The school bell rang just as Stiles closed his locker. First day back at school and he was dreading it. The summer had not been fun but it also hadn't been bad. He hadn't been able to spend it with his friends as much as he would have liked, in fact he hardly saw his friends. Thanks to Jennifer Blake, the psycho Darach powering up the Nemeton the whole pack of werewolves had been kept busy. Scott at Derek's insistence was make the group constantly train so they could be more effective. If it had been Derek's choice it would have been more but since he was no longer an alpha he could only advise Scott as best as possible. Scott listened to him and after the first new supernatural creature had shown up just three days into summer vacation he had seen Derek was right.

They had been expecting something to happen and Deaton had been warning them to be extra vigilant. They had come across some sort of panther creature that as yet they still had no idea about its folklore. The pack thought it was strange that a panther had been rumoured to be haunting the woods. Deaton had been on edge and suggested it was checked out. Good thing too, the moment they found it everything went wrong. The creature sensed them coming and charged slashing Scott across the chest. Scott realised straight away there was something different about this panther when the claw marks grew green and didn't heal straight away. Derek went straight after the creature only to be almost incinerated when it blasted fire straight from its throat. Falling back they had return to Deaton who patched them up.

They researched and found nothing. They headed out the next day to locate it again after a report of a young female's body being found in the same woods with claw marks, organs missing as if they had been eaten from the body by a wild animal. And to top it off the body had been burnt black. Deaton suggested they killed the creature and brought it back so he could examine it. They managed it obviously. Both of them came back looking almost dead with claw marks and burns.

After this Scott had agreed they needed as much training as possible to be more effective. All the werewolves spent the whole of summer training. Jackson had even come back after a couple of weeks and joined them. Allison had decided to start her own training with her dad again. Lydia and Stiles had been roped into helping Deaton with research. At first it was boring as hell. Why the hell should Stiles always be forced to take a back seat and do research?

Stiles had got over this quickly when Deaton explained what he was planning. He knew things were going to get work and agreed with Derek that getting prepared was the best thing they could do. He contacted some of his acquaintances for information on Banshees and had helped Lydia discover more about herself. He had taken Stiles aside and given him some pretty shocking news.

"Stiles, could I have a word with you before you go?" called Deaton as Scott and Stiles made to leave.

"Sure, Scott go home. Your mom is waiting for you to have dinner tonight."

"Okay man. Catch up soon?" Scott smiled.

"Yeah, definitely." Stiles bumped fists with Scott and watched his best friend leave.

Turning back to the veterinarian he asked "Wassup?"

"Stiles, follow me." He was lead to the office and sat across the desk while Deaton pulled some papers from a desk drawer. "I am concerned for your well being when you go with the pack. Since I met you I had a strange feeling there was something strange about you and now I have proof." Looking up he had seen Stiles confused and hurt expression. "No, no Stiles this is good news." Deaton chuckled to himself as he saw the boy smile. "I hope you won't think I over stepped some boundaries but I had my people look into your past", the vet paused. "Particularly your mother."

"Why... Why would you look into my mother's life?" Stiles stuttered.

"Well now this is probably going to be hard for you to hear. Just remember what I said. This is good news." Deaton paused again for a deep breath and continued "You didn't know your mother that well. She hid her past from you and your father. Your mother was a mage."

Stiles just sat there mouth slightly open in shock. Recovering after a second he was about to get angry but closed his mouth. Deaton had never led them wrong before and he had said it was good news. He changed his mind and remembered back to some of the research they had done. "You mean she was a witch?"

"Well actually a wicca. Wiccas practice the healing arts and varietys of white magic. Witch is the name for a female that chooses to practise the dark arks as well. Not all witches are evil but they have knowledge and use dark magic."

"Okay so she was a wicca. That is good news you said. How?"

"Well it means you are a mage too. You can be taught how to use magic to benefit the werewolf pack."

"So would that make me like wizard, warlock, sorcerer? What's the right label for me?"

"Well that depends what schools of magic you learn and practise. A wizard is the male equivalent of a wicca. Warlock and sorcerer are the equivalent of a witch."

"So who would be teaching me? You?"

"No. I know enough to get by in my role as emissary but you would need to learn from a proper mage. But before I get you to decide if you want to take this path I must explain. Magic is far more complicated than most people believe. I am a druid I rely on the magic in the world around me. As a mage you have a natural spark within yourself that generates power. Using that spark creates the magic but you also rely on the magic of the natural world around you. If you wish to do this you need to learn how to meld the two together into one force. Only someone with a high intelligence, strong spirit and steadfast will can channel magic. As such magic is only open to you or Lydia in the group. Or so I thought but my research has shown banshees can't use magic. So as the only person in the group who can do this I give you the choice. Will you choose to start studying the magical arts or is it too much?"

"If it helps the pack of course I will do it. Plus this is going to be so awesome", thrilled Stiles bouncing in his chair.

It was a few days later that Deaton pulled him aside leaving Lydia to research and introduced Stiles to Ashley.

"Stiles, this is Ashley. Ashley this is Stiles."

"Hi" squeaked Stiles. Damn it! The guy before him looked like he walked out of a Jack Willis catalogue.

"Hello Stiles. I am very glad to meet you. I can't wait to get started. I must say it is an honour to be meeting one of the possible descendants of the legendary Morgan Le Fey."

"The arch rival of English dark age wizard Merlin?" asked Stiles.

"The very same", Ashley paused confused. "Deaton didn't mention that?" He looked over at his associate.

"I didn't get that far, I thought it was something you might want to cover." Deaton smiled at them both.

"Oh, that is very nice of you." Turning back to Stiles he asked "So when would you like to start?"

"Um... Well I was helping Deaton with research." "No problem, the sooner you start the better Stiles. Lydia and I can research. If things get as bad as I fear they might need your help sooner than we can expect you to be ready."

"Well that settles it we will start now." Ashley exclaimed. "Deaton", Stiles began "do you think we can hold off telling the others about this. I don't want to get their hopes up before I can do something useful."

"You can tell them when you are ready Stiles. If anyone asks I will say you are researching with an associate of mine." Turning on his heel he headed back to Lydia.

"Please be seated Stiles", Ashley sat in one of the seats in front of the desk and Stiles sank into the other. "I hear you have heard a little about magic from Deaton so I will start on from what he said. Your magical spark has yet to become active. With training you will use the power that resides within you but there is a risk. Using magic will drain you of your energy, mentally and physically. If you push yourself to use too much magic when you are drained you risk killing yourself. So be careful."

Stiles nodded to show he was understanding and gulped at the news that this skill he was learning could kill him.

"I will be giving you books to take home today that you need to read and study when you find time. Some on general magical theories, healing spells, protection spells and runes. The runes will be particularly helpful for any protection spells you work on. Deaton has advised me to offer you books on combat offensive magic too. You may study those too if you desire. Before we go any further how often can you commit time to come here and study?"

Stiles had begun fidgeting. Sitting still for a long time was not his forte. "I work three afternoons a week from 3pm till 8pm. That's Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Monday and Wednesday I can come in all day and I will come in those mornings before work. Saturdays I could do as well if you wish me to?"

Ashley beamed at him. "That sounds good but why don't you use Saturday as a home study day and take Sundays off. When school starts up we can re evaluate. One morning a week we will have Deaton teach you about runes, which he is an expert on." Stiles nodded his agreement. "Today we will start by training you to sense magic around you. Until you can do this you won't be able to access natural magic and thus you won't be able to use any spells. But before we start on that let me tell you a bit more on the nature of magic. You remember Deaton mentioned your spark?"

"Yes. You said I have a natural spark within me but you said it is inactive", replied Stiles.

"That is right. You won't be able to use magic until you active your spark and can combine it with natural magic. It might sound difficult but once you can sense natural magic around you it becomes easy to merge the two. The hard part is activating your spark. This will be likely the hardest part of your studies and I won't be able to help you with it too much. To activate your spark you need to find your trigger."

Stiles head was beginning to swim slightly. "Trigger?"

"Every mage has a trigger that ignites their spark. It is a emotional response to a situation or person. A complex emotion that you either need to remember or experience before you can do anything with your power. The reason I can't help you with this is because it is personal to the individual. You must spend some time searching your soul and find the trigger. This can obviously take a long time and usually turns up when a mage is least expecting it. If that is the case at least you will have knowledge to help the others fight off any threats even if you can't use magic."

Stiles sighed to himself, why couldn't things just be easy for once. "Right on the floor cross legged with me. We start with you sensing natural magic."

Stiles had spent all summer studying. He sensed natural magic after two days of attempting it. He had read a library worth of books on magical theory and different spells. Yet he still hadn't found his trigger. The people of Beacon hills were luck that a mage had not yet come to investigate and abuse the power of the Nemeton. But it was only time before they would Deaton was sure of that. Stiles was frustrated because until he found this trigger he had knowledge he could relay to pack members to help but would be forced to sit on the sidelines while his friends got themselves hurt again and again. Now was not the time to agonise over it though. He needed to finish the school day first.