Morningstar

38

Scott, Kira and Stiles exited the elevator. They ran into Sheriff Stilinski and Luci. Bodies were being rolled onto stretchers and Stiles asked, "Who found her?"

The sheriff looked at his son. "Argent. And he said the Doctors were down there. He also said you guys might know what this thing is."

"We've got a theory," Scott told him.

"It's a slightly terrifying theory," Stiles added.

Sheriff Stilinski nodded. "Well, the ME said that victims were killed somewhere else and then dumped in those tunnels."

Scott took a moment to think. "Hey, what if the Dread Doctors are hiding the bodies?"

Kira frowned. "Why would they do that?"

Stiles shrugged. "Maybe they're covering for it. Protecting it like a parent would."

"Protecting what?" the sheriff wondered.

"A werewolf?"

Kira nodded. "It's called the Beast."

The sheriff and Luci stared at each of them with slightly horrified expressions. "We know," Stiles said. "Horrifying."

"We better figure out what we're gonna call Parrish. Because it looks like his dream is coming true," Luci said.

---

Lydia shrieked and Meredith sighed in annoyance. "I said use your hands. I didn't say punch the gate."

"It's all a little new to me so, don't hold back on specialty," Lydia retorted.

"Your hands can guide your voice. They can help push it towards the target. Try again."

"How did you learn?"

Meredith shook her head. "You have to find your own way."

"What if your way works for me too?"

"Lydia, find your way."

"You know none of this is real, right? My body is lying in a room down the hall staring at the ceiling."

Meredith screamed and shoved Lydia into the back of a cell. "Did that feel real?"

"What are you doing?"

The gate clicked, locking them in. "You want out? Break the glass."

"It's not just glass. It's bullet-resistant polycarbonate."

Meredith looked at Lydia. "So make your voice a bullet. Break the glass."

Lydia narrowed her eyes. "Break the glass. You... You're kidding, right?"

Meredith stared at her. "Look, I promised I'd help and I will."

Meredith continued trying to teach Lydia how to use her voice as a weapon. Lydia grew increasingly frustrated. "Meredith, please. Tell me how you did it."

"You have to find your own way," Meredith repeated.

"Why can't you tell me yours?"

"Because my way got a lot of people hurt. Some days it was quiet for me. Other days, all I could hear was screaming. People dying."

"What people?"

"Everyone. Everywhere. I was at Chemistry class when it happened. I had my hands over my ears. The teacher was trying to figure out what was wrong. I took my hands and I started hitting the desk, until I couldn't take it anymore and I just screamed."

"What happened?"

"All of the windows shattered. I saw kids with glass in their arms, in their faces. Some of them had blood coming out of their ears. They said it was an explosion... Caused by chemicals. But everyone knew it was me. Find a better way, Lydia. My voice is like a bomb going off. Yours needs to be a bullet."

A gun cocked and Lydia saw Malia cowering in fear in a cave. "Malia? Malia!" Lydia cried.

Lydia looked to Meredith. "Is this real? Or is it in my head?"

"I think you know what a Banshee premonition feels like."

Malia whimpered and Lydia whispered, "She's going to die."

---

Stiles made his way to Eichen House to visit Lydia. She was lying on her bed in a catatonic state. Stiles held up a bunch of papers. "Your teachers, uh, gave me some of the stuff you guys have been working on. They wanted me to hold onto it for you. I saw something about the Riemann Hypothesis. Um, things like nontrivial zeros, zeta functions, and a lot of other stuff that goes totally over my head."

He knelt closer to her. "Maybe you could wake up and explain it to me? Lydia, wake up. We need you back. We can't get through this without you. Wake up. Please."

"I think that's enough," Ms. Martin said. "Stiles."

Something on the side of Lydia's head caught Stiles' attention. "Wait a second, what is this? What are they doing?"

"All right, you need to go."

"You call this okay? Her head is shaved! Did you know about this?! What are they gonna do? Drill a hole into her head?"

Ms. Martin scoffed. "Are you crazy? It's for E-C-T. Electroconvulsive therapy. They shave small portions of the scalp. It's done under general anesthesia and it's perfectly safe. Look at them, Stiles. She's my daughter. You don't think I'm trying everything I can to bring her out of this?"

"No, no, no, that's not for E-C-T."

A nurse entered and asked, "Is everything all right in here?"

Ms. Martin nodded. "It's fine. Our guest was just leaving. Stiles, go. Or you're not coming back."

Stiles began leaving and narrowed his eyes. "I thought this was a medical establishment."

As he left, Stiles bumped into an orderly and said, "Sorry."

---

Lydia stood in the shower. Nurse Cross stood near them with a towel. A scar was visible on Lydia's side, just below her ribs. Nurse Cross grew impatient with her. "All right, you've had long enough. Let's go. I'm not buying the catatonic act. I know you can hear me."

In her dream, Lydia was pacing, growing increasingly worried about Malia. "Don't get lost, Lydia. You can help them, but you have to get out of here first."

"She's in trouble," Lydia whispered. "I think it's happening now."

Lydia saw Malia with her gunshot wound and The Desert Wolf explained that her daughter's real name wasn't Malia. She saw the Desert Wolf trying to kill her daughter and Deaton trying to stop her.

Lydia felt the pain Malia was feeling. "You can help her!" Meredith yelled. "Lydia! Lydia! Break the glass. Break the glass!"

Lydia pushed forward with her hands and screamed. She snapped up from her bed and her scream caused the lights to explode. She jumped up and ran out of her cell. Two orderlies cornered her in the hallway. Lydia took on one of the orderlies using the martial arts skills she'd learned from Parrish and Luci. Waves of power came from Lydia's hands. The orderly flew down the hall and multiple overhead light fixtures exploded.

She made it outside to find it pouring outside. Eichen House security guards started shooting at her with taser-pods. She was distraught. "My friends," Lydia began. "They're all going to die."

---

When he got back to Scott's, his friends were there. Scott, Kira, Stiles, Malia and Liam gathered around the table. They had blueprints and pictures of Eichen House on the table. There was also a log book and a key card that Stiles had stolen.

Scott smiled at the group. "Now we get Lydia."