Chapter 25: Lydia's Gambit
The school library is empty this early.
Lydia Martin sits at a corner table, laptop open, surrounded by papers. Charts. Graphs. Statistical analyses that look like they belong in a federal investigation.
She waves us over.
"Sit."
We sit.
She doesn't waste time. Spins the laptop around. A geographic heat map fills the screen—attack locations marked in red, dates and times annotated, lunar cycle overlays showing correlation patterns.
"I've mapped every attack, cross-referenced with lunar cycles, analyzed injury patterns, and identified the epicenter." She taps the screen. "The Hale house."
Stiles leans forward. "How did you—"
"I'm smarter than all of you combined." She pulls up another document. "There's an Alpha werewolf. Derek Hale is involved but not the Alpha himself—he was at school during two attacks. Time-stamped security footage confirms it."
Scott's eyes widen. "Lydia—"
"And you three are hunting it." She closes the laptop. "Now, do you want my help or not?"
My Haki reads her. Beneath the confidence, there's fear. Desperation. The need to be useful, to matter, to protect people she cares about.
Especially Jackson.
"We want your help," I say.
"Good. Because you're going to get yourselves killed without adult supervision."
"We have adult supervision," Stiles protests. "Our parents know now."
"Your parents who are a nurse, a doctor, a coach, and a sheriff? None of whom have experience fighting supernatural predators?"
"...Fair point."
Lydia pulls out a notebook. "Tell me everything. Start with the werewolf hierarchy."
We spend first period in the library. Explaining. Answering questions.
Lydia absorbs information like a sponge. Takes notes in perfect handwriting. Asks clarifying questions that reveal gaps in our own knowledge.
"So Peter Hale is the Alpha," she summarizes. "He survived the fire, spent six years in a coma, woke up with revenge on his mind. He's been targeting everyone connected to his family's death."
"That's the theory," Scott says.
"And Kate Argent is the hunter who burned the Hale house."
"Yes."
"So we're caught between a vengeful werewolf and a genocidal hunter family."
"When you say it like that, it sounds bad," Stiles mutters.
"It IS bad." Lydia taps her pen against her notebook. "Jackson. Where does he fit into this?"
Silence.
"He saw something," I say carefully. "The night at the preserve. Scott shifted. Jackson saw."
"And now he's obsessed with werewolves."
"How did you know that?"
"I'm dating him. I notice when he's researching mythological creatures at three in the morning." She pauses. "He wants the bite, doesn't he?"
"We think so."
"Where is he now?"
"I don't know. He's been avoiding us."
My Haki suddenly spikes. Jackson's emotional signature—fear, determination, desperation—flares at the edge of my range.
The preserve.
"He's there," I say, standing. "Right now. And he's scared."
We run.
The preserve is cold. Late afternoon sun filtering through trees.
My Haki tracks Jackson's presence. Moving slowly. Not alone.
Another presence. Massive. Ancient. Predatory.
Peter.
We burst through the tree line into a clearing.
Jackson stands face-to-face with Peter Hale. Human form. Naked. Smiling.
"You want the bite," Peter says. "You want power. To matter. To be special."
Jackson's shaking. "I just—I need—"
"I can give you that. Join my pack."
"Jackson, no!" Scott shouts.
Peter doesn't turn. "Ah. The cavalry arrives."
Derek crashes through the trees from the opposite side—already shifted, eyes red, fangs bared. He lunges at Peter.
Peter moves like water. Dodges. Laughs.
"Always so dramatic, Derek."
Scott grabs Jackson, pulling him away from the fight. Jackson resists, trying to watch.
Peter's attention shifts to me. "The void-touched boy. Come to play hero again?"
I project a Nen barrier between him and the group. Blue-white shimmer fills the space.
Peter examines it. Touches it gently with one claw. The barrier holds.
"Interesting. Growing stronger." He pushes harder. The barrier cracks but holds for five seconds before shattering.
Enough time for Derek to land a strike—claws raking across Peter's back.
Peter spins, backhands Derek into a tree. The impact is sickening.
"The offer stands," Peter says, addressing all of us. "Join me. Willingly. Or I'll build my pack from the ashes of your families."
He shifts. Full Alpha. Red eyes blazing.
Then he's gone. Vanished into the preserve.
Derek struggles to his feet, blood dripping from a split lip.
Jackson collapses. Sobbing. Lydia catches him, pulls him close.
"You already matter," she whispers. "To me."
My Haki reads the truth in her words. She means it.
Jackson clings to her like a drowning man.
Derek's loft is crowded now.
The pack has grown. Scott, Stiles, Derek, me. And now Lydia and Jackson.
Lydia spreads a tactical map across the table. "Peter's pattern suggests he'll target Kate Argent next. The Hale house is the most symbolic location. That's where we ambush him."
"That's where Kate will be too," Derek says.
"Exactly. We use his psychology against him. Lure both threats to one location. Let them fight each other while we stay alive."
"That's... actually not terrible," Stiles admits.
"I know." Lydia circles key points on the map. "We need mountain ash to create a perimeter. Trap them inside. Force a confrontation."
"Allison can get mountain ash," Scott says quietly. "She's been training with her family. She has access to their arsenal."
"Will she help us?"
"I think so. She's questioning Gerard. And she's not talking to Kate."
Lydia nods. "Good. We'll need weapons. First aid. Escape routes." She looks at me. "And you'll be our early warning system."
"My Haki can track them," I confirm. "Give us a few seconds' notice before they move."
"Seconds might be enough." She turns to Derek. "You're the only one who can fight Peter directly. Scott's too new."
"I know."
"And you." She points at Jackson. "You're human. Stay behind the mountain ash line. Don't be a hero."
Jackson looks like he wants to argue. Doesn't.
"We have thirty-six hours," Lydia says. "Let's use them."
The next day is a blur.
Scott trains with Derek. Control exercises. Combat tactics. How to fight something stronger and faster.
Stiles and Lydia create supply caches. First aid kits. Weapons. Wolfsbane in various forms.
Allison texts Scott. She's in. She's stealing mountain ash from her family's arsenal. Her father knows but hasn't stopped her.
Chris is on our side, Scott texts the group. Or at least not on Kate's.
Jackson sits on Derek's couch, watching us prepare. He looks lost.
I sit beside him. "You okay?"
"I wanted the bite to be someone. To matter."
"You already matter."
"How?"
"You let Lydia in. You told her the truth. That takes courage."
"I'm a coward."
"Cowards don't confront Alphas in the woods."
He laughs. Bitter but real. "That was stupidity, not courage."
"Sometimes they're the same thing."
Silence.
"I don't know how to help," Jackson says. "I'm just... human. Useless."
"Stiles is human. Lydia's human. They're not useless."
"They're smart."
"So are you. You're just scared to show it."
He looks at me. "You really think we're going to survive tomorrow?"
"I think we have a chance. That's more than we had a week ago."
Evening. The pack sits together at Derek's loft.
Pizza boxes. Terrible jokes. Laughter that sounds desperate.
"If we die tomorrow," Stiles announces, "I want it on record that this was Scott's fault for getting bitten."
"How is that my fault?" Scott protests.
"You went into the woods looking for a dead body. That's literally asking for trouble."
"Technically," I say, "it's Peter's fault."
"Technically," Derek adds, "it's Kate's fault for burning my family."
Silence falls.
Then Lydia raises her soda can. "We're not dying tomorrow. We're too smart, too stubborn, and too dramatic to die in the woods."
Laughter. Fragile but real.
My phone buzzes. Coach.
Coach: Come home. Your mom wants to see you.
I stand. "I should go."
"We'll see you tomorrow," Scott says.
"Yeah. Tomorrow."
Rebecca hugs me the moment I walk through the door.
No words. Just holds me.
Coach appears from the kitchen. Hands me something wrapped in cloth.
A baseball bat. Mountain ash symbols carved into the wood.
"Lydia's instructions," he says. "Apparently this is effective against werewolves."
"It is."
"Don't die, kid."
"I'll try."
"Try harder."
Rebecca pulls back. Her eyes are red. "Promise me you'll be careful."
"I promise."
"That's not enough."
"I know."
She cups my face. "Come home. Whatever happens, come home."
"I will."
I hope.
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