Lydia, Malia and Maggie entered the school and Maggie stared at the book in Malia's hand. Malia had told her that the people in masks were called Dread Doctors and that she'd found the book in Tracy's room.
Maggie pointed to the book. "Why the hell would anyone want to read this?"
Lydia stopped and Malia and Maggie asked, "What?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. There's something about it. Has anyone actually read it?"
"Just me," Malia replied.
Lydia's pace quickened and she said, "We should probably read all of it."
Maggie nodded. "Probably. But I don't want to."
"Too bad."
"Have some sympathy."
Malia glanced between them. "Kira's working on that. Stiles says he can't find anything on the author. He thinks it's a pen name."
Lydia stared at the front cover for a moment and flipped it over to read the summary. ""In a small New England town, teenagers are taken in the night and buried alive. Days later, they emerge transformed, wreaking havoc and spreading terror, commanded by an ancient order of parascientists known only as the Dread Doctors."" She nodded. "Sounds vaguely familiar. How does it end?"
Malia shrugged. "It doesn't. This is supposed to be volume one."
Maggie frowned. "Is there a volume two?"
"I think we're living volume two."
Lydia looked at them. "Maybe the real question is... Is this a novel or someone's prediction?"
The girls sat down, Malia in front of Lydia and Maggie next to Malia. Malia turned moments later to face Lydia. "Why is your heart beating so fast?" She turned to Maggie. "You seem more annoyed than normal."
Lydia ignored Malia and flipped through the pages, stopping at the last one. She let out a soft gasp. "Look at this, you two. Look at the acknowledgements page." She turned the book around.
Malia read the words aloud. ""For providing scientific perspective and invaluable insight... this book is dedicated to Dr. Gabriel Valack." Do you two know him?"
Lydia nodded. "Yeah. And I know where to find him."
---
After school, Maggie made her way to Stiles' house to inform him of the plan she and Lydia had come up with.
Stiles picked up a gray jacket from the end of his bed. "Maggie, I'm going with you."
Maggie raised a brow. "Well, according to your text this morning, you're sick and needed to spend the day at home."
He shrugged. "I'm slightly under the weather."
She shook her head. "You should stay here and rest. Malia isn't coming either."
"Malia's not joining because she knows that that place is a nightmare asylum of insanity and death, okay?" He slipped on a jacket and Maggie noticed his wince. "Let's go."
She frowned. "What was that?"
"What was what?"
"You winced."
He avoided her eyes. "I have a bad elbow."
"It was your shoulder."
"Pain radiates. It does that," he said before sighing. "You are not going without me. You remember what happened to Deaton when he talked to Valack?"
"Scott and Kira will be there."
Stiles narrowed his eyes. "Okay, there's no way I'm letting you go to a place where one of the orderlies almost killed you or Lydia."
"He nearly killed you too," Maggie reminded him.
Stiles gave her a small smile. "And we're all still alive. See? Teamwork."
"You're impossible."
"And you love me for it."
She pursed her lips a moment before nodding and a hint of a smile crossed her face. "Yeah, I do. I'm coming."
"Fine, but be careful."
---
They arrived at Eichen House and while Kira and Lydia buzzed in, Maggie remained back with the boys. Stiles was still rubbing his shoulder.
Maggie frowned. "Stiles, tell me what's wrong. Please. What happened to you?"
He sighed. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
"Don't worry about you? You're my friend. Of course I'm going to worry about you!"
Scott noticed Stiles' discomfort. "Are you gonna be okay in there?"
Stiles nodded. "Yeah, why?"
"You just seem a little off. Maybe some of us more than others."
Stiles suddenly seemed incredibly interested. "Wait. What happened?"
"When the other Chimera, Lucas, when he came after us, I heard Kira say something in Japanese."
Caleb shrugged. "That doesn't sound too bad."
Scott glanced at her. "She doesn't know any Japanese."
"Still not terrible," Stiles said.
"I also think I might have stopped her from killing Lucas."
"Okay." Stiles paused. "Wasn't he trying to kill you, though? I mean, that just sounds like self-defense."
Scott sighed. "It was more than that. I mean, she nearly took his head off."
Caleb was silent for a moment. "You know, maybe she didn't have a choice. That's the whole thing behind self-defense, right? To protect yourself against attacks?"
Stiles nodded, glancing at him. "Tracy killed her own father. And Lucas would have killed you."
Maggie's brow furrowed once again as she studied Stiles. Something was different and she would find it out, whatever it was.
Scott frowned. "They're not the bad guys. They're the victims. We shouldn't be killing the people we're supposed to save."
The gate buzzed and opened. The pack walked through the entrance. At the front desk, an orderly instructed, "Please empty your pockets into the container."
"We're here to see..." Scott began.
"Please empty your pockets into the container," the orderly repeated. They did as he asked and he glanced to Kira. "Please remove your belt and place it into the container."
"I kind of need the belt. I mean, it's crucial to the outfit," Kira protested.
"Please remove your belt which patients will attempt to take from you and use to strangle either themselves or others."
"Right. Got it." She nodded and took off her belt, placing it in the container.
They followed another orderly down the hall. Without turning around, he told them, "I'll remind you that I'm only doing this as a favor for Deaton. And I'm doing it against my better judgment."
"Hey, what's the etiquette for talking to this guy?" Stiles asked. "I mean, do you ever look at the other eye?"
The orderly shook his head. "I wouldn't."
Scott and Kira followed for as long as they could.
The orderly turned to face the struggling teens. "You didn't think you were all going did you?"
"It's Mountain Ash, isn't it?" Scott realized.
"Everywhere, but heavily concentrated down here." He turned to Lydia, Maggie, Caleb and Stiles. "Valack's cell is the last one at the end of the hall."
Stiles turned to them and Scott told him, "We'll be right here." He nodded at the werewolf's words.
Stiles motioned for Maggie and Caleb to stay back and he nodded. Maggie begrudgingly agreed.
After some waiting, she got impatient and left to find Stiles and Lydia. Caleb, not letting her walk through the halls alone, followed her.
The two ran down the hall to hear Valack say, "Don't give up on us yet. We're all works in progress."
Caleb frowned suspiciously. "Where did you hear those words?"
"Wise words from a former cellmate," Valack answered, standing and walking to the glass wall separating the teens from him. "Welcome to the party, little warlock, little witch."
"You know what we are?"
"Of course I do. It's not every day you come face to face with two powerful beings." Valack turned to Lydia. "Did you bring the book?" Stiles pulled the book from his pocket and pressed it against the glass. "Very nice. First Edition. Of course, there was only one printing."
Lydia nodded slowly. "There is no T.R. McCammon, is there?"
"No," Valack replied, smiling and shaking his head back and forth.
"You wrote the book."
"That's right, Lydia. Maybe you've already guessed that it's not just a book."
Maggie crossed her arms. "What is it then?"
"A tool. Designed to open your eyes."
"To what?" Stiles asked.
"To them," Valack stated. "The Dread Doctors."
"Why'd you use a pseudonym?" Caleb questioned.
"I had a professional reputation once. I wasn't interested in ruining it by putting my name on a second-rate piece of trash."
Stiles stepped closer to the glass. "Then why write the book in the first place?"
Valack met their eyes with a burning intensity. "You haven't even read it yet, have you? I wrote it because no one believed me. Because no one listened. They're here, aren't they? In Beacon Hills."
"What are they?" Lydia wondered.
"Not entirely human. At least, not anymore. They were scientists once. Scientists who worshipped the supernatural. Tesla said, "If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration." They found their secrets in electromagnetic forces. Ways to prolong their lives, give them power, and most importantly, making you forget you ever saw them."
"What exactly do they want?"
"Good question, Lydia. Everybody wants something, don't they?" He smirked.
"Okay, so what do you want?" Stiles questioned.
Valack slid a small recording device through the small opening in the glass. "Hit record."
"What do you want me to say?" Lydia wondered.
Valack smiled. "I don't want you to say anything. I want you to scream."
---
"I can't hear anything. Must be the Mountain Ash," Scott said.
"I feel it, too," Kira replied. "To be honest, I feel a little weak..."
"Yeah, it's like being sedated."
"This was a bad idea, wasn't it?"
"They'll be okay without us. And those three? They're pretty good together."
"Yeah, they are."
"No super strength or samurai swords, but they stay alive. Maggie and Caleb's powers help a lot."
"He loves her, doesn't he? Maggie. Caleb likes Lydia, doesn't he."
"Yeah. Yeah, but it's different now. I mean, you should have seen the way he used to be around her."
"Was it bad?"
"He was kind of obsessive, but not all bad. You know, Maggie used to pretend she didn't see him?"
"Our Maggie?"
"Yeah. But Stiles never stopped trying to get her to notice him, like Caleb did with Lydia."
"They paid attention. They listened to them. They saw them."
"Did you see that?"
"No... But I am seeing this..."
---
Lydia held the recorder in her hands, but Caleb snatched it away. "No. Not until you tell us why."
Lydia looked at him. "He's the only one that knows anything, Caleb. If my scream can held us find out information, we should do it."
"Listen to the guy who has a drill hole in his head? Yeah, that's seems like a great idea. How do we know he's not lying his ass off?"
Valack spoke. "How many people have died so far? All of them teenagers. Am I right?" The teens turned to face him, worried. "Want to know how many died the first time they came around? Wonder how many will die before they succeed?"
"This did happen before," Lydia realized.
The lights started to flicker and Valack continued. "And now they're back. All because a few teenagers, who never even considered the consequences, decided to reignite a supernatural force they barely understand."
"The Nemeton," Lydia and Maggie realized.
Stiles tensed up. "How do you even know that?"
"I know... because I saw it!" Valack retorted as he removed the bandage and Maggie clenched a fist while Caleb narrowed his eyes.
The lights flickered again and Maggie and Caleb glanced around and ran to investigate what was going on.
They reached them just as Kira collapsed. "Scott! What happened?!"
Scott shook his head. "I don't know. The lights just started flickering and she fell." He knelt next to her.
Dr. Fenris, the orderly who had escorted them down, walked up to them. "We need to get her out of here right now."
Scott frowned. "Yeah, well, how do we move her if we can't even touch her?"
Maggie and Caleb looked at the electronic door, hearing a buzz, just as the Dread Doctors appeared. Dr. Fenris turned to them. "I think you three had better run."
Maggie shook her head as Scott said, "We can't leave her."
"I can." He ran to a flight of stairs.
Scott picked up Kira and ran out the door. Maggie and Caleb followed behind, glancing back to hear a scream.
When they got outside, Scott laid beside her.
"Scott?" Maggie called.
Scott glanced at his friend and gave a small nod. "I'm okay."
Caleb looked back at Eichen House. "Okay, what the hell just happened?"
Maggie shook her head. "No idea."