"Are you continuing to ignore the pack?" a gravelly voice asked from behind me. I groaned as I pulled a black sleeveless top on. I frowned both at the look and at the question.

"Does it matter?" I questioned pulling it back off. A growl was my only warning before I was tossed back onto the bed and my lips were assaulted. I moaned as his hands traveled down to the button of my pants, then stilled his progress.

He growled again in warning "I told you if you took off your shirt one more time then you weren't leaving this bed," He told me while licking my navel, causing me to shudder.

"I have to go to school!" I groaned. He kept kissing and nipping.

"Should have thought of that before," I unceremoniously pushed him off me and pulled on another shirt despite his protests. He whined as I sprayed perfume that distorts scents "Why do you have to wear that, why not just smell like me,"

"Because I'm not telling everyone we're sleeping together,"

"Your not even talking to anyone, so who cares? Though it is beneath you to ignore them, "

I glared at him "I am aware of your opinion, you know where you can shove it,"

He was up and behind me nipping harshly at my neck "you're being bitchy because you know I'm right," I didn't dignify his accusation with a reply, I pushed him away and walked out of his apartment.

Screw Peter.

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Getting to school I was confused by the scene in front of me. Scott was tripping himself looking behind him in terror at something I couldn't see from the parking lot. Dread filled me as I wondered what supernatural creature had followed him. I walked towards him quickly until Stiles called out to him.

"Hey. Hey, you alright?" Scott nodded "You don't look all right, Scott,"

I was looking around for the reason behind the fear I was smelling on both of them when Scott tried to tell Stiles he was alright "No, you're not. It's happening to you too. You're seeing things, aren't you?" I groaned and relaxed my shoulders. Nothing was wrong here, physically at least. I guess my first clue was that everyone else around us wasn't freaking out.

"How'd you know?" Scott asked him confusedly.

Lydia strutted up to them in her 4-inch heels with Allison in tow "Because it's happening to all three of you," She told them "Well, well, look who's no longer the crazy one," She told them smugly. After last semester she definitely deserved to gloat.

"We're not crazy" Allison protested looking around nervously and sending a half-wave my way. I had no choice but to catch up to them as we walked through the front doors.

"Hallucinating? Sleep paralysis? Yeah, you guys are fine," She told them sarcastically.

"We did die and come back to life. That's gotta have some side effects, right?" Scott asked us as the school bell rang. I now had an excuse to walk away. "We keep an eye on each other. Okay?" Everyone agreed, and I saluted him "And Lydia, stop enjoying this so much," She scoffed but let it go as the boys followed me to our History class with the new teacher Mr. Yukimura. I had heard he didn't tolerate tardiness so I slipped into my seat before the bell rang again. He gave me and the boys a brief smile as we barely made it.

"Good morning, everyone. My name is Mr. Yukimura. I'll be taking over for your previous History Teacher. My family and I moved here three weeks ago. I'm sure, by now, you all know my daughter, Kira. Or you might not since she's never actually mentioned anyone from school. Or brought a friend home for that matter," Everyone turned as there was a thump from the last row. I chuckled as a pretty Asian girl smiled at us sheepishly "Either way, there she is. Now, let's begin with American History at the turn of the 20th century," Cue nap time.

Walking out of class I heard Scott and Stiles talking about how they were going to have to get back to normal. Kira and her dad walked behind me discussing how she had no friends. I wonder if I should go talk to her. Having a normal non-supernatural friend sounded so good right now, my thought process was broken by Stiles and Scott's frantic whispers about his eyes glowing. Just stay out of it, just stay out of it. I chanted to myself.

A senior I recognized from the lacrosse team was about to open the door to the class they had just stepped into. I intercepted him smoothly and smiled my most disarming smile.

"Uh...hi," he said.

I could hear Scott and Stiles stop talking and start to whisper-shout in panic "Hi, Drew right?" I asked him. He finally smiled.

"Yeah, and you're Arielle?" I giggled like it was the greatest thing ever that he actually knew my name.

"Yes, anyway sorry Drew I wanted to warn you Mr. Jones is hiding in his class all day waiting to catch someone he thinks has been stealing supplies. Just didn't want you to get caught," I told him smiling, and started to walk away.

"Wait! Uh...how 'bout to thank you I take you out for lunch?"

I shrugged "I'm busy today, meet me by the chemistry classes tomorrow," Hey I never said I was in any way exclusive with Peter.

As I walked away I could hear Scott and Stiles talking. I got chills when Stiles admitted he didn't know when he was awake or dreaming. I shrugged, I did my part by not letting anyone see them freaking out, and Scott changing.

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Later that night I walked out of my caipora class pleasantly sore and in a surprisingly good mood. Until I saw a shadowy figure leaning against the hood of my car. I felt a calm roll over me as I stalked over grabbing the person by a pressure point in their neck and letting them fall to their knees.

"It's just me," Gasped Peter.

"Who said I didn't know that," I whispered menacingly in his ear "What part of sexual partners only, do you not understand? I use you, you use me and we don't get involved with each other in public so as not to draw attention to us,"

"Just wanted to let you know I am going out of town for a bit," I let him go and got into my car.

"Cool, have fun," I told him as I started to close my car door, he grabbed it and held it open glaring at me all the while.

"I'm helping Derek," My head shot up "Oh interested now? Maybe if you weren't being so rude I would want to tell you what was going on. Your loss," Well maybe I had been a little overzealous, but had he never heard of a cell phone?

Why wasn't Derek home yet, and why hadn't he asked me for help with whatever was happening?

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I ran straight into Stiles as I walked out of my elective art class to go to lunch the next day. I had gotten a couple of calls from the pack last night but I was still irritated that I didn't know what was happening with Derek.

He looked nervous and amped up. I wanted to ignore him but I was obviously aware of his presence "Hey Stiles," I said with a nod as I walked around him, but since he had longer legs he caught up with me easily.

"Hey, have you heard about what's going on?"

"A little, you all are seeing things, Lydia is gloating….that's about it,"

"Ah well, Lydia took Allison into the woods to try out archery yesterday…... she would have shot Lydia in the head if Isaac wasn't stalking her," I stopped suddenly and turned to face him.

"Excuse me?"

He looked almost mad "Yeah. See, you miss a lot when you are actively ignoring everyone,"

I glared at him "I'm there when it counts, I have saved all of your asses so many times so don't try to make me out to be the bad guy here,"

Stiles swiped his hand against the back of his neck in frustration "Arielle, we need you. Please will you just….just be more present," I looked at him impassively.

"I'll give you exactly what you all deserve, nothing more," He started to protest, I was already walking away to the chemistry room.

Drew was leaning against a locker drumming his fingers against his leg and looking in the wrong direction. I shook myself off and plastered a smile on my face "Drew!"

He turned to look at me smirking "Hey Arielle, do you want to get something off campus?"

"Sorry, I have to meet some people a little before lunch ends. Maybe next time?"

He smiled "You want there to be a next time?" It was my turn to smirk as I walked past him.

"Depends on how interesting you are," I called behind me as I head to the cafeteria. He laughed.

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Lunch with Drew was more entertaining than I had thought it would be. He was obviously trying to impress me but I enjoyed the attention, plus the feeling of relief talking to someone who had no idea about the supernatural. It made me realize that I did need new friends, or I would go crazy. Not saying that I won't help the others but normality is something I desperately needed at the moment.

As I walked to where the group was meeting some of the calm I had felt began to bleed away. I sat down without a word just listening to what everyone was talking about. I got a smile from Isaac. I responded by leaning forward and taking a bite of his apple. He glared at me holding his other hand around it protectively causing me to smile.

Scott looked at me weirdly for a second but then shook off whatever he was thinking "Okay, so what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?" he asked us.

"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles added followed by Allison's "And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?"

Isaac chimed in "They're all locked up because they're insane," which got a chuckle out of me.

"Ha. Can you at least try to be helpful, please?" Stiles asked.

"For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer. 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."

A throat cleared next to us and we all turned as one only to find Kira, the girl from history, smiling nervously "Hi. 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. There's a Tibetan word for it. It's called "Bardo." It literally means "in-between state." The state between life and death," I nodded, I knew a little about Bardo and it sounded just about right.

"And what do they call you?" Lydia asked a little snarkily, I rolled my eyes.

"Kira." Scott told us while staring at her happily "She's in our History class,"

Lydia turned back to Kira appraisingly "So are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" she asked which made me roll my eyes again. Same basic principle.

I slid over to make room for her, she smiled graciously at me and sat down "Either, I guess. But all the stuff 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. And you can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities,"

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

"Like demons,"

Stiles groaned "Demons. Why not?"

"Hold on, if there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?" Allison asked looking at Kira intently.

"Death. You die," Dread fell over the whole table, only slightly lifted as the bell rang.

I stood up swiftly not wanting to be dragged into any other conversation with the pack "Kira, you have Math with Mr. Bernard right now right? Let me walk you there," She lit up and nodded happily as we left the group behind, I ruffled Isaac's hair as a goodbye.