Dark Side of the World // S.S. [Book Two]

Chapter 42

We seal up the entrances to the Argent bunker and Lydia says, "The tunnel gate's locked. Everything's locked."

"Think it'll hold them off?" Malia inquires.

"Probably not." Scott says.

I shake my head. "Who are we kidding, guys? It definitely won't hold them."

Malia turns in a panic. "You guys aren't hoping I'm gonna be the optimist, are you?"

I meet her eyes. "Somebody needs to be. I'm no optimist, that's for sure. And since we have supernatural dead ghosts riding horses and taking people, someone needs to overtake the positivity for a change."

Scott smiles in amusement before walking closer to the human-sized machine in the room. "So, how cold does this thing get?"

"Cold enough for a Hellhound." Lydia answers. "It's not the ice bath you gave Isaac, but, it can lower your core temperature past anything a human can survive."

Malia frowns. "So what does freezing our asses off have to do with our memories?"

"It'll slow your heart rate, and put you in a trance-like state."

"Like hypnosis." Scott says.

"Hypnotic regression." Lydia corrects. "If we can figure out how to work it."

Malia reaches her hand forward and brushes the machine, stopping below a bright green button. "This says "start", so, maybe it's not that complicated."

Scott sees the other knobs. "It's complicated."

Malia sighs. "So, optimistically, how much time do you think we need to do this?"

Scott shrugs. "As much time as Liam and Stilinski can buy us." He opens the machine.

Malia presses the green start button and a whirring noise comes from the machine. "Okay, it's doing something." She turns to Scott. "You ready?"

Scott, who has pulled off his shirt, nods. He steps into the machine and softly closes the door behind him. Lydia looks at him. "Remember, this will get cold enough to kill you. So if something feels wrong or like, it's not working..."

"It's going to work." Scott says, cutting her off.

Lydia frowns. "I hope you're saying that because you think I know what I'm doing."

"I'm saying that because I know you can figure it out."

Lydia starts twisting and turning dials and levers. Scott wraps his arms around himself. "Oh, okay, alright, yeah, that's cold. Really cold."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Malia inquires. "Talk to him? Help him remember? Wait til he turns into a werewolf freezy pop?"

Lydia gives Malia a reassuring look. "We need to guide him. Keep him focused." She turns her attention back to Scott. "Scott, you have to think about him. Concentrate on Stiles. Try to picture him in your head. Think about what he looks like, things he said."

Scott starts groaning in pain and winces. His eyes close and he tilts his head towards the ceiling. Malia frowns. "I don't like this. Something's wrong."

"Wait. Give it a few more seconds." Lydia says.

He lets out a grunt of pain and slams his hand on the door. Malia immediately reaches for the lever. "I'm getting him out of there."

Lydia grabs her wrist. "Wait!"

Scott looks at us, revealing his werewolf eyes. He relaxes and closes his eyes again. "Scott...Can you hear me?" His eyes open and close repeatedly as he starts drifting off. "Scott, don't fall asleep. You have to keep your eyes open."