Chapter 8

Stiles stepped through the portal and found himself in the hills near what looks like a temple of some kind. Stiles looked around and saw several road signs in English but the temple definitely looked closer to Kamar-Taj than California. "Where are we?" Stiles asked his passenger.

"We are about two hours north of San Francisco at the temple of a friend and colleague. My body is inside. Cast this spell" Stephen tells him and Stiles is already halfway through the spell before he realizes that is a variation on the true seeing spell. Suddenly the temple is surrounded by a shimmering curtain of colors and energy.

"What is that?!" Stiles gasps at the incredible display that he sees with his new vision.

"That is Mordo's trap. It is designed to prevent any Astral travel and act like a spider web, trapping any spirits. You will need to tap into the telluric currents and once you have that power conduit you will be able to bleed off the spell. Imagine the currents are like sponges sucking up the energies of the trap" Stephen's words came with images and understanding and Stiles grinned at the barrage of information even though it was way more complicated than any he had tried before.

"Got it!" Stiles replied happily and reached out. He found there were two lines that crossed under the temple which meant there was four lines radiating from the temple and Stiles got a wicked grin. He reached out, guided by the Sorcerer Supreme, and imagined dozens of 'fingers' reaching up from the lines and touching the trap spell. Once they made contact, he watched the magic draining away from the trap and felt Stephen's satisfaction. It takes about five minutes but the trap finally drains enough energy until it pops like a soap bubble and Stiles quickly opens a portal to take them inside.

Stepping through the fiery door, Stiles sees the corporeal form of the sorcerer lying on a table, a golden shell shimmering around the body in his magic vision. There are several monks surrounding it and looking at Stiles like they are going to attack and he throws his hands up in a show of peace. "Hey! Good guy here!" he yells as Stephen leaves his body and dives into his own.

"Who are you?" one of the monks demands but then they all jump back and look shocked when Stephen sits up and groans.

"Remind me not to stay out of my body for that long ever again" Stephen mutters. He looks up and sees the monks and Stiles all still looking nervous. "Li, it is okay. He is a friend who took down Mordo's spell so I could return."

The monks relax and Stephen starts explaining what had happened over the last days since he was tricked by Mordo. Stiles wasn't sure why, but he was glad that Stephen kept most of Stiles' involvement to a minimum beyond saying he was a young sorcerer who had assisted him. The monks shared several messages with Stephen that caused him to look very concerned.

"Stiles" Stephen said looking unhappy. "I need to deal with this situation and several others that have arisen in my absence. I am afraid I will need to leave you for a bit, but I want you to continue your lessons." They walk out of the room into the temple's courtyard. "Keep up with Wong, he is a great teacher" Stephen starts when the entire building shakes as a loud explosion rocks the place.

Stiles ducks just as Stephen flies up and Stiles is awestruck as he watches the man spin lights and energy around the temple right before he unleashes a barrage of magic against a figure on the hillside, someone who is sending almost as much magic at the flying sorcerer. Stephen takes off after him just as the guy opens a portal and jumps through with Stephen hot on his heels.

"That was the sorcerer Mordo" one of the monks tells Stiles who is really glad he is gone. If that guy was as powerful as Stephen, he definitely did not want to be in his crosshairs. Stiles thanks the monks and opens a portal and steps through.

Stepping onto the sidewalk in Greenwich Village, Stiles does a small happy dance at doing it without any help or guidance, he did it all on his own. He walks up to the Sanctum door and knocks, deciding not to risk angering Wong again. The man opens the door and smiles at Stiles before getting a sudden frown. "Where is Master Strange?" he asks sounding concerned.

"We broke the spell, he got his body back, Mordo attacked, and Stephen chased after him" Stiles listed rapidly causing the man to look at Stiles like he was a little crazy. Sighing Wong directed Stiles inside and to a small room where he made up a pot of nasty smelling tea before sitting down across from Stiles.

"Tell me everything, from the beginning" he raised his finger as Stiles opened his mouth to speak "and slowly. Thoughtfully. Tell me not just the facts, but the feelings, the things you sensed, everything" Wong instructs the teen.

Stiles pauses and looks at the patient face and swallows nervously. He starts talking and Stiles is surprised by the number of details that he remembers. He starts from when Stephen found the spell up to the moment he decided to come to tell Wong what was going on. Wong asks a number of questions to get Stiles to expand on one point or another until Stiles realizes that they have been talking for nearly an hour.

"Very good. I think we will have to wait for Stephen to return but I will inform the other sanctums about what happened so that they can be on alert." Stiles asks for advice for what he should do now and Wong offers to continue his training both in New York and Nepal and Stiles eagerly accepts. "Do you like pizza?" Wong suddenly asks and Stiles gets a huge smile on his face.

"Stiles?" Sheriff Stilinski calls out stepping into the house dreading whatever healthy meal his son is going to force on him today. He sniffs and smells…is that pizza? It can't be. No place in Beacon Hills makes pizza that smells like that.

"Surprise Dad!" Stiles says smiling happily from the couch where the Sheriff sees that it is indeed an unfamiliar looking pizza box that is the source of that amazing smell.

He frowns at the salad bowl next to it and is weighing the trap when Stiles opens the box and he sees the cheesy goodness that totally fails to capture the amazing aroma of the pizza that now overwhelms him. Falling into the couch he stares in disbelief as Stiles hands him a slice that appears to be mostly vegetables, but it looks so good! He takes a bite and almost moans in pleasure at the combination of flavors and tastes.

"Pretty good huh? And you would never believe there's no meat, only healthy cheese, and a whole wheat crust" Stiles says happily as he takes another bite.

"Where did you find this?" the sheriff asks casually but Stiles just snorts in laughter at the attempt.

"Not a chance old man. I don't want you sneaking off for pizza when I'm not watching. It's only for special occasions" he says smugly. Noah seriously considers grounding his son until he breaks but then he takes another bite and decides he is about ready to forgive his son anything.

"Oh god" he suddenly goes pale "what did you do?" he asks desperately hoping that the answer won't involve the Whittemores or the FBI.

Stiles takes on a totally hurt expression. "I am hurt dad, truly hurt, that you think that I would have an ulterior motive for this" he begins but the Sheriff puts on his cop face and glares like he would at someone in interrogation.

Stiles resists for a bit before he finally caves. "Fine. I took some money out of my college fund without telling you. I met this guy and he needed some help and promised he would pay me back, but I didn't think you would approve" he adds in a mutter but Noah hears it anyway.

"Stiles!" he says in exasperation and stares at his kid trying to restrain his emotions on this. "How much?"

"Twelve hundred" Stiles says and Noah's eyes go wide in shock. What the hell did he need that much money for? Stiles scrambles to pull out an envelope "but I got it all back, and then some!" he says handing his dad the envelope.

Noah looks inside and sees nearly four thousand in there and looks at his son worriedly. "Son, if this was from anything illegal…" he says in a weak voice.

"It's not like that" Stiles rushes to say. "This guy needed my help and I got the money for him and he promised to pay me back once he got to New York. I felt he was a good risk so I did it and he gave me that. I told him it was too much but he insisted. He was a doctor and said I should just add it to my college fund" Stiles explains "or replace Roscoe" he mutters.

"I want to talk to him" Noah says slowly but now wondering if this is possibly legit.

"He is traveling but his assistant is around. Wong. I have his number if you want to talk to him" Stiles offers and at his father's nod he dials Wong's number and when the other man gets on he explains the situation. Of course, he and Wong had already worked all of this out when they went for the pizza in New York so the man was primed so when he handed his father the phone, Wong told the story of his friend Stephen, a doctor, who was stranded in San Francisco with no phone or money and Stiles helped him out. He assured him it was nothing illegal and the extra was a reward for being a good kid.

After they talked for a bit, Noah hung up and shook his head at Stiles' luck. "Okay, I am not grounding you but you do realize that you could just have easily been scammed?" he says with a sigh.

"I know dad, but I thought that helping him was a good risk as he said he would pay me back, and there is enough in there that we could use some of it take care of some of the overdue bills" Stiles says softly and Noah looks at his son's face and realizes that the boy had been noticing that their expenses were becoming a problem. "I know what you are going to say, but even if I put back in twice what I took out, there is enough left that could really help" he added sincerely.

Noah pulled his son in for a hug and held on tightly to the boy. There had been strains and distance between them for the last year and Noah still didn't understand everything that was going on that was making his son lie to him so much but he still wonders how he managed to get a kid this good in his life with all the mistakes he made after Claudia died. They talk a bit and argue some but eventually Noah agrees to use the extra money to pay off some bills when Stiles offers to pick up that pizza once a week as part of the deal. He needs to find that place…if they can make vegetables taste that good, imagine what they could do with a meat lovers?

"Focus!" Wong's voice cuts through the courtyard as he whacks the back of Stiles' legs causing the teen to yelp.

"That hurts!" Stiles wails from the sting. Stiles is really starting to hate that damn piece of bamboo. He has spent the last hour trying to hold some really uncomfortable poses for several minutes each and whenever he gets out of position, that damn stick comes outta nowhere to whack him. Stiles seriously considered setting the damn thing on fire but he is pretty sure that would only result in Wong using magic to do the same thing.

"You must master the forms Stiles. Each position is a step in the meditative process. Your mind is the master, not your body. Tell it to obey and it will do so" Wong repeats in a tired voice. "Cold, hot, itchy, tired, sore…these are all things your body tells you, but you decide whether or not to listen. Monks can swim in ice water or remain in a position for hours at a time ignoring all discomforts to focus on their thoughts. The only reason you cannot is that you do not choose to do so" Wong reminds him.

"It's not much of a choice!" Stiles complains. "My muscles, what there are of them, are sore and exhausted."

Wong snorts. "So you think you won't have to do magic or fight when you are tired? Will you only face darkness on a schedule? Will your pack only be threatened when it's convenient? Well, if that's the case, then I guess we can train only when you are well rested, well fed, and fully prepared for your enemies" Stiles glares at the man's sarcastic tone while mentally giving him credit for the sass.

"You are really annoying ya know?" Stiles mutters. He hears the other man laugh but misses the sound of the bamboo cane whistling towards him right before it strikes his shoulders. "Jesus!" he screams in shock.

"Keep your shoulders back" Wong tells him with no sympathy in his voice.

Stiles mutters as he corrects his posture as the other man walks around him watching. Things have been pretty good for the last two weeks but he knows his free time is quickly running out. School starts next week so he won't be able to keep up with his daily trips…he laughs at the fact that every day he is traveling to New York and often Nepal before he returns home. His dad's schedule is as erratic as ever so Stiles trains when he can. Wong has even introduced him to several other teachers who have been working with him when Wong is busy. The best part however is the access to the Majestic Library in Kamar-Taj that Stiles can now read whenever he wants.

Stephen had shown up a few days after he got his body back, visited for a bit, and was then off again dealing with other issues. They had talked a few times, but it seems that he was content to leave Stiles in Wong's capable, though really annoying, hands. Stiles had to admit that he was enjoying this as every so often he managed to convince Wong to let him play hooky and he would get time to explore New York. Using his magic radar, he even found several other books he bought with some of the money that Stephen had given him including a really good one on necromancy and another on alchemy that had really helped him understand both magics better.

"Now!" Wong yelled and suddenly three of the other trainees all turned and shifted into attack positions and Stiles' quickly moved to take a defensive stance, calling forth magic shields to both of his hands. Marti struck first as she usually did with her energy whip but Stiles was prepared. Instead of deflecting it, he shoved downward and pinned it to the ground with his foot while focusing on his connection with the element of Earth. He had learned a neat trick when using his Earth magic and that was to connect him firmly to the ground which enabled him to magnify his own strength temporarily. He imagined that it would probably take someone way stronger than Marti to free the whip at this moment.

Pei and Marcus moved to flanking positions before they attacked and Stiles smirked. Illusion casting was another one of the in-between magics resting between sorcery, witchcraft, and necromancy and once Stiles had realized that he had spent a good chunk of time figuring out how to use it. The trick with illusions was that you didn't want to just make something appear so unbelievably as people would figure out pretty quickly it wasn't real. No, Stiles really preferred to use illusions to hide things that were actually there which could be almost more effective.

Stiles dodged both of the guys' attacks and then cast three quick illusions, the first being the illusion of darkness. The entire courtyard blacked out for a moment before Marcus dispelled it. The next few seconds were some of the best in Stiles' life. He had laid illusions on them that caused total chaos. Pei and Marti blasted Stiles knocking him into a wall to crumble into a heap on the ground and both of them smirked right up to the moment that the illusion that had cloaked Marcus and had made him look like Stiles dissolved. Both of them looked stunned at their friend right before Stiles blasted both of them from behind, covered in an illusion that had made him look like Wong so they had totally ignored him.

Wong's laughter rang out as the three other trainees all looked over and saw the 'second' Wong and Marti groaned in realization of what had happened. Stiles dropped the illusion on himself, smiling hugely, as Wong checked on Marcus who was still unconscious. "That was a very ingenious use of your illusions Stiles" Wong nodded at the teen with a smile. "So what did you learn?" he asked Marti and Pei and Stiles was still smiling when that damned bamboo stick hit the back of his knees sending him crashing to the ground. Wong leaned over Stiles' groaning form with an expectant eyebrow.

"Don't lose focus" Stiles groaned and Wong laughed again. Stiles grimaced at his teacher and sat up to begin the next lesson.

Stiles parked his jeep and got out and dragged himself inside the coffee shop. He knew he was going to miss his daily visits with Wong, but with all the time zones, he was getting loopy and now that school started on Monday, he had decided to spend the next few free days at home but first he seriously needed to take care of some of his neglected chores. First on his list is grocery shopping since he woke up this morning and discovered that they were out of coffee and he almost cried. Sure Wong had tried to wean him off the stuff, but there was no way he would make it without his java fix.

Stepping into the coffee shop Stiles feels a wave of nausea come over him and he pauses and tries to calm his suddenly rebellious stomach. It feels like he ate some really bad street food and his body was about to protest in the most violent way. Stiles looks around the shop and sees that there is a small crowd in the place with only three people in line ahead of him for coffee. He recognizes Cindy and Michael working behind the counter, both of them go to BHHS and are seniors this year if he remembers correctly. Mr. Johanson is at the front and is ordering and there is a familiar looking blonde woman standing behind him talking to a curly haired brunette woman that Stiles doesn't recognize at all. He frowns at that, Beacon Hills isn't that big and with all his time at the station, he knows most people in town at least by sight. Stiles guesses that she must be new to town.

"I think you will like working there, it's a really great school" the woman tells the brunette with a big smile. "The students are good kids and the Lacrosse team and swim teams both did really well last year. We got a new principal last year but he didn't last and left unexpectedly right before the end of the school year, very strange I tell you. I haven't personally met the new Principal yet, but between you and me, I am kind of glad the old one left. His daughter was discovered to have murdered an entire family here in town a number of years ago, very bad news, and I admit, he weirded me out" she whispered as she glanced around the shop.

"Oh my, that is terrible. I mean, I would never blame someone for another person's actions, but I think I am glad that he is gone and I won't have to deal with any of that. I am looking for a nice quiet place to teach. My last relationship ended badly and I can use a fresh start" the brunette tells the woman who nods in sympathy.

Stiles looks closer at the brunette who is apparently a new teacher at the high school. He wonders what she is teaching. Suddenly she is ordering and Stiles listens to Cindy take her order for a chai tea and learns that her name is Jennifer. "Well I am really looking forward to teaching this year and in being here. It seems like such a great town with such welcoming people and I love teaching English" Jennifer says and Stiles suddenly realizes that she is probably replacing Mr. Horton which means that he will actually be in her class if she teaches the advanced English sections.

"Well Ms. Blake, I am sure that the students will love you" the woman assures her and Jennifer laughs softly as they step away from the cashier to wait for their orders and Stiles moves up to order.

Stiles decides to drink his coffee in the shop and the fact that he sits close enough to eavesdrop on his new teacher has no impact on that decision. Besides, he still feels sick and trying to drive is probably not the best thing at the moment. He listens for a bit and learns that the blonde woman is Ms. Blake's neighbor and is showing the new woman around. They mostly talk about Ms. Blake's new job and Stiles thinks that the woman seems okay but after Harris, he isn't going to trust appearances. No, she make look nice and sweet, but until he sees her in action, he will withhold judgement. The woman could be the embodiment of evil and could end up making his life miserable over the next year.

Stiles finishes his coffee he still feels pretty off but he figures that some fresh air might help so he makes sure to drive to the store with the windows down and it helps immensely. By the time he pulls into the parking lot of the grocery store, his stomach has settled and he is feeling completely normal much to his relief. He moves through the market and shakes his head at the number of unhealthy options that he would usually buy. Over the last few weeks of eating with Wong, Stiles has figured out that his magical sensitivities has affected the way he tastes food and he can really taste the difference in foods with more chemicals and preservatives in them. So for the last few weeks, he has been reading up on recipes and ideas to improve their diet without making his dad revolt so on this trip he focuses on getting fresh fruits, vegetables, some lean meats, and some whole grains to replace the starches and white breads they normally eat. He figures that he can make their meals taste pretty good with what he learned so far and he never would have guessed that Wong was such a foodie!. Plus there's the benefit that if it tastes good then maybe his dad won't cheat too much.

Turning on the snack aisle he groans sadly. Just because he knows better doesn't mean that he doesn't still like salty and sweet snacks but his father is like a dang bloodhound who manages to find any junk food that Stiles brings home, no matter how good a job of hiding it he does. Stiles pauses and gets a truly evil grin on his face, he grabs packs of Oreos, some chips, and a few Reese's cups to put in the cart after realizing that he can hide all of the junk food from his dad with his illusion spells! Even if his dad spots the cookies, Stiles can make it appear to be a box of wheat germ. Stiles cackles to himself as he heads off to the freezer section whistling as he thinks about what kind of ice cream he should get.