North Starr

79

The teens had gathered at Scott's house and Stiles said, "My dad's got an APB out..."

"For a 5'8 16-year-old?" Kira interrupted.

Stiles smiled awkwardly. "I recommended nine-foot tall rampaging werewolf."

Melanie frowned at him. "And I told the sheriff not to use those words."

Liam looked between the couple. "It still might not be him. But Hayden's at the school looking."

"I can keep checking the woods," Malia said.

Scott walked into the room. "My mom can check all the hospitals in the county. We can find him."

"What happens then?" Liam wondered.

Melanie shrugged. "Then we'll figure out a way to save him."

Lydia nodded. "Okay. Where else could we look?"

"Let's ask Corey," Scott replied, clutching something with his hand.

Corey became visible and tried defending himself. "Wait. Wait. It's not my fault. They took him and I couldn't do anything. They took him..."

"Who?" Tessa pressed.

"The Dread Doctors."

Melanie made her way to the station with Stiles and Lydia.

"Still nothing from Scott and Liam," Stiles informed.

"Are we really sure this is a good idea?" Lydia asked.

Melanie looked slightly awkward as she said, "It's a terrible idea, but it's the only one we've got."

The sheriff turned to his son. "But you're trusting Theo anyway?"

Stiles shook his head. "We're not trusting him. We're using him."

Lydia frowned. "What if he's using us?"

Melanie met her friend's eyes. "He's most definitely using us."

Stiles nodded. "Definitely. But, look, we're just trying to cover every place Mason could show up. Malia and Braeden are at Scott's house. Melissa's got the hospital. Hayden and Corey are at the school."

Sheriff Stilinski sighed. "Somebody's got to find him."

Melanie looked between the others. "And we better hope they find Mason and not the Beast."

Stiles fell asleep on the couch in the sheriff's office and Melanie sat on the desk, texting her brother. She noticed Lydia coming back and shook Stiles' shoulder.

Stiles jumped up. "Hmm? What? What happened? Who's dead?"

"No one. At least not yet," Lydia replied.

Stiles sat up and Melanie sat next to him, crossing her legs on the couch.

She noticed his expression and asked, "You okay, Stiles?"

He nodded. "Yeah, just thinking. Still trying to figure out why Mason? I mean, he wasn't even on the genetic Chimera list."

Melanie shrugged and Melissa entered as she said, "He is now."

The brunette grabbed a file and looked through the pictures. "Why now?"

"Mason was born with twin embolization syndrome."

Lydia nodded. "You mean fetal resorption."

"He had a vanishing twin in utero, which accounts for two sets of DNA."

Stiles frowned. "Can someone please say it with words that have less than three syllables?"

Melissa and Melanie turned to him and said bluntly, "He ate his twin."

"Oh, God," Stiles muttered.

"Did it help?" Melanie asked.

Melissa shook her head. "I don't know. But it's just bizarre enough to sound like it might be something important, right?"

Melanie let out a sigh and furrowed her brow. "Maybe. There has to be something."

They looked at the ultrasound of Mason eating his twin and Melanie's lip curled in disgust.