❶❹ 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓕𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓽𝓮𝓮𝓷 ❶❹
Valack pressed his hands to the glass desperately as he looked at Brooke, Stiles and Lydia on the other side. The sound of the approaching Dread Doctors still very much prominent. "Hit record. Do it now. It costs you nothing." the Eichen patient pleaded.
"But it's worth something to you, so you're not getting it for free." Brooklyn jabbed, pointing a finger at the man with a third eye.
"What does the book do?" Lydia asked strongly.
"Tell us." Stiles demanded.
"I told you. It opens your eyes." Valack replied.
Brooke quirked an eyebrow, "How?"
"It triggers the memory centres of the brain, clearing the fog and bringing the images of the Dread Doctors into focus." the Eichen patient rushed out, his words becoming faster as he got more desperate. "I wrote the book in an effort to find out if anyone else like me had ever seen them before. I thought I could circulate it, an effort to trigger someone... anyone else's memory."
Brooklyn glanced back down the corridor as the oncoming Dread Doctor's footsteps grew louder and closer. "They'd see the cover, a hint of memory..." Valack continued, "They pick up the book, read it. The suppressed memories surface, and they'd find their way to me to discover more. Just like you did."
"Did it work with anyone else?" Stiles asked the man.
"You didn't see it on The New York Times Best Seller list, did you?" the Eichen patient fired back.
"So all we have to do is read the book?" Brooklyn checked.
"If you've seen them, if they've done something to you, then the books will help you remember. Now give me what I want." Valack snapped.
Lydia reached out a slightly shaky hand to Stiles, silently asking for the recorder. With a final glance at Valack, the Stilinski shook his head and begrudgingly put the device in the banshee's hand.
Stiles and Brooke took a couple steps back and covered their ears as Lydia let out an almighty scream into the device. She quickly shoved the device back into the slot for Valack and said to him, "Tell us what they want."
"Lydia, I think we need to get out of here." Stiles muttered to her. The Dread Doctors were very close now, too close for comfort, they could tell by the relentless sounds they made. And now, alarms also blared from every speaker and intercom.
The strawberry blonde didn't budge, though, and kept her attention on Valack. "What are they trying to do?" she shouted.
"Read the book." Valack instructed. "Anyone who's come into contact with them."
"Lydia, we gotta go. Now." Brooklyn huffed. She and Stiles finally managed to drag the banshee away and took off down the corridor they came from.
Just before they turned the corner Brooke heard Valack call, "Read the book!" in one last attempt.
The three carried on running. They then heard the Dread Doctors' heavy footfalls from only the next corridor they were to turn down so they ducked into an empty room. They ran to the back corner, pushing themselves up against the tiles.
Stiles held Lydia to his chest, Brooklyn right beside them using the most amount of room they could without being seen. They tried to quieten their breathing as the Dread Doctors were walking past the door of the room they were in. Brooklyn brought her fist to her mouth as Stiles clutched Lydia tighter to him. They were only able to relax again when the doctors completely passed by them without a fuss.
"I think we're okay." Lydia said breathlessly after a moment.
"No, it's not okay." Stiles responded. "All of this, it's on us. Everything that's happened, everything that's going to happen, it's our fault."
"It's our responsibility." Brooke stated.
They soon ran from that room, following the twists and turn that Lydia had, thankfully, remembered to get themselves out of the horrible place. They grabbed their stuff from the reception before leaving the building entirely in search of Scott and Kira who were no longer in the corridor.
Brooklyn's heart hammered in her chest as she shouted, "Scott? Scott! Kira!" She prayed to anyone and anything that they were okay, that nothing terrible had happened.
She rushed down the steps and almost stopped breathing at the sight she saw. The two of them lay on the concrete, both unconscious but Scott was heavily burnt and still sizzled.
The Hale girl raced to them. Kira was closer so she got to her first. Her eyes glowing, she was able to heal her pretty quickly. The kitsune blinked slowly to consciousness as Stiles and Lydia came down to help her while Brooklyn moved over to Scott.
Tears welled up in her gleaming eyes as she did a once over of his condition. Burns ran up his arms and face, his breathing shallow. He'd obviously carried Kira out as her abilities went haywire. Not wasting a single second, Brooke placed her hands upon his chest and watched as the burns disappeared and his eyelids opened.
Scott gave the clearly worried girl a small smile as he awoke. Brooke wrapped her arms around his neck, laying her head on top of his. The McCall boy sat up a little, wrapping his arms around her as well as he began to rub her back soothingly. "Are you okay?" he asked her.
Brooke scoffed, "Am I okay? You're the one who got burnt, you idiot."
The McCall boy chuckled. He pulled back and placed a sweet kiss on her lips. He gazed at her for a moment, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, but I'm your idiot." he said cheekily.
"That you are."
✄ ✄ ✄ ✄ ✄
The next day, Brooke, Scott, Lydia, Stiles, Kira, Malia and Theo all gazed down at the glass coffee table. Their reflections stared back at them as they focused on the copies of The Dread Doctors book that they were about to read.
"My mom's book club usually has more wine." Lydia remarked.
"Well, they also probably didn't read books that cause violent hallucinations." Stiles quipped.
"That's why Malia's here." Scott said.
Brooklyn raised an eyebrow, "So no one dives head first at a car?" Malia and Theo had told the group earlier about how the werecoyote had read the book and while out learning to drive she'd being sucked into the memory of her mother running her family's car off the road, which ended with Malia losing control and killing them.
Scot nodded, "Or worse."
"Like what happened to Judy." Malia commented. "Chapter 14." she said in response to the group looked up at her questioningly.
Lydia picked up the actual book and flicked through it carelessly. "Maybe I should have my mother read it." she spoke. "She might remember a girl with a tail leaping off the ceiling and attacking everyone."
"Hey, if it works." Stiles added.
"It has to." the banshee told them.
"What does that mean?" Scott asked.
"I think I saw them during my surgery." Lydia confessed. "When I look at the cover of the book, it's almost like..."
"A memory trying to surface." Theo filled in, making all heads turn to him.
"Yeah." the strawberry blonde replied.
"Isn't that what Valack wanted when he wrote it?" Kira put in. The group nodded at her.
"If they did something to me, I want to know what it is." Lydia announced before taking a seat on an armchair.
The rest all then took their own copies and plonked themselves down on a couch or chair. Brooklyn took a seat next to Scott, getting herself comfy and flicking onto the first page.
Here they go.
❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃
It was hours later, too many in a Brooke's opinion, and they were still reading the damn book. The Hale girl was still in the same spot but now leant against her boyfriend with her feet propped on the arm of the couch. She blinked a couple of times before trying to focus back on the words.
"Anyone feeling anything yet?" Scott asked.
Kira shrugged, "Tired."
"Hungry." Lydia murmured.
"Dumb." Brooklyn said nonchalantly.
"Hey." Scott replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as she still leant into him. He didn't like her thinking of herself that way.
"What? I can't read half the words in here. I mean, what, what even is this word. Face-tea-us?" she remarked getting it completely wrong.
"Facetious." Lydia corrected. "Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humour."
"Thank you, Siri." Brooke joked unamusedly. The strawberry blonde sending her a very amused smile in return.
Scott grinned down at her from where she was tucked into his side. "Stop." Brooklyn told him once she caught his look. She flicked his cheek, "It's not funny." she grumbled but that only made his smile grow. She huffed.
Brooke then stood up, tossing her copy on the seat she had occupied. "Well, I'm going to go to the kitchen to get food. At least I won't be picked on there." she told them before going in that direction.
She slid next to Malia, leaning on the kitchen counter as she looked at Stiles. "What is wrong with you?" she asked.
"What?" the Stilinski seemed taken aback.
"I can sense that you're injured." Brooke clarified. "What'd you do?"
"Jeep died on me again. I went to check the engine, the hood fell on my shoulder." Stiles explained.
"Ouch." Malia commented.
"Yeah." Stiles muttered.
"Well, I'm healing it cause it means I can't focus on the damn book." Brooklyn stated. She moved forward, putting her hands on Stiles' shoulders, careful of the injury, and discreetly glowed her eyes.
Within seconds it was healed and Stiles whispered, "Thank you." The Hale girl nodded, grabbing a chocolate bar before returning to her place next to Scott.
The McCall boy immediately opened his arm for her again. He draped it over her shoulders as he casually played with a lock of her hair while continuing to read. Brooklyn ate her chocolate bar while butterflies crept along her stomach from his actions.
"Hey, you're not giving up are you?" Lydia questioned Kira as the kitsune settled back into some cushions and closed her eyes.
"I'm just resting my eyes." Kira responded.
"Sounds like a plan." Brooklyn mumbled before closing her own eyes. She felt Scott place a kiss on the crown of her head before she was out like a light.
❃ ❃ ❃ ❃ ❃
Theo glanced around at the sleeping McCall pack. Lydia was on her own armchair with her feet propped up next to her. Stiles sat on the floor with his head resting against a pillow on Malia's legs. The werecoyote was curled up on a sofa with a cushion and her hood pulled up.
Scott and Brooke lay on the other end. The McCall boy was sunk into the seat, his arm protectively around his girl's waist as her head lay delicately on his chest.
Theo knew that was the way he was going to most likely win the True Alpha's trust. If he could just save Brooklyn from something, or someone, he'd be in the McCall's good books. But the girl just never seemed to get herself into a situation that she couldn't handle. It was very annoying.
But Theo needed the Alpha's trust. Because when he had that, he could get what he wanted. And he wouldn't stop until he got that.
None of them knew, though, that it would be catastrophic for the McCall pack.
—————
I just love this chapter so much
Also Healing Hale is so close to 15k reads which is outstanding !! And were nearly at 500 on this one ! I'm so thankful to all of you loves <3
~ Lowenna ♡✧