𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖

"𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴? "

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

╰┈˚ · ° .  THE INCESSANT TOO LOUD NOISE  noise of the ringtone of my phone was not how I wished to be woken up.

"Turn it off." Alec grumbled, hiding his face in my neck.

I could still see the moon and the night behind the closed curtains of the windows in the room when I half opened my eyes.

"I swear to god Elizabeth, if you don't turn that thing off I'm going to kill you." Alec turned around, hiding his head underneath his pillow and taking with him almost all the blanket.

Fucking asshole.

"Why are you calling me in the middle of the night, Stiles?!" I hissed into the phone, still half asleep. Probably more than half.

"Ellie?" Stiles' voice came as a whisper, trembling, almost seeming like he was on the verge of crying.

"Stiles?" This time my sleep started to fade away as I heard his voice. "What's wrong? What's happening?"

"I don't- I don't know what's happening." He stuttered, heavy breathing comight through his end of the call.

"It's okay, just tell me where you are." I said getting up from my bed.

"I don't know. I called Scott but the line went dead, I don't know where I am, I'm freezing. I think I sleepwalked." I could hear the emotions in his voice. How shaky it was, the fear behind it. "I'm scared."

"We are coming, alright-"

"Someone's here." He lowered his tone even more, and then the line went dead.

"Stiles? Stiles?!" I checked the call only to realize that it had ended. I tried to call again and again, but he never picked up. "Alec, wake up." I said, as I put out from the dresser the first pair of jeans and tee that I saw. "Alec!"

"What now?" He groaned, voice husky from sleep.

"It's Stiles. I don't know but something happened. I'm calling Scott." As I said that my phone rang again, Scott's name appeared on the display.

"Lizzie." His voice was as panicked as mine was.

"I know. He called me too." I said as I started to change my clothes. "The sheriff?" I asked, "Does he know?"

"Stiles told me not to call him." Scott sighed.

"It's his dad."

"He doesn't want to worry him."

Alec was now awake too, dressed already in his pants and with his boots on he said, "I'm waking up Isaac." He rushed out of the room with his hoodie in hand before he even had the time to put it on.

"Alright, I'll see you at Stiles' alright? We can catch his scent there and then search for him." I spoke into the phone, as I slid on my shoes.

"See you there." The call ended there and when I exited the bedroom, Alec was there with a half awake Isaac and even more sleeping Sebastian.

"What's happening?" My best friend asked me.

"Stiles called me and Scott. He thinks he sleepwalked but he said that someone was with him." I explained quickly as we all sprinted out of the apartment.

"Like he was kidnapped?" Isaac asked.

"In this town everything is possible." I sighed, passing a tired hand across my face. "We are meeting with Scott at Stiles' house."

"I'll drive." Alec said, taking the key of my car from my shaky hand. And with a quick kiss to my head, he walked to the driver's side.

The drive to the Stilinski household was quick and filled with silence, and as we parked in front of it, we all ran inside, opening the door that was left unlocked.

In my rush I didn't notice the three other scents, but as I saw Stiles' room, Scott was there, and surprisingly Lydia and Aiden.

"What are you two doing here?"

"Don't ask, it will only confuse you more." Aiden replied to my question.

"Good to know." Isaac mumbled nodding his head at the omega.

"Not as confusing as this." Lydia said, turning around and showing us the inside of the bedroom.

And for the first time since coming in that night, I noticed how Stiles' room was. Pictures and articles were printed and attached to the wall, and red wool connected all of them to the middle of the mattress.

"He uses red for unsolved cases." Lydia explained to us. There was only red.

"Maybe he thinks he's part of an unsolved case?" Aiden hypnotized.

"Or is an unsolved case." Isaac said insted as he looked around the room.

"Hold on. Is he still out there? You don't know where he is?" Lydia asked suddenly.

"He said he was in an industrial basement somewhere. We came here to

get a better scent. Something's wrong with his leg. It's bleeding." Scott told the others.

"And he's freezing." I added.

"Tonight's the coldest night of the year. It's going to drop into the 20s." Sebastian told us as he checked the weather on his phone.

"What did his dad say?"

"We kind of... We didn't tell him yet." Scott admitted, at least having the mind to look sheepshy at that admission.

"Stiles is bleeding and freezing and you didn't call his dad?" Lydia reprimed him.

"Thank you." I said hiding a scoff. "At least I'm not the only one who thinks it is a bad idea not to call his dad. Who is the sheriff by the way."

"He made me promise not to." Scott said, his forehead furrowed. "We can find him by scent. If he was sleepwalking he couldn't have gotten far, right?"

"His jeep is not outside." Alec said. The sudden news was like a bucket of ice cold water on everyone.

"You promised you wouldn't call his dad. I didn't." Lydia said, already dialing the Sheriff's number.

"Wait, Lydia, hold on. I can get more help. I can call Derek, Allison..."

"Everyone except for the cops. Great idea."

I gasped as I realized something, "Lydia how exactly did you know to come here?" I asked.

"Why?" Aided questions.

"Lydia, tell me." I insisted, eyes wide as coins, my heart beating way too fast.

"I was painting and then I heard Scott's phone call with him on the radio." She explained quickly.

"A banshee is a harbinger of death." I said trying to keep my voice from quivering too much. "She does not have a premonition just because someone is missing."

Scott nodded his head. "Don't call his dad. It's five minutes to the station."

"We'll catch up." Lydia said, stopping Sebastian and Aiden from moving as we started to walk out.

"What? Why?"

"There's something here." Lydia whispered, eyes unfocused.

"Yeah. Evidence of total insanity." Looking around the room Isaac commented.

"And a very strong smell of rotting chicken." Alec added scrunching up his nose.

He wasn't wrong about that.

"We can figure out what's wrong with him after we find a way to keep him from freezing to death." Scott said.

"And commanded him to clean his room too." I added it as an afterthought.

I was trying my best to keep myself rational, not let my emotions have the best on me. Sarcasm helped.

"Go. We'll be right behind you." Lydia said.

"I stay and help her as much as I can." Sebastian said, turning to his now official boyfriend. "Be careful."

Without caring much about us present to watch it, Isaac lowered his lips to give Sebastian a quick kiss. And with a last one to his forehead, he walked away, us following after him.

───── ⋆⋅⋆｡ ﾟ☽𖦹☾ ﾟ｡⋆⋅⋆ ─────

╰┈˚ · ° .  The Sheriff had taken the news of Stiles' sudden disappearance as good as any father would. He was heartbroken and filled with fear that even far away one could feel it.

But then, he closed his eyes, switching from the part of his brain that was overwhelming him with emotion to the rational side.

"If his jeep is gone, that's where we start." He decided, turning toward his deputies ready to give out commands. "Parrish, Let's get an APB out on a blue 1980 CJ-5 jeep. Cordova, I want a list of any kind of industrial basement or sub-level of any building that he could've gotten into while sleepwalking. It's the coldest night of the year so far. So if he's out there barefoot in just a t-shirt, he could already be hypothermic. Let's move fast. Let's think fast." He lowered his tone turning towards us. "The four of you, come with me."

We entered his office, the sheriff quickly closing the door behind him before he addressed us once again.

"Okay. Is there anything you need to tell me that I can't tell anyone out there?" He asked. Meaning, anything supernatural.

"Lydia knew he was missing." Scott revealed.

"Can she help find him?"

"Well, she's working on it." Isaac replied to the question.

"Anything else?"

"I called Derek and Allison for help."

The sheriff let out a sigh, lowering his voice. "Can you find him by scent?"

But before we could reply there was a knock on the door.

Parrish quickly opened it, looking at the sheriff as he said, "We got it, sir. We found the jeep."

The jeep ended up being at the Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. We rushed there, and in the parking lot, there it was.

"It's dead." The sheriff said as he tried to turn on the engine. "He must have left the lights on."

"Why would he come here?" Scott asked, confused.

"Let's find out."

Whispers. The wind whispered in my ear. That was what made me stop in my tracks.

"Lizzie?" Scott called after noticing that I had stopped, or probably the absent look in my eyes.

"What is it?" This time it was Isaac that asked.

I cared no mind to their question, tuning myself with my magic and everything around me. To the wind that carried the voice of nature.

Tectum. Tectum. Tectum.

"The roof." I said, reopening my eyes as I translated the words from Latin to english. "We need to go to the roof."

We wasted no time lingering in the parking lot, swiftly climbing the stairs to the roof. And up there, waiting for us there was already Derek.

"He's not here." Derek said, hearing us coming onto the roof. "Not anymore."

"You mean the whole building?" Scott asked.

"Gone."

"I'll go tell Stilinski." Isaac muttered. We couldn't waste any time. Each second was precious.

But even if Stiles was not here anymore, something had definitely happened on this roof.

"And see if you can find Allison. She's not answering her phone." Scott said to the beta. Isaac nodded his head before disappearing once again inside the hospital.

"Notice how strong the scent is up here?" Derek asked Scott as we walked closer to the older Hale. "Ever hear of chemo signals?"

At Scott's confused expression Alec explained for him. "Chemical signals that communicate emotion. Just our sweat can give off anger, fear or disgust."

"Take a deep breath and tell me what you feel." Derek told the McCall wolf.

Following his instruction, Scott did as my cousin told him to do. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before replying, "Stress. And anxiety. What was he doing up here?"

"I don't know." Derek told him with a sigh.

"I do." I said as I crouched down. I passed my hands in my hair as my own tic of anxiety. "There was a struggle. A fight."

"With who?" Scott asked.

The wind whispered again in my ear. The Latin word 'sui'— self in English, spoken over and over again.

"Himself."

───── ⋆⋅⋆｡ ﾟ☽𖦹☾ ﾟ｡⋆⋅⋆ ─────

╰┈˚ · ° .  Lydia's supernatural hunch brought us to a mental health facility named Eichen House.

The blue and red lights of the cruisers lit out the dark entrance in front of the mental health facility. The mighty structure of the old building gave out a haunted look, and from the energies collecting, staling, it was everything but not. Shivers traveled down my back at the powerful vibes of the place, and for the first time in my life, I could not recognize this place as either a Prosperum— places filled with energies that boosted my magic— like for me personally the old Hale house or the Glenn Caprì. Or a Pugnam— the exact opposite. The energy there making me sick— like the Lahey house.

It was destabilizing.

"Lydia, I don't want to say 'are you sure about this' but..."

"No, he's here. I swear to god he's here." Lydia replied to the Sheriff, nodding her head multiple times to emphasize her answer.

Noah Stilinki barreled through the gate of the facility, his deputies following closely, and with them, the rest of us.

"I need access to all basement rooms in this facility." The Sheriff commanded the nurse stationed at the front desk.

"I don't like it here." I whispered to my boyfriend as we followed steps behind the whole group as they rushed towards the basement. "It's making me sick."

"We will get out of here soon, little witch." Alec murmured in my ear bringing my body close to his.

The basement, though, when we arrived down, was completely empty.

"I don't get it. This has to be it." Lydia whispered as tears started to gather in her eyes. For the first time she followed the pull of her powers only to lead her to nothing.

"Then where is he, huh? Where is he? Where is he?" The Sheriff shouted at the girl. Instinctively I placed myself slightly in front of her at the outburst of the man.

He was afraid and hurt, and I could see the regret in his eyes as soon as he understood what he had done.

"I'm sorry." he said to the strawberry-haired girl. But Lydia was too lost to her own thoughts.

"I don't understand." She whispered.

I led her up the stairs, and I couldn't help but speak, "It's normal Lyds. We may have supernatural abilities but we can still make mistakes. You only discovered what you were not too long ago and you had no one to guide you, help you with them." I looked around at the basement. "If it makes you feel better a lot of people died here, your banshee powers might have sensed this place because of that."

"I thought..."

"We will find him, Lydia. I swear."

"Yeah."

The haunted look in her eyes, though, didn't leave. Just like the weird pulse on my arm, exactly where the pack-bond mark was. 

✎

˗ˏˋ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 ˊˎ˗

Hello everyone!!

I have to be honest, I don't know if I like this chapter or not.

I guess it's kinda cute to see Elizabeth caring for Stiles in the last couple of chapters, but I can't wait for you to read the next one!

Anyways, thank you for reading this chapter, I'll see you on Tuesday!

˚ · ° . 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞 . ° · ˚

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞!

– 𝐋𝐨𝐥𝐚 ☾