Poor Stiles had it so rough this season
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Before Stiles said anything else, we went inside. Heading straight to his room, I shut the door behind us as he sat down on his bed. His face fell to his hands, the heels of his palms pressing against his eyes. The look of hopelessness in him crushed me.
Approaching him slowly, I sat next to him on his bed. "Stiles, what do you mean you killed Donovan?" I asked carefully, not wanting him to change his mind about speaking to me.
Stiles sniffled as he sat up straighter, fiddling with his fingers so that he didn't have to make eye contact with me. "I, uh, I went to go home after the library, but the jeep had broken down. I was trying to fix it when he just attacked me. His hand. . . it wasn't normal. It had teeth."
I noticed one of his hands trailing up to the shoulder that he mentioned injuring. Reaching up, I grabbed the collar of his shirt gingerly, checking that it was okay.
He hesitated for a moment, before shrugging his jacket off to make his shoulder more accessible for me. Carefully pulling the material down, I finally got to see what had been causing him so much pain.
On the back of his shoulder was an oddly shaped wound. In the middle was a rough circle, surrounded by smaller torn bits of skin pointing inwards like bitemarks. I touched my free hand to the skin lightly, avoiding directly making contact with the wound. "Donovan did this? How?"
"He was a wendigo, but. . . not," Stiles said quietly. "The teeth. . . He put his hand on my shoulder and suddenly, it was like the worst pain I've ever felt."
"How did you get away?"
He took a deep breath as I removed my hand, letting his shirt move back into place. "I hit him with- with a wrench. He- he let go and I ran. I got into the school library and was just hiding from him, and. . ."
Noticing his pause, I squeezed his hand. "Stiles, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. I'm with you either way."
Nodding nervously, Stiles continued. "He threatened my dad. He said he was going to kill him, Ri. He chased me and I climbed up some scaffolding thinking I could lose him. But, he grabbed my ankle. So, I reached up and grabbed the pin holding up some beams, thinking maybe they'd knock him to the ground. And they did, but one of them. . . it went right through him."
I took a moment to think, my breath catching at his words. "And you're sure that he's. . . you know. . ."
Stiles bobbed his head a few times, reaching his fingers to his mouth as he bit his nails. His eyes were flickering in thought, probably reliving what had happened.
Realising that this was happening right now, and had to be dealt with, I steeled my nerves enough for the both of us. "The body; did you get rid of it?"
Stiles looked up, eyes wide in shock and confusion. I don't know what reaction he had been expecting, but I guess it wasn't that.
"Stiles, did you do something with the body? Did anyone see you go into the school?"
He shook his head nervously, "I called the police after it happened and then went and sat in my car. I watched them go in and leave, saying it was a prank. When I went back in, Donovan's body was gone, Riley."
That, I wasn't expecting. "Okay, so either someone saw you and is covering it up, or Donovan is still alive."
"He's dead."
"Stiles, I-"
"Donovan is dead!" he said much more firmly, his voice rising with each word.
Gulping, I nodded, speaking softly. "Alright. Then we need to figure out who covered up the murder, and why."
There was a moment of silence between us as Stiles studied me. "Why aren't you freaking out right now?"
"I am, sort've," I corrected him. "But that's not going to get us through this. And I'm not letting you get in trouble for something that was self-defence."
He looked like he might just cry again, his eyes glistening as he put his arms around me, mumbling a 'thank you' against my hair.
♧♤♢♡
Both of us barely slept through the night, laying side by side in each other's arms, staring at the ceiling. I wanted to say something, but I wasn't sure what I could say that could ease the struggle in his mind.
The Sheriff had asked us to the station, wanting to go over the current supernatural case with us. Stiles was worried that he might know something about Donovan, but there was no way he could have.
I had contacted Malia, asking her to meet us so that Stiles might feel like he could share the conversation between more people and feel less pressured. She agreed to come and brought Isaac also since they happened to be together at the time.
"Chimeras," the Sheriff sighed as he pinned a photograph of Lucas, Corey's ex, to the corkboard on his wall.
"Two dead chimeras," Stiles said.
We had just been informed by the Sheriff that they had found even more burial sites on the school's lacrosse field. Which mean, more chimeras. "And eight new ones."
"So, that's ten in all."
Lifting another photograph to the corkboard, the Sheriff thought aloud. "I'm thinking maybe eleven."
I leaned forward slightly to get a better look at who he was adding. Donovan Donati. Stiles noticeably flinched at the sight, gaze falling to the ground as he tried not to show how it was affecting him.
"Our station tech guys confirmed something for me. . . they said, both the holding cell lock and cameras could have malfunctioned because of something electromagnetic."
He picked up the copy of 'The Dread Doctors' which Malia had brought to the station with her.
"You said that, uh, these guys. . ."
"Dread Doctors," Malia filled in.
"Are we really calling them that?" The Sheriff asking, scrunching his face in a cringe manor.
Isaac chuckled, "I agree with the Sheriff. I mean, just because that's what the book says, doesn't mean that's what we have to call them."
Malia rolled her eyes as she turned to the Sheriff, "So they broke Donovan out?"
"It's how they got into Eichen, isn't it?"
"So, Donovan's a chimera," Isaac stated, completing the thought process.
Stiles and I remained quiet, both of us having already known the truth. We couldn't come to the conclusion without proof, however, because that would just seem suspicious. Allowing them to come to the conclusion was the safest option.
The Sheriff nodded in agreement, "Yeah. But, is he a failure like Lucas and Tracy?"
Stiles turned and took a few steps towards the back of the classroom, not saying a word. I wanted to say something to him, but I couldn't in front of his dad.
"If he is, he's probably dead," Malia pointed out, picking up a red marker, preparing to cross his face out.
"Not necessarily," Isaac cut in quickly, grabbing ahold of her wrist. "He's only dead if the Dread Doctors got to him."
The Sheriff nodded in agreement. "Until I've seen a body, that boy is still alive, as far as I'm concerned."
When everyone fell quiet, I noticed the Sheriff glace over to his son. "You're uncharacteristically quiet."
Stiles turned around immediately, knowing his father was talking about him. "Yeah. . . sorry, I'm, uh. . . I'm just trying to think about it. Uh. . . these are all teenagers, right?" He theorised, practically spitballing to look less suspicious.
"So, now shouldn't we be trying to figure out why these teenagers?"
"You know, he might actually have a point," Isaac stated.
Stiles clenched his jaw, rolling his eyes. "Gee, thanks. Where would we be without your input?"
"Can we please stay on topic?" I sighed, not wanting them to start something, especially with Stiles on edge the way he was.
"Right," Stiles agreed. "So, if the Dread Doctors went through all that. . . burying them, killing them, breaking one of them out of jail. . ."
"They couldn't have been chosen at random," the Sheriff completed.
It was impressive that Stiles' stab in the dark was actually the furthest we had gotten this morning in terms of ideas. He was definitely a detective like his father.
Malia looked between the photos on the corkboard, eyes widening ever so slightly. "They had to have something in common."
"Something that made them right for this experiment."
"So. . . what could link them?" I asked.
"Something that made them special," Stiles answered from beside me.
♧♤♢♡
"My mum's book club usually has more wine," Lydia stated as we all stared down at the copies of 'The Dread Doctors' sitting on the table.
Stiles shrugged, "Well, they also probably didn't read books that cause hallucinations."
"Either way, we need to read it. Doctor Valack said that that was how we could win."
Scott nodded, "That's why Malia's here."
"So none of us go running into traffic?" Kira scoffed.
"Or worse."
Isaac chuckled lowly from across the table, "Yeah, maybe blowing off homework for this wasn't the right decision. I didn't agree with something that would make me run into traffic."
"It comes with the territory at this point," I reminded him.
"Hopefully not as bad as what happened to Judy," Malia said mostly to herself. When she noticed the rest of us sharing at her expectantly, she continued. "Chapter fourteen."
Lydia was the first to move, leaning down and picking up the hardcopy of the book off of the coffee table. "Maybe I should make my mother read it. She might remember a girl with a tail leaping off of the ceiling and attacking everyone."
"Yeah, if it works," my boyfriend said.
Squeezing his hand, I reached down and picked up one of the copies. "Guess we just need to be optimistic then, don't we?"
"We can't hope," Lydia said softly. "We need this to work."
"What's that mean?" The Alpha asked.
"I think I saw them during my surgery. When I look at the cover of the book. . . It's almost like. . ."
"A memory trying to surface," Theo said, completing her sentence for her. We'd discuss why he understood what she was talking about later.
"Yeah."
Confusion spread through the room, Kira speaking her mind on behalf of us. "Isn't that what Valack wanted when he wrote it?"
Lydia looked really spooked, her eyes wide and face flushed. She was worrying me; she looked like she might pass out.
"If they did something to me, I want to know what it is."
One by one, everyone else in the room picked up a copy of the book also. We then all took a seat and began reading.
♧♤♢♡
We had been reading the 'The Dread Doctors' for about an hour when I felt the backs of my eyes begin to hurt. It definitely wouldn't have been a book I would have picked up at the library, but it was still somewhat interesting.
"Anyone feel anything yet?" Scott asked us all as I rubbed my eyes.
Kira shrugged, looking away from her copy, "Tired."
"Hungry," Lydia tacked on.
"I think he meant the book," Theo clarified. I held back an eye-roll. There was something about him that still made me distrust him.
"I'm gonna make some coffee," I sighed, getting up from the couch. Placing a hand on Stiles' shoulder without the bite, I leaned down, "Come with me?" I asked.
He nodded without a word, putting the book down and following me into the kitchen.
"Are you going to tell Scott?" I asked quietly as we headed to the kitchen.
Stiles stood up straight, looking out to the living room. "Riley," he hissed lowly.
"He's talking to Kira, it's fine," I told him. "He's probably going to find out eventually. You know he will."
"I know. Just- just not right now. Please?"
I nodded, "You know I'd do anything for you, Stiles."
When we got to the kitchen, I began to heat up the kettle. Stiles stood beside me, a hand reaching to his shoulder.
"What did you do to your shoulder?" Malia asked as she walked in.
Stiles' hand dropped quickly, looking up at my sister, "What are you talking about?"
"I can smell the blood. What happened?"
Stiles looked at me out the corner of his eye, concerned about where this was headed and how close Scott was. I gave him a quick nod, silently telling him that I would back him with whatever he said.
"Jeep died on me again. I went to check the engine, the hood fell on it."
I watched Malia carefully, noticing her eyes narrowing as she looked over Stiles and me. Not wanting either of our heartbeats to give anything away, I began to pour everyone a coffee and changed the subject. "So, Mal, with what you were telling us about the flashback thing. How much do you remember anyway? About the accident."
Stiles nodded, "Yeah. Was it like a movie playing in your head? Or was it like being there again?"
Malia seemed to tense up slightly, her gaze shifting to stare past us both. After thinking for a moment, she nodded and looked back at us, "In it."
"Was it just the crash? Nothing else?"
She almost seemed to drift away for a moment, falling into thought. "Nothing."
I knew she was lying, but just like Stiles with Donovan, this wasn't something she would want to speak about with all of our friends around. Something happened in that flashback, and it had obviously gotten to her. I just hoped she was okay.
Looking at Malia, I hoped she would return my gaze, but I had no luck. Letting out a small sigh, I instructed the two to help me hand out coffee. We were going to need it if we were going to get through this book tonight.