Melanie leaned up against Liams car as she watched him stare at his flat tire, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"What?" Melanie asked, moving to walk around behind Liam to see what he was doing to the car. Liam whipped his head around to Melanie, shaking his head with pursed lips. "Nothin."

Melanie, instantly noticing that Liam had no clue what he was doing, groaned, moving to lean against the hood of the car. "We should have taken the Jeep. Stiles said we could use the Jeep. Several times. And he never lets anyone drive his Jeep!"

"It's a new car." Liam yelled defensively and Melanie snorted, crossing her arms. "Please, this things older than us." She called out as Liam got off the ground and walked towards the back of the car to look for the jack.

After a few seconds, Liam stepped out from behind the truck with a disappointed look. "There's no Jack." Liam said and Melanie squinted, trying to think of something else that could help.

"What about a spare?" Melanie asked. Liams eyes went wide, not thinking of a spare, he quickly ran towards the back of the truck to check and came back almost seconds with a defeated look. "No spare?" Melanie asked tiredly and Liam frowned, shaking his head. "No spare."

Melanie sighed, leaning back onto the truck. Liam looked at Melanie sadly before sighing, shaking his head. "I know. Worst date ever." Liam mumbled, walking towards Melanie as he sadly kicked the dirt at his feet.

"No. No." Melanie said, a small laugh passing through her lips as she wrapped her arms around Liams neck. "We've had worse." Melanie said and Liam pursed his lips, putting his fingers in Melanie's belt loops to pull her closer as he nodded. "The double dates."

Melanie laughed as she nodded before she thought of another date, her eyes going sarcastically wide. "The triple dates." Melanie laughed out. Liam looked at her with scared eyes, recalling the events of the triple dates they had gone on with Mason and Corey, and Belle and Hayden.

"Oh God. What about new year's?" Liam asked and Melanie squinted, thinking of another bad date. "Christmas with your parents."

Liam nodded before he snickered, pulling Melanie in even closer by her belt loops, their bodies pressed against each other and their faces inches apart. "That time Melissa walked in on us havi-"  "Please don't finish that sentence. I can't look her in the eyes anymore." Melanie shrieked, laughing slightly as she looked down, shaking her head.

Liam laughed with Mel, resting his chin on the top of her head. He looked down and kissed her head before grabbing her by the chin and lifted her head to look at him as he shrugged. "Actually, this could be our best date yet."

Melanie smiled at Liam, nodding slightly as she kissed his lips. When she pulled away, her eyes traveled just above him, staring at the green rays in the air in awe. "Look. It must be the northern lights." Melanie breathed out.

Liam turned around to stand beside Mel, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her into his side as he stared up at the green.

The sound of a car pulling up towards them made Melanie and Liam look away from the sky and towards the road, a car approaching them slowly.

"Maybe they've got a spare." Liam shrugged out, raising and waving his hand in the air to catch the drivers attention. When the car continued to drive towards them, Melanie's face scrunched, shaking her head slightly.

"I don't like how slow that car is coming towards us." Melanie muttered, looking at Liam before looking back at the car. As it got closer and closer, Melanie's eyes went wide at the glass-shattered windshield.

The small car slowly rolled passed them and the two teens watched it hit the wooden post to keep cars on the street. Melanie and Liam locked eyes before they both walked towards the car. They bent down slightly to see inside and saw no one sitting in the drivers or passenger seat.

Liam opened the drivers side door as Melanie walked around from the back of the car to get to the passenger side. Not looking at the car, Melanie reached for the passenger side door, her brows furrowing when she felt nothing there. She looked down at the car and took a shocked step back at the door gone, thrown off it's hinges.

The door to the backseats flew open on Melanie's side and the girl watched as a young boy tumbled out of the car. "Woah!" Melanie yelped, getting startled by the boy, leaning down to help him up but he jumped at her touch.

"Don't let them take me!" The boy yelled before noticing Melanie, calming down at her touch before he looked just passed her, absolutely terrified. "Don't let them take me too." He whispered. Melanie's brows furrowed, turning around to see what the boy was looking at but saw nothing there.

...

"Schrodinger's cat." Mr. Douglas exclaimed as he drew a cat on the board. He turned around after he finished his drawing to see almost every girl and Corey staring at him, making him chuckle. "Ah, I can see I impressed you all with my artistic abilities."

"He's so pretty..." Corey muttered, Hayden and Melanie nodding along with him as sighs escaped their lips. Belle turned to Liam with wide eyes, an almost shocked look. "Is this how you felt before you two started dating? When she'd stare at Brett?"

Liam frown grew more prominent as he nodded. A low growl from Belle made the frown wipe off of Liams face, he and Mason turning to her, and holding her back before she could jump out of her seat to attack the teacher.

"Schrodinger puts his cat in a box with poisonous food. Now, until he opens that box, the cat is, in theory, both alive and dead. But when he opens it, it's either, 'hello, mittens' or 'goodbye, socks.'" Mr. Douglas said, chuckling. The three giggled, making Belle scoff, shaking her head. "I hate this."

Liam huffed, nodding his head and he dropped his head into his hand. "Tell me about it."

"Putting aside the potential animal abuse here, what does it have to do with physics?" Mr. Douglas asked. Melanie's eyes went wide, trying to think of the answer as Hayden's hand shot up, making the teacher smile as he pointed at her. "Yes, Hayden."

"It illustrates the concept of quantum superposition. Light is both a particle and wave until it's observed." Hayden said, her smile huge. The teacher nodded at her right answer, sending her a smile back. "Yes. Excellent answer, very impressive." He said, making Melanie's face drop as she turned to Hayden in the seat on the other side of Corey.

"How did you know that?" The Yukimura girl whisper yelled over Corey. Corey looked over at Hayden with the same wide eyed expression that Hayden just shrugged at.

"Does observing something change its behavior? Or alter its outcome? That's the question of today's lab on page 117. Break into groups of six." Mr. Douglas cheered, hitting his hands on his desk as a way to let the kids know to get up and get into groups.

Melanie, Liam, Belle, Hayden, Corey, and Mason all grouped together, the six crowded around a small chem table; Hayden, Melanie and Liam next to each other with Belle, Mason and Corey across from them.

Mason, who had been staring at his phone since they got into groups, looked up at his friends with confusion written all over his face. "Have any of you guys noticed that phones can't geolocate today?"

Melanie's face scrunched at his words, opening her phone to find her compass app telling her North was straight ahead. Liam looked over Melanie's shoulder to look at the compass before shaking his head.

"Looks like it works." Liam said bluntly, shrugging his shoulders as he fell back into his seat. Melanie's brows furrowed at her phone, turning to her boyfriend.

"No, that's not North." Melanie said, shaking her head before pointing to her and Liams right. "That is." Liam sarcastically sighed at her words, shaking his head. "Ah... My girlfriend's a nerd."

Melanie rolled her eyes at Liam, pushing his head away from her playfully before looking back up at Mason with a small smirk. "Mr. Douglas has a compass." She sang and Mason instantly smiled, turning to Corey.

Corey sighed at all the eyes on him, making sure no one was looking before turning invisible and grabbing Mr. Douglas' compass from his cabinet. When he turned visible, he smiled, handing the compass to Corey. "What are you gonna do with it?"

Mason smiled, shrugging his shoulders. "Follow it." Hayden laughed at his answer, not thinking he was serious. "Seriously?" She asked and Mason looked up at her, nodding. Belles eyes went wide in amusement as she shook her head aggressively. "I'm out." She called out, Hayden nodding along with her.

Melanie looked up at Mason with interested eyes, a small smile on her face. "Where do you think it goes?" She asked, a part of her slightly excited for the adventure.

"I have no idea. But we won't find out till we open the box." Mason said, making Melanie, Liam, Hayden and Belle smile and nod. After realizing Corey didn't nod with them, the group turned to him, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Schrodinger's cat?" Melanie asked, hoping the boy got it. Coreys face fell more, shaking his head. "I... I still don't get it."

...

After walking long enough both Liam and Melanie started complaining to Mason, the three ended up at a small, two story house on the edge of town. They slowly walked in, Liam leading, Melanie behind him and Mason behind her.

Once they were all inside, Liam closed the door after Melanie and Mason. Melanie looked around the house and saw it completely empty as Mason looked down at the compass, his eyes growing twice in size. "Woah." He whispered in shock, catching Melanie and Liams attention.

They leaned over to see what he was looking at. The needle of the compass was spinning in circles, making Melanie let out a small exhale, looking up from the compass to look around the house. "I think we hit jackpot."

Mason slowly nodded, looking between Melanie and Liam. "We should all split up. We'll cover more ground." He whispered, making Melanie instantly turn to him, looking at him like he was crazy. "Did you really just suggest we split up? That's literally horror movie 101!" She whisper yelled and Mason shook his head in defense.

"It's a small house! If something happens, which nothing will, the other two will just be a few rooms away." Mason tried to reason. Melanie bit her lip as she thought. She turned to Liam to see what he thought and the boy just shrugged, making Melanie groan as her eyes rolled.

"I'll take the kitchen." She mumbled, making the two boys nod. As Liam decided to check the living room and Mason took care of the spare room and bathroom, Melanie slowly walked towards the kitchen.

As soon as Melanie stepped into kitchen, an eery feeling wash over her. She slowly made her katana appear in her hand as panic started to fill her up like an overflowing tea cup.

Her breathing became uneven as she felt as if she was being watched. She looked around the room and just as she was about to scream an all clear for the rest of the group, the faint sound of a horse blew passed her ears.

Melanie instantly spun around, looking to see what had made the noise but saw no one around her. "What the hel-" "Mel." Liam said, making the girl jump. She turned around and looked at Liam standing in the doorway of the kitchen. His face scrunched in worry at the look on her face, tilting his head slightly. "You okay?"

Melanie stood frozen for a few seconds before she softly nodded, swallowing the small lump that had grown in her throat. "Yeah." She cleared her throat and nodded. "Yeah. I'm all good.

Liam nodded, pointing behind him. "You ready to go?" Melanie immediately nodded, not saying a word as she walked towards him.

The couple walked back towards the front door where Mason was. At the sound of them walking over, Mason looked up from the compass with slightly wide eyes. "Did you find anything?"

Mel and Liam shook their heads, making Mason nod. The sound of someone running down the stairs made the three freeze, not wanting to turn the corner of the hallway to see who or what was coming towards them, they stayed frozen. Suddenly, Scott turned the corner, making the three scream before realizing who it was.

"H- Hey, Scott." Melanie said awkwardly, her hand immediately going to the top of her head to run her hand through her hair.

"Wha- what are you doing here?" Liam asked, clearing his throat. Scott looked at the three in confusion, looking around the empty house. "This is Alex's house. What are you doing here?"

"This is where the compass led us." Mason said, only making Scott more confused. "What compass?"

Mason quickly showed Mr. Douglas' compass to Scott. The arrow in the compass spinning around crazily, making Scott look down at the compass in shock. "Why is it doing that?"

"I have no idea." Mason said as Liam turned on his phone, opening the compass app to show it doing the same. "They're all doing it."

Suddenly, the glass of the compass cracked, making the four teens jump back. The sounds of someone falling from upstairs only freaked the teens out more.

Melanie turned to Scott with wide and worried eyes. "Where's Stiles?" She asked, knowing the boy wouldn't have gone without him. Scott instantly ran up the stairs, leaving the three teens to follow after him.

"What happened?" Scott yelled as the four of them turned the corner to find Stiles slumped against a bedroom door, out of breath. "He was here. He shot at me. It was one of the guys you saw in Alex's memory."

"The guy who took his parents?" Scott asked and Stiles shook his head, standing up with the help of Scott. "No, no, no. They weren't just taken. They were, they were made to disappear. That's why there's no furniture, that's why they weren't in any of the photos. They were erased."

Suddenly, the pieces started to come together for Melanie. The horse, the guns, the storm. Melanie knew what she had heard.

Ghost Riders.

...

"Hey, guys. Wait up." Mason yelled, making the four stop, turning around to see Mason running towards them. Once he got to the group, he smiled, holding his hand out. "I fixed it." He said, making them look down at his hand to see Mr. Douglas' compass, the glass taped together.

Melanie looked at the compass with wide eyes, an awkward chuckle escaping her lips. "Uh, perfect!" She said, trying to make Mason feel good. Liam nodded with Melanie, sending Liam a smile. "Yeah... Looks brand new."

"He's going to notice." Belle deadpanned, making Mason shake his head. "Nah, he'll never notice. We'll just put the compass back and figure out a way to help Scott."

"Or just put the compass back." Hayden said and Melanie turned to her, her brows furrowed slightly. "We can't leave it all to Scott." Hayden turned to Melanie, shrugging. "Why not? He's the Alpha."

"But he's leaving to college soon. Who's gonna take his place?" Melanie said and Liam whipped his head to her, a frown on his face. "You don't think I could be the Alpha?"

Belle trilled her lips, laughing slightly. "Please, if anything, I'd be the alpha, Dunbar." Liam glared at Belle before turning back to Melanie with his frown. Melanie sighed, shaking her head. "No, no, I wasn't saying that. It's just, magnetic anomalies and guys on horseback stealing people?"

"Wait. What horseback?" Belle asked, not remembering hearing about horses, only about people taking other people. Melanies eyes went wide, hoping Belle would just ignore that fact before she turned back to Hayden. "We can't just stay out of it."

Mason turned to Hayden, nodding. "What's gonna happen when Scott graduates? When there's no one here to figure things out?"

"I can be the al-" Liam started before he cut himself off, turning to Melanie in hopes she were catching on which of course she and the rest of the group were but Belle wanted to mess with him.

"No. No. Continue. You were saying?" Belle said, her eyebrows raised sarcastically as she gestured for him to continue.

"Belle..." Melanie warned, making Belle shrug. Hayden laughed at Belle's bluntness, hiding her face in the crook of Belle's neck.

"I can be the alph-" "He can be the alpha." Melanie interrupted Liam, making the boy look down at Melanie and nodded, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into him.

Suddenly, Liam, Hayden and Belle froze, making Mason and Melanie look at them with slightly worried and confused faces. "What is it?" Melanie asked, looking between the three.

Liam looked down at Melanie in confusion. "It's blood." He muttered before looking back around the hall.

...

After splitting up to find the source of the smell, the five met back up, not finding anything.

"I can't find the source." Liam said as he and Melanie ran back towards the group. Belle shook her head as she and Hayden joined the group. "Me neither." She said, looking around the hall.

"It's like it's coming from everywhere." Hayden said, out of breath as she put her hands on her knees tiredly. Mason looked at her with wide eyes, shaking his head slightly.

"How is that possible?" Mason asked and Liam sighed, shrugging. "Maybe it's coming from more than one place." He asked, making Belles face fell, turning to him. "In more than one piece." Belle said, making an idea pop into Melanie's head.

"If it's in the air, could it be coming out of the vents?" Melanie asked. Masons eyes went wide, pointing at her as if to say she's right before all five of them bolted down the hallway to the boiler room.

When they got the to boiler room doors, the teens crowded around it and before even checking if the door was unlocked, Liam took a deep breath, catching everyone's attention.

"Stand back." Liam said, running back a few steps to get a running start. Liam took a deep breath before running towards the door. Just before he hit the door, Belle grabbed the door handle, pushing the door open, making Liam practically fly in with a small squeak of a scream as he hit the ground.

Melanie pursed her lips, nodding her head towards the door. "It's open." She said and Liam groaned, sending her a thumbs up from the ground. "I got that."

Melanie sighed, walking into the room, she stepped over Liam so she was in front of him as she stuck out her hands to help him up. Liam instantly grabbed her hands and got up with a groan.

Once he was standing, he rubbed his forehead in pain. He looked at Melanie with a fake hurt eyes as he continued to rub his head. "It hurts."

Melanie rolled her eyes, smirking slightly as she went in her tippy toes to kiss Liams forehead, making the boy instantly smile, wrapping his arms around her waist. Belle gagged as she walked in after the couple, making Hayden and Mason laugh as they followed her.

The five walked through the dark boiler room, trying to watch their noise. Melanie made a flashlight appear in her hand to help them all see where they were going when they came across a bog steel door.

As Liam, who was in the front of the group, took a step, the group instantly froze at the sound of his foot hitting liquid, a small splash echoing through the boiler room.

Liam turned to Melanie with slightly wide eyes but when he turned to her, he could faintly see her silhouette looking down at the ground in shock. He and the rest of the group slowly looked down to see what she was looking at and saw blood pouring out of the room.

Melanie slowly looked back up at the same time as Liam, the couple looking eyes before silently agreeing to open the door.

Liam took a deep breath before his hand gripped the cold door knob. A faint creak as the door opened made Melanie point the flashlight inside to see what was there.

What they weren't expecting was their school janitor staring right back at them. Dead.

...

After finding the body, they decided to immediately leave the boiler room and tell either the Sheriff or Parrish about their discovery once they were far enough away to try and forget it.

As they walked down the hall to go home, they heard a voice from another hall. "Mason, Mason, hey, where's Belle?" The voice screamed just as Mason turned down the hallway. Belle's brows furrowed, turning to Melanie who just shrugged before the rest of the group turned the corner of the hallway to see who was asking for Belle.

The five teens stood in front of an older boy Melanie didn't recognize but she felt a small part of her feel like she did, making her stand towards the back of the group, slightly confused.

The boy looked relieved as he saw the sophomores, smiling softly at Belle. "Belle? Okay, Mel, Liam, Hayden, perfect. You guys... you guys have to listen to me right now. Alex is gone, just like his parents, okay?" The boy rambled and Melanie's brows furrowed. Who's Alex?

"The ghost riders took him, so you guys, you can't be alone. You got to stick with Scott or with me because I can see them. And if you hear or see horses... That's well- that's not good." Stiles said, an awkward chuckle passing through his lips. Melanie's face fell at his words and panic started to fill her up.

He looked at the group for a few seconds as his face fell. "Why the hell are you lookin' at me like that?" Belle looked at the boy with furrowed brows as Hayden leaned towards her. "Do we even know him?" The Romero girl whispered.

Belle subtly turned to Hayden, shaking her head. "I don't even know if he goes here." She whispered, making the unknown boys eyes go wide. Mason cleared his throat, taking a slow step in front of the group. "Um... Do you go to this school?" Mason asked as Melanie's eyes started to go wide. "What's your name?" Liam asked.

The boy looked at them in shock before noticing Mel's wide eyes towards him. He took a big step towards her, getting right in her face. "Mel, you know who I am, right?"

Melanie's once wide eyes, instantly disappeared as she took a step back, not liking how close he got to her. The boys face fell as he sadly shook his head. "Please." He whispered.

Melanie felt alarms going off in her head, telling her to remember him. To help him since he knew about the Ghost Riders but before she could do anything, Liam grabbed her hand protectively, pulling her back slightly. Melanie's eyes softened at the boys begging, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry. I don't."

The boys face fell, making guilt fill Melanie. He shook his head, looking passed her. His eyes went wide as he pushing passed the group to run towards the Sheriff, pulling him into a hug.

Melanie's brows furrowed as she watched the boy. Belle scoffed shaking her head. "Weirdo." She muttered about the boy, walking out of the school. Melanie didn't move, watching the boy she didn't recognize, his words sticking to her.

"And if you hear horses... That's well- that's not good."

—a long chapter... sorryyy
i'm getting real emotional with the new few chapters coming up😕
have fun!!😆

the was sarcastic in case it wasn't obvious 🧍‍♀️