I'm not dead.

I'm not dead.

I'm not dead.

I recite the phrase like a prayer. An anchor. My eyes can only register the red of the inside of my lids. They feel crusted shut, sealed shut.

I hear voices but I can't make out who is talking and what they are saying. The sounds are muffled like I'm underwater. My lips struggle to form the correct sounds of his name.

Because even though he tried to kill me, even though he took my neck in his hands and throttled me with his own hands, I still care. And I still want him.

And I hate myself for it.

A blow across my face sends a sharp pang of pain that reverberates all through my body. I let a whispery groan escape through my parched lips. "Theo?" I murmur.

I will my eyelids to flutter open. The light is too harsh and my body feels cold as if I am, in fact, a corpse. Brett looms over me, his expression sour.

A mortifying mistake I've made has just hit me. I called out for Theo, not Brett. I blatantly disregarded Brett as soon as I had woken up. "Brett?" I ask, my voice still sounding like sandpaper against wood. I brush my fingers against my neck. There's no evidence of what just happened. "Where did Theo go?" I ask, my bottom lip quivering.

Brett puts a hand under my arm and lifts me. "He's still with Stiles."

I look at him blankly. "That's...Thats not possible," I say slowly.

"Arden, you've just woken up and you're probably not think -"

"He tried to kill me!" I say, my eyes wide. I try to rip free of Brett's arms, but he grips me by my waist and holds me back. "He tried to kill me," I say quieter this time. My voice is hoarse and defeated. I retreat and slump back into Brett.

"Look at me, Arden," Brett says. He turns my face to his. "You were hallucinating. It was your imagination."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," he asserts.

"Where...Where are the others?" I ask, peering over his shoulder.

"Same thing happened to them," he says. "Mason's with them."

"Was it them?" I ask. "The Dread Doctors?"

He hesitates. "Yeah," he says softly, as if I can't handle it.

Hayden and Liam. Oh my god. I'd left them. If the Dread Doctors were here, did Parrish's invention work? I'm up and bolting down the hallway before Brett can do anything about it. I already know what I'm going to find when I enter the locker room.

But I still have to check.

A push the door open with such force that the door slams against the wall next to it. I ignore Brett calling for me to stop as I scour the room.

Smears of blood are strewn across the lockers and floor. On the floor are the debris of Parrish's device. Liam and Hayden are gone.

I slam my fist into the locker next to me. I keep my head down as I swear over and over under my breath. I can't handle this. I can't have people relying on me. I draw back my arm to hit the locker again. Brett's hand locks around my wrist before it has a chance to slam against the metal.

"Your hand," he says. "Give me a look." He guides my hand towards him and uncurls my fingers. My knuckles are split and crimson blood oozes out of the wounds. I wince when he brushes his fingers over the lacerations on the back of my hand. "Here," he mutters and cups his hand over mine.

It's an immediate evaporation of pain and I feel the relief come rapidly. Black tendrils snake up his arm. "It's your pain," he says, as if reading my confusion. "Does it feel okay now?"

I nod. "Thank you," I say quietly.

He clutches on to my hand tightly. "Arden," he says. "You can't beat yourself up over this."

"I left them," I say, my voice cracking. "I left Liam."

"You thought it was safe. You were looking out for Lydia," he says.

"They could be dead because of me!" I yell in a fit of rage. It's all too much. The whole group was relying on me to protect Liam and Hayden, but I couldn't give them that. I couldn't keep Liam and Hayden safe. Liam had always been there when I needed him. On that first night in the hospital, he was there, holding me down and carrying me from the school.

But I couldn't give him anything back.

"Arden," Brett says. "Arden, look at me." He puts his fingers on my jaw and turns my face to look at him. I blink the tears out of my eyes. "They told you it was safe, that Hayden was safe." He brushes his thumb across my cheekbone. "We don't know what the Dread Doctors are capable of. They probably would have got to Hayden anyway. They might've even taken you as well."

"It's unfair," I say quietly, "that it was Liam and Hayden. It should've been me."

"Then I should've been there as well," he says. "I'd be with you every step of the way. And even if it meant that we both got turned into ridiculous science experiments, I would still stay. We could have wild chimera sex with the whole fangs and tails thing on the laboratory floor. Tell me that doesn't sound absolutely crazy appealing to you."

I snort lightly. "They'd have us locked up."

"Even kinkier," he says with a grin and winks.

"God, you are such an idiot," I joke through bursts of laughter.

"You're all good now?" he asks, cocking an eyebrow.

"Better," I say encouragingly. "Where's everyone else?"

"The vet, probably," he says. "They said something went wrong."

"Yeah, well, obviously. We have two fifteen year olds in the hands of some evil supernatural doctors."

"No, not that," he says. He bites his lip, stalling on what he needs to say. "Theo and Stiles almost died."

"How? What?" I rise off of the bench and start moving to the door. I need to see him.

"I don't know," he hedges. "But it may not have been the Dread Doctors."

I shove my hand against the door and bask in the fresh air that blows through. I'm halfway across the parking lot when Brett puts a hand on my shoulder. "Wait," he says. "I'll drive you."

As the car approaches the vet, I only then realise the full extent of damage. Stiles' jeep is capsized in the parking lot, the windows shattered and the roof mashed against the asphalt like scrunched up paper.

I don't know why, but I feel sick looking at it destroyed like that, knowing it was almost like a requisite part of Stiles' identity.

Brett has barely parked the car when I break into a run, my eyes fixed on the front door of the building.

I haul the door open and charge through to the back room. Or at least try to. That damned mountain ash again. I land painfully on my ass.

I groan and pick myself up. I stand up as Lydia materialises in the doorway. "Oh, thank god you're here," she says. "But maybe try to do it more gracefully next time."

I ignore her. "Is he here? Is he alright?" I ask, craning my neck over her shoulder.

"Yes," she confirms. "I take it you want to see him?"

"Is that alright?" I ask.

She clicks open the door and gestures me through as an answer. I speed through the open door. Theo is seated in the corner, he glances up as I approach. He rises from his seat and pulls me into his arms.

He looks shaken, but otherwise unscathed. I still ask him whether he's alright or not.

"I'm fine," he says. He says the next part hushed. "I heard what happened. I need to talk to you about it. Alone."

I shove my hands in my pockets. "Sure," I answer, even though it wasn't a question.

He starts off towards another door and takes me to a sort of storage room. He shuts the door behind me. I never thought the hallucination would affect me so badly, but my palms still grow sweaty when he encloses me in the room.

"What do you want?" I ask. It comes out more sharp than I meant. My body language is hostile and stiff.

"Arden, I heard about the hallucination," he says. "And I need to know you still trust me."

I let a nervous chuckle whistle through my clenched teeth. "It wasn't real," I say.

"Arden, I can see how uncomfortable you are," he says. He edges closer to me. "You know I would never do that to you," he says quietly.

My body grows rigid. I know it was fake, so how come I'm so hesitant to trust him again?

He's so close that our bodies are almost touching. The air in the room feels humid and stale. "I would never hurt you," he whispers. He takes my face in his hands.

"Theo," I refuse.

"Arden, I won't hurt you," he says.

He lowers his face closer to mine. I rip away from him, grappling the doorknob and jerk it to the side. I push the door open and gulp down the fresh air. Brett is here, pacing back and forth. He looks up when I come through to the room.

I start towards him, but I feel someone tug my arm back. I turn to Theo. "Let go of me!" I yell through clenched teeth.

Theo's face pulls into a hurt expression. "Arden, look at me. Look at me!" I turn and stare him down. "I would never hurt you," he says, his voice strained. "I swear to god."

I open my mouth to speak, but I'm cut off by Brett. "Let her go," he says from behind me.

I ignore him. "I believe you," I say timidly. "But you have to understand how real it was for me."

"Arden, it wasn't real," he urges. "I wouldn't do that."

The room's silence is broken by Brett. "I told you to let her go," he growls.

Theo stares down Brett before loosening his fingers on my wrist.

"I believe you," I say in a small voice and Theo turns to me. "I completely believe you."

Brett puts a hand on the small of my back. "You don't have to stay," he says. "I'll take you home."

"I want to stay," I say defiantly, my jaw set.

He takes his hand away. "You still haven't told me what happened," I say pointedly at Theo as I lean against the metal bed.

Theo lets a dry chuckle through his lips. "I honestly don't know," he says, raising his head.

"Here's what happened," Stiles says impatiently. "We're watching the body and then this flaming fist - an actual fist on fire - comes flying through the window." He does a sharp jerk of his hand to demonstrate his point. I almost laugh at how animated he is, but deem it inappropriate. "Theo is knocked out next to me but I don't have time to do anything. And then my jeep gets turned over." His voice grows quiet. "And the body is gone."

I raise my eyebrows. "But we have no idea who it was, right? Everyone was somewhere else."

"Right," Theo says, narrowing his eyes.

"But there was one person who left," I say, coaxing the realisation to everyone else.

"Parrish," Theo says at the same time as me.

Scott glowers at me. "It wasn't Parrish," he says.

"I don't know," I say, mockingly unsure. "The whole fire thing does sound familiar."

Scott slams his hand down onto the table. "It wasn't Parrish!" he screams. I flinch at the sudden spike in sound.

"She has a point," Brett says.

"We can't not trust each other right now," he says, his voice strained and low. "We need to stick together."

The whole room is holding its breath. The tension is like smoke, diffusing throughout the room and robbing us of our speech.

Theo finally speaks. "Kira," he says

"She's at home," Scott says tiresomely.

Theo raises his eyebrows. "You sure about that?"

His eyes are fixed on something in the doorway. I slowly swivel my head. Kira's silhouette stands in the doorway. Her eyes glow golden like two engagement rings glinting.

"Kira?" Scott asks. She raises the sword that is poised in her hand. "Kira," he repeats, approaching slowly.

And then she charges.

Her movements are graceful and swift as if she is a dancer and this is a ballet. Scott dodged the blade which comes down in arcs. I rush forward as Scott jumps out of the way of another slash. She's distracted now, her liquid gold eyes fixed on me and her sword raised over her shoulder.

She brings down the sword, a sharp blow intent on splitting my skull in half. I skirt out of the way and I feel the air from the fast slash blow on my cheeks. I slam the heel of my boot hard onto the sword.

"Kira," I say quietly as a Siren. "I'm going to take my foot off the sword soon." I snake my arm over the blade and reach slowly for the hilt. "You are going to give me the sword, Kira."

I ease my foot off of the sword slowly, keeping my eyes on the hilt. My fingers curl around the handle and she pries her hand off the hilt. She takes a step back. Her eyes are back to normal. I clutch the sword in my fist.

"Kira," Scott says. She looks at him, a crease on her forehead. She looks overwhelmed and scared. Scared of herself. Scott envelopes her in his arms.

I look down at the sword hilt protruding from my closed hand and then back up at the kitsune being embraced by her boyfriend. What do I do with it? I ponder to myself.

"Here," Theo says from behind me. He leans over my shoulder and brushes his hand over mine before swiftly removing it from my grasp. "You're learning to use your gift."

I don't try to hide my smile. "I guess I am."

"Don't try to be modest," Brett says, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing my cheek from the back. "That was amazing."

Theo exchanges a hostile glance with Brett. "I was thinking the same thing," he says sourly.

I coax Brett's arms to let go. "Well, thanks, I suppose," I say, shrugging my shoulders.

I hop up onto the metal table. "How are we even going to find the Dread Doctors? We barely have any leads on them."

"I -" Scott starts, but shuts his mouth abruptly. "I don't know," he says, his voice defeated.

"Lydia?" I ask, raising my eyebrows. "Can you do anything to find them?"

"She's a banshee," Stiles says. "Not a psychic."

Lydia shoots him a look. "I don't think I can," she says.

"Can't you follow a scent or something?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at Brett.

"They don't have a scent, Arden," he sighs.

"Well, that's just too convenient, isn't it?" I say. Theo chuckles and I shoot him a glare. "Shut up, Theo."

"You're cute when you're frustrated," he says.

A muscle feathers in Brett's jaw. "Okay, enough," he says. Theo has a grin plastered on his face. "We really don't have any leads on them, do we?"

Scott shakes his head no. Stiles looks up and when he speaks, his voice is eerily calm. "Then we wait for them to come for us."

"Well I'm not going to wait here for Liam's corpse to show up somewhere," I say. I stand up from my seat.

"Arden," Brett calls after me. "Come back, babe." I ignore him and take off towards the door. He doesn't bother following but yells from the other room. "Don't do anything stupid."

"That's a bit much to ask, isn't it?" Theo snipes loud enough for me to hear.

I ignore him and flee to outside. I begin my trek through the parking lot. I feel a hand on my shoulder and swat it away. I turn around expecting to see Brett, but it's Theo.

I cross my arms over my chest. "What do you want now?"

He grins that stupid Theo grin which is more of a smirk than a grin. "As I said, you'll probably do something stupid. That's why I'm here. To stop you making crap decisions."

I groan. "You're so...irksome."

"Irksome?" he says. "You're seventeen and you're using the word irksome in everyday conversation?"

"Yes," I say. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No," he says, but I can hear a chuckle bubbling up in his throat. "Not at all."

I continue walking beside Theo. "Where are we going?" he asks.

"My house," I say.

He lets out an ooooh sound. "And what are we going to do there now that Brett's not around?"

I stop and pull a pissed off grimace. "Do you have an off button?"

He grins. "If you really want to know, it's below my belt."

I pinch the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger. "Do you really want me to knee you there again?" A look of alarm flashes across his face and I mentally applaud myself for that. "And, anyway, I have a boyfriend. You should really stop."

He sighs and dodges a branch that sticks out from a tree onto the sidewalk. "It was a joke," he says. "God, I love riling you up. But I'm disappointed, Arden. I really am." I furrow my eyebrows. "The 'I have a boyfriend' card. Very generic. You need to add some, ah, originality to your refusals."

I kick a stone that's in my path. "So you've been joking all this time?"

"Yep," he says. "All of it. All joking. Please don't get your six foot two boyfriend to attack me."

"I'd do it myself," I tell him.

"You're shorter than me," he points out.

We make it to the house. I unlock the front door and head straight for the kitchen. I grab the biggest chocolate block from the pantry and head up the stairs with Theo on my heels.

I sit down and drag my laptop over onto my thighs. I gesture for Theo to sit down beside me. He lowers himself down but keeps his distance and his posture rigid. "It's a bed, Theo. Calm down. It's just furniture," I tell him.

He relaxes a bit. I scoot closer to him. "See? Nothing to be scared about. I don't have cooties."

I open up a search engine. "What are we going to search up?" he asks. "It's not like these Dread Doctors have an Instagram or something."

"Oh god, can you just imagine that," I laugh. "Throwback Thursday to our first failed chimera."

I can feel his laughter vibrating through his body next to mine. "Outfit of the day. My monocle isn't available in stores, unfortunately. It's vintage."

"How about a photo of all three of them with squad goals tagged underneath?"

"And then they delete it because it doesn't go with their theme."

We go on like this for a good ten minutes and we get nowhere in our research. When we finally calm down, Theo tells me to search up Beacon Hills laboratories.

The search engine provides a reasonable list of links. I click on the first one. It has names as well as addresses and what they were used for.

"There," Theo says, pointing at the seventh on the list. "Used to be used for biology research. It's an abandoned warehouse now."

"A good place to turn teenagers into lab experiments," I mutter. I click on the link for more information.

The Blackwell Organisation gave funding to the laboratory in 1956. However, many of the practises here were infamously unethical and the laboratory was shut down in 1994. The laboratory is located at 27 Harding Street but is now an abandoned site.

I scroll down for more, but there is none.

"This sounds promising," Theo says.

I swing my legs over the side of the bed. "Wait, what are you doing?" he asks as I pull the door open. He scrambles to get up.

"I'm going to get Liam and Hayden," I tell him.

"Wait," he says. He grips my arm. "Aren't you going to tell the others?"

"I can do this myself," I tell him. I wriggle out of his grip and head down the stairs.

"We're only two people. Don't you think we need some more backup?" he says, his steps falling hard on the stairs behind me. "No offence, but I don't think a siren and a werewolf are going to do much."

I push the key into the garage door's keyhole. I jiggle it around and push the door open. I flick open the lights. "That's why we're going to have guns," I tell him.

I feel his body stiffen behind mine. "Why do you have these?"

"My father," I tell him, taking a pistol down. "He was in the army. My mom never got rid of them."

I take down another one and press it into Theo's palm. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asks.

"I'm sure," I tell him. I usher Theo back out of the garage and lock the door firmly behind me.

The warehouse is situated on the outskirts of Beacon Hills, standing solitary and empty. Theo mostly spends the car ride fiddling with the radio stations and asking whether we should be doing this.

"Isn't Brett going to get angry?" he asks.

"Why would he get angry?" I ask.

"That you're putting yourself in danger," he clarifies.

I shrug. "Probably," I say. "He's just going to have to deal with it, I guess."

"Are you happy with him?" he asks. I glance over at Theo, my eyebrows lowered.

"Of course I am," I say. He smiles and shakes his head. "What?" I snap at him.

"You're a bad liar," he says.