Chapter Text
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.”
“Famous last words,” Hayden said, slamming her locker shut.
Maybe, but at least if Liam had answers, he might be able to stop thinking about that goddamn chimera.
* * *
When Kira didn’t respond, her mother agreed to meet Liam down in the tunnels. Mason and Corey had very astutely told Liam that they didn’t want any part in his plan, and Hayden only agreed to come along to make sure that Theo didn’t escape out into the world like a rabid lion loose from the zoo.
Liam didn’t know how the sword worked, or what he even expected to happen, but he’d never imagined that Kira’s mother would thrust the sword out to him, insisting that since it was his idea, he had to be the one to actually do it.
The jagged blade seemed to gleam, even in the dim light of the tunnels, with an eerie energy. As he wrapped his hand around the hit, the weight of it bore down on him. He’d seen Kira wield it in their defense with a lethal expertise, and yet the way it had cleaved open the ground and swallowed Theo whole had left a lasting impression of darkness.
“Once it’s done, whatever happens will be your responsibility.”
Liam’s mouth was suddenly too dry to speak, so he merely nodded and pushed further into the depths of the tunnel. Maybe Hayden was right, maybe it was crazy to bring Theo back. But Liam didn’t feel crazy.
Each step that carried him closer to the fateful spot only deepened his resolve. This was the right thing to do. Scott would see that too, in time. He was sure of it.
Liam glanced back at Kira’s mom one last time, noted the tightness in her jaw, the way she turned away as if she couldn’t quite bear to watch Liam release the monster Kira had trapped. He didn’t let his gaze linger on Hayden, whose anxiety was pungent even in the musty tunnels.
Squaring his shoulders, Liam gripped the sword with both hands and raised it over his head.
“Liam wait!” Hayden shouted, but it was too late.
He plunged the sword into the ground.
A crevasse opened up. Blue light shone through as the crack expanded and widened, running through the concrete. Almost as it were searching for the entombed chimera. The cracking grew louder and the ground trembled.
A clawed hand burst from the floor. In the midst of the settling dust, rose a broad-shouldered figure.
Dirt clung to Theo’s skin and clothes, sticking in his matted hair, and when his eyes opened—in a blaze of gold—they were savage. His lip quirked in a snarl, and he bared his fangs.
Liam approached slowly, carefully, like he might approach a wild animal, but Theo charged, slamming him against the wall. The hit knocked the air from Liam’s lungs, but it was all he could do to keep a hold of the chimera and not fight back. To brace against Theo’s unyielding grip on his shoulder and not let the sharp blade harm either of them.
“Theo! We’re not trying to hurt you.” Hayden’s voice seemed distant, but Theo’s voice rang out clear even as his whisper came out in a hurried rush.
“Where’s my sister?” Theo glanced over his shoulder, leaning ever so slightly into Liam as he did, almost like he wasn’t aware of the motion. The gold had dissipated from his eyes, leaving a frantic hollowness in its wake.
“Your sister?” Liam asked. “She died a long time ago.”
Relief flickered across Theo’s features, his hold relaxing on Liam ever so slightly.
“You killed her, remember?” Hayden added, rather helpfully.
That relief instantly vanished. Theo stumbled back a step, clutching at his own chest, but whatever he found there offered no reprieve.
Liam had a sinking feeling that whatever it was the chimera had been through in that prison was worse than any of them could’ve imagined.
“Theo, listen.” Liam pushed off the wall toward him, casually lifting the sword. “You know what this does?”
He glowered at the sword in response.
“We need your help,” Liam said. “Specifically, we need Josh’s lightning powers.”
A crease appeared between Theo’s brows.
“But the second you cross us,” Hayden added, stepping up beside Liam, “we’ll put you right back in the ground.”
Anyone else might have flinched at the threat, but Theo’s steely gaze merely simmered with barely contained rage. “Who’s Josh, and why would I have his powers?”
“You don’t remember Josh?” Hayden asked. “He was part of your chimera pack.”
“My what?”
Liam exhaled, his irritation rising with each second of Theo’s feigned ignorance.
“Your chimera pack.” Hayden demanded. “You brought me and Tracy and Josh and Corey back from the dead. How do you not remember that?”
Theo’s gaze flicked between them, and when they carelessly swept over Liam, he caught it then—the lack of recognition. “Remember what? I don’t even know who you are!”