Oblivion

The Entombed Chimera Returns

A quiet had descended on Beacon Hills, but it wasn't the peaceful stillness Liam wanted. It was a quiet tension that riddled the city and seeped into the very marrow of his bones. He wished it was strictly from the threat of people disappearing, people he no longer remembered—and it was partially that—but there was something else that had been nagging him for far longer.

In going through his phone trying to find any evidence that Stiles existed, Liam had stumbled on a photo from last year. A photo he'd taken with Mason and Corey—and Theo Raeken. They'd all been hanging out at Liam's house long before everything happened, back when Liam had merely been suspicious of the boy.

Before the chimera had brought his pack to the brink of devastation.

It didn't make sense, then, why Liam couldn't bring himself to delete it. Why he kept thinking about the easy smile on Theo's face. Unlike the smiles he'd forced at school, the slightly twisted ones meant to manipulate and put others at ease, this one seemed different, somehow. Genuine, even. Almost as if murderous, treasonous, scheming Theo Raeken was just a teenage boy trying to find his place in the world.

Liam tried a few times to delete it, but he always ended up going back and rescuing it from his deleted folder before it was lost forever.

What if this was the only remaining photo of Theo? Did he even have a birth certificate? Did he have family looking for him?

These were the questions that haunted Liam into the early hours of the morning. During math quizzes and lacrosse practice. They even occupied his thoughts during date nights with Hayden. The echoing scent of fresh soap had been seared into his mind, overpowering Hayden's lavender and vanilla. Liam couldn't help but wonder if he was the only one who questioned what was happening to Theo now.

If the Skinwalker prison was like a purgatory, or if it was more like a Hunger Games arena. If Theo was even still alive down there.

The thought that he might not be had Liam's stomach churning in a way he didn't understand. He should hate the chimera. He should want nothing to do with him. And yet, every time Peter dropped by, Liam couldn't help but wonder why he was afforded so many second chances when Theo wasn't. He supposed that was the benefit of being a Hale. Built in benefit of the doubt.

Except that Peter was a fully grown man, cemented in his trickster ways, whereas Theo was just a kid. A kid trying to survive by any means necessary.

Which how Liam found himself in the middle of the hallway with Hayden, blurting out the words he never thought he'd say: "We need Theo."

Hayden blinked, her hand frozen on a book inside her locker. "I'm sorry—what did you say?"

Liam swallowed, trying to get a grasp on the heat rising in his cheeks. "I know it's crazy, but we need something—or someone—that can conduct electricity, right? Theo has Josh's powers. We could use him to trap a Ghost Rider."

"That's it. My boyfriend's officially insane."

Mason slung an arm around Liam's neck. "I mean, yeah, you didn't already know that?"

Hayden was not amused. "He wants to bring you-know-who back."

"I don't know who," Mason said, sharing a look with his equally confused boyfriend.

Hayden lowered her voice to a whisper as if uttering his name too loudly might summon him. "Theo."

Mason's arm slid from Liam's shoulders. "The one who tried to kill all of us?"

Liam was seriously beginning to regret confiding in them at all. He should've just gone directly to Kira.

"It's not like we'd just set him free," Liam scrubbed a hand through his hair, tugging at the roots. "We'd just use him for his powers, and if he tries anything, we'll just put him right back in the ground. Simple as that."