Chapter 35: Codominance
Liam was surprised when Scott sent him a text late at night saying he needed to see him. As he saw it, he didn't spare a moment before he headed off for his house. Liam found himself becoming a bumble of nerves and his hand began shaking on the steering wheel as he turned and started down on Scott's street. This would be the first time that the two of them had talked to each other since the Supermoon. Since he and Scott had seen each other in the library, as he tried to hill him. Kill his alpha. His friend. What was he going to say? The answer eluded him right to the moment that his hand reached the front door and knocked.
"Come in!" he heard Scott call out from inside.
Taking a deep breath, Liam bit the bullet and opened the door, pushing his way inside. He heard shuffling and saw that it was coming from the kitchen. Scott was there, putting a few random looking things into a bookbag.
When Scott looked up and faced him, Liam let out the large breath he didn't realize he had been holding. "Hayden and the others are alive!" he cried out. "Well, not all of them, but some of them."
Hearing it loud, Liam quickly wanted to hit himself. All the things he could've said at that moment, that was it?
Scott just nodded his head. "Yeah, I knew that already," he said as he went on to resume what he was doing before Liam came in.
"It was Theo. He's the one that brought them back and now, they're with him now. It's like they're his pack."
"Yeah, I know. He's already tried to use them."
"All of them?"
"Well just the ones he had with him. Tracy, Josh and Corey."
"And Hayden," Liam added tensely as he caught Scott square in the eye as he widened them.
"She's alive?"
"She's alive," he added a little happily and relieved. But then his tone fell a bit. "I'm not sure she's totally okay but she is definitely alive."
"That's good. I guess Theo just decided not to bring her along when he met up with me and Stiles."
"Wait, you and Stiles?"
"Yeah," Scott sighed as he headed for the fridge. "After the tech was killed, we went over to station building to investigate and we found a path into the irrigation tunnels. That's where we ran into them. They tried attack us but we were able to fight them off."
"Corey went and attacked you? I can't believe it."
Liam couldn't believe that Corey would go and do something like this. Mason's crush was meek and shy but if he went and did something like this after coming back, what would that mean for Hayden?
"No, Corey...he was there but he didn't actually do anything. He seemed too scared to, but he's still following after Theo with the others. He's calling them his new pack."
"What? Stiles didn't tell me that."
That made Scott freeze and turn to look back to him. "You saw him?" he asked quickly.
"Yeah," Liam nodded. "The other night. Why, what's wrong?"
"Stiles, I haven't seen him since then. I've been looking for him everywhere. He hasn't been at home and seems to duck out of the hospital or avoid it when I'm there. I tried to track him down but I can't even catch his scent."
"Because he knows how to hide it. Satomi showed him how."
"Yeah, I know," Scott breathed out heavily. "Where did you see him?"
"Uh, I was in the woods, over at this spot Stiles brought me to a few times, just thinking and he found me there."
"The creek?" Scott put in. Stiles had told him about finding that spot last summer but Scott had never gone around to actually check it out for himself what with everything that always seems to go on. At Liam's nod, he started talking again. "Well, did he say what he's been doing or where he's been staying?"
"No, we just talked, about other stuff," he added a little awkwardly as he recalled the finer points of their conversation. But recalling his meeting with Stiles brought something back to mind. "Something weird did happen though."
"What?" Scott pressed.
"Um, when I first saw Stiles...there was this...pain. Right in my chest." Liam then went and placed his right palm over his heart. "But, it lasted barely a second and it stopped. After that, I was fine. I don't know what it was but it felt...wrong. And I think Stiles felt it too."
Scott straightened up. That sounded eerily familiar to him. "He didn't say anything to you about that?"
Liam shook his head. He then grew uncomfortable. "No, but, he said that you hate him."
"Hate him? What? He said that?"
"Do you?"
"No," Scott said a bit loudly. He didn't know why Stiles would say something like that.
"Do...you hate me?" Liam then asked quiet and tensely. Scott stared back over at him but didn't say anything. Liam sighed before he took notice of the stuff that Scott was packing. "Did something happen?"
"I'm leaving," Scott said, grabbing and stuffing a big bottle of water into his bag.
"Leaving? You mean you're leaving Beacon Hills? Why?"
Scott looked up at Liam with a tired but determined look on his face. "To get Kira," he muttered out.
"Kira? But, I thought she left with her parents to try and control her fox?"
Scott nodded. "Yeah, she did. Yesterday, I called her dad and he told me that they're in New Mexico and her mom took her to a place called Shiprock. I'm going to go and bring her back." He then went to throw in a baggie filled with sandwiches into the bag.
"Wait, you're going to go alone?"
He shook his head. "I have no choice." He then went to zip the bag up. "I shouldn't be gone for more than two days. Hopefully," he added with a sigh as he went over for his helmet.
"Then, let me come with you," Liam quickly. "We can take my car."
"No Liam," Scott cut off. "You do nothing." He pointed his helmet at him for better effect.
"Scott," he called after him. "Please, there has to be something I can do to help. I have to do something."
"If you run into Stiles again, then tell him where I went and that I really talk to him when I get back. That's what you can do, okay?"
Liam then reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. "At least take my car. It'll take you there better and faster than your bike."
Scott just stared off at him for a bit before he moved and took the keys from him. He then went off and headed out the door as Liam stared off after him, a hopeless and dejected look on his face.
Theo ran and jumped across the tops of three school buses before he jumped and landed flat on the pavement in between two of them. Tracy ran over and stopped at his side.
"Did you see it?" she gasped.
"No, it was too fast."
"But, it's here."
He looked over and saw the claw marks carved into the side of one of the buses. "Yeah, so keep your distance. We're not trying to catch it, not yet."
They heard some distant noises and they followed the trail right into the high school. Moving quietly through the halls, Theo sensed something and he went to shift his eyes and they revealed the appearance of mercury spread across a couple of lockers. They were used to write the same words that were in the tunnels. Damnatio Memoriae. He tensed a bit at the sight.
Tracy noticed his change. "It's the same message, isn't it?" she asked. "What are they trying to tell it?"
"Trying to get it to remember what it was?"
"But, isn't it a teenager just like us? Isn't it just a kid underneath?"
"They don't care about that. The Doctors needed a body because they couldn't resurrect the Beast out of thin air. The kid underneath, whoever it is, just a side effect. All the Doctors care about is the beast."
"So...what happens when it does remember?"
"I'm not sure. The thing probably doesn't know it turns back to human during the day."
"I read that the Beast of Gevaudan killed 113 people. Is that true?"
Theo shook his head. "No. The Doctors told me it was closer to 500."
There were then some new noises and they sounded very close. Tracy quickly brought out her venomous claws and moved to go and check it out. Theo let Tracy go on first as he trailed behind a decent distance. He found that she was becoming the most loyal of his new betas. Eager to please him and prove herself useful and he knew that loyalty would come in very handy, especially with his plans for Le Bete.
The two of them turned around the corner where the sounds seemed to be coming from and stopped as they caught sight of the Dread Doctors. The three of them were standing there, seeming to be in wait. Tracy quickly went and tried to attack the Geneticist but he didn't even flinch from the blow she made at his helmet. She was then struck back and the blow sent her off her feet and colliding into the lockers at the opposite wall. Theo moved to let loose against the Geneticist himself but the Surgeon stepped in and cut him off.
"Leave," the Surgeon ordered.
Theo didn't budge. "Where is it?" he demanded.
"You already have your pack," the Surgeon said back, unphased by his demand.
"It wasn't enough. Look at my eyes!" He shifted them again to show their yellow glow. "Do they look red to you?! I'm not an alpha. Okay, I'm not even a real werewolf."
The Dread Doctors remained unmoved at Theo's rant but the young chimera didn't push it any further as there were soon heavy sounding thuds sounding through the air and they were getting louder, and closer. A moment later, from around the corner, stepped out the Dread Doctors prized achievement. Theo and Tracy laid their eyes at it in terror as it turned to fully face them all. The Beast of Gevaudan. Tracy found herself too scared to even make an audible scream while Theo started to back away as it started to slowly move over for them. The three Doctors stayed stationary, completely indifferent to the approaching monster. The beast then went and let out a hard roar that seemed to shake the very foundations of the school. The wave of power sent Theo down to the ground and made Tracy tried to shield her face with her arm as the lights flickered on and off around them. The lights then burned brighter than ever for a moment before they everything went dark and Theo looked to see that it and the Doctors were gone.
"Where'd they go?" Tracy gasped out.
Theo didn't answer and instead just glared off at the empty hall where they disappeared. After a moment he just turned and headed off with Tracy following right on his heels. The two of them made it outside back in the bus lot when Theo suddenly stopped.
"Wait," he mumbled, putting his left arm out to stop her.
"What is it?" she gasped out, her eyes looking about nervously.
"Shh," he harshly hissed as his eyes let their pale yellow glow loose again.
He felt a chill travel through the air that made his spine tingle, not too unlike what he just experienced staring down Gevaudan. It made his hairs stand on end and his widened as he detected an approaching scent. His eyes dimmed back to normal as he went and pulled himself and Tracy both down to the pavement and moved to crawl underneath the nearest bus. Tracy was about to open her mouth to ask what they were doing but Theo moved his hand to tightly cover it and keep her from making any noise. A few tense seconds later, there was the sound of heavy thumping. It sounded like something was walking and jumping along the top of the nearby school buses before it got to the one they were underneath. The bus lowered a bit as they heard, whatever it was, walking along the roof to the opposite end of the bus before it seemed to jump off and land on the pavement. They looked over and saw, not a pair of human feet, but four furry paws with long claws on each digit. The sight made Tracy's eyes widen in shock while Theo's eyes narrowed in thought at them. They could hear a low, primal growling before the paws' owner took off like dark blur. They took a good moment before Theo started to crawl out and Tracy followed after him.
"Was that the Beast of Gevaudan again?" Tracy gasped out.
Theo looked off in the direction it disappeared in. "That was the Beast alright, just not Gevaudan. But its no less dangerous." 'Especially to me,' Theo thought to himself.
They then heard howling in the near distance, softer than what they felt in the hallway, but just as paralyzing.
Virgil had on his favorite small strap on light tied around his forehead as he looked down upon the suspended car engine, tinkering away at it with his wrench. He was currently using a wrench to loosen and remove a half melted part when he heard a small growl off to the side. Virgil looked over to where Stiles was with Zach, training him with his powers. The two of them had been going at it for hours, with Stiles going on and giving him a full shapeshifter crash course. Virgil was amazed that Stiles was able to get Zach to get the hang of shift out his claws how to use them within the good span of the morning. It looked like Zach didn't have any fangs though or seemed able to shift his face in the same way that Stiles could though. Besides that, it seemed to be going well.
Though, going into the afternoon, they seemed to be hitting a bump. Yet, he might've spoken to soon when he heard a growl out of Zach that was quite loud.
"Hey, that one sounded pretty good," he said, impressed.
"No," Stiles called out. "That wasn't from a shift. Zach was just irritated."
"Oh." Virgil then went back to his work.
Zach let out another hard, angry, human sounding growl. "Yeah, well, you can't really blame me for being irritated. Look, I think it's really cool that you went and gave me my own training montage but it's not working! Claws, glowing eyes, I got that part. But sprouting out a pair of giant wings, it's just working. I'm trying everything I can think of but it's just not-"
"Breathe," Stiles cut in. Zach narrowed his eyes but stopped his rant. "Zach, you've barely been at it an hour. You'll get there, I know it."
Zach just turned to look angrily off to the side. Stiles had found himself a little eager to try and teach Zach. He could feel that the guy had a lot of potential. After all, besides Theo he was the only chimera to still be alive, well to not have died and come back at least. He escaped the Dread Doctors, all on his own, not once but twice. Speaking from personal experience, that was far from easy. Not to mention, the guy actually had wings. A flying shapeshifter sounded pretty cool, well one that wasn't part snake anyway.
"How do you know? Last time I checked, werewolves don't sprout wings and fly though the air. How can you teach me how to do that if you don't know what it's like?"
Stiles deflated a bit. "You have a point. I don't know what it's like to have wings let alone fly as I'm a werewolf. You're a chimera. While that might make some difference I'll still help you to learn any way I can."
"Well, what if you can't?" Zach huffed out impatiently. "What difference does it make anyway? Maybe I don't need the wings."
"The only reason you're still alive is because of those wings of yours. They allowed you to escape the Dread Doctors, not once, but twice. None of the others can claim half of that."
"But I'm still fast, strong, have special vision to see them coming and use my claws to get them to leave me alone."
"Tell that to the whole pack of werewolves that had been plowed through by the Dread Doctors like rag dolls. They had the same speed, claws and eyes you do and fangs to boot. Or to the other chimeras. They had each had special tricks of their own on top of fangs, claws and glowing eyes and all of them were killed."
"Well I'm not them!" he hollered. "I'm not interested in fighting or even seeing those three doctors again. I just want to stay alive."
"Oh, and you think the rest of us don't?!" Stiles spat out, making Zach actually flinch back a bit. "I'm trying to help you do that because as bad as the Dread Doctors are, there is something far worse out there and without my help you probably won't last too much longer."
"What? What are you talking about?" he asked, desperately.
Stiles narrowed his eyes at him. "Just look around," he said gesturing to the wrecked insides of the mechanic's garage. "Those three sure didn't do this. Just ask Virgil if you don't believe me."
Virgil moved to step away from down from his step stool and look directly at Zach as he began wiping his oily hands with a rag.
Stiles continued with a tone softened a touch but was still hard. "Zach, you brought out those wings and used them without thinking not once, but twice without you ever having been taught to. I saw something like that with all the other chimeras and their own 'unique' abilities. That usually doesn't happen with those that are newly turned. I think that is because you're all not natural Supernaturals. That might be an advantage you all have. You just have to tap into it and use, if you just allow yourself to. But, just like with others like me, that really depends on you."
"What I think Stiles is trying to say is, maybe if you actually put half as much energy into your focus and concentration as you've been doing with your bitching, you might've already been flying south for the winter by now." Virgil said, with a hard tone himself.
Zach grit his teeth and he sharply turned around and stomped on off, kicking stray debris and dirt as he went outside.
"Zach," Stiles said moving to follow him.
But Virgil stopped him. "Let him go."
"Did you really have to go and say all that?" Stiles huffed out at him.
"Hey, it had to be said. It's his life, all of our lives we're talking about here, right? We can't afford to be pulling any punches."
Stiles couldn't help but think that Virgil had a point there. "But he's shouldn't be out there right now," he argued.
"He won't go far. Just, give him some time to simmer down and think about everything that you just said. He'll be back soon enough when he realizes you're right."
Stiles frustratingly blew some hot air right up at his nose. "Yeah, well, thanks, you know, for letting us do all this here."
"Yeah, well, with my boss and all the other guys working here...gone, that makes it mine until someone comes and officially says otherwise. Besides, it's perfect you for you to let loose as no one is going to be coming around here anytime soon."
Stiles nodded before he looked over at his jeep. "How are the repairs coming?"
Virgil directed him over to the removed engine. "Well, now that all that tape and glue are completely off," he said pointedly, making Stiles suck his lip in a bit. "I can see over half the parts here were beyond repair and needs a full overhaul and that's just the engine." He then brought him to under the jeep's hood and started pointing off. "The starter is not just shot but half rusted. The radiator is coming apart and your oil should've gotten changed a good while ago. Honestly, it might be better, and cheaper, to just get a new car."
"I'm not getting a new car," Stiles quickly muttered back, keeping his gaze down at the contents of his jeep's hood.
Virgil's gaze softened a bit. "You know, from the rust I found, I'm guessing this car has quite a few years on it. I'm talking like decades. Where did you get it from?"
Stiles closed his eyes. "It was my mom's" he muttered.
From his tone, Virgil didn't need any further explanation. "Well, I can tell you that restoring this jeep to prime, driving condition won't be easy. Costly, but doable, well for me anyway."
"How much?"
But Virgil waved his hand off into the air. "Don't worry about that. It's on the house. Besides, my boss had owed me a favor. Free repairs though he did that because he was sure I would never cash it in because I take care of my car. Well, I'm going to be cashing it for someone who can't."
"Hey, I take care of Roscoe just fine," he said a bit indignantly. "There's just been...a lot going on lately."
"Yeah, I don't think you have to try and convince me. But, I should have...Roscoe," he muttered dryly. "Up and running in maybe a week, or sooner."
"Really?"
"Helps that you are and will be my only customer for a while. And everything I need should be all right here."
"Uh, Virge," he tried to argue.
"Virgil," he impulsively said. "And it's fine. I'm actually happiest when I'm fixing a good car. It's time well spent. Besides, I think it's the least I can do, don't you think."
"Thanks," Stiles said lowly to him.
Virgil cleared his throat as this was started to get uncomfortably mushy. "Uh, speaking of time spent, where were you last night? I got up in the middle of the night to get some water and saw that the couch was empty."
Stiles started rapidly blinking his eyes. Last night, he remembered going to sleep at that couch, and he had woken up in the alley across the street from the building a little before sunrise. Naked. Like he had the night of the Supermoon. He guessed that he must've transformed again but, like before, he had no memory of it. Thankfully, he was able to slip back into the building and get to Virgil's apartment without any problems.
"I just needed some air so I went out for a walk," he told him.
"Naked?"
Stiles widened his eyes at him. "How?"
"I heard howling, out from my open window. Look, I don't care what happened but please, don't lie to me Stiles or take me for an idiot. Okay?"
Stiles nodded. "Sorry. It's just...I guess I'm just used to lying about and dealing with all this stuff myself."
"What about your pack? Why are you avoiding them?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, I'm talking about the fact that you have been shacking yourself up in my apartment since I brought you there and I doubt it's just about watching over me and Zach. Not to mention, the high school open again today and you're not there."
"Yeah, well I think helping Zach is more important right now."
"You know, you could've waited until after school to start training him. We could've waited here for you. I doubt those Frankensteins or their dick reject would've thought to look for Zach here, at least not right away." He then narrowed his eyes. "You're trying to avoid something, or someone."
"It's nothing," Stiles said to him, turning away from him.
"So, nothing is keeping you from sleeping in your own house and going to school with your friends? I thought I just told you not to take me for an idiot. When you were telling me and Zach the truth about the supernaturals that were here in town and what was happening, I could tell you were still holding stuff back as I couldn't find an answer for why you were hiding out with us instead of trying to make it the other way around. You're avoiding and or hiding from something, so spill it." He then moved to sit down on his work stool, in wait.
Stiles sighed. He was starting to think that this guy might be a grease monkey version of Lydia.
Kira was on the floor, trying to bare through the pain from the fresh wound on her arm. For the last few days, the "help" that she was receiving from the skinwalkers seemed to revolve around fighting for her life as they tried to run her through with their spears, over and over. One of the skinwalkers was currently tying a strap of animal skin over it before petting her hair somewhat affectionately.
"This will speed the healing," she said to her.
"You could've just not have thrown the spear into me," Kira hissed back as she put pressure on her wound.
"You had a sword. You could have used it."
"I thought I did."
"You were afraid to use the sword. I showed you that I wasn't afraid to use the spear," she said to her with prideful resolution.
Things were cut short when Kira's mother walked into the tent. After exchanging looks with the skinwalker, she moved to go over to her daughter as the skinwalker left them alone.
"What happens now?" Kira asked her.
Noshiko looked over at the diagram that was painted on the floor of the tent. "They're going to test you," she said after a moment. "Tonight. It's not going to be easy."
"Have they mentioned anything about fixing me?" she asked impatiently.
"They have their methods," Noshiko told her daughter sternly. "It takes time Kira."
"How much time? Days?"
Noshiko then went to kneel in front of her. "Months, or years."
"Are you kidding?!" she huffed, desperately hoping her mother was pulling her leg.
"Don't think I take this lightly Kira. All things of great worth take real time and effort."
"But mom, years?"
"You're a kitsune. You have centuries."
"What about my friends? What about Scott? I can feel something's changed. It's bad, they need my help."
She didn't want to be away from her home, her friends, her boyfriend, for one year yet alone more than they could possibly live through. Not with everything going on now. Especially since something she could feel that something has happened. She needed to go back.
But Noshiko stayed resolute in getting her daughter to understand her position. "If this part of you becomes too powerful, it will consume you. Do you understand what that means? You won't exist anymore. And whatever you become after, helping your friends might not be it's first priority. The best you can do for them right now is hold on to learn to hold on to who you are and not lose yourself Kira."
"So, this is it? I pass their test and then I can spend a couple of months, or if I'm lucky, years learning from a bunch of half naked ladies carrying spears and wearing animal pelts?!"
Noshiko's face hardened at Kira's blatant disrespect of the skinwalkers. "You carry a sword and you wear a leather jacket. We're not so different from them Kira."
That seemed to make Kira shrink back a bit. "What if they can't help me? Do I really become one of them?"
"If you become a skinwalker, stay with them, it could keep you alive. It could be the only thing that saves you."
"All the myths about skinwalkers say that they're evil."
Noshiko cracked a small, sad smile. "They say the same thing about kitsune. That we're all evil tricksters. Just like they say that werewolves are all bloodthirsty and savage monsters. You know differently though, don't you Kira?" That made an identical small, sad smile appear on her daughter. "Myths tend to differ and diverge, depending on their source."
Liam and Mason were walking to their next class together, the halls being less active than they were used to. It was the first day back after the school had their front sign thrown through the wall into the hallway. Students everywhere, even quite a few of the teachers, seemed to be uncomfortable being back. Liam could understand why. Who would feel ready to be back at a place that was severely demolished with no real explanation for what happened. He had hoped to try and meet back up with Stiles to try and be able to do anything to help, but he wasn't anywhere around either. He hadn't come to school. It was starting to feel that everyone was off trying to deal with the situation while he was stuck doing nothing.
As he and Mason walked silently side by side, they flinched, along with everyone, when a bit of white noise rang through the speakers. It seemed not everything was fully repaired and functional back with the school just yet. The noise went off for a moment before it stopped and a voice started speaking.
"Attention all students. Mr. Quinn's classes are cancelled for today. If anyone knows his whereabouts, please let the office know immediately."
"That doesn't sound too ominous," Mason said to him.
That was another noticeable thing about being back. There seemed to be fewer people here than before. It hadn't just been Scott and Stiles who were noticeably gone, there were over a handful of students, and now some teachers missing. If he had to guess, Mason would place the odds that they had run into the Dread Doctors new prized project.
However, it looked like Liam wasn't thinking about that as he was glaring up ahead. His eyes were on Theo, talking quietly, and closely, to Hayden. He had not been this close to Theo, out in the open, since the night of the school library when he let him through to try and kill Scott. Played and made a complete fool out of him and now Scott doesn't trust him anymore. He felt an itch spreading to his fingertips, where his claws out to be.
"Liam," Mason said, seeing where his attention was and what was likely going through his mind. "Scott told you to do nothing," he reminded.
"I know," he said, his gaze not leaving Theo and Hayden.
At that moment, Theo averted his gaze and looked over at them, his cocky smirk ready on his face. Liam's jaw clenched tightly at the sight.
"Liam, don't get involved," Mason gently pleaded.
Liam finally tore his gaze away from them to look over at Mason though he only did so for a moment before he looked back over to see Theo pulling Hayden away and the two of them walked off, together. Liam's fingers tightly gripped the strap of his bag, the nails digging in tightly at the material as he tried to stem the pressure that had felt started building and pushing at his temples. After a moment, he managed to push it down and loosened his grip.
"I'm okay," he said, breathing a hard, heated breath out.
"Okay," Mason nodded, not completely convinced. "C'mon, let's just head to Science."
This next class happened to be with both Hayden and Corey. As he took his seat, Liam tried hard to avoid turning and looking over at Hayden who sat behind him. As for Mason, he silently tried to have Corey catch his gaze but he seemed to keep his gaze at his textbook to try and keep himself looking at him.
"Co-dominance," their teacher started. "A relationship among alleles where both alleles contribute to the phenotype of the heterozygote." Liam blinked as he didn't follow any of that. Their teacher smiled at the scattered blank faces staring back at her. "Quite a mouthful, I know. But, it's exactly what we'll be learning in today's lab. Student in the first and third row, look behind you. These are your partners."
With that, Liam finally turned around to look at Hayden, as she was now going to be his lab partner. He deflated as he caught her eyes while Hayden seemed to stiffen uncomfortably. As for Corey, he looked back and gave the girl behind him a small smile, which grew brighter when her chair was pulled out, with her own it and Mason slid on over to take her spot.
When everyone was fully paired off, their teacher continued with her lesson.
"Remember that in co-dominance, neither allele is recessive. The phenotypes of both alleles are expressed. In human blood, what is a good example of co-dominance?" she out to the class.
It was Corey who answered. "Type AB," he said.
"Very good. So, today you're going to solve a little mystery. Two couples have babies at the same day, in the same hospital. Were the babies switched? Open your packets and find out."
As everyone moved to start working on the exercise, two pairs of partners had their focus on everything but the project. Corey and Mason were sneaking looks and smiles with one another every other moment that they were barely paying attention to what they were reading or doing. As for Hayden and Liam, Hayden kept looking his way but Liam tried to keep his eyes on the packet though wasn't really taking in any of the words as he was fighting the urge to look back at her.
"Gonna talk to me?" Hayden lightly asked him.
"I'm reading the instructions," he said, still keeping his head down.
"You know what I mean."
"You mean how you're hanging out with a total psycho that tried to get me to kill Scott, then did it himself?" He finally went to face her with a hard, bitter look on his face. "Yeah, let's talk about that,"
"That total psycho brought me back to life. Remember that?" she said back, just as bitterly. It made him look away. "I'm not dying again."
Liam guessed that Hayden must feel like she owes Liam for that, and while he himself was trying not to feel grateful for that, he knew that Hayden, and the others must be. So much that they've chosen to follow him. "You don't have to-"
"Why not?" she asked, cutting him off. "Because Scott is going to save us? Like he saved me? Or Corey?" She shook his head. "He doesn't even know what's coming?"
"What do you mean? What's coming?"
"Seems to be a lot of discussion over here." They looked up to see their teacher right in front of them, not looking very pleased. "I can't imagine that the two of you solved the mystery already, have you?"
"Uh, no," mumbled Liam as both he and Hayden lowered their heads, away from their teacher's glare.
"Get to it," she sternly told them.
For now, they dropped the issue as they tried to get back to work.
In another classroom, another teacher looked and spotted two empty chairs side by side. She knew who frequented those seats.
"Has anyone seen Stiles or Scott McCall?" she asked her class. "Can't be the only one that thinks it slightly coincidental that they're both sick on the same day."
Sitting in the row over, Theo gave the two seats a look. He agreed. It couldn't be a coincidence that the both of them were missing. Though, he was fairly certain that the they weren't both missing for the same reason. Stiles had been banished from the pack by Scott. Theo knew what that meant so he doubted that they were together. He guessed that either Scott and Stiles were both seeing to the same thing separately, or they were both seeing to different things at the same time. He needed to know what they were doing. Luckily, he had two new pack members that had good chances of getting the answers he needed.
"And Lydia Martin wasn't in class today either," the teacher added, with a lower tone.
"She won't be in for a while," Theo went and threw in. That made everyone turn to look over at him, including the teacher. "Medical issues," he calmly explained.
Everyone turned to look back at their readings while their teacher resumed circling the room. As she moved passed the door, Theo's eyes caught sight of Malia standing right outside it. She was staring right at him with a heated gleam in her eye. It seemed she had heard what he had just said. He flashed her his signature smirking grin and it made her look away and head on off. Theo couldn't help but feel a mix of pride and primal satisfaction at the effect that he still seemed to have on her.
Scott was driving Liam's car, his eyes staring firmly on ahead with a solemn expression on his face. Actually heading off to New Mexico to see and get back Kira, Scott was feeling anxiety swell up in him. What was it going to be like when they saw each other again. What would she be like? What would he say?
He had thought that it would be easier if he headed off after Kira by himself. But soon Scott was finding himself wishing he had taken Liam on his offer on coming along. This was the first time that Scott had gone off on a trip like this without anyone by his side. And it was a long trip, hours upon hours long with nothing and no one to distract him except for his thoughts.
As he was coming along the state line, those thoughts turned to the message that was left behind in mercury: Damnatio Memoriae. Condemnation of Memory is what Stiles said it meant. He had looked it up and found references of it being a practice that was done to disgraced and fallen people. They would have their names stricken off from any and all records and documentation. It was like they were made to be erased and forgotten. He even found a story of it down to a cannibalistic butcher whose acts were so vile and horrendous that they didn't want history to remember him at all. Whatever the Dread Doctors resurrected, it was something that had been made to be forgotten and he guessed that they were trying to get it to remember who it is. Who would the Dread Doctors go through all of this trouble to bring back, and why? His mind spun in circles at the possibilities, each one more outrageous from the last. He wondered if Stiles might have a better idea.
With that, a whole new set of thoughts began to swim around in his mind and Scott was then stuck dwelling back on all the events over the last month. And on all of his friends.
Malia, she was pulling away from all of them and was working try and keep them away. Scott didn't have to think too much on why that was. When he visited her, he had detected more people in that house and he had caught the lingering scent of exhaust from Braeden's bike. He remembered that Braeden had been on the trail of the Desert Wolf, Malia's mother, and had sent Stiles that photo of the bodies she had left behind. Her message to him and her daughter. If he had to guess, Malia, Braeden, and probably Malia's dad were all working together to hunt down and kill the Desert Wolf. For what she had done to Malia's adopted mom and sister. Scott can't say that he approved of what they were doing and they knew that, which is why she and her dad told him to stay away.
Liam, he wanted to try and make it up to him but Scott was finding himself unable to let him. His pleas to try and help, Scott could feel that he was completely sincere but he just didn't want to listen to them. He just couldn't forget the look on Liam's face that night when they were on the roof. The way he screamed that he was not just going to kill him but wanted to kill him. He could still remember the pain that Liam's claws inflicted on him as he all but mauled him in the library. Scott knew that it wasn't really his fault, but a big part of him didn't want to.
Lydia, who was always a strong and fierce force to reckon with, the last image of her he had was lying helpless and broken in a hospital bed. Yesterday, after trying and giving up on waiting to catch Stiles out at the hospital, he tried to pay a visit to Lydia's mom and check on her but she quickly slammed the front door in his face almost as soon as she had opened it. As soon as her eyes fell on him, she sternly told him that her daughter was her concern, not his, Stiles, Parrish or any of the others and asked to just leave them alone as they've done enough damage. Before he could try to get a word in, she had slammed the door on him. Scott found himself not able to put any fight against her after that.
And then, there was Stiles. With that, he didn't even know where to start. Eventually his mind focused down onto the fact that Stiles thought he hated him. Where did Stiles get that idea from? He remembered the last time they had last seen each other. How he tried to have Stiles finish the symbol of their pack. It looked like he was going to do it and then Stiles just ruined it by throwing the dirt back up at him and bolted off. Stiles had been so angry. Was that because he thought Scott hated him? How could get that from asking him to complete the symbol. He ran through it again and again, replaying every second. Until he remembered just before Stiles did that, he had faced him, with his blue eyes and then Scott had-
Scott then moved to pull the car over at the side of the interstate, his breathing starting to grow quick and heavy.
"Oh my god," he gasped.
The last bell rang out and the halls were filled with students ready to head on home or go about to their after school activities though not many seemed to be staying for that this particular day. Theo was practically strutting down the near bare halls as he moved to look for Hayden and Corey to hear anything they've managed to get today from Liam and Mason, as well as give them some new instructions. Then he would head off to keep looking into Gevaudan and even try to give Zach another try but this time bring Tracy and Josh along.
As he moved to turn down a supposedly empty hall, he froze as standing in wait a few yards away was a very tall guy. One he recognized as Brett Talbot. He was wearing a stony expression on his face. Theo could feel the rage the guy was giving off and started to back away and go the opposite direction. Brett started to walk on after him and Theo picked up the pace a bit. He only made it halfway down the hall when a girl, Lori Talbot, came around the opposite corner and stopped to face him. Her rage was no less enflamed than her brother's. The two of them had him confined in the middle of that hallway with nowhere to run. Brett and Lori Talbot, members of Satomi's pack. All of whom no doubt had fully learned about what happened during the Supermoon and connected him to the role he played in the death of Wilson Grant. He had to admit, in all his recent planning, Theo had overlooked them.
"I don't suppose we could stop and try to talk about this?" he muttered out, turning back and forth between them with his easygoing smile.
They responded by lighting up their golden yellow eyes and baring their fangs and claws. Together, the two then charged.
A/N: I hope you all like where this is heading now. The Beasts are rearing their heads through town and heaven help anyone who runs into either of them. Scott has also had an epiphany about what is going on between him and his (maybe formerly) best friend. I also have some good news to share. I've getting some new free time coming up which would let me have more chances to work on my story. The next chapter might be up in two weeks, if not sooner considering how pumped I'm feeling for this now.
