Ch. 4: Anchors p.4
Authors note:
Hi guys!
Sorry for the late update. I've been so busy lately. I've picked up a shift every week for the past month, so I've been working four 12 hr night shifts in a row. That means, on my off days, I do nothing but sleep.
Nurse life is brutal y'all.
It was a miracle Maeve was able to get out of bed the next morning. She had been drained by work last night, and then she stayed up to finish homework which didn't help either. Maeve was never and will never be a morning person.
When her alarm went off at 6, she debated giving herself an extra 15 minutes, and her sleepy brain made the decision for her. However, before the next alarm could go off, she remembered she had to make muffins.
She rolled out of bed, washed her face and brushed her teeth. Her first priority was caffeine, so she made a quick cup and put it over ice. Staring at nothing, she sipped the cold beverage and let her mind wander as she waited for the caffeine to kick in. Something was still bothering her about Stiles, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
Looking up, she realized it was 6:35 and she quickly rushed to throw together the muffin packet mix and get them in the oven.
At 15 minutes to 7:00, there was a knock at the front door.
"Hey," Stiles greeted. "Good mor-" he stopped mid-sentence, his eyes travelling down her body. She followed the path of his gaze and belatedly realized that she was in a t-shirt. Just a t-shirt, which was her normal attire for sleep, but not normal for anyone else to see.
"Oh, shit," she yelped, moving her body to stand behind the door. "Um-"
Stiles was frozen in place.
"Stiles," she grabbed his attention, trying to redirect it to her face.
"Huh," he mumbled, clearing his throat. "I can- um- I can come back, if you-"
"It's fine," she said, with a smirk. "There's a timer on the stove, can you take the muffins out when they're done?"
"Oh-uh-"
"I need to run upstairs and get dressed," she explained further, her smile growing wider.
"Yeah, sure- that – that's fine," he cleared his throat again, throwing a hand up to cover his eyes.
She couldn't help but giggle as it was obviously too late for that.
She raced up the stairs, yelling down that he could come in, and quickly got dressed.
She threw on jeans and t-shirt, making sure to grab a cardigan, as she latched her necklace around her neck. She threw her hair on the top of her head and raced back down the stairs.
Stiles was standing in the kitchen, trying to take the muffins out of the pan. She watched him for a second as he kept yanking his fingers back quickly and flapping them about to cool them off.
"I got it," she finally intervened. She slid beside him, opening a drawer, and grabbing out a pair of Totoro chopsticks.
She grabbed a carrier for the cupcakes from above the oven and rounded the island to the opposite side of him. He leaned over the counter on his forearms, watching her intently as she used the chopsticks to pull out each muffin from the pan.
"Those are cute," he mumbled off-handedly.
"You're cute," she replied back.
She stopped, her eyes widening in realization. She slowly lifted her eyes to his.
His eyes were locked on her, his mouth slightly open in shock and a flush growing on his face.
He snapped his mouth shut, swallowing, and she couldn't help but watch his throat at that motion. She moved her eyes back to his, noticing that he was staring at her lips now, the tension palapable.
She bit her lip, quickly looking away and noticing the clock on the oven behind him.
"Shit, we're gonna be late," she gasped, quickly finishing her task.
He stood abruptly, shoving his hands in his front pockets, and cleared his throat.
"Right."
…
She stopped at her locker, not realizing that Lydia was already there. She sat the container of muffins down at her feet as she quickly unlocked her locker.
Maeve felt rushed. She hated the feeling because it didn't matter if everything was settled, she still felt like she was missing something.
"What are you wearing?" Lydia asked. Maeve jumped a little when she heard her voice.
Maeve looked down, taking in the black shirt she had grabbed. It was a picture of Matthew Lillard as Stu Macher, covered in blood, crying on the phone with the caption 'My mom and dad are gonna be so mad at me'.
It was supposed to be a sleep shirt as it was 3 sizes too big, but Maeve just grabbed the first thing she saw. It was clean, which was all that mattered.
"Clothes?" She shut her locker and picked the container of muffins back up. "I was running late because I decided to make everyone muffins this morning."
"Next time, get dressed first," Lydia scoffed.
"Hey," Maeve whined indignantly, as Lydia walked off with a grin.
Maeve was walking outside with Kira, enjoying the nice weather they were having today. She absolutely regretted wearing her jeans, and the black T-shirt was soaking in the sun making her feel a bit warmer than she liked, but 'it is what it is' she thought to herself.
She'd had an uneasy feeling all day and couldn't pinpoint who it was coming from. She was starting to be able to differentiate each person's emotions and thoughts, but today, everything was jumbled, and she felt like a walking zombie. Didn't help that she probably looked like one, too.
Maeve needed a nap and was hoping to find somewhere on the grass to plop down and pass out and as she made Kira watch over her.
"Oh, I found your friends," Kira whispered. Maeve looked around the courtyard, spotting them sitting together at a table with another guy she hadn't met.
"Let's go sit with them," Maeve grabbed Kira's hand and started walking toward the group.
"Okay, so what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out it seeing things?" she hears Scott ask the group, causing her to stumble and stop altogether, listening closer to their conversation.
"And is unable to tell what's real or not," Stiles added to the questions, giving Scott a look that must have meant something, she just didn't know what.
"And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?" Allison continued. Maeve thought about their questions, something coming to mind.
"That sounds like Bardo, doesn't it?" Kira whispered from behind her.
"That's what I was thinking. But why are they talking about Bardo? I mean, I knew they were kind of strange, but I didn't know they were my kind of strange, you know?" Maeve muttered.
"Does that make me your kind of strange if I know what Bardo is?" Kira questioned quietly, her eyebrows furrowing in sincerity.
Maeve couldn't help but laugh.
"Duh, otherwise I wouldn't be your friend. Oh, I can't wait to take you to the shop." Maeve decided right then that Kira definitely needed to come to the bookshop and see what she had in stock. "Come on, seems like they're clueless."
"Hey, dude, are you still milking that?" she heard Stiles question the new guy, frustration evident in his voice.
She and Kira stopped in front of their table. "Yeah, maybe I am still milking that," the guy said.
"Hi," Kira announced herself.
Stiles looked up quickly, first at Kira, then Maeve. They locked eyes, and Maeve couldn't help but bite her lip as she remembered their interaction that morning.
Stiles' gaze flicked to follow the motion, his jaw dropped slightly and a flush coming to his cheeks, as he stuttered.
"W-wha- um - hey, Maeve," he tried casually, throwing an arm around Scott's shoulder. Scott snorted a laugh, shoving the arm off and moving away from him. Scott gave Maeve a smirk, and she was pretty sure he knew about that morning.
"Sorry, we couldn't help overhearing what you guys were talking about." Maeve nudged Stiles down with a hand on his shoulder and sat beside him at the table. She gave everyone she knew a smile, and a nod to the guy she didn't know.
"Hi, I'm Maeve," she said to him.
"Isaac," he replied skeptically.
Lydia gave Maeve a look before turning her attention toward Kira as she spoke.
"And I think we actually might what you're talking about." Stiles tore his gaze from the side of Maeve's face to squint at Kira.
"Yeah, there's a Tibetan word for it," Maeve continued.
"It's called 'Bardo'. It literally means 'in-between' state-"
"Well, if you want to get technical, the dictionary meaning is 'the intermediate or astral state of the soul after and before rebirth'-"
"Yeah, the state between life and death-"
"And what do they call you?" Lydia interrupted Maeve and Kira's Weasley twin moment.
"Lydia-" Maeve gaped. Her red-headed compatriot turned her gaze onto her.
"What?"
"Her name is Kira," Scott answered her. He and Kira shared an awkward smile that made Maeve's insides turn to mush at how cute it was. When he looked around at his friends, all looking at him, he added, "she's in our history class."
"Yes, she is, Scott. Thank you." Maeve gave Lydia a sharp look that basically said behave. "Kira is the only one who hangs out with me during the day since all of you nerds decide to go missing when I try to look for you outside of class. We trauma-bonded my first day in her dad's class."
Maeve reached a hand out, gently tapping Stiles' stomach to make him move down a little more. He inhaled a sharp breath before clearing his throat and scooting down, but there wasn't much room, so Maeve ended up almost in his lap, their sides were squished together. That tension she felt from this morning had returned in an instant.
Once there was sufficient room, Maeve patted the bench beside her, and Kira took a seat. She gave her bestie a smile she hoped was encouraging.
"So, are you guys talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" Maeve knew Lydia had a plethora of knowledge at her disposal, but she instantly like her more with this one questions.
"Lydia," Maeve gasped in exaggeration, a smile plain on her face. "Look at you!"
"I know a few things," Lydia replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder nonchalantly.
"Either, I guess," Kira answered her.
"That's true, but all the stuff you guys were saying? It all happens in Bardo," Maeve added. "It used to only refer to the period between one life and the next, but later, Buddhism expanded the whole concept to distinguish six or more similar states to cover the whole cycle of life, death, and rebirth."
"Maeve, you sound like a walking, talking book," Stiles interrupted her. She gave a wink, instantly regretting it, but deciding to go with it anyway. "The six bardos are: life, dream, meditation, dying, reality and existence. Some religions have a few more but they're all about the same on principle."
"Yeah, the reason there are so many different bardos is because they indicate different modes of consciousness. Like how being awake is different from dreaming," Kira added. "These are kind of progressive states where you can experience different hallucinations."
"Some you can see and some you can hear."
"Yeah, and you can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities-"
"And wrathful deities," the guy Maeve didn't know interjected. "What are those?"
"Like demons," Kira answered with smile.
"You probably shouldn't smile when saying that" Maeve laughed, making Kira blush.
"Oh, I don't know Maeve, demons!" Stiles said beside her, nodding his head in disbelief. "I mean, why not?"
"Hold on," Allison held up a hand, her gaze on the table. "If there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?" She glanced between Maeve and Kira.
"Well," Maeve began. "technically, it's death."
"Yeah," Kira continued. "Because bardo is that in-between life and death, once that in between time is over, it means that you die."
Everyone around the table looked at each other with wide eyes, leaving Maeve and Kira confused, like they were missing key pieces of information.
"Well, that's lovely," Stiles muttered beside her.
"Anyway, we gotta dash. I'll see you fools later. If you're super interested in this stuff, you know you can always stop by my mom's shop," Maeve gently reminded them. "We have a few things on the Tibetan Book of the Dead."
"Oh yeah, I need to return the books," Lydia gasped, smacking a palm down on the table. "I completely forgot Maeve!"
"It's okay, Lyds. I'll see you." Maeve nudged Kira up, following behind her as they went inside for their next class.
Stiles dropped her off at the shop, saying something about going to the animal clinic. Maeve thought that was weird as he knew they didn't have a dog, but maybe her neighbors were cat people.
Speaking of cats, maybe Maeve could finally convince her mom to let her have one.
"Mom, I'm here!" Maeve shouted across the store as she put her things behind the register.
She got to work, helping a few customers with their purchases, mostly little odd knick-knacks that her mom kept around for sale under the counter.
She was just about to walk around and re-shelve her growing pile at the counter when the door bell dinged loudly. She looked up and saw Kira standing there with wide eyes.
"Kira!" Maeve yelled excitedly. "I'm so glad you came in today!"
"Hey Mae," Kira slowly walked to the register, still taking everything in. It was October now, and her mom had slowly been adding more decorations, a few displays of wicked things in the front window.
There was a big glass window on the front of the shop with the name Evelyn's Enchanted Legends and Oddities in bold lettering. She had a neon sign that said Palm Reader in the upper left corner of the window as well.
"I was coming to see the books you said you had on the Tibetan Book of the Dead."
"I do. I actually pulled them off the shelf earlier," Maeve lifted several books from beneath the counter to show Kira. "I was going to bring them tomorrow to give to the weirdos."
"Oh," Kira mumbled. "Um, do you mind if I look at these and give them to Scott myself?"
Maeve sighed jokingly. "Yes, I will let you hand these to your crush." She tried to hold in her smile; she really did, but it was impossible when Kira started to blush at her words.
Kira laughed nervously. "If I could lie to you, and get away with it, I totally would deny everything you just said."
"Too bad." Maeve stuck her tongue out childishly.
"Anyway, my dad is waiting for me outside. I told him I just wanted to discuss some homework with you, and I don't want to keep him waiting for too long. Man's a huge history buff and would probably deep dive into some of the material you have in here. And if that happens, I'll never get home," Kira rambled.
Maeve couldn't help the giggle that escaped. "Go, dork. I'll see you tomorrow." She waved Kira away as she held the door open for her.
"Who was that honey?" her mom popped up from nowhere, causing Maeve to yelp as she scared her half to death.
"Cheese and rice, mom. Could you not sneak around like a ninja?" Maeve grabbed the cart that was behind the counter. She wheeled it around, carefully putting away the books.
"Frightening you is so much fun, though," her mom pouted as she followed her around. "And, you still haven't answered me."
Maeve rolled her eyes, putting the book in her hand in its place before turning around to face her mother.
"That was my friend, Kira, from school," she answered, before continuing her task.
"You make friends so easily," her mother sighed dramatically before whisking away to the back of the store. That's where she did her palm readings and – well – other things.
Maeve didn't go back there much, she thought it was utterly ridiculous. Of course, Maeve believed in quite a few things, her research into the supernatural had made her curious about the existence of different creatures and legends, but she doubted her mother was actually psychic.
Just as Maeve shelved the last book, there was yet another ding at the door.
She made her way to the front, gasping in surprise at who was standing there.
A tall man, ruggedly handsome. She ran and jumped into his arms.
"Uncle Caolan!" She shouted excitedly. The man laughed as he spun her around.
"Hello little princess," he greeted as he put her down carefully.
"What are you doing here?" Maeve was in awe.
Uncle Caolan was her father's best friend back in the day. His Irish brogue had always interested Maeve. He was about the only one who said her name the way her father would have wanted, but she believed it came with the territory of being bloody Irish.
Uncle Caolan and her mother didn't get along very well; Maeve was sure it had something to do with his ridiculous bad boy persona that attracted all kinds of ridiculous women who threw themselves at him. Not to mention his asshole exterior that they all knew was fake. He was a big softie at heart, but Evelyn disliked him because of the show he put on for everyone else.
At least that's what Maeve thought.
"Aye, I apparently have business with yer mum," he chuckled out. "But I'm not sure what business she speaks of."
"Caolan, how nice of you to finally show up," Evelyn spoke up from behind Maeve. She had made her way out from the back when she heard her daughter yell.
"I called you last week so you would help us move in, you big brute."
"Well, what canna say? I'm here now, aren' I?" he argued. He winked at Maeve as he followed Evelyn back behind the curtain.
"I'll see yeh in a wee bit, lass," he spoke over his shoulder.
Maeve was pretty sure he was laying his accent on thick just for her.
"You should have been here last week, Caolan." Evelyn was irritated. She flopped down in the seat at the table.
"I see yeh still puttin' on a show fer the humans." Caolan leaned against the doorframe, keeping an ear out for Maeve.
"Yes, well, it keeps me in practice," Evelyn heaved a sigh.
"Aye, I bet it does. Don't suppose yeh have anythin' fer me?" He crossed his arms across his chest, trying to remain casual, but Evelyn could sense the tenseness in his body. He was ready to fight at a moments notice.
"I do." Evelyn stood and turned to another curtain to the right, pulling it aside to reveal her office. She grabbed a manila folder, handing it over to the man. "The Nemeton is definitely awake, and I'm pretty sure these are the ones involved."
Caolan opened the folder, sifting through the information in front of him.
"These are a bunch of kids, Evie."
"I know they are. That one there," she tapped the picture in front of him. "That one is a werewolf, true alpha if I'm not mistaken."
She sat back down at the table, placing her chin in her hand. "The girl is an Argent," she added with a sigh.
"I hate those feckin' hunters," he mumbled, moving to the next picture. "And what about this fella?"
"Yeah, that's Stilinski's son," she crossed her arms on the table, throwing her right left over her left as he dropped the file on the table.
"That Sheriff who was investigatin' Aodh's death?"
"Yeah, but as far as I can tell, they're just human." Evelyn stood, her restless nerves unable to let her sit still. She moved to the front curtain, shifting it aside to look at Maeve who was at the counter working on her homework.
"Good thing, too. Maeve is starting to get close to him. I think he just got mixed in with the wrong crowd."
"Well, if he's plannin' to stay friends with the little princess, he's gonna find himself mixed with a worse one," Caolan was standing behind her, watching Maeve as well. "Has she shown any signs yet?"
"Not that I can tell," Evelyn chewed on her lip, before moving to sit at the table again. "I'm so scared, Caolan."
"Don't worry, Evie. Yeh know I'd never let 'em get her. I made a promise to Aodh," he locked eyes with her. "And yeh know I keep my promises."
Author's note:
Well, that was a hard chapter to write. Hopefully, work will chill out a little and I can write more.
Also, Caolan is pronounced "Kay-lun". I used Eoin Macken as my inspiration for this character.
And Maeve's dad, Aodh is pronounced "Ay", but I can't tell you who my inspiration for him is quite yet.