𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐒 ▸ liam dunbar [2]

15.

IT WAS TIMES LIKE THESE that I wondered why I even bothered staying involved in the supernatural.

Scott, Liam, Hayden, and I had all driven from Hayden's house to Beacon Hills High School to protect her from the Dread Doctors – meanwhile, Stiles had driven back to the animal clinic with Theo in order to hopefully catch a glimpse at whoever was stealing the dying chimera's bodies. Lydia had taken Stiles's place and had now joined us in the school, bringing a device that somehow copied a radio frequency that would ward away the Dread Doctors.

We were all currently gathered in a locker room, everyone busily walking around doing something. Scott had hastily explained his plan to me – some gibberish about telluric currents and radio waves and frequencies that I didn't understand – and told me that although I wanted to go back to the animal clinic with Stiles, it was safer to stay here with him and everyone else.

I was admittedly very bitter at the moment – I had really wanted to join Stiles and Theo in their stake-out at the animal clinic. Partially because I hadn't spent more than five minutes with my brother in weeks, and partially because just being in the same room with Liam made me uncomfortable. We still definitely weren't on good terms, and although I tried to keep my mind on anything else, my thoughts kept on falling back to the fact that Liam and Hayden were currently working together, blocking up one of the doors in defense. Although Hayden had assured me earlier that nothing was happening between them, the fact that they were doing something as simple as blocking a door together made me uneasy. My argument with Liam earlier definitely wasn't helping the situation.

"Hey," said a sudden voice, interrupting my thoughts.

I blinked, turning to the side to see that Lydia had taken a seat on the ground next to me. The smile she was giving me was friendly, but distant. "How are you feeling?"

"Um... okay, I guess," I said, taken aback. "Just... all of this is kind of overwhelming."

Lydia laughed lightly, suddenly beginning to fiddle with what looked like a radio-like device.

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's to interfere with the Dread Doctors' frequencies," she explained, looking up at me. "Parrish and I spent all day working on this at the station. Eichen House has a similar current surrounding the entire building that keeps the Doctors out, so we tried to mimic that onto this device."

I furrowed my brow. "Tried to?"

The banshee half-shrugged, looking back down at the device.

"Lydia, what do you mean, 'tried to'? Are you even sure this is gonna work?"

"It'll work, Emma." Lydia sighed, setting the device aside. "It... it has to."

I nodded. "Yeah. Okay."

A moment of silence passed between us, and she gave me a somber look. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" She asked gently. "You look like something's bothering you."