Chapter 12

Allison stepped out the door of the building just as two vehicles pulled in that looked fairly well packed with people. The first was a rather old minivan that had five people in it driven by a younger woman who looked only a few years older than herself. The man in the passenger front seat had a shaved head and at a guess he was Stiles' monk friend. The other car was a Prius with two women in their thirties she would guess and a man in the back who looked about a decade or so older than her father. She watched as they parked and all got out looked around with that nervousness that she was beginning to associate with any supernatural who was in the territory and didn't have Stiles' 'official' permission.

Allison had spoken to Celeste and Arwen about two days after their visit and both of the fae women had looked significantly more relaxed than they were when they had first visited them after Stile's change. Apparently being in his territory without 'permission' was irritating but manageable as it had built up so slowly that they hadn't realized what was happening. After seeing Stiles and he making it clear they were welcome, both sisters had felt the sudden change and realized how much better it was once the feeling was gone. But this group all had that look of discomfort without really understanding why.

"Ms. Devereaux?" she politely asks the oldest woman.

"Martinique, please" she replies in a voice that carries just a hint of a French accent but enough to make Allison smile.

"Martinique, I am Allison. Stiles asked me to help you up to the loft" she told her and then looked at the others and smiled, her dimples on full display. "This way" she offered and started towards the door.

"How do you know Stiles?" one of the younger girls asks.

Allison glances at her with a questioning look. "How do you?"

"Oh!" she looks surprised. "Sorry, I am Sophie. I met Stiles a while back when he came to town to visit Martinique. He stayed over and we had a bit of a party."

"Ah" Allison said with a smile. "You are part of the San Francisco Coven?"

Sophie looks surprised but nods. "You…aren't a wolf?" she says more like a question.

Allison laughs at that and the reaction her father would have had to that question. "No, I'm human. But I am part of the pack" she says hitting the elevator button and the door immediately opens. Helps living in a building with only Derek's loft occupied. "My boyfriend is a wolf though."

The group all enter the elevator and Allison closes the doors. "If you are human…you are the Huntress" Kiran states easily.

Ali smiles at the man. "Yes. I am Allison Argent."

One of the women doesn't manage to control her gasp. "But the Argents are…" she suddenly trails off realizing that what she was about to say was probably not the best thing to say in a crowded elevator.

"The American branch of the family has lost its way, yes. But my father and I, with the support of the Argent Grand Matriarch, are working to correct those mistakes. It will take a while but I feel our alliance with Stiles and the Hale Pack are good first steps." She sees the woman look slightly less nervous but both Martinique and Kiran look unconcerned. Stiles had talked with both of them more than once before the 'night' and based on their reactions she was certain that Stiles had already told them most of this.

The elevator stopped and she opened the door with a smile and led the group down to the large metal doors currently standing open with Lydia standing there with a smile. "Welcome" she says with a near regal politeness "please come in."

Allison hides her smile at her best friend's performance. Lydia had warned her that she was going to be playing her royal persona to the hilt to drive home their standing but she had tempered with a politeness that made it so no one could really complain.

"M!" Stiles' voice called out as they stepped in and the teen sped over and embraced the older woman in a hug.

"Blessed Goddess!" the woman with the coal black hair exclaimed in shock causing everyone to look at her in surprise, Stiles and Martinique both pulling out of their hug and staring at the woman in shock.

"Gwen?" Martinique looked at the woman with confusion.

"You said the boy had no mark you could see! His Witch mark is clear as day!" she says looking upset. At her words all of the women look at Stiles and stare for a moment before looking similarly shocked.

"Stiles? What happened" one of the women asks. "When did your mark appear? How did it…I mean I have never heard of that happening before."

"It's a long story Soph" the teen says with a tired smile.

"Perhaps before we start we can have some introductions" Lydia suggests archly moving over to the sitting area now set up to hold the seven guests and three Hale Pack members. "We have tea" she offers pointing to the nice set she purchased using Derek's credit card several days ago after Satomi left and she recognized the benefits of having one of their own to have some formal hospitality.

Martinique nodded and everyone took their seats. "As you know, I am Martinique Devereaux, leader of the Coven of Mists. These are Jeannette Green and Sophia Mercer" she points to the two younger women. "both members of my coven who met Stiles when he stayed with us this summer."

"This" she points to the woman who had exclaimed "is Gwen O'Brien, representative of the Coven of Nightingales in Berkley." She points at the other woman "And this is Angela Brooks, representative of the Coven of…Slugs at Santa Cruz" she sighs as she says that.

"Go Sammy!" the woman says with a smirk and a sigh from the other witches. "What, we were founded by students at UC-Santa Cruz so why not?" she argues but no one challenges her. Stiles likes her immediately.

"I am Kiran" the monk says "from the Temple of Serene Awareness, enchanter." He looks to the last man of their group "and this is…"

"Gabriel Chavez-Morales" the man says for himself. "Alchemist and Professor of Chemistry at Stanford."

Lydia smiles at the man "and contender for the Nobel last year" she mentions and the man smiles in acknowledgement.

"And all of you?" Gwen asks politely.

"Stiles you know. As I said I am Allison Argent, of the Argent Hunter family, and this is Lydia Martin, Banshee" Ali introduces them and they look in surprise at Lydia.

"A wailing woman? Most unusual to be aligned with a wolf pack or hunters" Kiran says with a nod.

"Have to keep busy while I am working on my Fields Medal" she says with smirk and Gabriel laughs loudly.

"Oh I like you red" he says with a chuckle. "Quite a lofty goal."

"Care for a wager?" Lydia says smiling sweetly.

Just as he opens his mouth to respond both Ali and Stiles say "It's a trap" and then smile at each other.

"It's a sucker's bet Dr. Chavez-Morales" Stiles warns the man. "Lydia is a genius."

The man looks at Stiles for a second and then at Lydia "What is Ergodic Theory?" he asks her.

Lydia smiles "I don't know. I mean it couldn't have anything to do with statistical properties of deterministic dynamic systems could it?" she says with her perfect empty headed expression while twirling a curl of her hair around a finger before the mask drops and she stares at the man knowingly.

"Hah!" the man laughs. "No bet!" He turns towards Stiles. "So boy, what is this craziness that the witches are all worked up about. I have to admit I have noticed some distractions in my own work but nothing truly worthy of note."

"Right" Stiles says and then smiles. "What you do see when you look at me?" he asks the man who frowns but concentrates.

"Dios! You have the Alchemist Mark! But they said you had the Witch Mark" he looks at Martinique and the others.

"His Mark is gone!" Angela says shocked.

"Kiran?" Stiles asks and the monk focuses and then looks equally surprised.

"You have the Enchanter's Mark."

"Now it's gone!" Gabriel yells in surprise. "Boy, what is going on here?"

Stiles sighs. "I met a sorcerer, named Stephen. He helped me discover that actually I had all six Marks, but that since my magic was split up between them, none of them were strong enough to be detected by normal practitioners. Once we figured it out, I learned how to shift my energy to any Mark and use that magic."

"You possess all six magical natures?" Gwen asks astonished. "You can just shift between them? That's unheard of!"

"Not really. Just really, really, rare. And when I started that was the way, but now…" he pauses for a second and everyone reacts.

"I see the Witch Mark" Jeannette says happily.

"But I am seeing the Alchemist Mark." Gabriel says.

"And his Enchanter's Mark is visible as well" Kiran adds looking at Stiles carefully.

"I can use all of them in any combination now" Stiles admits. "I also discovered that I am strongest in the border magics." He explains how using overlapping magics works for him and all of the others are looking at him and taking it all in.

"This is amazing…but I don't think this would be enough to warrant the attention of the High Witch" Martinique finally says.

"That. Okay, well it's a story. First, Stephen, the Sorcerer who helped me?" he reminds them and they all nod "is actually the Sorcerer Supreme."

The others are shocked. "You were tutored by the Ancient One?" Kiran asks looking fascinated.

"No. She has passed. Her successor, Dr. Strange, is the new Sorcerer Supreme. He helped me a bit and then connected me with Lizzie and Arthur, the Morgaine and the Merlin."

"The High Druids?!" Angela blurts out and the others look at her. "My mother was a druid" she says before turning back to Stiles. "You know them?"

Stiles explains the Darach and how he and Allison went to see them and get help to free the pack from her spell. "So once we realized what we were dealing with, we knew we had to handle her."

"Not to mention Deucalion and the Alpha Pack" Lydia reminds him. That leads into an explanation of the Alpha Pack and what it had done. Stiles skipped over his role and both Lydia and Allison realized he was drawing this out.

"Allow me" Lydia interrupted Stiles rather long and inarticulate storytelling and got them back on track. She told them about the fight and how they beat the Alphas and then fighting the Darach when Stiles called down the lightning and destroyed the Nematon.

"You destroyed a Nematon?" Gwen whispered in awe and more than a trace of fear.

"It had become corrupted by the Darach's sacrifice" Stiles explained carefully. "Instead of cleansing the magic, it was polluting it. We couldn't save it."

"But the destruction of a Nematon, especially the one here with so many Ley Lines, should have unleashed chaos" Angela said in a small voice.

"It would have, but Stiles became the new Nematon. All of the ley lines are now anchored to him" Lydia adds just before everyone explodes.

"This is impossible!" Angela yells. All three of Martinique's coven are looking over Stiles like he is about to fall apart any minute while Gwen goes absolutely pale.

"But that much power…it would incinerate you" Gwen whispers. "No one could handle that."

"Obviously he did" Gabriel says sounding unconcerned and they all turn to him in shock. "Come on. The boy is right here and has been since all this happened. Obviously he didn't burn up or get vaporized so logically something else happened. If we stop interrupting, we might get somewhere" he adds pointedly.

"Before that, we should probably mention that all four Fae Queens were here and involved" Lydia mentions and actually smirks when Sophia faints. The other witches look equally distraught. Both Kiran and Gabriel look intrigued.

"All four?" Kiran asks slowly while the Witches seem to be having trouble breathing. "Enchanters do not often cross path with the Fae, dwarves yes, but rarely the fae as they make their own magic. But even still I have not heard of even one Queen appearing this century." He turns towards Gabriel

"Don't ask me. I heard of them of course, but" he shrugs. "Not really my thing."

"All four Queens" Martinique is breathing heavy. No wonder the High Witch called. The congruence of those four Ancient Powers would be enough to set the world's magic buzzing and no doubt drew her attention.

"It gets…worse?" Stiles mutters and everyone looks at him and he looks at the girls with a pleading expression. Lydia takes sympathy on him.

Over the next few minutes she takes them on a full explanation of the 'night', through the battle, Stiles being overwhelmed, and the appearance of the Morgaine and the Queens and finally Stiles ascension to his new position as Arcanist. They don't interrupt but all three of them can see the questions in their eyes.

"So this new role means that your magic is claiming the lands. It is what we are all feeling?" Kiran asks.

"Yes. As my power expands, those within my territory will feel my 'presence' you could call it. I am connecting pretty far and all of you are now in my territory" he says. Allison stands up and pulls over the board with the map with Stiles' current territory marked on it. "This is it so far."

Martinique looks at him carefully. "Stiles, what does this mean it is your territory."

Taking a deep breath Stiles starts to explain how Lizzie and Stephen explained it to him. All of the particulars, even an abridged version of his conversation with Queen Mab, until he gets to the end.

"So you are, in essence, equal to the High Lords. Equal to the High Witch, the Morgaine, the others?" Kiran says slowly. "We feel this 'pressure' because we are in your lands without permission?"

Stiles nods and looks guilty. "Yeah…sorry about that."

Lydia manages something like a snort, but ladylike. "Stiles, stop apologizing. The simple fact is things are changing and everyone will need to adjust." She turns to their visitors. "The reality is that you are now living in the Arcanist's territory. If you wish to remain, you must acknowledge his mastery and position. If not, you can leave" she tells them abruptly and sees them all start to bristle. "But some advice. The Morgaine told me very honestly that here, in this place, she was not sure that she could challenge Stiles successfully. The Fae Queens acknowledge his position and authority as do four wolf packs at the moment. Not to mention some Fae settlers, brownies, dwarves, and several centaurs."

"And the Argent Grand Matriarch is petitioning the Hunter's Council to put Stiles' territory under Hunter's Interdict" Allison adds.

All of them looked shocked at that. "So what is involved in getting permission" Gabriel asks abruptly.

Lydia smiles and leans forward. "Well…" the next half hour has Lydia laying it all out in fine detail. Stiles watches her in surprise, rarely having to even get involved other than confirming what she is saying. The banshee had been paying much closer attention to what Derek and Peter were doing than Stiles realized and he was once again in awe of her abilities.

"So basically we would be subject to you in the same way as to the High Witch?" Gwen asks Lydia after a discussion of mutual protection.

"Dual allegiance" Lydia clarifies. "As High Witch, we would of course respect her authority over the craft, but within this territory, Stiles' authority is superior. Hopefully they would be able to work it out between them but ultimately if there was direct conflict, you would have to choose. If you didn't choose Stiles, you would not be permitted to remain here."

"And other duties?" Angela asks with a shrewd expression.

"Shared protection and defense. Willingness to teach and educate those capable, contributing to the Beacon Hills Sanctum" she starts to list.

"Wait, what?" Gabriel and Kiran both ask.

"We are building a sanctum here, like the ones in London, Hong Kong, and New York. It will contain a library so one requirement is copies of any and all manuscripts, scrolls, and books from all practitioners for the new Library. Stiles also reserves the right to ask you to teach others. Other than that, obey the law, don't cause trouble, require informed consent for all magical participants, and a few other common sense rules." Lydia smiles happily and the questioning continues.

They take a break when Allison suggests some food and they begin pulling out sandwich materials. Everyone is feeling better when Jeannette comes up to Stiles. "Stiles, earlier Lydia said several Centaurs. Didn't she mean a herd?"

Stiles suddenly frowns. "No. We found two adults and two foals recently whose herd was attacked by hunters. Several were killed and they scattered. Kreyna said that when no others showed up at their rendezvous point, they ran and found their way here."

Jeannette looked sick. She knew herd sizes. "They were all lost?" she pleaded with him to deny it.

"We think so, Peter told us they wouldn't abandon each other but we don't know for certain and there's no way to figure out what really happened yet. Kreyna and them crossed the Rockies to get here so they were far from my territory even before it happened."

"Did you do a blood affinity spell?" she asks after a moment.

"A what?" Stiles looks confused. He hadn't heard about that spell.

"A blood affinity. It's a finding spell using blood to find those of shared blood. You could use a drop of blood to locate anyone who shared it" she explained.

"WHAT!?!" Stiles exclaims. The next few minutes are a bit of chaos as Jeannette explains the spell, a rather simple one but the other Witches all confirm it was rather basic. "Why didn't I learn about this?" he looks at Martinique in reproach.

She looks just as surprised. "It's a coven spell Stiles. You would need the Witch Mark to cast it and it requires three Witches to actually use the spell. I never considered telling you because I thought you couldn't use it."

"But we have three witches now" Allison points out.

Stiles starts dancing around. "Yes! You've got to help us. We could see if any of Kreyna's herd survived!" he was bouncing around.

"But even if they did, we couldn't help them" Gwen reminds him.

Stiles stops for a second before he gets a huge smile on his face. "Wanna bet?" He slips on his ring and suddenly starts his hand moving and a portal opens up to a grassy, sun filled field. "Everyone through!" he says happily and tilts his head.

The visitors are startled but both Lydia and Allison both laugh and walk through the portal stepping into the field. Gabriel and Kiran quickly follow, both of them amazed as they transition through. Martinique, Jeannette, and Sophia all slowly follow leaving only Gwen and Angela holding back. "If you want to wait here you can" Stiles tells them. "We are just outside of town." Both women look at each other and then, straightening their backs, they step through with Stiles right behind.

"Oh my" Angela whispers as Stiles looks around her and sees Kreyna, Charyl, and the foals all being introduced to the others.

Stiles rushes past and happily greets the mares as the final two witches are introduced. "Kreyna, we know of a spell that may help us find out what happened to your herd" Stiles announces and the centaurs all looks stunned.

Lydia sighs. "Stiles, tact please." Lydia turns to the two elder mares and explains the witches spell with significantly more grace and care.

"And if they help me, I can put all my magical energy into the spell so we should be able to reach pretty far" Stiles suggests.

Both mares are willing and Jeannette draws her Athame, the ceremonial knife, out and draws blood from all four of the Centaurs. Mixing it up with some herbs that Stiles had gathered from their stocks that they needed they had a bowl of almost black liquid and Stiles sat down with the three witches from San Francisco. "We could use you both" Martinique said gently to the other witches who had held back but they finally nodded in agreement and the six were all together surrounding Stiles in a circle.

Martinique took the lead casting the spell with everyone else supporting her. "I sense others. But they are far away" she says and Stiles hears Charyl gasp in shock. "There is a strong presence…there!" she says and Stiles can feel it along with the others. Far away, outside his territory for sure, but he can almost see it. Inspiration hits and Stiles, still focused on his link with the other witches, shifts his focus to sorcery and opens a portal.

The others are surprised to see the portal open but not as much as the Centaur on the other side who jumps back. "Daython!" Charyl screams and the male centaur looks at the mare in stunned shock.

"Charyl!" he yells and both of the foals peek out at the voice.

"Papa!" they yell.

"Come through the portal!" Allison yells and then realizing that the stallion is shocked steps through and is suddenly next to him. Glad that Stiles gave her a charm to see the supernatural so she didn't need to touch a wolf anymore, Allison is about to yell at the man when she spots the others. Nearly a half dozen Centaurs are all coming up to them and the portal. "Kreyna and Charyl are safe, come with us and we can reunite your herd!" she yells.

She looks up but Daython is already through the portal and has reunited with his wife and children all hugging and embracing happily.

"Borton!" Kreyna's voice calls out across the portal and one of the males looks shocked. "All of you! Come through!" she demands and after a moment's hesitation they all race across the mystical boundary and Allison steps back through and it closes.

Allison is watching the reunion when Stiles yells out. "Ali, get ready!" and he starts moving his hands. She steps back as a new portal opens and nodding she steps across and sees a female centaur staring at her in shock with her bow drawn and pointed at the Huntress.

"Uh, hi" Alison starts but suddenly Kreyna calls out.

"Misanthra! Bring the others across. We have safe haven!" she yells out and the mare looks at the portal and sees the elder centaur and her weapons lower.

"Kreyna?" she says in disbelief but nods quickly and pulls out horn and blows it. In seconds there is the sound of hooves and Allison sees nearly a dozen centaurs, half of which are foals, racing towards them.

"This way!" she yells and steps back inside. Kreyna calls and the others cross over.

Stiles opens four more portals, each time getting fewer and fewer numbers, until finally he breaks the spell and starts to look around. In the clearing there are currently twenty-six centaurs all total and happily rejoicing at their reunion.

"We should probably have asked Derek before we did this huh?" Stiles says happily as he looks at the surrounding reunions going on. Kreyna had told them that their herd was thirty five strong when they were attacked so they lost nine, but now they were all back together. Each group had thought the others had been lost so the emotions were running high.

"Well, you can call Derek while I get busy" Lydia says with a sniff and starts forward toward Kreyna who is talking with two obvious elders. Stiles smiles and pulls out his phone to call. Despite not asking he knows Derek will…he freezes. Oh my god!! DEREK!