Think of it like swimming pools, alright?” Artemis glances over at Stiles to make sure he’s following.
At this point, he’s not exactly sure if he is or not.
“Anyone who wants to can get one of those kiddie pools and fill it with water, right? But what possession and, uh, ritual sacrifice if you manage to survive it, I guess, did was essentially dig you your own, personal pool. Does that make sense?”
“I think?” Stiles isn’t exactly sure where she’s going with this but he’s certainly listening.
“So right now you have a pool, right? And sure, maybe it’s a bit dirty and gross, or it’s got some muddy water in it, but you have a pool. Now what we have to do is clean that pool and fill it up with nice, clean water.”
“And how hard is that going to be?” Stiles asks hesitantly. Knowing his luck, it’ll take until he’s in his seventies to get his ‘pool’ cleaned out.
“On your own it would certainly take a long time. Probably years, if not decades. It’s hard to clean it out if all you have to work with is muddy water. But you’re not on your own. Sure, it won’t be the easiest thing, and it does depend on a butt-load of work, but it’s far from impossible. The only issue is that we’d have to get your ‘pool’ cleaned out before you can really start to learn any magic.”
“So, how long would that take?”
“Well, like I said, it depends on how hard you work. And how quickly you pick this all up, but I doubt it’d take more than a month or two to get you started. And that’s a generous estimate.”
“Wait, really?!”
“Yeah. Really.” Artemis says with a smile as she pulls up next to his jeep.
“Oh, Miss Artemis?” Caleb asks over the phone.
That alone shocks Stiles. Caleb is polite but Stiles has never heard him call anyone ‘Miss’ or ‘Mister’ before. That plus the fact that he’s pretty sure Caleb is older than Artemis, even if he doesn’t know exactly how old Artemis is, certainly throws him for a loop. He’d called Caleb up, just to make sure Artemis is who she says she is.
Like, yeah, he feels good about this. But it doesn’t hurt to double check.
“She seems like a good person, though I’ll admit no one knows much about her. She only appeared on anyone’s radar after the Jacobson Pack and the Conrad hunting clan mysteriously disappeared from the L.A. territory.”
“They mysteriously disappeared and then she appeared?” Stiles raises an eyebrow. That’s suspicious as hell .
“Look, Stiles. I know what you’re thinking. But you have to consider that both the Jacobson pack and the Conrads were... Let’s just say no one mourned either group and more than a few people celebrated their disappearance. And since her appearance in the L.A. territory, the amount of supernatural deaths have gone down significantly. In the end, she’s been protecting humans. No one wants to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially when that gift horse has the strength to defend a territory that large seemingly single-handedly.
And it’s not like she’s isolated herself. She’s made lots of connections in the Shadow World, and helps other supernaturals when they need aid. The odd timing of her appearance is pretty much the only red flag, and it’s barely one at that. I trust her.”
“Yeah. Me too. I just wanted a second opinion, I guess. I mean, she offered to teach me magic out of the blue, so I was a little suspicious. But she does seem genuine.”
“She what?!”
Stiles pauses at the utter shock in Caleb’s voice. “She offered to teach me magic?”
“Damn, kid...” Caleb gives an impressed whistle, “Either you’re a hell of a lot more powerful than you’ve told me or the universe is trying to apologize to you for you being born in Beacon Hills. Or maybe it’s both.”
Stiles just snorts at that.
“Alright, I’ll tell you everything I know about Miss Artemis. She’s one of the best charm-makers and runesmiths in North America, maybe even the world. But, if you ask me, I seriously doubt that’s the extent of her power.
“There’s a lot of rumors circulating about her, but none that have any credible source. Some people think that she defected from an old Hunter clan. Others think she’s actually an Alpha werewolf that somehow managed to learn magic. There are a few that even think she might be one of the old gods in disguise.
“Personally, the first one makes the most sense to me. If she were a hunter that learned magic it would explain why she had the know-how and the power to make a powerful Hunter Clan and a Pack disappear. All I know for sure is that if you have any sense in that noggin of yours, you’d better take advantage of this opportunity and learn everything you can from Miss Artemis. Got it?”
“Yeah. I got it. Thanks Caleb. Seriously. Apparently your seal of approval is a big reason why she was so willing to take me in.”
“Really? Miss Artemis thinks that highly of me? I’m flattered. Alright, I gotta go. Do let me know if you find out anything interesting about Miss Artemis, will you?”
“Surely you could have found a way to phrase that to make it sound less stalker-y?” Stiles snorts. He hangs up before Caleb can try to defend himself.
“So, how’s this going to work?” Stiles asks Artemis when he gets back to her apartment.
“Well, take the rest of the day to get settled. Tomorrow we can start your training. I’ll take you to my workshop. The basement is where we will be training for the most part. Sure, every once in a while we’ll be doing stuff outside but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. The basement of my workshop is outfitted for magic experimentation, which also makes it a great place to train a newbie in magic.”
“Ah.” Stiles nods as he starts carrying his bags to his room.
“Okay, so there’s going to be a few ground rules,” Artemis says as he sets his bags down. “First off, absolutely no magic in the apartment. Outside of emergencies of course. And I’m talking about ‘a hunter has broken in and is trying to separate my head from my body to take it as a trophy’ emergency and not ‘my popcorn isn’t popping fast enough for me’ emergency.”
“That’s an oddly specific example.” Stiles raises an eyebrow.
“I know what it’s like to be new to magic.” Artemis defends with a huff.
Further in her defense, it does sound like exactly something Stiles would try to do.
“Secondly, no experimenting with magic without either running it by me or having me there to supervise. Things can go real bad, real quick.”
“Reasonable and agreeable.” Stiles nods, grateful she isn’t forbidding him from experimenting outright. He’s not sure he’d actually be able to abide by a rule like that.
“And third, once you start to learn the basics you’ll help me with my work.”
“What exactly is your work? Caleb mentioned you’re known for ‘charm-making’ and ‘runesmithing’. Is that what you do for work?”
“Well,” Artemis leans up against the doorframe of the room, “Yeah. A bit. I take orders online and make charms and similar stuff and ship them out to other people in the magical community.”
“Huh... cool. Hey, is there, like, a magical equivalent to Amazon? Like, I mean, if someone wanted to sell a magical artifact online how would they do that?”
“Yeah. It’s called Ebay.” Artemis says with a grin.
“You sell magical charms on Ebay? I’m starting to think I’m getting scammed here,” Stiles teases.
Artemis snorts, “Well I personally don’t. I have a website, like any self-respecting business person would. But yes, some people do just use Ebay.”
“Alright, fair enough.” He shrugs in acceptance.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it then. If you need anything, let me know.”
Well, for once things are going right in my life. How long is that going to last?