...

"I know what happened to Donovan." Theo claimed after shifting back. "I know everything-" He couldn't finish what he was saying as Stiles had rushed at him in sudden anger, grabbing the front of his shirt in his fists and pushing him against the fencing that surrounded the power boxes.

"You don't know anything."

It's Theo's turn to grab Stiles' shirt and push him into the fencing. "I was there." He said almost angrily. "I was at the library. Malia and Y/n found the book. Malia was texting us to see where you were while Y/n went looking. She said they left you at the library. I told Malia I was close. When I got there, I heard the scaffolding come down."

"What the hell is going on?" The two looked to see Y/n, her glare set on Theo as she stormed forward and pushed him off of Stiles. "Keep your hands off." She warned, eyes flashing threateningly.

"I'm okay." Stiles put a hand on her arm, making her tense shoulders relax as she turned a softened gaze onto him.

"You saw him?" Stiles looked back at Theo, calming down a little now that Y/n was by his side.

Theo glanced at Y/n before he answered. "Just the body. I watched you come out. I was gonna say something, but then I saw the cop car. And the body was gone. I don't know who took him. I only saw what you saw, and didn't say anything because you didn't." Approaching sirens caught their attention and they all glanced towards the sound. "That's not an ambulance, is it?" Stiles lightly shook his head as he and Y/n moved away from the wolf. "We should get out of here."

Stiles looked to the dead chimera. "We can't just leave him."

"Fine. All right, let's take him. Someone's stealing the bodies anyways, right? Here's our chance to find out who." Stiles was silent, trying to get his mind to run properly. "Stiles, come on. We gotta do something."

"Did you kill him?" Y/n accused more than asked as she glared at Theo.

"In self-defense. He was gonna kill Stiles and me. If we stay, we're either gonna have to tell the truth or we're gonna need a pretty convincing story. It's your choice." He directed the last part to Stiles. "I'm not gonna ask you to lie to your dad."

"Don't worry. I've had plenty of practice." Stiles' choice was to take the body with them and bring it to the animal clinic. They called Scott and told him that they saw the Dread Doctors kill another chimera.

Y/n pulled back the cover they had put over the body so Scott could look at him. "Do you know him?" Theo directed to the Alpha.

"His name's Josh. He was a junior." Y/n covered Josh back up as Scott paced a little bit, before turning back to his friends. "Which one did it? The one with the cane?"

"The Surgeon." Y/n named, picking up the Dread Doctors' titles from the few pages of the book she managed to read.

Stiles glanced at Theo as he nodded in agreement with the witch's statement. "What are we going to do with him?" Stiles asked. "We can't just set the alarm and leave. That's how Tracy disappeared. All right, someone's gotta stay here with him."

Theo sighed in thought before he spoke up. "I'll do it. It's not like I had a big Saturday night planned."

Scott's phone buzzed and he pulled it out from his pocket to check the message he just got. Whatever it was seemed to shock him. "What is it?" Stiles asked.

"Another one. Another chimera." The new chimera was Hayden, who Liam had brought to Scott's house and was now hiding in Scott's bathroom. Scott knocked on the locked door. "Hayden? It's Scott. I know that you're scared, but we just- we want to help." Hayden didn't answer and Scott turned to talk to the others quietly. "I can hear her heart beating. She's really freaked out. What happened?" He asked Liam.

"She was okay when we got here. I went to text you for two seconds and she locked herself in."

"Why?" Stiles wondered.

"I don't know."

"She's definitely a chimera?" Scott asked again.

"She said she heard a voice saying, 'your condition improves'."

"Okay, that's unsettling." Stiles commented before trading places with Scott to try his hand at getting Hayden to come out of the bathroom. "Hayden. This is Stiles. Your sister works with my dad down at the station. Look, just open the door, okay? You can trust us." When there was no answer Y/n stepped forward to take her turn.

"Hayden? It's Y/n." She spoke in a soothing tone. She could barely feel how freaked out the girl must be, but she could imagine. "I understand how strange this all must be, but we're only trying to tell you the truth. You don't have to talk, and you don't really have to believe us either, but we just want to make sure you're okay in there." There was slight movement on the other side. "Hayden?" The lock clicked and the door opened just a crack. Y/n glanced back at the boys before pushing the door all the way open.

Hayden stood in the middle of the bathroom, panting in fear through fangs as she looked up from her clawed hands with bright, yellow eyes. "I believe you." After a little while they had gotten Hayden to calm down, letting her shift back to normal before they told her everything they knew so far, and after a few more minutes of making sure she was alright, Liam took her home.

While Stiles drove Y/n home, which thankfully the Jeep didn't stall on him today, he noticed that she was upset about something. She didn't say anything about it, but he could still tell. The way her hands clenched together often, how she would barely catch his eye. "Are you okay?" He asked, barely catching her glance at him before she looked down at her lap. "What is it?"

"I haven't finished the book yet."

"Why?"

"I get a headache every time try, and this strange feeling. Almost like a fear, like someone doesn't want me to read it."

"Maybe it's a good idea if you don't, then. I mean, if it's that bad, it's probably better if you don't."

"That's just the thing, though. I have to read it because it's so bad. Stiles, I think something is really wrong with me, and now I'm starting to suspect it's because of them. The Dread Doctors."

His lips turned down in a small frown of concern. "What are you talking about?"

"There's something wrong with my magic. I can feel it getting weaker. I was paralyzed by kanima venom, I couldn't heal Lydia, and tonight I couldn't feel you."

"What do you mean, you couldn't feel me?"

"Because of how feel about you, how much love you, I'm highly aware of you. I can sense you no matter what's going on. Sometimes I can even sense your pain." She lightly touched her right shoulder, remembering the pain she felt while she was looking for Stiles and he had been attacked. "But tonight was different. When you were on the roof being attacked by Josh, I should have been able to feel it. I should have been able to get to you and stop him. But I couldn't feel you. I couldn't tell you were in danger until I heard the shouting."

"Hey." He reached over and took her hand, making her finally look up at him. "It's okay."

"No, it's not." She shook her head. "I don't know what I would do with myself if something happened to you and I didn't get there in time."

"You don't have to protect me all the time. Sometimes we're gonna get hurt and there's nothing we can do to stop it. All we can do is pick each other up and keep fighting. That's what you told me before, right? We protect each other. You're not alone."

She gave him a little smile as he lightly squeezed her hand. Her eyes settled on their joined hands for a minute, her determination growing with the touch. "I need to figure out what's wrong with me so I can stop it. I need to read the book no matter how much it hurts."

"Alright, we'll do it together. I'll stay with you."

When they got to her house they sat in her living room in silence for a little while. Y/n was resolved to finish this damn book even if her head split open like Zeus when Athena was born. But that didn't mean she was just a little hesitant. Finally she picked up the book, flipping to the page she left off at and continued reading. As expected the migraine came back after just a few pages, but this time, instead of taking a break, she pushed through it. The pain grew to almost unbearable levels, but right when she thought she couldn't take anymore, it suddenly subsided. She almost sighed at the instant relief she felt as the migraine went away. But then images started to flash in her mind, the book falling from her fingers as she was thrown into a memory.

"Here, make sure you didn't lose anything. "Y/n instructed Liam, her eyes glowing as she made a fire spark to life in her hands and directed the light so he could look around. Liam found his phone in the mud and picked it up. When she started to feel a tingle in her fingers she frowned. The feeling quickly grew and she turned her head, the fire dying on her hands as she looked between the three masked figures in confusion.

"Sorcière." The Geneticist and the Pathologist both took one of her arms, forcing her to her knees and pushing her head forward to expose her neck. The Surgeon stepped forward next, creating an incision in the back of her neck and placing a purple tinted mistletoe there. The Surgeon stepped back while the Geneticist and the Pathologist stood her back on her feet before they took their leave once again, the wound healing on her neck as if nothing ever happened.

"You got everything?" Y/n called after a moment, causing Liam to look up at her and nod. She reached down to take his hand, using her magic to help pull him out of the hole.

"Y/n!" Stiles yelled. Her wide eyes finally focused on his worried face. She lightly panted as she looked at the tight grip he had on her wrists and the few smears of blood on her fingernails.

"What- what happened?"

"You threw yourself to your knees and were hyperventilating and then you started clawing at the back of your neck." He explained, loosening his grip and instead moving his hands to her arms. "What did you see?"

"They did something to me. They put something in my neck. It looked like mistletoe."

"Mistletoe? Doesn't that kill you?"

"Yeah, but this one was different. It was purple. I think it was modified somehow. I mean, I should be dead by now if it was normal mistletoe. I think it was made to weaken me, strip away my powers until I'm basically human."

"Okay, so what are we going to do about it?"

"If Alan was here, he might've been able to take it out. I don't think there's anything we can do."

...

In the school library Scott lays down the map that marks the telluric currents that they had gotten from Danny what seems like forever ago. "We're back to telluric currents?" Stiles asks.

"If the Dread Doctors didn't like coming into Eichen House because of them, maybe we can use them to protect Hayden." Scott said.

"Okay, so, besides Eichen, where's the strongest convergence?"

"Right here." Y/n said just as Scott pointed to the school on the map.

"You want to hide her in the high school? For how long?"

"If we have to, all night. Liam convinced Hayden not to say anything to her sister yet. She's working a double tonight, and she thinks Hayden's staying at a friend's."

"But it's just a school though. You know, it's not exactly a fortress."

"Lydia has an idea for that." Y/n spoke up. "Remember how Valack quoted Nikola Tesla?"

"Frequency and vibration." Stiles nodded.

"She thinks he wasn't saying it just to sound intelligent. She thinks it might have been a clue."

"To do what?"

"Disrupt their frequency." Scott answered.

"Jordan took three cell phone jammers from the station, and he's working on broadening their range of frequency." Y/n said.

"It's a long shot, but it's the best we got right now."

"And you're going to be there too?" Stiles looked at Y/n who nodded in response.

"Even without magic, I know how to defend myself." Alan had taught her how to fight in a melee, not wanting her to rely solely on her magic, and it's proven useful. Even when she used her magic she still used the skills the vet had taught her.

While Stiles went to watch over Josh's body with Theo, the others got to work on Scott's plan. Lydia, Jordan, and Malia placed the three jammers throughout the school, one in an office, one in a hall, and one in the locker room where they would hold Hayden for the night. Jordan kept watch outside in his car, Malia stood guard at the main entrance, and Lydia, Y/n, Scott, and Liam stayed with Hayden. Liam and Hayden pushed one of the shelves in front of the door. After a little bit Lydia pulled Y/n and Scott aside so she could ask the Alpha a question.

"Is it me or is Liam not aware of the second part of the plan?" Lydia spoke quietly, glancing at the black duffle bag Scott had sat on a bench that was filled with chains.

"I'm still not sure if there's going to be a second part." Scott answered.

"Or if it's going to work." Scott nodded at her guess.

"He's not going to be very happy if he finds out." Y/n pointed out. Scott only looked at her, knowing she was right, but not really knowing how to answer.

They all sat around the locker room, waiting for anything to happen. Hayden stared at herself in a mirror, attention focused on her eyes and if they're going to change again. "Don't worry, you learn to control it." Liam assured.

"I'm not like you." She glanced at his reflection. "I wasn't bitten by a wolf. I was... Somebody's science experiment." She lightly shook her head as she thought about everything. "This is so bizarre."

"I know, but you're gonna be okay. I promise."

"What am I?"

"You're Hayden."

Hayden couldn't help the smile that spread across her face at his response before she turned to face him. "By the way, if you get me out of this, I'll forget all about the sixth grade."

Scott watched them from his spot on a bench with an almost guilty look. He felt bad about not telling them about the second part of the plan, but it was necessary. If it worked that is. A sudden movement from the doorway caught his eye, something being drug across the floor and out of view. He got up to get a closer look, slowly advancing in case it was something dangerous, when someone walked up behind him.

"Scott." Y/n called, a look of concern making her mouth form a line. "Lydia and I just realized, because of the jammers we can't use our phones. And if we can't use our phones then we can't check on Stiles and Theo."

"I didn't even think about that."

"Neither did I. So while we're standing here waiting for House, Wilson, and Cuddy to show up, who are they waiting for?" Scott couldn't answer that, because it hadn't really crossed his mind what it could be that Stiles and Theo could be waiting for.

More time went by as they waited for something to happen. Y/n sat next to Lydia on a bench, Scott slowly paced in front of the sinks, and Hayden and Liam sat against a shelf together, the girl's head on his shoulder. Liam glanced at her as she snuggled further onto him before his eyes drifted towards Scott's black duffle bag, still sitting on a bench where he left it. His curiousity getting the better of him he carefully moved away from Hayden, her head instead resting on the shelving behind her, and stood up to make his way over to the bag. He quietly unzipped it, but when he lifted the chains they rattled and caught the older teens' attention.

"What were you going to do with these?" Liam turned to look at Scott in question.

"Brought them just in case." The Alpha answered.

"In case of what?"

"In case we had a chance to catch one of them." Lydia responded.

"If we can't make the school a fortress, then maybe we can make it a trap." Scott continued.

"They're coming for her," Liam gestured his head towards Hayden who had woken up, "doesn't that mean she's the bait?" Hayden's brows turned downwards as she looked between the Beta and Alpha.

Liam threw the chains back into the bag as he turned a glare towards Scott. "Liam, we brought Hayden here to protect her." Y/n assured.

"And now she's bait." Liam said.

"Am I?" Hayden asked in concern.

"No. No one's bait." Scott was quick to deny. "But we can't be bodyguards to everyone every night." He admitted, looking to Liam.

"Then why aren't we talking to Stiles' dad? Why aren't we doing something better than hiding in a school."

"They can easily get into the station and get to someone, that's how they got Donovan." Y/n reminded. "The school is our best bet at the moment."

"Because we still don't know anything about them or what they want, okay?" Scott said. "They're winning and we don't even know what the game is."

"What if they come in here and those things don't work?" Liam asked as he gestured to the jammer. "What if you have an asthma attack again? What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know."

"This plan sucks!"

"You got a better one? Kids are dying! And she's next. So, somebody has to do something. Somebody has to save everyone. So somebody's gotta be the bait!" Scott's voice rose to a shout, the pressure of trying to save everyone starting to wear on him.

"Scott." Y/n gently called, the sound of her voice making Scott realize his outburst and calm himself down a little.

They were all quiet for a little bit, Liam calming down a little as he started to understand where Scott was coming from. "Scott." Liam quietly spoke, stepping closer to the older boy to keep the low tone. "Promise me... You'll do everything you can to save her." Scott didn't answer right away, hesitant on making such a promise. "Scott... Promise."

"I'll do everything can. I promise."

"Guys..." Hayden called, her tone showing that she was upset. "I think I might need a little help right now." She said as she stooped over her bag, searching again in vain for what she needed. "I forgot my pills. I have a bottle in my locker. I can get them, but-"

"I'll get them." Scott cut her off, giving them a nod. "What's your combination?"

Scott and Y/n moved the shelf away from the door and stepped into the darkened hallway. "Hurry. I'll keep watch." Lydia urged, hovering by the door. The two supernaturals moved through the school, Y/n stopping halfway to keep an eye out while Scott went the rest of the way to Hayden's locker. But that's where things went bad.

The Dread Doctors had been waiting outside, waiting for the right time to enter the school. They used their influence over frequencies to cause everyone to have an awful hallucination, leaving them vulnerable and the Doctors free to pass. Y/n didn't feel them until they were almost right on her, the tingle in her fingers only starting when they were 20 feet away from her.

"Sorcière. You will remain here." The Surgeon demanded as he and the others advanced towards her.

"Why the hell would I do that?" She challanged with a glare.

"You will obey."

"What?"

"You will obey." A fire errupted at their feet, startling her into taking a few steps back from the suddeness of it. "You will obey." The fire moved faster than them now, quickly engulfing the floor and walls around her, making her move backwards until her back hit a wall and she was forced to push herself into a corner. "You will obey." The flames kept approaching until they were just licking her shoes, she let out a small whimper as she tried to keep herself away. The Doctors seemed to move through the inferno unharmed, the fire doing nothing more than acting as a breeze to them. When they were satisfied that she wouldn't move from her spot they moved on to collect what they came for, leaving her to her personal nightmare.

She didn't know how long she stood there, how long she flinched away from the flames each time one got close to her, but it felt like forever. Her mind tried to rationalize what was happening, tried to tell her that what she was seeing wasn't real. But something else, something inside compelled her to stay put, to listen to what they said, to obey. She felt a pain on her hand and she yelped, holding her hand to her chest to keep it away from the fire that just touched her.

"Y/N!" Someone called her name, distant at first but it quickly got closer as the ocean of flames disappeared, only to be replaced by Scott who had a strong grip on her arms as he used his Alpha voice to pull her out of her hallucination. His eyes shifted back to their normal brown as her own e/c ones focused on him, glancing to Lydia, Malia, and Mason behind him. She looked down at her hand to find a cut, which she assumed came from the scalpel that Mason wielded.

"What happened? Where's Liam and Hayden?" Y/n asked, quickly noticing the absence of the two.

"They're gone." Lydia answered. "They're both gone."

~~~
Published: 5/25/22