hold me closer

45

"The ghost riders took everyone. We barely slowed them down," Malia informed Lydia.

Argent had gotten injured so we were in the hospital. I had to heal him, but he was still weak and exhausted.

"Tell us you found something," Scott said.

"I found out Claudia never had children," she replied. "So Stiles can't be her son."

"What about a relic?" Malia asked and Lydia shook her head. "There never was a Stiles, was there?"

"It doesn't even sound like a real name," Scott said sadly.

"We have to keep looking," Lydia said. "Check the school records again. Or call Scott's dad."

"We're fighting the wrong battle," Malia said.

"We're trying to bring Stiles back," Lydia countered.

"The ghost riders came back," Malia argued. "We still have no way of stopping them. And whatever they are, they're real. We can't keep chasing someone who isn't."

Scott looked at her sadly with a kind face. "He didn't leave anything behind."

"Just us."

"He can't have not existed," Lydia said to me. "It doesn't make sense."

"I know," I said. "And Mrs. Stilinski doesn't seem... real. Now that I think about it, I can't feel anything about her - no emotions or aura. Like Theo... "

"Lucy?"

I closed my textbook and looked at Mrs. Finch sheepishly. "I have nothing to say."

"Is there something outside that's more fascinating than the structure of the human mind?" she asked.

I looked out to where I was apparently staring at. I furrowed my eyebrows, feeling as if the jeep outside was reeling me in. It gave me an odd feeling, but odd feelings were normal. And that lady did tell me to follow my instincts so...

"Nope," I replied, shaking my head. "I don't think so."

"Okay, good," she said and continued with the lesson. "Now, many people credit the corpus callosum, uh, for giving us a sense of intuition... "

Some guy came in with his vehicle. He stepped out and examined the jeep. I stood up quickly and gathered my things. "I'm sorry. I'll be right back... I think."

"Hey! Hey, you can't tow this jeep!" I told the man, walking across the street towards it.

"Paperwork says I can," he replied. "It's reported as abandoned."

"And now it's not," I said, placing my hand on it.

I saw it on the road. Someone was fixing the engine until a streak of lightning hit the ground a few feet away from it. I pulled away, looked at the guy again.

"This is your vehicle?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" I said.

"Sounds like a no," he replied suspiciously.

"It's mine!" I turned around to see Scott and Lydia. "Uh, my jeep. Thank you. I'll move it... once I get the keys... from my locker... after you leave."

"I'm sorry. Once it's on the hook... "

"Please don't say, 'You're on the hook'," Lydia said.

"Well, I can't now," he responded.

"Okay, look, there's gotta be something that we can do," I told him. "Sign something? Call someone?"

"Pay someone?" Lydia suggested.