─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

"the k index quantifies disturbances in the horizontal component of earth's magnetic field." liam read out.

he, mason and franchie were in the library. it was the day after the disastrous party and they needed to discuss their next move. while hayden chose to shadow gwen the whole day, franchie decided to stay with the boys.

the brunette boy thought for a second, trying to understand what he just read out. "and what is k index?" liam asked his two best friends.

"it's a scale that meteorologists used to measure thunderstorm activity." mason explained to them, his macbook sat in front of him. "a valor of k index lower to twenty means no activity and above thirty five is severe."

"how bad is severe?" franchie questioned.

"well, the average storm has, about, a thousand lightning strikes. in the past three months, the average storm in beacon hills had five thousand." mason informed her.

"what's it reading now?" liam inquired.

mason clicked his laptop to refresh the page. "fourteen. we're clear." he sighed in relief.

"so if a spike in the k index means more lightning... we could tell if they're coming." liam quickly put the pieces together.

"yeah." mason nodded.

"this is good." liam smiled.

"yeah."

"hey, where's moon?" franchie hummed. "wasn't she supposed to meet you guys here?"

liam knew the question was directed to him and he cringed, remembering how their conversation had ended last night. the boy cleared his throat. "no idea."

"you sure?" franchie asked. "i didn't want to say anything before, but you seemed pretty angry and standoffish yesterday in the car."

"yeah, just... she didn't understand how i was feeling and i got annoyed. and i know i shouldn't have, but i still can't help but be irritated by it. and i'm trying to steer clear of her so i don't have an outburst."

"you know it's not her fault, right?" franchie reminded him, her own words from the previous night haunting her mind.

"i know. it's just- i just need to let the tension go down." liam finalised.

mason's computer began to beep, displaying the k index number was rising by the second. the boy watched the screen with an anxious look. "never mind... this is really bad."

"so they're coming, and they're coming soon." franchie groaned, pulling at her loose curls in anxiety. "what do we do about everyone at the party?"

"we need to hide them." mason said.

"we need to fight them." liam countered.

"we need to hide them."

the three were so invested in their discussion that they hadn't realised scott had entered the library, until he was right by their table.

"who's them?" he questioned.

"the ghost riders." "the kids of the party."

mason and liam looked at each other in confusion while scott stared at them blankly.

"i think we need to work on balancing our priorities." franchie told the senior.

he nodded. "got it."

"we can get a lightning rod." liam suggested. "attract the ghost riders and catch them off guard."

"since everyone from the party are in danger, all we need to do is find a safe place for them to hide until the storm passes." mason gave an alternative idea. liam was visibly growing irritated. "the ghost riders ride the lightning. nowhere is safe."

"it is, if we're underground." mason exclaimed. "the earth can ground lightning of eletrical charges. everyone would be safe."

"okay." scott sat down beside franchie. "here's what we're gonna do. we take everyone to the argent bunker underground, it's lined with mountain ash."

it was like everyone was against liam's ideas. "we stopped the ghost riders last night. we could do it again." he tried to explain.

"we didn't stop them. they just retreated, we don't know why." scott corrected them.

liam thought for a second, his alpha was right. they would have to put aside the plans to attack the ghost riders and prioritise keeping everyone safe. "okay. but how do we get everyone in the bunker?"

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turns out moonee had overslept and missed all her classes. at least that's what she told everyone, she was really just laying in bed, thinking about what fran had said to her, and how vexed liam was with her. now, with dark circles under her eyes and her long dark hair in a messy bun, moonee was stood with the rest of the partygoers in the underground tunnels.

"why are we underground?" jayden questioned.

"because this is the way for the bunker." hayden told her.

"you guys have a bunker? who are you people?" nathan asked, fear in his voice.

so, they ended up telling them all the cold hard truth, which was the only way to convince them to keep themselves safe. "we're people who know things that most of the people don't know about." liam told him, not making any sense at all.

moonee gave her boyfriend a look, wondering why he had to word it like that. the dunbar boy looked back at her before quickly glancing away. moonee could scream, this was so frustrating. so much for working on their communication skills.

"what?"

"just keep moving." hayden ordered.

nathan and the other students started to head to the bunker and liam and moonee trailing behind them to make sure they don't get lost but hayden noticed something was wrong.

"guys. where's gwen?" hayden asked.

liam rushed back, leaving moonee to lead the group. nathan made his way to the front so he could stand beside her. "you and your friends are a bunch of weirdos." he muttered.

"mhm."

nathan frowned. "what's up with you? you're not even going to tell me to shut the hell up?"

moonee took a deep breath before turning to face him. "look at me, nathan. does it look like i'm in the mood to put up with your bullshit? i'm here to keep your arrogant ass safe, not to be your punching bag. got it?"

nathan gulped at that. he had never seen the girl like this. "yeah, whatever." once they reached the bunker, he picked up a taser among all the items.

"i wouldn't touch that." chris argent advised, making his presence known.

nathan ignored chris' warning and fired the taser by mistake, causing chris to snatch back the taser and slam it on the table. "mind if i use it on him?" moonee questioned, reaching for the weapon.

argent picked it up before she could. "stand down, moonee."

"what is all this for?" nathan asked.

"for your protection."

scott, franchie, liam, corey, and mason stepped into the bunker, shutting the door behind them. liam held the list of everyone that attended the party in his hands, mentally taking attendance.

"we're missing three people plus gwen." he explained.

scott scanned the list of students and glimpsed around to know who was missing. "all the lacrosse players."

"they were at the party, so they all know what's coming." corey sighed.

"people see what they wanna see." argent advised them.

"they really do not want to miss this match." franchie tutted. mason checked his phone, showing them all that the k index was now at thirty seven. "guys we're running out of time."

"scott, we have to go get them." liam instructed.

"i'll go. the rest of you stay here." scott ordered. liam shook his head. "we couldn't fight off one ghost rider. who knows how many are gonna be tonight. we're going with you."

"you're marked." scott reminded him.

"so am i." mason spoke up.

"we all are." franchie told the alpha with a shrug.

"but at least i can see them coming." corey added, trying to persuade scott to let them come with. scott sighed, he glanced over at argent for his opinion and the man nodded. "all right. but if you see them coming? run."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

after discussing their plan with her, moonee was eager to play the match too. she wanted to release the catharsis that was building up in her. and what better way to do that than through a contact sport.

"i'll stay with steinbach." scott instructed. "liam, you're with wallace. you stay with gwen." he told his sister.

"affirmative." moonee nodded, pulling her helmet onto her head. liam was watching her intently, they had not spoken all day but he still couldn't take his eyes off her.

"and you with okafur." scott finalised, his eyes on corey.

"what if i see the ghost riders?" corey asked.

"yell, and get ready to fight!"

the whistle blew and they all charged onto the field, ready to play. as per usual, beacon hills was quickly losing against the bulldogs team. moonee watched as scott, liam and corey unnecessarily tackled their assigned targets. coach had also noticed, as their lack of attention to the game was costing them points - they were now down three to zero.

"what are you doing out there?! i'm gonna kill the three of you!" coach exclaimed.

next round, moonee was finally handed the ball. she charged forward with the ball. she raced to the goal, only to be brutally tackled by one of the bulldogs. moonee crashed to the ground, her helmet slamming onto the back of her head and her back hitting the grass. the boy didn't even take the ball and score, it seemed like he just wanted to throw her down.

"that's a warning!" the referee yelled.

liam jogged over to moonee's defence. "what the hell, man?"

"it's just a game." the boy shrugged.

"touch her again and i'll leave you with worse than just a warning." liam threatened. moonee quickly scrambled to her feet, unsure as to why liam was defending her. but the the bulldog boy just smirked.

"oh, yeah?" he asked as he playfully nudged moonee's arm.

the girl raised her lacrosse stick, more than happy to whack the boy in the neck with it. but liam moved quick, he harshly shoved the boy back and onto the ground. the beta was ready to throw his fist into their rival's face, but coach had brought him out of his aggressive state.

"yes, dunbar! that's the kind of passion i want to see. unleash hell!" coach encouraged him from afar.

"my knight in shining armour." moonee fake gushed. "quite ironic he came to my rescue despite ignoring me all day." she spat out, before turning on her heel to find gwen.

liam sighed, stepping over to scott. "what's gotten into everyone?"

"what if it's the wild hunt? what if it's affecting everyone?" scott pondered, watching his sister rush over to gwen.

"gwen!" moonee called out.

"get off my back, mccall." she groaned.

"look, my brother just asked me to watch you to make sure you don't offer yourself up to the ghost riders." moonee held her hands up in defence.

gwen frowned. "hayden told you?" she asked. moonee nodded. "i get how you feel. you would do anything to your sister, right?"

"right..."

"i would die for my brother, i would." moonee told her. "but right now, your life is just as important as phoebe's. and the person who needs to be here for her when we get her back is you. you understand that?"

"i do, yeah." gwen nodded. she hadn't thought about it like that.

there was a loud crack of thunder from above them and heavy rain began to pour. moonee peeled her helmet off off her head, wanting to have a better view incase the ghost riders appeared.

"liam! moonee!"

the referee blew his whistle and everyone began to run inside, not wanting to become drenched by the unusually heavy rain. "oh come on, ref! this is barely a thunderstorm!" coach shouted, not wanting the game to end.

moonee took gwen's hand and pulled her over to the rest of them.

"okay. we've got all three, right?" scott asked.

"scott, there were four." liam told him.

moonee turned back, seeing one of the ghost rider galloping away on his horse, steinberg being dragged by the lasso. the boy was screaming as he was pulled through the wet grass and he eventually disappeared.

"oh my God! they're real. we got to get out of here." okafur panicked.

"i tried to tell you." moonee shrugged, "i hate when people don't listen."

"like you ever listen." liam scoffed. there was the outburst he had been trying to hold in.

"you wanna do this?" moonee challenged, hurling her helmet to the ground and stepping towards him. "right now?"

"guys!"

"stay together, we'll protect you." liam told them, taking his eyes off moonee.

"how?!"

"run!"

before they're even had a chance to sprint off, more and more ghost riders rode over to them and surrounded them.

"stay close!"

liam shifted into his werewolf form and tackled one of the ghost riders off of the horse. scott decided to follow this, shifting into his alpha side. but one by one, the three players they were supposed to protect were shot by the ghost riders.

"we can't stop them!"

"protect gwen!" scott exclaimed.

"what about moonee?" liam asked him.

scott was confused. "what about her?" he still didn't know she had been marked before any of them had been. the thought of seeing her sister now rather than later had overpowered gwen. when she saw the ghost rider had their eyes on her. she was ready.

"come on!" she shouted, desperate to be taken. some people just didn't want to be saved.

"no!" scott yelled out.

moonee threw her arm out, wanting to redirect the pistol, but it was too late. the ghost rider had shot his bullet and gwen had disappeared into a cloud of green smoke. but the ghost rider wasn't finished, it put its arm out to fire another shot.

liam glanced over at his girlfriend. he could've done something, he should've done something. but he hesitated.

the bullet went into moonee and the impact of the blow threw her back. even though the bullet itself felt like absolutely nothing, the girl fell into her boyfriend's arms. before he could hold her up securely, she dissipated. all that was left of her was the green smoke lingering in the air and her brother's yell echoing in their ears.

once the girl was gone, the rain stopped and the lightning ceased. the ghost riders had won.

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!!! it's very unedited and has no gif... but i wanted to get it out tonight