When I tell you I screamed when I first watched the episode where we got to hear Stiles over the radio
Also, I think I'm gonna make most of the chapters this length from here on out, just so you guys are getting more content faster
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"Sheriff, please just hear us out," I pleaded, Scott by my side.
"Oh, I'm hearing you," he laughed humourlessly as he shut the door to his office so that his deputies wouldn't overhear. "You both heard a voice coming through the radio, and now you're convinced that it's the voice of. . ."
"Stiles. Your son," Scott said.
I gave him a small smile, thankful that he was finally on my side about this. Hearing Stiles' voice, it would have been pretty hard to keep saying otherwise, but it meant a lot to me either way.
The Sheriff looked between the two of us, brows raised. "Uh-huh. And maybe it's just a random signal cross?"
I got Stiles' keys from my jacket pocket, holding them up before placing them on the desk. "Peter gave these to us. They started the Jeep. Your wife's Jeep."
The Sheriff's face scrunched in disgust, "Oh, wait, wait, so, now I'm supposed to trust Peter Hale?"
"I'm not asking you to trust my dad," I said quickly. "I'm asking you to trust me, Sheriff. How long have you known me for?"
"Riley-"
"I heard his voice," I informed him, cutting him off. "I heard Stiles' voice coming through that radio."
"Yeah, and I didn't."
"Okay, then just come to the Jeep and we'll try to get it working again. Just-"
"Riley, stop!" he yelled angrily, pushing the keys away from himself. "Enough."
I stood there staring at the man, shocked by his outburst. We had given him every piece of evidence to prove Stiles' existence, but he refused to believe us.
Scott picked up the keys and grabbed my hand, "Sorry, Sheriff. We're going to go."
He led me out before I could say anything. I don't think I would have known what to say anyway.
"Where are we going?" I mumbled on the way out.
Getting onto his bike, Scott gave me a hopeful look. "Lydia and Malia found Canaan."
♧♤♢♡
When we arrived in Canaan, I gave Scott's leg a little nudge. He had fallen asleep on the drive there, his head falling onto my shoulder. Isaac had laughed from the other side at me, but I didn't mind.
I wasn't all too surprised either. Scott had been working so hard day and night recently, I had no idea when he found the time to sleep every other day.
A groggy groan escaped him as he raised his head off of my shoulder, sitting up in his seat. "Where are we?"
"According to the GPS, this is it," Malia answered from the passenger's seat.
We all got out of Lydia's car, taking a look at the streets of Canaan. The town had a strange darkness about it, the streets empty and covered in fallen leaves. There wasn't a soul to be seen for miles.
The buildings were all run down, moss growing on the walls and termites eating at the foundation. The town seemed to be falling apart.
"This is Canaan?" I clarified, shocked by what we had found.
Lydia nodded, looking down at what we assumed to be the main street, "Canaan's a ghost town."
"Why would Stiles tell you guys to find this place?" Isaac asked as we began to wander down the streets, looking for any sign of life.
"I'm not sure," I sighed. "But he wouldn't have mentioned it unless it was important."
As we continued to walk, we saw nothing, and I was beginning to worry that there wasn't anything here for us after all.
"I don't hear a single heartbeat," Scott stated as Isaac and Malia bobbed their heads to say the same. "No scents, either."
We kept walking, only to come across our first sign of life since we'd step into the town. We slowed to a stop, glancing up to see a crow sitting in a crow, cawing softly.
When we looked up, our eyes found a banner that said 'CANAAN', amongst some other words I couldn't make out because it was old and torn. This banner had been up since whatever happened to this town.
"This is the place I saw in the mirror," Lydia informed us all.
Keeping this in mind, we all began to look around the area. There were picnic tables, some of them broken, with food containers sitting on them. Scott handed me a newspaper he had been looking at, pointing to the date. April 8, 1987.
This town had been abandoned 26 years ago.
Putting the paper down, we walked further into what I assumed was the town square. There was even a carousel that had been forgotten like the rest of the town.
It was covered in overgrown plants and dust. Moving closer, I realised that some of the horses were covered in blood, also.
Scott went to step onto the carousel, only for it to creak to a start. He jumped back out of fright, grabbing Isaac who happened to be beside him.
Isaac looked down at his arm where Scott's hand was. "Dude?"
Scott cleared his throat, dropping his hand and looking back to the carousel.
"What happened here?"
"Maybe we should split up," Scott suggested.
I scoffed, eyes wide, "Are you insane?"
Lydia shrugged, "It's the only idea we have right now."
I looked to the others, who only nodded in agreement. "Alright. But everyone, phones stay on."
We all then went our separate ways, beginning to search the houses in the area. I approached one a few down from the corner, pushing open the door. The metal of the wire door groaned, most likely not having been opened since 1987.
I kept my wits about me as I entered the house, listening out for anything. I was about to move into one of the rooms when I spotted something walking down the hall. Following them, I found myself in a room with my sister and Iris.
"Char?" I asked, making my surprise evident. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We came to save them," Charlotte explained.
"'Save them'? Save who?"
"Your friends," Iris explained. "From you."
They both collapsed to the floor, hands at their throats. "Wait, no, what's happening?" I gasped as I went over to them.
"Everyone you love dies," Charlotte choked out. "What makes us any different?"
Iris glared up at me as she struggled to breathe, "They all die, and it's because of you. So, who's next?"
"No, it's not my fault," I cried as I tried to steady their breathing, but nothing I did was working.
When I felt arms around me, I tried to away so that I could help Charlotte and Iris.
"It's not my fault!" I yelled.
The arms tightened around me, pulling me towards them. "Riley! Riley, it's not real."
My cries stifled as I attempted to steady myself. Calming down, I saw Isaac had been the one to grab me. Turning back, I also noticed that Charlotte and Iris were gone.
"They were here," I mumbled. "They were just here."
Isaac shook his head as he helped me to my feet, "It's not real, okay? You're not the only one who's been seeing things."
He led me out of the house to where Malia, Lydia and Scott were waiting.
"Are you okay?" Malia asked.
Using my sleeve to wipe my eyes, I shook my head. It had felt so real; like I had been killing them with my own hands.
Was that really how my sister saw me?
"The energy here, it's causing hallucinations," Lydia concluded as she began to walk in the direction of her car, the others beginning to follow. "We can't stay here."
"What?" I asked, pulling myself together and slipping free of Isaac's hand to catch up to Lydia. "No. We can't. Stiles sent us here for a reason and we need to figure out what that is."
"Who are we going to ask? There's no one here."
"We can ask him," Malia suggested, pointing across the street.
We all followed her line of sight to spot a boy standing and staring at a house. He was young, maybe around ten years old, with pale skin and blonde hair. He was wearing sneakers, tan shorts, and a blue button up shirt.
"Hey!" Scott shouted.
The boy looked over his shoulder, saw us and panicked. Turning back around he bolted down the street in the opposite direction.
"What do we do?" Lydia asked.
"He's the person we've seen," Isaac reminded us. "Follow him!"
The five of us rushed after him, racing down the streets as we tried to keep up with him. Somehow, as we turned a corner, we lost track of the boy.
We slowed to a walk, all of us confused as to how five supernatural creatures managed to be outrun by a child.
I was about to ask what we should do when Lydia gestured over to a house. Looking over, I saw the curtain sway ever so slightly. It wasn't windy here, which meant there was a chance the child went in there.
Scott approached the door first, opening it slowly and walking in. Lydia was a bit more polite about it, knocking on the door. "Hello? Anybody here?"
We all entered the house, looking around the room. It appeared to be lived in, unlike the rest of the town. The boy wasn't in the room, but if this was his house, then he might have been hiding.
"Visitors?" a voice said happily from across the house.
Turning in its direction, I saw a woman standing in what looked like a dining room. She had short grey hair and tired, wrinkled skin, red lipstick on her lips, and a floral dress.
"I can't believe I have visitors," she laughed joyfully as she walked towards us. "Oh, Caleb will be so happy to see you. It's been such a long time since he's had anyone to play with. Oh, you must be thirsty. Come on in and have a seat while I get you something to drink."
The woman turned back and rushed happily over to her kitchen to get the drinks she had mentioned.
When she was gone, we all looked at each other, slightly unnerved by the woman's behaviour. And who was Caleb? Was that the child's name?
"Seriously?" Malia asked, not really bothering to be quiet. "What is with her?"
"She's the woman I saw in the mirror," Lydia whispered.
"I don't care, she looks like the creepy woman in the movies who suddenly turns and murders you," Isaac hissed quietly.
We all walked into the dining room where the woman had been previously, hesitating for a moment, before taking a seat at the table. There were lace mats at each seat of the round table, something that reminded me of what I used to see in my grandmother's house.
"This was my mother's lemonade recipe," the woman grinned as she walked in holding a tray which had six glasses of lemonade sitting on it.
"At least as much as I can remember," she laughed.
"Thank you," I smiled politely as I reached for a glass of the homemade lemonade, hoping Isaac wasn't right.
She sat down in the last free seat at the table, "We always served this when we had friends to visit."
Malia practically skulled the glad of lemonade while the rest of us took a moment to actually examine what we'd been served. I would have bee more than willing to drink it, if it didn't have bugs floating at the top.
"We didn't come to visit," Malia told the woman as she put the glass back down on the table. "We're looking for someone."
"A friend of ours," Scott clarified. "Maybe you've seen him. His name is Stiles?"
The woman thought for a moment, before shaking her head gently. "It's been a while since anyone came through Canaan."
"How long?" Lydia asked.
When the woman didn't answer, Malia pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket that she had taken from one of the picnic tables, placing it on the table. "Since April 8th, 1987?"
The woman's smile fell as she looked at the paper, and then back at Malia. "Why would you disturb those things? They don't belong to you."
"We didn't mean to cause any offence," I said quickly. "We just need to know what happened. Please."
She looked over at me, still frowning. "There was a picnic. A community party."
"And what? They all just left without packing up?" Isaac asked.
"People have been leaving Canaan for a long time. That's the day the last of them left."
Scott leaned forward slightly, "All at once? They all just disappeared?"
"I didn't say they disappeared. I said they left," the woman corrected, her volume of her voice beginning to rise, the table shaking slightly.
Malia, either not noticing or not caring that the woman was becoming frustrated, continued to ask questions. "Did they leave in a cloud of green smoke?"
Suddenly the woman was on her feet, grabbing the table and screaming, "They just left!"
The whole room felt like it was shaking, my mind becoming disorientated. It felt almost like I was experiencing some kind of vertigo.
When the dizzy feeling wore off, Lydia tried to apologise. "We didn't mean to upset you. We'll go now."
Lydia urged us all to get up from the table, which we were all quick to do. We moved as quickly as we could without trying to seem rude. Just as we were about to reach the door, it slammed shut.
I jumped back in shock, looking at my friends.
"No one is leaving," the woman said, her face twisted in anger. "No one is leaving Canaan ever again."
Scott didn't say anything as he went to the door, grabbing onto the handle and trying to open it. He kept turning, pushing and pulling, and nothing was working.
"Scott, open the door, you're a werewolf," Malia reminded the teen.
"I'm trying," he claimed.
Isaac grabbed Scott's shoulder and dragged him out of the way, having a go at the door himself. As he kept trying the door, Malia went to the window.
Curling her fist, she punched the glass with her strength. Where we expected to hear the sound of shattering, there was nothing. Malia tried again, but still, nothing.
"What the hell is wrong with this place?" she asked quietly.
Isaac stopped trying to open the door as we all regrouped. "I told you, she's crazy," he said through gritted teeth, keeping his voice quiet in case she heard him.
"Lenore?" Lydia said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "Could you unlock the door, please?"
The woman no longer looked angry, but she didn't look happy either. "Now that you're here, you need to stay."
"We can't. We need to find our friend," I reminded her.
"Caleb likes you."
Lydia walked over to the woman, "And we like him. But we need to help our town. People are disappearing, uh, leaving, I mean leaving. You could really help us."
"No one can help you," the woman told Lydia, who was now standing in front of her. "If they want to leave, they're going to leave. They'll go, and they'll go, and there won't be anything you can do about it."
"Come with me," a voice said.
We all turned to see the young boy, Caleb, standing in front of the hallway. He then turned and walked down the hall slowly.
The four of us who were still by the door exchanged looks. Did we follow the creepy child down the dark hallway?
"Go," Lydia told us. We all knew that the woman wasn't going to keep talking to us - she didn't like us. But, maybe Lydia alone stood a better chance at hearing her story.
We did as we were told, following the boy down the hall. We found him in the basement, which had a shallow pool of water on the ground. There must have been a burst pipe or something.
Scott began to search for an alternative way out of the house beside the front door. He checked the window, but the latch didn't give way.
"Caleb, can you help us find a way out of here?"
The boy didn't answer, walking over to the old tv and inserting a tape. The buzzing stopped as a video began to play. It was a video of Caleb from August 12th, 1985, and he looked the same. He was even wearing the same outfit.
"You have to stay because mummy said so," the boy said as he watched the video.
"No, we can't stay. We have to go home," Scott said calmly.
"This is home. This is home," Caleb said, only his voice was that of Lenore. The basement door slammed shut and now we weren't only trapped in the house but in the basement.
"Guys, come here," I whispered. Scott, Isaac and Malia walked through the water to stand by me. I lifted my hand to point at the tv. "I'm not crazy, right? That's him in that video dated 1985?"
They all went wide-eyed, Malia clearing her throat. "Uh, Caleb, do you know what year you were born?"
The boy stood up, the tv turning off as he went to face us. Suddenly, he was drenched, water dripping from his hair and clothes, his lips blue and his skin even paler. "1976."
"And when did you die?" Scott asked.
The boy walked past us without a word. As he did, water began to run down the walls of the basement, picking up speed and slowly deepening the shallow pool. He stopped on the stairs, turning to stare down at us all as the water continued to drip faster from him.
"Am I having another hallucination?" Malia asked as she looked around the room.
"If you're hallucinating, then we all are," Isaac stated as he watched the walls.
Grabbing Scott's arm, I got his attention. "We need to get out of here. Now."
Scott nodding, looking over at Caleb. Malia clenched her fists in thought.
"I know you're not gonna beat an eight-year-old's ass," she told the alpha. "But I will."
She strode towards him, reaching out to grab him. Just as she was about to get her hands on him, she stumbled back, reaching for her throat.
"You don't look so good," the boy smirked as Malia collapsed to her knees making choking sounds. "Maybe you should sit down."
I used to her side, putting my hands on her shoulders. "Mal? Mal, what's going on?"
She tried to answer but instead of words, water began to pour from her lips. Her eyes were wide as she began to panic, putting her hands on my arms, begging for my help.
"I- I don't know what to do," I told her. I looked up at the smirking boy. He was prepared to just let her die.
Standing up I took a step towards him. Unfortunately, that was as far as I got before I began to choke as well. Falling, I glanced back to Scott. "Help," I got out past the water.
Isaac and Scott shared a glance, both of them unsure of what they could do without ending up choking on water also.
"What are you doing to them?" Isaac growled, careful to keep his distance from the boy.
Caleb walked back down the steps and over to the tv. "They're drowning. Just like me."
"Lydia!" the Alpha yelled to the Banshee upstairs.
Now that the boy was out of the way, Scott tried the steps back up to the house. But as soon as he set foot on the third step, he began to drown also.
"Now we can be friends forever," Caleb grinned.
I had never felt out of breath like this before - not with my ability. But now, I was helpless. I tried to use my ability, but I couldn't focus as I choked on the water.
Isaac stayed beside us all, not knowing how to help. If he approached the boy or the door, he would start to drown also. There was no way to stop this.
Breathing was becoming impossible as more water found its way into my lungs. I could up as much as I could, but my vision was starting to blur, my head becoming dizzy.
And then all of a sudden, it just stopped.
Malia, Scott and I looked at each other with wide eyes as we took deep breaths, checking we were all okay. None of us could explain why we were no longer drowning.
Caleb was back sitting in front of his tv, water no longer running down the walls or dripping from his body. "Mummy says you can go now," he informed us as he watched the home video.
The basement door opened back up, and we didn't even hesitate before we all rushed out of the room. Coming back the way we came, we exited the house, not seeing Lenore on the way out.
Lydia was waiting out the front for us, a blank look on her face. As soon as we were all together, we began to walk away.
"Next time I tell you someone is crazy," Isaac said from beside me. "You all listen, and we leave. Got it?"
Lydia had slowed down behind us, looking back at the house. Lenore had exited the house with Caleb standing beside her still covered in water.
"You know you can still come with us," the Banshee told the woman.
Lenore gave half a smile as she shook her head, "I couldn't leave Caleb."
"Lenore, you know he's not real."
The woman looked down at her son and they both smiled sweetly at each other.
"I couldn't leave Caleb."
Lydia didn't try again, turning on her heel and walking quickly towards her car.
♧♤♢♡
"You guys think Stiles sent us here to warn us?" Scott asked from beside me as we drove back to Beacon Hills.
Isaac shrugged, "What? That maybe Beacon Hills is gonna be the next ghost town."
"If we don't stop it, yes," Malia said from the driver's seat. "We need to get them to leave. Now."
"We can't. Not yet," Lydia told her.
"Why not?" I asked. "The sooner they're gone, the sooner we get Stiles back."
"Because I saw what happens to the people they've taken when they leave."
Malia glanced over at her, before looking back at the road. "Do they all die?"
"No. It's something worse than death. I felt it in Lenore's memory. It's like their souls hollowed out. They became something else. I think they became Ghost Riders. And then, they were gone."
I felt sick to my stomach as I heard her words. If we didn't get rid of the Ghost Riders soon, Beacon Hills was about to ride the lightning forever.
We arrived at Scott's house in less than an hour. We were all going to go home, but then he told us that apparently Liam and Hayden had been planning to catch a Ghost Rider.
I was interested in hearing about this, so I went inside with Scott and Isaac while Lydia and Malia stayed out the front. I think Lydia was still a bit shaken up from her encounter with Lenore; something I would be sure to ask her about.
As we entered the house, we saw Hayden and Liam standing at the kitchen table. Unfortunately, they weren't alone. Someone I never hoped to see again stood with them.
"Somehow I don't think we're gonna hug this out," Theo smirked as he looked at us.
My mouth clenched shurt harshly and I could feel my jaw ache, my nails digging into my palms. I had to keep my cool; remain in control of my ability.
I could hear Scott's breathing immediately become heavy with anger beside me. "I hope you realise it's taking all of my strength to not tear you in half right now."
"You and me both," I said angrily as I glared at the boy.
"Oh, come on, Riley, really?" Theo scoffed. "You're still mad at me burying you? I wasn't trying to kill you."
A growl fro the back door had us all look over to see Malia, who looked about as happy to see the Chimera as Scott and me.
"Hey, Malia," Theo greeted. "You aren't still upset about the whole shooting thing, are you? Or is holding grudges genetic?
Not replying, Malia's eyes began to glow blue as she growled angrily. The girl dove at Theo, throwing him to the ground and landing on top of him.
She began to punch him in the face repeatedly, no one bothering to step in. Hell, a large part of me wanted to lend her a hand.
Malia continued to punch him, and to our surprise, Theo wasn't fighting back. He was just lying there taking it.
"It's okay, you don't have to stop," he said as blood ran from his nose.
Malia flicked her wrist, bringing her claws out. "Trust me, I won't."
She went to bring them down on Theo, when Liam and Scott grabbed her, picking her up and walking her away from the Chimera.
"Malia, enough!" the alpha insisted. He may have hated Theo as much as the rest of us, but he wasn't about to let his death be on his conscience.
"Slow down, okay?"
"Why?" Isaac asked, confused. "You know everything he did, Scott. He buried Riley, he shot Malia, he killed you! What is it gonna take?"
"I know," he nodded. "That's why we're putting him back in the ground."
Liam walked over, shaking his head, "You can't."
"And why the hell not?" I asked bitterly
"He remembers Stiles."
I whipped around to look at Theo, my breath catching at the thought.
"So what?" I said, trying not to sound like I cared that Theo remembered him. "The rest of us remember him, too."
"The Dread Doctors knew all about the Wild Hunt. He can help us."
"Or he could kill us," Scott pointed out.
"He's my responsibility," Liam told his Alpha, holding up Kira's blade. "Noshiko gave me the sword."
A sigh came from Theo off to the side, who was now sitting up against the fridge. "It's so awkward when Mum and Dad fight."
"Shut up!" Liam and Scott both shouted.
"You both are right," Hayden told them as she entered the room. "If Theo tries anything we'll send him back to the Skinwalkers. But for right now-"
"He goes back now," Scott said, not caring about what Hayden and Liam wanted.
"Except Liam's the one with the sword," Theo chimed in.
"Shut up!" All six of us yelled.
Scott dragged his Beta from the room to talk to him alone. As soon as he was gone, Malia tried to walk over to Theo again. Isaac and I gladly stepped out of her way, Hayden the only one brave enough to get in her path.
"Can you give us a second alone with Theo?" my sister asked the girl.
"Why?"
"So I can kill him."
"Okay, look," Theo said as he climbed to his feet. "I know that there's mixed feelings all around."
"Understatement," I muttered.
"But I might be your only option to stop the Wild Hunt."