Olivia's POV:

Malia and I try to pick up the pace as we hold up Scott but within seconds he stumbles to the wall with a groan. "I'm sorry." He muttered, clutching onto his stomach with a pained look.

"Olivia, you're still drained huh?" Malia asked and I nod, holding out my hand to show the dim light. "Let me try again." She says as she grabbed onto his hand but Scott weakly shook his head.

"No, no, no...It's just not working." He tiredly slurred. "I don't think we should waste any more time."

"Quiet." Malia hissed before she shut her eyes but not a single vein appeared on her hand which caused her to groan in annoyance. "Why isn't it working? How come I can't take your pain?"

"It's okay." Scott whispered, fighting to keep his eyes open.

"No, it's not okay! None of this is okay." She emphasized. "We should have called Stiles."

"All of us promised we wouldn't." I reminded.

"It was a stupid promise." She scowled.

"We almost lost him last time." Scott pointed out.

"Yeah, and now I'm gonna lose you, too."

My eyes widen in surprise and I awkwardly take a step back, feeling the atmosphere shift. That took a turn.

"You?" Scott asked, seeming surprised as well. "You're gonna lose...?"

"Yeah, me. All of us." Malia stammered. "You know what I mean."

He blinked a few times in discomfort. "Yeah, I think so."

"And, you know, Stiles wouldn't be okay with this. If he knew all the things that we were trying to do without him, he'd-he'd kill us!"

He slowly nodded. "I think he'd be okay."

"With this?"

His eyes slowly shut. "With us." He breathed out.

Were we still talking about Stiles not finding out we were still in Beacon Hills?

Malia tilts her head up a bit in confusion. "What do you mean?" She cautiously asks but Scott leaned his head against the wall. "No, no, no, no, no. Don't pass out. I don't think you're supposed to pass out."

"Definitely not." I mutter and roll up my sleeves. "Move Malia. I can give him a bit of more energy."

"No you're too drained and also I'm really confused about what we're talking about, so, Scott, wake up!" Malia scolded before cupping his face. "Scott?"

As soon as her hand came in contact with his cheek, trickles of black veins appeared on Malia's forearm which caused Scott to let out a sigh of relief as the pain diminished from his system.

His eyes flutter open and he meets Malia's relieved gaze with confusion. "What happened?" He questioned, covering his hand with hers and lowered it away from his face.

"It worked." Malia awkwardly cleared her throat before wrapping his arm around her neck to pull him to stand and continue walking.

Allison's POV:

"It was about Nolan." Lydia explained to Corey and Mason, giving the rundown of the encounter with the teen not too long ago and realizing the true meaning of Lydia's premonition with sixty-eight.

"Would've been nice to know before he attacked me." Corey remarked, holding up his healed hand of where Nolan stabbed a pen through it.

I watch as another student quickly walked passed the courtyard once they saw us. "First it was asking if you were 'one of them' and now he's stabbing Corey with a pen? What would he get out of hurting him?"

"He wasn't trying to hurt him. He was trying to expose him." Lydia corrected and her eyes slightly widened. "That was a test."

"Well, you definitely failed. It was a geyser--half the library was staring." Mason emphasized. "You didn't even have a scratch!"

"Yeah, I remember, because it was, like, five minutes ago." Corey irritably answered in frustration, seeing as another student walked by us in discomfort.

"Why would Nolan do that?" Mason questioned.

"He's...afraid." Lydia concluded but Corey's brows furrow in confusion.

"Of him?" I ask.

"Of us." She emphasized, gesturing to Corey and herself. "He's afraid of us."

"I thought your premonition was about people turning on each other?" Corey asked.

Lydia hesitantly shook her head. "I was wrong."

I look behind, seeing as another group of people walked by with fear-filled expressions before they increased their pace to go inside the library.

"They're gonna turn on us...." Corey trailed off.

"And I think it's already started."

Phoebe's POV:

"How much further, Phoebe?" Lori asked with a grunt as Brett tiredly tried to keep up with our pace, feeling his arm slacken around my neck.

Just as we make another turn, the sounds of the sonic emitters causes Lori and Brett to groan and I quickly guide them to the next turn.

"We're almost out! Just a little further." I urge, tightening my grip on his arm. "Come on Brett, we're almost there."

"You don't have anymore of that stuff on you?" Brett murmured. "I don't know how much longer I can go, Pheebs."

"I only had one on me but there's more in the car, I promise." I insist. "We have to keep going."

Just as we reached another intersection, my eyes land on the ladder leading to the maintenance cover to go outside which causes me to smile in relief. Thank god.

"I'll go up first. Follow behind quickly." I say as I carefully unwrap Brett's arm and climb up the bars. Mustering every bit of strength, I push off the cover to the side and climb out.

Once I get out, I reach my hand towards Brett and carefully pull him out with Lori following close behind.

I look behind me, recognizing the street and see the parked car further down the road. "My car is just that way. All we need to do is--"

"Watch out!"

Instantly I'm harshly shoved away and my head slammed against the concrete, forcing me to roll across the pavement with a grunt.

I dizzily look up in confusion but in a matter of seconds, I watch in horror just as Brett and Lori are harshly struck against the incoming SUV. "No!"

Brett limply laid flat on his back as a large puddle of blood formed underneath while Lori weakly tried to crawl towards him.

In a matter of seconds, Liam jumps out of the underground tunnel with his eyes flashed gold and his werewolf features into clear view as soon as he locked eyes with me before glancing down to Lori in shock.

"C-Close your eyes." I hear Lori whisper to Brett as his eyes slowly shut before letting his head roll to the side.

Sniffles escaped from Lori as she tiredly rested her head against his chest, ignoring the blood that trickled down the side of her face.

"I couldn't take away his pain..." She whimpered before her eyes landed on me, tears flowing down her cheeks as I watch the life in her eyes diminish.

"No..." I faintly trail as my heart clenched at the sight, remembering the exact dreadful feeling of when Tracy pushed me away from Theo.

Lori saved me when I was supposed to save them. I promised I would get them out of here. I failed them.

Liam looks up to the night skies with a snarl before letting out a ferocious roar filled with anguish into the air.

Several more cars down the road come into view but halted at the intersection, keeping their headlights directly on Liam like a spotlight.

Dozens of citizens that I didn't even notice before stood near the side as well, some pointing at Liam with disturbed and fearful expressions at the sight of his bloodied hands with sharp claws.

Oh no.

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Olivia's POV:

"Focus all of the energy in your hand to your arm."

Phoebe deeply exhales through her nose as I watch the scraped cuts on her arm slowly shrink down. However, her nose scrunches into discomfort which causes her to quickly retract her hand away with tired pants escaping from her lips as the small glow in her hand disappeared. "Sorry, I can't—"

"It's okay. All you have to do is work on getting used to conserving your energy." I softly assure, seeing that there was still a large gash on her other forearm. "Do you want me to finish the rest?"

She numbly shook her head, keeping her eyes focused on our bedroom carpet. "No thanks."

My heart clenches at the sight of her saddened expression and I crouch down in front of her in concern. "Phoebe, what happened tonight wasn't your fault."

She closes her eyes with a sigh before slowly shaking her head as she picked at her fingertips. "Then why do I feel like it is?"

I take a seat on her bed and cover her hand with mine to stop her. "You did everything that you could to help Lori save her brother. We didn't know what we were dealing with until it was too late."

"But I led them there, Olivia!" She exclaimed as she shot up from her bed to stand. "I led them to their deaths! I-If I had searched the street before letting them come up, none of this would've happened! I usually think of different possibilities before sticking to one solution but for some reason, I didn't! I stupidly let my ambition get the best of me for trying to be like you and I messed up again! Someone else sacrificed themselves to save me and I didn't deserve it. I...I killed them--"  

"Shhh, shhh, shh." I whispered, standing up from the bed as well to pull her into my embrace as she bursted into tears. "Don't say that."

"How do you do guys do it?" She quietly asked. "How do you continue on with the people you've lost?"

"You remember who you're doing it for." I pull away to brush some of her hair behind her ear with a sympathetic look. "They would want you to continue on because if you don't, more people could get hurt if you don't stay focused."

"So I'm supposed to pretend that tonight didn't even happen?"

I quickly shake my head. "No, of course not. I meant—"

"I'm going to get some air." She muttered, pulling away from my embrace before heading towards the door.

Before she could leave, Allison steps in front of her with her eyes widened. "Hey—oh? Phoebe I'm so glad you're—"

"Hi Allison." Phoebe rasped, stepping around the girl to continue walking. "Sorry, excuse me."

Allison slowly nods before walking further into the room with a quizzical look. "Is this about...?"

I nod, letting out a sigh as I take a seat on her bed. "She had to witness someone die in front of her. Again. How could it not open some old wounds for her?" I emphasized before shaking my head disappointedly. "Sometimes I can't help but think about whether Phoebe was better off not knowing about this stuff."

She takes a seat next to me, interlacing her hand with mine. "Think of it this way. Do you think we would've still grown closer if you hadn't been shown the supernatural? Grown closer with the rest of our friends? Realize that you're a Phoenix."

I start to smile in remembrance, glancing down at the bracelets around our wrists. "Maybe not."

"All of us might not have had not-so-great moments in our lives but it doesn't mean we should forget them. It makes us strong." She lifts our interlaced hands close to her lips and pressed a kiss against my knuckles with a small smile. "Being with the ones you hold closest to you heart through the roughest points, makes you strong."

I slightly turn towards her to cover my other hand over our interlaced ones, drawing circles around the back of her hand. "You make life worth living."

She shyly looks down with a light chuckle before meeting my eyes. "I..." She trails off before shaking her head.

"What?"

"Nevermind. It's nothing."

"It's something if it's on your mind." I chuckle, tapping my thumb against her hand. "Tell me."

"So...you know how your things are still in your car?" She slowly asks and I nod. "We were expecting to move but then somehow we got sucked into staying because of Lydia's premonition and possibly a w—"

"Allison," I gently cut in, seeing as she avoided my eyes. "if you're having second thoughts, I completely understand. I can always—"

She quickly shakes her head. "No, no! I still want to! It's just...how would you feel about temporarily moving in with me at the apartments until we actually move into our new place?"

My eyes widen in surprise, my stomach stirring at the thought. "You mean...live with you at the complex? Now?"

"Y-Yeah? I know it's sort of sudden but I just thought..." She cleared her throat before shaking her head, seeing that I stayed quiet. "It doesn't have to be at this exact moment but in a couple of days. The reason I'm asking is so you and Phoebe don't have to reorganize everything and it would make things easier until we actually leave, you know?"

"Uh..." I hesitantly trail off but just from seeing her hopeful expression slowly deteriorate, I couldn't help but cave in. "Okay. Yeah, I'll move in."

Her eyes light up in surprise. "Really? Are you sure?"

Maybe. Why am I feeling like this? "Yeah, of course!"

"Great!" Allison laughed before embracing me into a hug. "I can't wait!"

"M-Me too!" I accidentally stammer with a laugh.

What's wrong with me? I'm supposed to be ecstatic that I get to spend time with her!

But...why do I feel so scared?

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Phoebe's POV:

"Okay. Not bad so far." Mason whispered as he, Liam, and I walked through the school hallways filled with students talking amongst their friends. "This might be easier than we thought."

"Maybe." Liam muttered as I tried my best to ignore the people's stares when we walked past them.

But I unfortunately managed to catch a few conversations.

"He's one of them. What is he doing here?"

"She was there at the accident too. How is she completely unscathed?"

"I heard she pushed them because she was jealous."

"Did you know they're still letting her lead the science decathlon team? I knew we should've chose Grant as captain."

"There's no chance if we have her on our team if she's associated with Liam."

I bring my books close to my chest, quickening my pace with Mason and Liam as we stop near their lockers. "I hate this." I whisper.

"Just block it out." Mason comforted, glancing between Liam and I since Liam was looking around in discomfort. "Both of you."

"Hey, Phoebe?" I turn, meeting Carmen's, a member from my decathlon team, look of discomfort. "Can we talk for a second?"

I slowly nod and follow her a couple of steps away from Mason and Corey. "Everything okay, Carmen?"

"The rest of our team and I have been talking and...we think it's best if you take a step down from our team." She hesitantly explained, bringing her books close to her chest. "We put it to a vote."

My eyes slightly widen. "What? B-But who's going to cover the chemistry and biology portion? I've been writing down strategies for us--"

Before I could take out my notebook, she stops me by putting her hand up. "Grant's been practicing and he says he can teach us so...we don't need them anymore. There's just a lot of talk around the school about your...friend and we can't afford to lose our focus."

"But what about our study group? I know I skipped last night but--"

"I don't think it's a good idea if you join the next meeting. Cecilia took over last night since Quinn dropped out as well and I'm pretty sure she'll lead the next one." She raised her hand to place it on my shoulder but stops midway in hesitance before bringing it close to her chest. "I'm sorry, Phoebe." She whispers before walking away, leaving me in my thoughts.

I reluctantly walk back to Mason and Liam. "Guess who's kicked out of the science decathlon team?" I mutter, tossing my notebook in the trash. "And kicked out of the study group that I created."

"It's because they know." Liam worriedly said but Mason quickly shook his head.

"Just rumors. They don't know anything."

"They know everything." Corey spoke up as he approached us with concern. "Two sophomores on the lacrosse game were there last night."

I wince. "Great."

"But it was late. It was pitch black out," Mason tried to assure with a nervous smile "and there was fog on the road--"

"It was a clear night with a full moon and a well-lit intersection." Corey stated matter-of-factly.

"I have to get out of here." Liam insisted.

"I never thought I would say this but I can't be in class if all I'm going to hear are people talking about last night." I whisper. "I can't take it anymore."

"No! If you guys leave, these rumors never stop." Mason countered before looking towards Liam. "You've gotta just convince them that you're a regular kid."

"I'm not a regular kid!"

"Look, remember what Scott said? Be Clark Kent."

"Clark Kent turns into a guy in a red and blue outfit and a cape. I turn into a monster with claws and fangs!" Liam explained as he briefly held up his hand for emphasis.

"Then just get through the day without shifting." Corey gently advised. "Phoebe, they can't prove anything about you. You're going to be okay."

"Exactly. People are saying that Brett and Lori died in a car accident. We know the truth." Mason asserted. 

"They didn't just die." I whisper, feeling my heart sink in remembrance of Lori and Brett's expressions.

Olivia's POV:

"They were murdered."

I fiddle with my fingers in discomfort, watching as Scott placed the metal pole covered in blood from Lori and Brett onto the metal table in front of us as he shook his head with disappointment.

"Killed by the new Hunter in Beacon Hills." He continued. "You know, when he took out the Hellhound, we thought it was just luck. That we were dealing with an amateur. But now we know that whoever this new hunter is, he has a teacher."

"Gerard." Allison whispered, her arms folded over her chest with a saddened look.

"Lori wasn't even poisoned and yet...she still didn't want to be alive if her brother wasn't here anymore." I rasp. "I've never seen Phoebe so disheartened."

"Which means this is my fault." Argent sighed. "I'm the one who let him go."

"You couldn't have done anything." Lydia tried to reassure.

"He could've killed him." Malia scoffed.

I shrug, indicating she had a point since Gerard continued to be a terrible human being and surprisingly, Chris tilted his head to the side in agreement.

"Just saying." She muttered, seeing the stern look from Lydia.

"As much as I don't like him, you know we don't do that." Allison reminded. "We're not executioners, Malia."

"You are when it comes to war." She remarked.

Scott nodded. "That's why we're gonna make peace."

I snort. "With Gerard? The man who's been hunting and killing supernaturals for years?"

"Liv," He sighed. "you know what's coming. We all keep using the same word."

"War." Argent confirmed.

The word alone sent me to anxiously pull at my sleeves. War? I feel Allison place her hand on top of mine, giving a small squeeze with a comforting smile.

"So what stops a war from happening?" Malia questioned before turning towards Argent.

"A peace summit."

Scott nodded. "Right. We meet face-to-face with Gerard, find out what he wants, and then we stop all this before it gets any worse."

"The last time Gerard was at a peace meeting was with Deucalion." Lydia reminded in exasperation. "He blinded him and then killed everybody else, including his own men!"

"I'll go." Argent offered, taking a step closer to Scott. "We know he's not going to kill me."

"You sure about that?" I hesitantly ask.

"Not really." He shrugged.

"Then I'll go too." Allison confidently stated. "You won't go alone."

Scott nodded. "All we need is to find out what he wants-- then we can bargain."

"Even if he does agree, his terms might be difficult to meet."

"Well, that's why it's a negotiation." Scott emphasized. "I don't expect to get anything without giving something up."

"Then you're gonna have to figure out just how much you're willing to give, and how far you're willing to go to stop a war." Argent warned, meeting each of our eyes.