An agitated groan escaped my lips as I pulled myself out of the warmth of my bed. Scott and my mom were out- Scott trying to figure out this whole Chimera, Dread Doctor thing, and my mom was at work. So this left me to answer the repetitive knocking at the front door at 10:00 at night.

As I left my room, I grabbed the curling iron that was sitting on my desk, figuring that some protection was better than none.

The knocking still hadn't ceased as I made it to the bottom of the stairs. As I counted to three, I pulled the door open, my weapon still in hand.

"What the hell?" The words had left my mouth before I knew what I was saying.

"Nice to see you too." Liam mumbled, pushing past me Hayden in tow. His eyes briefly landing on the curling iron in my hand.

"What are you doing here!?" I demanded, my eyes landing on Liam's hand which was wrapped around Hayden's wrist.

"Where's Scott?" he  asked, running up the stairs, a terrified looking Hayden following him like a lost puppy.

"He's not up there!" I yelled, instantly becoming frustrated with the situation. When Liam continued up the stairs I decided I better follow them. "He's not home." I explained as I followed the pair into my brother's room.

"Well I need him." Liam announced, his nervous eyes meeting mine. 

"Liam," I whispered, "What did you do to her?" I asked, sparing a glance at Hayden.

"I-Nothing!" He snapped looking down at his phone, most likely to text Scott, "I just need to talk to-" He was cut off by the slamming of a door. Both of our heads turned to see that Hayden had disappeared into the bathroom.

"Okay Liam, you need to tell me right now what's going on." I demanded as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"She's one of them." His tense voice came at almost a whisper.

I stared back at him, awaiting further elaboration, "One of what?"

"A Chimera." Liam answered,  "Hayden's a Chimera."

My wide eyes travelled to the door that Hayden was hiding behind. "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure!" he shot back, running a hand through his hair nervously. "When is Scott going to be back?"

"Well-" My sentence was cut off my the ringing of my phone. I let out a small grunt as I pulled it from the pocket of my hoodie.

"Who's texting you at 10:00 at night?" Liam demanded.

"It's just Holden." I muttered, sending a quick reply before pocketing my phone once again.

"Do you think now's really the time to be flirting?" Liam questioned, shooting me a dirty look. 

"He was asking for homework help, idiot." I shot back, sending him a glare as I moved to sit on Scott's bed. 

Liam rolled his eyes at me, just as his own phone dinged, "Scott's on his way." He grumbled, not looking up at me.

About 20 minutes later Scott and Stiles came through the door. Both of them looked worn out, like they hadn't slept in days.

"She's in there." I mumbled pointing to the bathroom, all the while not leaving my spot on Scott's bed. Liam stood by the door, a concerned look on his face.

Scott walked past the two of us, lightly knocking on the door. He pressed his face against the wood. "Hayden, It's Scott. I know that you're scared, but we just wanna help."

When she didn't answer he turned to look at Liam "I can hear her heart beating, she's really freaked out, what happened?"

"She was fine when we got here, I was talking to Sydney for two seconds and she locked herself in." Liam explained. 

"Why?" Stiles asked.

"Cause he obviously scared the shit out of her, that's why." I mumbled.

They all ignored me, except for the warning look Scott sent me.

"You're sure she's a Chimera?" Scott confirmed. 

Liam nodded, "She said she heard a voice saying 'your condition improves'"

"Okay that's unsettling." Stiles muttered before stepping towards the door. "Hayden? This is Stiles, your sister works with my dad down at the station. Look just open the door, you can trust us."

When the door didn't open, I finally sat up from my spot. I pushed past the boys, receiving confused looks from all of them. I rolled my eyes, lightly rapping my knuckles agains the door as I leaned into it. "Hayden, it's Sydney." I announced,  "I know you're really freaked out, but you need to hear the truth from us. It will be much easier for all of us if it's given face to face. So either you can unlock the door, or my brother can break it down." I looked back to Liam before turning to the door once again, "Liam will be out here the whole time, you don't have to worry." I promised, "You can trust us."

I took a small step back from the door, and moments later it opened slightly. I glanced back at the boys before pushing it so it was fully open.

As the whole bathroom came into view, Hayden looked at all of us, her eyes the golden colour, and her teeth were replaced by fangs.

I shocked gasp escaped my lips.

"I believe you."

----

"Scott, are you sure this is going to work?" I asked as he and I walked down the empty halls of BHHS.

He let out a shaky breath as he glanced up at Liam and Hayden who were walking ahead of us "No, but we can try."

Scott and Stiles had orchestrated a plan to keep Hayden safe. They had discovered that there was some sort of electro magnetic force that the Dread Doctors weren't too fond of, it disrupted their frequencies or something like that, and our high school happened to be one of the hot spots in the town for this kind of force. That meant that while we were in the school, they wouldn't be able to come and take her like they had done to the other Chimeras-hopefully.

Everyone was pitching in to make sure this worked. Parrish had taken 3 cell phone jammers from the station, and rewired them so their range of frequency was larger. Stiles and Theo were standing guard over the body of the last Chimera that was killed over at the animal clinic, and the rest of us were at the school, keeping and eye on Hayden.

I slumped down against one of the lockers in the locker room. Scott had figured this would be the safest place in the school. My eyes travelled toward Liam who stood behind Hayden as she studied herself in the mirror.

"Don't worry, " Liam comforted,  "You'll learn to control it."

"I'm not like you." Hayden argued,  "I wasn't bitten by a wolf. I'm somebody's science experiment." She paused, moving closer to the mirror. "This is so bizarre."

"I know, but you're going to be okay." Liam said softly.

"What am I?" she wondered, looking to him with sad eyes. 

A soft sigh fell from Liam's lips, "You're Hayden."

I felt my stomach churn as I watched the two interact. The way he used to talk to me was the same way he was talking to her, and I didn't know how much longer I could sit here and watch it.

I pushed myself off of the ground, which caused Liam to turn and look at me. By the look on his face, I was guessing he didn't know I was sitting there the whole time.

"Sydney-"

I shook my head, telling him not to worry about it. Hayden's eyes met mine and she sent me a confused look. 

As I walked towards Scott, Hayden and Liam restarted their conversation once again.

"You okay?" Lydia asked, coming to stand beside me.

"Great." I mumbled, my eyes still glued on Liam.

"It'll get easier Syd, trust me."

"I hope you're right."

---

I struggled to keep my eyes open as I rested my head against the lockers. We had been in here for about an hour. That's an hour of me watching Liam and Hayden flirt like his ex wasn't in the room. Currently Hayden had her head resting on Liam's shoulder, and at that moment I really wished that was me and not her.

Just as I closed my eyes, I heard shuffling from across the room. I lifted my head to see Liam, walking towards the bag that Scott had brought.

"What are these for?" he asked, holding up a set of chains.

"Brought them just in case." Scott answered.

"In case of what?"

"We manage to catch one of them." Lydia explained.

"They're coming for her, does that mean she's the bait?" Liam asked, his voice full of anger.

Scott looked over at Hayden who looked just as confused as I did, This was not a part of the plan that I was informed of.

"Scott, is that true?" I asked standing up from the bench.

"Liam, we brought her here to protect her." Lydia cut in.

"And now she's bait." Liam shot back.

"Am I?" Hayden questioned in worry.

"No, no one's bait." Scott confirmed, "But we can't be body guards to everyone, every night" Scott answered.

"Well then why aren't we talking to Stiles' dad? Why aren't we doing something better than hiding in a school?" Liam snapped.

"Because we still don't know anything about them or what they want, okay? They're winning and we don't even know what the game is."

"What if they come in here, and those things don't work?" Liam asked motioning to the cell phone jammers, "What if they come in here and you have another asthma attack, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know." Scott admitted.

"This plan sucks!" Liam yelled.

"You got a better one? Kids are dying and she's next! So somebody's got to save everyone, so somebody's got to be that bait!" Scott fired back.

"Scott." Liam whispered, his voice calmer than it was before, "Promise me you'll do everything you can to save her."

When Scott didn't say anything Liam stepped closer. "Scott, promise me."

"I'll do everything I can. I promise" Scott finally whispered.

Silence settled over the room for a moment before Hayden spoke up, "I think I might need some help right now. I forgot my pills, I have a bottle in my locker I can get them but-"

"I'll get them." I was as shocked as anyone as the words left my mouth.

"No, you stay here, I'll get them." Scott announced.

"I know where her locker is, I'm going with you." I shot back.

"Sydney, you don't have to do this." Liam said softly.

"I want to help, I'm going." I firmly stated.

"Okay." Scott finally gave in.

"What's your combination?" I asked turning to Hayden.

---

"Stay right behind me." Scott whispered as we opened the door leading out into the hallway.

"Hurry," Lydia whispered "I'll keep watch."

My nerves increased as we began walking down the dark hallway. "It's right over here." I whispered, pointing to Hayden's locker.

Scott nodded, as he began to put in her combo. I anxiously looked around expecting to see a creepy doctor on it's way to kill me, but instead all I saw was an empty hallway.

When I turned back around Scott was no where to be seen.

"Scott!" I hissed looking around, desperately trying to find my brother.

And then I heard it. The unnerving sound of the Dread Doctors was just around the corner.

Scott!" I whispered my voice cracking as tears welled up in my eyes. I turned around and started making my way back to the locker rooms, hoping Scott had somehow wound up back there, but as I took the first step everything went black.

My eyes shot open, and I wasn't sure how much time had passed. I wince as I tried to sit up, meeting the worried eyes of my brother who was kneeling beside me. As I sat up, I could see that Mason was standing behind my brother, an equally concerned look on his face. "What happened?" I grunted, raising my hand to my already throbbing head.

"The Dread Doctors they got in and-" Scott cut himself off, looking to Mason with concern in his eyes.

"And what?" I demanded, worry starting to rise in my chest.

"They're gone Syd." Scott breathed, "Hayden and Liam are gone."

shit's about to go down ;)

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-maddy xoxo