3. | EVERLY [S. STILINSKI]

Chapter Four: [out of control]

"So," I turned to Stiles, who met my gaze. "What do we do?"

╪

Scott and Stiles set the chair down, the one that held a still-taped up Liam, in the middle of the room. He feverishly looked between all of us, fidgeting in place.

"Liam, we're going to take the tape off your mouth. You scream, it goes back on. If you talk quietly, it stays off." Stiles pointed. "Got it?"

Liam stared at Stiles, before nodding.

"Okay." Stiles confirmed, before ripping off the tape harshly. I winced as Liam made a grunt of pain, before stretching his jaw out.

"Okay, Liam, now you've seen a lot of confusing things happen tonight." Stiles held his hands out as he spoke, nodding. I nodded along in agreement as Stiles continued. "And more confusing things are going to happen because of the confusing things that happened tonight."

"Do you understand?"

Liam furrowed his eyebrows. "N-not really."

"Good, that's good." Stiles spoke, raising a thumbs up.

"I don't understand, either." Scott added. I resulted in placing my head in my hands.

"Maybe you should tell him." Stiles sighed, waving to Scott to take the conversation.

"Tell me what?" Liam asked.

"Liam-" Scott eased, taking a deep breath. "What happened to you, what I did to you─ which I had to do in order to save you─ it's going to change you."

Stiles hummed. "Unless it kills you."

My eyes widened and I turned, slapping my hand on his upper arm. Stiles jerked and held his arm, staring down at me in confusion. I shook my head, nudging my head in Liam's direction.

I heard soft whimpers and I turned my head, seeing Liam's body shake as he cried. "Uh oh. Uh oh."

"Is he─ is he crying?" Stiles wondered aloud.

"Liam, Liam, it's okay." I said softly, getting Liam to raise his head slowly. "You're going to be fine. You're not going to die"

"Probably not." Stiles added quickly. I turned to him quickly and he flinched, hiding his arms away from me. I narrowed my eyes before returning my gaze to Liam.

"Stop it." I sighed.

"Okay, possibly not." Stiles corrected, although, it didn't make it any better.

"Let's just─" I pressed my fingers to my temples. "Just untie him. I think we're done traumatizing the kid."

Scott and Stiles nodded and went to work, removing tape and letting Liam stand. He stretched a little, keeping his limbs close to him as he nervously watched us.

"We're sorry about that. Just─ really sorry." Stiles nodded, Scott doing the same.

"Look, let's just forget all about-"