Scott's POV:
I reached Derek's loft and he opened the door as though he'd already sensed Ella.
"What happened?" Derek demanded.
"Ms. Blake happened," I replied angrily. "She also attacked Lydia. Derek, she's killing people. She took the sheriff and Officer Hart."
He knelt next to Ella and stroked her hair softly as her eyes opened. She looked around worriedly and relaxed as soon as she saw Derek.
Stiles joined us and shook his head, letting me know he'd heard nothing.
Stiles and I took Ella and hid behind a pillar because I caught a scent.
The door opened again and Ms. Blake called, "Derek? Derek, where are you?"
"Right here," Derek replied.
"Thank God. Something happened at the recital. At the school. Okay, I need to tell you before you hear it, before you hear any of it from them."
"From who?"
"Scott, Stiles. They're gonna tell you things. Things you can't believe. You have to trust me, okay? You trust me."
"What is it?"
"Promise you'll listen to me."
"I promise."
"They're already here, aren't they? So... they told you it was me? That I'm the one taking people?"
I stepped out of the shadows. "We told him you're the one killing people."
"Oh, that's right. Committing human sacrifices? What, cutting their throats? Yeah, I probably do it on my lunch hour. That way, I can get back to teaching high school English the rest of the day. That makes perfect sense."
"Where's my dad and Ella's dad?" Stiles asked.
"How should I know? Derek, tell me you don't believe this."
"Do you know what happened to Stiles' and Eliana's fathers?" Derek questioned.
"No."
"As her why she almost killed Lydia and hurt Eliana," I told him.
Ms. Blake frowned. "Lydia Martin? Eliana Hart? I don't know anything about that."
Derek narrowed his eyes. "What do you know?"
"I know that these boys, for whatever misguided reason, are filling your head with an absurd story. And one they can't prove, by the way."
Ella scoffed as she stepped between me and Stiles. "You really need to control your heartbeat."
I put a hand in front of Ella and asked, "What if we can?"
"What is that?" Ms. Blake challenged.
"My boss told me it's a poison and a cure... which means you can use it... and it can be used against you."
I took some mistletoe and threw it at her.
"Mistletoe?" Ms. Blake questioned as she transformed into her true form; a bald, gray-headed creature.
Derek stepped back and Ms. Blake said, "Derek, wait, wait! You need me."
"What are you?" Derek demanded.
"The only person who can save your sister. Call Peter. Call him!"
Derek did as instructed and Peter answered. "It's not good. She's in and out of consciousness. She's vomiting up black blood along with one other alarming substance."
"Mistletoe," Derek said.
"How did you know that?"
Derek lifted Ms. Blake into the air and I called his name. "Derek. Derek, what are you doing?"
"Her life... it's in my hands!" Ms. Blake cried.
"Stop," Stiles told him. "Derek, stop!"
Ms. Blake turned to my best friend. "Stilinski, you'll never find him."
"Derek. Derek!" I cried, noticing a frown from Ella.
Derek set Ms. Blake down and she said, "That's right. You need me. All of you. You should know I'm not doing this because I have to. I want to. I could still run, and you wouldn't have an easy time stopping me. But I don't want your sister to die. I'm only doing what I had to do."
"Shut up," Derek retorted.
"You need to hear the whole story, Derek. You need to know just how connected we really are."
"Stop talking."
We left the Derek's loft with Ella and Stiles frowned. "I don't know, something feels wrong about this. You know, we proved it to Derek, and I think having Ella there helped, but she still had this look like it didn't matter. You know, like it was all still going according to plan. You two saw it, didn't you?"
Ella growled quietly. "I'm gonna rip her throat out-"
"With your teeth. Yeah. We know."
She shot him a look and before she could retort anything, I asked, "What's that?"
"Well, you two got claws. I got a bat."
"Do you want claws?" Ella asked.
"Bat's pretty cool."
We entered the hospital and my mom called, "Scott! Scott! What are you doing here? The hospital's evacuating."
"We're here for Cora," I told her.
"What, all of you? Why does Stiles have my bat?"
"Mom, just trust me on this. You need to get out of here. Right now."
"The building is supposed to be clear in 30 minutes. We've got two ambulances that are coming back. One's ten minutes out, the other's 20. Cora needs to be on one of those. They'll be picking up in the basement garage."
"Got it. Okay."
Ella and I realized incoming danger and I said, "Derek. We got a problem. Big problem."
"Derek, we need your help," Ella said quietly.
"Help me," Stiles told us as Ethan and Aiden came closer.
"Ethan, Aiden, stop!" I yelled. "You don't know what you're doing."
In their combined alpha form, they replied, "All we want is her."
"Stiles!" Ella and I called as he was attacked.
After a moment, Stiles demanded, "Where's the big guy?"
"He's close," Derek said.
"What about Ms. Blake? What do you mean? What does that mean? Like, she's gone? Scott, Ella, are you kidding me?"
Ella glared at him. "Hey. I didn't lose her. I don't want anything to do with her."
"Shh, quiet," Derek told them.
"Us be quiet?" Stiles retorted. "Me and Ella, huh? Are you telling us what to do now? When your psychotic mass murdering friend... thankfully one you haven't dated, I don't think... has got my dad and Ella's somewhere, tied up, waiting to be ritually sacrificed?"
"Stiles, Ella, they're still out there," I said.
Ella crossed her arms. "And... they want her, right? Which means now we don't have her either, so my dad, Stiles' dad and Cora are all dead!"
"Not yet." I glanced to Peter. "Is she really dying?"
"She's definitely not getting any better," Peter answered.
"There has to be something that we can do. We have to help her."
"You can't," Ms. Blake said. "Only I can. I can save her and I can tell you where Sheriff Stilinski and Officer Hart are. But there is a pack of alphas in this hospital who want me dead. So I'll help you... but only when I'm out of here and safe. Only then."
Derek drew his claws, ready to attack Ms. Blake.
"Derek, wait!" I yelled.
"She was trying to get out," Derek said.
"I was trying to keep from getting killed," Ms. Blake corrected. "You can't blame me for that."
Stiles narrowed his eyes. "If you want to show you're one of the good guys, then heal her."
"Not until I'm safe."
"I'd like to volunteer a different method of persuasion," Peter offered. "Let's torture her."
"Works for me," Derek stated.
Ella flicked her claws. "I'm ready."
A voice over the loudspeaker caught our attention. My mom's. "Um, can I have your attention? Mr. Deucalion... excuse me, just Deucalion... Requests you bring the woman calling herself Jennifer Blake to the E.R. reception. Lucille Hart requests that her daughter, Eliana be brought to E.R. reception as well. Do this, and everyone else can live. You have ten minutes."
"He's not gonna hurt her," Ms. Blake reassured. "Lucille may hurt Eliana."
"Shut up," Derek and Ella retorted.
"He won't! Scott, you know why. Tell them it's true."
Derek frowned. "What does she mean?"
"You're not the only ones he wants in his pack." She looked between me and Ella.
After a moment, she continued. "Deucalion doesn't just want an Alpha pack. He wants perfection. That means adding the rarest of alphas to his ranks and the werewolf of the White Wolf prophecy."
"A True Alpha," Peter said. "The White Wolf."
"What's that?" Stiles asked. "The White Wolf sounds kinda cool."
Peter looked at him. "The kind that doesn't have to steal his power from another. One that can rise by the force of his own will. Our little Scott. It's long been foretold that a werewolf, the white wolf, will rise in times of despair. They will either be a hero or die trying. Now, I'm not sure who it is specifically, but I suspect it's our little Eliana."
"It doesn't matter," I said. "We still need to get her out of here."
"Scott, your mom..." Stiles began.
"My mom said there's one more ambulance coming in 20 minutes. And I don't think we've been here that long, so if we can get down to the garage, get that last ambulance, we can get out of here."
"The twins aren't gonna let us just walk out," Derek told us.
"I'll distract them."
"As will I," Ella said.
Derek frowned. "You mean fight them. Ella, watch Cora. Please don't argue with me."
"Whatever I have to do," I said. "Derek's right. Ella, go with Cora."
"I'll help you."
Ella pursed her lips. "Fine. But only 'cause I'm not in the mood to argue right now."
Ms. Blake frowned. "Um, sorry, but I'm not going anywhere without you, Derek."
Ella glared at her. "What, you codependent on a werewolf? No. You can go alone. If you get captured, too bad."
"I'll do it," Peter offered. "But I'd prefer to be out there with an advantage."
"An advantage like what?" Stiles questioned. "You mean like a weapon?"
"Something better than a baseball bat."
"Hey, wait. What about these?" Stiles held up a pair of defibrillator pads.
"Do you know how to use those?" Derek asked.
"Well, no."
"Put 'em down." Ella picked them up. "Ella..."
"What? I know how to use 'em," she told him.
"Put them down."
She pouted. "You're no fun."
"Epinephrine?" I questioned as I held up a syringe.
"That's only gonna make him stronger," Derek said.
"How strong?" Peter questioned. "All right, boys, girl. Let's rumble."
"It's still here!" Stiles yelled.
"Derek, over here," Ms. Blake called.
Eliana's POV:
Stiles and I took Cora from the hospital and loaded her into an ambulance.
After a little while, Stiles started talking to himself. "Okay, okay, okay. We're okay. We're all right. We got a werewolf protecting us. You okay? How you doing? Wh... why do you look like you're not breathing?" He took her pulse. "Because you aren't breathing, are you? Oh, no. Oh, God. Oh, no, no, no. Why are you not breathing? Come on. Okay, okay, okay. You can do this. Here we go, tilt the head. Fingers on the chin. Clear the throat. Great, nothing. I see nothing. Okay, all right, so, uh... just pinch the nose and blow. Oh, come on, Cora. Come on, Cora."
He continued trying to get her to breathe. "Come on. Oh, come on, Cora. Come on, breathe. Come on, Cora, breathe." She started breathing. "Oh! You know, next time I put my lips to your mouth, you better be awake."
I frowned. "I'm not sure I like the idea of you kissing one of my friends. Whatever happened to Lydia?"
"The ten-year plan is still in effect. Maybe 15 now, but I still intend to get Lydia to fall in love with me."
"Well, at least she's noticed you. That's a start."
"Yeah." He turned back to Cora. "You just hold on a little longer, okay? Trust me, if anyone's gonna get us out of this, it's Scott. Can't believe I just said that. You know, I actually used to be the one with the plan. Well, or at least a plan B. Sometimes Ella, but usually me. Now I don't know. Now I'm thinking maybe you were right. You know, maybe... maybe we are pretty much useless. I mean, Ella's not. Maybe all we really do is show up and find the bodies. I don't want to find my father's body and Ella doesn't want to find her father's. You know, you're a lot easier to talk to when you're completely unconscious."
I frowned. "Not sure what that's supposed to mean."
"It means that I don't get argued with. Unlike you."
"Hey!"
Stiles noticed something on a hospital sheet and I looked at it.
"You think?" I questioned.
He nodded. "Yeah, I think. This is bad, Ella."
"No kidding."
Before I could say anything else, Scott yelled, "Stiles! Ella! Stiles, Ella, open the door!"
"Sorry," Stiles apologized, opening the door to reveal Peter.
"Help me get him in."
"Where's Derek and Jennifer?" I asked.
"I have to go back for them and my mom."
"Well, hurry. 'Cause we got a couple big problems. Kali's got the keys to this thing, and we just saw the twins, like, 30 seconds ago."
"Stay here. Ella, listen. I mean it."
Isaac appeared and yelled, "All right, come on, come on, come on!"
I looked between them. "Where's Derek and Melissa? Where's Scott? Guys, where's Derek?!"
"I got her," Peter reassured. "I don't know, Eliana. He might still be inside. Okay, get the door."
"Stiles, Eliana, let's go! Stiles! Eliana!"
Stiles and I ran back into the hospital and called, "Scott! Scott, wait!"
Deucalion spoke to Scott. "They're gone. Guardians, Scott. If you were with me, I could've told you what it meant. I could've warned you. Let me help you, Scott. Let's help each other. You help me catch her, and I'll help you get your mother, Stiles' father and Eliana's father back."
"Scott," Stiles said. "Scott, don't do this. Don't go with him."
"I don't know what else to do," Scott replied.
I shook my head. "No, Scotty, th-there's gotta be another way. We always have a plan B. Always."
"Not this time."
"Scott," Stiles and I called.
"I'm gonna find your dads. I promise."
"Scott!"
I kicked the wall angrily, causing a hole to appear.
Stiles sighed. "Yeah, I feel the same way. Let's go find your not-boyfriend. You guys aren't dating, right?"
"No. But we are mates. He's waiting until I'm legal."
Third Person POV:
"Hey," Sheriff Stilinski said. "Hey. You all right?"
"Oh, God, where are we?" Melissa asked.
Officer Hart shook his head. "Noah and I don't know. Looks like a root cellar to us, but, uh... she called it something different. She called it a... a Nemeton."