▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 ━︎━︎ 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐒 went to the police station to talk to Noah and Elaine sat in the library at school, her biology homework out before her. Approaching footsteps made her glance up, a soft sigh falling from her lips when she saw who it was. "Theo." She looked back at her homework, writing down an equation. He took a seat in front of her, but she didn't look at him. "What can I do for you?"

     Theo shrugged. "You never got back to me." Elaine looked at him through her lashes, raising a brow. "About studying."

     "Oh." Another sigh left her lips. "Do you really need my help? Or are you using me as an excuse to try and get Scott to trust you?" She placed her pencil down, crossing her arms on the table and meeting his eyes. Theo glanced down, embarrassed. She hummed. "Thought so."

     "I just figured, you know, you are his sister. He trusts you more than anyone. So if you can trust me, maybe Stiles and the others will follow."

     Elaine let out a humorless chuckle. "I hate to break it to you, but I'm not the person that trusts easily. I'd try a different option."

     Theo nodded and Elaine picked up her pencil and went back to working. "Why are your eyes blue?"

     Elaine paused, looking at him again. "Because I was born with blue eyes. . . ?"

     He chuckled. "No. Not your actual eyes. I mean. . ." He lowered his voice. "Your other eyes."

     "Seeing as I know you've seen me use my magic, it's safe to assume you're not talking about my witch side." Elaine muttered. "My wolf eyes are in fact blue."

     "So, you've killed someone?"

     Elaine chewed on the inside of her cheek, the memories of her mother's dead body flashing through her mind. She cleared her throat, forcing away the tears as she looked at him. "The color of my eyes will always be a reminder of what I did. What I became. It's a reminder of what I never want to happen again."

     Theo stared at her for a long moment. "Do you. . . do you think that Scott doesn't trust you because of your eyes? Is that why I should try someone else?"

     "Honestly, Theo, I don't know what Scott thinks of me." Elaine replied. "And quite frankly, I think it's better that I don't know." She clenched her jaw, hating what she was about to say. "Thank you for the other day. You saved Lydia's life. Without that tourniquet she probably would have died. So, thank you."

     Theo gave her a small smile. "You're welcome."

     "If you're looking for my brother, he's probably somewhere outside." Knowing that was her dismissing him, he nodded and stood before walking away. She looked over her shoulder, watching as he left the library before she gathered her things and left as well. 

     Later that night, Elaine and the others, plus Theo, stood in the McCall house. Their copies of the book were all placed on the glass table and they all stood around it. "My mom's book club usually has more wine," Lydia said.

     "Well, they also probably didn't read books that cause violent hallucinations." Stiles retorted.

     "That's why Malia's here." Scott replied, looking at Malia.

     "So none of us go running into traffic?" Kira asked.

     Scott nodded. "Or worse."

     "Like what happened to Judy," Malia added. They all gave her a confused look. "Chapter 14."

     Lydia picked up the actual book. "Maybe I should have my mother read it. She might remember a girl with a tail leaping off the ceiling and attacking everyone."

     "If it works." Elaine muttered.

     "It has to."

     Scott looked at the strawberry blonde. "What does that mean?"

     "I think I saw them during my surgery. When I look at the cover of the book. . . it's almost like. . ."

     "A memory trying to resurface." Theo finished.

     "Yeah."

     Kira shook her head. "Isn't that what Valack wanted when he wrote it?"

     Malia nodded as Lydia said, "If they did something to me, I want to know what it is."

     They all began to pick up a copy of the book and Elaine stared at her copy nervously. She had a really bad feeling about this, and she had the right mind to say something, but by the time she looked everyone besides Malia had started reading. She silently cursed to herself before taking a seat on the couch and flipping to the first page. Elaine, who has done nothing her entire life but read, was already half way through it when the silence was broken by Scott. "Anyone feel anything yet?"

     "Tired." Kira mumbled.

     Lydia sighed. "Hungry."

     Theo glanced at them. "I think he meant the book."

     Scott glanced at his sister. "El. . . how are you already half way through?"

     Elaine pulled herself from the book, blinking to clear her vision as she looked at Scott. "I do nothing but read, Scott. I'm a fast reader." She let out a soft groan. "My head is starting to hurt, though." She placed her copy down and stood up, walking into the kitchen where Stiles and Malia were. She rummaged through the cabinets before grabbing a bottle of ibuprofen and taking two of them.

     Stiles turned his head to look at her. "You alright?"

     She forced a smile, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright." Pain shot through her temple and she winced. "I think I'm going to lay down." She walked back into the living room and grabbed her copy before taking it with her upstairs as she laid down. Her intention was to close her eyes for ten minutes, but before she knew it she was fast asleep.

     The next day, Elaine walked into school with Kira, Scott, and Stiles. Stiles pushed the door open from her, grabbing her hand as they entered the school. Scott looked at them. "What if we need some kind of trigger? Wasn't Malia driving when she remembered the crash?"

     Stiles nodded. "Yeah, but how are we supposed to trigger a memory that we don't remember?"

     "Maybe it's a delayed thing." Scott suggested. "Maybe you have to wait a couple hours to see what happens."

     They all stopped when the lights began to flicker. When the lights stopped flickering the three turned to Kira. Kira's eyes widened as she looked between them. "That wasn't me. I swear."

     "We keep an eye on each other today, okay?"

     Stiles nodded. "Yes, and keep an eye out for any other potential homicidal chimeras."

     Elaine softly sighed. "And keep an eye out for the Dread Doctors. Are we really calling them that?" Kira pointed at her as if she'd said it before which she had to Scott just a few days prior.

     "Come on." Scott nodded.

     Elaine followed him and Kira as Stiles called out, "Starting to see the appeal of a third eye."

     They made it to their biology classroom and Kira went in first. Before Elaine could enter, however, Scott stopped her. She frowned, turning to face him. "What?"

     "Is it true?" Scott softly asked, moving them out of the doorway so other students could enter.

     Elaine cocked a brow. "Is what true?"

     "You don't think I trust you because of the color of your eyes."

     Elaine rolled her eyes. "That bastard."

     "El." Scott placed his hands on both her shoulders. "Just because your eyes aren't the same color as a beta, doesn't mean that I don't trust you with my life. I trust you more than anyone else. You're my sister."

     Elaine stared at him for a moment, narrowing her eyes slightly. "You trust him, don't you?"

     Scott nodded. "I do."

     Elaine shook her head. "You shouldn't. I have a bad feeling about the guy. And if you trust me so much, you should take my opinion into consideration." Scott opened his mouth and Elaine held up a finger. "I swear to God, Scott, if you say I've been hanging out with Stiles too much I'm going to throw you into another wall."

     Scott pressed his lips into a thin line. "I'll take it into consideration." She nodded, satisfied, before entering the classroom.

     "So while introducing the African Cane Toad, sounded like a good way to deal with Australia's infestation of the grey-backed beetle, unfortunately, the toad also decided to eat everything in sight." Mrs. Finch explained to them, writing on the chalk board. Elaine glanced at Lydia as she sent a text to Scott. "And everything that tried to eat the toad, from crocodiles to household pets, quickly died from the poison they secreted. A perfect example of an invasive species. One-hundred-and-two toads introduced in 1935 became 1.5 billion in 2010."

     Lydia subtly nudged Elaine, grabbing her attention. Elaine looked at her and Lydia nodded to the girl sitting in front of them. Elaine frowned, staring at the back of Sydney's head and watching as she pulled out a clump of hair. Mrs. Finch continued, "Once an invasive species is introduced, everything changes." Sydney stood up, placing a drop form on the teacher's desk. "Wise decision, Sydney." That's when Lydia quickly stood and went to go after Sydney only to stop when Mrs. Finch said, "Lydia, you know it's for the best."

     As Lydia walked out, Scott turned his head at met Elaine's eyes. Elaine, feeling someone watching her, looked over her shoulder to see Theo staring at her. She looked at Scott again before they bell rang and she quickly stood up and went to go find Lydia. Scott and Theo quickly followed after her and when they found Lydia she was lying on the floor. "Lydia?" Elaine quickly tossed her bag to the side, kneeling down beside her. "Lyds?" She looked at Scott and nodded and the two moved the girl so that her back was against the wall.

     "Lydia?" Elaine softly said and Lydia looked at her. "Are you okay?"

     Her hands were violently shaking and Elaine grabbed her hand, squeezing it. "I'm okay. I'm fine."

     "You remembered something." Theo noted.

     Lydia nodded. "Not about the Dread Doctors. Nothing about them or the surgery."

     "What was it?" Scott urged.

     Elaine stood up, grabbing one of Lydia's arms as Scott grabbed the other, pulling her up and placing her into a chair. "My grandmother. At Eichen house."

     "Lydia!" Natalia came running in with Sydney trailing after her. "Lydia? Oh my God, what happened? Are you alright?"

     "Mom, I'm fine. It was nothing."

     Natalia kneeled down in front of her daughter, placing a hand on Lydia's cheek. "Was it a black out? Did you faint?"

     Lydia stared at her, confused. "Yeah. Yeah, I fainted. Mom, I'm fine. I promise."

     When Natalie left, Lydia and Theo left next and Elaine turned to her brother. "You're dropping AP, aren't you?" Scott sighed and nodded. "Scotty, if you need help understanding the material, I'll help you."

     "It's not that. It's. . . it's everything else." Without saying anything else he walked away with the drop form in his hand. Elaine softly sighed. She made her way to her locker, tossing her books inside and slamming the locker shut. However she paused when she heard a voice. "Scott? Scott, I need to know where your inhaler is?"

      "Shit." Elaine ran to Scott's locker, quickly breaking into it and digging through it before spotting his inhaler. She turned her head when she saw Liam running towards her, worry on his face. She quickly grabbed his arm and they both ran up the stairs and to the biology classroom where a crowd of students were standing. "Get out of my way!" Elaine snarled and they all parted as Elaine and Liam pushed through.

     "Scott." Elaine sternly said, placing his inhaler in his hand.

     Liam shook his shoulder. "Scott, come on." Liam looked at Elaine and she nodded. He moved his head, letting his eyes glow yellow as he growled out Scott's name. Scott let out gasps, coming too, quickly taking a puff from the inhaler.

     Scott took a moment to catch his breath. "Thanks."

     Elaine turned her head to look at the students still standing there. "Hey! Show's over! Don't you have somewhere to be?" In an instant the students all scrambled. Elaine turned back to Scott. "Come on, let's get you up." She and Liam pulled him up from the ground before walking out of the classroom without so much as glancing at the teacher. When they got far away enough she pulled him to the side. "Scott, what the hell was that? You haven't had an asthma attack in years."

     "It was a memory. Do you remember us having a dog?"

     Elaine furrowed her brows. "Uh, when we were like really really young. Why?"

     Scott shook his head. "Nothing." He went to walk past her but she stopped him.

     "Hey, are you sure you're okay?"

     He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." Then, he walked away.