chapter twenty.

" ━ GET A WARRANT." Scott's sharp demand leaps outside his home. Arthur grimaces debating whether he should leave or waiting it outside, a hammer by his side.

"I don't need a warrant. I'm your father." Argent McCall retorts, his voice just as sharp. The plan was simple; they protect and attack the Japanese ninjas until Isaac or Allison finds any information. Thinking about Isaac, he couldn't remember the last time the two had actually spoken. And Lydia, their kiss was beginning to feel like it was ages ago and yet he could still feel her soft lips on his.

"No, you're a gene donor. I got my hair color from you. And that's all I got." Scott snapped, anger wrapped in his tone. "So you're not allowed to play tough dad with me."

A car pulls up catching his smoky irises, Melissa parks and Arthur opens it for her hoping she'd defuse the bomb inside. "Just the woman I looking for."

In confusion, she smiles eyebrows furrowed locking her car. "It's great to see you too, Arthur." Her head jerks hearing the intense argument going inside and storms up her steps the human choosing to let her deal with it. "Hey, what's going on?"

Agent McCall stood in front of an anxious looking Kira and an irritated Scott, a MacBook showcasing something ━ he's guessing their solid plan to delete her nudes wasn't really solid.

"Maybe one of you should explain." Agent McCall suggests, hands in his pockets eyeing the duo. The tension is interrupted by the room dimming like someone had turned it down, Arthur didn't need to see the shared panics looks to know this isn't good.

"Scott." Kira whispers, frowning.

A shadow crawls from underneath the wall building its self into a man with the same frowning mask. Arthur gulps, fingers tightening around the hammer. Mr McCall frown. "Who the hell is this?"

"Dad, no! Dad, wait ━ " His dad ignores him walking to the intruder clueless to the glimmering sword until it stabs his shoulder. Kira screams, Arthur sucked a breath unable to tear his eyes from the eldest McCall, blood dripping the floors. "Dad!"

Scott rounds his head growling bringing out his wolfing features, Melissa drags her ex husband away from the fight. Arthur leaps over the couch raising the hummer prepared to fight a ninja, in a way he found this awesome if they weren't here to beat them. The Alpha thrust his claws body lunch forward the ninja ducks under his arm, the sole human swings his hammer when it ducks knocking him backwards.

Another shadow raises behind Kira, Derek Hale smacks the door open blue eyes illuminated and claws bared the ninja didn't have time to react as twins too smashed through the window battling the second.

Arthur falls to his knees dodging the sword aimed for his throat huffing a breath, Scott clutches it's arm and twists it, it tries to slice him but the blue eyed grabs hold it smashing the metal hammer on its elbow. Distracted, Scott kicks it back out the window Aiden and Ethan came through.

"Mom, the ash!" Derek thrusts his sharp nails through its chest holding it place. Scott shouts, "Mom, now! Do it now!" The beta throws it outside and Melissa sprints after him crushing the powered bottle against the floor awaking the mountain ash barrier.

Spotting blood on the floor, he winces sprinting to the room Ms. McCall places her ex inside. Arthur loathes this man because of how much he reminds him of his father but he couldn't let him succumb to his wounds, it goes against everything a doctor stands for and Scott would be devastated. "What can I? I've got bandages in my pocket."

Despite the situation, a small smile lingered on her lips noticing the colorful and quoted bandages spewing from his pockets. "You keep those in your pockets?"

"Everywhere I go." Arthur nods, a smile on his lips. "I like to prepared."

"Well, I think bandages are a little for his wounds." Melissa replies glancing back to Mr. McCall. "I need you to a bucket and wet rag."

Nodding, Arthur sprints into the kitchen sparing a glance to Aiden holding Kira's hand to the mountain ash, he sighs wanting to say something but I'd waste time so he continues opening and closing cabinets until he finds a pot and a navy rag.

"Scott, this isn't good!" Melissa panics raising her voice, hands drenching in his blood. The boy returns with the pot filled with cold water, he frowns at the scarlet stained shirt it reminds him of walking around in wet clothes. "Good, wipe down his forehead."

Argent McCall gasps, "Need to call for backup." His head falls to the side, Melissa is quick to feel his pulse.

"How bad is it?" Scott questions, arriving over her shoulder.

"His arm looks rotated so that could mean his tendon is thorn, so his lung could be on the verge of collapsing." Arthur guesses, lightly tapping the man's forehead. A nod from Melissa gives him a confidence boast he didn't know he needed.

"Mom, those things, they're not going to leave until the sun's up." Scott confesses, glancing at the two.

"At the rate he's bleeding, he's not gonna make it that long." Melissa gulps, pressing down on the cloth as more blood escapes.

"We got to get him to the hospital. Should we call Stiles's Dad?" He inquiries, in desperate need of guidance.

"I don't know." Melissa replies a light shrug of her shoulders. "Is that going to just get more people hurt?"

"I'd say likely." Arthur answers, the red bruise on his forehead aiding his comment. He found a tattoo behind his right ear, the number five. After some digging last night, he found out it is commonly referred to humanity but it doesn't explain why they're marking the supernatural and natural like himself. "And I don't think guns work on them."

"Then what does?" Melissa asks, terrify filling her veins realizing how bad of an idea the might have been. The two boys fall in silence neither knowing the answer. "Hey Arthur, I've got this."

Scott left to speak with Kira, he hesitates but nods knowing he's in the hands of a professional and leaves heading for the main room where Derek and the twins stood, front door wide open allowing them to gawk as the ninjas try to work around the mountain ash like it's their first time seeing one.

"I wasn't going to hurt her." Aiden insists. It takes a moment for Arthur to understand who they're talking about : her as in Kira and hurt her maybe when he saw him raise her hand. It's pretty irritating, but refreshing to see him not play the genuinely concern beta role.

"Why is it incredibly hard for you to keep your hands to yourself?" Arthur questions, plopping on Scott's couch he bounces up up his legs too wired to stand still.

Aiden glares at him sneering. "Why do you think we're here, Arthur, Derek? For a study group? We're here to protect Scott."

"We're trying to fight for him." Ethan confirms, standing besides his brother.

"Oh, I'm sure you are. I'm sure you'd kill for him." Derek complies, facing the twins. "But are you willing to die for him?" Aiden and Ethan share an uneasy glance.

The house rumbles interrupting the silence underneath his feet nearly knocking him down, he doesn't understand why his hands are sweating. He fought a Kanima, helped destroy an Alpha pack and supernatural ninjas should be a breeze. Scott races inside, Kira behind him they circle the door eyes wide with amazement, they watch their sword pummel the mountain ash making the house quake, plates shatter in the kitchen.

Scott asks, "What are they doing?"

"Testing for weaknesses." Ethan answers. Arthur comes to stand besides him unable to tear his eyes from them : they do it again and again and again, then drop their sword and hammer their hand against it.

"God, what made us think mountain ash could stop ninjas?" Arthur gulps, raking a hand through his air. A gloved hand tears inside the barricade the ash disappears around it. His head falls on his hands, "We're so screwed."

"Allison, please tell me that you have something. They're here. They're trying to get in." Scott panics over the phone with Allison, eyes constantly glancing over. "And it looks like they're gonna' be able to do it."

Picking up the salient swords, together they thrust it forward breaking the block. The blue eyed nearly trips watching their foot step inside, a desperate ache to run but he couldn't leave his friend behind.

"Scott, we're going to have to do something!" Derek exclaims, behind Arthur. The ninjas stare unmoving, bright yellow eyes draining bits of their energy every time they glimpse at them.

"Don't do anything." Scott decides after seconds of silence. All heads whip back to him astonished by his response.

"Is he serious?" Aiden complains.

"Does he look like he's kidding?" The blue eyed hisses at the beta across him. The last thing he wants is to do nothing after they stabbed Mr. McCall walked towards them, but this is Scott and he knows what he's doing. Most of the time.

"Trust me." Scott pleads glancing behind at Kira, holding a hand out their fingers interlock tightly. "You're gonna be okay." Nodding at his friend, together they walk to the ninjas with courage. The blue bits his inner cheek as their black hand grips their ears knocking them to their knees, faces contorting into a grimace fingers breaking hold of one another. His feet remains glued to the floor ignoring the nagging at the back of his head to stop what they're doing to them.

Aiden steps forward but Derek's hand stops him. The Oni's head tilts closer to them and lets them go vanishing before their eyes into thin smoke. Arthur is quick to fall to his knees picking his freezing friend from the ground, Derek in front of him watching his eyelids flutter close. "I've got you, buddy."

* * *

JAZZ MUSIC FLOATS IN the air in the middle of the night and the smell of acrylic paint invades Arthur's nose, he should in the comforts of his bed snoring to the sound of rain pattering a window from a disc he bought but Lydia felt inspired and wanted a model. He didn't understand why she chose him to be her muse out of everyone she knew but he didn't argue. It feels to be admired.

"I said hold still." Lydia chimes, peeking behind a canvas taller than her.

"You try staying the same position for nearly thirty minutes." The smoky eyed boy mumbles, rolling his right wrist. Being inside the school at night is like being at a graveyard, too many spirits linger about. "Are you not afraid of getting caught?"

"There is no security. The number of homicides in this school has seen to it that no sane person will ever take a night job here again." The cherry red replies.

"I don't want to be another ghost chained to this school." Arthur complains, glancing around the colorful room in boredom. "Do you think I'd look handsome in death?"

"You'd be the best looking skeleton around." Lydia promises, a light smile on her lips peeking at him.

He laughs hanging his right leg off the wooden stool and returns to the same position. "Thanks. You know what I'm thinking?"

"No, what are you thinking?" Lydia asks, eyes glued to her moving lips watching them purse in concentration.

"I was wondering, if you'd let me take you out a a date?" Arthur inquiries, his chin on his knuckles, for the pose she asked, brightening his smile.

"A date?" The cherry red nearly squeaks face hidden behind her canvas, he could hear her smile.

"Yeah, just me and you -"

"- you and I." She corrects.

He groans. "It sounds the same."

"Yeah, for an ordinary level English." Lydia teases. Arthur scoffs, lips silenced by leaping into the air knocking her stool over. "You hear that?"

He frowns listening to the silence for a few seconds and questions. "Hear what?"

"You don't hear that?" Lydia repeats, eyebrows furrowing in confusion walking towards him.

"I hear music." Arthur replies, hoping it'd help. "What do you hear?"

"Voices." Lydia whispers, eyes glued to the steoro blasting another one of her jazz music. Goosebumps raise on his arms, he shivers, it's like the ghosts roaming the halls decides to come inside dropping the temperature. Where's iron when you need it?

* * *

"ARTHUR? I'VE BEEN CALLING you." Scott says, opening the door to Stiles' bedroom slams open unveiling himself and Isaac.

"Sorry, I left it at home." He replies, arms crossed over his chest moving away from the wooden draw.

"Wait, how did you know?" Scott asks, then directions his question to Lydia. "Did he call you too?"

"I heard it." The cherry red answered, eyes almost haunted.

The Alpha opens his lips to ask for an explaination but is cut off by Arthur. "Don't ask. It'll hurt your brain at this time of the night."

Isaac blinks clearly still half asleep. "Okay."

"Not as confusing as this." Lydia gestures to the scissors stabbed into the bed red strings red pinned on the crime board. "He uses red for unsolved cases."

He glimpses at the bed then the board, the yearn begins their maybe the bed could indicate Stiles and Lydia said red means unsolved... "Maybe he thinks he's part of an unsolved case?"

"Or is an unsolved case." Isaac piped up. At that, Arthur furrows his eyebrows realizing by his sentence and the alarmed look on Scott's face Stiles still isn't found.

Lydia grasps it too, "Hold on. Is he still out there? You don't know where he is?"

"He said he was in an industrial basement somewhere." Scott reasons hoping it'd calm her down.

"We came here to get a better scent." Isaac adds.

"What else did he say?" Arthur asks.

"Something's wrong with his leg." Scott recalls. "It's bleeding."

"And he's freezing."

"Neither is you probably knew but tonight is will drop into the 20s, it'll be one of the coldest night this year." Arthur says, if he is freezing then there's a huge possibility he's outside maybe somewhere in the forest. "If we don't act fast his bloody leg won't be the thing that kills him." There are times when Arthur wishes he'd pause and take a breath to think before he speaks.

"We'll find him." Scott insists.

"What did his dad say?" Lydia questions after a moment of silence.

"We kind of," Scott pauses avoiding their stares. "We didn't tell him yet." Arthur buries his head in his hands cursing under his breath.

"Stiles is bleeding and freezing and you didn't call his dad?" Lydia scowls, trying her best not to raise her voice at their stupidity,

"He made me promise not to." Scott justifies. "We can find him by scent. If he was sleepwalking he couldn't have gotten far, right?"

"Neither of you noticed his Jeep is gone, did you?" Arthur inquiries, pressing his lips together. Scott's jaw drops and Isaac parts his lips having nothing to retort. With his Jeep missing, he could be anywhere maybe not even in a forest.

Lydia whips her phone out of her pocket dialing the Sheriff's number. "You promised you wouldn't call his dad. I didn't."

"Wait, Lydia, hold on." Scott pleads his hand over her screen. "I can get more help. I can call Derek, Allison."

"Everyone except for the cops. Great idea." Lydia chimes sarcastically.

"She's having a psychic feeling right now." Arthur adds.

Lydia rolls her eyes. "I'm not psychic."

Arthur huffs. "Is now really the great time to discuss this?"

"Listen, you don't have to call his dad. It's five minutes to the station." Scott gives in.

Arthur moves to follow Isaac but Lydia stops him. "We'll catch up."

"What? Why?" Scott demands, whipping his head back to the couple.

"There's something here." Lydia mumbles.

"Yeah." Isaac scoffs. "Evidence of total insanity."

"Try and be a little sensitive, Isaac." Arthur pleads, fingers inches apart with a sarcastic smile.

"We can figure out what's wrong with him after we find a way to keep him from freezing to death." Scott insists.

"Go. We'll be right behind you." She promises. He nods hesitant Isaac right behind him as they leave.

For five minutes Arthur has done nothing but look move around Stiles' stuff and carefully returning them back to place searching for clue to indicate where he might have headed. His eyes land on a picture of Stiles, Scott and himself, first day of tryouts. He couldn't but smile, he places it down moving scattered pages around and finds a framed tree.

It's not hard to recognize the sketch. "Hey look, isn't this your drawing?"

"One of many." She replies glimpsing back at him on the other side of the room, a small smile on his lips.

"It's cute." Arthur mumbles. Lydia walks over checking it out, he flips it back reading the note. "For Lydia. Aw, can you hear my heart beating for you guys?"

She rolls her eyes snatching the frame. "Put that down." Her phone beeps behind her, she picks it up and reads the message out loud. "Nothing at hospital Derek headed to high school. Isaac going to find Allison. And Scott's with the Sheriff."

"Cool." Arthur nods, hands in his pocket he stares closely at the scissors and lets his finger trace the line. "Do you have any idea or feeling for what -" He lets the string go. "- we could be looking for?"

Lydia whirls around to him. "What did you just do? Did you touch one of the strings?"

"Maybe." He hesitates, eyes widening wondering what he done wrong. Stepping back, he gives her space to do what Banshees do - hold on, that would mean he's saying Stiles is dead, he's not. Simple. Her finger hovers it before touching it and pull back.

"What did that sound like to you?" Lydia whispers.

"Eh, like a string being pulled?" Arthur says.

"You didn't hear people whispering?" She questions shaky.

He shakes his head. "I definitely did not hear people whispering."

Lydia leans her near the strings and tugs it again, her expression converting into horror making him wonder what's she's hearing. "You didn't hear that?"

"Lydia, I'm not sure anyone hears what you hear." Arthur retorts.

"They're whispering." She mumbles feeling the string. "Something about a house."

"What house?"

She pulls the string again twisting her head she follows its pinpoint to a brown building. "That one."

"Eichen House, the mental health center?" Arthur asks, standing behind her. "Why would Stiles sleepwalk there?"

"I don't know why but that's where he is." Lydia confronts, spinning so she was facing him head tilted. "That's where Stiles is."