"What on earth?" Eli gapped as he looked up at the ceiling. "Why do I kinda wanna take a picture of it?"

"Eli." Liam sighed.

"That's how he got in?" Corey asked, holding the same expression.

"What is it?" Liam asked, staring at the black, vine like, marking on the wall.

"It's a point of impact from a lightening strike." Mason informed each of them. "Usually you'll find charred spots like that on the ground after a violent thunderstorm."

"Yeah." Eli gapped. "That's where i've seen it from. One was on the street in Sweden once. My dad made a joke and said it was a portal to a new demention, scared me half to death."

"That's how the ghost rider got in." Scott gapped. "The lightening."

"If they can use lightning to get past the mountain ash..." Liam trialed off with a frightened look.

"Then we're not protected at all." Eli confirmed.

"What about the others?" Corey asked quickly. "It's my fault they're marked."

"We'll find a way to protect them." Scott reassured him quickly. "All of them."

"I should get to Malia." Eli nodded his head. "Find Lydia on the way."

"Good idea." Scott nodded, holding his shoulder. "You wanna take my bike?"

Eli froze, looking back at him with a smirk. "Are you joking me?"

"God, I had when he says that." Mason inhaled.

"I drove you here, you need some type of way to get around." Scott held the keys out. "Do not wreck it."

"I'll take very good care of-" he tripped over his feet, standing up quickly as if he hadn't fallen. "I'll take very good care of her."

Liam watched him go. "Hope you have insurance."

"Someone shot my girlfriend?" Eli ran into the hospital when he smelt Malia, seeing Melissa trying to remove it while Chris was struggling. Malia was clearly in a lot of pain.

"Eli!" she cried out for him.

"Good, you're here." Melissa panted in relief. "Keep her calm, and still."

"Hey, hey." Eli turned her face to look at him, he grabbed her hands. "It's okay, i'm gonna help. Is it okay? If I used my thing?"

"Yeah, yeah, do your Eli thing." she panted in pain.

He squeezed his eyes shut, thinking hard before opening them. The shade of green shined down into her eyes, immediately relaxing her. Eli grabbed her hands tighter, his veins turning black as he took her pain as Melissa dug deeper.

"Got it." she confirmed, pulling it out as Eli blinked away his eyes, taking a little bit more of her pain before exhaling, letting her go.

"Thanks." Eli nodded to Melissa, his arm going under Malias legs and the other around her back to lift her up. "Hate to ruin the fun, but we have somewhere to be."

"See ya." Malia spoke as Eli carried her through the hospital.

"You feeling okay?" he asked her while making it through the less crowded hallways.

"Already starting to heal. I can walk." she nodded her head.

Eli have a grin, shaking his head. "I walk for you better."

Malia leaned on his shoulder as they went for Scott's bike. "No way."

"Yes way." he grinned, setting her down before getting on the front. "Hang on, tight."

She wrapped her arms around his waist, Eli looked back with a knowing look. "Little tighter?"

She tightened her grip, making him groan slightly. "Great. That's, fantastic."

"It's a relic." Lydia held the ID out to them.

"What's a relic?" Malia frowned her eyebrows.

"An object with a fixed association to the past." she explained to her as Eli leaned on the door to listen to her. "Jakes ID was left behind after he was taken. And Gwen found her sisters bracelet on her bedroom floor."

"How can someone be erased and still leave something behind?" Malia tried to understand.

"Is it just a matter of time until it goes missing too?" Eli asked Lydia with an eyebrow frown. "Like, it doesn't disappear as easily or as quick as a person might?"

"A conservation of mass." Lydia shook her head, getting three questionable looks. "A total mass of any isolated system remains constant."

"So, even the ghost riders have a weakness." Scott looked at her with a blink.

"A relic would be proof that Stiles existed." Malia nodded her head quickly.

"And maybe we can bring him back." Scott nodded his head, looking to Eli as he gave him a gentle smile.

"Mama!" Eli called out as he walked into the house. "Study group got canceled because Jiovani got mono!"

"She's running a little late at the station." Jamie walked from the room, adjusting his suit as Eli's face fell. "I was about to go get a few more documents transferred from Sweden back here. Do you wanna come? Sure the office will love the see you."

Eli blinked. "I've got homework."

"You can bring it with you." he offered.

Eli just stared at him. "I've got homework."

"Okay." Jamie nodded. "Maybe a quiet house will be good for you."

Eli ignored him, exhaling. Jamie paused at the door. "Son?"

Eli turned to look to him. The older man shook his head. "I'm trying here. I know it's not gonna be easy but I want us to be a family again. I love so much."

Eli looked down. "I know."

"And I know it'll take time." he nodded in return. "But, what happened will never happen again. You have to know i'd never put you in a situation like that's again."

"You'd never hurt mom like that either, i'd hope." Eli snapped at him slightly, because it hadn't sat right with him the way he said it.

"Of course." Jamie nodded his head, Eli broke off eye contact. "All I ask is you cut me a little slack. I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me."

Eli exhaled with a nod of his head. "Okay."

As his dad left, Eli dropped his backpack onto the table. The house was quiet, it rarely was completely silent unless it was night out. And even then, most night Malia would be here to talk his ear off.

Eli's heart picked up as he looked down the hallway, his eyebrows knitting together. Something wasn't right, something had lingered into the air when he walked by. He stopped, standing still as he looked for something wrong. His head was spinning, trying to tell him something, trying to recall a memory. It was faint, but something was there, like it had been on the tip of his tongue.

He suddenly thought of his alpha, his eyes.

Eli shut his, focusing himself harshly as they glew the beta gold. He had to see with his eyes, not his brain. And he had, he'd seen so much in just a second. Using his claws, he tore at the wallpaper, huffing as he yanked away, the sharpness coming in handy. He pulled, and pulled, and tore, yanked, breaking through the wallpaper, insulation, and dry wall. All the way until he broke through.

A guest bedroom, slept in, with clothes all over the floor and unfinished math homework across the bed.

Eli's heart raced as a lump formed in his throat, he stepped into the room, walking to the bed. The homework, a note had been across the front. It was a sticky note, one Eli used at his study groups and his study groups only. As he looked at it, he smiled.

Thanks for attending Eli Foxx's study group, you're doing amazing! Three dollars to Mason please.

Usually the money was attached to it, but in a different pen shade, there was another writing at the bottom. In his handwriting.

brothers get in for free:)

Eli smiled as a laugh left his lips, his eyes tearing up. Brother. Stiles was his brother. He sunk onto the floor, leaning on the bed as he smiled and cried all at once. His brother. He had a brother.

"Guys!" Eli yelled as he ran into the hospital, getting a scent of the trio he'd been looking for.

"You asshole!" Malia yelled in disbelief. "I couldn't find you anywhere! I thought you were taken."

She hugged him tightly as he breathed deeply, holding her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. What happened to your face? Let me see."

"I'm fine." she shook her head. "Why are you yelling?"

"I found it." Eli gapped as he looked at his friends. "Stiles-"

"He's not real, we're chasing someone who isn't there." Scott shook his head.

"What? No." Eli shook his head. "I found the relic! It's at my house, he stayed in my guest bedroom that wasn't suppose to be there. It was built on, for him."

"What are you saying?" Scott shook his head quickly.

Eli exhaled, nodding. "I'm saying he's my brother."

•

kylie speaks

dw eli, i'm crying with
you rn bby.