Scott, Lydia and Tessa attempted to find 'Stiles' in the dictionary. All they found was 'Stile'.
Scott read the definition aloud. ""Stile, an arrangement of steps that allows people, but not animals, to climb over a thing.""
Lydia frowned. "Yeah, somehow I don't think this is the Stiles we're looking for."
Scott looked at his friends and cousin hopefully. "Maybe Malia's found something."
Tessa shook her head. "No, Malia's been in a make-up test all morning."
They heard howling and Tessa sighed. "I don't think it's going well."
The teens made their way to the basement.
Scott said to a shifted Malia, "Malia, it's okay. You're safe. I'm not gonna hurt you." She growled.
Sheriff Stilinski glanced at Scott. "Maybe you should growl back? Scott, you're the alpha. Can't you just make her a little docile?"
Tessa looked between her friends. "Back up, guys. She isn't the problem. We are. We're in her space. This is her territory. Let's get out of here."
Lydia nodded to her friend as they made their way to the locker room entrance. "Smart call, Tessa." She raised her voice. "Malia used to come here to get through the full moons, before we started using the lake house."
Ms. Martin narrowed her eyes at her daughter. "I thought you said a wild animal got in the lake house."
Lydia shrugged. "Just be happy about all the things I don't tell you."
Malia let out another small growl and her coyote form stalked towards the group as she shifted back into a human. She smiled lightly. "It's all right. I'm okay."
Ms. Martin handed Malia her clothes as the sheriff asked, "Any idea what made her shift?"
"She's under a lot of pressure," Scott replied. "School, her life after graduation."
"Her mom trying to kill her," Lydia added.
Scott glanced at her. "That shouldn't make her shift."
"Could it be connected to Stiles?" Tessa asked, smiling slightly at the name.
Scott shrugged. "Hard to tell since we don't know what a "Stiles" is."
"It's a "he"," the sheriff said.
"Who?"
"Stiles. It's a family nickname. I never used it, but, uh, my father did."
Scott and Tessa made their way to the sheriff's house to speak to the sheriff and his wife. The sheriff grabbed a photo from the mantle and held it out to the teens. "He was an Army engineer. Ended the war one bridge at a time."
"And he went by Stiles," Scott said, reading the name in the corner of the picture.
"So what's all this got to do with the Wild Hunt?"
Tessa looked up at the sheriff. "We think someone was taken from us."
"Any idea who?"
Scott shook his head. "Uh, the Ghost Riders would have erased our memories."
"Well, now, that's convenient."
Tessa fiddled with her camp necklace. "We did find a clue. The word Stiles."
"And that's why you want to talk to Elias?" Claudia questioned.
Scott rubbed a hand up and down Tessa's back as he said, "Yeah. We think he might be able to help us figure it out. Maybe he knows what we're looking for."
Sheriff Stilinski took the photo back from Scott. "Now is this someone your age?"
"Yeah, I..." Scott paused. "I think he was my friend. Maybe he was my best friend. And he might have been Tessa's friend, too."
"I guarantee you my father can't help you."
Tessa narrowed her eyes. "Can't we try?"
"Scott, Tessa, he lives in a nursing home three towns over. Hasn't had a visitor in years."
Tessa asked shakily, "Would I be able to use your bathroom?"
Claudia nodded and smiled. "Sure."
Tessa walked slowly down the hall deep in thought.
Claudia's voice caught her attention. "Tessa? Did you find it? The last door on the left."
Tessa placed a hand on the door. "Found it."
Instead of going in, she stood against the opposite wall for a moment and closed her eyes.
The teens left the Stilinski home and met up with Liam who immediately asked, "Stilinski said no, didn't he?"
Scott sighed. "Yeah."
"But you're going to anyway?"
"Obviously," Tessa stated.
Liam shifted nervously. "Or you two could stay here and help me convince Gwen she's in danger."
Scott shook his head. "It's not your job to convince her. It's your job to keep her safe."
Malia shrugged. "Just kidnap her."
Tessa shot her friend a look and turned back to Liam. "Don't listen to her. We'll be back later after we talk to Sheriff's father."
"Do we really have to do this?"
"He's our only lead," Scott told her.
Liam frowned. "Okay. What if the Ghost Riders show up?"
"Then you'll handle it, Liam. And look, you're not alone. You've got Mason and Corey and Hayden. Okay? Just find a safe place for Gwen and keep her there."
"Any suggestions?"
"It doesn't matter as long as she's safe."
"Kidnap her," Malia repeated.
Tessa shook her head. "Don't listen to her."
They made their way to the nursing home where Elias Stilinski was and Tessa didn't bother trying to figure out the name. She didn't care about putting in forth the effort. They were on a mission after all.
Scott looked up at the building. "I can't believe we're about to break into a nursing home."
"Mmm," Tessa hummed. "This is nothing new."
Scott glanced at his cousin. "I'm not sure I want to know."
Malia nodded and picked up her pace. "After the orderlies at Eichen House, pretty sure we can handle some nurses."
She slammed the nurse's head on the desk and locked him in a closet.
Tessa rolled her eyes and walked away.
The teens walked into the day room and found an old man listening to old trumpet music. He turned and asked, "Yes? Is it time for my medicine?"
"We don't have your medicine," Malia replied bluntly.
The man's face fell. "Oh."
"Are you Elias Stilinski?" Lydia asked.
"I am."
"I'm Lydia Martin. Do you know who I am?"
Elias frowned. "Should I?"
Scott spoke up. "Hey, Mr. Stilinski, we're looking for somebody who might be named Stiles. You went by that name in the Army, right?"
Elias nodded. "Yes. Best years of my life."
"Do you know any of us?" Tessa questioned.
"Of course I do," Elias replied, turning to Scott. "How could I forget my own son?"
"Your son?" Scott repeated, exchanging a look with Lydia and Tessa.
"Mr. Stilinski. What year is it?" Lydia asked.
"1976," Elias answered. "It's my son's birthday next week."
Lydia sighed softly. "He has dementia."
"Is it time for my medicine?"
Scott looked at Elias. "My name is Scott McCall."
Elias shook his head. "Scott McCall? No, no, no, no, no, no. You're my son."
Malia frowned. "Keep it down, old guy. You'll wake the other old people." She saw a plate of food and started eating from it.
Elias frowned. "I don't like her."
Lydia knelt in front of him. "Your son. He's the sheriff of Beacon Hills."
"Sheriff? No, no, no, no, no. No, no. I was in the Army."
"Use your claws, Scott," Malia said.
"It could kill him," Scott protested, shaking his head.
"I get that, but we're running out of time."
"I can't."
Malia sighed and flicked her claws as she walked closer to Elias. Scott grabbed her wrist. "Hey! No. We're not hurting him."
Elias looked at Malia disapprovingly. "Young lady, you need to clip those nails."
Malia glared and opened her mouth, but Elias continued. "You shouldn't be here. If you don't leave, I'll have to report you."
Scott flicked his eyes to Lydia. "Uh... What's wrong with him?"
Lydia glanced out the window. "The sun went down."
"So?"
"He's sundowning," Tessa explained. "It's when dementia patients lose their faculties after the sun goes down."
Elias' breath began to quicken. "I don't want to talk to you anymore!"
"So what do we do?" Malia wondered.
Lydia shrugged. "We wait til the sun comes up."
"We can't wait that long."
Scott nodded. "There's gotta be something we could do to keep him quiet."
"Leave, leave, leave, leave," Elias repeated as he sounded close to hysterics.
"I can calm him down," Malia said.
"No!" Scott, Lydia and Tessa yelled.
Tessa grabbed a piece of paper. "Hey, look at the equations. Look. It's binomial probability. What's 'P'?"
Elias relaxed a little. "Um, probability of success?"
Lydia nodded. "Right. Uh... And that means N minus K is?"
"Uh, number of trials minus the number of successes?"
"What's with the math?" Malia asked.
"It allows dementia patients to concentrate," Tessa answered. "And this one?"
"That's, um... Conditional probability," Elias said.
"Let's find the moment of inertia," Lydia suggested as Elias glared at the paper. "Elias?"
He shot her a dark glare. "That's Mr. Stilinski. Just who the hell do you think you are?"
Tessa tilted her head. "You know that Scott isn't your son?"
He looked to her and scoffed. "Of course I know that. Are brains getting smaller with the skirts?"
Malia, who was wearing a small skirt, growled lowly and Scott whispered, "Malia, it's okay."
Elias looked at Scott. "So you're that McCall kid."
Scott nodded, widening his eyes. "You know me?"
"I know your dad and the blonde's uncle. Couldn't hold his liquor and he certainly couldn't keep that wedding ring on his finger. Pretty young thing would walk by and poof, that ring just disappeared like magic."
"Do you know all of us?" Lydia asked.
He turned back to Lydia. "Oh... You're Natalie Martin's girl. Am I right? You look like her. She was pretty once, too."
Malia's eyes flashed steel blue. "Stop talking."
"Hey, Malia," Scott called.
Elias turned his attention back to Lydia. "And she also liked to talk like she was the smartest person in the room."
Malia growled and stepped forward, flicking her claws.
"Malia!" Scott yelled.
"Enough," a new voice told them.
The teens turned to see the sheriff entering the room with the nurse Malia had knocked out and stuffed in a closet.
Scott started trying to explain everything. "Sheriff, we..."
The sheriff cut him off. "I explicitly told you and Tessa not to come here. And who attacked a staff member?"
The nurse pointed to Malia. "That's her."
Malia growled lowly and the sheriff glared at her. "What the hell were you thinking?!"
Elias looked up at his son. "Noah. We were just having a nice conversation."
Sheriff Stilinski glared at the teens. "The four of you. Out. Now."
Tessa stood, slowly following her friends out. She paused at the door hearing Elias say, "Noah. That's right. Act like I'm not even here. Go crawling back to your dead wife and your loser son!"
"What did you say?"
Elias calmed down. "Is it time for my medicine?"
Tessa walked briskly from the room with a frown. This Stiles being called a loser irked her in a way she didn't understand. She would do whatever she had to to get him back. According to Nico, he wasn't dead, so she would have to make a deal with her uncle or go to the Underworld to get him back.
At the station, the teens were being reprimanded by Ms. Martin.
"We know it's bad," Scott said.
Ms. Martin frowned. "It doesn't look bad, Scott. It is bad. You broke into a nursing home, you harassed a dementia patient, and you beat up a nurse. This could affect the rest of your lives. Especially you, Malia. They're talking felony assault."
Malia frowned. "I didn't beat him up. I could have, but I chose not to."
"That's an improvement," Lydia told her mom.
Tessa frowned at how familiar Lydia's words sounded.
The sheriff frowned at them. "By some miracle, the nurse decided to drop the charges. They're free to go."
Ms. Martin glared at her daughter. "Just because you're not going to jail, doesn't mean you're not grounded for all eternity."