North Starr

35

As Melanie had guessed, Derek was still in the elevator. Stiles knelt next to him. "Derek?"

He slapped him a few times. "Derek, come on!"

Melanie balled her fist, ready to punch her brother, and her fist was grabbed.

"Where is she?" Derek asked.

"Gone," Melanie said. "She took Scott's mom."

Derek's eyes widened. "She took her?"

Stiles let out a sigh. "Yeah, and if that's not enough of a kick in the balls, Scott left with Deucalion, okay? So we gotta get you out of here. The police are coming right now, and we gotta get you the hell out of here. Whoa."

"What about Cora?"

"She'll be okay, Derek."

He rushed off, leaving Melanie, much to her frustration, and Stiles in the Emergency Room. They sat in the uncomfortable chairs and Stiles noticed a tall man and muttered, "Oh, just perfect."

The agent walked over. "A Stilinski and Miss Hale at the center of this whole mess. What a shocker. Think you can answer some questions without the usual level of sarcasm?"

"If you ask the questions without your usual level of stupid," Stiles retorted.

"Where's your dad, and why's no one been able to contact him?"

Stiles shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't seen him in hours."

"Is he drinking again?"

"What do you mean, again? He never had to stop."

"But he did have to slow down. Is he drinking like he used to?"

Stiles sighed and narrowed his eyes at the agent. "All right, how about this? Next time I see him, I'll give him a field sobriety test, okay? We'll do the alphabet, start with "F," and end with "U"."

The agent sighed. "How about you or Melanie just tell me what the hell happened here."

Stiles shook his head. "I don't know what happened here. We were stuck in the elevators the whole time."

"You're not the ones who put the name on the doors, are you?"

"What name?" Stiles and Melanie asked in sync.

The elevator dinged and closed to reveal the name, ARGENT.

---

The teens made the Argents' apartment and Argent said, "The word is guardian, Allison. More than anyone, you know that's a role I haven't exactly lived up to lately."

Stiles shrugged. "Yeah, I'd also consider the fact that someone put your name up in a large block letters on the elevator doors. That kind of felt like a warning to me."

"I think it might be Morrell," Allison said. "She knows more than she lets on, and she might even be trying to help us."

Melanie frowned. "Well, she should hurry."

Stiles nodded at her statement. "Seeing as how the lunar eclipse is less than two freaking nights away."

Argent turned to him. "Stiles, don't give up hope."

"They could already be dead," Stiles said, sitting down.

Argent shook his head. "I don't think so. There's something about Jennifer's tactics. It's like she's still positioning, still moving pieces into place."

Allison's eyes widened. "And you're one of them."

Argent started getting them ready. "Then let's not wait around to see the next move. Everything she's done has been on a telluric current, so Melissa and the sheriff have to be somewhere on one of those currents, right? Stiles, if we're gonna find them, we need your help."