Mr. Stilinski's car screeches to a halt as he drives down the road before spotting a figure walking down the middle of the road.
"Faline?" Mr. Stilinski asks and the girl turns. "Aren't you supposed to be at school?"
"I decided to walk. Something happened here. A crash" Faline says. "Why am I here?"
"I'm not sure," Mr. Stilinski says. "Let's get you to school"
Faline walks into the courtyard, her bag over her shoulder as she waves to Mr. Stilinski.
"Faline" Faline jumps when her friends approach her. "Where were you?"
"I was walking down the one, one five," Faline says. "Don't ask because I don't know"
"Alright, well it's lunch so let's sit down," Stiles says, sharing a glance with Scott.
"Okay," Scott says after they all sit down. "What happens to a person who has had a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?"
"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles asks, his hand resting on Faline's thigh as they talk.
"And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?"
"And is walking to random places and is also being haunted by dead relatives?"
"They're all locked up because they're insane," Isaac says and Faline throws a grape at him.
"Ha," Stiles says. "Can you at least try to be helpful, please?"
"For half my childhood I was locked in a freezer," Isaac says. "So being helpful is kind of a new thing for me"
"Are we still milking that?" Stiles asks.
"Yeah, we are still milking that," Isaac says.
"Hi" All six heads turn to see Kira. "Hi, sorry. I couldn't help overhearing 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 asks.
"Kira" Scott says and everyone looks at him. "She's in our history class"
"So are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" Faline asks.
"Either I guess," Kira says, sitting next to Faline who moves her bag to allow for more space. "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?" Isaac asks. "And what are those?"
"Like demons," Kira says.
"Demons," Stiles says. "Why not?"
"Hold on," Allison says. "If there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?"
"Death" Kira says. "You die"
"Wonderful" Faline says. "I think we might need to talk to Deaton"
After school, they head for Deaton's clinic.
"It sounds like your subconscious is trying to communicate with you," Deaton says.
"Well, how do I tell my subconscious to use a language that I actually know?"
"Do you remember what the sign language looked like?" Deaton asks.
Faline sneezes and a shelf of jars smashes.
"I am so sorry," Faline says.
"It's alright," Deaton says. "The placement and the movement of hands?"
"You know sign language?"
"I know a little" Deaton says.
"I know sign language," Faline says. "I got bored learning spoken languages"
"The first move was like this" Stiles says.
"When," Faline says and Deaton nods.
"Then this twice"
"Door"
"And there's this in-between that"
"That's it?" Deaton asks.
"Yeah"
"When is a door not a door?" Faline says.
"When is a door not a door?" Stiles asks.
"When it's ajar," Scott says.
"You're kidding me?" Stiles asks. "A riddle? My subconscious wants to tell me a riddle?"
"Not necessarily" Deaton sats. "When the four 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 asks. "The door's still open"
"Ajar," Deaton says.
"A door into our minds?" Stiles asks.
"I did tell you it was risky," Deaton says,
"What do we do about it?" Scott asks.
"Well, that's difficult to answer," Deaton says.
"No, wait a sec," Stiles says "I know that look. That's the 'we know exactly what's wrong with you and we have no idea how to fix it look'"
"One thing I do know," Deaton says. "Is that having an opening like that into your mind, it's not good. You each need to close that door and you need to do it as soon as possible. Can I have a word with Faline, please?"
Scott and Stiles leave.
"Why am I losing control over my powers?" Faline asks. "I'm walking down the middle of roads, I'm seeing my father and Paige. I'm losing my mind"
"You have the strongest emotional bond to the Nemeton," Deaton says. "You opening the door in your mind to it was risky, even more so than the others seeing as not only your sister died there but your father did too and both times you were there, full of negative emotions. Feeding the nemeton, you are connected to the nemeton Faline. That means the door in your mind will be harder to shut because of that connection"
Faline looks behind Deaton to see a figure that she never wanted to see again.
"Faline?" Deaton asks. "Is there someone else here?"
Faline nods, staring at the waterlogged figure of Matt who was stood dripping water onto the floor.
"Who is it?" Deaton asks.
"It's Matt" Faline whispers as she stares. "This is the first time he's appeared"
"Faline," Deaton says. "You have to will them to go away, with your mind, or else you're going to be stuck with them forever"
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