Over halfway through the season, let's go
Longer chapter since the last one was pretty short
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"What if we need some kind of trigger?" Scott asked as he, Kira, Stiles and I entered the school. "Wasn't Malia driving when she remembered the crash?"
We had all fallen asleep while reading the book at Scott's last night. I had managed to get to the last few chapters, then read the rest before school. I had yet to feel anything from reading it though. I don't know what I was expecting, but when did we ever?
Stiles sighed, "Yeah, but how are we supposed to trigger a memory we don't remember?"
"Maybe it's a delayed thing. Maybe you have to wait a couple of hours to see what happens."
"Well, I wish it would hurry up," I told them, rolling my head. My spine was still a bit sore from falling asleep on the ground last night. Even having Stiles to rest my head on hadn't stopped the stiffness. "They keep making Chimeras and we are running out of time.
The hallway lights above us flickered as if on cue. Scott, Stiles and I all shared a look, before turning to direct our eyes at Kira.
The girl looked at all of us in turn, eyes wide. "That wasn't me. I swear."
"Then what was it?" I said quietly, glancing around the hallway as if someone would pop out and admit to it.
"I don't know," Scott replied. "But, we keep an eye on each other today, okay?"
"Yes, and keep an eye out for eight other potentially homicidal Chimeras," Stiles tacked on rather unenthusiastically with a little clap.
"And keep an eye out for the Dread Doctors," Kira added.
After we all agreed, Scott focussed on me, "We'll meet you in bio?"
I nodded, watching as Kira and Scott walked away, Scott placing his hand on Kira's back. I was glad they were finally an item. I had been worried after Allison had died that Scott wouldn't recover, but Kira seemed to be good for him.
"Starting to see the appeal of a third eye," Stiles stated loud enough that the two could hear as they walked away.
"How are you doing?" I asked Stiles, taking a step closer to him.
He tugged on the bag straps slung over his shoulder, eyes peering to the ground. "I've been worse."
I reached a hand forward, gently taking one of his hands in mine and talking quietly so no one could hear me. "Stiles, he is gone and no one was there. You're in the clear. No one has to know. Ever."
"Do you think we could skip school again? Just for today."
I was about to say yes when my words died in my throat. "Stiles, I wish I could, but I promised Charlotte that I wouldn't let my grades slip. I have AP bio today, and I can't fail that class. Any other day, and you know I would."
"I know," he said with a soft smile, before leaning down and kissing me gently. "I'll see you after class?"
"Of course."
I watched him walk away, concern sitting on my chest like a weight. I wanted to help him, but this was unknown territory for all of us; I had no idea what I could do.
After Stiles turned a corner, I started moving, walking towards my AP bio class. Stiles was the only thing on my mind, I had no idea how I was supposed to focus once I got in there. I'd probably end up having to borrow Lydia's notes.
♧♤♢♡
"So, while introducing the African Cane Toad, sounded like a good way to deal with Australia's infestation of the grey-backed beetle, unfortunately, the toad also decided to eat everything else in sight," Mrs Finch said from the front of the classroom.
I sat beside Lydia, mindlessly scribbling on a blank page in my book. A low buzzing noise caught my attention, my eyes drifting to the left to see Lydia had her phone out.
A conversation between her and Theo was on her screen.
From Theo: Chimera?
To Theo: Look at her hair.
"And everything that tried to eat the toad, from crocodiles to household pets, quickly died from the poison they secreted," Mrs Finch continued. "A perfect example of an invasive species."
Eyebrows pulling together, I looked up to see Sydney. She was in one of the seats in the row in front of us, fingers in her hair. When she pulled them away, she brought some of her hair with her.
"102 toads introduced in 1935 became 1.5 billion by 2010. Once an invasive species is introduced, everything changes."
I heard a small gasp escape Sydney before the girl stood up from the table. Without a word, she walked to the front of the room, placing a drop form on Mrs Finch's desk.
"Wise decision, Sydney," The woman said before the girl left. Lydia stood up next, following Sydney. "Lydia, you know it's for the best."
My best friend didn't say anything, just followed Sydney anyway. I considered leaving, but when I looked over my shoulder, I saw Theo shaking his head. I hated it, but he was right.
We couldn't both follow Sydney out. Considering we barely knew her, two of us following her would seem quite odd.
Sitting back down, I noticed Scott looked deep in thought. He was staring down at his desk, a drop form sitting in his textbook. Grabbing my phone out, I sent him a quick text.
To: Scott
Don't even think about it
Scott pulled his phone out of his pocket, reading the text beneath the table. He looked over his shoulder at me, a small smile on his face. I hadn't changed his mind completely, but I think it was enough to keep him from doing something he would regret.
I was about to focus back in on the class when Scott seemed to freeze up abruptly. His eyes turned to the door and one name escaped his lips; Lydia.
As soon as he stood up, I did the same, throwing my books in my backpack. Mrs Finch didn't seem all that concerned by our actions; maybe she thought we were dropping out too.
Following Scott closely, we stopped at a room a few doors down. Sydney was by Lydia's side, the girl passed out on the floor.
"Oh, my God," I gasped as I pushed past Scott to get to my best friend. Her eyes were wide open, her hands shaking as she lay completely still. "Lydia?"
Sydney was sat silently by her side, staring down at the girl. "Sydney, go and find her mum. Quickly, please," I told the girl. She nodded, climbing to her feet and rushing away.
Her eyes moved to look at me, but she didn't say anything. Slowly, I grabbed her under the arms and lifted so that she was sitting up against the wall. She took deep breaths as she started to refocus.
"Lydia, are you okay? Lydia?" I asked, touching a hand to her head to check for fever.
Lydia took my hand gently, a weak smile on her face. "I'm okay. I'm fine."
"You remembered something," Theo stated from behind me. Just the sound of his voice frustrated me. There was something different about him since we last knew him; Stiles was right. What that was, we were yet to figure out.
"Not about the Dread Doctors. Nothing about them or the surgery."
"What did you remember?" I asked softly, moving back so that Scott and Theo could help her to her feet.
Lydia took a seat at the table beside us, eyes shifting as she thought. "My grandmother. At Eichen House."
Before we could ask her to elaborate, Ms Martin was rushing into the room with Sydney at her heels. "Lydia? Lydia? Oh, my God, what happened? Are you alright?" The woman asked as she knelt before her daughter.
"Mum, I'm fine," Lydia informed her, trying to look as if her words were true. "It was nothing."
"Was it a blackout? Did you faint?"
The girl took a moment, before giving half of a nod, "Yeah. Yeah, I fainted. Mum, I'm fine. I promise."
Watching Ms Martin put her hand on Lydia's shoulder, worry all over her face, made my heart ache for my own mother. Times like these where I felt I needed her most made me miss her more; if that were even possible.
♧♤♢♡
l had offered to ditch school for the rest of the day with Lydia, but she said she was fine to finish. Her mother was hesitant at first, telling her that if she felt at all faint to go home.
She was okay for the rest of the day, but I did notice that she looked rather preoccupied throughout the rest of our AP bio class. I went to ask her if she was alright at one point but ended up getting called on by Mrs Finch.
Straight after class, she packed up and was out the door. It was our last class, but even then she was moving rather fast. Grabbing my phone, I sent a text to Stiles for him to meet us at the parking lot.
"Hey, what's the hurry?" I asked as I jogged to catch up with her.
She slowed down enough for me to catch up, but didn't stop walking. "I need to go back to the hospital. The memory I had wasn't of the surgery, but I don't know why. I need to go back into that room."
When we got to the car park, I followed Lydia over to her car and both of us climbed in. She was about to start driving when I asked her to wait a moment. She turned to me with a confused look on her face, about to ask why I wasn't letting her leave yet when one of the back doors opened.
"So, where are we headed?" Stiles asked as he slid into the back seat and shut the door behind him.
Lydia gave us both a grateful smile before she began driving. She gave us a short run-down of what she had been thinking about after having her memory.
Apparently, it wasn't what she had been expecting it to be. In fact, the Dread Doctors hadn't been in it as all. But, we were never promised the Dread Doctors in the memories, just that they would help us to understand.
"Okay, so then what are we doing here if you've already had your suppressed memory?" Stiles asked as we all got out of the car at the hospital.
"It wasn't the right memory," Lydia reminded him. "I remembered my grandmother at Eichen House. There was nothing to do with the surgery, nothing to do with the Dread Doctors. So, if I've read the full book, why don't I have the full memory of my experience with them?"
"I don't think Doctor Valack said that the two would be directly correlated though, Lydia," I pointed out. "Plus, this is all very out of our league. Who knows how this works?"
"No," The strawberry blonde mumbled to herself, before looking up at me. "Something happened during the surgery. But now I think that maybe it has more to do with me being a Banshee."
"Which could mean what?" Stiles asked, all of us still standing in the middle of the parking lot.
Lydia looked confused for a moment before her eyes widened and she looked at us both. "It's not my memory," she said quietly.
Then whose was it?
We walked into the hospital, heading straight for the room in which Lydia's surgery had taken place. The room was cold and dark, the only light coming from the surgical lamps.
"Can you switch the lights on?" Lydia asked quietly so that no one would hear us in here.
Stiles turned around, walking over to the switch that was placed next to the door. He flicked it a couple of times, but nothing happened. "Uh, not going on."
"Ask someone."
"Hey, I thought this was more of an auditory thing," Stiles countered.
Lydia shrugged, "I still want to see what I'm hearing."
Stiles paused, watching the girl. before turning to me and then back to Lydia. "Makes sense," he mumbled before opening the door.
"I'm going to stay with Lydia, just in case something happens again," I told him as he looked at me expectantly.
He looked like he was about to say otherwise, but ending up nodding. "Okay. I won't be long. Scott and the others are all on their way, too."
I stayed out of the way as Lydia walked around the room slowly. This was an auditory sort of thing, so I figured talking wouldn't exactly be of any use to her.
We were in there for a while, and nothing really seemed to be happening. I was honestly ready to scrap the plan, but Lydia wasn't having it.
So, I returned to my wall, watching as Lydia leaned towards a heart rate monitor, listening for whatever might help her figure out what she had seen in this room.
Waiting, I grabbed my phone out of my pocket to check the time. It had been almost fifteen minutes and Stiles still wasn't back.
I attempted to call him, but the call didn't go through. Confused, I pulled my phone down to read the screen. Strangely enough, my reception was dropping in and out.
With a sigh, I turned to my friend. "Lydia, something is wrong with my phone, I'm going outside to make a call."
"Shh," The girl instructed, not listening as she brushed me off.
Nodding, I pocketed my phone and opened the door. "I'll be back," I told Lydia, before walking out into the hallway.
When I was still getting no reception, I decided to quickly go down to the hospital lobby to see if he was there. I didn't really know where one would go to get hospital power turned back on, and I couldn't contact Stiles or Melissa, so this was all I had.
Climbing out of the elevator on the first floor, I almost walked directly into Scott. We stared at each other for a moment, more surprised than anything, considering how big this hospital is.
"We were just about to come looking for you," Scott said. "Isaac, Theo, Malia and I - we just split up to find the three of you."
"I was trying to find Stiles," I explained. "Lydia is in the operating theatre on the second floor, but the lights were out. Stiles went to figure out how to turn them back on but never came back. I was hoping to find your mum or someone."
Scott gestured to the elevator, "I was just about to go and see her. Come with me."
I nodded, following him into the elevator. As soon as we were both inside the lift, Scott hit the button for the fourth floor. The doors closed slowly, and I felt my eyes drifting to Scott. Something felt wrong.
"Are you okay?"
"I had my hallucination," he said without looking away from the doors.
Noticing how tense his shoulders were, I broached the topic carefully, "Do you want to talk about it?"
He glanced down at me, offering a small smile of gratitude. "Later, maybe. We're almost there and we need to focus on finding everyone."
Agreeing, I turned back to the elevator door as it dinged, signalling that we had arrived on our floor. Before Scott could even take one step, something grabbed him and ripped him out of the elevator. His body was slammed against the wall, as one of the Dread Doctors held him captive.
It was the one with the flat metal mask who had unlocked the gates in Eichen with some sort of electric pulse in their gloves. They weren't the one with the cane, who we presumed to be the leader, but they were just as dangerous.
"Scott!" I shouted, running towards him. The Dread Doctor raised a hand before I could do anything, pressing his fingers into my chest.
I felt a wave of electricity run through my body, sending me backwards. Tumbling, my back hit the wall of the elevator hard, my head smacking the metal hand rail.
Watching with blurred vision, I saw the Dread Doctor press his fingers to Scott's chest. The electricity ran along him, the boy's eyes widening as he struggled to breath.
He was reaching into his pocket, trying to grab something out. Squinting, I realised it was his inhaler. But why would Scott need his inhaler? He was a werewolf, afterall.
The inhaler fell from Scott's hands, tumbling to the ground. I tried to climb to my feet, but the electricity still had me dizzy. I made it to my feet, but could barely take a step before I felt like my legs would fail me.
I tried to get to him, but the doors closed before I could. Reaching for the buttons, when I felt the elevator begin to move. Confused, I glanced at the number changing. I hadn't pressed anything, which meant someone on another floor had requested the lift.
When the doors reopened, I saw Melissa and my sister standing at the doors.
"Riley," Malia gasped, reaching for me as my legs finally gave out. "Where's Scott?"
Using her to hold my self up, I pointed downwards. "Floor below. There's a Dread Doctor there."
Melissa took me from Malia's arms after pressing the button. The elevator began to move again, and Malia stood at the door, waiting for us to arrive.
The door made the dinging sound as they opened. The Dread Doctor had Scott up against the wall by his throat again, his inhaler on the ground in pieces. This wasn't good.
Malia growled, the Doctor turning to see her. He threw Scott away with ease, staring at the girl. Malia growled again, rushing forward to attack.
"We need to help him," I said to Melissa, referencing her son.
She nodded in agreement, slowly letting go of me. I took a few steps to make sure I was okay, before beginning to move faster. Melissa and I went straight to Scott, lifting him to his feet and practically dragging him to the elevator as Malia held off the Dread Doctor.
Reaching the elevator, we dropped Scott down, who was still struggling to breath. Taking a deep breath, I tried to use my ability to help with his airflow, but I don't know how much good it was doing.
Melissa brought out a needle, uncapping it and preparing to inject Scott. The boy began to panic, wheezing as he spoke. "Wait, what is that?"
"A bronchodilator. It'll work," his mother replied. That was enough for me.
She stabbed him in the leg without waiting for a reply. Scott's breathing immediately improved, the action no longer causing his body to rattle like an empty can.
As Melissa checked on her son, I turned to see how my sister was doing. Seeing her attacks beginning to stifle, I thought it best to rein her in.
"Malia! Get away from it! Run!"
She was about to, when the Doctor grabbed her by the throat. Malia managed to hit its arm and escape. She ran for the elevator where I was waiting, ready to press the button for any floor where this thing wasn't.
Melissa and I continued to shout, telling her to run. Finally, she burst through the doors. I have never pressed a button so fast, begging for the doors to shut before the Doctor could get to them.
They shut just in time, the Dread Doctor punching it angrily. I sunk down the wall, looking around the elevator.
"We never should've read that book," Scott said, releasing an exasperated sigh.