Down in the forest, there is a tree.
What's left of one, anyway.
The Nemeton calls another supernatural creature to its town.
The blood that drips onto it forms a circle.
"Someone anonymously uploaded a book on summoning and sample circles to the Internet. A daeva is a member of one of three 'species': demons, angels, and fairies. Indestructible magic people, each with a different type. Demons create things, angels transmute things, fairies move things."
"Of sapients? Just humans and daeva. Daeva are complicated, in that most simply pop forth fully grown one, in either Heaven, Hell, or Fairyland as appropriate, but some are former summoners who have died. So I'm not sure to what extent they actually count as separate species. Even the ones who came ex nihilo look like normal humans."
Hopefully she can forgive him for not knowing all of her exotic properties.
He parks on the street outside a small, suburban home.
"Alright. I texted everyone before we took off, so hopefully they're all here. We need to come up with a plan."
He walks up to the door.
All teens. No supervision? The one girl, Lydia, seems competent enough, at least.
"Yes. This seems to be an alternate history to the one I know. I suspect parallel universes or some such. My primary objective must be to determine how and why I was summoned here, and by whom. Until and unless I know that, I cannot be sure of the duration of my stay here. Secondarily," she smiles, "I want to learn about the local magic."
"Most of the magic here isn't stuff we can use, it's just...what we are. The stuff that humans do is different, and none of us- except Stiles, and I guess Mason- can use that. And, uh, about the summoning, our main guess right now is it's one of these new supernatural creature hybrids that keep popping up."
The cherufe is a creature made of lava; none have actually been encountered in North America, according to the helpful annotations.
Dragons may not actually be able to shapeshift; unlikely to pose as a deputy.
Firebirds have been seen taking human form, and their tendency to burst into flame is well-attested. No history of moving corpses.
Ifrit do not typically resist flame, so lighting themselves on fire wouldn't do much good.
Hellhounds are typically wreached in flame to collect the fallen; fits the fairy's observations, but they typically don't stick around.
Phoenixes, like firebirds and hellhounds, can have a flame aura, and are tied with rebirth. The annotation here reads "Kitsune?"
The hellhound appears as a spectral creature of flame. Shapeshifters that take the shape of a dog (see also: werewolves, werecoyotes) typically attack vulnerable humans. Hellhounds are less violent than the others, but frequently pick off the weakest and sickest members of the population. If one looks at you three times, your death is sure to follow.
Werewolves! Reasonably common canine variety of shapeshifter, known for their aggression, violent impulses, claws, fangs, and pack structures. Frequently pose as humans, live on the outskirts of human civilization but participate in it to varying degrees. Any human can be turned by a bite, though it can also be fatal, but only from an alpha.
Werecoyotes are solitary, killing their young and having no packs, but otherwise essentially similar.
The easiest way to force a werewolf to reveal itself is to produce a high-pitched noise.
Sigh. "What's the point of integrating with a culture that has invented writing if you don't want to use that technology to record your useful information?" This question is not directed at anyone in particular. Nor is it said in a tone of voice that indicates that it is in fact a question.
Excellent. Now, early twenty-first century, hmm, what was the name of that original wiki? It had Wiki- in the name. Wikipedia? Aha, here we go.
She can spend a fruitful few hours refamiliarizing herself with current events. Not precisely relevant to magical shenanigans, but Ellie is a firm believer in context.
"If you can't use magic, you really only need to know what can be done with it, not the theory."
He steps into the back room, and returns with a jar of dark powder.
"This is the easiest test. If you have the capacity, and if you can achieve the mindset, you can make a circle. I'm going to pour some of this into your hands, and then I'm going to ask you to follow my instructions carefully. The consequences if you fail are hardly disastrous, but the work is delicate."
"Evidently, our magic sees you as a supernatural creature. Supernaturals keep magic within them, and can't achieve the right mindset for druidry. A werewolf who tries finds his temper flaring, a kitsune's fox spirit becomes restless. If you create a barrier of external magic, they cannot cross."
"Over fifty years ago, Beacon Hills was a haven for supernatural beings. I don't know when the Hale pack first arrived in California, but they came here when the Nemeton finally died, its power to call the supernatural gone. Wendigos, werewolves, and banshees- many people have found themselves drawn to the town without quite knowing why. We had nearly fifty years of relative normalcy, with just the Hale alpha keeping other packs out."
"The tree stump you saw. When druids-local magic users-are active in a place, especially a natural one, they draw magic to that place, and over time, it starts to retain it. When it was active, it attracted many supernatural creatures, who have since had children that don't know why their parents were brought here. In the past year, there have even been new arrivals in the same situation. There was...a ritual, that awakened it."
"A druid dabbling in dark magic wanted revenge for an attempt on her life. That's a long story that has little bearing on our situation, but essentially, she planned to use fifteen murders to revive the Nemeton and siphon some of its power. She had twelve when she was killed, but to find her, Scott and Stiles and another committed ritual suicide, bringing the number of ritual 'deaths' to fifteen."
"Most bestiaries are written by hunters, because the rest of us don't interact nearly as much with both civilization and the supernatural. The psychology is partly a result of magic, partly a result of culture. Mythology in general is a good starting place. Most myths are based on a specific, real creature, but not all purported traits will be accurate."
"Alright."
He begins to pour a thick, caramel liquid from a small vial. Sap or syrup, based on the smell. Probably a mess to clean up, really.
"I'd like you to try to get in. First try opening the door without your magic, then with it. Then, with the door open, try walking across, try flying yourself across, and then, if that fails, try disrupting the line."
"So the ones that erect barriers work until you use magical means to cross them, the one that repels only had purely physical effects, and not as strong as it usually is, either...I suppose I can try to poison you, but the effect isn't actually different from mundane poisons, so it's not a very useful test."
The air is surprisingly clean, for being so near civilization. The dense forest must help.
She can see an old house, burned down ages ago, at the edge of the woods. The residential areas, just over the hill. The school, the station, the warehouses and office buildings. For a small town, it's not actually very small.
"I was holding Stiles and a chimera that was chasing him. They appeared seemingly out of nowhere, the chimera was frightened of them. He said something about not having failed yet, still being able to succeed. I stopped them in place and asked what their purpose was. One of them blinked past me somehow, and did something that removed the chimera from my perception, and then the others disappeared as well."
Malia leans down in front of Scott, who is now sitting on the floor, leaning back against the wall.
"Scott, snap out of it. Whatever you're remembering is over, it's not happening now. You're fine. You don't have asthma so stop having a magic asthma attack, it's embarrassing."
"Malia, if it's not an asthma attack that's not helping. Scott, listen to me. Just focus on the sound of my voice. Your friend Stiles, here in the clinic- I can't believe you're still working here, by the way. I mean, okay, you like helping the witty-bitty animals, but isn't it annoying cleaning up after them? And what about pediatrics, shouldn't you be volunteering in a hospital, building your rep? Also werewolf stuff, that's kind of a time-consuming hobby. Maybe you should think about switching things up."
"Stiles' suggestion is a good one. Now that we have reason to suspect reading the book may be hazardous in other ways, we should proceed more slowly. Anyone at risk for uncovering unwarranted tragedy should wait until after the others have gone to see if we still need more information."
"Okay, so it's nice of you to try and protect me, I guess, but I think I should go earlier than that. And Scott's right that Kira could be a risk, and I'm pretty sure we both know why you want to be after the trauma-less wonders and it's not happening, Malia."
"The fear people had, of werewolves at the edge of their communities wanting to abduct their children in the night, eat their sick and weak - it's based in reality. Werewolves historically were seen as hostile forces that could invade at any time, and hunters aimed to minimize the damage."
"Werewolves struggle with control, yes. The werewolf- and the werecoyote, and the werejaguar, the werehyena, the kitsune- can be understood as having a human part and another part- not quite an animal, but something animalistic, something aggressive and sexual, something motivated by basic needs but with the mental resources of a human brain."
Sigh.
"Children. Despite what your hormones may be telling you, the matter of finding and securing a mate is not actually as pressing a survival concern as eliminating the insane serial killing druids who emanate a fear aura and would like nothing more than to use each of you as a subject for their twisted experimentation/torture. If you are unable to productively cooperate towards this end without the supervision of a centuries-old indestructible being who is more than capable of compressing your entire body into a ball the size of a grapefruit should you annoy her overmuch, then I will be happy to provide such a service. Do I need to?"
Lydia interrupts the specious speculation.
"I think I remembered something important. I mean, I remember something, but it's not- it's not my memory. It's one of them. There was- it was a surgery, she saw them. She forgot. They're interrupting operations and sneaking in whatever it is they're doing."
He leads them through the streets.
"I was their first experiment. In fourth grade, before we left, they found me. They told me they could make me special. They killed my sister. I did what they asked. They changed me. I'm half werecoyote. Anything else you wanted to know?"
He is lifted several inches off the ground and suddenly finds it hard to move his chest enough to breathe comfortably.
"You were, by your own admission, plotting to sow division within the followers Scott has accumulated and incite one of them to kill him. You were working with the Dread Doctors. You have not earned any sort of compassion or understanding from me, and I am not willing to tolerate your presence for very much longer if you are intent on being an obnoxious nuisance. If you do not want to move on yourself, I will expedite your trip. Ninety-three million miles straight up."
"That's also not filling me with hope. The Nemeton, if it is as intelligent as this suggests, has that intelligence as a result of centuries-old magic, despite having been turned from a flourishing grove of trees to a single, dead tree stump. I'm not entirely certain it won't persist if we destroy the stump."
"The first thing that you need to know is that a hostile, unbound daeva of any sort is potentially an extinction-level event. And even in the case where a binding may merely be sloppy, you still open yourself to fates worse than death. There was once an angel who enjoyed turning incautious summoners into furniture. If this experiment works, exercise appropriate restraint until you learn proper bindings."
"Scott is the local alpha. He's surrounded by a pack of fellow werewolves, a werecoyote, a banshee, a kitsune, and their human companions. They chose to follow him, mostly, for reasons that amount to being otherwise alone or isolated. Stiles is a human who has been involved with local supernatural politics for almost two years. He's not very relevant besides the fact that both he and Scott have a special connection to the Nemeton. Deputy Parrish is a hellhound, and they have a unique role among shapeshifters; they serve as a conduit to other powerful forces, including the Nemeton."
"Most shapeshifters don't know. A few are born into families that explain things, and some are turned by a helpful alpha, but mostly, everyone figures it out on their own, or dies. It's not a very pretty system. We were working on it," he adds, with a glance at the doctor.
"Very. Each daeva type's powerset is compact and concisely thematically linked. Demons being able to take souls does not fit with their maker abilities. If any daeva were able to do so, I would expect it to be fairies, and yet there are no stories of fairies making off with anyone's soul. And if it is not an extension of the individual power, then it should be one of the shared traits, like the indestructibility. There are no fundamental psychological differences between the three types such the demons and only demons would utilize that capability."
"She's probably right, we shouldn't be worrying about this. Whatever's going on with our different worlds, it doesn't matter now. Ellie, what do you think we should do now that we know summoning works? It sounds like if we get enough volunteers, we can do a lot of good."
"Some... specialists are dealing with explaining daeva to locally-magic people. We are handling mundane rollout. The Revelation happened before I was born, so I have no direct experience with this. Depending on how comfortable you are with looking up potentially-private information, we want at least textbooks and possibly details about how the original Revelation was achieved."