"That's how he got in?" Corey asks curiously as the group stares at the black spot on the ceiling of the McCall house. "What is it?" Liam asks. "It's a point of impact from a lightning strike. Usually you'd find charred spots like that on the ground after a violent thunderstorm." Mason states as Scotts eyes widen which makes Jules turn to look at him questioningly.
"Scott?" She calls out making him look up. "That's how the Ghost Riders got in. He rode the lightning." Scott says turning to Liam who had a surprised look on his face. "If they can use lightning to pass the Mountain Ash..."
"No place is safe." Jules finishes for him in realization as Brett, who had been standing next to her unconsciously held her hand. "What about the others? It's my fault they're marked." Corey says with guilt in his voice. "We'll find a way to protect them." Scott says with a determined look.
"All of them."
***
School had come sooner than Jules expected and to say she was dreading it was an understatement. Yes she had good grades and was an avid player in the lacrosse team but sometimes she just needed a break from everything.
From her abilities, to 'Stiles' who she had apparently known, it was like everything was piling down on her all at once. It's no surprise that Jules didn't talk about it, but at the same time she wasn't the best at hiding things. Brett could feel that something was off about her, but ever since everything went down with the Dread Doctors and Theo it felt like she would shatter in his hands.
Brett had two fears in life, losing Lori and losing Jules again. It was like he was stepping on egg shells—if he did something wrong, like make her angry he thought she would revert back to her evil persona. He remembered the amount of emotional pain he was in and it felt like some of the worst days of his life. He wanted her to talk about it, but he didn't want to break her.
"You can come in you know." Jules says as Brett, who was outside her window didn't realize he was daydreaming. He opened the window and made his way inside to see Jules rushing to get her things. "You still have twenty minutes, why are you rushing?" He asks her as she stops by her bed. He realizes he's hit a sensitive point but when he tries to take it back Jules speaks up.
"You know it feels like we have all the time in the world. Lately I've felt like I've had to cram everything together and I have to get things done quickly. I feel like if I don't...time will eventually catch up with me." Jules confesses as Brett makes his way towards her. "Where is this coming from?" He asks her as she sighs.
"It's just-what if we get taken by the Ghost Riders? It's just this feeling of something going wrong is eating me up inside. It's like I'm drowning and every time I try to go up for a breath of fresh air I get pulled back again. It feels like I'm never gonna get out of this cycle." She finishes as Brett unravels her fingers from the fist she had been making. "Scott not gonna let anything happen to you or me or any of us. I know that it feels like you're always gonna have this feeling but no matter how hard it gets we have to keep trying to dig ourselves out of it. You can't let this never ending cycle drown you." Brett says to her as she looks up at him, seeing as he was significantly taller.
"Don't let yourself be pulled back into the darkness."
***
After her talk with Brett, Jules was feeling significantly better. She still dreaded going to school but the pack had to come up with a plan, but for now she was meeting up with Lydia along with Scott and Malia. "It's a relic." Lydia says showing them the I.D of a student names Jake Sullivan. "What's a relic?" Malia asks with a confusion written on her face. "An object with a fix association to the past. Jake's ID was left behind after he was taken and Gwen found her sister's bracelet in her bathroom for."
Malia still looked confused over Lydia's explanation. "How can someone be erased and still leave something behind?" She asks. "Conservation of mass. The total of mass of any isolated system remains constant." Lydia answers as a look of satisfaction makes its way to Scott's face.
"So the Ghost Riders have a weakness."
"A relic would be the prove that Stiles existed." Malia states. "And we could bring him back." Jules adds with a look of hope on her face. What the group didn't know was that as they made their way to the library Liam and Mason were discussing ways to hide everyone who had been marked.
"We need to hide them." Mason says to Liam as they sit in the library table. "We need to fight them." Liam argues with him. "We need to hide them." Mason rebuttals as the group intervened their discussion.
"Who's them?" Scott asks the two boys m.
"The Ghost Riders."
"The kids of the party."
Mason and Liam look at each other in confusion and exasperation while Scott and Jules stare at them blankly. "Got it." Scott says to them. "We can get a lightning rod. Atract the Ghost Riders and catch them off guard." Liam begins to explain to them as they listen intently. "Since everyone from the party are in danger, all we need to do is find a safe place for them to ide until the storm passes." Mason adds as Liam looks at him with un-optimistic.
"The Ghost Riders ride the lightning. Nowhere is safe." Liam points out. "It is, if we're underground. The Earth can ground lightning of eletrical charges. Everyone would be safe." Mason suggests which causes all of them to take a seat as they had been standing. "Okay. We'll do the deal. We take everyone to the Argent bunker underground, it's lined with Mountain Ash." Scott starts planning with them.
"We stopped the Ghost Riders last night. We could do it again." Liam says with encouragement in his voice. "Correction, we didn't them they left and we still haven't figured out why." Jules corrects Liam which makes him roll his eyes at her.
"Okay. Bot how will we get them all to the bunker?"
***
"Is this a joke?" Nathan says as he and other lacrosse players gather around to library while he holds a picture of the Ghost Rider. "No. And you have to take this seriously. We're all save in the bunker." Liam advices although Nathan refuses to listen.
"I'm not gonna miss the first game of the year so you can make captain." Nathan says as Jules rolls her eyes at this. "There's a supernatural force that are coming to erase your soul." Liam tells him which makes Jules internally groan at the fact that they are the worst when trying to keep the supernatural a secret. It had surprised her how long they had been able to hide it without people finding out. "It was a man in a hat with a gun." Nathan says as he starts to walk away with the other lacrosse players.
"And he's coming back to shoot you in the head." Mason advices but Nathan doesn't seem phased and it was obvious to Liam and Mason that Jules had started to become annoyed. She walked up to the group and grabbed Nathan's arms, pinning him against the wall as he groaned in pain. "What the hell are you doing! Get off me!" He says as Jules continues to twist his arm from behind making him wince. "Listen we're trying to help you guys. Frankly, I don't give a flying fuck whether you want to make captain but if you wanna go ahead and get yourself killed then you do that but don't start complaining when the Ghost Rider has you cornered and you turn coward and start crying for your mommy." Jules rants leaving all the boys shocked as she want usually one to have an outburst like this.
She finally let's go and starts walking ways leaving a sore Nathan until she hears a voice call to her. "Wait!" Nathan calls out which makes her turn around with a smirk on her face.
"We'll go with you."
***
Jules, Brett, Liam and Hayden had gotten everyone, in the undeground tunnels, much to the everyones confusion. "Why are we underground?" One the students asks. "Because this is the way to the bunker." Hayden says but upon hearing this Nathan looks at them surprised. "You guys have a bunker? Who are you people?" He asks them. "We're people who know things that most of the people don't know about." Liam attempts to explain but it only leaves Nathan more confused.
"God you really suck at explains things." Jules says rubbing her fingers on her forehead. "You try to explain then." Liam says as he crosses his arms. "How bout instead of explaining I can just twist his arms behind his back again and force him inside." Jules says smiling widely as Nathan's gapes at her. "Yeah you know I'm just gonna go in my own." Nathan says as he follows the rest of the group.
"Nice." Hayden says as she chuckles and they continue to lead other students to the bunker. However, as they continued Hayden could feel someone was missing. "Guys. Where's Gwen?" She asks as they head back towards the entrance to see if she'd come down.
Instead, Scott arrives with Mason and Corey. "They're missing three people past Gwen." Liam says looking down at the list of students that had been marked. "The lacrosse players." Scott says as Jules realizes not all of Nathan's friends had come. "They were at the party, so they all know what's coming." Corey intervenes. "People see what the wanna see." Argent says nodding his head. "Guys we're running out of time." Mason says as he shows the K index rising to 40 which indicated that a storm would be coming.
"Scott, we have to get them." Jules tells Scott with desperation in her voice. "I'll go. The rest of you stay here." Scott says as both Jules and Liam become anxious. "We couldn't fight off one Ghost Rider. Who knows how many are gonna be there tonight. We're going with you." Liam tells Scott. "You two are marked." Scott tells them as Brett, Mason and Corey intervene.
"So am I." Mason says smiling with encouragement. "Us too." Mason says referring to himself and Brett. "But at least I can see them coming." Corey says which makes Scott sigh as a doubtful look is written on his face.
"Alright. But if you see them coming...run."
***
Jules, Brett, Scott, Liam, Mason and Corey arrive at school to find the lacrosse players but are stopped by Liam in the middle of the hall. "So, what's the plan?" Liam asks them. "Convince the three players that playing tonight is a bad idea." Scott answers as he turns to Mason. "You read everything about the Ghost Riders. And you're the only one of us that figured anything out. Have you come across anything that can stop them?" Scott asks him. "Not yet but I can try." Mason says encouragingly. "Do that." Scott says as the leads the rest of the group to the locker room leaving Mason alone.
They all arrive at the boys locker room and come across the last few players that were preparing to get to the field. Coach however approaches them angrily and hands Scott his lacrosse helmet in anger
"You're late, McCall! Why aren't you people dressed? Get your asses moving. Everyone, on, the field! Hustle! Hustle! HUSTLE!" He yells as the leaves to get on the field not even noticing that Brett wasn't one of their students. "We'll never get them in the bunker now." Liam says in disappointment. "Get dressed." Scott says to them as he grabs the rest of his gear.
"Because there's only one way to keep them safe. Play the game." Scott says as Jules begins to rush to the girls locker room and gets changed. Walking out she sees Brett had been waiting for her and she grabbed his hand. "Lori's sitting in the bleachers with one of her friends." Brett informs her making Jules nod. "Brett I want you to listen to me. If anything goes wrong tonight I want you to take Lori and I want you guys to go to the bunker. I need to know that you both are safe." She tells him as he shakes his head in denial.
"I can't just leave you. No way I can't." Brett tells her as she smiles slightly. "All that matters to me right now is that you two are safe. I'll be okay." Jules says as he lays his forehead against hers. "I know you can take care of yourself. But that doesn't mean that I can't worry about you." He says slightly chuckling. He looks down to their intertwined hands, pulling them up to kiss her hand.
***
Their moment didn't last to long as Jules had to make her way to the lacrosse field. She looks towards the bleacher to see Brett and Lori cheering her on as Mason sits in front of them with a worried look on his face. "I'll stay with Steinbach, Jules stay with Wallace." Scoff says referring to the players on the field. "You stay with Gwen." Scott tells Liam as he points in her direction.
"And you with Okafur." Scott says turning to Corey with a doubtful look in his face. "What if I see the Ghost Riders?" Corey asks him. "Yell. Get ready to fight." Scott says as they make their way to their positions. The referee blows his whistle to start the game. Okabur gets the ball and runs toward the goal but one player of the Bulldog team knocks Corey, right next to Okafur, much to his annoyance, and steals the ball.
"Find your own space." He says as he tries to distance himself from Corey. The player that took the ball from Okafur runs toward the goal of Beacon Hills, throws the ball and scores, giving the Bulldogs the advantage. Gwen and another player from the Bulldogs face off and the referee blows his whistle to start the play again. Gwen takes out the ball but Liam goes against her and both of them fall on the ground and groan in pain.
"Do you wanna call off?" Gwen says as she takes off her helmet. Liam stands from the ground with a confused look and the player of the Bulldogs with number "2" runs toward the goal of Beacon Hills and throws the ball and scores. Now the Bulldogs are winning 2-0, much to Coach and everyone cheering for Beacon Hills' disappointement. Next, Wallace gets the ball but Jules bumps into him and the two of them fall to the ground. "C'mon, there's no ghost in here, Little McCall." Wallace says as The Bulldogs score again, makig the result 3-0, much to Coach's anger.
"What are you doing out there?! I'm gonna kill the four of you!" Coach yells as he notices something wrong with Jules, Scott, Liam, and Corey. Liam un frustration takes the ball when the whistle is blown and scores for Beacon Hills. "Yes, Dunbar! That's the kind of passion I want to see. Unleash hell!" Coach says as the player start to become erratic. "What's gotten into everyone?" Liam asks as the gather into a group circle. "What if it's the Wild Hunt? What if it's affecting everyone?" Scott says as thunder begins to rumble. "They're here!" Jules yells as it began poring rain. "I see them!" Liam tells them.
"Oh, come on, ref! This is barely a thunderstorm!" Coach yells as students begin to leave. "Okay. We've got all three, right?" Scott asks them. "Scott, there were four." Liam says leaving him shocked. "Oh my God! They're real. We got to get out of here." Okafur yells. "Stay together, we'll protect you." Liam says as Jules turns to look at Brett and Lori who were still in the bleachers. She nods, telling him to take Lori and run but instead he turns to Mason who was texting Hayden. "Mason take Lori, find Hayden and take them to the bunker." Brett tells him. "And what about you?" Mason asks as Brett begins to run towards the field. "I cant let her do this alone." He says running next to the group who had formed a circle around the marked player.
"I told you to go to the Bunker!" Jules yells as the rain and thunder drowns her voice out. "I couldn't just leave you." He yells back as all of their eyes begun to flow excluding Corey. "Stay close." Liam yells as Okafur, Wallace and Steinbeck had already been taken leaving Gwen. "I can still see them!" Scott yells to the group. "We can't stop them!" Liam yells back as the Ghost Riders get close to them.
"Protect Gwen!" Scott says as Gwen makes her way in front of the group. "Come on!" She yells as Scott tries to pull her back. She pushes him off however and the Ghost Rider uses his whip to wrap it around her arm. "NOOO!" Scott screams as she evaporated into thin air leaving the group on the field.
"No..."
***
"Is he okay?" Scott asks his Mom referring to Argent who had been hurt while in the bunker with Malia "He has blunt force trauma to his temporal bone, three broken ribs, and multiple surface lacerations, which seem to be from whip marks? What he needs is a lot of rest." Melissa explains to Scott along with Jules, Lydia and Malia. Jules has said her goodbyes to Brett as he needed to make sure Lori was okay.
"What happened?" Lydia asks Malia. "The Ghost Riders took everyone. We barely slowed them down. Tell us you found something." Malia says with desperation in her voice. "I found out Claudia never had children. So, Stiles can't be her son." Lydia says disappointed. "What about a relic? There never was a Stiles, was there? It doesn't even sound like a real name." Malia says as the encouragement leaves her voice.
"We have to keep looking. Check the school records again, or call Scott's dad..." Lydia suggests before Malia stops her. "We're fighting the wrong battle." Malia tells her. "We're trying to bring Stiles back." Lydia argues. "The Ghost Riders came back. We still have no way of stopping them. And whatever they are, they're real. We can't keep chasing someone who isn't." Malia says as Jules places her hand in Malia arms telling her to stop as it was clearly affecting Lydia. "He didn't leave anything behind." Lydia starts as tears begin to form in her eyes.
"Just us."