Chapter Fifty-Eight
⚡Sundowning⚡
Scott and Lydia sit in the library on front of a laptop as Scott reads out the definition of "Stile". "Stile: an arrangement of steps that allows people but not animals, to climb over a fence." He read before turning Lydia, who has a doubtful look about the information they found.
"Yeah, somehow I don't think this is the "Stiles" we're looking for. Let's try Odie." She said before typing in something and Scott read it out again. "Odie is a fictional dog who appears in the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis..." He trailed off making Lydia close her eyes and sigh, "Yeah, that's definitely not the right Odie."
"Maybe Malia has found something." Scott suggested and Lydia shook her head, "No. She's making a test today."
In Natalie's office, Malia is indeed making her make-up math test. She's trying to answer an equation, which asks "Find the partial fraction decomposition" but when begins writing an answer, she accidentally breaks another pencil with her super-strength and the screen shows more pencils she already broke before she grabs another one and Natalie reveals her time.
"Only 20 minutes left." She said making
Malia, nervously look at the clock and Natalie, noticing how tense Malia is. "Try to relax." Natalie said making Malia look up her wide eyed, "Relax?!" She asked and Natalie smiled softly.
"Breathe in and feel yourself relaxing."
Malia attempts to follow her advice but then she looks at the equations in confusion and then looks at the clock, realizing she doesn't have much time to end the test and starts hyperventilating. Natalie, noticing Malia's panic calmly speaks up, "Malia..." She said making Malia snap out of her trance and turns to Natalie still stressed.
"You need to calm your breathing. Maybe try some positve self-talk."
"I'm positive I don't wanna be here." Malia growled slightly as she gripped the edge of the desk as her claws come out. Natalie takes a deep breath before she attempts yet again to mollify Malia, "Remember, school is a safe space. Let's breath together. Just one deep breath." She said her and Malia take a deep breath together.
"A little deeper."
They take a deeper breath but Malia is so stressed that she is grabbing the pencil with strength.
"A little deeper."
Malia's stress reaches its limit and her eyes glow Beta blue before she breaks the pencil she was holding with her one hand in half. She turns into a true coyote like she did in Memory Lost and runs down the hall leaving a scared Natalie behind.
Back in the library, Scott and Lydia hear Malia's werecoyote howl. Scott, unsettled by what they just heard, looks at Lydia, who seems more than certain of what happened. "I guess the test isn't going well." Lydia mumbled before her and Scott leave the library in order to find Malia before anything else happens.
Scott arrives at the basement of the school and finds coyote Malia hiding behind shelves, growling at him. Scott slowly walks towards her, "Malia, it's okay. You're safe." Coyote-Malia keeps growling at Scott as Lydia, Natalie, Charles and Sheriff Stilinski walk in.
"I'm not gonna hurt you." Scott said calmly and Malia growled again, "I think she's is calming down." Scott said and Stilinski looks a tiny scared of Malia's growling. "Maybe you should growl back?" He suggested and Malia growls one more time making Natalie jump slightly as Sheriff looks at Scott desperately.
"Scott, you're the Alpha. Can you just make a little more docile?" He asked and Lydia shook her head, "She's not the problem. We are. This is her territory. We need to get out of here." Lydia said as Malia growled again and Scott nodded. "Yes. C'mon." Scott said before the five of them walk around the shelved.
"Malia came here to get to the full moons. Then we got to the lake house." Lydia said making her mom look at her confused, "I thought you said a wild animal got in the lake house." She asked and Lydia sighed softly.
"Just be happy for the things I don't tell you." Lydia mumbled and then their attention gets turned to Malia walking and she slowly transforms back into her human form and the men dodges their attention since Malia is naked. "It's alright. I'm okay." Malia said and Natalie sighed in relief before giving Malia her clothes back while Charles looks at Scott and Lydia questioningly.
"Any idea what made her shift?" He asked and Scott shrugged slightly, "She's under a lot of pressure. School, her life after graduation." He listed and Lydia nodded, "Her mom trying to kill her." She said and Scott looked at her, "That shouldn't make her shift." He said but then realization crossed over his features.
"Could it be connected to Stiles and Odie?" He asked and she sighed and shrugged, "Hard to tell since we don't know what an "Odie" or "Stiles" is." She said and Stilinski and Charles both perk up slightly.
"It's a "he"." Stilinski said making Scott and Lydia look at him confused. "Who?" Scott asked. "Stiles. It's a family nickname. I never used it, but... my father did." Stilinski said and Charles nodded slightly, "Odie is short for Odette. It was Grant's mother's ne but everyone called her Odie." He said making Scott and Lydia look at each other wide eyes.
⚡
Scott and Lydia sit in front of Stilinski, Charles and Grant at the Stilinski house hold as Claudia, Stilinski's wife, looked around for something. "My mother was a Werewolf like me and was born into the Alarie family. My father took her name when they married because if the history behind it." Grant explained and Lydia nodded slightly.
"And her nickname was Odie?" Lydia asked and Grant nodded, "It was a nickname Charles' grandfather gave her. Damn near everyone called her it." He said and Scott sighed softly. "If there anyway we could talk to her?" He asked and Charles and Grant looked at each other and chuckled.
"Sure... if you know french and you have an ouija board." Grant said naming the teen's eyes widen, "She's dead..." Lydia trailed off and Grant nodded. "She died about twelve years ago." He said as Claudia walked back into the room, handing Stilinski a box.
"Thanks, honey." He said as Claudia takes a seat next to her husband before he starts explaining about his father's life. "He was an army engineer." He said as he takes out a photo of his father and hands it to Scott, "He ended the war, one bridge at a time."
"He went by "Stiles?" He asked and Stilinski nodded, "So what's this got to do with the Wild Hunt?" He asked and Scott and Lydia looked at each other before Scott sighed softly. "We think that two people were taken from us." He said and Charles raised his eyebrows, "Any idea who?" He asked and Scott sighs and hesitates before he gives an answer.
"The Ghost Riders would have erased our memories."
"Well. That's convenient."
"We found a clue. The words Stiles and Odie." Lydia said and Claudia sighed softly, "And that's why you wanna talk to Elias and Grant's mother?" She asked and Scott looks at Stilinski and Claudia with a determined expression. "Maybe your dad could help us figure it out. Maybe ke knows who we're looking for." Scott suggested.
"Are these people of your age?" Stilinski asked and Scott nodded, "Yeah, I... I think they were my friends. Maybe one was my best friend and the other was Lydia's best friend." And despite Scott's statements, Sheriff doesn't look just as hopeful as Scott and Lydia are.
"I guarantee my father can't help you." Stilinski said and Scott sighed and gives the photo of Elias back to the Sheriff, who keeps it in the box before he tries to reason with him.
"Can we try?" He asked and Stilinski shook his head, "Scott, he lives in a nursing house three towns over. He hasn't received visits for years." He said. As the two talked Lydia notices an elderly woman walking in the living room, who is not seen by anybody else. The lady stops and turns before she starts speaking.
"The following stops have been canceled."
Lydia starts hearing the sound of a train that nobody else hears as the lady spoke up again.
"The following stops have been canceled."
The elderly woman starts walking down the hall and Lydia turns to Claudia, "Can I go to the bathroom?" She asked making them all look at her and Claudia nodded. "Sure." She said and Lydia smiled before getting up from the couch and follows the old woman down the hall.
She turns down the hall and finds the old lady staring at the wall. "Why are you here?" She asked but the old lady doesn't say or do anything and instead just stares at the wall as Lydia slowly walks toward her. "Is there something you wanted to tell me?" She asked and the old lady keeps staring at the wall and doesn't answer Lydia's questions.
"What stop has been canceled?"
Lydia, wanting to know the reasons of the lady being there, tries to touch her but Claudia stops her from doing so and she snaps her up from her trance. "Lydia? Did you find it? The last door on the left." Claudia called out making Lydia jump slightly and glance down the hall. She turns back to where the old lady was standing and is both surprised and shocked to see that she is gone making her sigh. "Found it."
"You're not hearing me. Trust me... you don't wanna talk to him." Stilinski said as Scott attempts to convince him to let him and the girls see his father. "Just for a few minutes." Scott said and Stilinski sighed and shook his head. "Scott. My father can't help you." He said but Scott doesn't give up, "Just a few questions. Five minutes!" He said as Lydia walked back into the room.
Stilinski's exasperation reaches its peak and he speaks to Scott in a sharp tone, "It's not possible for you to just talk to this guy! Okay?" He said before taking a softer tone of voice when he speaks again and his expression becomes apologetic. "Just find another way."
"But what is this is the only way? We can't talk to Grant's mother." He said and Claudia cuts the discussion to side with her husband, "Scott. You have your answer." She said but Scott still doesn't give up.
"Sheriff, please." He begged slightly, "Scott." Grant said making Scott look at him to see him shake his head slightly.
Scott, disappointed, turns back to Stilinski before Stilinski once again reiterates his point. "The answer is no." He said making Scott and Lydia share a frustrated look.
⚡
Scott, Lydia and Malia arrive at the nursing home where Elias Stilinski resides in. "I can't believe we're about to break into a nursing home." Scott said and Malia shrugged, "After the orderlies of Eichen House, pretty sure we can handle some nurses." She said before walking onto the nursing home.
She finds the head male nurse on a call,
"I've gotta go. Someone is coming." He said before ending the call and turning to Malia. "Hi, over there. There's something I can do-" He stared to ask but Malia grabbed the Nurse's head and slams it on the table. The Nurse falls on the ground after the impact with the table and Malia, off-screen, drags him into a closet and locks him in there, preventing him from stopping them from talking to Elias.
At his bedroom, Elias Stilinski, is listening to old trumpet music. Unbeknownst to him, Scott, Lydia and Malia arrive at his room and slowly walk towards him, wanting to talk to him. Elias turns to them and seems confused, "Yes? Is it time for my medicine?"
"We don't have your medicine." Malia said and Elias sighs in understanding and turns around. "Are you Elias Stilinski?" Lydia asked making him turn to her, "I am." He said and Scott and Lydia look at each other before she walks towards Elias.
"I'm Lydia Martin. Do you know who I am?" She asked and he furrowed his brows, looking at her in confusion, "Should I?" He asked making her frown slightly as Scott walked forward. "Mr. Stilinski, we're looking for someone who might be named Stiles. And you went by the name in the army, right?" He asked and Elias nodded, "Yes. Those were the best years of my life." He said.
"Do you know any of us?" Malia asked and Elias looked at her slightly crazy, "Of course I do. How could I forget my own son?" He asked looking at Scott making him frown in confusion. "Your son?" He asked as he shares a confused and concerned look with Lydia who turned to Elias.
"Mr. Stilinski. What year is it?" She asked making him look at her, "1976. My son's birthday is next week." He said making her sigh before tuning to Scott and Malia. "He has dementia." She said making Scott's eyes widen slightly, turning to Elias with a slight frown.
"Is it time for my medicine?"
⚡
"Scott McCall?" Elias asked after a few minutes of them explaining who they are and Scott nodded making Elias shake his head. "No, no, no. You're my son." He said and Malia stepped forward slightly, "Keep it down, old guy. You'll wake up the other old people." She said before she starts eating peas from Elias' dinner making both Lydia and Scott look at her weird while Elias looks uncomfortable with Malia's behavior.
"I don't like her."
Lydia sits next to Elias to help him with his memory problems and gives him a firm look, "Your son... is the sheriff of Beacon Hills." She said and he looked at her confused. "Sheriff? No, no, no. I was in the army." He said making Malia sigh frustratingly, "Use your claws, Scott." She said and Scott shook his head.
"It could kill him." He said and Malia shrugged slightly, "I get that but we're running out of time." She said and Scott just sighed softly. "I can't." He said and Malia, both impatient and frustrated, flicks out her claws and went toward Elias but Scott stops her by grabbing her wrist. "No. We're not hurting him." Scott said before letting her go.
"Young lady." Elias said making Malia look over at him, "You need to clip those nails." He said and she sighed softly and stepped back.
Not long later, Elias starts getting more and more agitated because of Scott, Lydia and Malia's presence. "You shouldn't be here. If you don't leave, I have to report you." He said making Scott look at Lydia wide eyed, "Uh... What's wrong with him?" He said and Lydia glanced out the window and realization crossed over her features.
"The sun went down." She said making them look at her confused, "So..." He asked as Elias starts becoming even more agitated and groans in anger while Lydia becomes aware of what is going on with Elias. "He's sundowning. It's when patients with dementia lose their faculties after the sun goes down." She explained l.
"I don't wanna talk to you anymore!"
"So what do we do?" Malia asked and Lydia sighed and shook her head slightly, "Wait until the sun comes back up." She said making Malia look at her crazy. "We can't wait that long." She said and Scott nodded,
"There's gotta be something we can do to keep him quite."
"Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave."
"I can calm him down." Malia suggested making Scott and Lydia instantly turn to her. "No!" They both said at the same time before Lydia turned to Elias, grabbing some of the papers on the table. "Elias look at the equations. Look. It's binomial of probability. What's "P"?" Lydia asked as Elias looked down at the papers.
"Probability of success?" He asked and she nodded, "Right. And what means N minus K?" She asked and he thinks for a moment before answering. "Number of trials minus the number of successes." He said and Lydia chuckled slightly and nodded, while Malia looked at them confused.
"What's with math?" Malia asked and Lydia glanced up at her for a second, "It helps Dementia patients concentration. And this one?" Lydia asked, pointing at another equation. "That's... um... Conditional probability." Elias answered before standing up while Lydia sat back down.
"Let's find the moment of inertia." She said but Elias didnt answer right away making her look up at him, "Elias?" She asked and he squinted at them.
"That's Mr. Stilinski. Just who the hell do you think you are?"
⚡
"You know Scott isn't your son?" Lydia asked and Elias looked at her like she was stupid, "Of course I know that. Are brains are getting smaller with the skirts?" He asked and Malia starts to growl under her breath.
"Malia. It's okay." Scott said making Elias turn to to him, "So you're that McCall kid." He said and Scott looked up at him surprised. "You know me?" He asked, "I know your dad. He couldn't hold his liquor, and certainly couldn't keep that wedding ring on his finger. A beautiful lady walking by and poof, that ring just disappeared like magic." He said making Scott look at him shocked while Malia growled again.
"Do you know all of us?" Lydia asked making Elias look at her first a second before recognizing her, "You're Natalie Martin's daughter. Am I right? You look like her. She was pretty once too." He said. "Stop talking." Malia said as her eyes flashed blue making Scott shoot up from his seat, "Hey, hey. Malia." He said.
"She also liked to talk like she was the smartest person in her room." Elias said making Lydia squint at him before Malia loses her patience completely, flicks out her claws and lunges toward Elias. "Malia!"
"Enough!" Someone yelled making them all turn around to see Stilinski standing next to the equally-angry nurse that Malia locked in the closet before Scott regains his composure and attempts to justify his and the girls' actions. "Sheriff, we..." He started to say but Stilinski's expression is the one that shows h couldn't be more disappointed with he three teens.
"I explicitly told you not come here. And who attacked a staff member?" He asked and the nurse pointed at Malia, "That's her." He said making Malia let out another low growl as she glared at him.
"What were you thinking?" Stilinski asked and Elias started to walk around the table, "Noah, we were just having a nice conversation." He said but Stilinski ignores his father and turns to Scott, Lydia and Malia with an instruction. "The three of you, out. Now." He said and the three nodded before walking off.
Sheriff starts to follow Scott, Lydia and Malia to the station, making Elias to become angry toward his son for not noticing him. "That's right! Act like I'm not even here. Go crawling back to your dead wife, your loser son and his stupid girlfriend!" Elias yelled making Stilinski turn to his father with a confused look, "What did you say?" He asked but before Elias could answer, he instantly goes back to his confused state.
"Is it... time... for my medicine?"
⚡
Scott, Lydia and Malia stand around the holding cells in the station getting scolded by a disappointed Natalie. "We know this looks bad-" Scott said making Natalie scoff slightly, "It doesn't look bad, Scott. It is bad." She said and Scott makes a sheepish face before Natalie rants on the severity of the situation.
"You've broken into a nursing home, you harassed a dementia patient and beat up a nurse. This could affect the rest of your lives! Especially you, Malia. They're talking felony assault!" Natalie said and Malia shrugged slightly, "I didn't beat him up. I could have, but I chose not to." She said and Lydia sighed softly.
"That's an improvement." She said making her mom give her a look before Stilinski walked in and sighed. "By some miracle, the nurse decided to drop the charges. They're free to go." He said before walking and Natalie turned back to her daughter.
"Just because you're not going to jail doesn't mean you aren't grounded for eternity."
⚡
Charles sighed softly before hanging off the phone and walking back over to Grant who sat on the couch. "What did Natalie want?" He asked as Charles sat down next to him, "Apparently Scott, Malia and Lydia broke into the nursing her and basically harassed the Sheriff's father." He said and Grant chuckled softly and shook his head.
"Kids never learn, do they?" He asked and Charles sighed softly, "They're just following something they believe in. Their heads might not thing straight but their hearts are in the right place." He said before drifting off in thought slightly.
"Do you ever think about it?" Charles asked after a minute making Grant look at him confused, "About what?" He asked and Charles shrugged slightly. "We've been together for several years, never even really talked about marriage or even adopting." He said and Grant raised his eyebrows.
"Well, marriage I have no problem with. But do you really want to bring a kid into our world? People in our world die everyday. I mean- I really dont want to sound insensitive but I don't want to end up like Chris." Grant said making Charles sigh and nod, "Yeah... Yeah, you have a point." He said, still deep in thought.
⚡
A knock sound from Lydia's bedroom door making her look up to see Charles walking into her room making her sigh softly. "Here to lecture me too?" She asked and he chuckled and shook his head before sitting down at her desk chair. "No, no. I wanted to talk to you, I wanna know what you guys think. I'm a lot more understanding about thing when it comes down to the supernatural than the Sheriff is. I get why you guys do the things you do."
Lydia hesitated for a moment before sighing and talking, "I know we're missing two people. I can feel it. And the names Stiles and Odie are the closest clues we can find. I was hoping that maybe because Stiles is a Stilinski family nickname and Odie is an Alarie family nickname maybe you guys have something to do with them." She said and he nodded slightly.
"You know, I remembered something earlier. It was years before Grant and I started dating, we were maybe sixteen or something. We were talking about life after school and Grant said that he wants to one day have a daughter. And I was curious and I asked what he would name her." He explained before pausing slightly as Lydia nodded along.
"I remember that he said "My daughter would be the most important person in my life, so I'd want to name her after the most important women in my life. My mother. I'll name her Odette, but we'll all probably end up calling her Odie."" He said making Lydia look up at him shocked.