𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅 ━━ LYDIA MARTIN

75

"ALL RIGHT EVERYONE," Ken Yukimura spoke up making Reid advert his attention from Scott and Kira's awkward situation to him. "let's get started! We were just talking about internment camps and prisoners of war. There's a passage in our reading that I'd like to go over in more detail. Who would like to come up and read aloud for us?"

His eyes flickered to Reid who was busy staring at his phone screen, staring at his mother's location. He would've been there right now if he didn't remember that Scott and Stiles weren't in their right state of mind. It wouldn't be safe to leave them alone.

"Mr. Stilinski," Ken spoke up, diverting his attention from Reid to Stiles who looked anxious, "oh, maybe someone else could...?"

"Everyone participates in my class, Mr. Stilinski," Ken said with a small smile earning a nod from Stiles who stood up, "okay."

He walked to the stand and looked down at the book as he tried to read but he couldn't. The words were all messed up, the alphabets weren't in their right places which led to Stiles panicking. "Okay, okay, come on... Come on–" he began muttering to himself, gripping the sides of the book stand harshly.

Reid glanced at Scott who had also glanced at him at the same time. They came to a wordless mutual decision to both stand up.

"Stiles?" Reid called out, eyeing his friend as Scott asked, "you okay?"

Stiles began hyperventilating as he took deep breaths, feeling a panic attack coming up. Reid was quick to rush to his side followed by Scott, each of them grabbing either of his arm.

"I should take him to the nurse's office," Scott informed Ken who nodded as he watched the two take Stiles away.

They entered the restroom and Stiles was quick to rush towards the sink, gripping the sides tightly as he took deep breaths.

"Stiles? Look at me, man. Is this a panic attack?" Scott asked worriedly earning a shake of head from him as he began rambling, "it's a dream, it's a dream, it's just a dream..."

"No, it's not—" Reid began, "this is real. You're here with us." Stiles looked at him, confused until Scott spoke, "okay, what do you do? I mean, like, how do you tell if you're awake or dreaming?"

"Fingers," Reid replied as Stiles nodded, exhaling, "you— yoi count your fingers. You have extra fingers in dreams."

"How many do I have?" Scott held up his hand and showed him a finger but Stiles looked away which made Scott sigh, "hey! Look at me. Come on, Stiles. Look at my hands and count with me."

"One..." Stiles began counting as Scott held up each one of his fingers, "two..."

"Keep going."

"Three... four..." Stiles trailed off, looking at his last finger. "Five," Scott breathed out as he continued with his other hand and Stiles resumed counting, "six... seven... Eight.. Nine... ten..."

"Ten," Reid confirmed, making Stiles realise that he wasn't dream. He let out a shaky breath and went to sit down on the ground with his back against the wall, "what the hell is happening to me?"

"We'll figure it out," Scott assured softly, "you're going to be okay."

"Am I? Are you?" Stiles questioned back skeptically, "Scott, you can't transform. Allison's being haunted by her dead aunt— And I'm straight up losing my mid. We  can't do this. We can't– we can't help Malia. We can't help anyone."

"We can try," Scott spoke, "we can always try."

"I'll go find her tonight," Reid spoke up making the two look at him. Scott was quick to interject, "what? No, you can't go alone. The preserve is filled with traps for animals and let's not forget Mr.Tate who's hell bent on killing that coyote–"

"— I'll be fine," Reid brushed off his concern. Stiles shook his head, "dude, you can't go alone."

"Wait for us," Scott said, "we'll make a plan, get help... we don't even know where she is."

"Ten, tonight." Reid walked towards the door, "I'll see you guys. Text me about your upcoming plan, all right?"

"Will do," Scott nodded, "wait, where are you going?"

"Going to meet my—" he cut himself off, biting his tongue as he let out the name, "Genevieve."

"Your mom?" Scott asked, unsure whether that was his mother's name considering he's only ever heard it once from Deaton. "Right?"

"Yeah," he muttered, glancing briefly at Stiles then back at Scott, "don't do anything stupid till I come back."

"How can I?" Stiles asked back, a small smile on his lips, "you're talking all the stupid with you."

"That just made me love you more." Reid joked making Stiles chuckle, his mood lifting, "how long are you going to take?" Reid shrugged in response, "depends. Take care." With that he was out of the restroom.

On his way to his car, he took out his phone to glance at the location again before heading there, hoping that she was there.