Assistant Coach Scott McCall preps the Lacrosse field for a nighttime pre-season practice. He calls out several players with praise as they run plays on the wet field. He specifically mentions Diaz (Cory Smoot) and Nolan.
Coach Bobby Finstock berates Scott for heaping praise on the players and giving them hope. He points out that he never once gave Scott hope during the entire time he was on the team. Scott agrees that he never did and Coach suggests that nothing motivates more than withering criticism. Liam is not on the field yet. Scott promises Liam will be there saying he is the "backbone" of the team. He describes Liam as a born leader who can handle anything Coach throws at him.
~~~
In the locker room Liam is in his underwear, lying face-down on a bench with a devastated expression while Corey (who is in his lacrosse uniform and pads) and Mason (who is there for moral support) try their best to coax Liam into getting dressed.
"I can't handle this..." Liam complains. Mason sighs in exasperation as he and Corey give up and decide to just start dressing Liam themselves.
"Yes, you can!" Mason protests. He grabs Liam under the arms and pulls him into a seated position so he can help Liam into a long-sleeved shirt. "And you've handled so much worse than this! You're practically the Alpha now!"
"I'm nothing without her..." Corey sighs impatiently as he tries to put Liam's lacrosse shoulder pads on him.
"Liam, can you help me with this, please?" He asks.
"Oh my god! Is he still in his underwear?" Liz's voice sounds from outside the room.
"No!" Mason yells back skeptically. Liz barges into the room and walks over to crouch in front of Liam.
"Hayden left me," Liam whimpers.
"She moved," Liz corrects him. "To protect her sister. And it's not like she dumped you or anything."
Corey struggles to put Liam's jersey on over his pads and groans from the effort. "Liam, why is your arm so heavy?"
Suddenly, Mason's phone buzzes, and he checks it to find a text message from Scott. "Okay, Scott says Coach is losing it."
"You would for less," Liz mumbles under her breath.
Liam's lip sticks out as he pouts "Scott's leaving, too. As well as Selene." Liam leans forward as though he's about to lay face-down on the bench again, but Liz pushes his shoulders back into a seated position.
"Going to college is not leaving, okay? It's called "growing up!" And we're all going to be going to different colleges eventually." Mason points out.
Corey jerks upright and looks at Mason with an offended expression. "I thought we were both applying to UCLA...?" Mason shoots Corey a look and uses a flat palm to gesture across his neck to stop Corey from talking. Liam, too, looks at Mason with an appalled expression.
"You're going to the same college, too?" he asks pitifully. Liz rolls her eyes.
"That is not the point!"
"Then what is the point?"
"My God, Liam! She moved away, it's not the end of the world and you'll fall in love again! You didn't see mee sulking when y-" Suddenly her eyes grow wide at the realization of what she was about to say. Mason and Corey look at her alarmed while Liam just looks confused.
"When what?" Liam asks, confused because he didn't know she was in love with someone.
"It doesn't matter. Now get off your ass and be the captain this godforsaken team needs!" Mason and Corey each take one of Liam's arms and lift him to his feet, though he does nothing to bear any of the weight of his body, causing Mason and Corey to stumble in their effort to drag him out of the room. While Liz sighs in defeat. When Corey and Mason attempt to drag Liam backward out the locker room door, they trip on Liam's feet and all three of them tumble to the floor.
~~~
Back on the LACROSSE FIELD, several players have just been tackled to the ground again, and Scott, who is watching them play from the sidelines with Coach Finstock, flinches empathetically. Coach, on the other hand, scowls in annoyance.
"I swear to God, McCall, if you don't get Dunbar out here in three, this will be your last day as Assistant Coach." He threatens.
"This is my last day as Assistant Coach."
"I can still dock your pay."
"I'm a volunteer." Scott reaches down and grabs the whistle hanging around his neck. "Do you want my whistle?"
"Who gave you a whistle?" Scott then sends a pleading look to Selene, who is sitting on the bleachers.
Mason, Corey, and Liam are still sprawled on the floor outside the boys' locker room.
"You three need a hand?" Liz questions. Suddenly, Mason's phone buzzes, and he sits up to read it aloud.
"Coach is making Diaz captain."
Alarmed, Liam sits up as well and looks determined to prove himself, just as Selene intended with this misleading text message.
~~~
On the field, Diaz dodges all other players as he weaves his way down the field. The goalie is terrified as it seems nothing can stop number 88 from scoring a goal. Diaz flings the ball toward the goal. Out of nowhere, Liam does a twisty backflip onto the field and blocks the shot.
Coach is impressed, heaps praise on the play, and asks Scott, the name of the player. Scott is confused; he explains it's Liam. Coach brushes off his lapse in memory, saying he can't possibly know who's who on the field since they're all dressed the same. Scott says they're wearing numbers.
Liam is running down the field full speed when Diaz ducks under him and flips him to the ground. Liam begins to lose control. His eyes flash yellow, and he lets out a guttural growl. Scott rushes to his side. Everyone is watching them until something else catches their attention.
"That can't be good," Selene whispers and runs onto the field, leaving Liz staring at the field.
A bloody, clearly-injured wolf slowly trots onto the field.
Scott, looking alarmed, pulls the now-human Liam up to his feet as they all gape at the wolf in shock. Nolan, who is closest to the wolf, gulps anxiously, seemingly frozen in fear while the others back up several steps. The wolf snarls at the group, keeping its eyes on Scott as saliva drips from its fangs.
"Everyone back," Scott says alarmed. Scott is about to use his powers to get the wolf to submit until he notices that the terrified Nolan is still a little too close to the wolf.
Selene walks over to the boy who is completely paralyzed by fear, which leads Selene to quickly look back at the confused Liam and Scott before stepping forward and gently guide him away from the wolf.
"Nolan, hey! Stay back, man. Are you okay? What are you doing?" She asks. Nolan, still terrified, remains silent as he backs away even farther from the wolf while not taking his eyes off of it.
Selene steps forward to stand next to Liam and Scott as the wolf once again snarls and growls at them. After a moment, Scott flashes his red Alpha eyes at the wolf, who whimpers before turning around and slowly retreating back into the woods, limping as though it has been badly injured. Scott, Selene and Liam share a concerned look before the two leave the rest of the team and follow the wolf into the woods without another word.
Once the two are deep into the woods, they begin to talk about what they could be dealing with.
"Do you think it's a wolf-wolf, or...?" Liam asks.
"It's just a wolf, which doesn't make this situation any less weird," Selene replies.
The trio becomes silent as they come upon another wolf, this one lying dead on the ground as though it had recently died. They all become horrified when suddenly, hundreds of spiders begin pouring out of the wolf's eyes and mouth and scurry away. After a moment, Liam sees something in the distance and frowns.
"Guys..." He calls their attention. Liam gestures toward the area in front of them, leading Scott and Selene to see that there are nearly a dozen more dead wolves scattered across the surrounding area.
~~~
Malia lays on Lydia's bed reading a book about France. Lydia has apparently just told her of Scott and Liam's discovery in the woods. Malia wants to know if these were wolves or werewolves. Lydia explains they were the former and Malia says she's not interested. Lydia says Liam asked for help from the werecoyote not the banshee because no one understands mysterious animal situations better. Malia says she's done with mysterious animal situations. She now wants mysterious French men.
Lydia says her flight is delayed anyway so she has time to help. Malia protests, saying the flight is not delayed, only rerouted. Lydia points out those are synonymous. A severe weather alert pops up on the laptop on the bed. There's a storm shutting down on Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris. Malia protests it's just a minor shower.
Lydia gives her a look that says, "You need to go." Malia continues to protest saying Liam has everything covered and dead wolves in the woods doesn't sound supernatural.
~~~
As Scott is trying to close his overstuffed suitcase, Liam is trying to convince him that whatever happened to the wolves is definitely supernatural. Scott points out it could have been a parasitic infection. He explains bot flies can burrow into animals and people. The bugs lay eggs inside the host body, which hatch and burst out of the skin.
Scott wants to address Liam's loss of control on the lacrosse field. Scott says he must remember his mantra and makes Liam say it aloud. "What three things cannot long be hidden? The Sun, the Moon, the truth."
Scott can hear Liam's heart rate slow as he focuses on the words and anchors himself.
Calmer now, Liam glances back at the impossible-to-close suitcase and asks Scott if he has a second one. Scott says no, but he has duct tape.
While they banter, it is clear the young man does not want either of his Alphas to leave him.
~~~
An orderly follows Doctor Conrad Fenris, through the special ward at Eichen House. Fenris says what the orderly claims to have seen is impossible. He says the patient in question has been in residence ever since the facility opened in 1912.
He opens the door, and a cold mist pours out. There is a layer of ice on the floor. On a table in the center of the room is what appears to be humanoid form made of rock. Fenris says the patient is covered in a layer of pyroclastic rock, primarily volcanic material, ash mostly, spewed from the ground into the air.
Fenris reaches out and taps the form, and the rock layer immediately begins to crack. The damage spreads. The doctor and orderly back up. Fenris reaches to lower the temperature in the room some more, but he is caught in the blast as the cracking form explodes outward in a rush of fire and gas. What appears to be a Hellhound (Halwyn) steps out of the cell and growls at Fenris.
~~~
Rising Beacon Hills High seniors are lined up in the hallway waiting for a meeting with recently hired guidance counselor Tamora Monroe.
As Liz sits in front of the woman she lets out a sigh. She can tell from the long pause that there is something the counselor doesn't agree with.
"You can just say it, the silence is making me anxious," Liz confesses. Monroe puts down the paper and looks the young girl straight in the eye.
"It just feels like you're taking the easy way with this schedule," Monroe points out.
"I might be," Liz agrees and averts her eyes. She sighs again. "It's just... It feels like any moment my world can be turned upside down and something terrible is about to happen." She turns back to the guidance counselor.
"I understand. A lot has happened at this school. I just want you to know that I am here for you. For all of you... If something terrible does happen to you, be sure to let me know." Liz's fingers start to drum against the table. "No matter how impossible it seems, I will believe you." Monroe reaches out and presses her hand against Liz's to make her stop the nervous gesture. Liz nearly gasps as a feeling of dread nearly overwhelms her. "You can tell me, what happened."
Suddenly Liz shoots upright. "I will," She says almost out of breath. She nods repeatedly and grabs her schedule. "I'll, uh, give it another thought,"
~~~
Monroe talks Liam out of taking Latin after he admits he's only signing up because he heard it was an easy A. He needs better grades because it's been a hard year and his GPA sucks. She offers him counseling to talk about Hayden but only during the posted "guidance hours." She turns the conversation back to his class schedule and suggests he take Spanish instead.
Corey wants to take AP Calculus. In a conversation laden with double meanings, Monroe talks him out of taking hard classes just to avoid feeling metaphorically "invisible." Corey protests that he's never invisible and that she can see him because he's right there. Monroe says she's seen many things at the school, even when everyone else had their eyes closed. She suggests he take creative writing instead.
She describes Mason's proposed class schedule as perfect and says he's given it a lot of thought. She probes further asking him to come and talk to her and share his thoughts. She says she knows students at the school have seen and been through things that don't exactly come with easy explanations. He tries to leave, but she presses him to come and talk to her, promising confidentiality for anything he shares. Mason says he's good and exits.
Nolan is next. He's a nervous kid. Monroe says she thinks he needs to talk about more than his class schedule. He protests, saying other students are waiting for her time. She asks if the wolf on the lacrosse field has him upset or the other stuff they spoke about over the summer, what happened in the library, the animal attack. Nolan snaps at her that it wasn't an animal attack. He says the animal on the field was "some kind of wolf." She asks, "What other kinds of wolves are there Nolan? What kind of wolves have you seen?"
~~~
Liam and Mason hit the library to find North American Cryptozoology, a book with an entire chapter on spiders and a section on scarabs. Unfortunately for them, the entire Mythology and Superstitions section is empty. Every book is missing.
Sydney screams from her perch on top of her desk in one of the classrooms. Dozens of rats scurry across the floor. They're coming from one of the ventilation ducts on the wall. Sydney laments, "Why does this keep happening to our school?"
A man, apparently the hellhound we saw earlier at Eichen, is standing in the doorway watching. He closes his eyes and listens, focusing on each student in turn. Nothing apparently catches his interest, and he leaves.
Mason and Liam come rushing into the classroom. Mason says they'll need a book on rats too.
~~~
Later, Mason, Liam, and Liz find themselves in an underground tunnel. When they turn a corner, Liam slips on some sludge on the floor, which then becomes stuck to his shoe.
"It's not as irrational as you think. There's actually an evolutionary advantage of having innate fears of spiders, snakes, and rats," Mason explains.
"You sound like Reed," Liz notes.
"Is that a good or a bad thing?"
"Obviously it's a good thing," Reed's voice sounds from behind them and they turn to face him.
"I didn't know you hung out in the sewers often?" Liz questions with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't. Now, why are we here?"
"There were rats, a lot of rats, in a classroom today, they came crawling through the vents, and those pipes lead directly down here, so..."
The four of them stop when they reach an intersection in the tunnels, and all look horrified when their flashlights shine a light on something in front of them.
"What's that?" Liam asks repulsed. On the floor, a huge pile of tangled-up and bloody dead rats has formed in a corner.
"It's a rat king," Reed answers in confusion about the situation.
~~~
Natalie Martin is moving into her new office as principal of BHHS. Lydia left her a list of all the supernatural people in Beacon Hills, starting with the students. Natalie says she doesn't need it. Lydia says her mom knows stuff, which obligates her to do stuff when things go bad. Natalie says her obligation is to educate and not to eliminate all the problems of Beacon Hills.
Lydia presses her further, but her mom puts a stop to it. She says she cares about Lydia's friends, but mostly she cares about Lydia. With Lydia "safe" 3000 miles away at school, she no longer has to "deal with this." Natalie exits saying it's not their problem anymore. Lydia slips the list of supernaturals into a desk drawer.
~~~
Scott has one of Chris Argent's 800,000-volt 'lightsaber' stun batons. He tries to get his mom to practice defending herself with it, but Melissa McCall refuses to hold down the button. She says if something happens, she'll call Liam. If he's not around, she explains that she's a nurse, and she'll defend herself with what she knows.
She reveals a cache of herbs she keeps in the hospital morgue and says if something supernatural happens and people get hurt, she's got it covered. Scott wonders where she got it all. Melissa changes the subject and says Scott should be focusing on orientation at UC Davis and his classes instead. They hug, and Melissa accidentally holds down the button on the stun baton, shocking Scott.
~~~
"Okay, so what's a Rat King?" Liz asks as the four of them wait for Malia to arrive.
"A collection of rats who get their tails tangled up is the short explanation," Mason answers.
"Why the name?"
"It stems from the folk superstision that the king of rats needs a throne and that it's formed from..." Reed explains as he examines the Rat king further.
"It's subjects' tails?" Liz offers and Reed nods solemnly.
"What's with that look?" Reed asks.
"Well I don't know if you remember but the last time animals started to go crazy we had to deal with a Darach and Selene and Scott were being manipulated by an Alpha of an Alpha pack, who, by the way, are nearly all dead," Liz reminds them.
"What?" Liam and Mason ask.
"I know, but it's not the same."
"You've got two minutes," Malia announces her annoyed presence.
"What do you think happened?" Liam asks.
Malia sighs and crouches down to get a better look at the rats. "Rats freaked out, crawled all over each other..." Malia reaches out to untangle one of the rats from the bundle. "Got their tails knotted up..." Malia pulls out one of the rats, holding it by the end of its tail. "And tore each other apart trying to break free."
Malia stands to her feet, holding up the rat by the tail and examining it closely. After a moment, she leans her head closer and sniffs at it while Liam and Mason give her a grossed-out expression. She then holds out the rat toward the others, who instinctively jump away from it except for Reed.
"Ohhhhh, I'm good, thank you!"
Mason, who looks as though he's going to throw up, backs into the intersection of tunnels and braces himself against the wall with one arm. "I'm good... just... over here."
"We get it, it smells like fear," Reed says, gently pushing Malia's arm toward the floor with his hand, leading her to drop the rat on the floor with the others.
"Yeah, it's the same as the ones in the math classroom," Liam says still disgusted by the smell.
"Why were there rats in a classroom?" Malia asks.
"They ran in during second period-- about fifty of them."
Malia considers this for a moment before giving him a look. "Your two minutes are up." She turns to walk through the tunnels to leave, and Liam scoffs in frustration.
"Wh-Where are you going?"
Malia continues walking without even turning back to look at them. "Paris. This isn't my problem."
"So, you think this is a problem?" Liz asks, her gaze focused on the rat king.
"Maybe. Probably. But you've got it covered, and I've got a plane to catch!"
"I thought it was delayed?"
Malia continues walking, turning the corner to leave the tunnels entirely. "Re-routed!
~~~
An unconscious deputy lays on the floor at the Sheriff's station. The hellhound from Eichen sits at the radio dispatch desk listening. Jordan Parrish radios for Highway Patrol after a large, ten-plus-vehicle pileup with multiple injuries. Hearing this, the hellhound (Halwyn) rises and exits the station.
He arrives at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital in the midst of chaos. Multiple patients are coming in as doctors and nurses rush back and forth attempting triage. Halwyn walks purposefully down the hallway right past Melissa McCall who calls after him. He doesn't stop, and Melissa is quickly drawn away by two road-raging men.
"Okay, trying to kill each other once is already annoying. Twice is just stupidity," Selene says as she pushes them away from each other. They continue to yell. "HEY!" they both shut up and turn to her. "Sit your asses down or you'll be the last to get treated.
In the background, the nurse's station phone starts to ring just as Parrish walks into the emergency room and starts to mediate as well.
"You heard her! What's going on?" Melissa sighs in relief at the sight of Parrish's arrival.
"Parrish, good-- We need another set of hands." Before Selene or Melissa can ask him what to do specifically Parrish is distracted by the sight of Halwyn walking away toward the elevator and seems to sense his supernatural nature. No longer paying attention to them, Parrish turns to follow him.
A moment later, Liam, Liz, and Mason walk into the ER reception area and approach Melissa. Mason is holding a white plastic bag with a white cardboard box inside.
"Ms. McCall?" Mason calls her attention.
Melissa smiles when she sees them and walks over to greet them. "Hey! Oh my gosh, you brought me dinner? That's really nice-"
Mason hurriedly cuts Melissa off before she can get the wrong idea. "-No. It's not dinner."
Melissa's smile falls, and her tone of voice turns somewhat irritable."It's not dinner?"
"What's that smell?" Selene asks, also walking over to the three of them. Melissa and Selene share a look before looking down into the bag, Melissa makes a disgusted face upon seeing that the box contains one of the rats from the rat king. Selene looks at them with a raised eyebrow.
"I certainly hope that's not dinner," Selene says.
"We were hoping you could take a look at it for us." Liam explains.
"Oh, well I was hoping someone was going to bring me dinner." Melissa retorts. Liam makes a guilty face at Melissa as she continues. "Now is not the time for a rat autopsy, so get this-" She gestures toward the bag and pushes it into Mason's chest. "- and yourselves out of here." Then Brett walks in with a white bag too. "I swear if it's another dead animal, I'm going to ban you all from this hospital."
Brett looks into his bag with a frown. "I mean technically. Mrs. McCall, if you were a vegetarian you-"
"Nope, not a vegetarian. Definitely not," She says as she grabs the bag from his hand. She looks into it and lets out a content noise as she smells the food. "Thank you, Brett. Selene, you should keep him, he's a good one." Melissa says as she continues her work.
"He sure is," Selene smiles and walks over to Brett. She stands on her tiptoes and kisses him with a smile. "Now get out of here before I kill all four of you,"
~~~
While Parrish is looking for Halwyn, he has a vision of the hospital corridor in flames and the hellhound toward him. He closes his eyes and the vision clears. The hallway is filled with patients and doctors.
Halwyn secrets himself in an office with the door ajar. He again seems to be listening for something. He can hear the heartbeats and voices of all the patients.
~~~
Back in the ER, the two men have once again gotten into a fight before Liam, Liz, Brett, and Mason can fully make it out of the building.
"Back off!" One of them says and shoves the other so hard that he falls backwards onto a gurney.
"Hey! Now that's called assault!"
"Hey! Break it up, both of you!" Selene yells at them. She can't move over to physically shove them away from each other because she's helping another woman.
"Assault? Really?"
"Yeah!"
Liam, seeing no security around, jumps between the fighting men and tries to mediate as he looks at the first guy. "Sir, you need to calm down-" Before Liam can finish his statement, the man punches Liam straight in the nose, causing blood to start to pour from it before he starts to involuntarily wolf-out. He growls at the man, who looks horrified and confused by Liam's golden eyes, fangs, and claws.
Brett immediately stand between Liam and the man in front of him.
"You need to back off," Brett warns the man. He spares a glance at Liam behind him to see the transformed Liam, who is clenching his clawed hands into fists so hard that he has badly cut his palms, realizes that he needs to get out of there before he exposes himself further and rushes down the hallway toward the elevator.
Brett and Selene share a concerned glance and Brett nods. Selene nods back at him and follows behind Liam with another glance at the situation.
As Liam runs, bystanders, nurses, and other employees try to stop him, but Liam just tries to keep his head down and his claws in his fists as he heads toward the elevator, muttering his mantra under his breath as he pants for breath. He passes the medication room where Halwyn has been listening for a specific heartbeat. When the Hellhound senses Liam, he opens his eyes and jerks his head toward the sound. Meanwhile, Liam is frantically hitting the down button of the elevator with his knuckles as he continues to mutter his mantra.
Halwyn appears in the hallway behind Liam, and when Liam, relieved, rushes into the now-open elevator, he starts to growl under his breath as he stalks behind him. However, though he increases his speed when he sees the elevator door start to close, he doesn't make it in time to jump in with Liam. Liam, who was hiding out of sight in the corner next to the controls, has no idea of the fact that he was being sought after by the new Hellhound.
"The sun... the moon... the truth..." Liam closes his eyes and sighs in relief as the transformation ends.
~~~
"Is something the matter?" Selene asks Halwyn. He tries to walk away but the girl grips his arm and turns him back around. She frowns and flashes her eyes their red colour, sensing Halwyn to be a supernatural too. He flashes his fiery eyes back. Selene sighs and lets him go.
~~~
Lydia arrives at Scott's house with suitcases. She calls to him, but there is no reply. Suddenly the light in the room begins to shift with a spider web pattern appearing on the walls. Lydia is having a vision. She hears something crawling. The phone rings. She picks it up and places it to her ear. A piercing electronic squeal comes from the handset.
Suddenly, she is in the high school. A massive spider web tunnel stretches the full length. As she touches it in different spots, she hears voices, screams, gunshots, the crawling sound, doors locking, more screaming, more gunshots, growling, and then a clear voice. It says, "You let it out. It was supposed to ride with The Hunt forever."
She jerks away and ends up wrapping herself up in the web. Suddenly she's back in Scott's living room. She is terrified.
~~~
Mason, Liz and Liam have just gotten out of Mason's car and are walking through the school parking lot as they talk about what happened at the hospital.
"Hey, what'd you do with that rat?" Liam asks.
Mason looks slightly embarrassed and looks down at the ground before he answers. "I... lost it in the fight." Mason sighs dramatically. "Melissa's gonna kill us."
"I don't think we can ever go back there again," Liam says amused.
"Yeah, that may work for you, but what about me and Liz?" Mason asks.
Liam, realizing that his friends do not have accelerated healing powers like himself, makes a sheepish face. "That could be a problem for you. But Liz can just heal herself with a spell,"
"Yeah... no," Liz confesses.
"You still haven't gotten healing spells down?" Mason asks incrilously.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Liz states sarcastically. "It's a lot more difficult than just muttering some latin words!"
As the three walk toward the school, they pass a sign that reads "LATE NIGHT STUDY HALL IN THE LIBRARY".
Meanwhile, inside the school, Halwyn has just walked into the entrance hall, where he cocks his head to the side and listens for anyone nearby before making his way down the hall.
At the other end of the building, Parrish has just walked through the back entrance and begins following his Hellhound instincts as he heads toward the entrance hall. Once he makes it around the corner, he stops at the junction and looks at Halwyn, who is standing on the other end of the hall.
"What are you?" Parrish asks. He and Halwyn start to slowly walk toward each other as they talk, and Halwyn smirks at Parrish.
"You know what I am. I'm the same as you."
"Okay... Then what are you here for? What are you protecting? Or is it something you're hunting?" The two Hellhounds are now face-to-face in the middle of the hall. "Something that got away?"
The back doors open, and Halwyn once again cocks his head to the side and growls as the two watch Liam, Liz, and Mason investigating the noise by turning down their hallway. Halwyn looks at Parrish at first when he speaks, but then focuses his attention on Liam.
"Something you let out. It must be stopped."
"Is he looking at you?" Liz questions uneasily.
"I hope not," Liam replies.
Halwyn's eyes blaze with orange-red light before he flicks out his claws and bursts into flames, setting the majority of his clothes on fire. Parrish, responding to the threat, does the same, using his fire to burn through his Deputy uniform. Alarmed, Liam jumps backward toward the corner and grabs Liz to yank her toward him.
"Wait, that's a-" Mason realises in awe.
"A Hellhound." Liam and Liz finish for him.
Both Parrish and Halwyn roar at each other and back up so that they can get the momentum to launch themselves at each other.
Outside in the parking lot, Tamora Monroe is loading all of the books about the supernatural into the trunk of her car when she hears load growling noises going on in the school. Looking both scared and excited, Monroe digs through a bag and grabs two vials of greenish-yellow liquid, holding them up to examine them for a moment before putting them back and grabbing a silver handgun.
Back inside the school, Halwyn is easily dominating Parrish in the fight, and has just slammed him against the wall of lockers before kneeing him hard in the stomach. Before Parrish can get in any hits, Halwyn forcefully throws him into a nearby classroom and roars as he follows after him. He then throws Parrish out the second set of doors to the classroom, where he once again gets slammed into another row of lockers. Parrish fights back by headbutting Halwyn in the face when he's grabbed in a choke-hold, but when Parrish goes to punch him, Halwyn gets a hold of Parrish's wrist and uses his arm to flip him backward onto the floor. Both Hellhounds are covered in claw gashes, and when Parrish tries to get up off the floor, Halwyn jams his clawed hand into his back, causing Parrish to roar in pain. He picks Parrish up over his head and roars as he slams Parrish hard on the ground.
Liam, Liz, and Mason, who are still watching from the corner, look horrified by how easily Halwyn is overpowering him. Finally, Halwyn picks the dazed Parrish up off the floor and throws him so hard down the hallway that he busts through the back doors, slams against the brick wall outside the doors, and is knocked unconscious.
"Run!" Liz says to Mason.
"Wait, I'm not leaving you!" Mason protests.
"It's a Hellhound! RUN!" Liam clearefies.
Mason finally does as he's asked, allowing Liam to leap out from around the corner and flick out his claws, fangs, and glowing gold eyes. He roars loudly at Halwyn before lunging toward him, jumping up into the air and using the nearby wall of lockers to get more momentum so he can do an aerial spin and kick Halwyn in the face. While Halwyn is recovering on the floor, Liam rips one of the doors off of a nearby locker and smacks Halwyn hard across the face with it. However, the hit barely fazes the Hellhound, who slams Liam against the wall and forces the young Werewolf to use the locker door as a shield to protect him as Halwyn sneers in his face.
"Liam!" Liz yells and raises her hands, finally overcoming the fear that froze her in place.
"If the Wild Hunt couldn't keep you, nothing can!" Halwyn growls. Liam looks incredibly confused by this statement, leading Halwyn to stop to pay attention to Liam's heartbeat. His face falls when he realizes he has the wrong person.
Suddenly the Hellhound falls to his knees and clutches a hand over his heart. The Hellhound and the werewolf both turn to look at Liz disbelievingly. She has her hands raised and a furious look in her eyes.
"I don't know what you think you're looking for but you won't find it here," she states causing the Hellhound to growl. Liam, realising Halwyn plans to attack her, starts fighting back hard against the Hellhound. He shoves Halwyn with the locker door between them hard enough to cause the Hellhound to stagger backwards. When Halwyn grabs the door and swings it at Liam's head, Liam uses his superhuman agility to duck before leaping up in the air, shoving himself off of the wall of lockers and doing another aerial spin before kicking Halwyn in the neck.
While he's disoriented, Liam grabs the Hellhound by the arm and starts swiping his claws at him; though Halwyn gets a couple of swipes in himself and puts claw gashes on Liam's abdomen, Liam still has the upper-hand.
Meanwhile Liz still has her hands raised in an attempt to help the fight steer in Liam's direction.
Halwyn roars at Liam and lunges for him, but Liam leaps into the air and punches him in the head so hard that he falls backwards. The hallway is plunged into darkness, revealing that the hallway's illumination was coming purely from Halwyn's hellfire. Once Halwyn is recovering on the floor, Liam presses his back against the wall of lockers and slides down to the floor as well, holding his wounds in pain. Liz runs over towards Liam.
"Are you okay?" She asks and he nods painfully. Suddenly her eyes start to flutter and her head sways.
"Liz? Liz?!" Liam moves his hands to rest on her cheeks.
"I'm fine, I'm okay." Still her head sways but she exhales deeply.
After a moment of all of them simply breathing, Halwyn laughs darkly.
"It won't stay hidden." Halwyn takes a deep breath and gives the duo a serious look. Liz turns around and it seems the Hellhound turns to her specifically. "It must be stopped. Nothing else matters." Liz, confused and still lightheaded, nods in slight understanding.
~~~
Scott packs up Stiles' Jeep in preparation to drive down to UC Davis. His coach's whistle hangs from the rearview mirror. As he settles in the seat, a note falls down from the sun visor. It's from Stiles. It says, "Be gentle." After one false start, Scott cranks the Jeep. The head lights come on illuminating Lydia. She still looks scared. "We can't leave," she says.
~~~
Mason and Liz help the limping Liam into the boys' locker room, where Liam collapses on the bench. They kneel in front of their friend as Liz yanks off his shirt to see how bad his wounds are. He has long, deep claw gashes from his left shoulder to the right side of his chest, and another set across his abdominal muscles. As Liam pants and tries to catch his breath, he looks concerned by the sight of his injuries. Liz trails her fingers over the gashes.
"Ugh, it should be healing faster than this..." Liam complains.
"It's hellfire. I mean, all things considered, you're doing great," Mason points out. He stands and moves to sit next to Liam on the bench as Liam looks overwhelmed and defeated.
"Great isn't supposed to look like this,"
"You fought a Hellhound-- on your own, without Scott or Selene,"
"I don't want to get used to that,"
"You won't." Liam and Liz meet each other's eyes and stare. "You won't but... wounds heal. People move. Things change."
"Yeah... but it is still hurts, though,"
"Yes, and sometimes it leaves scars. But not on people like you." She moves her hand so it rests on his cheek. He gives her a desperate look and she smiles at him. hen her eyes suddenly roll to the back of her head.
"Liz!" Liam cries out and grabs Liz as she slumps back.
~~~
Malia stares at a computer screen. It shows a map of the world and flight information from SFO to CDG (San Francisco International to Charles de Gaulle airports). "Flight Delayed" flashes in red.
She refreshes the screen and it now flashes a green "On Time" banner. She gasps and collects her luggage, and turns toward the door. Lydia and Scott are blocking her exit. She beings to protest, "No! It's just rats, rats and wolves, and maybe a little bug problem." Lydia insists that they need her.
Malia turns toward the window and opens it. Lydia explains that Liam and Mason called. Malia insists that they've got it covered. Scott says he can't make her stay and won't try. Malia says she doesn't want to and pushes past Lydia and out the door.
After a few seconds, Malia's bag flies back into the room. Scott catches it. She returns. She asks what they're supposed to do.
"Find a Hellhound," Brett says as he shows up in the doorframe.
~~~
Halwyn, apparently badly injured during the fight, stumbles through the woods.
~~~
Meanwhile, Scott is driving the Jeep on ROUTE 115 toward the high school, where Lydia is in the passenger seat and Malia and Brett sitting in the backseat. The four are discussing what they have figured out this evening and what it could mean.
"We opened a door to another world... And something came out with us. Now we need the Hellhound to stop it," Lydia explains.
~~~
In the NATURE PRESERVE, Halwyn continues to stagger around, finally leaning against a tree to catch his breath. He groans in pain for a moment until he hears a tree branch snap behind him and turns around to find the source of the noise. It's Monroe, who is aiming her handgun at him, though her shaking arms indicate that she is new to this.
~~~
"So we put it back. We've put things back before," Malia offers.
"When?" Brett asks confused. "And it's probably not that simple,"
"Brett is right. We saved Stiles and Selene. We brought everyone back, but that's not how it was supposed to happen. There's always a price to pay," Lydia continues.
"We learned that from the Nemeton," Scott points out.
"Oh, you mean when you ritually sacrificed yourselves? Thanks for that reminder," Brett complains.
"What kind of price? A big price?" Malia asks scared.
Lydia gives Malia a look before she finally responds. "Big."
Lydia flashes back to her earlier premonition, where she touched the cobwebs to hear various events.
~~~
Halwyn's fiery-glowing eyes and fangs are out as he roars at Monroe, but before he can move further, Monroe shoots him in the chest with her gun with such force that he falls and lands on his back. Monroe, both overwhelmed and proud of herself, leans against a nearby tree and looks down at the gun in her hand, not realizing right away that the Hellhound is rising to his feet behind her.
~~~
At the high school, Scott, Malia, Brett and Lydia have just pulled into the parking lot in the Jeep and quickly park before jumping out and looking around.
"Okay, we should move pretty quickly..." Scott reminds them.
"Do we even know what we let out?" Malia asks.
"This Hellhound might be the only one who does," Brett answers.
Suddenly, the four hear loud roars coming from the nearby Nature Preserve, and without another word, they run off toward the sound to investigate.
In the Nature Preserve, Halwyn flicks out his claws and roars at Monroe again before grabbing her by the shoulders and shoving her backwards against a nearby tree. She bounces off the tree and falls face-first onto the ground with a yelp.
Her handgun still in hand, Monroe frantically tries to crawl away from the Hellhound, who is skulking behind her. When she manages to rise to her feet, Halwyn tackles her so hard that the fly several meters backward before they land on the ground with him pinning Monroe to the forest floor. The force of their landing knocks Monroe's gun out of her hand.
Elsewhere in the preserve, Scott, Malia, Brett and Lydia are running as fast as they can through the woods, stopping in a clearing when they've lost the sounds that were guiding them. However, when another loud roar is heard, they are able to continue following where it leads.
Meanwhile, Halwyn has Monroe in a choke-hold, and she desperately looks around to find any way possible to save herself, eventually settling on picking up a large tree branch nearby and slamming it hard against his temple. This disorients the Hellhound long enough for Monroe to crawl toward where her gun fell and grab it just before he yanks her backward by the legs and flips her over.
As soon as he reaches his clawed hand up to swipe her across her throat, Monroe aims her gun toward him and shoots him point-blank in the forehead. The light leaves his eyes, and blood trickles from the wound as he falls backward on the ground.
Scott, Malia, Brett and Lydia have finally made it to where Halwyn was shot, with Monroe nowhere to be found. The three are all horrified when they see him laying dead on the ground in a shallow ravine, his torso still riddled with deep, blood-soaked claw gashes.
"I thought you couldn't kill a Hellhound," Lydia recalls.
"Didn't we all," Brett comments.
Scott looks devastated by the sight in front of him, and his devastation turns to surprise and confusion when he sees a bullet casing laying next to Halwyn's body. He kneels down to pick it up, and his eyes widen in shock when he sees that a fleur-de-lis is stamped on it.
"Argent," Brett realises. Lydia processes this for a long moment before she nods as though she's just confirmed a suspicion.
"Then it's true," Lydia breathes out.
"Then what's true?" Malia asks. She sees the scared look on Lydia's face and realizes that there is more to this situation that was revealed in the premonition Lydia had earlier. "What else did you hear?"
Elsewhere, Monroe has just gotten into her car, where she looks at her handgun before laying it on the passenger's seat. She takes several deep breaths to calm herself as she frantically locks the door to her vehicle to prevent anyone from getting inside. As she attempts to settle down, Lydia's voice is heard in voiceover as she explains to Malia, Brett and Scott what she saw in her premonition.
"The sound of people who have never lifted a hand against another human being..."
Monroe closes her eyes and continues to try to catch her breath, but when she opens them, she catches a glimpse of her reflection in the rearview mirror and realizes that some of Halwyn's blood has splattered across her face. Panicked, she wipes the blood off of her cheeks with her hand.
"Something was killing them?" Scott asks.
"They were killing each other." Lydia corrects him.
Back in the car, Monroe is staring at her reflection in the rearview mirror, where the panicked look on her face transforms into a smirk, indicating she is proud for killing the Hellhound.
"Well, that's horrifying," Brett mumbles.
~~~~
Lydia, Malia, and Scott sit on his bed questioning if they should call Stiles or not. Lydia wonders if they could just say they forgot. She's worried saying they almost lost him last time. Malia and Scott both think Stiles wouldn't forgive them if this current crisis turns out to be something big.
Scott says, in the voicemail he left, that Stiles sounded really excited to be there. Malia urges him to play it and Scott does.
~~~
"Hey Scott. So, I'm here. I'm in Quantico, Virginia at the FBI. I'm at the frickin' FBI. It's real. I'm really here. I kind of told Lydia that I miss her, and I can't wait to get home, but ... Listen Scott, whatever you're doing right now, just make sure you're still getting out of Beacon Hills. Maybe you think you can't leave, you know, like the whole thing falls apart if you're not there, which I get, but you have to. I know you're supposed to drive out tonight, so, if you don't call me back, promise me you're actually going. Just get in the Jeep and go."
Stiles, dressed in a white shirt, black tie, a laminated badge on a lanyard, black pants, and shiny black dress shoes arrives at the "Division of Justice." He enters a classroom with other men and women dressed in the same type clothing. As Stiles fumbles with his backpack, removing pencils, pens, and a metal water bottle, the man at the head of the class explains that the FBI seal includes three words, Loyalty, Courage, and Integrity. These are also the qualities the bureau expects from all their "interns."
He explains that their six-month internship will include field work with actual FBI agents. Stiles keeps interrupting him with questions and continues to fumble with his stuff.
The agent explains that one recent manhunt included the crisis response team chasing down a "bizarrely feral, UNSUB (Unknown Subject of an investigation) in the wilderness of North Carolina." On the screen, images of Derek Hale running flash. Stiles does a spit take, spewing water onto the intern seated in front of him. The instructor looks down at his sheet to address him. Seeing the name Mieczyslaw Stilinski, he simply calls him "young man."
A/N: I seem to have finally found back the inspiration to write and I can't tell you how happy I am about it. I can't promise the next chapter coming out today but I don't have to work tomorrow so I'll be writing then too. It's also weird to think that these are the last ten chapters. Nine more to go and then the season and the show will be finished.