Morningstar

32

Theo put the Jeep right-side-up. The police scanner caught their attention. They heard that Kira was under arrest.

The three rushed to Scott's house and were joined by Malia. Scott appeared moments later.

Stiles turned to Scott. "Hey, is Kira okay? Scott?"

He ignored Stiles and walked past the trio. Luci frowned and she and Stiles followed Scott upstairs. By the time they got there, Scott had already inserted his claws into Corey's neck.

"Don't get too close," Lydia warned.

"What is he doing?" Theo asked with a hint of curiosity.

"Tapping into Corey's memories. It's usually something only Alphas do."

Luci noticed a suspicious glint in Theo's eyes as he asked, "Is it as dangerous as it looks?"

Stiles glanced at Theo. "Probably more."

"Does anyone know if it's working?" Mason asked.

Corey began repeating no over and over and Scott fell backwards. Luci ran towards the teen and helped steady him.

"What in Dad's name, Scott?!" Luci yelled. "I'm normally all for finding answers by whatever means necessary, but not at the cost of a child."

Corey's hand found the back of his neck. "What the hell did you do to me?"

"You'll be all right," Scott said.

"There's blood."

"You'll heal."

"Scott..." Luci began impatiently.

"He'll be fine!" Scott yelled at her, causing her to narrow her eyes and he sighed. "Listen... I think it worked. I saw something." He grabbed a notepad and began sketching something on paper. "There were tunnels. Pipes along the wall. There were these huge blue pipes at the entrance. Two on both sides."

Stiles leaned in closer to the notepad. "Wait a second. I know this. I've seen this before. That's one of the tunnels I used to skateboard in. Remember my dad caught me one time and told me to never go back?"

"It's the water treatment plant," Lydia and Luci realized.

"That's where there are. That's where we'll find Liam and Hayden," Lydia added.

Stiles and Tabitha followed Scott down the stairs. "Scott..." Stiles called. "Scott, slow down. Just think for a second, okay?"

"Mason shouldn't be going," Luci argued.

"Liam's my best friend. I'm going," Mason returned as he stood behind Luci.

Stiles scoffed. "Oh, did you suddenly get super wolf powers? I wasn't aware of that development."

Scott ignored Stiles' sarcasm and said, "Well, if you're not going, I could use the help."

Stiles nodded. "No, I'm coming, just as soon as I talk to my dad. They're moving the body and he wants to make sure that this time no one steals it."

"How exactly does he plan on managing that?" Luci questioned.

Stiles glanced at her. "I don't know. But whoever took the last one was strong enough to flip my Jeep."

"We can bring Theo," Malia suggested.

"Bring Theo?" Luci repeated. "That doesn't seem smart."

Theo shook his head. "Maybe I better stay here. You know, in case the Doctors decide to make a house call for Corey."

Lydia took a step towards the alpha. "Scott, Stiles is right. We need to slow down and think."

"I am thinking..." Scott argued, "...about how Liam and Hayden could already be dead."

Lydia glanced back at Corey. "You could have hurt him, Scott. Really hurt him."

Scott ignored her and began walking away, followed by Malia and Corey. "I have to find Liam."

Stiles turned to Malia. "Hey, text me. For anything."

Malia nodded. "I got it."

"Anything at all, okay?"

The group made their way to the water treatment plant. They slowly walked down the hallway, surrounded by pipes. Malia and Luci kept themselves a short distance from the boys and looked around.

"Liam!" Malia called.

"Can you catch a scent?" Mason asked.

Scott shook his head. "There's too many chemicals."

"Then this might take awhile."

Tabitha let out an frustrated sigh and followed Scott and Mason down the hallway, grasping onto Malia's arm for reassurance.

They called out their names over and over.

Scott turned to the others and said in a breathless voice, "Okay, we need to make sure that we're not covering the same area."

"Scott, do you have your inhaler?" Luci asked.

"Quiet," Scott told her. "I think I hear something."

"What do you hear?"

Malia heard the same noise and questioned, "It's the lights, isn't it?"

Scott motioned for the others to follow. "Come on. This way."

Mason let out a loud sigh. "I'm telling you guys, we've been down this one before."

Scott stopped as he stared at the end of the tunnel. "What the hell are we doing? We're running up and down this place. Up and down the tunnels. And there's no way..." He took a moment to catch his breath. "There's no way that we're gonna find..." His breaths became more rapid.

"Scott, you need your inhaler," Malia said. "Scott, use it. Use your inhaler."

He began wheezing and pulled out his inhaler. He took a puff of air and his breath returned to normal. "This is all my fault. We're never going to find them. It's my fault."

"Scott," Mason began as he offered a hand, which Scott accepted. "We should keep looking. We should keep trying."

Scott glanced to Luci and Malia for confirmation and the two nodded.

Their search proved to be a failure, but Theo had found them. Luci wiped at some dust on her black jeans only spreading it further. She let out a quiet groan, silently telling herself to use water to wash away the dust. Malia, Scott and Mason were covered in the same sweat and dust.

Luci saw Liam and Hayden cuddling on the couch and smiled lightly. Theo hugged Scott and Luci stood in front of Liam and asked, "Are you two okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, thanks to Theo."

"Good. We just have to hope this doesn't happen again."

Luci made her way to the station to see Parrish.

He turned to see her and smiled. "Everything okay?"

Luci nodded. "Everything is great."