Riddle 1

You answer me, although I never ask you questions. What am I?

"Stiles wake up, it's just a dream, come on wake up," I shook the sleeping teen gently. His child-like whimpers seemed to only get louder. Leaning further over the bed I pulled a little harder and finally seemed to get some sort of response.

His breath caught in his throat as he shot upwards. His arms clawing at the duvet that had pinned him to the bed. A scream of pure unfiltered terror tore through his lips for what felt like a lifetime before he finally managed to catch his breath. He sunk back into the mattress. It was only then that he seemed to realise someone else was in the room with him.

Hazel eyes blinked, once then twice and then a third time as his pupils adjusted to the dimly lit room. He glanced to the spot beside him and frowned as if he was expecting to find someone there. The idea of finding a girl sharing Stiles skateboard themed bedding brought a chuckle to my lips. He twisted at the noise and his frown deepened.

"Emma?"

"The window was open."

"But, what, wait… why aren't you wearing trousers?!"

I lifted a brow at his panicked tones. I was dressed. My jumper just fell over my pajama shorts, not that I was going to explain that to him. He should be thrilled by the idea of a half dressed girl gracing him with her presents. Particularly as said girl had spent the last two hours trying to sleep while her idiot neighbour screamed and yelled. I couldn't tell if I was annoyed at hearing Stiles or at the realisation that if I could hear him then he had most certainly heard me in the past.

I had toyed with the idea of putting my headphones on or even texting Scott to let him know his friend was having issues. Instead I decided to leave him be, his dad would wake him up soon. That had been the pattern. Stiles screamed, I woke up and Sheriff Stilinski sorted it out. However, a quick glance out the window explained why this screaming session was lasting longer than the last. His dad was at work. Which is how I ended up throwing a hoodie on and clambering through his window in the early hours of the morning.

Instead of answering his question I lifted a small packet of dried leaves from my pocket and waved them at him. "I brought you some tea."

"That doesn't explain anything, where are you going! You can't strut around like that! What if my Dad sees you!"

I paused, "strut?" The way he said it made it sound so scandalous. "Relax you're dad left a while ago. Kitchen?"

"Oh My God, would you just stop. Wait don't open that, Emma wait you can't open that door!" My hand hovered over the door knob.

Glancing over my shoulder I was surprised to find him half out of bed. I eyed the arm reaching out to me, his fingers were shaking. Whatever he had been dreaming had clearly scared him. Well the only way to get over it would be to see there was nothing on the other find of the door. Please don't let there be anything behind this door. Turning back I swung the door open and 'strutted' down stairs towards the kitchen.

Stiles' voice filled the hall as he scrambled after me, "What the hell is going on. Emma! Would you tell me what the hell is going on!"

It didn't take long to find his kitchen and when I did I set about turning the kettle on and rummaging around in the cupboards for a mug. By the time Stiles had reached me, I'd started to pour the boiling water over the single tea bag I'd smuggled round. He eyed me suspiciously as I stirred the water.

"I'm making you a cup of tea Stiles." I signed in defeat. Leaving the tea bag in to continue diffusing into the water I passed the tinted liquid over to him. He didn't take it. "Relax, it's not poison. It's just tea. See." I took a sip before trying to hand the hot drink back to him. He took it this time. His eyes staying glued to the police department mug I'd used.

"You heard…"

"Yeah I heard, you know I've always slept better with someone else in the room."

Stiles scoffed, "yeah well my dads working right now and it's not like he'd appreciate me napping in his office."

"Idiot," his head shot up ready to bite back with a witty remark but he stopped. I didn't bother repeating myself as the pieces seemed to slot into place for him. I hadn't been suggesting he leave the house. I'd been suggesting I stayed.

His eyes tracked my movements across the kitchen. Staying, a few steps behind me as he followed me through his house warily. Settling into his computer chair I kicked my legs up into his desk and started flicking through the closet book. Economics 101. Exciting. He sat on the bed, steaming mug cupped in both hands, his back against the wall for support. We stayed like that for a while before he finally passed out. Placing the book down I plucked the empty mug from his grip and placed it on the table beside him. As his body shivered I was tempted to tuck him in but then thought against it. It wasn't like I was doing to be nice to the guy I'd only come over to shut him up.

"Emma?" It is always strange to hear your name used as a question and to hear it twice in one night was almost unheard of.

I looked up to find a very confused Sheriff at the door. "Oh you're back, I guess I'll be leaving."

Heavy bags hung under his eyes and it was clear that his son's nightmares were affecting the entire Stiliniski family. I didn't want to hang around to chat, so before he could say anything else I slid past him and towards the front door. It seemed wrong to use the window in front of him. I mean I had basically broken into his house while his son had been sleeping. My step faltered slightly at the top stair, I could have sworn I just heard a thank you.

It seemed it wasn't just Stiles that was struggling after their night submerged in ice baths. The next morning, I watched Allison crash through the school doors in a panic. Her eyes wide with fear and a thin layer of sweat coated her face. She hadn't seemed to notice me and Lydia at first , instead she had her eyes fixed firmly on whatever was behind her. Peeking around the visibly shaken girl I eyed the hallway suspiciously. There was nothing behind her. She took a few more steps into the sunlight before spotting us.

None of us moved at first. We waited while her eyes shot between the closing door and us several times. Her breath only settled fractionally. We didn't even get a chance to question her as another figure pushed its way past us. Scott, with Stiles only a few paces behind. We followed the two boys down into the courtyard where they finally came to a stop. Scott frantically questioned how his friend knew he was just seeing things. The terror in his voice is clear for everyone to hear.

Lydia answered instead, "Because it's happening to all three of you." A smile slipped onto her lips as she added gleefully, " Well, well, look who's no longer the crazy one."

"We're not crazy," Allison protested quickly.

An unladylike snort erupted from me as I glanced between the three of them, "Yeah, you guys are just peachy."

Scott seemed to be the only one taking our comments seriously as his brows lowered. "We did die and come back to life. That's gotta have some side effects, right?"

The morning bell rang out across the quad and the routine migration towards the school building began. Students poured in from every entrance towards the doors Allison had just tumbled out of. With a heavy sigh Stiles started toward the building too.

He turned and pinned us with a morbid expression, "We keep an eye on each other. Okay?" Allison and Scott nodded back somberly before joining the masses. Stiles continued to eye me and Lydia, our matching smiles clearly upsetting him, "and would you two, stop enjoying this so much."

I lifted a hand to point at myself in mock confusion, "us?"

The day continued as it had started and all three false sacrifices barely made it through to lunch without some sort of issue. Stiles had spent an extra 20 minutes at lunch trying to open his locker, Allison was constantly looking over her shoulder and Scott vanished after the second period. And Lydia and I? Well we sat back and enjoyed the show.

I had never realised how much of the school day I missed hiding away in the newsroom. The want to carry the website on had diminished after yet another stinging betrayal. First Matt than Ms Blake, Clearly relationships formed via the school newspaper were just doomed to fail. I'd heard one of the freshmen had asked to take the task on and had left the room key for them on the desk with a brief overview. If I was going to accept the supernatural it was probably best it was my only extra curricular activity.

Though it seemed Josh had not gotten the memo. He'd gotten more demanding the closer to high school he got and with only half a year left he was almost intolerable. When I had arrived home early he had insisted I drive him to the animal clinic. Mum all but shooed us out the door as she gossiped away on the phone with her agent. We were clearly distracting her from important business.

He only got worse when we arrived. Deaton greeted us both with a professional nod and let Josh into the back to see his beloved dog. The thing had finally recovered from his abandonment and according to Deaton a new family had agreed to take it in. Josh was devastated.

"can't we just.."

I lifted a finger to stop him mid sentence, "don't even try it. Just be happy it's found a new home."

"It has a name."

"that's nice."

He hadn't been impressed by my response. With a melodramatic huff he scooped the pup into his arms and took it outside for one last walk. Deaton watched the entire exchange with his usual knowing smile.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he came to stand beside me. We both watched Josh as he led the small dog around the carpark.

My brows knitted together at his question, "about the dog? Oh, you mean how am I feeling now that the terrifying pack of Alphas has left. Yeah I'm feeling good. I mean we might manage to get through the rest of the week before something else comes knocking."

His posture relaxed. He was completely at ease with the correct conversation and didn't seem the slightest bit concerned with the idea of something else coming to Beacon Hills. Without turning to face me his eyes shifted sideways as he corrected me, " I meant about the Darach."

"Stiles?"

"He might have made some comments before we created a plan for that evening."

Of course he'd made a comment. I bet he had told them all to string me up with her. "I'm fine, really I am. Still feel a bit wired I guess. but I'm sure that's just left over adrenaline or something." The vet hummed at my response as if he didn't quite believe me.

Lydia and Allison made plans to go shooting in the woods. I stupidly agreed to join them after dropping Josh back home. I stood back and surveyed the clearing. It was funny to think of how much we had all changed since we were last here, shooting weapons at defenceless trees. Though the biggest change seem to be Allison's aim.

"Not the steadiest hand for a superb marksman," Lydia quipped dryly.

"It's been happening for the past few weeks. Since that night." Allison didn't need to clarify which night she was talking about.

Lydia's eyes fixated on the several arrows that were protruding from the trees around the clearing. They had hit everything but the paper target. "Maybe hold the string a different way. Try the Mongolian draw." We both turned toward Lydia with identical frowns. "What? I read. Try it. Okay, um Take a second to close your eyes and imagine the arrow going into the target."

But Allison had already stopped listening. Her eyes narrowed and her entire body was on edge. "Did you see that?"

"Pretty sure it's just your imagination," I told her. Fully confident in my declaration.

Though Allison seemed to have different ideas. Bow raised, she stalked off into the woods despite our protests. Neither Lydia or I moved while we waited for her to return. We had expected her to get to the edge of the clearing and turn back after realising there wasn't anything there. However as her figure faded into the tree line we started to worry. Her panicked eyes and paranoid glanced fresh in our minds.

Then it happened. An arrow aimed perfectly for Lydia's head soared through the air. It's target froze to the spot as it sailed toward her. I called out for her to move and lifted my hand up as if it would help. The Arrow head stopped inches from Lydia's temple, suspended in mid flight.

Allison bolted out of the bushes after the projectile. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God, Lydia…." her eyes shifted from Lydia to me. "Emma how are you…"

I pulled my hand back and shoved it into my jacket pocket. The moment my eyes left it the arrow fell to the ground as if the strings holding it up had been cut abruptly. Lifting my head back up I found Lydia staring back at me. Allison was still busy trying to make sense of the entire thing and was clearly trying to figure out if this was all in her head.

"I don't know why you are looking at me like that. She's the one all almost shot you!" I snapped at Lydia who was still gaping at me despite the fact our friend had almost turned her into a human kebab. I had made a quick exit after that and made a point to avoid any unwanted questions from either of the girls.

I actively dodged their calls and didn't see either of them until lunch the next day when everyone seemed to congregate outside for lunch. Scott slumped down onto the bench. His usually vibrant eyes had dulled and he looked utterly defeated. Not really how you would expect someone to look after saving the town for the third time in two years. "Okay, so what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?"

"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles' addiction made me wonder if he was struggling with more than just nightmares. Was he really questioning things to such an extreme level? Did his nightmares feel that real he was questioning them?

Allison sighed heavily before adding her own issue to the list, "And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?"

Isaac decided to answer what I had assumed where rhetorical questions. "They're all locked up because they're insane."

"Or they get locked up for accidentally killing someone," I added cheerfully sending Allison a tight lipped smile.

I wasn't annoyed at her, she wasn't in the right headspace and I knew she would never have intentionally shot an arrow at Lydia. I was annoyed at us all for being stupid enough to think toying with dangerous weapons when our marksman was seeing things was a good idea. It was stupid and it could have ended up being fatal. Okay, maybe I was a teeny tiny bit annoyed at her, she should have warned us that her hallucinations were so realistic she would shoot at them!

Isaac snapped his fingers and pointed at me in agreement, "yeah, that could happen."

"Ha," Stiles laughed dryly at our comments. "Can you two at least try to be helpful, please?"

"For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer. So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me. What's your excuse?" Isaac turned to me ignoring Stiles growing frustration.

I lifted my hands to count on my fingers as I spoke, "childhood trauma, abandonment issues, some describe me as a bit of a bitch."

Stiles shifted his eyes from Issac to me and mouthed the words 'Bit of?'. His expression clearly suggesting that he thought the phrase was an understatement. Before either of us could add anymore a new voice chimes in with a series of polite hellos.

"Hello, 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." We all turned to stare at the newest arrival.

A petite dark haired girl waved awkwardly back at us. My lips curled upwards as I eyed her eccentric outfit, full of bright colours and outlandish patterns. While everyone else watched the intruder I glanced sideways at Lydia. Knowing full well the girl's clothing would rile the fashionista.

And Lydia did not disappoint. Her lips pulled back into a smile that barely reached her cheeks let alone her eyes. "And what do they call you?" Her tone was polite enough to not be rude but also rude enough to make the girl shift uncomfortably under the redheads gaze.

"Kira," Scott replied for her, "She's in our History class." Cute. The pair could barely look at each other without blushing.

I returned my attention to the girl, Kira, and sat up straight so I could talk to her directly over Lydia's head

"So are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?"

She beamed back at me, clearly happy to have the conversation moved on. "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 by visited by peaceful and wrathful deities."

Isaac raised his hand to stop her before questioning, "Wrathful deities? And what are those?"

"Like demons," came her nonchalant reply. I imagine I would have replied in a similar way if I hadn't known we were sitting at a table full of supernatural beings. Knowing our luck demons would be the least of our worries.

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

"Death. You die." Yeah that seemed about right. Kira frowned at us all as we fell into sullen silence. "But it's just a story." We tried our best to smile back at her but none of us could believe her lighthearted tones. I made a note to look into demons just in case.

That evening while scanning one of the mange tabs I had opened on wrathful deities, I spotted Stiles scrabbling out of his window and scurry towards a car parked at the curb. With a heavy sigh I grabbed a jacket and followed although I chose to use the door. Stiles and Scott talked animatedly through the car window as I strolled towards them. Scott had already glanced my way so I knew they wouldn't be leaving without me. By the time I reached them the boys were busy discussing a dead body in the woods. Isn't that how this had all started last summer?

I opened the back door and invited myself along, "Yeah, because letting you two running off into the woods alone is a great idea."

To my surprise Stiles didn't argue against it. "You know, if my dad's right, that means there's another werewolf in town that we haven't met yet."

Scott replied glumly, "I know."

"With our luck it will be worse than the Alphas," I added.

Stiles groaned as he nodded back in agreement. "If it turns out to be something like triplets that form into, like, a three-headed hound of hell, I'm seriously not up for that."

I chuckled at his vivid description although part of me worried that his joke could end up being a reality. We wandered through the reserve after Scott. Though I'm not sure even he knew where he was meant to be going. A mournful howl echoed around us as we stilled in anticipation of an attack. Nothing came. It was just a coyote.

Stiles had gripped Scott's arm as the sound hung in the night air. Once it stopped he let go and shuffled onwards. As he climbed the bank in front of us he offered his friend a quick apology, "Sorry, buddy. I hate coyotes so much. They always sound like they're mauling some tiny, helpless little animal. Let me see the flashlight. I think we found it."

"Uh Why wouldn't they move it? Isn't it evidence?" I had been about to ask the same question.

We followed him over the ridge, my eyes could barely make out the shadowy mound at the bottom. Though once Stiles had swung the light over it it was clear to see. The rusty metal body of an overturned car lay forgotten. Wild flowers and tree roots had already started to claim the foreign object as their own.

Stiles shrugged while he edged toward the crime scene. "Probably too much of a pain in the ass to tow out. Look at this. See those? Animal claws would be closer together, right? A lot closer."

I crouched down next to him and placed my hand over the claw marks. Pulling them upwards I traced the deep cuts until they stopped abruptly at the passenger side door. "It was a werewolf then?" I asked , though I was already sure I knew the answer. Stiles nodded back confirming my thoughts while Scott moved around the broken vehicle.

"I'm hungry."

The sudden noise pulled a girly squeal from my lips and sent Stiles tumbling backwards. His body crashed into mine and the pair of us crashed to the floor in a comical frenzy, at least it was comical in hindsight. At the time I thought I was going to die. Scott flung the bundle of tatty clothes he was holding to the floor and a well loved doll rolled out onto the ground. Its head twisted in the fall and it's beady eyes stared unblinking at us. It was at that moment I realised I hated dolls.

"I think I just had a minor heart attack," Stiles wheezed as he stood clumsily.

I didn't bother jumping to my feet. Instead I crawled towards the broken toy and nudged it with a fallen stick. On the second poke a fierce growl rumbled through the air. I scrambled back from the doll thinking for a split second that the noise had come from the inanimate object. However, when I glanced at the boys I noticed their attention was on a shadowy figure looming at the edge of the clearing. The telltale glowing eyes of werewolf peering through the darkness. Yeah, a wolf growling was much more logical than a possessed doll. I needed to stop watching horror films now we were living in one.

"Hey, Emma," Scott called back, never once taking his eyes off the creature. "Please tell me you see that."

"I see it." The moment the words left my mouth, Scott lunged towards the bushes. Our protests fell on deaf ears as he sprinted over the fleeing wolf.

3B! I have random bits of these chapters written already so hopefully there will not be massive waits between posts. 3B is officially my favourite season.

Answer: a telephone

akagami hime chan: omg! I can't get the picture of Emma dressed up as optimus prime out of my head. Be warned I might steal that comparison. Though her eyes are more like Ms Blake's were in the lift sign against Kali than a full on autobot blue.

Alvfr: you're welcome :) glad you like it.

Thanks for the favs and follows: butterfly100, misslynn11, sarah 0406,