Chapter 28: The Nemeton

Theo drove Scott in his truck, following the ambulance that carried Corey.  As if he wasn't worried enough, Scott's knee couldn't stop bouncing.  He needed to think of something else.  He looks over to Theo in curiosity. 

"Hey, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Theo sighs, beginning to feel uncomfortable, "It can wait."  He shakes it off.

"If something's wrong, you should tell me.  We've all got to start talking to each other again."  Scott says.

"This might not be the best place to start, Scott." Theo says.

"You think I'm going to be angry?"  Scott asks, frowning.

"Not with me."  Theo shakes his head.

"Theo, you can talk to me." Scott says.

Theo sighs, keeping his eyes on the road, "Open the glove compartment."

Scott frowns and looks at the glove compartment, he slowly opens it and when he did, he sees a wrench with black tape wrapped around the middle, and blood staining the head. 

"It belonged to Stiles.  He dropped it at the school."  Theo explains as Scott reaches out and picks it up. 

Still confused, Scott shakes his head, "Dropped it when?"

"When he killed Donovan."  Theo says.

Scott snaps his head towards Theo in shock, no, Stiles wouldn't kill...would he?  It had to be a self-defense or an accident.  Or something.  But, Stiles would have told him. 

"What are you talking about?"

"You know he hurt his shoulder, right? You smelled the blood."  Theo says.

"That was the Jeep.  He said the Jeep's hood fell on him." Scott says.

"No, no, no, that was Donovan.  He went after Stiles at the library.  I only saw the end of it.  And when I saw what Stiles was doing I couldn't stop him.  I shouldn't I shouldn't be telling you this.  You should hear this from him..."  Scott cuts him off.

"Tell me."  Scott demanded.

Theo sighs, "I saw Donovan go down.  Stiles hit him with the wrench, and then, he just, he just kept hitting him.  Uh, maybe it was because he He threatened to kill his dad.  Or maybe Stiles thought he had to keep going to defend himself, but he just He kept hitting him."  He says.

Scott was in complete shock, he couldn't believe it, "That's not possible."

Theo's eyes begin to water, "He crushed that kid's skull.  I heard it cracking and splintering.  By the time I pulled Stiles off him, half of Donovan's head was caved in.  It didn't even look real.  I keep telling myself that it was self-defense It was self-defense, but Scott, I'm sorry.  I've never seen anything like it.  And I've never seen anyone that angry.  You You should talk to Stiles.  You have to talk to him."  Theo says.

Scott turns to look at the window, how can he?  The way Theo tells it, it almost seems the truth.  But, he should talk to Stiles. 

Theo looks over to Scott who was in shock and looking at the widow, deep thinking, and smirks knowing that he got Scott to believe him.  God, he should be an actor. 

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Malia sat in class as Ms. Martin goes on and on with the lesson, but Malia couldn't help but wonder who was one of the chimeras.  Josie couldn't get a hold of Stiles cause of the classes.  She sat anxiously waiting for the bell to ring so she could go find Stiles.  She asked Malia, but Ms. Martin made her sit down when the bell rang before Malia could get a word out.

"One of the more common biological weapons, anthrax, was used by Germany in World War I, and in human experimentation by the Japanese during World War II..."

Malia looks over to one girl, Beth, who was on her laptop.  She frowns when she sees that Beth was looking up the moon.  Not just any moon, something called Perigee-syzyg.  She had no idea what that meant though.  Beth nervous chews and chews on her nail as she reads about the moon till Ms. Martin snaps her out of her thoughts. 

"Beth...Please close your computer.  I won't ask again."

Beth shuts her laptop and continues to chew, deep in thought.  Malia snaps her head to Beth when she hears crackling.  Beth frowns and feels something in her mouth.  She spits it out and her eyes widen when she sees it was he whole nail.  She looks at her finger, she pulled who whole nail out!  Black and silver ooze spilled from her nail and stained her lips.  Breathing heavily, Beth looks around in fear.  Then, she sees Malia looking at her in concern.  Beth just grabs her books and runs out the door.

"Beth.  Beth!"

Malia follows her till Ms. Martin stops her, "Malia, if you need to use the restroom, it's one at time.  And if you're planning on leaving class, I'd consider your recent drop in grades." 

"She needs help."  Malia says.

"Not from you."  Ms. Martin shakes her head.

"You know what's going on, don't you?" Malia eyes her.

"I know that I'd like to see you get through senior year with passing grades."  Ms. Martin says simply, taking off her glasses.

"You know more than that."  Malia says and flashes her coyote eyes at her. 

Ms. Martin swallows hard with fear, "I think you need to focus more on your schoolwork.  All of you."  She still takes her stand.  But Malia needed to see Beth.  So she storms out of the classroom to find her.

Josie sighs and gets up to follow Malia, but Ms. Martin grabs her arm and pulls her back.

"Josie, you need to stay." She says.

Josie places her hand over Ms. Martin's and sends her power, Ms. Martin frowns but gasps softly as she feels comfort wash over her.

"Like it or not, Ms. Martin, but the world isn't as safe as you believed.  Beth is in trouble, we're the only ones who can help her.  You know that." Josie says softly. 

"You all should be just teenagers, not doing this.  You should be passing high school, doing what kids do. Not this."  Ms. Martin whispers back.

"These guys don't care about that.  They care about killing.  And if we don't stop them?  Who can?"  Josie whispers and pulls out of Ms. Martin's grip and takes off running to find Malia.

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Lydia and Parrish drove off towards the woods, but Parrish was confused about the whole thing.  Lydia didn't explain much only that it was important for him to find the Nemeton. 

"So, if this place is so important, how come you didn't want to show it to me before?"  Parrish asks as he drive his truck down the road near the woods.

"Well, the problem is it's not easy to find."  Lydia says.

"Should we put it in the GPS?"  Parrish suggests.

Pursing her lips, "Not exactly."  She says.

Parrish makes a turn, "So, how are we going to find it? Because I don't remember ever being anywhere near a giant tree stump." 

Lydia just realizes something, "I think you're already starting to remember."

"How do you know that?"  Parrish frowns in confusion.

"You just took a right turn."  She says.  He was going the right way, she knew it.

Parrish looks back in the rear view mirror, he did take a right turn, but he didn't even realize it.

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Malia runs and finds Beth digging through her locker.

"Beth?  Are you okay?"

Beth avoids eye contact with Malia, feeling frantic, "Why are you talking to me? You don't know me.  You don't know anything about my condition."  Her voice was laced with panic.

"What? What do you mean?"  Malia frowns in confusion.

"My condition.  My condition.  My condition."  Beth repeats then shuts her locker and starts to take off but, Malia reaches out to stop her. 

"Hey, you don't want to be alone..."  Beth cuts her off by shoving her away till she slams against the lockers. 

Groaning in pain, Malia gets up and watches Beth frantically runs away.

"Are you kidding me?" Malia exclaims in frustration and gets to her feet, "Beth!"  She shouts out and runs after Beth.  Josie runs up next to her. 

"Are you ok?"  She asks.

Malia waves it off, "Yeah.  She went that way." She pointed. 

They both run and skid to a halt as they turn a corner.  Outside the school was Beth, being held by the Pathologist.  One hand on gripping the top of her head, the other gripping her chin.  Josie grabs Malia's arm, hoping to hold her back.  Beth's eyes, nothing but pure fear.  With a single pull, the doctor snaps her neck and lets her fall to the ground.  Black ooze sprays over the window.  Josie gasps and looks away, squeamish from the sight of another dead body.  Malia runs towards the door and opens to see Beth lying in a puddle of black ooze and mercury.  Her eyes starring out as the life drains from her body.  Josie sobs softly, covering her mouth.  Malia sighs and looks down sadly.  She turns and looks at Josie.  She could smell pure anger from Josie.  Her breathing begins to pick up.  Malia runs and stands in front of her.

"Josie, don't.  Don't lose control." She warns.

"They killed her.  They just killed her and walked away. She didn't ask for this.  None of them did."  Josie snarls. 

"I know.  We're gonna stop them."  Malia says.

"How?!  How are we gonna stop three men who have made everything that's impossible possible?  Huh?  These are kids.  Teenagers who are worried about college.  They shouldn't be a part of their games.  They're not LAB RATS!"  Josie roars and slams her fist into the wall.  Debris explodes around Josie's fist.  Malia jumps in surprise, eyes widening at the sight.  Josie's hand...went through a wall made of drywall...and brick.  Josie gasps and pulls her hand out of the wall and brings it up to exam it.  No cuts.  Not even a bruise. 

"Holy sh..."

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When Scott and Theo arrived to the hospital, it was chaos.  Papers were littered in the entrance, people shouting and helping others to their feet. 

"They're already here."  Theo says.

But, when they go down a hall, they see the same paramedics who helped Corey were lying on the ground and nurses were tending to them.

"This wasn't them.  It was Corey."  Scott gasps. 

They run towards where the paramedics are, not realizing that Corey discovered his power.  He can blend in with the environment.  Like a chameleon.  He blends back in the original environment as Scott and Theo runs pass him and sneaks down the other hallway.

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The bell finally rings and Stiles makes his way out of the class.  He sees Malia and Josie walking slowly down the hall, Malia was just...completely broken and Josie was in shock. 

"Malia? Josie?"  He calls out and walks towards them.  He stops Malia and grabs both of her hands gently, lovingly, she snaps out of her trance and looks up at Stiles, tears misting her eyes.  "Hey.  Hey.  What happened?"  He speaks gently.

"I hate this.  I hate losing like this.  I'm not like Scott.  I can't deal with another body.  Another failure."  Malia sniffles and paces away. 

Stiles frowns and looks at Josie.

"Beth's dead.  She was a chimera.  They..." Josie swallows hard.  "One of them killed her.  Just snapped her neck like it was nothing."  Josie sniffles. 

Stiles sighs and rubs his face in frustration, he looks around and sees people frowning confusion at a large hole in the wall. 

"What the heck happened?"  One exclaims. 

"One of the jocks must have got pissed at a grade."  Another laughs. 

Stiles was about to ask, till he saw Josie brushing dust off her hand.  He frowns in shock, putting it together. 

"Don't tell Scott." She says. 

"Are you..."  He was about to ask, but she shakes her head. 

"I don't know what I am."  She whispers.

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Theo and Scott split up earlier to cover the hospital move, but they couldn't find Corey at all.  Theo comes running down the hospital and bumps into Scott when they meet at a corner. 

"Security's still looking."  Scott says.

"I haven't seen anything either." Theo shakes his head. 

All of the sudden, the lights started to go crazy and Scott looks over to see an elevator opening and closing.  The electricity was going haywire and that can only mean one thing. 

"Now they're here."  Scott says, dread filling his voice. 

Meanwhile, down in garage, Corey sneaks pass the ambulances to get out of the hospital.  He knew the doctors were coming and they were going to kill him for being a failure.  He stops in his tracks as he hear the buzzing of electricity behind him.  Oh, god, they're here.  He presses against an ambulance real fast and blends in with the colors.  Camouflaging himself.  The surgeon walks slowly through the garage, walking with his cane in his hands.  Chittering softly as he looks around.  He stops near where Corey was and pulled out his sword real fast and stabs Corey through his chest.  Corey gasps and is forced to blend back to normal.  Sliding down the ambulance slowly.  He exhales his last breath as the surgeon leaves. 

It wasn't long when Scott and Theo found him.  Scott couldn't believe it.  If only Corey stayed where he was, he could have helped him.  Theo looks around and back to Scott.

"We better go."

Scott gets up and faces Theo, he was tired of this.  Tired of finding bodies. 

"We need to find Hayden."

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Stiles and Josie pace through the hallways as Stiles frantically calls Lydia.  With Beth dead, that means Parrish will come for her.  Who is now with Lydia, alone in the woods. 

"Lydia, for the love of God, answer your phone.  There's another dead Chimera.  So right now is probably not a great time to be alone with Parrish.  If he's coming to get the body, you can't get in his way.  Lydia, do not get in his way."  Stiles leaves a message on Lydia's cell.

Josie calls Scott on her phone.  He answers dishearteningly, "Yeah?" 

"Scott, they came for another chimera." She says.

"Where?"  He asks, more alert. 

"The school.  It was a girl name Beth.  She was a senior in our class in Chemistry.  We...we tried to help her, but he killed her right in front of me and Malia."  She rubs her forehead. 

"We need to find Hayden.  I think Liam could be with her." He says.

"Ok.  I'll text him and call him."  Her voice begins to shake.

"Jojo, it's gonna be ok."  He says softly.  "I love you." 

She smiles a little, "I love you too.  Be careful.  Stiles and I will find him."  She cuts him off before Scott could protest.                               

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Lydia and Parrish stood in the middle of a clearing, Lydia hopes that this will help him remember. 

"Anything look familiar?"  She asks.

"Nothing.  I'm trying, but it all looks like woods to me." Parrish shakes his head.

"Maybe you're thinking about it too much.  Maybe it's something you need to feel."  She says.

"How do I do that?"  Parrish scoffs. 

Lydia suddenly had an idea. 

Parrish quickly blocks a punch and laughs, "What was that for?"

"To get you to stop thinking."  She attacks again.  But, he dodges her hits, blocking them. 

"Oh, is this supposed to motivate me?" He scoffs.

"No.  It's supposed to get you to stop thinking!"  She continues to throw punches and kicks, but he was ready every time.  She was getting better from her lessons of self-defense.  He was impressed when she managed to get him a few times. 

He dodges a kick and when she tries to hit again, he grabs both of her arms.  Panting, they both look at each other till Parrish's eyes begin to glow.  Lydia gasps, almost afraid of what he was going to do.  But, he lets go of her and snaps his head towards a few trees.  They both look and move closer.  There it was...the Nemeton. 

To Parrish's horror, bodies littered around the stump.  It was just like he dreamed.  Exactly the same. 


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