...

Scott and Malia went on foot, searching through the woods where Liam had found the holes, searching for Liam and Hayden or anything that would lead the pack to them. Scott made it all the way to Lookout Point, the whole of Beacon Hills laying in the glow of nighttime lights, completely unaware of the dangers lurking within it's depths. Scott roared as loud as he could, making Malia come back to him and find him on his knees, panting. Scott says that there isn't a scent, there aren't any tracks, no way to find them. Malia says Liam could howl back, but Scott reminds only if the Beta heard him.

Stiles and Theo on the otherhand were still recovering from the attack of the still unidentified body snatcher. Stiles sits on the sidelines while Theo flips the Jeep back onto it's tires. Blood coated the right side of Stiles' face, courtesy of Theo after recieving a flaming fist to the jaw. Theo, blood still staining his chin, suggests Stiles goes to the hospital because he had taken in a lot of smoke. Stiles denies him and says he's fine, standing and frowning at the state of his already running down Jeep. Suddenly the police radio came to life, the dispatcher informing that a suspect in a 1-8-7 was in custody and en route to the station. The biggest surprise was when the suspect was named as Yukimura, Kira. Theo asked what a 1-8-7 was, and Stiles told him it was homicide.

Kira was taken to the station where her parents were called and as soon as Ken stepped through the doors he confessed to the murder. Scott went to talk to her while the others stayed behind. The sun started to rise when Stiles and Theo showed up to Scott's house where everyone was gathered. Y/n's eyes went wide when she saw the blood on Stiles, but he was quick to assure her that it wasn't his and it was in fact Theo's. She helped him clean up and when they were done Mason had brought Corey over, another chimera that he had found the night before. Lydia and Mason took him up to Scott's room where he could read the Dread Doctor book, hoping that he could remember anything that would help them find Liam and Hayden.

Y/n, Stiles, Theo, and Malia were conversing in the living room when Scott suddenly burst in, looking like a man on a mission. "Hey, is kira okay?" Stiles asked, yet Scott wasn't paying any attention to him, instead turning his sights to the witch next to him.

"Can you still look at someone's memories?" Scott quickly asked Y/n, who regretfully shook her head.

"I can't do much of anything now. I'm sorry."

Scott sighed in mild frustration, but he was expecting that answer. "It's fine, there's no time anyways." Without saying anything else Scott pushed passed them and headed up the stairs.

"Scott? What are you doing?" Scott ignored Y/n's call as he made his way to his room. Y/n quickly followed after the Alpha. Even without her magic, she could tell he was about to do something drastic.

"Sorry, I'm only on chapter two. I'm kind of a slow reader." Corey apologized to Mason and Lydia from his perch on the end of Scott's bed.

"Oh, that's okay, Corey." Mason assured with a kind smile.

Scott stormed in a moment later. "He's right. We don't have time for that anyways."

"No, Scott, don't!" Lydia tried to stop him, but it was too late as Scott had reached Corey, and in one swift motion plunged his claws into the back of the boy's neck. Corey gasped from the pain as Scott's eyes glowed while he accessed Corey's memories.

"Dammit, Scott." Y/n muttered angrily as she rounded the doorway and spotted Scott. Y/n moved to stand near Lydia as the others came in behind her. "Don't get too close to them." She gently warned.

"What is he doing?" Theo asked.

"Tapping into Corey's memories. It's usually something only Alphas do." Lydia answered.

Theo carefully moved further into the room to get a closer look at the action. "Is it as dangerous as it looks?"

"More so." Y/n answered this time. "If it's not done carefully it could cause serious damage."

"Does anyone know if it's working?" Mason asked.

"It's working. Just give it a minute." Not long after she said that Scott pulled away from Corey with a gasp, the boy himself wincing as Scott's claws left his skin. Y/n and Stiles caught Scott as he swayed on his feet, Lydia and Mason tending to Corey who moved away from the senior.

"Is he okay?" Scott panted out.

"Thankfully." Y/n answered with a little venom to her tone, unable to really believe Scott had done such a thing to Corey.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Corey exclaimed.

"You'll be alright." Scott said.

"There's blood."

"You'll heal."

"Scott-"

"He'll be fine!" Scott cut Stiles off with a yell, trying to keep the new information straight in his head. "Listen... I think it worked. I saw something." He grabbed a notepad and a pencil, starting to sketch out what he had seen. "There were tunnels. Pipes along the walls. There were these two huge blue pipes at the entrance. Two on both sides."

Stiles and Lydia moved to look at what Scott had drawn while Y/n stayed a few steps away, afraid she might actually hit Scott because of his stupid stunt. "Wait a second. I know this." Stiles claimed. "I've seen this before. That's one of the tunnels I used to skateboard in. Remember my dad caught me one time and told me to never go back?"

"It's the water treatment plant." Lydia named.

"That's where they are." Scott said. "That's where we'll find Liam and Hayden." Now focused on the new location he rushes down the stairs with everyone in tow.

"Scott." Stiles called, and was ignored. "Scott, slow down. Just think for a second, okay? Mason shouldn't be going."

"Liam's my best friend. I'm going." Mason insisted.

"Oh, did you suddenly get super wolf powers? I wasn't aware of that development."

Scott stopped in the kitchen with Mason and Malia, the two who were going to go with him. "Well, if you're not going, I could use the help." He said to Stiles.

"No, I'm coming just as soon as I talk to my dad. They're moving the body and he wants to make sure that this time no one steals it."

"How's he gonna do that?" Malia asked.

"I don't know. But whoever took the last one was strong enough to flip my Jeep."

"We can bring Theo." Malia pointed to said boy who in turn looked a little surprised. Scott looked at him, tilting his head in a way to say he was okay with that.

"Maybe I better stay here." Theo answered. "You know, in case the Doctors decide to make a house call for Corey."

"Scott, Stiles is right." Lydia said. "We need to slow down and think."

"I am thinking." Scott claimed. "About how Liam and Hayden could already be dead."

"And rushing in without a solid plan is supposed to help them?" Y/n spoke up, a look of frustrated bewilderment making her eyes squint at the Alpha. "Scott, don't you realize you could have hurt Corey? Really hurt him."

"I have to find Liam." Scott's tone almost sounded apologetic as he turned away and left the house.

Y/n huffed but looked to her sister. "Malia, text me if anything happens."

"I got it."

"I mean it." And then Scott, Mason, and Malia were gone. They went to the treatment plant and started to search the tunnels, but it soon proved difficult as, with the chemicals masking any potential scent, all they could do was search the tunnels manually. Yet there wasn't much progress being made as they seemed to be going down the same passages, turning the same corners, coming to the same intersections.

Stiles went to try to convince his dad to leave the chimera body alone. Y/n wanted to go with him, but Stiles told her that it was probably a good idea for her to stay at the house to keep an eye on Corey. "It healed, didn't it?" Corey asked after Lydia had wiped the blood off of the back of his neck.

"Yeah. Comepletely." Theo answered.

"Okay, then." He stood up from his spot on the couch. "It's been fun. Especially the part where a werewolf forced his way into my brain with his claws." He turned to walk away when Theo called out.

"I don't think leaving is such a good idea, Corey. You now, Lydia's a banshee. It means she can tell when someone's close to death." He glanced to the red-head. "Lydia, what happens if he walks out that door?"

Picking up on what Theo was trying to do, she played along. "It's bad. Very bad."

Corey lightly scoffed. "I'll take my chances." He moved towards the door, his hand on the doorknob.

"Your chances are better with us." Y/n said, making him pause yet again to look at her. "But if you really want to go, we won't stop you. But I have to ask if there was anything else you can remember? Please, Corey. We just want to find our friends."

He didn't really want to, but he did as asked. "There was the hospital and... They took me out of my room."

"And then where?" Lydia prompted.

"The tunnels. Like I already told you. That's it."

"Yeah, nothing after that?" Theo asked.

"No."

"I understand how messy memories can be," Y/n started, "but if you could just think, just for a moment."

Corey sighed, but tried again. Staring at nothing as he tried to remember even the smallest thing. His eyes lit up as he actually remembered something else. "There was a basement."

"Where? Like, in a building?" Lydia asked.

"A house. It was old, covered in dust and... There was a broken stone wall with a large hole in it. Like a bomb went off."

"Guys," Theo turned to the girls, "the werewolf with the talons, the one who attacked Scott. Didn't Parrish say that he smashed through the wall of a basement? Wasn't it something like that?"

"No. It was exactly that." Lydia confirmed. Corey went home after Y/n thanked him, and Theo left as well to find the house Corey talked about.

Theo found it and found Liam and Hayden. After a brief tussle with an electrified fence he was able to get them into his truck and back to Scott's house. Y/n and Lydia fussed over them like mother hens, helping them clean up a bit before they fell asleep, curled up together on Scott's couch. Scott himself, followed by Malia and Mason, walked into his house, dejected and feeling hopeless. That is until he saw the two teens passed out. Y/n and Lydia gave Scott a smile, happy that they're okay and that Liam and Hayden had been found. Theo stood up from where he was leaning against a chair as Scott walked near him, and gave Scott a hug. Y/n gently laid a blanket over the snoozing teens while Mason and Malia also gave Theo a hug in thanks for finding them.

...

Scott sat on the floor of his closet, clothes and hair still dripping rain water from his goodbye with Kira, holding an old leash in his hands. He looked up when Melissa knocked on his door before opening it. "Sweetheart, everything okay?"

"Something's changed." He admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure. Something's different. With me and my friends. With all of us. Something's changed. I think it's because of me. And I don't know how to fix it."

"Hey, hey." She gently cooed, lowering herself to the ground to sit with her upset son, putting a hand on his knee because it was all she could think of to comfort him at the moment.

...

Y/n looked down at the singed nametag in her hand, the name 'PARRISH' engraved on the front. "It's him. He's the one taking the bodies." Stiles said to her and Lydia.

Lydia sighed. "Then I think know where he's taking them." Lydia told them about what Jordan had told her, about dreams he was having of bringing bodies to the Nemeton.

Y/n frowned to herself as she tried to think, all of the information ringing a bell but unable to remember exactly. She knows that she knows what this all meant, what Jordan could be, because she read it in her grimoire, or the bestiary, or some other mythology book. But it must have been a long time ago, longer than she thought because she's having a hard time remembering. She'll remember eventually, she knows it, but it just would have been easier if she had her magic. With how active Jordan's supernatural side has been, she possibly could have tried feeling for it again like she had back when the deadpool was active. Thanks to the Dread Doctors though, she is unable to, and is feeling like she's steadily becoming useless.

~~~
Published: 6/1/22