celticgina: No, don't worry, I won't ;) Oh, and I'm glad you like it so far!

Aly: You're sure? I mean, not that I ddn't (wouldn't) like that side effect, but... *grins*

LiveLoveLaughLife: I surprised myself a bit with this; tis story was originally meant to be really romantic, but then somehow wrote itself... deciding that it didn't want to be a romance. *sigs*

Thank you all for your reviews :)

Chapter 6

While the two couples inside were busy finding a way out or sorting out what was happening in that weird old building, Kimball Cho finally succeeded in finding something useful. Or someone. He was almost happy and relieved to find the missing young woman safe and sound in a small shed behind the manor. She surely looked a bit frightened and probably needed a hot shower, a coffee, a proper meal and some counseling. But aside from that, she was okay, as far as he could tell.

Cho was always glad when they found missing persons alive and - even better - unhurt. He also believed in the abilities of a good counselor or psychologist. And, if possible, also in these victims' families.

The agent wasn't surprised when the woman backed away. The closer he got, the more she pressed into the small hole she hid in. She had seen her dead boyfriend, with a horrible head wound, and certainly still being where all that had happened didn't help much.

"Ma'am, I'm Agent Cho, I'm with the CBI. It's alright, I'll bring you out of here," he told the woman and approached her, wanting to help her. He hadn't counted on her reaction - and that she would pull out a knife.

"Don't you dare coming closer!" she shouted, pointing the sharp-edged weapon at Cho.

"Ma'am, please give me the knife, I want to help you."

"Go away, you horrible creature! I swear I'll kill you!" she yelled, leaving no doubt that she was serious. Her eyes showed fury, but also confusion. The Asian's hand wandered to his gun, ready to pull it out, but not yet acting.

"Whatever being you might be seeing right now, it isn't real. I'm human, I'm a federal agent and I just want to help you!" Cho explained again, this time his voice was harder; he hoped to reach her when his words were more empathically.

Finally, the woman got up, though she still held the knife in her hands, ready to attack, it was now easier for Cho to disarm her. They looked at each other for a few more moments before the disturbed woman was distracted by a sound, coming from her side, and she turned her head. Using this chance, the agent grabbed her hand, pressed just the right points at her wrist and made her let fall the knife. The he quickly handcuffed her.

She struggled and screamed, clearly terribly panicked, obviously thinking Cho was some kind of monster, but somehow he managed to bring her to Caldon and his partner who should take care of her.

He never saw the glowing eyes following him when he left the shed.

---

The scream Van Pelt gave only lasted fractions of seconds, but was obviously enough to let the ghost beside her vanish. More or less. The moment the scream left her throat, the being literally turned to dust. Not that any of the two of them wondered how a non-existent being could turn into something existent and material, but there it was, exploding and covering the agents in dust.

They coughed and frantically tried to get rid of the particles, even freed the other of them, when they finally woke from their paralyzed state.

"Is it... he... it... gone?"

"Yeah, I think so." Rigsby was as shaken as Van Pelt, and even his voice wasn't very steady when he spoke, though he tried his best to hide his shock

"What-"

"I've no idea what this was," Rigsby said dismissingly, earning himself an annoyed look from Van Pelt. "Sorry. I just... I want to get out of here."

"You're not the only one," she murmured irritated. It certainly didn't help to forget now that they had to work together and that they weren't enemies.

"Maybe we should try the windows. They may be secured by boards, but hopefully they'll be brittle and weatherworn enough to give in easily to a bit of force." Van Pelt nodded; she had already optioned out the door that didn't seem to bring luck anyways, and the window would be a direct way out of the building. And there's nothing she wanted more right now than leave this damn mansion...

---

"Patrick..." she whispered with a soft voice, "Open your eyes..."

But he didn't want to. The feeling of her soft lips was still lingering on his and he feared falling back to reality and losing the feeling as soon as he opened his eyes.

"Jane... come on, Jane!" Lisbon said, her voice now louder and not so seducing anymore, but... panicked? Unwillingly, he opened his eyes, only to realize that Lisbon was kneeling next to him on the bed, shaking his shoulder - and definitely not wearing the dress he had seen only minutes before.

"What is it? Where's the dress?"

"What? What dress? Did you inhale too much of the dust? You suddenly passed out, without any reason. It's not funny; I can't get any help here."

"I'm sorry... I... I don't know what happened," the blond man said, puzzled himself; he couldn't explain his sudden losing of consciousness either. Because the last few minutes had felt far too real. But since when did he experience dreams or visions when loosing conscience temporarily? Unconsciousness meant always blackness, at least from his experience. This had to be something else. A drug maybe. Or...

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, I think. Didn't feel bad to start with. I give the question back. How about you? Any weird pictures on your mind?"

"What? No. What do you mean? What have you seen?"

"Long story," he simply turned her down and sat up. "My guess - the candles. There has to be something in them, some psychedelic substance." He got up and walked over to their only source of light, as it was nearly dark outside and the dirty windows didn't let much light through anyways, and sniffed them.

"Jane... are you sure you're alright?" Lisbon was used to a lot of strange behavior when it came to Patrick Jane and normally she didn't question it at all. He had his theories and those theories helped putting bad guys behind bars. But this time, there was no bad guy, not at the moment, and considering that the consultant had passed out for no reason only minutes ago, she was a little suspicious. And worried.

"I'm fine, Lisbon, but hallucinations like the one I just had don't come from my head."

"I don't know what hallucination you had, but I believe your head is capable of many things. And pictures," she murmured, raising and eyebrow when he took one candle, blew it out and broke it in the middle. "If there's something in those candles, it will probably be mixed with the wax and you won't see it." Her reasoning seemed to stop him and she was almost relieved when he put the candle aside and looked at her. But then, he frowned deeply.

"How come the candles are lit?"

"Uh... you lit them?"

"Haven't got a lighter. And here are no lighters or matches. I remember searching for them, and that I didn't found any."

"You're sure?"

"Lisbon, I haven't hit my head, I just passed out, for whatever reason. Still, it doesn't answer the question who lit the candles." Scanning the room with his eyes questioningly, he didn't saw the panic in Teresa's eyes when she answered - and he almost jumped when she ran over to him suddenly, with a blanket she had grabbed from the bed in her hands.

"Not who - what!" she yelled and threw the blanket over the candle Patrick had examined and then put down on a small sideboard before, and that had - under the senior agent's disbelieving stare - lit itself without any recognizable reason and set the sideboard on fire...

TBC...