"Stiles, don't stop. I can see you," Lydia called out. "Don't stop! Keep going. I can see you, Stiles."
Then, the light faded away.
"Lydia... " I trailed off, unsure how to handle the situation.
"Where is he?" She turned to us. "It was working. You saw him, right?" Lydia asked.
"We didn't see anyone," Malia told her sadly.
"No," she said. "He was here. I know it. Stiles was here."
"I don't understand," Scott said as we talked alone. "It should have worked. We all remember. Why couldn't we see him?"
"Depends on the connection maybe?" I suggested, looking at Lydia. "He has had a crush on her for years, right? And she's realizing her feelings now."
There were heavy footsteps. I grabbed my dagger, then threw it as I saw their head. He dodged it, then came inside.
I let out a breath of relief seeing blonde hair. "Liam."
"There's something you need to see," he told Scott.
"You're still here," he stated.
"But everyone else is gone. All of them - they're all gone," he said. "Look, you have to come with me."
"What is it?" he asked.
"I can't explain it. I have to show you," he said.
"Uh... All right," he said, a bit hesitant to follow. "You guys stay here. Just in case."
"In case Stiles comes back?" Malia questioned.
"If there's any hope, you need to keep trying."
:::
"What are you doing?" Lydia asked as Malia walked towards the front door.
"We're gonna go find Stiles," she said.
"Scott told us to stay in case he shows up here," I said.
"Stiles isn't coming here," Malia reasoned. "If he was, he would've, and he hasn't, so he's not. You still think it worked, right?"
"I know I saw him," Lydia said.
"And you're never wrong about these things," Malia added.
"I wouldn't say never," Lydia commented.
"But right now?" I asked.
"Right now, I'm not wrong," she said. "Stiles is out there. I can feel it."
"Then what are we doing standing here?" she said, then we followed her.
Malia followed a scent. We landed right back at the school. There was no jeep in the parking lot. It was there a couple of hours ago though. Malia bent down, looking at the tire tracks. I looked towards the school, furrowing my eyebrows when I saw something strange.
"This looks fresh," said Malia after analyzing the tracks. "It's from Stiles's jeep. It must have just left."
"Without his keys?" Lydia doubted.
"Well, half the time, he got it started with a screwdriver," Malia told her.
"Then he's here," she said. "We have to tell Scott."
"Then we should probably tell Scott about that, too," I said, pointing out what I saw.
We walked past the sign, nearing the train tracks on the ground. We glanced at each other and followed the tracks around the school and into the library. Inside were benches with many people sitting down.
"Why is there a train station in the middle of the library?" I wondered aloud.
"There's also a train station in the Wild Hunt," Lydia said grimly.
"Any chance they're connected?" asked Malia as we walked further in.
"I would say high," she said. "Like, one-hundred-percent."
"If there's a train station, then there's probably a train," Malia said.
"And if there's a train, it's going to the Wild Hunt," I realized.
"They're all gonna be taken," Malia caught on.
"They can't get on that train," Lydia said.
"Okay, listen up, everybody!" Malia yelled. "We've all got to get out of here. We gotta go right now. It's bad! We have to go!"
"Hello?" I called when no one did anything. "How do we get them to leave if they can't hear us?" I asked the others.
"Uh... Maybe there's someone who can," she said, staring at one guy.
"Peter!" Malia screamed for the tenth time. "Peter!"
"Malia, the only way we were able to break into the Hunt is with an emotional connection," I reminded her.
She sighed. "Dang. Wish I could help."
"Malia," I said with a knowing look.
"I'm not saying it," she refused. "I'm not saying it."
"Okay, well I guess everyone dies," Lydia said, turning around.
She gave a low growl. She looked at Peter and said, "Dad. Dad. Dad!"
"Say it like you mean it," I told her.
"Have you ever called Olivia Mom?" Malia retorted. "She raised you. He never raised me."
"I never called her that because... I was afraid of what it meant," I confessed. "Malia, in this world, we only have so many people who protect us," I told her. "He protected you. He cares about you. I know you've seen a change in him. I feel the change."
She sighed and kneeled before him. "Dad. Please wake up. Dad... "
The newspaper he held in his hand dropped. Then, he stood up, stared at his daughter, then snapped out of his trance.
:::
"Attention all passengers, the train will be arriving in twenty minutes."
"Me? You want me to stop them?" Peter said incredulously.
"Yeah, a lot of them," Malia urged. "So, get going."
"There are hundreds of waiting rooms in this train station, which apparently now also serves as a high school library," he said as we started to walk. "It's impossible."
"We can try," Malia said.
"Where do you get this implausible optimism?" he remarked.
"Definitely not from my father," she retorted.
"We don't have time for this," Lydia said, stepping between the two. "We need someone to just hear us."
"I think we already did."
A ghost rider appeared in front of us. He pulled back his coat, staring menacingly at us. Malia had shifted, roaring. Lydia pulled her back.
"Get behind me," she said. "They won't take a banshee."
"You sure about that?" asked Peter. He walked up to it and the ghost rider took out its whip. He clawed at it, but his attacks went straight through him.
We ran away but were stopped by another ghost rider. He aimed his whip at us and Malia pushed me forward, getting hit by the whip in the process.
"Malia!" Peter called, worried.
He shoved her gently towards us and I took a look at her arm. It was like Argent's cut. I mentally cursed, not having remembered what Scott's mother used to heal him.
"Malia, go!" Peter told her.
We started running out of the library. As we turned into another hall, I stopped and looked back. Malia wasn't with us. I looked back to Lydia and she was walking at a faster pace down the hall. I looked back to where Malia and Peter were, then to Lydia's direction.
"Screw Peter... "
I followed after Lydia. We got to the girl's locker room and the door was wide open. I saw the ghost rider with its gun. I closed my ears as Lydia opened her mouth and she screamed. Her voice echoed across the room and the ghost rider hit the locker and fell, what I hoped to be dead.
"Well, that worked... " I watched as Lydia looked at Stiles. "Okay... "
"Lucy!" Stiles exclaimed as he walked out of the room. We embraced each other in a long hug, sighing in relief. He pulled away and examined me. A smile grew on his face. "Wings? You got wings. Oh, I knew it!"
"It was all her," Lydia said. "She helped us to remember you."
Stiles grinned. "I knew those powers weren't useless."
"Well, thanks to Lydia, we never gave up either," I said, smirking.
"Alex!" Stiles said suddenly. "He's in the Hunt. I know where he might be. I saw him- "
"I know," I said.
"He can control lightning, right?" Stiles said. "The ghost riders ride the lightning."
"He could stop them from coming near us," I realized.
"Better yet... " Stiles added. "He could make them leave."
I parted from Lydia and Stiles, going a separate way. I went outside and as luck would have it, there was a horse. I slowly approached it, then grabbed the reins.
"Nice horsey," I whispered. I tried hoisting myself on the horse but failed.
"Ever mount a horse before?" I turned my head as Theo walked towards me. His face was bruised and had dried blood on his lip. It looked like he went through hell.
"There's a first time for everything, right?" I shrugged.
"I'll give you a lift," he offered.
I was hesitant at first but agreed. He cupped his hands and I stepped on them. He lifted me and I swung my leg over the horse and it neighed, trotting forward, then back.
"Know how to ride one?"
"I'll figure it out," I said. "If you really changed, Theo... Scott's heading to divert the train. Follow the tracks. I just hope you're doing this for humanity and not just yourself."
I lightly kicked the horse and it began trotting. Then, it got faster. The longer we rode, the more I got the hang of controlling the horse. I entered through the Hunt and rode into a tunnel. I hopped off of it, then searched for Alex amongst the aisles of people who were sitting down.
A door opened. I raised my eyebrows, wanting to ask questions for Liam walked out. Mason and Hayden were behind him. Then, he came out. The familiar face. Then all the holes in my memories filled up.
"Alex!"
"Oh, God... Lucy!" He returned my hug, muttering words I couldn't hear clearly. "Are those... wings?"
"Lucy, Corey's in here," said Mason quickly, pointing to the door. "He's hooked up to pipes. He's the one announcing the arrival of the train. You have to help - heal him."
"And I promise to do that," I told him, then looked at Alex. "I need to go back. Alex is the key. He controls the lightning, he controls the Hunt. He can make them leave by force."
"Are you sure that'll work?" asked Alex.
I was a bit unsure of it myself. "It's the best we've got."
We rode on horseback into the woods, keeping up with the train that passed by. Alex hopped off the horse, bringing streaks of lightning onto the ghost riders who surrounded Malia. In another moment, they disappeared with the lightning.
"You missed your train."
"This is a lot more than you mentioned," Alex said to me as the ghost riders surrounded us.
"I told you a couple dozen," I said.
"More like a couple hundred," Alex remarked.
The thunder boomed and lightning crackled. The clouds came rolling in. Alex used the lightning, making a few more ghost riders disappear. Then, the oddest thing happened. The ghost riders put their weapons away and turned around.
"Where are you going?" Mr. Douglas asked. "Stop. Zuruckommen. Come back and kill them! Tote sie."
"Yeah, call your army back," Theo said. "Or don't they listen to you?"
"I am your leader!" he yelled. "Ich bin dein Anfuhrer! Obey me! Gehorcht mir!" The ghost riders stopped and made a synchronized turn. "Kill them. All of them. Tote sie. Tote sie."
Then, a ghost rider stepped in front of him. The others surrounded him.
"Riders don't bow," said Peter. "They have no leader."
Mr. Douglas raised his hands. He wore gloves, then his face transformed. His eyes turned black and his mouth was sewn shut. He wore a black hat, a long coat, and wore a swastika on his arm. Then, with a bolt of lightning, they disappeared.
:::
"Have a great summer, everyone," said Mr. Croft once the bell rang. "To the seniors, I'll see you at graduation."
"No, no, no, no... That's it?" said Stiles. "What?"
Scott smiled. "Last day ever."
"Well, it just feels so anti-climactic," Stiles said.
"Well, there's the whole graduation thing," I told him.
"I've gotta go to summer school or I can't do the whole graduation thing," Malia said.
"Let's go," Scott said, grabbing his textbook with him.
I reached my locker to gather all my things. As I closed it, Alex joined me. He stared at the locker next to mine. I gave a small smile and opened the locker. In big fancy lettering, I wrote Allison's name, leaving a picture inside.
"She'd be proud of all of us."
"Yeah, I know." Alex smiled.
We got outside. The blonde woman stood in front of her police car, waving at us. We rushed towards her and I pecked her cheek.
"Love ya, Mom!"
She chuckled. "Love you, too, kiddo."