Series 13/Chapter 8: AMOUNTING DEVASTATION

Carolyn mourning the loss of Elizabeth  

An early afternoon wind blew through the French door windows of the drawing room lifting the sheer white organza curtains up into the air like white ghosts looming over the furniture. So strong was the current of air that blew in from the courtyard and in through the floating curtains that the fireplace blew our in a puff of sparks leaving only fuming embers and coals.

The fire going out was cruel reminder that only 5 days before the legendary Matriarch of the Collins family, Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard’s own fire, that which burned inside of her had gone too. 

This icon of Collinwood had died in a tragic fall down the main staircase of the mansion under strange and suspicious circumstances involving the sudden madness of her nephew David Collins.

The foyer had been filled with flowers of condolences from shocked town’s people. Elizabeth was a sort of cult-icon of sorts, a town celebrity. A living legend who had lived a life of privilege and glamour, but mostly she had lived a life shrouded in secrets, curses and terror. 

Now her life would only exist in the local folklore of the fishermen whom she employed and in the campfire stories of children who’s parent own childhood’s were haunted by the shadows of Collinwood. For all time.

Whispers in town were already flouting conspiracies of her tragic death: was she really the victim of a freak accident in her own home? In her birthday? Everyone in town knew that with the Collins family, nothing was ever as it seemed.

David and Kimberly's five year old son Caleb danced around the freezing Drawing room jumping at the floating curtains' trying to grab them down as if it were some kind of game someone was playing with him.

From the corner of the little boy's eye he saw a figure standing in the bright light of the day. It was a woman with dark hair and and deep dark eyes and pale skin who blew kisses at him. With each blow of a kiss a wild gust of wind would flow into the Drawing room like a river of cold air lifting the sheer curtains again for Caleb to jump at.

It was Josette DuPres. The patron saint of the Children of Collins family. She was always around watching over the little ones in ghostly apparitions that only they could understand. That only they could see. She protected them. She loved them.

He laughed at Josette’s silly air kisses and spun around in constant twirls; playing and laughing trying to grab at the floating curtains. His giggle echoed in the room. His eyes were bright and joyful even though the day was sad and mournful.

Five days earlier, his father went insane and supposedly pushed Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard down the stairs killing her. And today was her funeral. 

Caleb, dressed in all black was the first one of the family ready for her the sad ceremony. Alone in the cold drawing room dancing along to Josette little game.

"Caleb, that's enough!" Kimberly said pulling down the curtains and closing the French doors to the wind just as Josette's ghost quickly evaporated into the light. "That's inappropriate." The pregnant woman said rubbing her belly.

"Why?" Caleb asked.

"Because today is sad day. Today Aunt Lizzy goes to heaven." Kimberly replied trying to explain a funeral to a child in a cute and easy way.

"Because you pushed her." Caleb said.

Kimberly gasped in the reveal that he did see her. He did see what she did to Elizabeth.

"Now, honey, that's not true. Ok? Daddy did it. Remember? I told you that daddy pushed aunt Lizzy. You have to be sure that when you talk about Aunt Lizzy's accident you remember that Daddy pushed her, not mommy ok? Can you do that?" Kim asked, attempting to turn the truth upside down in her own son's mind.

"But daddy was not there. You pushed Aunt Lizzy mama." Caleb said in pouting, knowing he wasn’t crazy for saying what he saw.

"Caleb..." Kimberly began to speak as she knelt down close to him so that they were now face to face, eye to eye. "Listen to mama: If anyone asks you what happened, or if you saw something the night Aunt Lizzy died, you have to tell them what Mama is telling you, ok? Daddy is sick and he pushed Aunt Lizzy. That's what happened." Kim said forcing her lie on the boy who saw nothing of the sort the night Liz died.

"I ...I....don't know mama.” Caleb said confused at his mother's request.

"Honey, mama is trying to explain to you what to do when someone asks you what you know ok? So listen, if someone does ask you tell them Daddy pushed her. Do you understand? It was Daddy not mama who pushed Aunt Lizzy. Ok? Will you do that for mama?" She asked, still forcing the boy to cover for her.

He reluctantly agreed.

Carolyn & Kimberly in mourners
black in the drawing room 

"Is everything ok?" Carolyn asked entering the room, also dressed in mourner's black from head to toe with delicate Black veil barley covering her face, yet her steely blue eyes still piercing through.

"No, no, nothing. We were just chatting about today." Kim said squeezing Caleb's hand.

"I'm miss Aunt Lizzy." Caleb said in a little voice, shying away and hiding his face in his mother's legs. "Oh honey, I know. I know. I'm going to miss her too. But she's always going to be with us. She's always going to be in our hearts." Carolyn said kissing his little face. "Is David ready?" She added.

"Ready?" Kim questioned.

"For my mother’s funeral?" Carolyn asked irritated.

“Absolutely not!” Kim shot back.

Carolyn turned her head slightly to the side to Kim’s outburst. “And why not? We’re family Kimberly.”

"Carolyn, my god! I mean... he pushed your mother. He...killed her.” Kim said in a soft voice as Caleb looked down at his shoes knowing It was a lie.

Carolyn lifted a brow beneath her veil. “It was an accident. We all know it was an accident and any insulation otherwise is asinine. Especially coming from his wife!” Carolyn retorted.

“I’m also a doctor. And I don't think he should go. He's been in and out of consciousness for the last 4 or 5 days. Besides, I don’t want you to have to sit around all those whispering mourners Knowing Liz’s killer is at her funeral ." Kim replied again pushing the narrative that David lost his mind and pushed Liz.

“Kimberly! David is not a killer! What happened... whatever it was must of been an accident and once he gets better he will tell us that.” Carolyn replied Protecting her cousin.

Caleb looked away. He knew the truth. He knew it was a lie. He, in his own childlike way, couldn't deal with what was coming out of his mother's mouth. It was confusing. And he felt betrayed by his own mother and his own eyes. He knew what he saw. He knew it with all his little heart.

And Carolyn could tell.

"You told me how David snapped that night and how he's never been the same since. You keep telling me how he all of a sudden just went berserk and my mother some how got in the middle of it, but for the life of me I just don't see it. Nothing makes sense. Usually I'm pretty good at connecting the dots, but this whole thing doesn't add up." Carolyn said, as she adjusted the a black hat in her hands with a black veil.

"Denial is a symptom of the mourning process. It's very natural that it would be difficult for you to come to terms with your cousin pushing your mother down the stairs and killing her. In fact, if you believed it right off, then I would have been worried for you too." Kim said coldly, continuing to hide the fact she had been drugging David for days and days to keep him medically disoriented to push the story of his sudden mental break.

Carolyn lifted her veil, her eyes became fixed on Kim's lying face. She couldn't believe how cold Kim was sounding about her own husband, about the father of her child.

"David was like a son to my mother. I mean she raised him. She did everything for him. She spoiled him rotten as a child. She protected him. Adored him and the feeling was mutual. He wouldn't do this." Carolyn replied as she stood up from the sofa to face Kim.

"Carolyn—you’ve been gone a long time...so I should remind you,” Kim said with a snarky tone about Carolyn’s many years absence from Collinwood “your mother didn't fall on her own. She knew very well that we didn't want her walking around the house without Noelle being here. On Noelle's days off at night, your mother knew to call one of us. She must of called David and David was going through a psychotic break. He’s been under so much stress being the only family member here working at the cannery and all.” 

Carolyn rolled her eyes at the obvious insinuations.

“We could have the police come and investigate but I thought you wanted to be sure they thought it was an accident. I know how much your family appreciates their privacy in family matters such as this." Kim continued making sure she kept David out of the Police's cross-hairs.

Carolyn knew it too. Collinwood and the Collins family had too many secrets and too many skeletons in the closet for anyone to come poking around. Sometimes quite literally. In fact they had never even reported Evangeline's disappearance either.

It was too risky. It was too dangerous. Carolyn agreed to all of this, but she hated it.

"I think what needs to happen..." Kim said adding the second part of her plan with Victor and The OTH, "is that we should make sure that David is taken care of and taken care of in the correct and appropriate matter."

"Oh? What is the appropriate matter is that?" Carolyn asked, crossing her arms in defiance.

"Windcliff. I think we should have him admitted." Kim said just as a sudden hush came over the room.

"Absolutely not!!" Carolyn shouted breaking the silence. "Carolyn be reasonable, he has to be taken are medically. I'm a doctor. I know these things." Kim said.

"You're not a doctor yet." Carolyn reminded Kim that she actually hadn’t gotten her medical license.

As Kim began to sizzle with frustration little Caleb gasped out loud.

"Daddy!!" Caleb said, as a sweaty and disheveled David walked into the drawing room.

His eyes were sunken. His skin pale and his hair a mess. He was drugged, sick and seeing things all over the place. Monsters. His demons. His past. Everything bubbling up in a horror show just for him in his mind. The serum Kim had been administering had caused him to lose every once of sanity and at this point, he was a shell of the man Carolyn knew. He was gone.

"David, David you shouldn't be down here." Kim said trying to keep David out of Carolyn's way for fear of the truth coming out.

"No, wait. He's been so sick that I haven't been able to see him. David, honey, are you ok?" Carolyn said rushing over to him and getting in between the married couple.

"I............." David said, his mouth dry and lips chapped.

"You should be in bed." Kim ordered.

"Stop it Kim! Stop, let him speak! David.....talk to me. I need you to tell me what happened with my mother. Please tell me you didn't push her." Carolyn began.

"Carolyn!" Kim shouted.

"Kimberly, stop interrupting me. You may be studying to be a doctor but you're not one yet and until you get him checked out by someone I won't have you dictating what happens in this house, do you understand me???" Carolyn screamed, asserting herself as the new matriarch of the family.

"Aunt....Liz......where is she?" David mustered to say in a breathy and exhausted voice. 

"You don't remember?" Carolyn asked.

"Of course he doesn't. He killed her." Kim said in a cold way. 

David began to shake and sweat. He began to hallucinate and see Elizabeth in the corner of the room. Then he'd turn and she was in the window. Then he'd look away and she was standing next to the fire place. Then next to Carolyn. Then next to Kim. Then she became Carolyn and them became Kim. There were now three and four Elizabeth's in the room. 

"I CAN'T TAKE IT!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT!!!" David screamed as he fell to his knees and his mind, filled and poisoned by the drugs in his blood Kim was giving him. He was consumed by a manic and insane confusion. 

"I'll take him upstairs and to bed." Kim said taking back control. 

"I think....." Carolyn began to say but paused as David got up "It's better that you both stay home and don't come to the funeral. Caleb too. I'd rather be alone." she added, her heart breaking for David who was clearly out of his mind. 

Kimberly lifted an eye brow as David clung to her arms in a slump, in pain, terrorized by the drugs his wife injected into his body in secret. "If that's what you wish." Kim replied actually annoyed by Carolyn's superiority. "Come on David, let's get you to bed."

Carolyn was now alone with Caleb who was suddenly very quiet. He had seen so much in the last month. His nanny vanishing in a black blob created by Justin. His mother pushing his great-aunt down the stairs and his father losing his mind. It was all too much for the little boy to verbalize. 

Carolyn sat him down on the dark green family sofa and he snuggled up under her black organza covered arms that felt soft to his face.

"It's going to be ok, love. We're going to be ok." She said holding him tightly. 

Upstairs, David was now asleep. The sedative rushing through his body like a Formula 1 race car. Kim walked to his bedroom door and listened. No one was coming. She quickly rushed over to the phone in David's room and dialed Victor, her co-conspirator in the elimination of the Collins family. 

"How are things?" Victor said as he answered the phone.

"How did you know it was me." She asked.

"I just know." Victor said, carving a hole in a the photographed eye of David Collins that was on his kitchen table.

"Things are good. David is almost out of the way. I'm just having trouble with Carolyn." Kim reported.

"And the boy?" Victor asked.

Kim didn't want to tell him he was fighting his memory. She knew that if Victor knew the truth that he would kill the boy himself. Her own flesh and blood. She was having second thoughts about killing him and wanted to be sure that she could take care of that herself when the time came---if the time came.

"He's fine. He is holding to the story." She said giving a half truth.

"Good. Good. Let Carolyn have her funeral today. And as soon as it's over...." Victor said, pausing for Kim to soak in his next order "murder her."

Kim hung up the phone. She took a deep breath and looked over at her handsome husband as he slept in induced state. She walked over to him and caressed his bare chest. His breathing was good. He was sleeping, in a deep deep sleep.

"I'm sorry. But for the sake of this world, for the souls of so many lives who deserve to be safe from all of the evils your family has birthed, you can't go on. David, tomorrow, Ill have you taken away. Forever." Kim whispered in David's ear as she kissed him for the last time on his lips.

****

Carolyn at the COLLINS mausoleum 

Behind the glazed windshield of a sedan Noelle and Cameron watched as a local priest, undertaker and Carolyn lowered Elizabeth's casket into the lush green covered ground of Eagle Hill cemetery next to her father, mother and brother. The family plot was directly across from the old mausoleum that housed the remains of other Collins family members; it also included the secret passage and hideaway crypt where Barnabas Collins once laid.

After the altercation with Kimberly Carolyn called around and asked that all other mourners, old friends and acquaintances in town, not to come to the cemetery. She wanted to be alone. Just her and her mother and a priest.

Carolyn allowed the priest to bless the hallowed ground where Elizabeth would lay for eternity. The priest, an old man around the age of Elizabeth  herself, handed the black veiled Carolyn a silver try with a mound of soil in it. With a gloved hand, Carolyn tearfully reached for a hand full and sprinkled it over the open grave.

“She was a wonderful woman. I knew her well. Did you know she used to come around my perish as I was just taking my vows? We became very close at one time.” The Priest said.

“I don’t remember.” Carolyn said through sniffles. 

“Oh it was much before you were born my child. She was a good good woman. I did care for her very much. She and I became close in those days... many years ago of course. She would come by and visit and we.... well we were close. Elizabeth Collins, as I knew her, was kind spirit and I know she is now in the light with the lord.” The priest added.

Carolyn began to cry “thank you Father Helsing. Thank you.” 

“If you need Anything, please feel free to give me a call. My door is always open. Especially for anyone as close to Elizabeth as you.” Father Helsing replied. 

He then smiled and patted Carolyn on the shoulder then extended his condolences once more to her and her family....where ever they were. Carolyn politely thanked him and stood there alone, as the undertaker continued to fill in Elizabeth's grace. 

When Carolyn turned to reach for a bundle of red roses, a gust of cool sea wind blew over a Eagle Hill cemetery rustling the beaches in the bare autumn trees causing a xylophone sound effect to ripple through the air. 

 Father Helsing Crossed himself and looked back at the grave... he then blew a kiss to Elizabeth’s grave, his very special friend. 

As Father Helsing walked off down the yellowed grass, Carolyn took out her handkerchief, dabbed her eyes and slowly began to rip away the petals on several blood red roses onto the dirt. One rose for each of Liz’s beloved family members. 

She looked over towards the mausoleum that had been allowed to become swallowed up but lush over grown brush. The stone COLLINS name still stood at the top above the iron gate, only the letter 'O' was obstructed from view by a rogue vine of ivy. 

In a black car parked under a large shady willow tree hidden from Carolyn’s view, Cameron, his boyfriend Lucas and his aunt Noelle watched from a far. Cameron's emotions were bubbling up in his stomach. He felt horrible that he couldn't go to his mother Carolyn. All these years, all his life he was living next door, at the Old House with Noelle, to his family and he didn't know it. He had met Elizabeth every now and then because of Noelle's position as her caretaker, but he never had a chance to get to really know her as a grandmother. 

And now she was gone. 

"I just want to go over there and be there for her. I just want to hug had and tell her how sorry I am and that I wish I could have been there all these years." Cameron said with a slow tear crawling down his caramel colored face.

"When I called Collinwood, Kimberly said that David wasn't feeling well and that Carolyn decided that she wanted to be alone. We can't just barge up to her." Noelle said reluctantly. 

"Just another way for you to avoid everything right?" Cameron said, his voice showing resentment and angry towards Noelle and all her secret keeping.

"Cam, please...let's not do this right now." Noelle said as she too wiped away a tear from her eye for Elizabeth. "I took care of Liz for years and years. I was as close to her as anyone else. This hurts me just as much as it hurts you." 

"Really? At leas you had the chance to know her. At least you had the chance to be in her life more than just in passing. Because of you I didn't have anything to do with her other than seeing every now and then in the gardens. But that always seems to go right over your heard. You always seem to forget that all your actions have a direct link to me, and how you never told me the truth. Until it was too late." Cameron said again, unaffected by Noelle's tears.

"I deserve that. I deserve all of that. But right now I just want to remember Elizabeth as she was. I don't want to fight. I can't fight. Not right now." Noelle said, her hurt showing in real palpable pain. 

The sat in the car for what seemed like hours but it was only minutes. They watched Carolyn stand in the fogged out cemetery as the wind blew around her. Alone. Cold. Devastated. It was too much for Cameron to bare. 

"I'm going out there---I'm going to tell her everything." Cameron said reaching for the car door. 

"STOP!" Lucas' voice said from the back seat pulling Cameron back. "You can't do this. You can't tell her who you are. It'll ruin everything!" Lucas shouted figuring that if Carolyn knew who he really was and that Noelle had lied about who he was all these years that she wouldn't let them anywhere near Collinwood, and if they were going to find the truth about Beau's death and everything else about the skeletons in every Collins closet the secret needed to be kept. 

Cameron grabbed Lucas' hand and removed it from his shoulder. "Watch me." Cameron said as he opened the door and headed for Elizabeth's grave. 

As Cameron slowly went up the hill to find his mother and grandmother, Noelle began to panic. She didnt know what to do next. Lucas jumped into the front seat. 

"He's not going to do it. He won't tell her right now. Not here." Lucas said in a low voice.

"How do you know? He's so angry with me. He'll do anything to hurt me back for all the years of lies." Noelle replied.

"No. He's not like that. He knows Carolyn is broken up right now about her mother's death. He wont add to her pain. But that just goes to show that maybe we should rethink his role in searching the mansion." Lucas said.

Noelle turned her head from watching Cameron and removed her dark sun glasses to reveal her tear stained face and swollen eyes.

"Why are you so invested in this? Why are you so invested in going into that house and looking around? This was about my brother's death and some how I feel like you're ready to take up the reigns and make this all about you. What's in for you Lucas?" Noelle asked, seeing the writing on the wall. 

Lucas wasn't sure how to answer. He couldn't all of a sudden tell his boyfriend's aunt how much he had been working on the strange cases and mysteries that surrounded the family and how the coincidence of Cameron being a Collins himself by blood seemed meant to be. Noelle's suspicions needed to be quelled. 

"You need help. Cameron is a lose wire right now. I can help you. No strings attached." Lucas said. 

 Noelle thought for a second and looked back up the hill just as Cameron approached Carolyn. She took a deep breath and answered. 

"Tonight. I'll give you the key to the side servants door that I use on occasion. The main part of the mansion is a good distance away no one will  hear you enter there. There'll be a hall directly leading you into the kitchen. From there, you'll have access to the rest of the mansion and the family's living areas. You'll follow that area into the drawing room and the main staircase." Noelle explained.

Lucas smiled evilly and looked back up towards Cameron just as Noelle reached into her purse and pulled put the key the Collins family entrusted in her care. The key to the servant's entrance to the mansion where all the secrets would be revealed. 

"I'm sorry to bother you." Cameron said in a soft voice as he finally reached the summit of the small cemetery hill in the shadow of large oak tree's and the mausoleum with the stone name of COLLINS.  

Carolyn turned and looked her son in the face for the first time in almost 25 years. She lifted the black  veil from her face to get a better look at him. The young man who had eyes so deep and so brown and so kind warmed her heart with just one look. Instantly she felt like she knew him. Instantly she felt like that face was someone else's from decades ago. 

"I uh..." Carolyn began before being interrupted. 

"You probably don't remember me. We haven't really met ever. I'm..." He paused "Cameron Frame. Noelle Cielvert's nephew.." He explained. 

"Oh! Of course. Of course. Mother's care taker." Carolyn said reaching for his hand to shake. 

"I don't want to interrupt you or take up your time. I know how hard this must be for you. We were told that you wanted to be alone...but....we just had to come pay our respects." Cameron explained.

"We?" Carolyn asked, noticing Cameron was alone. 

"Oh...Noelle and my partner are in the car just over there. We, uhh...felt maybe it was better if just one of us came up here to see you." Cameron said covering up his story.

Carolyn looked down the hill passed Cameron and noticed the car sitting there with the figures inside.

"I see." She said. 

"Mrs. Thorne, your mother Mrs. Stoddard gave us so much. Noelle worked with her for so long...she helped me get into college. She gave us a place to stay. She was very kind to us. I don't think I will ever be able to repay her" Cameron stated.

"Cameron she wouldn't expect you to. My mother gave because she was kind and loving. I'm sure she was very proud of who you became. From what I'm told, Noelle had been her caretaker for a very long time. You must have been a small boy when you moved to the Old house." Carolyn noted.

"Yes. I was 4." Cameron said.

"I'm sorry I've never been down to see you. Since  I moved to London in 72, I just never really turned back." Carolyn lamented.

"That's ok." Cameron replied. "I hope that you know that Mrs Stoddard was well taken care of." He added.

"Yes, in her letters to me and my daughter she often said here caretaker was very kind, although she never mentioned Noelle by name." Carolyn added.

"Daughter." Cameron said softly realizing he had a little sister.

"Yes, Alexandra." His estranged mother replied.

"That's a beautiful name. Well, again. I just wanted to be sure that you knew who I was, and that you knew how much I appreciated your mother's help all my life." Cameron said, his stomach in a nervous knot. 

"Yes. Thank you for that." Carolyn replied. 

Cameron felt crazy. He was staring his mother in the face. After so many years. All he wanted was to scream out that they were related. That she was his mother. That she had been tricked all the years. And that Elizabeth too had been tricked. And that all this time he had been right there. Right next door. Right under their noses. That he didn't feel any ill will towards Carolyn for placing him up for adoption. But none of that came out. None of the truth came from his lips. The cool air swirled around and the seagulls screeched a painful wild song above the cemetery and all Cameron could muster was the typical condolences one says to another at a funeral.

Carolyn smiled politely. He handed her a bouquet of flowers and smiled again and rushed back to the car where Noelle and Lucas were waiting. A gush of painful and broken tears fell from his eyes. 

He was dying inside with pain. 

He got in the car and slammed the door.

"Are you ok honey?" Noelle asked after a split second of silence.

"Just take me home." He replied. 

Carolyn watched as Noelle's car drove off. She watched go down the small cemetery road and towards the font gates and watched it vanish into the gray horizon. She felt a strange bit of nostalgia as she remembered Cameron's face. His kind and warm eyes. His chestnut skin. 

It was all so very familiar. 

She then turned to her own awaiting car and signaled to the driver that she was ready to go back to Collinwood. 

She pulled out a single white rose from the bouquet Cameron handed her and laid the rest on her mother's grave then kissed her hand and placed the kiss on the dirt. 

She made her way slowly over to her car where her driver opened the back door for her.

"Ma'am, are you ok?" The driver asked as Carolyn smelled the white rose. 

Carolyn didn't know what to say. The truth was, she didn't know. She felt numb. She felt cold. She felt dead.

"Ask me tomorrow Albert.” She said using the driver’s name. “Ask me tomorrow."

****

Lucas with Noelle's key to Collinwood

That night. In the pitch black darkness with only the gauzy moonlit sky to guide him, Lucas made good on his promise to Noelle behind Cameron's back of going into Collinwood and attempting to find the truth of what happened to Beau Cielvert all those years ago.

Lucas was armed with they key that the Collins family had entrusted to Elizabeth's care taker Noelle that she had given him in secret just two nights before. This key was the literal opening a door to a world that Lucas had longed to be privy to for all his adult life: Noelle's key to the servant's entrance to Collinwood.

He slipped the golden toned skeleton key into the servant's entrance door of Collinwood where no one would see him. He pulled the door closed behind him and realized he was now in the throws of his own biggest dream ever. He imagined what he would find, secrets, mysteries, all kinds of hidden treasures that the family had buried away forever so that no one would ever find. Lucas, would be the one who discovered these items, he would be the one to solve crimes and mysteries with ease because of these discoveries. And with his findings, Fame. Fortune. Notoriety. It was his destiny. It was his calling. 

As he stood in the doorway of the servant's entrance a glow of white light appeared behind him. It was a woman, in a white gown with large dark eyes. She seemed to be weeping but no sound was coming from her. It was Josette DuPres.

Her hair, dark and flowing was flowing in a non-existent breeze that also filled the bottom of her gown lifting slightly to show that she was floating above the floor. 

Lucas felt this cold, icy feeling on the back of his neck and turned around quickly only to see the door he had just come in from. 

Josette was now on the opposite side of him, glowing like a firefly and still weeping silently. 

Lucas turned around again and she was gone, flashing back again to where she was when he first came in. He could feel her presence but she would not allow him to see her. He could feel her dark eyes staring straight through him but he could not pin her down and look her in the face.

"Who's there?" he whispered hoping that someone would reply. 

She did not.

"I ask you to show yourself to me, I can feel you, I can tell you are here. Please show me your face." The butting paranormal investigator begged. But the ghost of Josette did not comply.

She only stared at him from her ghostly perch above the floor floating in white light and in a cool breeze made from her spiritual apparition. 

"Please tell me who you are." Lucas asked again of the shy Josette as he turned again to find her. "Maybe I can help you." He added. 

Josette did not want him to see her. She knew what he was she knew what would eventually happen to him in the future and she knew that time was ticking on everything and anything regarding Lucas Grainger. 

She slowly dimmed the light her body was exuding and the wind around her subsided. She began to float behind him, close now so close he could feel her right behind him but her powerful spiritual force froze him in his place. 

"I can help you." he whispered as his eyes widened with wondering of the force holding him in place.

Josette, her body now gray and flesh like and not at all transparent as it was before stroked his hair. She could feel every stand of the beautiful premature white heard of hair he had. 

She came centimeters from his ear and whispered back "it is you who may need help, it is you who will need all the help he can find." 

And when she was done speaking to him in a whispery ghostly voice she released Lucas from his frozen like state. He gasped in a deep loud breath of air and turned around to see he was alone in the servant's entrance room. 

Josette had gone. 

Now alone and inside Collinwood, Lucas knew his thoughts of the mysterious family were correct. There was something here at this mansion. Something powerful and super nature. As frightened as he was with Josette's strength, he knew he would still do everything he could before the sun came up to find any evidence he could for Noelle, and most of all...evidence of the existence of the super nature all for himself.