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It had been midnight by the time they arrived in the town of Spirit Lake.
"Damn time zones," Stiles grumbled. "Now it's Central time and we've lost another hour."
"We'll get it back at some point," Peter shrugged. He stretched. "It's been a long few days and even I am looking forward to staying still for a bit."
The hotel was reasonably adequate. The town of Spirit Lake had an interesting assortment of hotels and bed and breakfast options, but they had chosen a chain hotel for the -- hopeful -- anonymity it should give them. The three floors made it the largest building in the immediate area.
"A B&B sounds interesting, but this time of year it will probably be us and the proprietors," Peter pointed out. "Staying in a hotel will let us come and go as we need."
Stiles nodded. "That makes sense."
They had booked a 'suite' for a week. It wasn't spectacular but it gave them a sitting room as well as a bedroom. The additional space was welcome, since they didn't know what they would be getting into.
"Unless you're hungry, I'd like to sleep," Peter said. "Put out the Do Not Disturb sign so housekeeping won't come in until we're ready."
"Sounds good to me," Stiles agreed. "But I want a long, hot shower first."
"Go ahead," Peter said. "I'll likely be asleep before you're done."
Stiles smiled fondly. The fact that Peter would fall asleep while Stiles was still awake spoke to how much Peter's 'wolf trusted him.
Stiles woke warm and comfortable. "At least it's a decent bed," Stiles murmured, knowing Peter was awake.
"It is," Peter agreed. "Breakfast?"
"Definitely!" Stiles agreed.
The hotel had a continental breakfast but they opted to walk down the street to check out the restaurant they had seen the night before. It only served breakfast and lunch during the off-season, so it was a good place to start.
"Coffee?" the waitress asked as they sat in a booth.
"Hot tea for me, please," Stiles said.
"Coffee for me," Peter nodded.
She served their drinks as they perused the menu. It was a fairly standard menu with multiple combinations of eggs, potatoes, breakfast meats, and pancakes they had seen on the road.
"I'll have the 2-2-2," Stiles decided. "Eggs over medium, bacon, and I'll try the french toast."
"You got it!" the waitress nodded.
"The ham and cheese omelet, rye toast, and hash browns," Peter said.
"Be up shortly," she said. "Give a shout if you need anything."
"What do you want to do first?" Stiles asked.
"I suspect I should be asking you that," Peter replied.
Stiles shrugged. "No idea yet."
"Then how about a drive around the lake?" Peter suggested. "That will let us see some of the area and then we can decide what to do next."
"That works," Stiles agreed.
Breakfast was hot and the servings were huge. The waitress brought more coffee and tea without having to be prompted. Peter left a generous tip on the bill, which made the waitress smile.
Back on the street, Stiles noted a handful of closed businesses. Some would likely be open during the warmer summer season, when there were more tourists. There weren't any empty storefronts that he could see, but there might be some on a side street that he wouldn't be able to see from there.
"Let's take that ride," Peter prompted.
Back in the car, Peter stopped for gas first. Stiles casually strolled into the attached convenience store for drinks and snacks. Also to establish their presence as tourists who were just wandering about for a couple of days.
"The coffee smelled old, even to me," Stiles said as he dropped a bottle of iced tea into the console for Peter. "How was the coffee at breakfast?"
"Not bad," Peter said. "We can go back there again."
"Good to know," Stiles said as he ripped open his bag of chips.
"You just ate," Peter commented.
"And?" Stiles grinned.
"Some day, that will catch up to you," Peter shook his head.
"Meh. I'll worry about it then." Stiles carefully ate a handful of chips. He knew better than to get crumbs all over Peter's vehicle.
"Okay, it shouldn't take that long to drive around Big Spirit Lake, even if we stop a couple of times," Peter said. "It's less than twenty miles in circumference and from what you showed me, mostly residential."
Stiles nodded. "Stop where we can and we'll work our way around. Best I have at the moment."
Peter pulled into every public access point they came across. Some were boat launch sites, which were not being used with the ice they could see on the lake.
"It's not frozen over enough for ice fishing," Peter commented.
"Something you know about?" Stiles teased.
"Going into freezing water is not fun, even for a 'wolf," Peter replied. "My 'wolf gives me a better chance at survival, but it's that initial impact that causes most people to drown. The cold hits your body and the inhalation reflex means you'll take in water. Fighting that reflex is what can save your life."
"Saw a You Tube video on that once," Stiles nodded. "Somebody dropped into freezing cold water on purpose to demonstrate what to do, if you can."
"Ready?" Peter asked.
"Yup! It's cold," Stiles replied.
Back in the warm car, Stiles looked at the phone he was using. "It's only fifteen degrees Fahrenheit. The wind chill puts the feel at zero."
Peter nodded. "Which is why we stopped to make sure we had warm clothes."
They slowly made their way around the lake. Most of the access points turned out to be boat launches but there were a couple of small beaches.
"Lake is relatively shallow," Stiles said as he stood on the sand at the edge of the water. "So it will get warmer in the summer than a deeper lake."
"I would suspect August would be prime swimming season," Peter added.
"Yeah, after being frozen, the water will take a bit to get warm," Stiles agreed.
"Anything?" Peter asked.
"Nope!" Stiles shrugged.
"Okay. We'll figure it out," Peter said.
"There's a handful of smaller lakes," Stiles said. "We should probably check them out, just in case."
"Sure, since we have nothing pressing," Peter nodded. "Although we should have gone north when we were at the top of Big Spirit to check the lakes in that direction."
"We can hit those tomorrow or the day after," Stiles said. "It'll get dark early and I'm not ready to wander around as much once it gets dark."
"Is that you or--" Peter waved a hand "--something prompting you?"
Stiles stopped to consider. "Not sure, to be honest."
"We'll make sure we're back in town, then," Peter said. "We have time."
They drove around East Okoboji lake next. It was harder to keep to the lake shore since the roads either did not go near the shore or there were more private residences.
They stopped at a restaurant along the lake as the sun was setting. It was only five o'clock but the sun had disappeared behind the clouds earlier and it was getting dark.
"We'll do West Okoboji tomorrow," Peter decided. "That's larger and will take more time. We can look at a map again tonight and decide where else to go."
"Okay," Stiles agreed. "There are a ton of game and waterfowl management areas around here, too. We might want to check those out."
"Whatever you think we need to do," Peter agreed.
Dinner was good and the waitress was friendly.
"How long you folk in town for?" she asked.
"About a week," Peter said. "We're scouting for land for a business development." They had come up with that as a reason to be wandering around the area. He held up a hand and gave a warm smile. "Can't say what it's for, before you ask."
The woman laughed. "Folk would be all over you if you said anything," she admitted. "New businesses are rare but always welcome."
"Which is why that's all I'll be saying," Peter nodded. "But dinner was excellent. The local fish was very well prepared."
"I'll tell the cook you enjoyed it," she nodded. "Good to know."
Back in their room, Stiles said, "I'm going to call my dad."
Peter nodded. "Tell him to get Derek to sign into the family chat. That will be more secure."
"Okay," Stiles agreed.
"Hello?" John answered cautiously. Since Stiles was calling from yet another burner phone, his dad wouldn't have the number and would be answering blind.
"Hey, dad!" Stiles greeted his father.
"Stiles! Good to hear from you!" John said, relieved to hear from Stiles.
"I'm supposed to tell you to get Derek to sign into the family chat," Stiles said. "That will be more secure."
"Will do!" John replied.
"Talk to you shortly," Stiles said and hung up the phone.
"Good, that was short enough that it should be safe," Peter said. He had logged into his laptop, signed into the VPN they used and accessed the chat service the Hales used. Stiles sat next to Peter on the couch.
It took a few minutes for the other end to answer. Stiles had started to fidgit and was only stilled when Peter put a warm hand on Stiles' knee.
"Hey!" Stiles said when the screen lit up with his father's face.
"So good to hear from you," John said again. "While I know you've been safe, it's just hard."
"I get that," Stiles nodded. "We're... where we are. Something has sent us to this place and we're just starting to check it out."
"Do you need anything?" John asked.
"Not right now," Stiles said. "We're in a decent hotel, it's cold here but we stopped for cold weather gear, and we're trying to figure out what it is we're looking for."
"Just so you know, Chris Argent has come by," John said. "He came by with a warning that someone is looking to take over Beacon Hills, focusing on the Nemeton. They're recruiting help using the Hunter forums."
Peter nodded. "I saw those messages," he admitted.
"There are at least a couple of unaffiliated Hunters already in town," John added. "Evidently, they used to work for Gerard but they're mostly freelance and not affiliated with any of the Hunter Clans."
"Mercenaries," Peter said.
"Exactly," John replied.
"You stay safe," Stiles said firmly.
"Either Derek or Jordan is with me all the time," John replied. "They've moved into the house and I have Derek working at the station. Doing what I can."
"Good to know!" Stiles nodded.
"Chris Argent has essentially thrown in with us," John said. "He's given us numbers for Argent International but said that would be a disaster fall-back."
"It would be," Peter agreed. "But the goal is to survive and if that is what it takes, don't hesitate."
"You set out some of your own messages," John peered carefully at Peter.
"I did," Peter said unapologetically. "There's a..." he huffed. "Delicate isn't the right word but there's something that needs to be handled just right or some really awful things are going to happen."
"Well, you're going to have to be the ones to manage that," John sighed. "Even Chris is convinced everything comes back to whatever Scott and Deaton are doing, and that Deaton is the real person in charge. In spite of what Scott may think."
Stiles nodded. "Scott's not going to listen to any of us and wouldn't understand delicate on a good day."
"Chris is going to talk to Melissa, to see if she can get through to Scott," John said. "But at this point, that's a long shot."
Stiles was suddenly sad, sorry that it had come to this point for Scott. But Scott was also an adult and was responsible for his own stupidities.
"Let us know if you find anything," Stiles said.
"And don't hesitate to reach out," John said. "Miss you."
"Miss you, too," Stiles replied. "I'll send you an email about reaching out again. Not sure when a good time will be."
"I explained to Derek and Jordan about the basic codes, so you can use that with them, too," John said.
"Good to know," Stiles nodded.
"Take care," Stiles said. "Love you."
"Love you, too," John nodded.
After they signed off, Stiles was quiet.
Peter turned the television on to a local station, interested in their perspective of the weather over the next few days. That would help them prepare for their excursions over the next couple of days.
There was a tap at the door. Curious, Peter got up and Stiles moved to the bedroom.
There was a teenager in the corridor, just outside the door. Peter didn't sense anyone else nearby. He opened the door.
"May I help you?" Peter asked.
"I was asked to give you this," the teen said, handing Peter a letter-sized envelope. "That's all."
Peter took the envelope and the teen immediately went back toward the elevator.
"What is it?" Stiles asked as he moved from the bedroom.
"I can't smell anything harmful," Peter admitted.
Stiles reached out and lay a finger on the edge of the envelope. "No magic that I can sense."
"Then let's see," Peter said. He opened the envelope and unfolded the single sheet of paper inside.
The Markison Pack invites you both to dinner tomorrow night. Someone will come to your room at 5:00 pm to lead you to a nearby meeting place, which will be within walking distance from the hotel. No harm is intended, we only wish for an exchange of information.
The message was neatly handwritten but unsigned.
"Well, that is quite unexpected," Peter said, looking into Stiles equally surprised eyes.