Gather The Ashes || Stilinski || Book Three

Forty-Six

THE PLAN FAILED.

In the absolute worst way possible.

"They're gone," Sierra whispered in horror, her eyes sweeping the abandoned locker room. "Liam and Hayden...they're both gone."

Her heart hurt, memories of Garrett kidnapping Liam last year flickering through her mind. Except this time it wasn't just a teen with a sharpened lacrosse stick. It was the dread doctors--meaning it was much, much worse.

Liam and Hayden; two sophomores who meant the world to her. She had known Hayden since the girl was in middle school and Liam....Sierra was his first true friend in Beacon Hills. But now they were both gone.

Scott matched her crestfallen expression, frozen in place. His hands curled at his sides, anger growing inside him because once again, he let Liam down.

The only reason he left the locker room to begin with was because Sierra never returned. Lydia made a decision to go after her, as Scott would best protect Liam and Hayden if the dread doctors attacked. But then Lydia never came back either.

In the intensity of the moment, Scott made a decision to find his friends. If the dread doctors attacked them, and he never took a step, he would've never forgiven herself. Turns out he didn't know he was being attacked as well.

The dread doctors used his fear for Kira as a weapon, warping his reality to one where the kitsune stabbed him from behind. They did it to the girls too. Malia swore she was pinned to the ground by bear traps, and Sierra thought she had been battling Jennifer. Even Lydia imagined Tracy ripping her tongue out and leaving her to bleed out. Yet everything was simply a trick, a way to get them out of the locker room.

And it worked.

Guilt spread across the four seniors before Mason brought up another problem. He had shown up to the school just in time to snap Scott out of his nightmare, before finding out his best friends had been taken. Again. Plus, he found one--another chimera.

Corey Bryant; the boy who Lucas infected with his stingers.

Mason had picked up on Corey's strange behavior, catching him healing faster than normal and reading books about the supernatural. The pieces fell together pretty quickly.

However, Scott and Sierra were too busy thinking about Liam and Hayden. They needed to find them before the dread doctors committed the unthinkable.

So, Scott took Malia and left the school to scour the city. They even searched the woods, back and forth to find the slightest trace to follow.

Sierra stayed behind with Lydia to get in contact with Theo and Stiles. No one had heard from the pair in hours.

Since the dread doctors destroyed the cell phone jammers, the girls finally could use their phones again to call them.

"Come on," Sierra muttered, her leg bouncing from hearing the ring. "Pick up, Stiles. Please pick up."

Across town, Stiles sat on the gravel outside the animal clinic while Theo sat his jeep back upright. The roof was obviously damaged, as well as the side window. Physically, the boys were fine--only dried blood on their faces. But neither knew who attacked them and stole Josh's body.

Stiles pulled his legs closer to his chest, resting his elbows on his knees. In his hand, he turned his phone back on. After he went inside to grab the device, he found it shut off on the ground. He wanted to check the footage to see if anyone had been caught on camera.

"We should get you to the hospital," Theo spoke up, making him glance away from the black screen. "You took in a lot of smoke."

Stiles brushed off Theo's concern with a shake of his head. "I'm fine."