I shut the door and look over the roof of the car at Theo. "Ready?" I ask. I cock the gun.

"Do you even know how to use that thing?" he asks sceptically.

"No."

"Oh, god, this is going to be fun," he mutters. "So do you even know how you're going to shoot?"

I roll my eyes. "You pull the trigger," I tell him. "Easy."

"I have a bad feeling about this," he says for the hundredth time today.

I ignore him and approach the door. I shove the pistol in the back of my jeans and curl my fingers around the doorknob. I twist it slowly and am met with resistance.

"It's locked," I say.

"Well, obviously," he says. "You think they're going to leave a place like this open?"

"I'm sorry that I normally don't frequent abandoned laboratories," I mutter.

He shoulders past me. "Let me," he says. "Stand back."

"Are you sure -" I start, but I'm cut off by the enormous crash of the door falling in. Theo stands in the doorway looking extremely proud. "Good going," I tell him. "You just alerted the whole of Beacon Hills that we're here."

"If the Dread Doctors are here, they would know we're here," he says. "Don't underestimate them."

The way he says this is like it's a definite fact and I grow suspicious of how sure he sounds. It only then hits me how stupid it was to bring Theo along. If he is, in fact, associated in one way or another with the Dread Doctors, this could very much be nothing more than a trap.

"We'll split up," I say quietly. I slip away into the building before he has a chance to refuse. I pull out my phone and switch on the flashlight. I scan the surroundings.

Syringes and scalpels litter the floor and I have to multitask between keeping my eyes in front of me and dodging the surgical instruments on the ground.

Although the lab is an eerie maze of shelves and labs, it seems unlikely to be used for anything than human study. The syringes are filled with a stale smelling clear liquid, but it doesn't strike me as anything our of the ordinary in a place like this.

The shelves are lined with beakers and test tubes. So far I haven't encountered anything particularly unusual. The place is still is enough to send shivers through my body. Most of the windows are boarded up so the whole place is lacking in light. It's also incredibly cold - a sharp chill that cuts through to your marrow.

That's when I hear it.

Almost so quiet that at first I think I imagined it, but as I pause in my tracks and focus my ears, I realise that it definitely wasn't imagined.

I stalk around the corner. The shadow lurks through the shelves. I tread after it as fast as I can. It's not Theo. Theo's much shorter and broader in his shoulders. The figure stops in its tracks and turns halfway towards me.

I dive at the figure, and try to throw it down. It's definitely human, or at least has the physical attributes of one. I assume it's a male since his shoulders are too wide and his chest too muscular to be female.

His eyes spark up like a molten gold candle being lit. He charges at me, but I block his hits. I grab his shirt in my fist and slam him against a shelf. He groans and I dodge the glass equipment that rain down heavy from the shelf above me. I close my fingers around the gun in the back of my jeans.

I hold the gun to his head, my hands trembling as I rest my finger on the trigger. My breathing is laboured as I decide that he's too weak to do anything and reach for my phone for some light. It was the wrong thing to do, I realise.

Even though my gun is still in his face, I've let down my guard. He pushes me off and the gun clatters out of my hand. He takes off but he's still weak from before and I catch up to him in a matter of seconds. I grab the scruff of his shirt and throw him down with a strength I didn't know I possessed.

I climb on to him and grab his jaw. I switch on the flashlight of my phone.

"Brett?" I ask. He widens his eyes.

"Arden?" His voice is shaky.

"Why are you here?" I ask him, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I followed you," he says, squinting his eyes into the light.

"Why?" I question.

"I didn't want you getting hurt," he says softly.

"I can take care of myself," I snap. "I could've killed you."

"Whatever," he says. He drops his eyes. "Can we just get out of here?"

"We need to find Theo first," I say.

Brett looks confused. "Theo's already left," he says.

I squint suspiciously at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I thought you knew," he says. "I just saw him drive away."

I let out an exasperated sigh and ease myself off of Brett. "I can't believe him," I mutter. I begin scouring the floor for the gun. When I finally find it, I shove it into the back of my jeans.

"Let's get out of here," I mutter. I step over the discarded door and make my way to his car.

When Brett drops me off at my house, I'm confused by the hum of activity that seems to be going on within. I wave goodbye to him before twisting the doorknob open. I wrongly assume it's locked but inhale sharply when I realise someone's already in the house.

I peer through the crack of the ajar door. "Mom?"

She turns around and wordlessly we embrace each other. "What are you doing back early?" I ask, my words muffled from my face being squished against her shoulder.

"It was nothing," she says through a chuckle. "I just couldn't stand them any longer." She puts on a shrill mocking voice. " 'How's Arden? Any men in your life? You shouldn't have left her at home alone.' God, I'm glad I'm home."

I lean over the counter, grinning. "How'd you get away? I'm sure Aunt Sylvia wouldn't have let you go that easily."

"I sorta maybe said that I found out you were having a massive party while I was gone," she says. "Next time you see her you might get a lecture on respect."

I let a chuckle escape through my lips. After a short period, I finally ask her what's been ebbing at me the past few days. "Why did you kill dad?"

Her eyes widen and her body goes tense. For a second I'm scared that she'll drop her coffee but she recomposes herself quickly. "I didn't kill your father," she says.

"What did dad do to make you lose control of your Siren powers?" I pique.

She slams her hand down onto the bench top. "It's not for you to know," she says through clenched teeth. She sounds to be in agonising pain as she cradles the hand she just hit the bench top with.

"Give me a look," I say quietly. I hold her hand in mine. "I know what it's like," I say as I caress her hand in mine, "to lose control. I just need to know."

"Okay," she says. "Okay, you're right. You should know." Her voice is vulnerable and woeful. "Your dad. He was a wonderful man. One day, though, I caught him having an affair with another woman." Her voice grows shaky. "When he came home that day, I couldn't...I just couldn't control my anger. I didn't mean for it to happen. I really didn't."

I don't realise I'm crying until my mom wipes a tear away with the pad of her thumb. "I was hoping I could hide it from you. About being a Siren," she says. "Sometimes the Siren's genes aren't strong as the human's. I was hoping it would be unnoticeable in you." She cups my face in her hand. "All the death and sadness that comes with being supernatural...I didn't want you to grow up before your time."

"Mom," I say softly. "I can handle it."

"No, honey, you can't. And one day you're going to lose someone you love because of it." She places her hand on top of mine. "How are you handling it?"

"I - I don't know," I say. "I can control it now. But I'm scared that I might hurt someone by accident."

She bites her lip. "How's Brett?"

I reply with a simple, "Good."

"There's something wrong."

"No, there's not."

"I'm your mother. I know that look. Something's wrong." I'm unsure whether it's because of her motherly instincts or her Siren ones, but whichever one it is, they're seriously pissing me off.

I groan. "Okay, fine," I say. I take a deep breath and blurt out the next sentence in one huge slab with no breaks so that I don't hesitate. "I don't know whether I like someone else or not." It sounds like one huge word because of how fast I'm speaking.

She bites her lip and ponders about this for awhile. "I think," she starts, wrapping her hands around her steaming mug of dark coffee, "that you need to follow your heart. And don't lead them both on."

I run a hand through my hair. "I'm sort of tired," I tell her. "I think I might go to bed."

I'm halfway up the stairs when I remember something I had meant to ask her. "Dad wasn't human, was he?"

She pauses, her coffee frozen halfway to her lips. "Wolf," she says, her eyes deadset on mine.

I let my mind wander as I fall into bed. What if that's where I inherited the healing from? The Dread Doctors haven't exactly went out of their way to communicate with me if I really was a chimera. After hopeless tossing and turning trying to get to sleep, I finally get relieved of trying to sleep by the door creaking open.

"Rise and shine, princess," Lydia's voice chimes through the darkness. I groan.

"Please do enlighten me on why I have to put off another night of sleep," I say.

She switches on the light and pulls back my duvet. I shield myself against the light and Lydia. "We're all meeting at Scott's house," she announces. "Come on."

"It's too late to put up with a group of supernatural creatures with extremely strong personalities," I complain.

She grips my arm and pulls so hard that I think my shoulder has dislocated. She tugs me so hard that I fall painfully on my coccyx. She doesn't even look over at me as she goes over to my wardrobe and pulls out jeans and a shirt. She tosses them at me and I flinch back. "Wow, okay. No need to be so aggressive. Or style concerned."

"Shut up and get dressed," she snaps. "Your boyfriend's waiting outside."

I pull my shirt over my head. "I thought Brett needed to attend a pack meeting."

She rolls her eyes. "Not that boyfriend," she says. "Theo."

I pause with my jeans half way up my thighs. "Theo isn't my boyfriend," I tell her matter-of-factly. "He's, well, Theo. Brett is my boyfriend."

"Theo doesn't think so," she says.

"Are we really doing this again, Lydia?" I sigh.

She nods. "It's completely and utterly obvious that he thinks you two are something."

I sigh, slipping on my leather boots. "He said he was acting and now he says he's been joking." I pull open the door and bound down the stairs.

"That's an excuse," she says. "He likes you."

"Sorry Lydia, but I'm not so sure about that," I say. "I don't even know what to think. The night that I was watching the body with him, he sort of..."

She gapes at me. "He kissed you!" she exclaims.

"Sort of. We almost -" I stop as I run straight into Theo.

"What are you girls talking about?" he asks, grinning. He doesn't sound like he heard what we said, though. I breathe a sigh of relief.

That relief is very short lived, though, because then Lydia starts blurting out possibly the worst thing she could. "Arden was explaining how you almost kissed," she drawls in a sickly sweet voice. "I just love love."

He looks taken aback. I speak for him. "We didn't almost kiss," I clarify. "We are merely acquaintances." Theo nods affirmatively.

She scoffs. "Yes, acquaintances," she says. "I wouldn't be surprised if Arden gave birth to your child in a few months."

Theo turns a deep shade of red. If his cheeks are that flushed, I'd hate to see myself. I recover myself faster than Theo. "You are just hilarious, Lydia," I laugh nervously.

"I wasn't joking," she says. "Anyway, we should get going."

She climbs into the back seat. "Sorry," I mutter.

"It's fine," he says.

As Lydia pushes the front door, it's evident that something's going on from the commotion upstairs. Lydia presses her lips into a tight line. "Scott," she mutters and takes off at an astounding speed considering her heels. I clamber after her.

Scott has his hand gripped on the back of a boy's neck. The boy looks about only fifteen and has a sort of clueless look about him. They both look in immense pain; mentally and physically. "What is he doing?" I whisper to Lydia.

"Accessing Corey's memories," she says back. "Only alphas can do it."

Theo sidles up beside me. He approaches the scene slowly. I grab his upper arm. "Don't get too close," I warn him in a hushed voice. He nods absentmindedly.

"Does anyone know if it's working?" Mason asks.

Scott's eyes turn scarlet. He retracts his hand quickly, his breathing heavy. He almost falls back as blood gushes down Corey's neck. "What the hell did you do to me?" the boy asks. "There's blood."

"You'll heal," Scott says impatiently. So he's a chimera as well, I think to myself.

"Scott..." Stiles says softly.

"He'll be fine!" Scott yells. I flinch away at the sudden outburst of anger.

"Get me a pen and paper," Scott says. I scan the desk next to me and shove a notepad and pen into his hands. He starts sketching down something. I peer over his shoulder. It looks like a room lined with pipes. Scott flips the notepad around and describes it verbally as well. "There were tunnels and pipes on the walls. Huge blue pipes at the entrance. One on each side."

"I know this, I've seen this before," Stiles says suddenly. "I remember my dad caught me once and told me never to go back."

"The water treatment plant," Lydia says. Scott starts for the stairs. We trail behind him, bustling down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" I ask.

He stops in his tracks and turns around. "To get Liam," he says.

"Wait," I say. "You need someone to go with you."

I scan the group. Almost immediately, Mason volunteers. "I want to go," he announces.

"No offence Mason, but you're human," I say. "I think someone else will have to go with both of you."

Malia pipes up. "I'll go," she says. And then there were the four of us: a siren, a werewolf, a banshee and a chimera.

Stiles leaves almost immediately to accompany his dad in watching the latest chimera corpse. "Who killed it?" I ask.

The silence that follows my question is enough to make me think it a fragile subject immediately. "We think Kira did," Lydia says quietly.

I feel my mouth drop. I attempt to recompose myself quickly and nod slowly, keeping my eyes down.

Lydia finishes wiping the blood off the back of Corey's neck. He brushes his fingers over where the wound was. "It healed, didn't it?" he asks.

"Yep," Lydia says, her lips pressed in a firm line.

"It's been fun," the boy says, getting up from his seat. "Especially the part when a werewolf tried to force his way into my brain."

I grab his arm as he tries to slip out of the room. "You need to stay," I tell him.

"I don't have to do anything," he says. Ah, the ignorant disobedient teenage boy: possibly the worst species of chimera the Dread Doctors could've produced.

"I wouldn't do that," Theo says authoritatively. I release my grip on the boy's forearm. "You know, Lydia's a banshee, which means that she can tell when someone's close to death. Lydia, what happens if he walks out that door?"

Lydia raises her head and looks as if she's grappling in her mind for something to say. "It's bad," she says, a crease appearing between her eyebrows.

I bite on my tongue to stop from laughing at her ostentatious foreshadowing. I look over at Theo who seems to be struggling to keep his amusement under wraps as well. "Very bad," she adds.

Corey's eyes pass over the three of us warily. "I'll take my chances," he says.

"Wow, okay, tough guy," I start. "But here's the thing: we have two of our friends missing, maybe dead. And you could be of some help."

"What else did you see?" Theo presses. "Come on, Corey, there had to be something else."

Corey sighs. "There was the hospital, and then they took me out of my room..."

"And then where?" Lydia asks.

"To the tunnels," he says. "I told you that's all."

"There has to be more!" Theo says, his voice raised and strained. "Come on, think! Corey, for one minute just - just think."

Corey closes his eyes and exhales. "There was a basement," he says finally.

"Like where?" I ask, crossing my arms. "A building?"

"A house," Corey says. "It was an old house covered in dust, and there was a stone wall with a hole. Like a bomb had gone off."

Theo turns to Lydia. "The werewolf with the talons - the one that attacked Scott, didn't Parrish say that he smashed through the wall of a basement? Wasn't it something like that?"

"No," she says softly. "It was exactly that."

"You both stay here with Corey," Theo says. "I need to go find them."

"Wait!" I call after him. He pauses. "I'll come with you."

I follow him out of the front door and speed down the stairs after him.

I shut the door of his car behind me and barely have time to buckle my seatbelt when he speeds off, the tires screeching against the tar of the road.

"I need to ask you something," I say suddenly. Even if Theo isn't clued in on the supernatural world, it's worthy of a shot.

He nods. I wonder how close is too close to lean in. "I don't think my healing is from the Dread Doctors," I say softly.

He bites his lip. "I was thinking the same thing," he says. "They would have communicated with you by now."

"My mom said my father was a werewolf," I tell him. "I need to know who he is." He exhales deeply through his nose. "You know who he is," I whisper.

He leans in even closer and I can feel the heat of his body. "Look, I've heard stories," he begins, "about a powerful alpha that was killed by his siren wife. It would've been around the time you were four."

My eyes widen. "Do you have a name?"

He sighs. "Ian," he says. "His name was Ian Caraway. One of the most powerful werewolves in America. His pack was said to have been as big as a hundred at its greatest."

"Is there any way that I could have inherited any werewolf abilities from him?"

"It makes sense, I guess," he says, his voice hushed. "He was powerful enough to pass on very prominent genetic abilities. The siren genes and the wolf genes would've been waging a battle within you for prominence. I guess through that, the siren couldn't conquer all that of the werewolf and so you ended up with the healing."

I furrow my eyebrows. "So I'm not a chimera, but I'm a chimera?"

He chuckles, his voice low. "I guess you could call it that."

"Well do you know how I could find his pack? Or at least contact someone who knows them?"

Theo's eyes widen. "No, no, I wouldn't do that if I were you," he says. "There are a hundred werewolves in that pack, all ruthlessly trained and notorious for their massacres of rival packs. The hunters have been after them for years, but still haven't even gotten close to finding them. No one outside of the pack even knows who their alpha is now."

I glance over at chimera who looks as if he's about to die of boredom. "They wouldn't kill me though, would they? I'm their former pack leader's daughter."

"I don't care how honourable their family values are," he says. "You're not going in search of one of the most barbaric packs in America."

"I don't need a permission slip to go looking for them," I mutter.

He sighs. "If you're going, I'm going," he declares.

"I'm not asking you to come with me," I say.

"You're not going to do something that stupid without me," he says.

"Right," I say. "Wouldn't want to miss out on the experience."

"Something like that," he mutters and smiles.

"Thank you," I say softly.

He glances over at me out of the corner of his eye. "What for?"

"Not many people would follow me in search of a notoriously bloodthirsty werewolf pack," I say and shrug my shoulders.

A small smile plays on his lips. "I wouldn't normally follow anyone to search for a notoriously bloodthirsty werewolf pack," he says. "But you're not anyone. You're Arden."

I turn to the window so he doesn't see the blood creeping up to my cheeks. A looming, ancient mansion materialises through the shadows. "That's it," I announce.

He pulls up outside of the house. As I get out of the car, I realise how cold it is for this time of the year. I quickly realise that it might not even be the weather, but just the general vibe of the place.

I rock back on my heels. "I don't know about you, Theo, but I'm starting to feel like that pair of stupid teenagers in horror movies that go to an abandoned house for sex and end up getting violently ravaged by demons."

He shrugs. "Or worse."

I feel a shudder run the course of my whole body. "Thanks for the reassuring words," I mutter as I pull my jacket closer around me.

I approach the house behind Theo. I wouldn't want to be the first person to face whatever's in there. The door is unlocked and he twists the knob and eases the door open. It creaks on its hinges, releasing a shriek that echoes down the empty hall.

I tread carefully after Theo, the floorboards beneath my soles sounding like they haven't been used in years. Theo holds a finger up. I stop in my tracks and hear what he was referring to. Muffled groans of pain emanate from below us.

Theo takes off at a speed that only a werewolf can. I let out an irritated breath and take off after him. All I can see of him is his outline as he disappears behind a door and down the dark staircase.

I lose sight of him several times. I pause at the end of the staircase. There's two ways I can go. I peer down both of the dark halls, switching up between both of them. Suddenly I hear the sound of Theo's shoes pounding against the floor of the right hall. I dash into the hall and let the darkness shroud me as I follow the sound of Theo's running.

I turn the corner just in time to see Theo turn into a human lightning bolt and fall to the ground with a thud.