"I promise you this,
I'll always look out
for you."
"I swear to God he's here," Lydia nodded confidently, her eyes bearing into Noah's. It was like she was trying to tell him without letting out too much information, due to two deputy's standing right behind him.
The gates to Eichen House creaked open as the group of teenagers and law enforcement made their way up the steps. Their walk quickly turned to a jog and then to a sprint, no one quite sure who had started it, but not wanting to be left behind all the same.
They pushed open the double doors that led into a large room with barely any furniture. For a mental health facility, Jade had the idea that being stuck in here would make you feel even more depressed than what you did when you entered. There was a white desk that had a pane of glass with an opening so things could be passed through.
The receptionist was slumped in his chair, tapping away on his phone as if he didn't have a care in the world. When he heard the fast approaching footsteps, he sat up quickly, waiting to see what the hurry was about.
"I need access to all basement rooms in this facility," Noah demanded, anxiously wringing his hands while he waited for the man to return. The set of keys were barely in his hands before they were off again, stumbling down flights of stairs.
Jade grabbed onto the back of Lydia's coat so she wouldn't hit the ground after all of them had stopped suddenly. She had no idea how Lilith or anyone for that matter, could run in heels and not break an ankle. She'd nearly fell over her own feet nine times when running down the stairs and that was in boots.
"It's right here," Lydia wildly looked around, as if Stiles was going to jump out of a corner screaming 'surprise!'
Noah quickly fumbled with the keys in his hand when Lydia nodded, her gaze turning back to the door they were trying to open. He flicked on the flashlight as they ran down the few steps that led into a room, their voices blending into desperate calls for his son. Their shouts eventually faded into nothing, the silence clouding in the air.
"Lydia?" Scott put down a blanket that he had picked up, everyone expectedly waiting for an answer from the strawberry blonde.
"I don't get it," she whispered, wetting her lips slightly before speaking again. "This has to be it."
"This is it. This is what I saw when I tapped into Stiles' head!" Jade confirmed, nodding along. It was the exact same room. The boiler was in the same place, right next to the rocking chair. She rounded a corner, bending down to the exact spot where he was meant to be. But he wasn't.
"Then where is he, huh?" Noah asked. Jade straightened up, returning to the main group when she noticed how dangerously low his voice was. She jumped back, digging her nails into her arm and immediately feeling tears well up in her eyes when she had hurt her burnt arm. "Where is he? Where is he!?"
Noah took a step back when he realised how much the girls had recoiled away from him, seeing the genuinely confused and slightly scared looks on their faces. "I'm sorry."
"I don't understand," Lydia was more so talking to herself, not expecting anyone to answer but just feeling like she needed to hear herself say it out loud. All she wanted to do right now was sit down on the floor, curl herself up into a ball and cry. Why wasn't he here? He had been right here!
Noah led the way out of the room, his feet dragging as his body became heavier. He was having to push himself to even stay standing, let alone go and lead another search party. Dread was starting to twist it's way into his head, like he was stuck in quicksand and was being swallowed whole. And the one question that he really didn't want to have to think about was starting to form.
What if Stiles was dead?
~
Melissa and Rafael were struggling to keep up with how fast Max was running through the forest. He could feel his heart beating out of his chest as he manoeuvred through the trees and fallen pieces of wood, not caring if he left the two adults behind. He could hear his blood pumping in his head, but it didn't matter. He had one thing on his mind and it was all he could focus on.
He grunted when a sharp sting shot through his arm. Backtracking, he unhooked his jacket that had gotten caught on a branch. Ignoring the questions from the others that had finally started to gain some ground on him, he continued his sprint.
To be fair, this forest had some pretty bad luck. All of the times he's been here, something bad had happened. He felt a wave of déjà vu wash over him as he remembered their most recent occurrence in the woods. He was running the exact same path that he had previously ran less than a week ago with Scott, Stiles and Jade when they were looking for Malia. "This is it."
"Max, wait!" The dark haired woman almost tripped before catching herself when she hadn't seen something on the ground. Looking back, she saw a piece of metal on the floor, which resembled a car door. It was most definitely a door, when she spotted the car wreck that was a few feet away from her.
She crawled into a small tunnel behind her ex-husband and nephew, wiping the sweat off her forehead as she felt like she was about to pass out from exhaustion. That was probably the most amount of running she'd ever do in her life. Her lips parted slightly when she actually understood where they were. When Max had said they were going to a coyote den, she didn't think he meant literally.
Max immediately began to take his jacket off, after simply touching one hand against Stiles body. He was lying still on the ground, not moving and practically hypothermic, but it was the coldest night of the year. For once, he was thankful that Rafael had been there and suggested the coyote den. Gagging, he bit his tongue when he saw the blood that was gushing out of Stiles' leg. It was out at an odd angle, a bear trap clamped down firmly.
"Don't wake someone who's sleep walking," Rafael warned as Max adjusted his position so Stiles' body was pressed towards his, hopefully to help transfer some warmth. "Or someone who's sleeping in a coyotes den, but you get the reference."
Their heads all snapped towards the boy who could only be seen in the pitch darkness because of how pale his skin was. Stiles started to stir, low mumbling turning into full blown yelling and thrashing about.
"Hey, you're okay!" Max wrapped his arms around him to stop his arms getting hit off the low walls in the den. Stiles was still screaming, his limbs flailing around in all directions as he tried to get a grasp on his surroundings. His sobbing dulled to quiet cries when he finally realised that he wasn't in a basement trying to answer riddles, but instead in a coyote den, being held and watched like an animal in a zoo.
He buried his head into Max's chest as he continued to whisper, ignoring that they probably looked like idiots. Stiles found a sense of comforting in the scent of cinnamon that lingered on Max's jumper as he breathed it in. He managed to see past the tears in his eyes to trace patterns along a familiar hand.
Even though he was visibly more calmer, he still made no move to get up yet, and no one seemed to expect him too. It felt as if he was still in a dream- or more so a nightmare. Like he was still trapped inside that small basement, being taunted until he felt he was going to crack.
~
Jade rushed up from her seat, wrapping her arms around her brother's neck in a hug. They'd been anxiously waiting for the last hour and a half in the uncomfortable chairs of the hospital waiting room. Stiles had just came in a few minutes ago and was being checked out by a doctor. Finally releasing him from her hold, she placed her arms on his shoulders. "You okay? How did you know he'd be there?"
"Rafael knew," Max sighed, throwing himself into a seat between a traumatised looking Lydia and a Scott who was listening intently to their conversation. "Looks like he came in handy for something. I wouldn't expect it to happen again, though. More so seems like a one off kinda thing."
Scott chuckled when his cousin elbowed him in the ribs. His smile quickly disappeared when Noah rounded the corner, strolling towards the group of them. The three teenagers that had been seated made their way to their feet, taking their place beside Melissa, Rafael and Jade, who were already standing.
"He's sleeping now. And he's just fine," Noah let his hands find a home in his pocket while he watched the worried friends breathe out a sigh of relief. That was how he had felt just a few minutes ago when he had found out himself. "He doesn't remember much. It's a bit like a dream to him. Thank you."
"It was nothing," Rafael shrugged, desperate to do anything to avoid having to take the apology from him. He still felt a bit of resentment towards him every time they saw each other, but he could feel it slowly ebbing away over the many days. "It was that repellent we sprayed in the coyote den to keep other animals out. I couldn't go near it without my eyes watering. Just a good thing that he mentioned it over the phone."
"No, it was more than that. Thank you."
"It was a lucky connection."
Noah rolled his eyes, starting to get annoyed, which was probably due to the lack of an adrenaline high and sleep that he was running on. "McCall, can you shut up please and accept my sincerest gratitude."
"Accepted," Rafael gritted his teeth, deciding against protesting. He shook hands with the sheriff, letting go as quickly as he could.
"All right, you four," Melissa clapped her hands together, turning to her children and Lydia. "You've got school in less than six hours. Go home and go to sleep."
The twins and Scott took it in turns giving the woman a hug, before she headed off in the opposite direction, already deep in conversation with Noah. There was no doubt that they could guess what the topic was, too.
"Mel said you were quite the hero tonight," Jade slowed down her steps, falling in line with her brother's as the other two walked ahead.
"I guess. What would a cool superhero name be?" he wondered out loud, looking down to his trainers that were squeaking as he walked.
"Max the magnificent," Jade supplied with a shrug, kicking a stray pebble that was on the ground. It had most probably been stuck on someone's shoe and they had dragged it inside. She was about to quip back another name, ignoring the sniggers from him, when Lydia's head snapped towards them. Her eyes darted around, not really focusing on one specific thing. "You okay?"
"Do you hear something?" Scott's eyebrows knitted together as he stared her down, trying to read her chemo signals and figure out what was wrong.
Lydia licked her lips, closing her eyes. She shook her head, her hair tickling the back of her neck as she moved. The clinking sound that she had heard had suddenly stopped, letting a buzzing silence take it's place. "No. I didn't hear anything."
"What happened to your hand?" Max asked, noticing the burnt flesh of Jade's arm that was peeking out of the bottom of her sleeve.
"Long story."
~
Allison clicked her tongue, raising a brow when her teacher placed three pages full of math questions on her desk. At least it was all revision, which wasn't too bad. But what in God's name was the point in this? And why was this relevant to the real world? Like, when in the future would she be out in public and need to know how to find the radius of a circle? When she was eating a pizza?
"Okay, settle down. I want you to pair up into group's of two and start to work your way through the sums. Anything that's not completed needs to be done for tomorrow's lesson. No exceptions."
Allison turned her chair to the side, grimacing when it made a screechy noise against the floor. She felt a bit more relaxed when she noticed the raised brow and open mouth from Jade. But then she realised that wasn't exactly good. If neither of them knew what they were meant to be doing, they were well and truly fucked. "Do you know what any of this means?"
"Not a fucking clue," Jade groaned, rubbing her head as she tucked a fallen strand of hair back. Deciding that she couldn't care less if she got in trouble or not, she turned the worksheet upside down. "So, what happened this morning? The way you were MIA."
The brunette sighed, abandoning the worksheet on her table, too. Their teacher rarely ever checked the work anyway, just skimmed through the page to make sure there was something wrote down. Half of the class weren't even talking about the work, they were gossiping. "It was really weird. Scott messaged me and Lilith and neither of us got them. My phone was powered off and I never, ever do that. Lily's is always on silent, but they don't power it off either. Also, I want to use she / they pronouns."
Allison bit her tongue, covering her face with their hands while she groaned. It wasn't meant to come out like that, they'd just blurted it out. At least it had only been whispered, so only Jade had heard it. "I didn't mean for that to come out like that, I just panicked and I ramble when I'm nervous-"
Jade laughed, swatting Allison's hands away from her face. "Alli. Breathe. I don't care what pronouns you want to use, it doesn't effect me in any way. You'll just have to give me a bit of time to get used to it, but I will try. Thanks for telling me though. Don't worry about blurting it out either because I once told my parents I was pansexual when I was on a rollercoaster hanging upside down. What the fuck is he doing?"
Allison laughed, their brows furrowing as she followed where Jade was looking. Max was skating on the road outside, waving his hand behind him for someone to follow him. The blonde groaned, rolling her eyes when she saw Isaac tip-toeing down the road before jumping onto another skateboard. Of course it had something to do with the two of them.
Max was only half way away from the skate park, nearly losing his balance and slapping onto the pavement. Quickly jumping off the skate board, he carried it under an arm while answering his phone and holding it up to his ear. He placed a finger against his lips, hoping Isaac would get the message to be quiet as he jogged over to him. "Hey, Jade. What's up?"
"Don't you 'whats up' me. You two better get back here, otherwise the school will ring Melissa and you don't want to have to deal with that."
Max sighed, jumping onto his skateboard, his phone still held up to his ear while he checked over his shoulder to make sure Isaac was following, which he was. "We're allowed to leave early anyway to go see Stiles before his scan! It's only an hour... or two, okay, maybe three early, but it doesn't matter! We're only going to the skate park. Just cover for us, will you?"
Jade shook her head, Allison assuming the daggers that were sent her way were meant for Max, and not them. "Fine. But you owe me one."
Shoving her phone into her pocket, Jade turned to her friend. "We need to get that message on your phone translated."