Stiles peeks his head with Faline in to see Kira and Scott pulling away from each other. Scott lays back and closes his eyes, and Kira turns back to the two inquisitive teens, nodding to communicate that they're okay. Stiles nods in return and gently closes the door behind him, only to find Malia and Braeden waiting for him in the hallway. Stiles and Faline take one look at the grim expressions on their faces and immediately begin to worry.
"What?" Stiles asks.
Braeden and Malia give each other a significant look, and Stiles becomes even more panicked as Faline comfortingly rubs his arm.
"What? What did I do?"
Braeden sighs and turns to Malia.
"Tell him"
Stiles looks at Malia, both confused and concerned.
"You know how my mother wants to kill me? I think she might want to kill you, too-"
Stiles is momentarily taken aback and Faline's eyes widen slightly.
"Okay. Uh, that's disconcerting-" Stiles says.
Stiles pauses to think for a moment before looking up at the girls.
"I should probably have a gun," Stiles says.
Malia seems to think this is a reasonable request and looks at Braeden, who scoffs loudly. Stiles looks at Faline who shrugs, clearly in agreement with Braeden.
"I'm not giving you a gun!"
"You have a gun. The Desert Wolf-- who is trying to kill me-- has a gun. I think I should probably have a gun!" Stiles says.
Malia turns back to Braeden and gives her a look, and Braeden rolls her eyes before she takes out her Sig Sauer. She takes off the clip and gives Stiles a wary look before tossing him the unloaded gun. Stiles' attempt to catch it is comical at best, with him fumbling to keep it in his hands until it finally clatters to the ground. Braeden gives him a look that says, "I told you so," and Malia rolls his eyes as Stiles begins to look embarrassed.
"I probably shouldn't have a gun"
"No, I think not," Faline says.
Faline looks up when she hears Scott walking downstairs, where she was sat with Stiles, Kira, Malia, Lydia, and Liam, all of whom stayed the night the previous night, discussing what they know about their current situation around the kitchen table.
"My dad's got an APB out," He says.
"For a 5'8" sixteen-year-old?" Kira asks.
"I recommended "nine-foot-tall rampaging werewolf"-" Stiles says and Faline shakes her head.
"It still might not be him-" Liam says.
The rest of the pack gives him a look that is part-sympathy, part-skepticism, and Liam sighs.
"But, Hayden's at the school looking"
Scott finally joins the conversation at the table
"My mom can check all the hospitals in the county"
The pack all turns to face him, looking surprised and relieved that he's healed and seemingly fine. When Scott sees the anxious look on Liam's face, his face becomes reassuring.
"We can find him," Scott says.
"What happens then?" Liam asks.
"We figure out a way to save him," Faline says and Scott nods.
Liam looks even more relieved by this answer, as do the others, and the pack starts to get back into their planning phase.
"Okay. Where else could we look?" Lydia asks.
"Let's ask Corey!"
The others frown in confusion, which quickly turns to shock when Scott reaches over toward a cupboard and roughly yanks on what looks like air, which turns into Corey, who has apparently been invisibly eavesdropping on their entire conversation. Corey looks frantic when he sees the appalled expressions on their faces and immediately becomes defensive.
"Wait! WAIT! It's not my fault! They took him, and I couldn't do anything. They took him!" Corey says.
"Who?"
"The Dread Doctors," Corey says.
Stiles, Lydia, Faline, and the Sheriff are discussing the new plans and information they've gathered that day.
"Still nothing from Scott and Liam," Faline says, checking her phone to make sure.
"Are we really sure this is a good idea?" Lydia asks.
"Uh, no... No one thinks this is a good idea"
"But you're trusting Theo anyway?"
"We're not trusting him! We're using him" Stiles says.
"What if he's using us?" Lydia asks.
Stiles makes a face before he shrugs.
"That's probably a given. But look-- we're just trying to cover every place Mason could show up. Malia and Braeden are at Scott's house, Melissa's got the hospital, Hayden and Corey are at the school. Somebody's got to find them" Stiles says.
"Let's hope they find Mason and not the Beast," Faline says.
Stiles, Lydia, Faline, and Sheriff all share a worried look.
Lydia has just walked back into the Sheriff's office from the bullpen to find Stiles sprawled out asleep on the couch, his left leg propped up on the back of the couch in a way that causes his foot to smush the mini-blinds covering the windows. Faline was sat at the end of the couch and Stiles' right leg was in her lap. Lydia looks at him in exasperation for a moment before poking him in the forehead with her index finger. Stiles awakens with a gasp and reflexively scrambles into a seated position, still disoriented from being awakened so quickly and Faline grunts as Simon kicks her in the stomach.
"Mmm, what? What happened? Who's dead?"
"No one"
She shrugs and Faline stands up so Lydia can sit down before she sits in Stiles' lap.
"Well, at least not yet," Lydia says.
She pulls out her phone to check it for updates, and when Stiles just stares at her, she gives him a look that demands that he do the same, causing him to quickly pull his phone out of his back pocket and check it as well. When neither of them has received any news from anyone, they all look anxious with anticipation
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm still thinking. Still, trying to figure out Why Mason? I mean, he wasn't even on the genetic chimera list"
Suddenly, Melissa rushes into the room with a medical file in her hands, which she immediately opens and places on the Sheriff's desk
"He is now," Melissa says.
Lydia, Faline, and Stiles waste no time getting to their feet and walking over to join her so they can see what she's found
"Mason was born with twin embolization syndrome," Melissa says.
"You mean fetal resorption?" Faline asks.
"Mmhmm" Melissa nods.
"He had a vanishing twin in utero?"
"Which accounts for two sets of DNA"
Stiles looks at them all with an exasperated and impatient look for a moment before he interjects.
"Can someone please say it with words that have less than three syllables?" Stiles asks.
Melissa rolls her eyes and over-enunciated her simplified answer in an impatient voice.
"He. Ate. His. Twin" Melissa says.
"Oh, God..."
"But did it help?"
"I don't know. But it's just bizarre enough to sound like it might be important, right?" Melissa asks.
"It has to help. There has to be something"
"Maybe it's because Mason's sets of DNA are internal whereas the others are attached or a donor," Faline says. "Mason absorbed the other set of DNA which means its mixed with his own"
Faline's phone rings and it's Scott.
"Scott?" Faline asks, putting him on speaker.
"They did it Fal," Scott says.
"Did what?"
"They brought Sebastian Valet back to life"
"Well shit"
READ MY NEW STORY QUIETUS PLEASE