—
Austin woke up to the sound of whistled whimpering.
He groaned as he stretched, putting his arm out to feel for Ryder. After patting around for a bit, he came to the conclusion that she was no longer there and it was her that was crying in the corner of his room.
Sitting up quickly, his blanket fell, exposing his bare chest.
It took little to not know for him to spot the white wolf that was sat under his desk.
"Ry..." He began getting out of bed, stepping towards the girl.
She growled at him, baring her teeth threateningly. He simply sighed, his head tilting at her, silently letting her know that he didn't have time for this. (A/N: idk why this is so funny to me 😭)
"Come on, now." He dropped to his knees, putting his hand out, giving her the opportunity to get used to his scent.
"We have school is less than four hours, Ry. I'm tired, you're tired, we should just go back to sleep." He spoke softly, not wanting to scare her as she stepped towards him, running her head over his hand.
Unknown to them, they fell asleep like that.
Austin cuddling Ryder's wolf while she snuggled into his chest. (Ew)
•••
Ryder was awake and dressed before Austin got up from the floor. She could hear his bones crack as he stretched, though her eyes didn't once leave her phone screen as she texted Josie.
Rubbing his face of any sleep, Austin knelt on his bed to cautiously greet the girl, "Morning, Ry."
"Hi." She sent him a closed lip smile.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." She nodded.
Austin squinted, fully sitting down on the bed, "Did sleep good last night?"
Rolling her eyes a bit, she let her phone fall from her hands, "I didn't sleep at all if that's what you're really asking. I remember my turn and i'm sorry I woke you."
"You don't have to apologize, you're free to wake me up whenever you need me." Austin quickly reassured her, "Do you know why that happened?"
"I'm going to ask if you could please stop speaking to me as if i'm going to explode."
"Right, sorry." He grunted as he pushed himself off his bed, walking around the room to collect the things he needed to get ready for school.
"It's probably the effects Deaton was talking about." She told him, not bothering to turn around as he began to switch his pants.
"Makes sense." He nodded, "Why didn't you wake me earlier so I could help?"
"Because it was four hours before we needed to wake up for school." She mocked him, watching a small smile form on his face.
He walked into his bathroom, leaving the door open a bit so he could hear her while he brushed his teeth.
"Do you think the others have it worse?"
"Hmm, unless one of them is possessed, I don't think anyone has it worse than you, right now."
•••
"Hey. Hey, you all right? You don't look all right, Scott."
"That's because he probably isn't." Ryder mumbled as she and Austin walked up to them.
Scott shook his head, "I'm okay."
"No, you're not. It's happening to you too. You're seeing things, aren't you?"
"How'd you know?"
"Because it's happening to all four of you." Lydia said as she and Allison made their way to them, "Well, well, look who's no longer the crazy one."
"You aren't any better. You went around subconsciously finding dead bodies. That can't look too good on your record." Austin sassed the Martin girl, letting Ryder intertwine their fingers.
"We're not crazy." Allison tried defending.
"Hallucinating? Sleep paralysis? What's going on with you?" She pointed to the quietest of them all.
"None of your business." Ryder flashed her eyes, glaring at the girl.
Lydia scoffed, "Yeah, you guys are fine."
"We did die and come back to life." Scott reminded everyone, "That's gotta have some side effects, right?"
The school bell rang before any of them could respond.
"We keep an eye on each other. Okay?" Stiles said, "And Lydia, stop enjoying this so much."
"What?"
•••
"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." A thump behind Austin was heard, making him flinch a bit,
"Or you might not since she's never actually mentioned anyone from school. Or brought a friend home for that matter."
"Jesus." Austin turned to give the girl, he now knew as Kira, a look of pity.
Mr Yukimura sighed, "Either way, there she is. Now, let's begin with American History at the turn of the 20th century."
•••
A few hours later, Ryder found herself sat in Econ. (A/N: i messed up their schedules, now Ry and Austin take this class together, so bare with me here.)
She wasn't too interested in whatever words came out of Coach's mouth. Her mind began to grow crowded with thoughts of how the classroom would look if she just lashed out and killed everyone.
A hand tapping at her shoulder knocked her out of said thoughts. She narrowed her eyes confusedly turning to face Austin, watching the George gesture harshly to the way she gripped her desk, frowning at the fact that her claws were out on display for everyone to see.
Embarrassed, she hid her hands under her thighs, jumping at the sound of a whistle.
"Stilinski!"
"Uh-huh?" Stiles jerked up.
"I asked you a question."
Stiles struggled to remember what was said, "Uh Sorry, Coach. What was it?"
"It was 'Stilinski, are you paying attention back there?'" Bobby repeated himself.
"Oh. Well, I am now."
"Stilinski, stop reminding me why I drink... Every night. Does anybody else want to try the question on the board?"
Stiles felt the eyes of his friends staring at him, "I'm okay. I just fell asleep for a second."
"Dude. You weren't asleep."
•••
Ryder sat next to Austin with her leg in his lap, her head on the table while he rubbed her leg soothingly.
(They're in between Scott and Stiles, Ryder's next to Scott, Austin is next to Stiles)
"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 followed.
Allison added on, "And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?"
"And wants to kill anyone that even glances in their direction?" Ryder finished.
"They're all locked up because they're insane." Isaac declared.
"Ha." Stiles said unenthusiastically, "Can you 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."
Stiles pouted in annoyance, "Hey, dude, are you still milking that?"
"Yo—"
"Yeah, maybe I am still milking that." The Lahey defended himself.
Ryder picked her head up from the table, leaning against Austin's chest, rolling her eyes, "Both of you shut up."
"Hi." A new voice cut it, making the group look over in unison to see the new girl standing awkwardly in front of them.
"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."
Lydia hummed, clearly trying to seem intimidating, "And what do they call you?"
"Kira." Scott responded with a dopey smile, "She's in our History class."
Austin noticed the glare Allison sent between Kira and Scott, tapping Ryder's leg to see if she caught on. The couple hid their smiles, tuning back into the current conversation.
"So are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?"
"Either, I guess." Kira made herself comfortable, sitting down beside Stiles. Her action nearly made Scott hang off his side of the bench.
Austin lifted Ryder up by her waist, placing her on his lap so everyone was comfortable where they sat.
"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 frowned, "And what are those?"
"Like demons." The girl shrugs.
"Demons. Why not?"
"Hold on, if there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?"
"Death. You die."
Austin groaned, dropping his head into his girlfriends shoulder,
"That's the last thing we need."