Party - and party prep

[not_yet_screaming]

The first Allison had heard officially about Lydia's party was Erica speculating loudly that after the term she had had Lydia wasn't going to throw one. After Lydia said she was only planning on a small one Jackson had snorted, Danny's eyes had twinkled, and Styles had muttered something about warning his dad. And none of them had clued her in anywhere they could be overheard (but anyone would tell her in private) that Lydia was planning a pretty huge party and just driving up demand. Styles also speculating whether Erica was deliberately working for Lydia or just being manipulated by her.

The next week Lydia would try to drag Allison round about half the amateur bands at the school, half auditioning them and giving snarky comments while they were playing. Critiquing them and in a couple of cases splitting them up and making new ones that worked better. And recruiting live music for her party with the promise of an audience to play live in front of. Requests for invitations also started trickling in. Erica was watching on with wide eyes as Lydia started using meticulously hand-written invitations as currency for favours - when most of those favours were to help other people out.

And when asked her only comment was "It's time to remind people, especially wolves, who I am." And based on Erica's current dress sense it seemed to be working. Only Allison would get to see Lydia's charts of people and who could use what, and how exhausted she was at the end of each day especially as she was also trying to keep up with Allison's training regime and any research.

Comments

[silverbow]

Just what exactly was the big deal with a Lydia Martin party, she'd wondered when she'd first heard, Allison couldn't think of just how different a house party could be, and the following conversations just made it feel like an exaggeration, at least until she'd been pulled into the preparation herself.

Because live bands? The organized charts and lists that were cross-referenced between each other? The over-the-top amount of work that went into it all: There's dedication, and then, there's dedication. Lydia really does want to make her birthday party succeed as the event of the year. That Lydia has garnered as much of a reputation as she has meant that she'd done this for years, and it keeps everyone busy in the weeks leading up to the actual event. Everyone gets roped in, whether it's picking up supplies, or looking on in resentment and envy - it all gets worked into the final preparations. (And if some people are more enthusiastic than they would normally be, well, the party planning also served as a great distraction from the ongoing kanima problem, as well as a break from school and other training. There had been a whole trip through the mall, Erica's wardrobe will never be the same.)

For all that the rumor mill had buzzed after Lydia's earlier disappearance and reappearance, the idea of a Martin bash had the school in an uproar, even Allison's been approached in the halls by complete strangers, asked to pass on messages to Lydia herself right up to the day of the party.

They're trying to get the last of the decorations up and food set out right before the first guests arrive - putting up the streamers and double checking to make sure there will be enough food and drink for everyone. They'd already sent Scott and Stiles out twice just to pick up more napkins and cutlery.

Allison sets out another tray of glasses, set upside down under a tea towel to keep the dust away, blowing out a breathe of air.

"Lydia, I can't believe you do this every year."

[not_yet_screaming]

"Every year?" Lydia shook her head. "Last year was easy. But Freshman year? That was hard work. I had to invent most of those lists I'm using, on OHP plastic, before Danny put them on computer. And no one expected a Freshman to throw the party of the year." She shrugged and didn't quite conceal the bitterness in her voice. "My parents think it's a great skill for someone who's going to become a trophy wife. Erica, upstairs in the study with those." Her voice lowered, explaining. "Board game room for the introverts. Who aren't always who you'd expect."

She shrugged, adjusting the alignment on the buffet table - not that it would matter, and then perked up as she saw a pickup drive in. "Ah. The outside band. Who are going to lead to a noise complaint." From the quirk to her lips as she strode off in their direction Lydia thought that that was a positive; it would add to the legend of her party. She'd warned the neighbours that she was having her birthday party, and even had one of them prepared to call the Sheriff with a noise complaint. If nothing else disrupted the party of course. Preparations she was deliberately not thinking of.

[silverbow]

Erica goes as instructed, having gotten used to the way Lydia had been ordering people around during all of this. And it's not like she can't say no if she really wanted to. Anyway, she can hear everything they're saying anyway, so it's not like she's missing out on much of the conversation. To see the work behind how everything effortlessly comes together for Lydia has certainly been eye-opening, but then, she'd always been worried about other things. Like whether she'd survive her next seizure. Next to that, a lot of things didn't seem all that important, though that hadn't meant she couldn't envy them.

Allison looks at Lydia with concern, the other girl had never made a secret of her parent's troubled relationship and how it gets projected onto her, but that kind of expectation really doesn't fit well with what she knows Lydia wants to achieve for herself. But she bites her tongue. "Well, yeah, but you're still doing a lot of work for one night, it doesn't really matter how easy it is." Seriously, Lydia knows a lot of people. "And if you ever went into politics, this would be useful too." Organizing people, not throwing a party.

She starts laying out more of the cutlery, the plastic forks and plates, the folded napkins, stacked into two neat stacks at one end of the table. "They setting up next to the room with all the extension cords, I remember," she says, following Lydia to the door where the leader of the group. "And right next to a window too." Now she understands what Stiles had meant when he'd mentioned warning his dad.

The band is some electronic synth pop group named Bowing Out, their lead singer is on the porch, while the other members are unloading their equipment from the back of the truck, and hauling them up the front steps.

"Hi," Allison calls out to them smiling, while Lydia lets them in.

[not_yet_screaming]

"Hi." Lydia smiled. "You guys are playing outside, using the gazebo to play from." Which would practically guarantee the noise complaint. And that the people round the pool would hear them. "I'll be out in about a minute to show you the way. I've got a couple of things to do first, but the Gazebo's to the right past the house and has power cabling set up."

As they went hunting for it she turned to Allison and smiled. "While the rock group gets set up, Erica, you're going to need to prepare for the Worm Moon pretty soon. You probably need to go to Derek." She shrugged and smiled. "Ironic. Worm moon for a party. If there are leftovers we can tell worms'd eat em." She picked up a tray of bright pink drinks. "These are a special recipe for my actual friends." She took a swig and smiled before wincing as she turned away; Allison would just have the line of sight to see her spit it back into the glass although she would be almost facing away from Allison at the time. A pass of the glass - again something that Allison could see that her body almost obscured, and the drink was all in one of the plant pots - and then she took another swig, 'draining' the empty glass. "Delicious. Tonight might get rocky, and I'll need some time alone. I don't want to see anyone following me if that's the case. And I now have a rock band to help get set up."

She hoped that Allison had caught most of that. Peter literally meant rock hence the repetition; tonight was the night. 'Tell worms'd eat 'em' she hoped sounded almost exactly like 'Tell Deaton' other than the errant word that she stressed, hoping Allison spotted the negative. And 'I don't want to see anyone following me' was meant very literally. It wasn't telling either Allison or possibly even Erica them not to follow her. It was a request not to let them (and therefore Peter) actually see them following her. The attempt to poison herself had of course distracted Peter, and she'd turned away at least in part so he wouldn't actually be able to see understanding in Allison's face and wonder what Lydia was trying to slip past him. This wasn't the first subtle request for help she'd given but was possibly the clearest; she had no way of knowing which of her plans had worked especially as she'd had to bore Peter to slip her messages past him (another purpose to throwing a big party). Finally the theatrics with the glass were only a few degrees off in their angles - enough to convince Peter that she was convincing Allison as Peter could only see what she actually saw, and Lydia's angles were perfect.

[silverbow]

Hence the open window. It'll be easy to run more wires into the house if the outdoor plugs run out. They leave the band to their set up, and meet Erica at the bottom of the stairs, who quietly comes down to meet them by the tables.

"There's time, Derek said to meet him before five," Erica tells them, she doesn't like the fact that it seems like Lydia's trying to get rid of her - even if Derek had impressed the effects of the full moon on her behavior - so she lingers. And in this town, you can pretty much go anywhere within half an hour - and he'll be picking them up in the Camaro anyway.

"Why is it called the Worm moon anyway?" Erica asks, not really expecting an answer. She tries to get something from the snack platters. She'd help set up, and if she's going to miss the party, she at least deserves to try some of the food. And she can see that Lydia's already taken to drinking though she'd missed the way Lydia had poured most of it away.

Allison hadn't - and if it had been a matter of alcohol content in the drink, Lydia could simply have nursed her cup through the night. "I'm going to wait until the party," Allison says mildly. She doesn't want to touch the drink unless she has to, after seeing that display.

"It's not like you can disappear anywhere, right?" Allison says lightheartedly. "It's your party, you'll be busy enough keeping up with the people you've invited. We're not going to crowd you." She reaches out to squeeze Lydia's hand gently, trading a discreet glance with Erica. She makes sure to step between Erica and the punch, drawing her attention to a small plate of testers instead, leftovers from when they'd had to sample each of the different dishes present on the table.

The other girl still doesn't know about Peter yet, though it might be worth it, to let her know. Even though it'll probably mean the Hale pack knows too. Only Derek would have any idea as to what it could mean though, if he even realizes the possible impact. She'll tell her before she leaves if she has to.

While the tell Deaton portion of Lydia's message had been lost, Allison had gotten the message to keep an eye out for her tonight. She'll ask Scott and Stiles to help, since they'll be around later. And if something does happen - they'll be able to call on others to help them.

"If you want a few moments to ready yourself, me and Erica can sort out the band." And that would give them a chance to speak alone.

[not_yet_screaming]

Lydia nodded. "Thank you. I've still a few more things to finish up in the kitchen. And disappearing in a crowd is surprisingly easy." She could only hope that Allison had picked up on as much of what she'd said and done as possible; there wouldn't be too many other opportunities to slip things past Peter.

And with luck Allison was going to brief Erica as she double checked her preparations while waiting for the indoor musicians to arrive.

[silverbow]

Once there are crowds being the important part.

"I'll meet up with you in a bit," Allison smiles, and reaches out to drag Erica away with her towards the kitchen by her sleeve. Erica takes the plate with her. There, Allison tells Erica about what she'd picked up from Lydia, and Erica does the same - she might not know Lydia as well - but she's grown up with her, and there are scent markers.

With the full moon, and Erica being locked up until Derek's convinced of his beta's control over their shift, there might not be much they can do later, together anyways.

That done, Allison goes back towards where Lydia is, another group of people having arrived while she and Erica had been talking, though they don't appear to be performers.

"How many more people are you waiting for?" She asks when she finally sees Lydia.

[not_yet_screaming]

"Hi Allison!" Lydia turned a beaming smile on her from where she was talking to the people who'd just arrived. "The first guests have arrived. Of between fifty and a hundred. I think you three will fit in the group I'm directing upstairs, and I've laid out a Cards against Humanity set as an icebreaker." She shrugged. "Although Becky, you might want the downstairs music when it's Taylor Swift covers and Steve, I think you'll enjoy Bowing Out outside. Allison's just been setting them up. Mark, Allison's been practicing archery since she was three. Allison, Mark came seventh in the state under 18 archery competition earlier this year and he's still another few tries to go."

"Sixth. They disqualified Phil." There was a touch of smugness in Mark's tone as he said that - Lydia had in fact known, but thought he'd like the chance to correct her. He turned to Allison. "What do you shoot?"

[silverbow]

Erica breezes past the group, ahead of Allison. She flashes them all a smirk, a hard look in her eyes, one that lingers over Lydia, she bounces out the door. She can hear the Camaro, though Derek had avoided parking to close to Lydia's house.

Allison nods, smiling at the other students. She's pretty sure she's seen them around at school, though she doesn't know all of them.

"The compound bow's the one I've used the longest," she tells Mark, shrugging. As a hobby - archery hasn't always come across well, even to those who are archers themselves. "I come from a hunting family, you know? But I have to know, where do you go to practice? I've been meaning to look into different ranges, not that I've had the chance."

She moves so that she's beside Lydia. "Do any of you have Mr. Westover for history? He really likes assigning papers."

[not_yet_screaming]

Lydia just smirked back at Erica. She knew what an anchor was and was pretty sure that Erica didn't have one, so she was trying to give her one even if it was being mad at her. And then she smiled, looking past the group at the person arriving. "Sorry. I'm going to have to leave you. That's Jacqui, and she's going to be one of our singers. She also needs both talking down and psyching up." In part she was trying to at least convince Peter she was trying to give Allison the slip.

It was a tangled web she was weaving, thinking in three directions at once while trying to exhaust Peter more than she had herself with the party planning and the party. And if Peter got too distracted or bored she might even be able to send Allison a message. Of course the lech was right now pretty attentive to everyone female and dolled up. Which was part of the music. Taylor Swift ballads were not his thing, other than Better than Revenge.

OOC: Should we skip forward?

ooc: Sure. Let me know if you want edits.

[silverbow]

Allison nods. "Anything else you want help with?" Even if it was just making small talk with the masses. And she can always just find Mark later, here, or at school.

Soon enough the party was in full swing, Allison had made a point of meeting up with Lydia every now and then, but it got harder and harder as the night went on - different people wanted to talk, or she would think she noticed where Lydia's dress only for it to turn into someone else. Even Scott had trouble with it, the number of people and music made tracking by sound impossible, scent wasn't even a consideration. Lydia lived here.

She had warned him and Stiles not to drink the punch if they can get away with it, and she pulls them aside after she'd gone through the entire house three times and hadn't found Lydia yet.

Re: ooc: Sure. Let me know if you want edits.

[not_yet_screaming]

"Allison!" It was Jacqui, and rather than the shy mouse that Lydia had met at the door she was wreathed in smiles. "Lydia asked me to give you a message. Hale House. Midnight. And you've a present under her bed." Jacqui shrugged, blonde ringlets bouncing. "I hope that means something to you?"

Lydia had hoped that that plan wouldn't be needed but the key to planning things perfectly was a lot of backup plans. She'd hoped not to give Allison the slip, but had of course a contingency plan in place. And couldn't have told Allison directly because Peter scrutinised any interaction with an Argent or a werewolf carefully.

There wasn't much time but if Allison chose to look upstairs under Lydia's bed before hurrying she'd find what Lydia had planned to give her for her birthday (and not just because of Peter). A classic yew longbow of the sort mostly seen at Ren Faires, sized for Allison with exactly the draw weight of her favourite bow, along with two quivers of arrows. One had a dozen sharp target arrows and a dozen blunts and the other had more specialist arrows; a dozen broadheads, three turnip-heads for making noise, three 'frog crotch' rope cutters, and three flat-head arrows for stunning and bruising. Nothing that was obviously anti-werewolf tech but a dozen good broadheads would still make a mess. And with no anti-werewolf tech and only traditional manufacturing techniques Peter didn't take it seriously compared to Allison's favourite compound bow. And he agreed it was a nice if ironic gift for the archer.

---

Lydia meanwhile had made it to Derek's burned out bus full of angry werewolves and blown her wolfsbane preparation in his face. "Still in there, Erica?" Her tone was slightly mocking. "Superpowers don't seem to help you much. I'm now going to take your Alpha away and use him in a magic ritual. And you're going to remember tomorrow that I told you exactly what I was going to do." Peter loved it. It was mean and Peter was a piece of work. But again Lydia was slipping out round him even as she hauled Derek off; in the broken bus a pair of golden eyes faded as Erica found an anchor. Proving Lydia wrong about her. Of course it would take a few minutes to undo all the chains she was wearing before she could chase Lydia down.

---

Back at the Argent house Victoria Argent was holding a knife and waiting for midnight to face the moon.

[silverbow]

"Thanks Jacqui," Allison says, angling herself towards the other girl. "I'd asked Lydia to pick something up for me a while ago, she just doesn't want me to forget it again."

She waits until Jacqui leaves, before turning towards Scott and Stiles again. "Something's gone wrong, I'm going to see what Lydia's got here. Stiles - can you stay here? Keep an eye on things. I'll be right back."

She sprints upstairs, fighting against the throng of party goers to Lydia's room. When she checks under the bed, she breathes out. Lydia had been prepared for things to go wrong. Quickly, she picks up the long bow and some of the arrows - she's also still got her crossbow in her car, along with the paralysis ones - if the venom from the kanima was still effective after so many days.

Back downstairs, she tries to call Erica, and when she doesn't pick up, Derek. That's one call she's not looking forward to, and Scott's the one who still had his number. "Scott?"

He's looking at his phone, finally seeing the missed calls and voicemail from Derek. "Something's gone wrong."

"Let's go." Allison hefts the bow and quiver over her shoulder, heading to her car. They're going to the train depot first.

Once they're on the road, Allison remembers Lydia's words from earlier. "Scott, do you know anything about the Worm moon?"

In the rush, no one had noticed Jackson's arrival to Lydia's party. He'd helped himself to the food and drinks, but had avoided people he knew well, mostly sticking to the busier areas taking advantage of the crowd.

[not_yet_screaming]

Lydia heard Derek's phone from in his back pocket when Scott phoned - so she pulled it out, hoping to be able to answer. But her thumb jerked under Peter's control and she declined the call before her arm jerked and she pitched Derek's old phone out of the car window she was using to haul Derek's paralysed body to the old house. There would be other opportunities to fight for her body back. Or just take out Peter when he was still weak - and after all she had a vial of Kanima venom on her herself. She hoped that Allison would have found one of her other vials on her dressing table, but doubted it. She also hoped that Allison would beat her to the Hale House. Removing the mirrors would be easy, and would ruin Peter's entire plan. Or an archer should be able to smash them.

If they arrived at the train depot they'd find Erica unchaining herself and swearing that that bitch - and she'd be able to point out that Lydia had been and gone. If they took the shortcut they'd arrive in time to see Lydia dragging Derek's body out of her car. Lydia hoped that Allison was going to come alone rather than with Scott; she knew that Peter had made plans for werewolf interference. In another life she might have enjoyed knowing him. If he wasn't quite such a bastard.

[silverbow]

That no one in Derek's pack is picking up is worrying, and Allison drives faster.

Scott had no idea as to why tonight was the Worm moon, but he could try to find out. He contacts Deaton, who picks up on the third ring and a quiet conversation is struck up, with Deaton asking certain questions, as if confirming something - but he doesn't tell them what, just that it would be best to find where Derek could be before the full moon. A good place would be somewhere with a strong connections to the Hale pack.

She stops her car as close as she can to the train depot. She and Scott jump out of the car and rush inside, meeting Erica as she rushes out the door. Erica snarls at them to hurry, after catching them up to what had happened.

"Do you know if Derek lives anywhere else? Besides here?" Allison asks Erica before she and Scott splits up to try to pick up a trail so that they had a clue where to go.

When Erica says no, Scott's the one to tell them that Derek had been squatting in the ruins of his old home when he'd first come to Beacon Hills. On the line, Deaton asks Scott to meet him near the house. There may be something he can do to help, but he'll need help.

Which leaves Erica and Allison to head towards the house first. "I can drive us all over towards the house, but I remember the last bit isn't really great for cars." She knows Erica would be faster than her.

Back at the party, the hallucinatory effects of the punch begin to kick in - Matt Daehler falls into the pool, and Stiles freezes - after the last time he'd been trapped in the pool, he's uncomfortable around the water.

As the noise escalates, the neighbors finally call the cops, and Jackson saves Matt while the crowds panic around them.

[not_yet_screaming]

Some things you can plan for and some things you can't. And Matt almost drowning was well outside Lydia's range of plans, and that was when you had competent people. But Lydia had been Petered, Jackson was out of action until his scaly problem was cleared up, Allison was chasing her, and Erica wasn't in her inner circle and was wolfing and chasing her. Which meant that the only person Lydia really trusted at the party was Danny. And Danny was the one in charge of the fireworks which were scheduled for midnight as well as giving the outside band a warning and making sure their set ended at midnight just in time for the fireworks.

And because fireworks and drunk people were a bad combination she'd had Danny set them up by the Hale House with the promise that a couple of people were going to be there at midnight on a dare so there would be someone around to help if the remote activation went wrong. And she'd trust one of them with fireworks every bit as much as she'd trust herself. It was almost true after all. There was also a sparkler bomb by the door she'd requested.

But Danny was busy wondering where Lydia was as he tried to calm the situation by the pool; she was going to owe him a huge apology when all was said and done. And as much of the truth as people would let her tell. He cursed as a banger and a rocket, scheduled for two minutes to midnight or for someone to remote trigger when they saw a police car, went off. That was the signal for the band to wind things down almost immediately. A response to a noise complaint of "We noticed that ourselves and shut it down" was absolutely perfect. So he had to leave the pool party and check the band were shutting down - after midnight it would just be ballads in the open air. And the other fireworks were silent. Unfortunately for Lydia, Sherriff Stilinski had heard enough about her from Stiles that she wouldn't fool him and he'd want her to know that. Also unfortunately for Lydia, Danny had been at the punch a little. There was a limit to how much even she could plan and she'd pushed well past it.

Lydia flinched and dropped Derek as a rocket fired a few feet away from her before shrugging and dragging him up the steps. No need to spare him bruises was something she and Peter agreed on. And two minutes was enough time for Peter's plans ... and with luck for some of hers. Especially as with a screamer and a rocket if either Allison or Erica were trying to find her they'd just have been shown the way.

[silverbow]

When Stiles had stepped out to meet the police cruisers coming up, he was already resigned to facing down his dad. That it's exactly the right place to be in order to see Matt, glaring back at the house with the kanima next to him. They're gone in a flash as the first of the lights paint the neighborhood red and blue - but that's one piece of the puzzle that has presented itself on a silver platter. Between the effects of the punch and the police, the party winds down to a much smaller gathering. Some going home to sleep off the worst of the hallucinatory effects - all through prearranged DDs, of course. Or borrowing money to call up a car service.

Danny stays, but Stiles has to head to the station with his dad when the cops finally leave, unsatisfied.

The fireworks give Allison and Erica a sign to move towards, when they reach the woods. Erica pulls ahead, using the light, and scent trails to find her way. Allison takes the extra time to make sure she has all her equipment before following. She can hear Erica's snarl when she has to pull up short, clutching at her ears when her approach triggers the trap mean to stop werewolves. It's more than an annoyance, the whining seems to bite down to the core of her.

Allison doesn't slow down, just gives Erica a once over to see if there are any injuries, and continue on when she sees there aren't any. It would have taken too long to find and disable whatever was causing those effects. Another round of fireworks go off, the quick flashes of illumination playing merry hell to what night vision Allison had, and she has to slow down, or trip once she gets closer to the house. What is she going to find, she wonders, as she nocks an arrow in place just before she reaches the clearing where the remains of the Hale house stand.

There's nothing outside, and she takes a deep breath before she steps quietly inside, ready for anything. She recognizes Lydia's back, but the changes to the room - the hanging herbs, mirrors, and most of all the hole in the floorboards gives her pause.

"Lydia," she tries cautiously. "Lydia, what are you doing?" She tightens her hand around the bow.

[not_yet_screaming]

​Lydia's smile was thin. "I'm also not in control of most of my body right now. And wondering if Erica is going to realise that the way to find the devices is head towards the pain." She flinched and a trail of blood started trickling out of her nose.

"At midnight those mirrors shine..." She swayed as blood started trickling out of her ear even as she adjusted one of the mirrors to a very precise angle, every single muscle both arms and legs locked in tension as if she was fighting herself. "And he rises. Or gets stuck in the hole." She nodded to the second mirror, legs moving stiffly. "If he'd just asked..."

[silverbow]

Erica might given time to get angry enough. After all, she was the one who'd went back to the rock wall after she'd fell if only to prove something for herself. If Deaton's around by then, he can help her find all the other machines.

"Midnight," Allison repeats, that's only a few minutes from now, if she wants to be generous. There's only one he Lydia could be referring to, and Peter coming back to life would be the worst thing to add on top of what they're already dealing with.

She doesn't doubt that Lydia would try to stop her from interfering, but with the three mirrors she can see, she can't stop her from going after all of them. Mind made up, she steps around Derek's unconscious body on the floor, aims at the furthest mirror and shoots, before immediately throwing herself forwards towards Lydia.

[not_yet_screaming]

Lydia fell, left hand breaking her fall as Allison fell on top of her and right hand pulling a vial out of her sash and unscrewing the top - and covering it with her thumb. "Kanima venom." Lydia's voice, not Peter's giving the warning.

She raised her hand, arm trembling as it moved towards Allison painfully slowly. With her thumb stoppering the bottle it wasn't coming out - but with her thumb covered in the venom if Allison dashed it out of her hand she needed to do little more than touch her friend to paralyse her. Or Peter could make her hand twitch and splash Allison; Lydia was spending all her effort controlling that one, so her other pulled Allison by the hair. Allison was the stronger of the two, especially with Lydia literally fighting herself. But one touch of venom would be all it would take.

Of course Lydia knew angles and she hoped the archer would far more instinctively than Peter. It wouldn't take much to knock the vial out of her hand and down Peter's hole.

[silverbow]

Allison had hit the ground pretty hard, most of her weight landing on her side - a scatter of arrows on the ground around them. With Lydia's hand in her hair, she can't go far, not fast enough, but she still has a chance - twisting, ignoring the sharp pain in her scalp as strands rip, she kicks out towards the mirror Lydia had been adjusting, angling it so that it would fall towards the last mirror - or failing that, fall into the hole and shatter.

What she wants, is to buy enough time for the others to catch up. And through the skin - she'll still have a bit of time before the effects fully kick in.

Deaton and Scott have finally made their way to the woods, a black bag full of supplies held in the vet's hands. They're on a different path, though when Scott runs into defenses - Deaton and him are able to pinpoint and shut off the machine, lessening the overall intensity of sound in the area. It's enough of a break that Erica can try to find the off switch for the one in her area too, but she just struggles through, towards the house.

[not_yet_screaming]

Lydia opened her hand sharply, rolling the vial down the hole, and stood up as the paralysis worked. Down to one mirror, but shards would work as well as a real mirror so she picked up one shard in each hand, cutting her left in the process. Body trembling as she fought Peter every milimetre of the way. "No..." Lydia was losing the battle. Losing, but the harder he had to fight her the less likely the bastard was to see her final gambit coming even when the pieces were already on the table. Not that she wanted to burn a paralysed man alive even if thermite on his head would kill him almost instantly. But she'd had him in her head long enough to know why they'd killed him. And to know that she hoped she would have done the same. After all he was the one who'd been trying to control her mind.

And then she smiled as two werewolves came in through different doors along with ... she didn't know exactly who or what Deaton was. But something deeply involved. They each had about a second if they wanted to stop the resurrection. Or possibly Deaton could allow it and then have Peter killed to get a slightly better Alpha than Derek (not a high bar to cross).

[silverbow]

Allison manages to roll over before the paralysis take full effect, so she's able to see what Lydia does after the mirror had broken. "Fight him," she says, insistently, willing Lydia to hold on - she can hear the others coming. "I have faith in you."

Deaton takes in the scene, immediately directing them to get Derek out of here. (Having Scott kill to become an alpha isn't in Deaton's plans - not when he truly believes that he could take on the mantle of a True Alpha - death isn't how they come into their power, though misdirecting power during the transfer of energy under a worm moon... but there isn't enough time for that.) He rummages around in his kit, taking out a small vial. There are substances that disrupt magic - cold iron, for instance, but in this case, powdered moonstone will do. He scatters the shards over as much of the floor as he can.

Erica reaches Derek first, dragging him away from the hole before trying to rouse him. She'd ran in, even before Deaton had started his instructions. Like hell she would wait, no matter how shitty a leader Derek can be.

[not_yet_screaming]

Lydia trembled as she fought, head pointing up to the moon and eyes closed. Blinding Peter even as she blinded herself, but eyes are surprisingly difficult to open by trying. And then half a step to mess up her alignment. He was stronger right here and now, but as he'd shown her a couple of times stronger doesn't win if you can focus on the right place.

Blood trickled out of her nostrils, out of both ears, and down her fingers where she was gripping the glass tightly. She was burning herself up fighting, her whole body trembling with the effort.

But she wasn't, as Peter thought, fighting a last ditch effort. She was fighting a holding action. And Erica's heels on this floor were distinctive - and moreso to her than Peter because she actually cared about fashion. So she could tell without looking when Erica came in. And when she started dragging Derek away.

So she turned and let her eyes open. The cry of "No!" from her throat wasn't from her and didn't even sound like her. And Lydia was ready, using the mirrors to direct the light down into the hole.

Peter's spirit flowed out of her body into his own. But without the Alpha Spark he entered a two month dead corpse, nothing for the moonlight to revive. He was moving on from his own dead body before the Moonstone hit the floor, never mind the two shards of mirror that fell from Lydia's hands.

"Thank you, Erica." Lydia's voice was weak but her smile genuine as she dropped to her knees, panting. "I knew you were strong enough."

[silverbow]

Erica looks up from where she'd been murmuring softly to Derek, where he'd been propped up against a wall. She looks up, with the slightest hint of a smirk on her face, bravado stamped on every inch of it. "High compliments from the Queen herself," she has a wary edge to her voice. She doesn't trust that this is over yet, the magic and brief 'revival' of Peter Hale still makes everything feel wrong.

"Is it over?" The question is directed to the room in general, and she looks from Lydia - who was the one who had done all this in the first place, (controlled, or not,) and Deaton, whose face had taken on an even blanker expression than usual.

Deaton had been making a circle of the room, checking to make sure the last of the spell had been dispersed. look over everyone that had been involved, he passes a package of wet wipes to Scott, who doles them out to the others, before settling beside Allison, helping her to sit up. "That's probably a good idea," Allison starts, looking towards Lydia. "You're still bleeding, Lydia."

Her phone chooses this moment to buzz, but she ignores it for now.