AS ALEX WOKE UP THE NEXT
MORNING, she realized two things.

The first being that she greatly–and mistakenly–underestimated Lydia's determination. The wizard was certainly not expecting to be woken up at 6:30 in the morning by a bright and cheery strawberry blonde who's hair and makeup was already done.

The second realization was that she didn't have her signature knee high boots that worked well to hide her wand. Luckily for Alex, Lydia had an old pair that were almost identical to hers at home and fit her perfectly. It wasn't until Lydia approved of Alex's outfit that they finally left the large house in the banshees blue Toyota.

Alex wanted to say that she was surprised with how quickly something supernatural occurred that morning, but, honestly, with everything that Lydia had told her the night before, she was kind of expecting it.

After retrieving the wizards schedule from the high schools front office, Lydia and Alex walked out just in time to spot Allison stumbling into the school, her eyes filled with fear as she glanced around while panting heavily. Lydia was quick to approach the huntress, her large green eyes searching the pale brunettes face.

"Allison, are you okay?" Lydia questioned, her voice filled with concern. Alex too was examining Allison with a worried glance, wondering just what sacrificing themselves did to their minds.

All Allison could do was nod, while attempting to catch her breath, still looking like she had seen a ghost. Once again, Lydia's determination was not something to underestimate, and it seemed as if Allison already knew that, explaining to Lydia and Alex about her recent hallucinations of her dead aunt only after having been asked twice.

Just as she had predicted the day prior when she had first arrived, Scott was the leader of the group of friends–the alpha. Both in literal and metaphorical terms.

Apparently Lydia had already had a hunch that all three of the teenagers that had been sacrificed were experiencing hallucinations and nightmares. It didn't take long for the three girls to locate Scott and Stiles, and they were already talking about the topic on their own.

"You don't look all right, Scott." Alex heard Stiles say as they approached from behind them.

Scott, however protested, attempting–and failing–to give his best friend a reassuring nod. "I'm okay."

Stiles narrowed his eyes at Scott, their voices growing more clear as the three girls got closer. "No, you're not. It's happening to you too. You're seeing things, aren't you?"

In was clear in Scott's brown eyes that the answer was yes, the true alpha looking surprised at his friends words. "How'd you know?"

In perfect timing, Lydia, Allison and Alex reached the two boys, catching their attention with their distressed expressions. "Because it's happening to all three of you." Lydia informed.

The banshees words seemed to have made something click insides the other teenagers minds, but they still all were able to acknowledge Alex's presence with a small, forced, smile and a nod before the group made their way back inside the school.

"Well, well, look who's no longer the crazy one." Lydia gloated as she pushed the schools double doors open, the rest of the group following behind her.

Allison gave her best friend a look. "We're not crazy." She insisted.

Lydia spun on her heel, narrowing her eyes at her friends. "Hallucinating? Sleep paralysis? Yeah, you guys are fine."

"We did die and come back to life." Scott spoke up, his hands both fiddling with the straps of his brown backpack. "That's gotta have some side effects, right?" The school bell rang, all of hem glancing up at the speaker that was emitting the noise.

Stiles looked back and forth between the members of their small group, "We keep an eye on each other. Okay?" The others nodded, Stiles clapping his hands once before beginning his trek to his first class. "And Lydia, stop enjoying this so much." He muttered as he walked past.

Lydia innocently looked up and pursed her lips, "What?"

Alex rolled her eyes, taking ahold of Lydia's forearm. "C'mon, Miss formerly insane, you have to show me where Physics is."

━

Alex couldn't have been more grateful when she saw Art in the middle of her schedule. "Finally. A class I won't fall asleep in." She mumbled to herself as she followed behind Lydia and Allison.

After a small introduction from the teacher, the class was instructed to all sit at an easel and paint whatever came to mind. Allison sat in between Lydia and Alex, seeming to struggle with a distracted mind and shaky hand as the other two girls effortlessly began to paint.

Lydia glanced at Allisons hand, the wet paintbrush not even being able to touch the paper from how violently her hand was shaking. "Not the steadiest hand for a superb marksman." The banshee remarked.

"It's been happening for the past few weeks." The huntress informed them, her jaw clenching. "Since that night." She huffed, letting the brush fall from her hand. It landed into the red paint of her palette of primary colors, the paint splattering onto the canvas in a way that terrifyingly looked like blood.

Seeing the action put Allison into a trance like state, Alex took it upon herself to tear the large paper off the easel, revealing a blank one and successfully snapping Allison back to reality.

The Argent girl blinked rapidly, glancing over and giving the wizard an appreciative nod. "Why don't you start over?" She quietly suggested. Allison let her eyes close and inhaled deeply before picking up her brush once again and continuing.

Both Lydia and Alex were able to relax once Allison was able to finally begin her painting, the two of them sitting back down and resuming their own.

As Alex gracefully swiped the brush against the paper, she felt the sensation of being watched, her eyes flickering over and locking with a pair of striking blue ones from across the room.

━

"Do you really think this is going to help?" Allison questioned as Lydia pinned a paper target to a tree.

Alex raised an eyebrow, also skeptical about what was about to happen. But then again, she had always been about letting things work themselves out, and then if that didn't happen, using magic to fix her problems.

"I know that if you think it's not going to help it definitely won't." Lydia countered as she walked back to the spot they set up. The banshee cleared her throat, "So get your head into it, shoot a few and see what happens."

Obeying, Allison picked up an arrow and got into position. Alex could see before she even let go, Allison's hands were shaking like crazy. When she released the arrow, instead of landing in, or anywhere near, the target, it landed a few feet away from the tree, planting itself into the ground.

"Huh," Lydia muttered as Allison sighed and bent down to pick up another arrow.

Alex sent a supportive smile towards the huntress, "Try again? That one could just be a practice shot. Get your nerves out, try again." She said. Allison nodded, pulling back the next arrow and swiftly releasing. This time, the arrow landed closer to the tree, but still pretty far from the paper.

"Maybe hold the string a different way." Lydia suggested as she eyed the arrow, "Try the Mongolian draw." Allison sent the strawberry blonde a strange look while Alex could only mouth What? "What? I read. Try it."

Tilting the bow at an angle, Allison shot another arrow, but to no avail, the arrow only clattered against the ground around the same spot the others went.

"Okay, um," Lydia placed her hands on each of Allison's arms, "Take a second to close your eyes and imagine the arrow going into the target."

The brunette let her eyes close, taking a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, they locked on something in front of her, making her jump suddenly and her eyes widen. "Did you see that?"

Alex leaned her head closer to Allison's, trying to see whatever she did. "See what?"

"Wait here." The Argent girl told them, sliding her quiver of arrows over her shoulder. Lydia inhaled deeply, an annoyed expression crossing her face. "Are you serious?"

Allison glanced back at her, "I'll be right back." She promised before venturing off deeper into the woods.

"You did not just say that." Lydia hissed.

When the girl was out of eyesight, Alex worriedly looked over at Lydia, "Shouldn't we follow her?" The banshee lips formed a straight line, her eyes also looking concerned and she looked in the direction her best friend had went in. Lydia nodded, both of them hurrying to find Allison when they heard her voice call out, "Lydia?"

It happened two more times, the last one sounding the closest as they finally found Allison in an opening. As they approached her, Allison snapped her head over, gasping at the sight of them. Though, something was telling Alex that it wasn't them she was seeing.

They barely had time to blink before Allison pulled and released an arrow, the weapon coming straight for Alex's face. Quickly, a pair of hands were placed on her arms and pulled her away, leaving the arrow to head towards Lydia instead. But after everything her family had been through, Alex had faster reflexes than she did a few years ago.

Alex didn't waste any time before pulling her wand from her boot, not even having to think much before the magic traveled through the wand and to the arrow, stopping it in mid air just before it could hit Lydia.

The banshees gasp seemed to snap Allison out of her hallucination, the huntress gasping herself as she dropped her bow, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God, Lydia, Alex."

Lydia let out shaky breaths as Alex released the arrow from her magic, letting it drop to the ground. Glancing back at her savior, Alex was met with the same blue as from earlier. "Thanks." She breathed out.

Isaac nodded. "Anytime."

━

"Okay, so what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?" Scott asked the group.

"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles added. Allisons fingers messed with her lip, "And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?"

Isaac looked up from whatever he was writing, "They're all locked up because they're insane."

Alex couldn't help but shrug in agreement, thankful that the human next to her was too busy glaring at Isaac to see. Stiles narrowed his eyes at the beta, letting out a sarcastic, "Ha. Can you at least try to be helpful, please?"

Isaac tilted his head challengingly at Stiles, "For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer. So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me."

"Okay, are we still milking that?" Stiles asked, him and Isaac glaring at each other, both of them ignoring the rest of their friends letting out annoyed groans. "Yeah, maybe I am still
milking that."

"Hi." A female voice interrupted, immediately halting their conversation. Alex looked over, her eyes landing landing on a cute Asian girl that was stood at the end of the table, glancing between the group members with a friendly, but nervous, smile. "Hi, sorry. I couldn't help overhearing what you guys were talking about. And I think I actually might know what you're talking about."

The friends shared confused glances. Seeing their skepticism, the girl continued, "There's a Tibetan word for it. It's called Bardo. It literally means "in-between state." The state between life and death." She explained, a small smile on her face.

Lydia tilted her head up to look at the girl, her red painted lips pursed, "And what do they call you?"

"Kira." Scott answered for her. This earned him weird looks from his friends but a smirk from Alex. She didn't miss the way he had straightened up in the corner of her eye when the girl had approached the table. "She's in our History class." Scott told them.

"So are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" Lydia curiously asked.

Kira took a seat next to Alex, taking up the last few inches on the edge of the bench. "Either, I guess. But all the stuff you guys were just saying? All that happens in Bardo." Kira informed them. "There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear. And you can by visited by peaceful and wrathful deities."

"Wrathful deities?" Isaac butted in, earning a nod from Kira. "And what are those?"

"Like demons." She replied, smiling like it was no big deal.

Stiles' eyebrows rose, turning his head to send the others a look. "Demons. Why not?"

"Wait," Alex finally spoke up, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked back at Kira. "You said there were different progressive states?" She asked with a frown. Kira nodded. "What's the last one?"

"Death." Kira replied. "You die."

━

I finally updated! I know it's been forever since I updated any of my stories but I'm hopefully going to update most of them this week. But then again, I am the biggest procrastinator you will ever meet so I'm not making any promises.

I'm trying to get better at updating, especially this book, since it only takes place season 3B and it's a stand alone, updates are hopefully going to come sooner seeing as the chapters will be shorter so I can actually have a good amount of chapters.

I'm definitely taking your love interest votes into consideration and I added in some little hints to a future relationship in a few parts. Tell me what y'all think?

Remember, the more y'all comment and vote the faster I'll update!

– alexis