Aside from the engine, the only other prevalent sounds in the car, were the clinking and clunking of Braeden's guns as she assembled them into a ready to use form; the four individuals inside the vehicle remained silent. Malia was focused on driving, Peter stared at the road ahead, Braeden seemed pretty busy with her equipment and Theo, who sat in the back alongside Braeden, had his attention split between the window on his side and Braeden's activity.
The quietude didn't last very long however, it was broken when Braeden thought that Theo had something to say to her, "What is it?"
"Nothing! This just... Brings back memories. That's all," that was all he seemed capable of saying in response.
"You don't say. Last time we were on the same team, you betrayed us and then left us for dead," she calmly stated, without a glance at him.
His eyes on the other hand couldn't seem to decide on a place to land and remain on; they kept on darting between the window and her hands much faster than they did before their conversation had started, "About that... I think we've never really gotten th...,"
"Theo," she promptly interrupted him, only this time, she'd stopped fiddling with her stuff and looked straight at him, "I am not much of a forgiving woman; when I have lingering feelings about something, I make it known,"
"So...?"
"My point is, drop it. I think you've gotten your comeuppance; I can be vengeful, but I'd like to think I am not spiteful, at least I hope I'm not," she finished.
And just like she'd asked, he listened and dropped the subject. His eyes grazed the road in front of them for mere milliseconds, before finally landing and dwelling on the window on his side once again.
While Braeden and Theo put an end to their conversation, it wasn't the case in Malia's mind. Their words opened the flood gates for her thoughts to take over; all that talk about vengefulness, spitefulness and comeuppance... Made her body tense up a little more than it already had. It sure seemed like Theo was struggling to find his words, but they still managed to communicate their thoughts efficiently and consequently close a chapter that had lived rent free in their minds for so long. Well, that was the case for one of them, at least. That and all the recent events, made her realize how very little progress she'd made in terms of communicating her thoughts, and managing her feelings like a balanced human would be capable of doing. The walls between her and her loved ones seemed to be growing taller and thicker, and she couldn't fathom a solution for the constant roadblocks thrown on her way.
"They'll be fine," Peter, who'd been sitting next to her, seemed to have noticed her inner turmoil. Her body shared of her mental state more than she could have ever agreed to divulge.
"Who?" plucked out of her thoughts in such a sudden way, she didn't immediately understand what or who he meant by that.
"Scott and Stiles. Aren't they the ones you are stressing over?" he clarified.
"I guess I am really glad that werewolves can't read minds," she said.
"I don't know about werewolves, but I am sure fathers all around the world would kill to have that ability," he joked.
"I'd be careful what I wish for, it sounds like a nightmare from hell, for both fathers and their kids," they had many differences, but Malia seemed to share the sense of humor of her father. At least at that moment, she did.
"Alright, maybe... Maybe you're right. Maybe I wouldn't wanna know what's going through your minds twenty-four seven, but I think I could use a power like that right about now,"
Her facial traits were pulled away from their place in order to display a smile before she answered him, "Then, maybe you should join the apprentice. From what we heard of the guy; he sounds like the go- to guy for a power like that,"
"Actually, that's very tempting, now that I think about it," he said feigning an obviously fake air of seriousness.
"Fine, I'll pity you this time," she declared, then she continued, "Right now, I am reminiscing the days where I could just roam the woods in my coyote form, without a care in the world. I just miss those days, now more than ever,"
"You know, you can hide things, even though you're not very good at it, but you can't lie to me," he said.
"You think I am lying?" her eyes left the road for a split second as she questioned him.
"Well, if you're not lying to me then to who? I don't know how you even got to the conclusion that you had no care in the world during the period when you were lost," he explained.
"What makes you say that?"
"If you did, you wouldn't have chosen to live as a coyote in the first place,"
That was the last thing that was said between them. Peter didn't push, and she didn't have further questions. He'd given her enough to think about with those words, and she took the chance that the silence that had fallen back in the car offered in order to cogitate.
The road in front of her was empty, just an endless tar mattress tiled in the midst of a thick forest. And the car kept on rolling along towards their destination. It seemed all too easy; it was all too easy. Until... Malia's irises caught sight of something in the distance. Something that kept on creeping closer to them the more she drove towards it. The thing stood in their way; the thing... had a human like figure.
"What the hell is that?" she wondered out loud.
"What is it?" Peter seemed confused and he asked again when he got no response the first time, "What do you mean?"
At first, she thought he hadn't paid attention to the road, but after she'd pointed it out, all the three remaining souls in the car had their eyes cemented in front of them, yet they still seemed confused by her question. Although, she could not dwell on the thought that she could have been going crazy at that moment, for another realization hit her out of nowhere. The closer she got to the figure, the more she could make details out about it... About her. It looked like a woman, with long brown hair, dressed in an all black attire. A woman she knew all too well. One that she wished she'd never met in hers or any other lifetime. The mother she had but never wanted...
********
"Bouh!" Hilldon spoke in the least exclamatory tone he could muster, in order to announce his presence to Liam and Hayden.
"Man, you would have definitely scared us if we weren't werewolves," said Liam just as unenthusiastically as Hilldon.
"Yeah, sorry, I don't have the energy to be my usual upbeat self," Hilldon dragged on some words as he spoke.
"Sad. You were so optimistic the first time I met you," Hayden chimed in with a sentence that was heavy on sarcasm.
"Okey, whatever. Are you getting anything from here?" he asked.
"Heartbeats... And I can feel the berserkers roaming about inside the mansion," said Hayden.
"How many heartbeats?"
"Too many to count, but you're welcome to try and figure that out. Maybe you'll do better," Liam couldn't pin Hilldon's personality and motivations with enough exactitude to loosen up around him. He always seemed so on edge, always keen on talking down to anyone and everyone around him.
"Well, considering the distance...," Hilldon trailed off, his eyes set on the mansion.
"We didn't want to take any risks, at the expense of accuracy," said Hayden.
"You're kidding, right?" he chuckled. He gave the both of them time to look at each other, in confusion, before he added, "I don't know for how long the two of you have been standing here, but if you can catch their heartbeats, they definitely caught yours,"
"Why are we still alive in that case?" Liam demanded.
"It's the apprentice we are talking about here... So, who knows exactly? I gotta be honest here, I didn't know what to expect from you guys, I just trusted Isaac, but this plan of yours kinda sucks," he stated.
"If you had a better plan, why didn't you share with the class? It's a bit too late to whine," Liam was losing his patience with every second.
"If I had a better plan, I wouldn't be here in the first place,"
"Fine! Whatever. Let's say the apprentice knows we're here, we still have to do this regardless," Hayden decided to close the conversation for the both of them before it escalated further.
The three of them stood at a considerable distance from the mansion. After a short moment of silence, they decided to advance towards the building. They approached its towering walls as fast as they were able to, while remaining as quiet and undetectable as possible. They went for an already open window on the ground floor, assuming that the rest of their friends weren't there yet, they wanted to keep the chances of making any noise, as low as they could be.
Once inside, they found themselves in a very spacious and lightly furnished room. Although, the small number of furniture that was present, perfectly reflected the expensive taste of their enemy.
Liam did his best to focus his hearing on his surroundings. He couldn't help but to partially agree with Hilldon's previous words. Something was definitely off.
"Same as earlier, I can hear heartbeats and I can feel the berserkers, but nothing new. Are you catching any scents?" Hayden murmured her sentence to the best of her capability.
"No, nothing at all...," Hilldon stood straight, his vision traveled around him, from the chandeliers to the unimportant paintings on the walls. But for someone that was convinced they were walking right into a trap; he seemed very calm about it.
"This doesn't make any sense. We should've been able to catch a scent at least," said Hayden.
"I know, I know," said Liam.
They continued on sharing their suspicions and concerns about their odds in that place, all the way as they walked out of that room and along the corridor that met their eyes once they'd exited through the doors. But that was until they started noticing different types of sounds. They began to note a specific number of heartbeats coming right their way; they came from behind a wall around a corner ahead of them.
They walked in a line, one behind the other, out of caution. Hayden quickly picked up on something else, she furrowed her eyebrows and gently tugged on Liam's shirt. When he turned towards her, she pointed up with her index finger at her nose, indicating that she was catching a scent. That was around the time he too, noticed it. He immediately lifted his arm to stop both of Hayden and Hilldon behind him for more time to think.
The group that was coming their way held a larger number of people, and they might not have had a chance if they'd fought them. But as Liam was gauging the situation in his head, Hayden walked right past him without regards. His first reaction was to try and grab her and pull her back, but she'd already gotten out of his reach by the time he'd caught on.
She stood in the middle of the intersection and smiled, "I thought that it was you guys," she stated.
Liam and Hilldon finally moved towards her, revealing their presence to the group that had been inching closer to them all that time. All they saw was a composed Deucalion, a set of twins that were smiling back at Hayden, Jackson that appeared to be letting a breath that was stuck in his throat out, and Deaton that had his gun ready to fire at potential enemies, though, he was already in the process of lowering it when Liam caught sight of him.