EIGHT LETTERS || Liam Dunbar [2]

FOURTY FOUR

That was when Lydia had sent her home.

They'd explained that all the machine would do was lower Parrish's body temperature until his body could access the supernatural part of his brain, but Lydia had still used the excuse that she would need her homework done before the game that night, but Katherine knew she just wanted to keep her out of the situation as much as possible. And she appreciated it.

So she'd gone home, showered, done all the homework she possibly could and wound up skyping with Jackson for a few hours until Stiles got home. Then the two of them had dinner, since their Dad was working overtime, and he got himself organized for his game.

By the time they were ready to leave, Katherine had a backpack containing a spare change of clothes, a box of band aids, snacks, extra socks just in case she would need them for whatever reason, and her bat. Stiles eyed it curiously, but didn't question it as they got into the jeep.

Once they were at the school, Stiles went to the changerooms to get ready and then they all met up with the rest of the pack in an empty bio classroom to go over the plan for the evening. She wound up sitting on one of the lab benches between Mason and Liam, legs up on the surface and folded criss-cross-apple-sauce style, her bag in her lap. "Mason you know your part..." was the first thing Scott said while glancing up at the clock on the front wall.

"Corey, Kat and I break into the Devenford Bus and search their shoes," Mason nodded and Katherine grabbed a packet of gummies from her bag and discretely pulled it open, then offered it to the people on either side of her.

"I take out the TV vans," Malia nodded once.

"Right before the whistle, Coach forfeits the game," Stiles concluded.

"The rest of us are looking for a size 10 with a bloody sole," Liam hummed, stealing a gummy from her hand.

She pouted at him, but waved him off when he tried to give it back. Mason just smiled quietly and held his hand out, silently asking for one, which she gave him so it would be fair.

"Just out of curiosity," Malia piped in. "What if it doesn't work? What if we have to go up against this thing? I mean, I hate to bring up bad memories but Scott's still healing from what Theo did to him."

"No, he's not," Kira shook her head softly, dressed in her own uniform.

"She's right," Scott smiled faintly. "It happened the night we got Lydia out of Eichen House. I healed." He pulled the front of his jersey up, revealing a smooth expanse of skin where there had previously been fatal claw marks decorating the space between his ribs. "When were all together again, when we were a pack.

"The Beast doesn't have a pack," Liam cut in, smiling slightly.

"Not like us. We can do this, guys," he promised earnestly. "No one dies tonight."

🐺🌑🥍

When they went their separate ways from the classroom, the first thing Katherine did was go outside to find someone to sit with in the stands until the game started.

Lydia was still busy with Parrish and the Argents, so she wasn't an option. Malia was hiding out by the news trucks, and Liam was getting ready with Scott, Stiles and Kira so they were all out of the question as well. It left her with one possibility, which she wasn't entirely thrilled about, but it meant looking for Hayden.

Thankfully, Katherine noticed her sitting with a girl in her brother's grade, Sydney, so she smiled and waved at them. Sydney waved back, and Hayden just smiled a little awkwardly which she felt was fair enough, and she then glanced over to the field where both teams warming up for the game that they didn't know wouldn't be happening. Scott and Stiles were muttering to each other on the bench while they did their thing, which was expected, but she couldn't see Liam anywhere.