Silvern | Stiles Stilinski (Book 2)

Chapter Seventeen: Condition Terminal

As soon as we entered the Sheriff's Station, the sickening scent of blood reached me. Scott threw the door open, running over to help Stilinski as he tried to stand. Stiles, Theo and I went further into the building, gasping in horror. Lydia was lying on the floor as Kira desperately tried to keep pressure on the large wound on her abdomen. Blood soaked through her shirt, staining the floor. Theo quickly removed his belt, pushing us aside as he raced towards the girl. He began to fasten the belt tightly around her stomach, just above the wound. I raced over, taking her hand as I tried to take away her pain. Stiles stared at us, frozen to the spot as he watched Lydia choke down her tears, trying to stay awake. I looked up as Mrs Martin stumbled towards her daughter, I couldn't imagine how terrified she was. "Stiles," Scott called, "Stiles, come on"

"It's okay, she's alright" Theo tried to reassure him.

I nodded at him, "Go. Help Malia"

"Stiles, I'm fine. Help Tracy" Lydia murmured, trying to smile.

——————

We stood around in the hospital, waiting for news. Malia was still recovering from what she had seen, apparently some masked men appeared at the Station and killed Tracy.  Stiles frowned, "What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Nothing... I just got this awful feeling. This is just so familiar"

I realised that he was referring to the time that I died, "Lydia's not gonna die, okay? She's strong"

He shrugged, "So were you"

"She's a banshee, right? I'm fairly sure she didn't predict this," I noticed the confused look that Theo was giving us, "It's just... stuff that happened several months ago. Don't worry, she's gonna be fine" I assured him.

Melissa made her way over to us, looking very serious. "How bad is it?" Stiles asked.

She sighed, "Could have been worse. Theo, nice going on that tourniquet, you probably saved her life," I huffed as I saw the glare that Stiles directed at him, "Alright, she's about to go into surgery, so it's going to be a while. Any other supernatural details that I need to know about or do we just stitch her up and hope for the best?"

"It was the tail" Kira spoke up.

"Yeah, Tracy cut her with the tail, if that makes a difference"

The woman nodded as she rushed to the operating theatre, "Okay"

Malia huffed, "But it wasn't just Tracy. There were the others, the guys in the masks"

——————

I was sat with Malia in Stiles' room, watching as he added Tracy Stewart and the masked men to his crime board. She got up, grabbing the eraser and rubbing out the question that had been there for so long, 'Who is the Desert Wolf? ' She smiled at both of us, letting me hug her.

——————

Mrs Finch finished writing on the chalkboard, turning to speak to us, "If 99.9% of our DNA sequence is the same as other humans, what could account for the missing 0.1% difference? Theo?"

"Um, nucleotides"

She nodded, "That's right. Yes, Kira?"

Kira lowered her hand, "Can there be more than one species in the same DNA?"

"No, but there can be multiple sets of DNA in the same individual. We call that a chimera. Anyone know where that term comes from?"

I hesitantly put my hand up, "Greek mythology. It's a lion with a goat coming out of its back and a tail that ends in the head of a snake" I used to be obsessed with Greet mythology when I was little, I even had a CD of myths that I played on repeat for a whole week.

She smiled, "That's correct, Ariana. Now, that gets us into our next topic of mutation. As you know from the reading, DNA is a fragile molecule. Isn't it, Scott? Or did you miss last night's assigned reading?"

"Kind of"

"Kind of, or yes?"

Scott sighed, "Mostly yes"

She huffed, "Well then, thank you for another helpful transition in topic," she picked up a stack of papers, "Drop forms. All those now acutely aware that they do not belong in this class," she gave them out to a few students, "You should fill one out. The rest will be on my desk"

I frowned as I saw Scott take one, he deserved to be in the class, he had worked so hard.

"Did you get in to see Lydia?" I asked as Stiles and Malia joined us in the library.

He sighed, "No. I tried using my free period, but she's still in the ICU and no one outside family is allowed in"

Malia held up the bestiary, "We got one thing"

"Anything in here about half-werewolves, half-kanimas?" Kira began to flick through the book.

"The chimera" Scott corrected.

Stiles frowned, "Um, what?"

Scott glanced around at us, "Chimera, it's a creature made of incongruous parts. And if Liam said he found wo burial sites, that means Tracy's not the only one"

"Who's the second Chimera?" I looked up at him anxiously, "And why would they bury them?"

"Deaton thinks it's part of their process"

Malia nodded sadly, "The people in masks"

I sighed, smiling as I saw Stiles asleep on one of the many books we had used for research. It was dark outside and the library was dimly lit. "Hey, I'm gonna head home now. Gotta study for Biology" I told him. He groaned in reply and I rolled my eyes, "Stiles, go home. It'll be a lot easier to fall asleep there. He groaned again and I chuckled, pressing a kiss against his cheek before leaving.