Chapter 24: Lies of Omission
Stiles went and moved to jot down fresh new notes on his crime board. They were all new facts about Theo. Things about his parents, his former home in Detroit and a few other notes about things that didn't add up like the lies about his alpha, things that didn't match up with what both he said and his parents had said, as well as some other small things that he noticed. He was missing something. He could feel it. It was like something that was in the back of his mind or on the tip of his tongue, something that was the breakthrough he needed for Theo's whole deal but it just wasn't coming to him.
"You're still up?"
Stiles snapped out of his focus and looked back to see his dad standing over at his doorway, watching him.
"Hey dad, I didn't hear you come in," he said before turning back to his board.
Noah went and took a couple of slow steps inside. "Honestly, I expected to come home to you already sleeping. It's already passed three. Don't forget, you still have school in the morning."
"I know," Stiles muttered. "But, I'm too wired to sleep."
Noah let a sad look overtake him. His son was too young to let things keep him up so much. He then let his eyes fall on the crime board, one side of it that Stiles had dedicated completely to Theo while the other had everything about the Dread Doctors and the missing bodies. "I see you still haven't given up on that," he said, a little pointedly. "Don't you think you should be focusing on the other more pressing problems?"
Stiles kept his eye on the board as he moved to make some more notes. "Yeah well, I guess I take a little of my dad on that department, don't I?"
That made Noah flinch for a moment. Stiles was clearly still quite upset with him. "It's been a couple of days since Kira and her parents left. Heard anything?"
"No, not a thing since they left. All we know is that they're going to try to help her get the fox in her back under control. Kira said that her mom knew a place but, from how it sounded, it might take a while."
"How's Scott handling it?" She was his girlfriend after all. It couldn't be easy, especially after what happened with his last one.
Stiles actually stopped writing and his eyes narrowed a bit. "Scott's…handling it."
Noah couldn't help but pick up some bitter anger in his son's tone. He was about to ask about it when he noticed the dirty bundle of one of his Stiles' button shirts on his bed. It was the one he saw him in earlier that day and there were fresh holes in it.
"What happened?" he asked, picking the shirt up to better show the tears along the shoulders and close to the chest.
"Nothing," Stiles shook away as he went to grab it from his dad and throw it into the waste basket.
"Stiles," his dad started but Stiles cut him off.
"Dad," Stiles almost shouted. But then he brought his tone down a bit and tried to talk back in a forcibly controlled voice. "It was nothing. Just ran through some pointed brush in the woods and got myself caught a few times. Really, I'm okay."
Noah knew that Stiles was lying. Something must've happened, something bad, He could feel it but Stiles just wasn't talking. Noah saw that his son was too upset and angry right now. He feared it had to do with him arresting his friend even when Stiles tried to do everything he could to talk him out of it. Things had gotten a bit quiet and distant between them the last couple of days. Noah feared that Stiles was starting to feel that he couldn't trust him now. He let his gaze go back to his son's board for another moment before he just left the room without another word.
But Stiles' anger had nothing to do with his father. As he went back to work, his mind was split on what he was doing and what happened at Scott's just over an hour ago.
"The Dread Doctors attacked you?!" Scott hollered out as Stiles walked off passed him.
They were both in his kitchen and Stiles moved off to the living room where Liam and Theo were sitting. Soon after Scott and Theo had come back from tidying up at the clinic, the other two soon came knocking at his home, almost one after the other. Scott's outburst had them jumping to their feet.
"How many?" Scott then asked.
"All of them, I think."
Liam's eyes widened. "All three of them?" He then had a brief mental flash of the three mad scientists that came for him and Hayden. "Are you alright?"
"I'm okay," he quickly assured him. "Hey, by the way, how's Hayden doing?"
His face fell a bit. "Still freaked out about the whole thing. It's been hard to get any real sleep lately."
Stiles nodded. He was sure that Liam wasn't just talking about Hayden. "Yeah, I'm not surprised. I'd never seen those three before tonight. They looked like the steampunks straight from Hell when they just came out of nowhere and surrounded me."
"What were you doing out in the woods all by yourself?" Scott gasped out.
"What? Trying to find the Nemeton, what else," Stiles tried to shrug.
"Without Malia or even Lydia?"
"Lydia decided to go with Parrish to try to talk to that Zach guy and Malia said she had homework. Besides, considering what happened, I'm glad they weren't there."
Scott wasn't going to argue with him on that one.
"Why though?" asked Theo suddenly, making them all stop and look at him. But Theo didn't notice because he was staring down at his feet, in concentration. "Why attack Stiles?" He then looked up and saw them staring at him and shook himself out of it. "I mean…it's just, the Dread Doctors only ever attacked us when we were in the way of them getting to one their chimeras."
Scott nodded as he started to follow along. "But, Stiles found them out in the woods, all by himself. So, either he was close to where they've been holding out."
"Or they were after him." Theo finished. "Did they say anything during the attack?"
Stiles narrowed his eyes. "What? You think the four of us had some kind of chat before they moved to try and rip me to pieces?" he said with savage sarcasm.
"Stiles, relax," Scott stepped in. "He's just trying to help."
That made Stiles scoff before sending an unsubtle pointed look Theo's way. "Yeah…right."
Theo seemed to shrink a bit and began rubbing at his head in an uncomfortable fashion. Scott couldn't help but be a little embarrassed from Stiles' attitude. Liam, however, was too eager to notice how thick the discomfort was.
"Stiles, wait, how did you get away if it was all three of them?"
At his question, Stiles blinked over at Liam before his eyes moved over to Theo, who seemed as eager to know as he did. Scott was also curious. After all, just one of the Dread Doctors had tossed both him and Malia around at the hospital. How did Stiles handle himself against all three?
"I guess I got lucky," he simply gave as the answer.
"But still, maybe Theo's on to something." Scott then looked over and shared a small look with Theo, who gave a small nod in response. "They might've wanted Stiles for some reason."
Stiles noticed and quickly went to clear his throat. "Scott, can we talk? Alone," he added pointedly.
Not waiting for an answer, Stiles went to head on upstairs. Scott told Theo and Liam to give them a minute before he moved on after him. They made their way to Scott's room and Stiles quickly closed the door once both of them were inside. Stiles then pulled out his phone and started playing his music app, turning the volume up high and leaving it by the door.
Scott quickly picked up on the growing anxiety his friend was giving off. "Okay, really? Since when do you do the whole 'talk to me, alone' thing?"
"Since now apparently," Stiles breathed out.
Scott let himself roll his eyes before he shook himself out of it. They were starting to move off topic. "Alright, what is you need to talk to me about, alone?"
"First, swear you won't say anything. Especially to him."
"Stiles," he started. "C'mon, you're being ridiculous."
"No, I don't think I am."
"What, you still don't trust him?"
Trust Theo? Stiles could only say one thing to that. "Damn right."
"Stiles, Theo's one of us now. You're gonna have to start learning to-"
"Wait, wait," Stiles jumped in. "What do you mean, he's one of us now?"
Scott braced himself. "I invited him to join the pack," he said softly.
Stiles blinked and stared for a moment. "You did what?" he asked, hoping that he had just heard wrong.
Scott then narrowed his eyes and started to speak a bit more sternly. "I made him part of the pack Stiles. Theo's my beta now. As much as you and Liam are."
Stiles then started to spastically pace around the room. A few times, he tried to speak but words seemed stuck in his throat. After a minute, Scott calling out his name seemed to snap him out of it and regain control.
"What the hell possessed you to do that?!" he all but hollered.
Scott then moved to give Stiles a slight glare. He didn't think that critique was right, when it was Stiles that was being so stupidly stubborn. Especially when Stiles had said that so loud, it could easily be heard over the music downstairs, even without super hearing. After what Theo did for Liam and Hayden, Scott felt the guy should definitely be given some benefit of the doubt now but Stiles seemed as determined as ever to stay in his untrusting stance. Honestly, Scott felt he was getting about fed up with it.
"Stiles, it was my decision. I'm the Alpha of this pack, remember? The True Alpha. That means it's my call who becomes part of the pack, not yours. And you have to accept that."
Downstairs, at the foot of the staircase, Liam was standing there, listening in. He didn't know why Stiles still thought Theo was bad. True, Liam wasn't too keen on the guy at first himself, but, he thought he'd already proven he was okay. He sure was thankful for what he did for him and Hayden. And if Scott wanted to bring him into the pack, he didn't see any reason not to. Liam went to give Theo, who was sitting in the living room, a hesitant look but the guy was facing away from him, looking up towards the ceiling, listening in as well.
The two of them were staring each other down a bit but Scott's expression softened when he again took in Stiles' ragged looking appearance and remembered what they really needed to talk about right now.
"But we can talk about that later. Now, what happened when you were attacked tonight?" he said, hoping they could get back to the true issue at hand.
Stiles was still seething but he forced himself to push it down. "Okay," he sighed. "I'll tell you but only if you keep it between us," he said, dropping his tone lower.
"Stiles," Scott tried, but he could see that Stiles wasn't going to budge. Not on this one. As annoyed this made him, Scott's curiosity won out. "Alright," he conceded.
"Okay, the Dread Doctors… when I found them, it didn't feel like I just bumped into them. I…it looked like they might've been tracking me."
"So Theo was right."
"Yeah, whoop de doo for him," he sarcastically breathed. "Anyway, they had this syringe pump thingy and tried to force me down so they could use it. I think they wanted my blood."
"Your blood?" Scott hissed. "Why would they want that?"
"One of them, the guy holding it, he felt like the leader, he said something. Uh, something about wanting the perfect catalyst."
"What does that mean?"
There was then a loud wooden creak sound that made both teen wolves look over at the closed door. That had come from the bottom stair where Liam had nervously stumbled onto as he tried to lean in closer to listen better. Over where he was sitting, Theo resisted the urge to slap Liam for reminding them that even from their room, in hushed voices, they could still somewhat hear from downstairs.
Stiles jaw tightened as he looked back over at Scott. "I think I already know. And, I think you might already know too," he said, pointedly.
Scott started to pale a bit before he went and shook his head. "No, it can't be. Deaton said…it was gone."
"Yeah, but he said there was always a chance it might come back."
"Well, we got to stop it." Scott then took note of the lack of worry in Stiles. Instead, he felt…resolve coming from him. "You don't want to stop it," he realized.
"Scott, it might just be the answer to finally stop the Dread Doctors and whatever it is they're trying to do with these chimeras they keep making."
Scott then realized what Stiles had in mind and he stood up. "No. That's not the answer. We can't let that happen. I won't let it."
"Yeah?" Now Stiles stood up and practically got in his face. "And what exactly is the answer Scott? We find the Dread Doctors, and then what? What are we going to do? If you've already got your own plan to stop them then I would love to hear it right now."
His tone was challenging and it made Scott glare right back at him. As they seemed to size up each other, Scott went and let his red alpha eyes loose. When Stiles moved to return the gesture, shifting his own to let their blue glow loose, Scott quickly averted his gaze. It was for barely a moment, but it was enough.
Next thing Stiles had known, he had gone and left Scott's room and stormed out of his house without another word. Stiles blinked the memories of earlier tonight away as he went back to work organizing his crime boards, especially Theo's. Call it a hunch or instinct, but he felt that he was running out of time.
Theo had just conquered a major stepping stone in his plan. He was now officially in the pack. Scott had brought him in. Honestly, Theo was not expecting it to be so easy when he went looking for Scott earlier. He had been slowly laying the ground work for weeks and had gotten a firm foundation in with saving Liam and Hayden, but even he was amazed at how quickly Scott was in bringing him in.
However, as much as he would like to celebrate, he knew it would be premature. He still wasn't quite in the position he needed to be in the pack for his final plan. Scott trusted him, yes, but he was still only one member, Alpha or not. Malia appeared to trust him. More than trusted him if what he hoped about what he felt around and from her was true. Liam is no doubt grateful to him after his rescue of him and Hayden. He was grateful to him and seemed to have lost all things that were averting from his trust. Kira was no longer an issue at the moment. Lydia…he wasn't sure about her right now. While he did help her back when she was attacked at the station, she hardly said anything to, or hung around, him. Either she's quietly being cautious or doesn't think too much of him. He might have to still do a little work on that one.
The real problem was Stiles. Not only is the guy dead set on figuring him out, he is also the pack's Second. Should anything happen to Scott, Stiles would become the new Alpha. Not only that, but he seems to have a strong tie to Satomi's pack, and they are on the lookout for him, even if they don't know that it's him they're looking for. While it seemed for the moment that Stiles was putting more of a focus on Parrish and the bodies that he's been taking, he would be a fool if he thought that the guy wasn't still keeping an eye on him. Thankfully, whatever was going on with him and Scott was starting to lessen his hold and influence with the rest of the pack. But Theo knew that he didn't have much time left. Not with the Surgeon and the others still on the move. Not to mention that it seemed they were holding out on him, on something apparently very critical about this particular werewolf.
He made his way into their underground lab and found that they were all there, already working on disposing of another 'failure' that was dead on their table, the Surgeon's cane stabbed right through its back. The Pathologist was extracting some fluid from their green tank and then injecting it into the Surgeon.
Theo decided to just come out and talk rather than wait for them to notice him, though he was sure they already had but didn't care. "Hey, I need more time." They didn't respond. The Doctors just kept working as if he hadn't just spoke. Theo was barely able to contain his aggravation. "Are you listening to me?" he barked. "I said, I need more time."
"Perigee-Syzygy," the Surgeon responded.
"The Supermoon," chimed in the Pathologist.
"We'll know at the Perigee-Syzygy," finished the Surgeon.
"And what about Hayden?" Theo asked.
"Failure," the Surgeon told him.
"No, no, no," Theo said quickly. "Not to me." He still needed Hayden around for a bit longer. She was the best distraction for Liam. And the best way for him to get Liam to be his trump card if he couldn't get around Stiles."
"Failure compromises the project," the Surgeon said, as he moved to roll back up his sleeves. "Lacking subjects will be terminated."
The Dread Doctors knew that even though Hayden's body had seemed to have stabilized, she wasn't improving at all. She was just another low class hybrid. A failure to their experiment and their ultimate goal.
But Theo wasn't done arguing. "Does your little project now include Stiles? You attacked him tonight. Why?"
"Not your concern," the Surgeon simply said.
"The hell it isn't!" Theo practically snarled. "If what you're doing is going to effect the others then it effects me. You owe me an explanation. I should get that at least."
The Surgeon and the others were unimpressed with his tantrum.
"We owe nothing."
"I've been keeping Scott and his friends out of your way. I did everything you wanted. Now, I need Hayden alive."
"Inconsequential."
"You promised me a pack," he said, almost brokenly.
"We promised you nothing," the Surgeon said, with absolutely no regard in his tone. "You deserve nothing."
"To hell I don't!" Theo snapped as he stomped over, looking ready for a fight. At that, the three doctors started to slowly turn, as one, and look directly at him. Theo quickly lost his bravado at their reaction and found himself taking an involuntary step back. "Look…I still need Hayden. Just a little longer. Please," he said, almost beggingly.
The Surgeon was the one to move. He took a few steps forward, the eyes of his mask never leaving him. He was silent for a moment before he spoke a simple sentence.
"Only until the Perigee-Syzygy."
At that, the Surgeon took back his cane from the corpse of the failed chimera and then started to leave. The other two moved to follow, right behind him.
Theo now knew, he had to work even faster. He had less than two days left.
In her room, Cora was busy fine tweaking some last minute edits to her report before she had to hand in her report in less than three short hours. Her son was laying in his little basket bed nearby, lightly giggling at the mobile hanging overhead. Cora took a moment to send a small smile his way. Last night, Jason had been quiet and slept peacefully the whole night. In the last week, he'd done that for the last four nights straight. Which, of course, meant she had a peaceful sleep for the last four nights straight. Cora had read online stories about how babies were difficult to keep rested their first six to eight months. It seemed Jason was the average seven months.
She was snapped out of her thoughts when she started to hear the front door unlocking with her super senses. "Seems like your Uncle Derek is finally home," she said out to Jason before she left to go and see him.
When Cora laid eyes on Derek, she saw that he had a great big smile plastered on his face. As he moved to set two cups of diner bought coffee and breakfast out on the kitchen counter.
"Someone's in a good mood," she said as she made her way over to him.
Derek stopped humming but his smile didn't falter. "Hey Cora. How's Jason?"
"He's good. Just waiting for his uncle to come home."
"Yeah," Derek muttered, turning away from his sister. "Everything kind of ran late."
"Clearly. But, you look quite…well-rested," she said, suggestively.
Derek rolled his eyes before he turned to look back at Cora, who was clearly fighting a laugh. It was clear to him that she knew where he was last night. And with who. And…likely what happened.
"Want to tease me? Go right ahead little sister."
"Tease you? Are you kidding? I'm happy for you," she said, giving him a friendly sibling push at his arm.
"You are?"
"Of course. I love Maggie." Cora sobered a bit but still kept smiling at him. "And you deserve to have someone good in your life for a change."
Derek moved to envelop his sister in a hug. "Thanks Cora."
They then broke away and Cora shrugged her shoulders.
"You know, I think I like you better this way. If Maggie could make it so you look like you swallowed some happy pills, then maybe I should ask her to keep you over, or come over, more often. Keep you happy in more ways than one."
Cora quickly ducked to avoid Derek trying to give her a quick annoyed slap on the head.
After eating breakfast, Cora quickly ran upstairs to get herself ready for school. She moved to begin printing her refreshed version of her report when her phone started ringing. The name on her screen shocked her.
"Ruben?" she said into her receiver, surprised.
The guy seemed to have been avoiding her ever since he had stumbled upon Jason.
"Hi Cora. How have you been?" his voice asked.
"Uh, good I guess."
"Great. Well, I'm calling because, I was sorta wondering, if you might want to talk later. If that's okay with you," he added quickly.
"Oh, well…okay. Yeah, I'd like that."
"Great," he nearly shouted. "So, I'll see you at third period. I'll save you a seat."
"I'll be there." When the call ended, she thought that with a start like this, today just might be her day.
Ruben hung up his phone and took a long and deep relieved breath of relief. He was cutting it close. But, this plan should work. It had to…for his own sake.
Stiles was sitting off at a corner of the school hallway, calmly reading a ten page booklet full of notes. It was Mason's collection of research that he had asked him to do for him. When Stiles had gotten to school, Mason had come over while he was at his locker and given it to him, having just finished it last night. It was full of all kinds of things about the legendary werewolf, also known as the Beast. Mason had not only made notes, but included illustrations. Most were artist renderings and fan art that he clearly got from the internet but Stiles thought it added a fun bit of flair to it all. While a good bit of the stuff Mason collected Stiles already knew, there was quite a few things that he didn't. Next time he saw Mason, he would be thanking him. If he wanted to tap into the powers of the Beast to stop the Dread Doctors then he had to know everything he could so he could be ready.
Suddenly, he felt a twitch and Stiles looked over to notice that Theo was heading his way. He moved to throw the booklet into his bag and started to walk off, to try and get away from him. Yet, Theo moved to not lose him and catch up.
"Stiles!" Theo called out, speeding up to get closer. "Hey," he said as he got just three steps behind him. "I saw Scott come into school this morning. He seemed pretty upset you know."
"Screw you Theo. We're all upset."
"But I think Scott feels bad about whatever it was that happened last night. He says he needs to talk to you in the quad before lunch."
Stiles snorted. "Speaking and carrying out his messages and reporting back to him. That your new official position in the pack. Scott's lapdog."
Theo narrowed his eyes at him. "He said it's important," he said in an unsubtlety controlled voice.
"Yeah, well you're going to have to tell Scott that I said I'm sorry but I have something to do later."
"You mean sneak off to go and try to find the Nemeton by yourself again?" That made Stiles finally stop walking. He kept his gaze on ahead, not turning to face Theo. But he took that as a cue to keep talking. "He met up with Lydia earlier and she told him that she's going off to search with Parrish after they check in on Zach." After that, Stiles began to walk again, taking a sharp turn as he headed off for the library. "You do know that if they find the Nemeton first, they'll find Donovan. I know that's why you've been doing all this searching alone. You want to find him before anyone else does."
"You're sounding pretty calm about this," he mumbled back to Theo. "Considering that if they find Donovan, they find Josh too."
He finally stopped and turned to look Theo square in the face.
Theo sighed. "Yeah, well, maybe they should." Stiles was taken aback. Clearly, that wasn't what he was expecting Theo to come back with. "I don't know, after everything that happened with Corey, things might different with Scott. He might be starting to understand that there are things that have to be done. Especially in self-defense."
Theo was expecting Stiles to silently consider his words. Yet, this time he was the one taken aback with Stiles' come back. He scoffed at him.
"You know, save your sucking up for Scott. Don't bother trying it with me. Really, it's actually kind of pathetic."
Before Theo could say something in response, there was a loud ping from Stiles' phone and he took it out to see that he had gotten a pretty big text.
"Who is it?" Theo tried asking.
But Stiles simply pocketed his phone. "I've got to go." Stiles pocketed the phone and then moved to head out. "You can go and tell Scott that I'll talk to him later. Oh, and I'll be sure to have a doggie biscuit for you next time. 'Kay lapdog?" he said, keeping his back to Theo as he headed through the library doors.
He then left, leaving Theo standing there. But Theo didn't look on bothered or pissed. There was an amused and content smirk on his face.
Sheriff Noah Stilinski was crutched down in the basement of the abandoned house where the Dread Doctors had been keeping Liam, Hayden, Zach and who knew how many other young people captive. There had to be clues as to where they went, or at least as to why they had chosen this place to hold everyone.
Jordan Parrish was with him, gazing over at the section of the wall where the chimera that tried to kill him had been sealed up in before he broke out. The man hadn't been seen since he ran away from the school after he had fought Lydia's friends. As far as Jordan could tell, that had been not only the first chimera they'd encountered, but the oldest. Where was he now? Was he already dead, like most of the others?
"Hey, you okay there Parrish?" Noah suddenly asked, snapping him out of his stupor.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine." Jordan shook himself out of it and moved closer to him. He then noticed the look on the Sheriff's face. "Though, something tells you that you can't say the same."
Noah moved to pick himself up and let out a heavy sigh. "Things…aren't too good with me and my son right now. He seems kind of mad at me."
"For what happened with Kira?"
He nodded. "He kept telling me that the girl wasn't some innocent victim. Apparently she was involved in the death of a werewolf he knew, and could've been lying in wait to attack and even kill Scott or his mom at his house."
"But you still think you did the right thing by arresting Kira," Jordan threw in, with a soft and knowing tone.
Noah didn't say anything as he looked back at the floor, but his silence seemed to be all the confirmation that Parrish needed. His deputy seemed to be understanding enough, even if he suspected that he didn't completely agree. He wished he got some more of that from Stiles, Melissa and the others. Noah was the Sheriff. They didn't seem to understand that there were duties and obligations that he was under.
He went and pulled out black light to see if there were hidden traces left behind. As the beam moved across the floor, he found spots of blood here and there, but there was also small splats among them leaking some kind of blackened smoke.
"What is that?" he muttered.
Jordan kneeled down to get a better look and narrowed his eyes at it. "I think I know."
In the locker room, Scott found himself leaning forward slightly, taking deep heaving breaths. He couldn't believe it. This was even one of the harder cross country drills. Scott had taken care to not exert himself like he usually, and lightly jogged the distance but he still felt like he had run a marathon. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his inhaler and started to take deep breaths as he pumped the medicinal air into his lungs. As he let himself try to settle and catch his breath, Scott couldn't help but curse the fact that one of the few good things his lycanthropy actually had done for him seemed to have been undone. Now he was a werewolf, an Alpha, with asthma. It was infuriating.
As Scott found his breathing go back to normal, his eyes narrowed as he heard a rapidly pounding heartbeat. There was a hint of anxiety and desperation also traveling through the air. He pocketed his inhaler and followed the sound and chemo signature across the room and then came upon Liam. As soon as he noticed him, Liam quickly zipped up his gym bag, like he was trying to hide something from him.
"What are you doing?" Scott said to him.
"Nothing," Liam quickly said.
Scott easily could tell he was lying. "Liam, just remember that it's a full moon tomorrow. And you're probably already starting to feel it."
Liam nodded. "I know."
Truth be told, he was already feeling it. Liam hated that even after all these months, he was still so sensitive to the full moon and didn't have as great control as Scott, Stiles or Malia.
"It's a Supermoon. That means it's going to be closer to the Earth."
"Yeah, I know. Stiles already told me all about it. He heard all about the Supermoon from Satomi over a week ago. The way he told it, she had gone through one of these once before a couple of years ago. It makes us more stronger than the usual full moon does."
Scott nodded. "And it's also a lot harder to stay in control. And you-" he started, a little hesitantly.
"Yeah, I know," Liam cut in, a little forcefully as he moved to slam his locker shut. A small bit of shame and embarrassment crept its way and mixed in with his anger. "What? Are you chain me to a tree again?"
That made the Alpha blink. "I just meant, it might be a good idea if we stick together. To protect each other."
Liam let a heated sigh loose. Protect each other? How was Scott planning to do that? According to Stiles, he didn't even have a plan. Besides, even when they had the help of Satomi and her entire pack, they couldn't protect Hayden before. Both she and him had been taken. And Scott wanted to try and handle it by himself now? What would make him think it would end up being any better?
"How?" Liam found himself saying before he moved to grab his bag. "We can't protect anyone."
Liam then headed out, completely missing the crestfallen look Scott had as he watched him. He moved to head off for the parking lot where he saw that Hayden was waiting for him among the school buses. She seemed to be anxiously pacing in place but she settled when she noticed him coming.
"Hey," she said smiling at him.
Liam put in the effort to smile and sound like everything was okay. "Hey," he said back.
Hayden's face fell. "Are you alright?"
He blinked. "Don't you think I should be asking you that?"
She shrugged. "I feel okay, well, aside from being some insane cross between a wolf and jaguar."
"Are you sure? Lately, you haven't been feeling any kind of…urges? Maybe late at night?" he asked a little hesitantly. If he was starting to already feel a slight rise in tension from the upcoming Supermoon, then there was a chance that Hayden and the other chimeras might feel it too.
But Hayden narrowed her eyes. "Urges? And what kind of urges do you think I might be having late at night?" She then folded her arms to effect.
Liam now narrowed his eyes. He wondered why she suddenly looked pissed at him, when suddenly his eyes widened as he realized what she must've thought he meant. He quickly started shaking her head. "No, no, that's not what I meant for it to sound like."
She maintained her glare. "Oh, just how was it supposed to sound like?"
"Uh, well," he started nervously but he then narrowed his eyes when he detected amusement from her, not anger. Even though she was glaring at him. Hayden then realized the jig was up and she burst out in laughter. "Why do you always have to try and mess with me?" he asked, his annoyance all too clear.
But Hayden kept giggling. "Because you're easy and too much fun to mess with."
After a moment, Liam found himself cracking and a small smile crept its way onto him. He was happy to see that she wasn't so glum.
"How are you, really?"
"I feel okay. Better than okay even."
"Just like Corey and that Zach guy."
"But why are we okay and the others weren't?"
Liam shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe, whatever they were doing, maybe by the time they got to you guys, they figured out whatever was wrong."
"A success," she sighed. "So, what going to happen now?"
"Well, we keep you and everyone else left safe."
Hayden smiled and moved to give Liam a grateful peck on the cheek. Liam caught Hayden square in the eye and they then started to stare at one another. Liam found himself leaning in closer to her, and it seemed Hayden was as well. They got to within three inches of each other when Liam suddenly jolted himself back bit.
Quickly Hayden pulled herself back, thinking that Liam must've had a change of heart. That he had stopped himself because it wasn't really her that he wanted to kiss. "I'm so sorry." But as Hayden took in Liam's expression, she saw that he didn't look hesitant or embarrassed. He seemed scared. "What's wrong?" she quickly asked.
"Your nose," he said in but a whisper.
Hayden moved her fingers to wipe at her nose and looked over to see that something had rubbed off on her fingers. It wasn't blood…it was mercury.
Corey moved silently through the halls as he had gotten to school. He hadn't exactly been the most integrated person at school, but after everything that happened, he was reverting to a complete introvert. He avoided talking or even looking at anyone. After lunch he headed for his locker but when he reached for his lock, he broke it off. His eyes widened as he had snapped it clean off like it was a twig.
"Wow, you're getting stronger."
He turned around and saw Mason standing behind him. It was clear that he had just seen what happened with the lock but didn't seem freaked. In fact, he seemed a bit amazed.
"Uh, how strong am I supposed to get?" he asked in a small voice.
Mason smiled at him. "Let's find out," he said excitedly.
Mason dragged Corey over to the weight room and they were relieved to find that it was empty. Corey was moved over to the weight bar and Mason moved to set some weights up and spot for him as he moved to try and lift them. Though it wasn't exactly trying. Corey lifted the bar like it was as light as a broomstick. Mason steadily added weight to the bar little by little and Corey found he was having no trouble lifting it. Mason kept changing the weights after every set of ten, gradually making it heavier but Corey kept lifting the bar with ease. It continued for a while until Corey started to feel a burn in his arms. He then set the bar down and got up to find that there was over 300lbs on the bar. Wiping his brow, he found that he was only sweating just a few drops and he wasn't breathing too hard.
"Wow," Corey puffed out in amazement. Being able to lift a 1/3 of that would've been a pipe dream for him just a week ago.
"Yeah, I know." Mason said looking from them to him. Corey wasn't exactly built like a tank but he now probably flip one over. "I think you might be as strong as a werewolf."
"Really? Wait, does this mean I'm a success?" he asked with a breathless smile.
That was a good question.
"I don't know," Mason shrugged. "But Scott might." Corey's smile immediately flattened at the mention of the Alpha and Mason sobered up himself. "Look, I know the last time you saw him wasn't…his best day, but he's trying to help."
"Yeah, right," he mumbled.
Corey guessed that Mason was trying to be loyal to his friend's leader or alpha or whatever. But if Scott had only wanted to help him then had a funny way of showing it. Corey had only gone there to try and help but then got his neck jammed with Scott's claws for his trouble. But, he didn't want to say anything to upset Mason so he just kept quiet. That was until he spotted more weights and smiled.
Mason followed his line of sight and spotted them too. "Seriously?"
"Well, you said I might be as strong as a werewolf. Let's see if I am…or stronger," he added eagerly.
"Well, get on," Mason said, growing a little eager himself.
Corey then eagerly moved back under the weight bar as Mason moved to place more weight on the bar. Corey pumped the iron bar up with big bursts of breath as he felt the burning of his muscles return and intensify with each push and pull. That only served to push to keep going. He could feel his body start to heat up even more.
"Get more," he breathed to Mason as didn't stop pushing on the bar.
Mason moved to get another weight, but when he managed to bring it over, he suddenly dropped it, just missing his feet. "Corey!" he shouted.
Corey moved to secure the bar back and got up. "What?"
Mason just stared fearfully at him, too shocked to say anything. Corey moved to wipe the drops of sweat he could feel starting to drip down the side of his face when he looked down at his fingers to see that they were stained gray. He then turned around to look over at the mirror on the wall to see that there was beads of mercury coming from the pores on his head, not sweat.
"Did you find Stiles?" Scott asked as he pushed open the doors in front of him and then walked back into the school from the quad.
Theo nodded as he walked half a stop behind him. "Yeah, found him near the library, but he's not coming."
"Why not?" he hissed. "Is he still mad?"
That made Theo scoff. "He's pissed. At you, and at me. I watched him storm off, heading for his jeep " His expression then softened as he sensed Scott's sadness shoot up. "Relax, I'm sure its just the Supermoon making him extra irritable."
"Yeah, right. What about you? Are you alright? You feeling different?"
"I don't feel too bad I think I'll be okay," he nodded. "What about you?"
"I'm fine." Scott pulled out his phone and tried calling him but it didn't get through. "He's not picking up. Did Stiles at least say where he was going?"
"No. But, I did tell him about Lydia going off with Parrish later to search the woods together and that seemed to set him off. It sounds like he might've gone back out to try to look for the Nemeton."
"By himself, again? You know, when I spoke to Lydia earlier she told me that whenever she and Stiles had searched together, every time she was ready to call a day, Stiles would always stay around longer to keep searching by himself. I know finding the Nemeton and the bodies are important, but it's like he's obsessed."
Theo let himself seem hesitant and worried. This seemed like a good opening as any. "Uh Scott…I think there's something you should probably know."
Scott could feel that Theo seemed nervous and anxious all of a sudden. "What is it?"
"Scott McCall!"
Scott and Theo stopped and turned to see the Biology teacher standing in between the doorway of the classroom they just passed.
"Ms. Ramsey?" Scott said back to her.
"Yes, I would like to speak with you, in private," she said when it looked like Theo was going to follow after him.
Theo moved to wait for Scott outside as he stepped into the classroom. Scott let his eyes fall on where he used to sit, with Kira. Ms. Ramsey moved to sit at her desk and cleared her throat to pull back his attention.
"I've been hoping to talk to you for a few days now," she started. "I've left requests for you to meet with me. We didn't get a real chance to talk when you suffered that asthma attack. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Um, I'm sorry that I had to drop your course Ms. Ramsey." he said apologetically
"Don't apologize to me Scott," she said sternly to him. "It's your future that your decision is going to affect, not mine."
Scott felt his stomach twisting a little at that. "I know."
"Well, I was hoping to speak to you about what your plans for yourself are now. It's my understanding that becoming a veterinarian is now out of the cards without a thorough understanding of Biology."
"Um, well, I'm still working on that."
"Yes, that was why you had to drop my AP class, correct? It was too much work. You would think with one less course then your workload would become more manageable, not less." Ms. Ramsey then moved to fold her hands in front of her. "Scott, I've spoken with some of your other teachers. There's been a rather sharp, significant decline in your school work over the last two weeks. You've been barely passing half your quizzes and in your English class, you were three days late turning in your report. You do know that before you could go to UC Davis or any college, you have to actually graduate high school first, is that right?"
Scott face fell deeper. "Yeah, I know. I've just gotten a lot on my plate lately." With everything happening with the chimeras, and with him and his friends, he hadn't really been able to put much focus in his studies as he would've liked.
That just made Ms. Ramsey shake her head. "Mr. McCall, if you are looking for sympathy and a hand to hold, it's not going to be found with me. Don't waste more of yours and especially my time with excuses. They are what take up and waste work and effort."
"Um-"
"Stop saying um," she cut in, making him shrink back a step. Ms. Ramsey then seemed to collect herself before moving to stand back up. When she spoke again, her tone was slightly lighter than before. "Scott, like I said before, you're a good kid. But sadly, you can't rely on that to help you anymore."
Scott silently stared at Ms. Ramsey as she looked him square in the eyes. He couldn't help but feel she was trying to tell him something, beyond what she simply said. But before he could think more on it, there was a sudden surge of noise outside the door made him look away. Through the window, they could see people suddenly running through the halls like they were either excited or panicked. Scott focused and heard the sound of sirens and he bolted out of the room.
At the front of the school was pandemonium as a stretcher was wheeled out with Corey laying right on it. Scott and Theo made it in time to see him getting loaded into the ambulance, his face and lips covered with streaks of mercury. Scott quickly found Mason standing off to the side, watching in shock.
"What happened?" he asked him.
"I…I don't know," Mason said, his voice cracking slightly. "One minute, he was fine. And then, he just…started bleeding."
Theo tugged on Scott's shoulder and pulled him to the side. "He's bleeding mercury. You know what that means, right?"
Scott nodded. "Yeah, they're coming for him. I have to go to the hospital."
"I'm coming too. We can take my truck."
"Theo," he tried.
But Theo cut him off. "Scott, you're my Alpha now. And I'm your beta. That means where you go, I go. You lead and I follow, that's how it works, right?"
"Okay," Scott sighed, but let the sides of his lips curve a bit.
He then took the lead for the school parking lot with Theo a step behind him.
Liam brought Hayden inside and brought her to a bathroom where she could clean the mercury on herself off before he ran to try and find Scott. He needed to warn him that the Dread Doctors would be coming for her. But, it was chaos in the halls as students were moving about, and talking as loud as they could. He distantly heard the sirens from an ambulance and quickly flagged some of the nearby students to find out what had happened.
"Some kid started bleeding out of nowhere in the weight room."
"Yeah, some sophomore."
"I think his name was Cody or something like that."
"My best friend just texted me. He saw the stretcher and he swears that it looks like the guy's blood was gray or something."
As he listened, Liam realized what had happened. Scott wouldn't be here. He would've gone after Corey. That meant he was the only person left to protect Hayden. He went over and found her loitering by the steps near the bathroom he left her.
"It was Corey," he said, once he reached her. "He was just taken to the hospital."
"Him too. That means they're going to be coming for both of us."
"They're coming for all of you." Liam realized that Hayden couldn't stay at school. She wouldn't be safe here. "Come on.
He then grabbed her hand and they moved to head out.
Zach let out a heated breath. "Look, I already told the Sheriff and the other cops, I didn't try to kill myself the other night. I just stepped out onto the roof for some air. I was at the edge, admiring the view and I guess I just slipped. I didn't jump or anything."
Virgil was currently in Zach's apartment, trying to make sense of what happened that night. He was trying to make sense of what had happened. Something about it all didn't feel right with him. But Zach was impatiently trying to shoo Virgil off.
"Glad to hear that, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I want to know how are you vertical right now?"
Zach blinked his eyes a bit. "What are you on about?" he said, trying to sound dismissive.
"I was there, when you landed. The car, you know, the one you crashed into, its tinfoil now." He then gestured out at him. "But you're completely fine. Walking and standing straight, not a single bruise or even a scratch on you."
"I'm fine, can't we just leave it at that?!" Zach felt a rising heat gathering at both his eyes and his fingertips. "Seriously, can't I be left alone without people constantly popping on by, asking if I'm okay and saying they want to help me."
"What people?" He then thought of something. "Scott McCall?"
Zach then grew suspicious. "Wait, are you with him? One of them?"
"What? No, I saw him at the hospital the day after you, fell. He was asking about you, and what do you mean 'one of them'?"
"Look, could you just leave, okay? Or do I have to call the cops? If I remember right, that's right up your alley, isn't it?"
Not long after that, Virgil was leaving the apartment, the door slamming shut barely a second after he stepped out. He turned and gave the door the finger before he sighed and headed off for the elevator. Honestly, why did he even come here and bother with any of this? Because it was the right thing to do? Well, if it was then he guessed he could check this one off.
"Service done," he mumbled to himself as he stepped into the elevator as it reached him. "No more sweat off my back." The doors then closed.
But instead of going back to his floor, he moved to head out of the building. True, if he left now he would be around twenty minutes early for his shift at the garage, but why stick around? Besides, this could help quell his boss a bit. He knew the grouch was aggravated enough with him in that he had to call out the last minute the other day with the legitimate excuse of being in the hospital. After seeing McCall there and whatever fainting spell he had made the nurse who saw him take him to a room and insist that he stay overnight to be evaluated. After their tests, they told him that he must've suffered a panic attack but he didn't understand how or why. He hadn't had something like that since…the night of his dad and grandmother's accident.
As he was stepping out of the main doors, he almost bumped into someone, a girl, and managed to stop in the nick of time.
"I'm so sorry," he quickly said to her.
"Don't worry, it's okay," she said back.
But Virgil froze when he got a good look at her. "Wait, Lydia? Lydia Martin?"
Lydia nodded. "Yes, do I know you?"
How could Beacon Hills High's own self-proclaimed fashionista not remember the school's senior convict? "Uh,"
"Virgil?" said the one behind her. "Virgil…Edelman, right?"
Virgil blinked as he looked at the slightly older guy. "Yeah, uh, do I know you? You look really familiar."
"Yeah, when we met I was on the clock. And in uniform." He then held his hand out to him. "Deputy Parrish. Remember, we met when you were trying to get into that bar."
He then snapped his fingers. "Oh right, Mr. Wait Until You're Officially 21. I'm surprised you remembered me deputy."
Parrish shrugged. "Small town cop. You tend to remember all the hooligans and troublemakers around here," he said in a friendly tone.
Virgil found himself smiling for the first time all day. This guy…he reminded him of the Sheriff. Stilinski often made amusing jabs like that with him. "What brings you around here?"
"Oh, we're just visiting a friend," said Lydia. "Speaking of which, we should get going."
"Yeah, I guess I'll leave you to it," he said, moving aside to let them through.
"It was great meeting you again," Parrish said, nodding over to him. "Stay out of trouble," he said, pointing a warning finger at him.
"Sure," he said as the two of them then stepped inside and headed towards the elevator.
Virgil's eyes followed after them and narrowed slightly. If memory served, Lydia Martin had been close to Allison Argent. The girl that he remembered had dated Scott McCall. He had a strong hunch which 'friend' they were going to see.
In the elevator, Lydia turned over to look at Jordan.
"You know that guy?"
"Met him a little over two weeks ago. The Sheriff told me about him. Apparently, there was some kind of big fiasco about him going to school when he moved here two years ago."
Lydia took a moment and then remembered all about some guy from upstate that had nearly gone to jail and was coming to their school at the beginning of her sophomore year. She remembered that it had been the greatest gossip back then. But then, Allison had moved to town and the animal attacks started up a couple of months later. Lydia couldn't believe she had forgotten about that, but then, a lot has happened since then.
"Yeah, right," she mumbled to herself a little before the elevator stopped at their floor. "Scott, he said that Zach lives at number 907."
"Alright."
They then went off and quickly found the apartment. Lydia did the honors of knocking and they quickly heard someone coming. Once it was unlocked, it flew wide open.
"Seriously, you can't take a-" Zach spat out before he stopped as he caught sight of them. "Sorry," he quickly apologized. "I thought you were someone else."
"It's okay," Lydia said lightly to him.
But Zach's eyes narrowed as the embarrassment ebbed away as he focused on Lydia. "You…I know you." He then snapped his fingers. "Yeah, Lydia Martin, right?"
Jordan looked over at her. "A lot of guys seem to know you."
"Yeah, get used to it," she fibbed at him.
"What are you doing here?" Zach cut in. "Look, I'm upset enough as it is. So let me tell what I told the last guy who came knocking. Leave me alone or I'll call the cops."
Jordan then reached into his pocket and pulled out his badge. "Already here."
Lydia then moved to take a step in, pushing the door further open and making Zach step back into his apartment. "And we really need to talk."
Things seemed to have tensed up even more all over the school following Corey being taken away in the ambulance. People seemed too upset to even talk about what happened. No one was even trading gossip about Corey, spreading rumors of what they think happened or texting about what was going on to anyone that might've missed it, typical of a situation like this. It was as if everyone could feel that what just happened was more than it was. Even the teachers, like Lydia's mother, became more subdued after what happened. Save for a couple of people, everyone seemed to be trying to be putting it all out of their minds. Those people would be the McCall pack and their circle of friends. Right now, the only one that was still in school was Malia and she was currently sitting in Ms. Martin's class.
Malia was a little upset that she seemed to have been left behind. Stiles had just taken off without a word to her. She tried calling and texting but she hadn't gotten an answer back. Liam had disappeared, no doubt to try and protect Hayden. Lydia had left to go off with Parrish. And Scott and Theo were off, who knows where. While she couldn't help feeling a bit abandoned, honestly, she didn't know how much good she could even be right now. She wouldn't know how to help even if she had been brought along, with any of them. There was too much on her mind right now.
While everyone was preoccupied with taking notes on Ms. Martin's lecture about anthrax, Malia was busy looking over everything she had on The Desert Wolf, again. It had to have been the hundredth time she looked at all of this but it still hit her as fresh as the first time. Ever since she had that memory flash of the Desert Wolf attacking her family in their car, all Malia could really think and focus on was her. For eight years, Malia had lived with the guilt of killing her mother and little sister. Then, Stiles had come along and told her that it hadn't been her fault, as someone had attacked them and she had only been trying to save them. Slowly, the guilt she felt had started to slip away, but it was now back in full force. Her mother, birth mother, had been the one who attacked them, because she was after her. She had been watching and stalking her, according to what her dad had seen because of the book, and then attacked them, trying to get to her. It really was her fault that they were dead. All she could think and really focus on now was finding her mother, Corrine, and mauling her to pieces.
But she was snapped out of her thoughts when she began sniffing some very thick anxiety. Yes, everyone was a bit anxious right now, but this was one was on an extreme level. She looked around but all the other kids around her seemed to be focused on listening to Ms. Martin's lecture. But as she looked over at the kids in front of her, Malia noticed Beth was nervously biting her nails as she stared at her laptop. She then focused her gaze and saw that Beth wasn't taking notes. There was a picture of the full moon and a heading that said Perigee-Syzygy. Malia remembered hearing something like that when Scott and Stiles mentioned the upcoming Supermoon tomorrow night the other day. Beth seemed focused on the moon, and she seemed to grow more tense and anxious every second she did.
"Beth," Ms. Martin suddenly called out, making the girl in question look away. "Please close your computer. I won't ask again," she told the girl sternly.
That made Beth quickly close her computer but she went back to biting her nails. Malia watched as she bit so hard, she seemed to bite a whole nail clean off. Beth realized it a moment later and then spit it out but her lips were stained with black and silver blood. Beth saw the silver blood pouring from her finger and she began to freak out. She looked around and then noticed that Malia was watching her and she full on panicked and ran out of the room.
Ms. Martin moved to try and call out after her but Beth didn't stop and kept on running off down the hall. She then turned around to find that Malia was trying to leave the room too but she moved to stop her. "Malia, I'm sorry but if you want to go to the restroom, it's one at a time." Malia was about to walk around her but Ms. Martin moved to block her. "And if you're thinking about leaving the class, I would remember that your current science grade is far from impressive."
Malia gestured off in the direction Beth ran to. "She needs help."
"Not from you," Ms. Martin argued back.
Malia could see the hesitation and fear pass over her eyes and narrowed her own. "You know what's going on, don't you?"
Natalie Martin removed her glasses as a flash of memory hit her. A disturbing memory. It wasn't too long ago that she was at the Sheriff's station when a teenage girl with a lizard tail roared at her from the ceiling after attacking the people there, including her daughter. She had been trying hard to block it from her mind. It hadn't been real…it couldn't have been. She then looked back at Malia and tried to control her breathing as she began speaking.
"I know that you've put in a lot of work to get through last year with good grades and that I'd like to see you not do anything to jeopardize that."
Malia wouldn't back down. "You know more than that."
She then let her eyes shift and stared hard into Natalie's eyes with her own glowing blue ones. It lasted for a moment before they went back to normal. Natalie trembled for half a second before she steeled herself back up.
"I think you should just keep focused on your school work Malia. All of you. Now please, just sit back down. Unless you'd like me to have to call your father."
Malia took a moment to think about what her father would want her to do in this situation. The answer was clear to her. She moved to walk pass Ms. Martin and headed off to find Beth.
Natalie watched Malia go off with a defeated look on her face. She stared off for a moment before she remembered she still had the rest of her class to think about and moved to get back to her lesson.
Beth had run off to her locker and throwing her books and bag into her locker, all while breathing increasingly fast, when she caught Malia heading right for her.
"Beth," Malia called out.
"Go away," Beth cried out back to her. She then began talking fast and hysterical. "Okay, you don't know anything or my condition."
Hearing that word, condition, Malia suddenly tensed up. "Wait, what do you mean?"
Beth moved to close her locker and leaned her head on it. "My condition. My condition. My condition." Every time she repeated it, her voice got softer and quieter.
Beth then moved to leave but Malia moved to stop her. She jumped forward and took hold of her shoulder but Beth quickly turned around and struck her in the face. The force was enough to send Malia flying off into the lockers and then fall to the floor. She blurringly made out Beth starting to run away down the hall, for the exit.
Malia grit her teeth as she forced herself to her feet. "Are you kidding me?" she spat out, aggravated.
She then moved to chase after her but froze when she came upon the sight of Beth, in the clutches of the Geneticist. They were both right outside the front door, staring right at her. Beth had a look of fear in her eyes as the Geneticist had a firm grip on her face, his metal glove completely covering her mouth. A moment after seeing her, the Geneticist went and completely snapped Beth's neck and let her body go to fall in a dead heap. He then turned to leave when Malia started running over. By the time Malia got to the door, the Geneticist was gone and Beth's body was spread out on the ground, her dead eyes staring back at Malia over a slowly growing puddle of black and silver blood, oozing from her mouth.
Seeing her lying there, Malia couldn't help but feel herself break down a bit. Another chimera had just been lost, on her watch this time. She couldn't help but feel more useless than ever.
Scott just silently rode shotgun in Theo's jeep, letting his eyes watch but not really take in his surroundings. All that was running through his mind was everything that was going on with his friends. Kira had left Beacon Hills because she felt she wasn't safe to be around anymore. Lydia was taking it upon herself to personally handle a wild card like Parrish. Malia seemed to be going out of her way to avoid everyone. Liam didn't seem to want his help. And Stiles was off on his own, doing who knew what and was planned on dabbling in something that for all they knew would be just as, if not more, dangerous than the Dread Doctors themselves. Deaton was gone and wasn't getting back to him. He couldn't reach the Sheriff and his mom couldn't help him, not with any of this. Right now, all he still seemed to have was Theo.
When the thought of his new official beta came to mind, something came back to him. "Hey," he said, breaking the silence. "Before, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"It can wait," he said with a shake of his head as he kept his eye on the road.
Scott quickly felt some tension and anxiety come off him. And that made him nervous. "If something's wrong, you should tell me. We've all got to start talking to each other again." The last thing Scott wanted was more problems but he can't handle more surprises and secrets kept from him, especially now.
Theo could see that things were well in place for him to put his final plans into action. "This might not be the best place to start Scott," he said, building up the tension.
Scott could see that Theo was worried. "You think I'm going to be angry?"
"Not with me."
"Theo, you can talk to me," Scott said insistently.
The desperation and yearning to get back some semblance of control. Especially after everything going on with his friends and with what just happened with Corey. Theo knew now without a doubt, there wouldn't be a more perfect time.
"Open the glove compartment," he told Scott, softly, as he contained his true emotions.
Scott took a moment before he let his eyes drift down to the compartment and then reach to open it. Inside, there were a few papers but his eyes quickly went to the giant wrench that was slightly smeared with blood.
"It belonged to Stiles," Theo said, as Scott moved to pick it up. "He dropped it at the school."
Scott's eyes didn't leave the spots of blood on the wrench. "Dropped it when?"
"When he killed Donovan."
Scott finally broke his gaze on the wrench and looked over at Theo. "What are you talking about?" he gasped out.
Theo quickly began to recite what he practiced and fine tuned, just for Scott.
"It was the night before you all went to Eichen House to see Valack. Donovan had gone after him. Surprised and attacked him at the school."
"What? But, no, he would've told me."
"You remember when his shoulder was bothering him when we were at your house to read the book? That was from Donovan. The Dread Doctors, they made him into some kind of Wendigo chimera. He had torn out a piece of flesh from Stiles' shoulder with a set of jaws that he made come out from the palm of his hand."
Scott shook his head. "No, he said that was from his jeep. That the hood fell on him."
"Really Scott, a hood falling on him? Do you honestly believe that?" asked Theo breathlessly.
Scott let himself take in a nervous breath. No. Scott didn't believe that. He had seen Stiles' knuckles break open and then heal a few moments later. Something like a hood falling on a shoulder, it wouldn't bother him too much.
"And he went after Stiles?" Scott remembered how Donovan was at the station when he was being taken away. The hate he felt from him, for both Stiles and his dad.
Theo sighed. "Donovan chased after him and they ended up in the library. I only saw the end of it. And, when I saw what Stiles was doing…I couldn't stop him. I shouldn't, I shouldn't be telling you this," he said, his voice starting to crack up a bit. "You should hear this from him."
Theo's voice seemed to be echoing in Scott's head. He took a moment to remember that day. Before they had all gone off to Eichen House. Scott remembered that he had smelled blood, in the library. At the time, he thought it was his imagination. Was that Stiles' blood? Or…Scott let himself look back down at the blood on the wrench. Blood that he knew didn't belong to Stiles. At that moment, Scott wished he had Stiles' ability to tap Event Scars. He was sure that one had to be on this wrench and give him all the answers he wanted.
"Tell me," he said desperately. He had to know.
"Stiles…he was putting up a good fight, but Donovan managed to pin Stiles down. Stiles couldn't get away. He was hurt from when Donovan got him in the shoulder. So, he reached for the wrench and managed to stab it into Donovan's arm. That let him get away but when he got to his feet, Stiles pulled the wrench out and then started to strike Donovan in the head. I…I don't remember exactly how many times he hit him. He didn't even stop when Donovan stopped moving. It was like, once he started, he couldn't stop. He kept on swinging the wrench, bringing it down on Donovan's head over and over. By the time he stopped, Donovan didn't even look like himself. And Stiles, the look in his eyes as he stared down at him…it was-" Theo shook his head. Making it look like he couldn't put words to it in order to build up suspense.
As soon as Theo went silent, the anxiety that Scott had been building throughout his story practically exploded. "It was what Theo?" he said loudly, not enough to be shouting but close enough.
But it was enough to make genuinely Theo jump a bit in his seat. It was plain to see that his version of events during the night of Donovan's attack had Scott following along perfectly, growing ever more anxious with every word. The Alpha was taking the bait and all that was left to do was to start reeling him right in. Theo took a moment to look over and stare at Scott for a moment before he looked back on ahead.
"It wasn't human," he said finally. "I…I couldn't see any trace of Stiles there at all as he just looked down at, what was left. Donovan, he, his head, his face, it didn't even look human anymore. To be honest, I've kind of had a few nightmares about it. But then, Stiles found that I was watching and I panicked and ran. He chased after me and caught me outside in the parking lot. He made me swear not to tell anyone what happened that night. I wanted to tell him that we had to tell you, but I looked into his eyes, his cold and hard eyes." He took that moment to take a deep, nervous breath. "I…I couldn't say no. Scott, I'm sorry."
Scott picked out the hesitancy in Theo's tone and how worried he was. Scared…of Stiles. Scott found that he understood his fear. After viciously critiquing him last night at his house, there was something unsettling in the look Stiles gave him. As much as he tried to hold his ground against Stiles, Scott had felt chills go down his spine even before his eyes flared blue at him.
Theo could feel the conflict brewing up in Scott and moved to finish telling his story. "Stiles then took me with him so we could get rid of the body but when we got back to the library, Donovan's body was gone."
"Parrish," Scott breathed out. "Is that why Stiles has been looking so hard for the bodies? He's trying to find Donovan's?"
With a nod, Theo kept going. "Yeah. He doesn't want anyone to find Donovan because then they'll know it wasn't the Dread Doctors who killed him. Anyway, the place looked clean so Stiles took off but I found the wrench had been kicked under a table. He didn't see me find it but I went and hid it away here in my truck. Please, don't tell him I took it or that I told you," he quickly pleaded.
"I won't," Scott quickly assured him.
But Scott seriously had to talk with Stiles. It looked like he was close to diving off the deep end. He had killed someone, in cold blood. And it looked like he was trying to get himself ready and able to do it even more. He didn't want to believe any of it was true…but he was able to hear that Theo hadn't been lying. His heart was steady the whole time. He heard and felt the fear coming from Theo the whole time. Stiles had done this. What was happening to his best friend? That's not what they were supposed to do. This wasn't who they were supposed to be.
As Scott let himself be drawn and focused on the spots of dried blood of the wrench in his hands, Theo let a small smirk find its way to the far corner of his lips and his eyes brighten a bit. He could feel the turmoil and anxiety coming off of Scott as clear as a picture. While he wasn't sure what could and would be going through Scott's mind until he next saw Stiles, he knew how it would end. One way or another, Stiles would no longer be in the way when the time came for him to get what he truly wanted.
A/N: I hope everyone is acting safely and trying their hardest to bare going through this quarantine lockdown. All we can do is hope is ends as soon as possible but we still have things like our stories to help us through it.
This chapter was more challenging to write because of the changes affecting the future of the story relating to the chimera Zach, Stiles and his awakening Beast power, the change in Liam's feelings for Hayden due to his feelings for Lori and Theo's hand in Wilson Grant's murder. I've also gone through some old chapters and made changes to the one I believe to portray Virgil, as well as chapter 12's scene involving Wilson's fight with the chimeras and his death. If you haven't noticed them, go back and check them out. I'd like to hear what you think of the new stuff, and what's starting to develop leading to our mid season climax.
Again, be careful.
