Stiles's Arc

Chapter 7 of 20

Stiles and Lydia didn't stop running until the school was miles behind them. The jeep skidded into the McCall driveway, and they pounded on the door until Scott opened it, eyes wide. They spilled inside, breath ragged, the coin still hot in Stiles's pocket. "It saw us," Lydia said. She set the coin on the kitchen table. "Jackal head. Black fur. Gold marks under the skin like wiring." Scott looked between them. He didn't ask if it was real. He just listened. Stiles laid out what they had. The hieroglyphs on the sixth body. The doorways. The staff in its clawed hand. "It's Egyptian," he said. "It has to be. The symbols, the jackal — it lines up." Scott pulled an old book from his backpack, one his mom had grabbed from a thrift bin weeks ago. He flipped to the section on Egyptian gods. The page on Anubis had been torn clean out. A jagged edge, nothing else. "Of course," Stiles muttered. He stared at the gap like it was personal. Every road he picked ended at a wall. He knew the shape of the thing now. He didn't know its name. Without a name, he couldn't research it. Couldn't fight it. Couldn't warn anyone. Lydia pulled out her phone. "We need someone who knows the older stuff." She looked at Scott. Scott nodded once. "Derek." Stiles opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. He was tired of carrying it alone. He typed the message himself. *We found something. Jackal-headed. Egyptian, maybe. We need you.* The reply came back in under a minute. One word. *Coming.* Stiles set the phone down. The coin sat between them, silent now. They had a face, a shape, a theory — and for the first time, a person on the way who might give it a name.