Liquid Silver

Fifteen

Stiles was better in the morning. She knew he was good at hiding things that got him down, so much that most people probably wouldn't notice anything was wrong at all.

She also knew the best thing to do was carry on as normal. Scott had decided Lucas and Tracey were chimeras. It meant species possessing more than one type of DNA in their genetic makeup. The doctors were meant to be the ones responsible for creating them, treating kids like they were a new exciting science experiment. It made her feel sick.

Regardless, they'd already planned out their next move. She was sitting Stiles bed, tapping the thick photocopy of 'the Dread Doctors', trying to talk him out of it as he dug through his wardrobe for a clean hoodie.

She glanced up when Lydia appeared in the doorway. She was taking the same approach as Jem. This was a horrible idea. They'd found Valack's name credited in the back of the book which of course lead to the completely logical idea of going to speak to him. Logical in that it's never not a good idea to go interview a sociopathic psych patient who drilled a hole into his own head in Eichen house, a psychiatric ward for the especially deranged.

She absolutely did not want him to go.

"Stiles, please just let Scott take care of it" Jem pleaded. Lydia had her arms folded in the same attitude.

"I'm going" Stiles responded bluntly.

"I thought you said you were sick?" Lydia protested.

"Exactly!" Jem exclaimed in agreement. "You're sick, and this is a bad idea. You should stay home"

"I'm slightly under the weather" He corrected them both.

"You don't have to come" Lydia tried again. "Malia's not coming either"

"Malia's not going because she knows that place is a nightmare asylum of insanity and death"

"Do you even hear yourself?" Jem gasped, throwing her hands up.

"Jem, I need to go" He argued one more time. "Come on Lydia" He threw his jacket on harshly, pulling the sleeves and wincing when it brushed his shoulder. Jem raised an eyebrow.

"What was that?" Lydia asked.

"What was what?" Stiles deflected, zipping up the hoodie as if nothing had happened.

"You winced" Lydia told him, not wasting her time.

"I have a bad elbow" Jem knew he absolutely did not have a bad elbow.

"It was your shoulder" she mumbled, standing up off the bed to go and try to take a look at it, but he was already moving for the door.

"Pain radiates, it does that" Lydia stepped in front of him, still uneasy about letting him go. Jem felt the same. She didn't know how to respond to his behaviour right now. She couldn't tell if something else was wrong or if he was just stubborn and uneasy because of what had happened the night before. "You're not going without me" He insisted, putting his hands on each of Lydia's shoulders. "You remember what happened to Deaton the last time he tried to talk to Valack"

Jem didn't know what else to say. "Scott and Kira are going to be there" She tried one more protest, pleading for him to stay with as much desperation as she could put in her voice.

"Look" Stiles was fed up, and she knew they couldn't change his mind. "I'm not letting her go to a place where one of the orderlies almost killed her"

"He almost killed you too!" Lydia exclaimed. Jem was feeling worse and worse about the situation but she didn't have it in her to keep arguing anymore. She was tired and out of ideas. He wasn't going to abort mission just because his little sister had a bad feeling.