Cassie and Stiles watched through the grated door as Parrish walked up to the group of chimeras.
They could tell every one of them were terrified out of their minds. Anxiety rolled off of them as Parrish came closer and closer to them with his teeth bared and covered with flames and ash. Then Theo came back with Lydia; his hand right on her throat getting ready to tear it out.
Cassie's attention was quickly grabbed with this threat. She wanted to go out there and tear his head right off for even thinking to threaten Lydia like that. But she knew she wasn't strong enough. She knew that if she went out there, it'd just make everything worse. So, she stayed where she was although it took all her strength to not go out there and try.
"Back off," Theo warned. Parrish didn't listen, so he jammed his claws further into Lydia's throat. "I said back off."
Cassie balled her hands into fists. Powers or no powers, she was going to beat the hell out of Theo.
Parrish then stopped, the humanity in him not wanting Theo to hurt Lydia.
"Take him," Theo commanded to his group.
"The guy's on fire," Corey said.
"You'll heal. Do it."
Tracy let go of Valack's throat, dropping him to the ground. She looked at the other two terrified chimeras and rolled her eyes. She growled under her breath and ran up to Parrish, attacking first since no one else would. She stuck her venomed claws in Parrish's torso, but even her own kanima venom didn't work on him.
She looked up at him, feeling a sense of immediate fear hit her like a tsunami. Parrish looked at her, teeth still bared, and shoved her off him, making her hit the tough glass on the locked, empty room beside them.
Josh ripped a pipe off from the walls and grabbed the electrical wire that was in it. Electric volts that were sure to electrocute anyone who touched him surrounded his body. He put his free hand on Parrish's shoulder, sure that it would injure him severely. But just like Tracy's venom, it did nothing.
"Theo, this isn't working!" he shouted, looking back at his leader who was still holding Lydia by the throat. And all his precious little leader could do was watch.
Parrish threw Josh against the wall. The chimera groaned at the sudden and painful impact.
Out of nowhere, Valack went up to Theo while he was busy watching the members of his pack getting brutally beaten by Parrish and started to drill a hole into his lower leg. Theo cried out in pain as he dropped to his knees, clutching the injury.
"I'm sorry, Theo, but I'm not done with her yet," Valack said.
He picked Lydia up by her arms and started to drag her out the hallway as the others were distracted. He turned to the other exit but saw that Stiles and Cassie were standing in his way, trapping him. He looked back at the fighting scene he had almost forgot about and saw Parrish throw Corey, who was on literal fire, towards them. He moved out of the way, intending for Corey to hit one of them.
Cassie seemed to notice before he did. When she saw Corey's burnt body heading straight to them, she quickly pulled Stiles out of harm's way as well as herself. Unfortunately, she ended up tripping over her own feet and fell to the floor, pulling Stiles down with her.
Corey slid down the grated wall on the back, covered in ash and burned flesh. Cassie stared at him, couldn't help but feeling sorry for the boy.
She felt Stiles pull her up, and she finally noticed that Valack was getting away. They ran for the door, trying to stop him. But he slammed the door in their faces, locking it.
They banged on the door, shouting out Lydia's name.
"Come on. Come on," Cassie muttered, trying desperately to get the door open. She felt someone push her aside. She assumed it was Stiles, but then saw Theo kick the door open.
Their eyes met for a quick moment. Cassie swore she saw Theo's eyes soften for just a second. But all she could feel when she looked at him was rage and betrayal.
Stiles grabbed her hand, interlocking them once again and started to run out the door with her by her side. She looked away, now just focused on trying to find Lydia before Valack did whatever he was planning on doing to her.
"You're not gonna find her without me!" she heard Theo yell.
Maybe he was right. But she could damn well try.
--
They ran down the hallways, skidding to a stop when they saw the opened gate in front of them. They looked ahead and saw multiple hallways.
"Shit," Cassie muttered.
They turned back when they heard a voice behind them. Cassie rolled her eyes when she saw it was Theo. He then rolled his eyes, noticing her eye roll.
"Look, I want her out of there too," he said, walking up to them. "I've got her scent."
"What do you want? You don't do these types of things without a price," Cassie replied.
"I can find her. You guys can't."
Cassie sighed, knowing he was right even if she didn't want to even think it. She then heard a steaming sound coming from somewhere. Her eyes landed on the vent that connected to the room on the other side of the hallway.
She looked at Theo, still debating whether to let him help. But either way, she was still desperate to get Lydia back.
--
They walked into the shower rooms with Theo leading the way since he was the one who could hear it more clearly than them. As soon as they walked in, everyone backed away in fear.
As the three of them slowly stepped into the room, everyone glanced back at them fearfully, most of them cowering in the corners.
Theo furrowed his brows when he noticed a vent in the left upper corner of the room. He went up to it, Cassie and Stiles following closely behind, and pushed aside the guy who was blocking it. They kneeled down beside it, examining it.
"It leads to the tunnels, doesn't it?" Theo questioned.
Stiles nodded and sighed. "There's miles of them. They could be anywhere right now."
--
The three of them roamed around the tunnels, letting Theo lead the way since he had claimed he had Lydia's scent. Minutes passed, maybe ten or fifteen, and they were still getting nowhere.
Theo stopped and leaned against the pipes, trying to hear something that might be a clue to wherever Valack took Lydia.
"I thought you had her scent," Cassie spoke after a while.
"I lost it," he replied, trying to listen closely.
"So, find it again," Stiles chimed in.
"What do you smell down here, Stiles?" Theo asked, irritation in his voice.
"Chemicals and fecal matter. Although I'm pretty sure the fecal matter is you," he replied in a sarcastic tone.
Theo glanced at him, rolling his eyes. He placed his ear on the pipes again. "I smell it too. It's all that I can smell."
"Great, so you're basically just useless now," Cassie commented.
"I'm trying to do something else, so just shut up and let me concentrate."
"Fuck this. We're finding her ourselves," Cassie replied, grabbing Stiles' hand and pulling him with her as they walked past Theo.
"You know you won't, Rosie-"
Cassie turned to him. "Don't call me that. You don't have the right to anymore."
"You're going to have to trust me if you want to find her," Theo said.
She scoffed. "Trust you? The guy who betrayed me and my trust not once but twice? The guy who literally just, what, twenty minutes ago threatened my best friend, who we're supposed to be saving, because of leverage? You're asking me to trust that guy?"
"You have a lot of reasons to not trust me, but you're gonna have to if you want to find Lydia."
"You don't think I know that? I know I have to trust you, okay? I just don't which is the problem."
"Well, if you don't let me help, how else will you find her before Valack kills her? Huh? By searching every inch of these tunnels? We both know that if you do do that, by the time you find her, she'll be dead. You need my help, and if you want to save Lydia's life, you're gonna have to accept it."
Seconds later after their spat, a scream echoed throughout the tunnels. Lydia's scream. Theo looked around, trying to find her voice with his supernaturally extended hearing. Soon, the scream ended.
Cassie's worry for Lydia practically skyrocketed. She looked back at Theo, now desperate to save her.
"Her scream. Where'd it come from?" she asked.
He looked back at her. "Everywhere."
--
They decided to split up, thinking it'd be faster that way. They were all separated on their own, each roaming throughout different tunnels.
Cassie called out Lydia's name, hoping for something in response. A scream, a word, anything. She slowed to a stop, catching her breath for just a small moment.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and immediately turned around. She had her hand in a fist, getting ready to defend herself against the person.
"Woah," Stiles breathed out, backing away.
She put her arm down. "Sorry," she apologized, still panting. She glanced over his shoulder and saw Theo walking up to them. "Did either of you find anything?"
Stiles glanced behind him and saw Theo as well. He turned to her, sighing. "No, I didn't."
"Me neither," Theo said, now standing at Stiles' side.
"What're we gonna do? If we can't find her in time, then..." she trailed off.
"We'll find her. Somehow," Theo replied.
"How? You can't hear her voice, and you can't find her scent. Stiles doesn't know how to find her either. And I lost my powers, so I can't do anything other than panic! How else are we supposed to find her before Valack kills her?"
"Cass," Stiles called, making her turn to him. "How did you find Lydia when void took her? Because back then, you managed to find her without needing her mom's blood."
"Some forbidden locater spell. I don't know," Cassie replied. "Either way, that was back then. I don't have powers anymore."
"Maybe you do," Stiles said. "When Scott roared, you heard it, and your eyes glowed. I haven't seen your eyes glow since last year in Mexico. You went to your mom, so you could get your powers back, right? What if when she died, you did somehow."
"What if you're wrong? What if the spell fails? Then, it'll just be a waste of our time. The time that we could be using to find Lydia."
"What if this is how we find Lydia?" Stiles countered. "It's worth a try."
Cassie sighed and nodded. His words seemed to have convinced her. "Okay, but the spell is powerful, and I need to draw the energy from something."
"Well, what'd you usually draw it from?"
"Fire. I lit candles and drew the energy from it since it was a natural element of nature."
"Do you think you could do it without it?"
She sighed again. "I can try."