CHAPTER SEVENTY:
BARDO

COACHES WHISTLE CONTINUED TO BLOW the longer he tried to get Stiles attention. Elaine frowned as she looked towards her boyfriend. It wasn't until he shot up that the man stopped blowing his whistle much to Elaine's relief. Her ears couldn't stop ringing now.

"Stilinski!" Coach shouted.

"Uh-huh?" The boy quickly responded.

"I asked you a question."

"Uh. . . sorry Coach, what was it?"

"It was 'Stilinski, were you paying attention back there'?"

Stiles pursed his lips for a moment before saying, "Oh. Well, I am now."

"Stilinski, stop reminding me why I drink. . . every night." The teacher muttered. "Does anybody else want to try the question on the board?"

Both Elaine and Scott were looking at the boy with worry. He glanced between them before saying, "I'm okay. I just fell asleep for a second."

This caused the siblings to glance at one another before Elaine was the one to speak. "Babe. . . you weren't asleep." She glanced down to the paper on his desk and he looked down before noticing the words he had written on the paper. Over and over again, in several different ways, the words 'wake up' were sprawled all over the page.

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Her head was placed on his shoulder and her eyes were closed as he gently ran a hand through her hair. He knew that she hadn't been able to sleep much given the fact that she would stay up after he woke himself awake screaming in hopes of trying to lull him into a peaceful sleep. The girl was exhausted, but he knew she wouldn't say anything because that wasn't who Elaine was. People she loved about always came first, even if it did cause her to suffer.

"Okay, so what happens to a person who has a near death experience and comes out of seeing things?" Scott started. They were all sitting outside at one of the picnic tables, trying to figure this out whilst Elaine slept on Stiles' shoulder.

"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles continued.

"And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?" Allison sighed.

"They're all locked up because they're insane." Isaac answered, causing the group to look at him.

"Ha. Can you at least try to be helpful, please?" Stiles narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer." Isaac replied. "So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me."

"Hey, dude, are you still milking that?"

"Yeah, maybe I am still milking that."

"Stiles, play nice." Elaine sleepily mumbled, causing the boy to almost jump in surprise at the sound of her voice, but refraining to do so knowing her would probably knock her head off his shoulder and she would lose the ability to lay down again.

"Hi." The voice of Kira Yukimura filled their ears. "Hi, sorry. I couldn't help overhear what you guys were talking about. And I think I might actually know what you're talking about. There's a Tibetan word for it. It's called 'Bardo'. It literally means 'in-between state.' The state between life and death."

"And what do they call you?" Lydia questioned with a sarcastic smile.

"Kira." Scott was the one to answer. "She's in our history class."

"So are you talking about Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" Lydia quizzed the girl.

She looked like she wanted to sit down and this caused Elaine to sit up and offer the girl a tired smile before slapping Stiles' hand and moving so that she was sitting on the boys lap, with Kira sitting down where she had been a moment prior. Elaine laid her head on Stiles' chest as he wrapped his arms around her waist, watching as she started to close her eyes once more.

Kira continued, "Either I guess. But all the stuff that you guys were just saying? All that happens in Bardo. There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear. You can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities."

"Wrathful deities?" Isaac questioned. "And what are those?"

"Like demons." Kira shrugged.

"Demons." Stiles nodded. "Why not?" He squeezed a little tighter on Elaine and this caused the girl to nuzzle into his chest.

"Hold on," Allison breathed, "if there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?"

"Death." Kira shrugged with a small smile. "You die."

This seemed to make Elaine open her eyes and sit up straighter. She swallowed thickly before saying, "Who doesn't love death?" She met eyes with Lydia before a worried sigh fell from her lips.

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     "It sounds like your subconscious is trying to communicate with you." Deaton responded to Stiles after the boy explained to Deaton what exactly it was that was happening.

     "Well, how do I tell my subconscious to use a language that I actually know?" Stiles asked.

     "Do you remember what the sign language looked like? The placement and movement of the hands?"

     "You know sign language?" Scott asked in surprise.

     "I know a little." Deaton shrugged before looking back towards Stiles. "Let me give it a shot."

     Stiles nodded. "Okay, so the first one went like this." He held up one finger before taking his other hand and doing a circle around his finger.

     "That's 'when'."

     "Then there was this twice." He held his hands out flat, moving one hand towards him and keeping the other in the same place.

     "That's door."

     "And this in between it." He took a thumb under his chin before sliding his thumb back out towards Deaton.

     "That's it?" Deaton frowned. Stiles nodded. "'When is a door not a door?'"

     "'When is a door not a door?'" Stiles repeated.

     "When it's ajar." Scott answered the riddle.

     "You're kidding me." Stiles scoffed. "A riddle? My subconscious wants to tell me a riddle?"

     "Not necessarily." Deaton denied. "When the three of you went under the water, when you crossed from unconsciousness to a kind of superconsciousness. . .  you essentially opened a door in your minds."

     "So what does that mean?" Scott frowned. "The door's still open?"

     "Ajar." Deaton corrected.

      "A door into our minds?" Stiles asked, almost in disbelief.

      "I did tell you it was risky." The man pointed out.

     "What do we do about it?" Elaine finally entered the conversation, her arms crossed over her chest. She had been deep into thinking about everything that had happened and what it was that Deaton was talking about.

     "Well, that's difficult to answer."

     "Oh, no, wait a second, I know that look. That's the 'we know exactly what's wrong with you, but we have no idea how to fix it' look." Stiles narrowed his eyes at the man.

     "One thing I do know is that having an opening like that in your mind, it's not good. You each need to close that door. And you need to do it as soon as possible."

They walked out of the vet's and Elaine couldn't help but run circles over her temples. Her head was throbbing, and she didn't know why. She looked up when a car pulled up, watching as Noah Stilinski parked his car before getting out a moving to walk towards the three.  

     "Dad, what are you doing here?" Stiles asked, confused.

     "I'm here because I could use some help." Noah answered. He then looked towards Scott before saying, "Actually. . . your help."

     "Why me?" Scott quizzed.

     "Because eight years ago, almost an entire family died in a car accident. One of the bodies, a young girl named Malia, was never found. There's enough evidence to have me thinking that. . . that a werewolf could have caused the accident, and then dragged her body away. If you could somehow get a lock on her scent, if you could somehow help me find her body, it might provide the missing clue."

     "But what if it was a werewolf?" Stiles spoke.

     "Well there's someone out there who murdered an entire family." Noah simply answered. "Someone who still needs to be caught."

     "I have a feeling this is going to be a long week." Elaine sighed, glancing towards Scott and Stiles before getting into Stiles' jeep, with Scott and Stiles joining her before they drove off.