Chapter 9

Stiles pulls his jeep into the spot in front of the school and grabs his bag, ready for the first day of junior year. Scott had told him not to pick him up as he had a surprise and he smiled when he saw the crooked jawed teen pull up on the used motor bike. "Your mom let you get it?" Stiles asks as Scott takes off his helmet.

"Yeah!" the shaggy haired teen said with a huge smile. "I got it yesterday after saving up all summer and mom finally agreeing. Isn't it awesome?" he asks his friend smiling down at the bike.

"It's amazing" Stiles assures him without a tremor in his voice and luckily Scott is too enamored with the bike to listen to Stiles heart.

"And news on the Allison front?" Stiles asks as they walk into the school heading for the lockers.

"It was great. She said she learned a lot this summer from her family in France and is willing to give us a try" his smile was huge. "We are going to go slow, start with friends and maybe a date or two, but she smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek" the teen gushed and Stiles tried to avoid sighing.

"Did you hear they replaced Mr. Horton?" Lydia asks from behind them causing Stiles to spin around and see the petite redhead standing there looking fabulous as usual.

"Yeah" Stiles nods with a happy smile "they hired a woman, Ms. Blake, to replace him. I have her for AP English 3rd period."

Lydia narrows her eyes a bit before nodding. "Me too" she says and Stiles sighs as he watches her turn to smile at Jackson who is coming down the hall with Danny. Stiles watched Lydia's love for the douche save him from being a Kanima so he knew that they were 'destined to be' or something, but it still stuck a little when he thought about it. He nodded at Danny as the three joined up and headed out and he wondered how long it would take him to be told about everything. As Jackson's best friend and Lydia's friend by association, Danny would probably figure it out if they don't tell him.

Stiles looks over for Scott but he is already gone and when Stiles looks around he sees his friend already talking to Allison and figures that he is as good as gone. "Ugh, that again?" Stiles turns and sees Erica staring at Scott and Allison standing by Allison's locker.

"Did you ever doubt it?" Stiles snorted. "Romeo and Juliet got nothing on those two" he snarks and smiles at Erica's chuckle.

"You have history first period?" she asks cautiously and when Stiles nods she smiles her now usual grin "Good. Then you can sit with me" she says grabbing his arm.

"You aren't going to get in trouble with Derek for talking to me?" even to him his voice sounds a bit whiney but it slips out.

Erica doesn't look at him but her grip tightens. "He has lightened up you know" she whispers in a conspiratorial voice and she watches as he gives her a patented 'you've got to be kidding me' look that shows he doesn't believe her for a second.

"Okay, he hasn't but he'll get over it" she finally confesses and the both laugh honestly for probably the first time since the Argent basement. They have an unstated agreement where no one talks about their shared abuse at Gerard's hand. God knows what Derek would do if he found out that Stiles had been injured…again. They sit down and Stiles sighs as he realizes that instead of studying the history of magic or something as interesting, he is stuck here in BHHS learning this boring stuff. He sighs and opens his notebook and tries to focus.

As he walks in to English class just ahead of Lydia, Stiles nearly stumbles from the wave of nausea that hits him like a ton of bricks. He stops and looks around and sees Matt talking to Ms. Blake at her desk. He takes a deep breath just as Lydia comes up behind him "Any day" she says curtly, but with significantly less real animosity than she would have last year. He nods and grabs and seat trying to regain control of his stomach.

Ms. Blake starts the lesson after the bell and Stiles is somehow able to focus on her lesson even through the ill feeling that hangs over him. Dammit. He just realized that Wong was right about needing to be able to focus even when your body was betraying you. Stiles refused to admit to the man that he was able to use his meditation and training to focus through the nausea to listen to the teacher's surprisingly interesting lecture.

By the time class ends, Stiles is about ready to head to the nurses office and if it wasn't lunch time, ugh no food, he would have seriously considered it. Instead he follows along listening to Lydia talk about how surprised she is that Beacon Hills managed to attract as competent a teacher as Ms. Blake. Fortunately by the time they reach the cafeteria, Stiles is feeling better so he grabs something to drink and some crackers to help settle his stomach.

Spotting Scott, he heads over and they are soon joined by Jackson, Danny, Lydia, and Allison along with several other members of the Lacrosse team. Stiles looks around and spots Isaac, Boyd, and Erica sitting together at another table and sees Boyd nod when their eyes meet. Stiles wishes they would come over but the lines between the pack and Scott/Jackson are to unclear right now for the three betas to feel comfortable over here. He's got to get Scotty to take that first step.

About halfway through lunch, Stiles realizes he is starving so he grabs a couple pieces of fruit but just the smell of the cafeteria food turns him off so that he decides he is going to start bringing his lunch. The bell rings and the rest of the day passes uneventfully and he is finally able to go home. His dad is getting off today in time for dinner so he decides he will make something that will double as dinner tonight and lunch for both of them tomorrow.

The next few days pass fairly normally until Thursday when things start getting really weird. First of all, Stiles is still getting sick in English class…everyday. He wonders if it is his magical senses or something since no one else seems affected so he decides to create a protection spell inside his 'cloak' which has helped significantly today. Which means that this classroom is being affected somehow. He hesitates to use any magic in the classroom itself when there is a sudden loud cracking sound and everyone jumps and stares at the window the the spiderweb of cracks right where a crow has smashed into the glass window killing itself.

Stiles and several other students stare out the window until Ms. Blake tries to get everyone refocused when one of the girls in class screams just as another crow hits the window. Stiles looks up and sees a black cloud heading for them and realizes it is an entire flock, all aiming right at the windows. "Get down!" Stiles yells and pulls several of the other students away from the windows just as the crows start hitting in greater numbers. The pops are so loud and close together that Stiles is reminded of gunfire. People are yelling and screaming and then one of the windows shatter and now the crows are in the classroom, screaming and flying around.

Stiles drops to ground, throwing himself over Lydia and Michelle and spots his classmates trying to cover themselves from the screaming crows. Stiles feels an overwhelming sense of wrongness and death and knows that this attack is magical in nature. Remembering Stephen's warning, Stiles restrains himself from acting but he calls to mind several spells just in case and then it suddenly goes quiet.

Looking up carefully, Stiles doesn't see or hear anything flying around and he slowly stands up, shocked at the scene before him. Almost all the windows are broken in some way, glass scattered around the room amongst the dead bodies of crows and feathers that litter the classroom. Several of the students have gashes and cuts on them and Stiles belatedly realizes that he has a few on his arms. He looks at Lydia but she appears unharmed though she is definitely not happy.

"Was this?" she whispered grasping his hand in a fierce grip that conveyed how 'not happy' she was.

Stiles nodded with a grim expression and stepped over to help up several of his classmates who were still on the ground. The Vice-Principal came running in along with several others before he turned and yelled for the nurse. Stiles wondered if any other classes were hit when he spotted Ms. Blake still on the ground. He moved to give her a hand and was worried about the look of total confusion on her face. He gently reached up and pulled a crow feather from her hair causing her to startle a bit just as Mr. White ordered all of them to grab their things and leave the room.

They were marched to the nurse first and got attended to and by the time Stiles was done, lunch had already started so he walked in and spotted his normal group, Lydia whispering to Allison while Scott and Jackson were obviously listening in to her take on what happened. Stiles frowned and wondered again if he should have used his magic to stop the crows but he remembered the look of fear and confusion on Ms. Blake's face and got a dark thought. Her classroom was being targeted by something nasty and he felt he had to seriously consider whether she might be being targeted by something. Sending those crows would seriously spook her and the traces of magic on her classroom might be another form of attack. He would need to be extra careful not to draw any attention to himself so that whoever was responsible wouldn't be tipped off, but Stiles was going to be watching.

Stiles focuses his energy, summoning a mystic circle and then adding layers to the conjuring that add greater and greater complexity to his spell. "Every symbol has a purpose, a meaning, a reason" master Lyra told him as he tried to focus on the six rings of symbols floating in the air. "Good, now use it" she instructed and Stiles shoved both hands forward, connected at the wrist, fingers splayed, like he was pushing the magic away and watched as the rings shot forward connecting to the section of the stone wall causing it glow slightly.

Stiles watched as the stones turned to sand and a giant hole melted away without causing any damage to the rest of the wall. "Very good" master Lyra nodded in satisfaction. She had been trying to get him to understand that the simple way was rarely the right way. His spell was pretty complex for making a hole which he could have done by simply blasting the wall, but this was about finesse. His hole was perfect – a circle with smoothed edges the exact size the Stiles intended. The stones were weathered to sand by his spell so that there had been no sound or noise and except for the pile of sand, there was no evidence of what he did. Finally the wall's integrity wasn't compromised so no risk of it falling down attracting attention.

"Do you understand why I asked this?" Lyra asked him after he had sat down across from her on the ground and taking a drink of the tea. Stiles had quickly learned to restrain his impulse to blurt out or babble till he got it. While Wong was pretty tolerant of his talking, Master Lyra could give Derek lessons in the art of talking less. But he organized his thoughts and told her about the differences and that her way combined control over both the act and the outcome differed from brute force.

"And?" she prompted not indicating whether or not he was on the right track or not.

"And it's good practice for casting more complex spells. Having to hold so many layers to the spell in your mind was really hard and these were all connected and made sense. Some of the spells I've seen in the books are like casting totally different spells all at the same time" Stiles fumbled to explain.

Lyra smiled at the teen. "You are doing well Stiles" she finally says and he smiles brightly at the encouragement. "Magic can be a distraction when it becomes more interesting than what you are supposed to be doing. Magic for magic's sake is waste. When you find your purpose, the purpose for your magic, then you will be able to better know how magic can serve that purpose."

Stiles smiles and knows the lesson is officially over. Taking the chance he tells her about the situation at school with the ill feeling and the crows killing themselves. There had also been a situation with a deer flinging itself through Lydia and Allison's windshield and several other incidents around the county where animals behaved uncharacteristically ending in their deaths.

Lyra is thoughtful and quiet while she considers what he said. "I am not skilled in the other forms of magic, but this does not sound like sorcery. Honestly, if not for the deaths, I would guess it was Druidic magic. Since you are tied to the magic of your home, the sickness you feel may be the land trying to warn you of something dangerous and you would be wise to listen."

"Should I cast a seeking when I feel it?" he asks slowly knowing that it doesn't feel exactly right even as he says it.

Lyra frowns and shakes her head. "I would not. The sickness may indicate a malevolent presence and your magic blanket would not protect you if you actively use your magic. But there may be something you can do" she says with a considerate pause. "A spell of true sight might allow you to see through deceptions and illusions without breaking them. It is not easy to do, outside your skill at the moment, but you could practice it and master it soon enough" she assures him.

They go to the library and Lyra shows him the spell and they spend some time going over it and Stiles grimaces at the details of the spell. She is right, it is not quick or easy. There are preparations and other issues that will take Stiles a ways to manage and it will not be simple to do, especially in a place like school. And it will draw his energy rapidly so he will only be able to use it for short periods of time, but the spell should allow him to see through illusions, glamours, and even to see the true nature of those touched by magic. Stiles thanks Master Lyra and goes back to the New York sanctuary so he can pick up a pizza for his dad to celebrate the first week of school.

The next few days pass without anything new or out of the ordinary happening. Stiles doesn't feel the 'icky-ness' in Ms. Blake's classroom as much as before but he isn't sure if that is because he has built up a block against it or if whatever was causing it has passed. The good news was that there appeared to be a drop in the animal suicides so at least something was better. Stiles had also begun to work on his sigils and runecraft and had made pretty good progress. He had designed an elemental tattoo for each of the five elements; earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. After studying the book he got in San Francisco he managed to meld a number of different styles and techniques and he was about ready. After talking with Martinique he even had the name of a tattoo artist who was also an enchantress who lived two towns over which was perfect since it was close enough to get to easy but far enough to be out of his dad's jurisdiction.

Stiles had called and made an appointment with Kelsey, the tattoo artist/enchantress, and he was now pulled up in front of her store and he stared at the window. Swallowing nervously he remembered passing out when Scott got his tattoos and he knew that he couldn't do that this time, he would need to be awake and focused to help weave the spells into the tattoos. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out of the jeep and walked into the store and looked around but no one was inside. A woman, not too much older than Derek stepped through a curtain and Stiles blinked in surprise.

To be honest, he was expecting someone significantly more tattooed but Kelsey was rather restrained. He could see several on her arms and one on her neck, but it was rather understated if he was being honest. "Stiles?" she asks with a smile "I'm Kelsey. Sorry about the store but this is not exactly a busy time so normally it's just one or two of us working" she explained as she locked the door and turned the sign to 'closed'. "Back here and we can talk" she led them to a rather pleasant room with lots of pictures of tattoos on the walls.

"Now" she said as they sat down. "What are you looking for in a tattoo?" she asked casually as she grabbed some notebooks from a shelf.

"Martinique said you might be able to help me with doing some original ones" Stiles said and watched as the young woman froze before looking back at him in surprise. "She said that you were quite…enchanting" Stiles couldn't hold back the smirk at the woman's look of surprised amusement.

"Did she?" Kelsey said putting the notebooks down. "And why would she say something like that do you think?" Stiles smiled at the woman and remembered Martinique's description of the woman. She was gifted, but not particularly skilled. She dabbled in her domain, but she was a talented artist and Martinique had been certain that with the right support, Kelsey could be a good ally.

"I have been designing some sigils, runes, and tattoos all blended together and I think if I focus on my magic while you work, they will be effective" Stiles said deciding to lay his cards on the table.

Kelsey sighed deeply and leaned back in her chair. "Look kid, I don't know what you are expecting from this, but if you have some grand ideas about magical tattoos making you some kind of bad ass…you need to let that go. I do tattoos and sure, I have some skills but I have not managed to do anything like that."

Stiles smiles knowingly and reaches into his bag and pulls out the tattoo kit and lays it out in front of her. "Ever thought about using these?" Stiles asks and watches as the enchantress reaches out a trembling hand to touch the tools, her hand jumping back like it was electrocuted.

"What are these?" she whispers reverently as she traces her fingers over each tool in the leather case with a rapt expression.

"They were a tattoo set from an old family that ended up in a friend's shop" Stiles told her watching her near stroking of the tools. "I believe that they were used to create magical tattoos for many years and while they are not magic themselves" Stiles chuckled at the woman's look of disbelief "they channeled a great deal of magic making them formidable tools."

Kelsey leaned back and considered the teen in front of her much more carefully. "You are under 18 and I am betting you don't have your parents' permission do you?" she stated flatly.

"And my dad is a sheriff to boot" Stiles added and saw the woman's face harden with resolve despite her obvious want.

"Look kid, I could lose my license and shop" she says slowly, like the words are being pulled out against her will.

"Here's the offer" Stiles says cutting her off. He pulls out the sketches of the tattoos for both legs, his arms, his back, hips, and the ones on his chest and lays them down before her and smirks as she gasps and looks at each of them carefully. She finally looks up at him with a bewildered expression.

"Kid, these are some serious tats and I have to be honest, I don't recognize most of them but I can tell they are impressive. Unfortunately I am not that good" she says with a disappointed sigh.

"Maybe not magically" Stiles concedes "but you are a gifted artist. Your skill, combined with those tools, and me weaving my own magic into it as you work, should be enough" he tells her and he can tell that she is on the edge. She wants to see what would happen but the risks are high. "And my payment is this…if you do this…the tools are yours to keep" Stiles says and watches her eyes suddenly light up with want.

"You will just give them to me?" she whispers and then clears her throat. "Seriously?" she demands sounding much more forcefully.

"You may not be able to create tattoos like this without a magical partner" Stiles concedes "but runes and other standard sigils would definitely be possible with your own skill and these tools. In time, you could probably create some pretty impressive work" Stiles offers and he sees the temptation in her eyes. "Take a look at this one, I want it on my right hip" he suggests and she picks up the picture.

Kelsey stares at the picture and frowns. She recognized the all-seeing eye with the rays of light extending from it in the center and the shadowy orb behind it reminded her of the moon for some reason though why it would be black instead of white was beyond her. There were several smaller symbols both inside and outside that sphere but she couldn't decipher their meaning. She shook her head, she didn't know what it was but she could feel that it would be magical.

"How about this? You tattoo this one on my hip as a test of everything. If I can avoid passing out, if you like the tools, if it even works and then you can decide. It will be hidden so my dad won't spot it so you don't have to worry about that even though I would never tell him" Stiles offers.

Kelsey wavers. This kid is probably sixteen or seventeen and the risk from giving him the rather simple tattoo. It was actually really well done and she was pretty sure she could do it in one sitting even with the tools. Almost without thought, her hand drifted to the case and she picked up one of the needles and she felt her own power react to them. She had to have these tools!

"Okay, but I get the tools after this one no matter what" she offers trying to push him but she grimaces at his bark of laughter.

"Not a chance" Stiles says after he stops laughing. "After this one, we can negotiate, but I am not giving you the case for one tattoo."

Kelsey frowns but she isn't really upset as she didn't think that the kid was gullible enough to go for that. "Okay, let's get on with it and then we will talk" she says and starts getting her supplies out when Stiles pulls out a packet of his bag and hands it to her. "What's this?" she asks shaking it and feeling like it is some kind of powder.

"It needs to be mixed in with the ink" Stiles tells her and she starts to shake her head. "It's okay, trust me I have had it checked. It is a mix of herbs and ingredients that will enhance the ink. There should be enough to do all the tattoos in that bag" he tells her and he can see the doubt. "It is, it only takes about a ¼ of a teaspoon per vial of ink, I checked."

"I don't like using unknown stuff" she tells him unhappily.

"Trust me" Stiles smirks and Kelsey thinks that she is going to have a long talk with Martinique the next time she is in San Francisco.

"All done" Kelsey says with a final wipe on Stiles' hip. She stares at the tattoo and admits that whatever he added to the black ink had a very interesting effect on the tattoo. She was about 50% sure that the eye had winked at her at one point. Another first, she had never had a customer chanting the entire time. Praying? Screaming? Passing out? Sure, all of those, but chanting was new. "What was the point of all that chanting and while we are on it, what language was that anyway?"

"Several" Stiles answered as he stared at the tattoo in the mirror across from his chair. The skin was red and irritated, the tattoo shiny from the gel Kelsey had put on it. "Tibetan, Celtic, Summerian, Norse, Latin, and a few others. It was a set of spells designed to empower your work" he explains.

"Whatever" she mutters and puts down the needle she had used back in the kit and sighed knowingly. Using manual tools to do the tattoo was much harder than she thought, but it was so much better than her gun. She knew that she had to have these tools so she would agree to do the rest no matter what the risk. "What's it supposed to do?"

Stiles smiled and she startled when the tattoo started glowing with a dark green light, so dark it might have been black but then it faded away and she looked up in surprise as she watched Stiles fade away like a mirage that was never there. "Stiles?" she yelped looking around.

The teen's laughter sounded out and Kelsey spun around trying to locate the source. "I'm still here" he told her and faded back into sight with a beaming expression. "The sigil confuses people's sight by drawing on the shadow power of the new moon. It won't work during the day time unless there are plenty of shadows, but at night? Instant invisibility" Stiles boasts and Kelsey just shakes her head in admiration. "Even better?" Stiles expression has definitely crossed over to smug now "It hides things from sight besides me." He laughs at her confusion "Unless the magic is flowing through them, it will hide any other tattoos you do" he tells her.

Stiles smiles as he watches the look of comprehension come over Kelsey's face. "So you can use that one to hide the other tattoos? From your father?" at his nods she bursts out in laughter. "You sneaky bastard" she laughs, admiration clear in her voice. "Okay, we have a deal. I will do all the tattoos you want in exchange for the tools and an agreement that you will sell me the stuff for the ink at a reasonable price" she adds with a glare.

Stiles smiles happily and agrees. They agree to meet every three days until they are done and Stiles figures it will take a while to finish the others as they are more complicated so he leaves the drawings with Kelsey and heads back home, proud of himself for not passing out during the process. They agreed to start working on his back next as it would take the most time. His design of an immense tree had been haunting his dreams for some time and within its branches were runes and symbols that would focus on protecting and aiding Stiles the most. He had even designed a healing rune that should help him recover significantly faster from any injuries when activated not to mention speeding up the healing of the tattoos. At least he wouldn't have to use a blowtorch!

"Are you bleeding?" Scott asks sniffing as he leans closer to Stiles who yelps and pushes the other teen back into the lockers.

"Personal space dude!" Stiles yelps and looks around to see their classmates staring at them with resigned expressions used to their antics by now.

"Sorry man, but I smell blood. Are you okay? Did something happen?" Scott's voice dropped to a whisper as he looked around the halls. Ever since they had spotted the psycho twins at the school, everyone had been on edge.

"I cut myself shaving okay?" Stiles muttered hoping that would be that but he saw the look of pure disbelief on his best friend's face. "I do shave" he whisper yells in outrage.

"Dude" Scott looks at him in obvious pity before his face suddenly screws up in fear "where were you shaving?" he asks looking as if he is afraid of the answer but he can't really hide the smirk or the sparkle in his eyes.

Stiles is fairly sure that he came as close as he has ever managed to duplicate the 'derek-hale-glare-of-death' (patent pending) as he muttered "Asshole" as he stomped off with Scott following behind and laughing at each new quip.

The next three weeks are brutal. Stiles has spent way too much time at Kelsey's tender mercies and as she has gotten used to the tools, apparently she has 'bonded with them' or something, she is able to do a lot of work when she figured out how to combine the kit with her modern tools somehow. His back is covered by the tree with runes and symbols throughout the branches. Runes for Healing, general health, protection, family, and the sigils six domains of magic. Kelsey also suggested a personal totem so he meditated on that and surprise, he came up with a wolf. A jet black wolf that appeared during one of his meditations and he knew immediately it was his spirit animal.

Kelsey had originally tattooed the wolf at the base of Stiles' tree not long after she had done the tree's branches and trunk. That was when they both discovered that the combination of Stiles' magic, the tools, and the ink had some unexpected side effects. The first being that that wolf had a mind of its own and would wander around his body without rhyme or reason. The first night he woke up and found it sleeping over his heart had nearly caused a freak out that only got worse when it woke up, glared at him, and then went back to sleep. After that it was almost a game to figure out where it would show up next. He also found out that the tattoo that was supposed to hide the others didn't always work on the wolf...apparently he was as contrary as Stiles himself.

Kelsey had been amused at the wolf's antics, but when she finished the tree she really freaked out. First, the entire thing stared moving, the leaves and branches swaying like there was a breeze. She also noted that some of the tree's leaves had started changing colors. She had done them in the deep green Stiles had agreed to using when he rejected the idea of a full color tattoo. They figured that Stiles' tree would probably reflect the seasons so its leaves would fall, change color, and bud at different times. It was funny because Stiles liked that idea and thought it was right while Kelsey freaked for quite some time but then she loved the wolf, especially when it annoyed Stiles.

After his back had come his arms. Stiles and Kelsey had worked his drawings a bit and she had inked both his arms and legs. On his right arm, between his elbow and hand, she had put the runes and sigils for the element of fire. His left arm had the tattoo he created for air while his right leg had Earth and his left leg had water. After getting them, Stiles found his control and strength in using elemental magic was massively increased. He could summon fireballs with little to no effort and the same went with the other elements. He had been so proud the first time he showed off for Wong who had been thoroughly impressed with his mastery.

Wong and Lyra had been so enthusiastic about his progress and even though they didn't use tattoos, runes, or sigils in their sorcery, they did come up with some great suggestions. Lyra suggested getting a Japanese rune for self behind his ear. She had studied in Japan for a while and discovered that the symbol was often associated with protection from possession. Stiles had that one placed behind his left ear while behind his right he had Wong's suggestion. A sigil for understanding that allowed Stiles to learn languages like nothing before. He actually managed to learn Tibetan in three days after getting it and totally shocked both of his teachers.

Over his heart, Stiles had the sigil for the final element of spirit and he had decided to combine it with some elements of Necromancy which he felt blended well. The sigil had shifted in colors from black to white and back again as Kelsey had worked, much to her concern, but when she finished the entire thing had flared for the briefest of moments before disappearing entirely. Stiles could still feel it, but he got the impression that he wasn't ready for what it represented so it was hiding, even from him.

But now he is finally finished as he stands in Kelsey's shop trying not to be too embarrassed to have her see him standing there in nothing but his boxers. He focuses for a moment and all of the tattoos suddenly flare up, giving off different colors. He had wondered about that and when he asked Lyra and Wong they were both clueless but Stiles had begun to think that maybe color was also tied to the different domains of magic. He remembered how he had been dreaming of the tree off and on for quite some time, but once Kelsey had finished it, they had definitely intensified in regularity and intensity. And now last night he woke up from a sheer panic when the normally easy dream suddenly turned dark and the tree he had been seeing for so long was suddenly and violently cut down. He didn't know what it meant, but he hadn't been able to get back to sleep without checking his back. Seeing the wolf guarding his tree definitely made Stiles feel better even though he didn't get back to sleep even after seeing everything was okay.

Now he had to admit that he looked pretty rad. He knew that Scott and the others had detected something but after that first time when he smelled the tattoo, Stiles had added a 'smell me normal' spell to his morning routine and the wolves only smelled normal Stiles. He had limited the smell to hiding the smell of blood because he knew that if suddenly disappeared from their noses they would freak.

"Okay, I admit it" Kelsey said staring at Stiles back and his front in the reflection in the mirror he was standing in front of "you look bad ass."

Stiles glared but she held up her hands in the universal sign of surrender. "No pity comments from the gallery" Stiles mutters.

"Dude" Kelsey looks flabbergasted. "You are kidding right? You look fierce kid. Your tattoos are not only amazing to look at, they are powerful, more than I ever thought they could be. Sure they are not going to make you into Thor or the Hulk, but they definitely will make you someone to watch out for in the magic world. You know I had a girl with fae blood come in a few days ago saying she wanted a glamor rune on her shoulder, she was going to college and wanted to make sure her appearance didn't slip so I used your tools and ink and it was amazing. She was very impressed and paid me really well. I have had almost a dozen calls since then asking for appointments from our kind of people."

"Wow…that's really great Kelsey. You are really doing amazing work" Stiles said and the girl almost threw up her hands in exasperation.

"Stiles, it is all thanks to you" she told him as she glared. "Your ink, your tools, and don't think I haven't noticed that you have been warding the shop each time you come in" she said and smirked when Stiles had the grace to blush at getting caught. "You are setting yourself up to be a real player in the magic world even if no one knows exactly who you are yet." She stared at the teen for a bit while he got dressed, his tattoos fading away again except for the wolf who apparently really did have a mind of its own.

"I appreciate you saying that Kelsey, but you did the tattooing and the kit channeled the magic. I mean I know I am getting better, but…" his voice trailed off as he realized he truly didn't know what he wanted to say.

"So I guess you are not the sorcerer who declared that everything west of the Rockies was his territory and obliterated a coven of dark witches and sent the survivors running for the hills?" Kelsey hummed in question and then snorted at Stiles' astounded look. "Oh, I didn't know that was you when you first came in, if I had I probably would have run for the hills myself" she laughs softly. "You really put the fear of god into that group and they were telling just about everyone who would listen about the terrifying Sorcerer of California. Of course, several of the coven's enemies caught them returning to New Orleans weakened and tattered and decided to take revenge and wiped out the survivors, but word has still gotten around."

"It wasn't exactly like that" Stiles stammered blushing even redder at the look of admiration Kelsey was giving him. "I had serious help from a friend" he explained.

"Whatever" she acknowledged with a shrug. "All I know is that fae girl, she told me that there are whispers among the magic folk of an Arcanist rising in Beacon Hills and I am pretty sure that she was talking about you even if she didn't know it."

"A what?" Stiles was truly surprised at the word, he hadn't come across it yet.

"Really?" Kelsey snorts in surprise but looks surprisingly smug. "You babble on about the most esoteric things but you don't know what an Arcanist is? Oh, that is funny, but I am so not going to be the one to explain to you. You are just going to have to figure out for yourself whether or not that is you but whatever happens, I hope that you will consider me a friend whenever you need something."

Stiles nodded and thanked the woman before he left but he fretted about what Kelsey had said during his drive home. What exactly was an 'Arcanist' and why did Stiles detect a real hint of fear in her eyes when he confirmed that he had gotten rid of the coven. He needed to call Martinique, Wong, or even Stephen.