Hey guys! Long time no see! I finally have a chapter for you, and while I am taking this fic off hiatus, I can't guarantee regular updates. I'll just do the best I can.

I haven't forgotten it and it will be finished.

Thank you all so much for continuing to read and comment.

Althea Fey shivered and clutched her shawl closer as a cold wind whipped by. A slight dampness still lingered in the air after the evening's storm. Kurain was eerily silent at this time of night. It was well after midnight, and Althea knew everyone would be asleep. Maya and the pesky lawyer included. This was the perfect time to head down to the vault. She would not be disturbed or noticed.

She descended the stone steps slowly, the large door in front of her becoming more in focus as the light from her small gas lantern moved closer. Setting the lantern down, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the oddly shaped brass key that opened the door. She smiled to herself as she heard the familiar click of the vault door opening. Having a copy made of the Master's key was an act of pure brilliance. She had relinquished the original to Maya when she had returned to Kurain a few days ago. No one had any idea about the existence of a second key.

"And nor will they." Althea thought to herself. The ability to come and go from the Kurain Vault without being detected was an advantage that she didn't plan on giving up any time soon.

Slipping inside, Althea closed the door behind her. She placed the lantern down on a worn wooden desk and set about lighting the lanterns that were fixed to the walls. Once the room had been sufficiently lit, Althea quickly located the tome she had been looking for.

The book was leather bound and unlabeled, but between these inconspicuous looking covers was a comprehensive history of all of Kurain's traditions, practices and laws right up until the birth of Mystic Meredith, Maya's grandmother. Althea flipped through the pages, scanning them hurriedly, searching for a particular name. Before long, she found the chapter relating to Maya's great, great grandmother and her own grandmother – Mara Fey.

"I can't believe it's going to be this easy." Althea said as she carefully tore the pages from the tome. Although she admittedly felt bad about damaging historic Kurain property, the benefits her plan would have for the village far outweighed one damaged book. Or at least that's what she told herself.

She checked the book to make sure there was no visible evidence of tampering, and returned it to its place on the shelf. With a triumphant smirk she stuffed the torn pages into her pocket, planning to dispose of them later.

Althea then extinguished the lanterns and headed out of the vault, locking the door once again behind her, leaving no evidence that she had even visited the vault at all.

"It's down here." Maya called to Phoenix as she headed down the stone steps.

"Careful!" Phoenix called out. "It's dark down there. You could slip and hurt yourself."

Maya rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine, Nick. Just hurry up and get down here with the lantern!"

Phoenix ambled down the remaining steps, and joined Maya at the large door to the vault. He placed his briefcase down and angled the lantern so Maya could clearly see the keyhole. She reached into the pocket of her kimono and pulled out an intricate looking black iron key. She held it up and grinned.

"I've never seen a key like that before." Phoenix remarked. Maya continued to grin.

"Yep. This is a special key. One of a kind. It's the Masters key, and only I can open the vault." She finished proudly, turning the key and unlocking the door.

Phoenix smiled. Maya seemed to be thrilled at such a perk, and who was he to deny her enthusiasm.

"Feel privileged, Nick. No outsider has ever been beyond this door before." She said as she ushered him inside.

"Lucky me." Phoenix quipped as he headed into the dark room, placing his briefcase down on a desk. Phoenix sniffed at the air, screwing his nose up slightly. "It smells like smoke in here."

Maya nodded as she moved around the room, lighting the lanterns. "It's probably just from me lighting these lanterns."

Phoenix nodded in reply, but he was sure he has smelled smoky air before Maya had even struck the first match. He shook his head lightly and dismissed the thought. He needed to focus on the job at hand.

"Now. What are we looking for?" he asked.

Placing the box of matches down, Maya scanned the numerous shelves of books and boxes of papers, chewing lightly on her bottom lip.

"Beats me." She said with a shrug. "I've never been in here before."

Phoenix stared at her.

"Are you serious, Maya?" he asked incredulously. Mountains of books and papers and she didn't have the faintest idea where to look? This could take weeks! Months! And time was something that was not on their side.

Maya shrugged again, opening a dusty box.

"There has to be something in here about Althea or Morgan. We have to find something to back up Mia's notes. She would have got all her information from this room. We need to finish what she started." Maya said, her eyes pleading. "Please, Nick. I know it's not going to be easy, but I need your help." She finished.

Phoenix sighed and headed over to where she was kneeling, rifling through a box of paperwork. Of course he was going to help her. Despite the dank air filling up his nostrils and the dust flying around the room, one glance at the girl sitting across from him was all Phoenix needed to convince himself there was no place he would rather be.

She was distracting, yes, Phoenix admitted to himself as he watched her sift through the contents of the box in front of her knees. Satisfied that it did not contain anything of significance, she pushed it aside with a small frown and started on the next box.

His mind wandered to the night prior. He could not believe that he had the courage to kiss her. It was a memory he would treasure, even if she had decided that they would just be friends. He wasn't going to stop loving her, and even though she didn't know he was standing behind her last night as she wept at Mia's grave, he had heard her tell her sister that she felt the same way about him. She obviously believed that she was protecting him in some way by keeping him at arms length, and he would allow her to keep that impression. For now, at least.

"Earth to Nick?" Maya said, snapping Phoenix from his reverie.

"Hmm?" he responded, raising his eyebrows.

Maya thrust a sheet of paper in his direction.

"What's this?" he asked, taking it from her outstretched hand.

"Mia's birth certificate." Maya answered as she continued to pull papers from the box. "It seems this box is full of stuff about my mother. Oh, here's mine." Maya finished, shoving another sheet of paper in Phoenix's direction. He took it and read the details, his eyebrows arching in surprise.

"Wait a minute. Your father's name is listed on both these certificates as Sebastian Fey." Phoenix affirmed. Maya nodded slowly in response, her expression showing that she didn't understand the relevance of what he was saying. "Fey? How can his name be Fey? Althea told us that he was a lawyer that your mother met while studying away from the village."

"Oh." Maya said, finally understanding his question. "Traditionally, men take the women's name after marriage in Kurain, especially if the woman is in a position of power."

Phoenix scoffed.

"There is no way I'm changing my name to Fey," he remarked.

Maya froze as a blush crept across her cheeks. She blinked a few times at Phoenix who came to the stark realisation that his inner monologue had failed him. He hadn't meant to say that out loud, but it appeared that he had. He tore his gaze away from hers and cleared his throat nervously. The noise seemed to be enough to snap Maya back to reality also and she began sifting through papers once more, although her blush remained and she appeared flustered.

"It's a shame." Phoenix said, as he pored over the birth certificates.

"What is?" Maya asked.

"Well if your father's real name had been listed on your birth certificate, maybe we would have been able to find out more about him. Maybe you have family members that you've never met? Grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunts…" Phoenix trailed off.

"Maybe…" Maya said, a small, wistful smile on her face.

"There must be something we can find out about him." Phoenix said, placing a hand on Maya's shoulder. Maya smiled weakly.

"But that's not what we are here for." She said softly before turning her attention back to the paperwork. Phoenix's heart went out to her. She had been alone so long. An idea began forming in his head. He sprung to his feet and pulled out his cell phone.

"Augh. No reception." He said, looking at the screen.

"Of course not, silly. We're underground." Maya chuckled.

Phoenix turned and headed for the door.

"I'll be right back." He yelled over his shoulder as he sprinted up the stairs, dialling Gumshoe's number as soon as his phone picked up a reception bar. Squinting at the sudden sunlight, Phoenix tapped his foot impatiently as the phone continued to ring.

"C'mon Gumshoe. Pick up!" he muttered. The phone rang a few more times before finally being answered.

"Hey Pal!" said the cheery voice on the other end of the phone. "I've been trying to call you all morning. Where have you been?"

"Hi Gumshoe." Phoenix said. "I'm still in Kurain. The reception isn't the best in a lot of areas here. What's up? Why have you been trying to contact me?"

"It's the Fey case." Gumshoe responded. "They're opening a murder investigation. They found unidentified toxins in Lillian's blood."

Phoenix was surprised.

"I bet she didn't count on that happening. Althea has already pinned Mia for Lillian's death here in Kurain. Well at least that's what she told Maya."

"Mia? Mia Fey is dead, pal." Gumshoe stated, confusion evident in his voice.

Phoenix sighed. Gumshoe knew about the Fey's and their ability to channel the dead and he was not about to waste time explaining it to him yet again. He could be so dense sometimes.

"Besides." Gumshoe continued. "Althea Fey was adamant that the report be ruled natural causes."

"I figured she would be." Phoenix said, frowning. "There's more to this story, Gumshoe. I'll get back to you when I have some more information that might be of help. Please let me know if you find anything too."

"Will do, pal." Gumshoe replied.

"Oh, Gumshoe, there's one more thing. I have a favour to ask." Phoenix said.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I'm wondering if you could run the defense attorney database for a lawyer by the name of Sebastian."

"No problem, pal. You got a first name?" Gumshoe asked.

"Well, that's the problem. Sebastian is the only name I have, and it's his given name, not a surname." Phoenix added.

"Oh. Well that's going to make things a lot more difficult." Gumshoe remarked.

"I know, just do what you can. I'd appreciate it." Phoenix said.

"I'll be in touch, pal." Gumshoe said before hanging up.

Phoenix turned and headed back downstairs where Maya seemed to be building an impressive pile of relevant documents.

"You seem to be getting somewhere now." Phoenix quipped. Maya looked up at him and smiled.

"I think I hit a lucky box." She said. "I think there's a lot of stuff in here that no one was meant to find. There's a whole bunch of stuff about Hazakurain. There used to be hundreds of people living there, can you believe that?"

"Wow, that is something." Phoenix said, sitting down on the floor once more.

"This whole box. We should take it with us." Maya said, nodding her head animatedly. "We should take it somewhere safe."

"I thought you were the only one with a key to this place?" Phoenix asked. "Shouldn't it be safe here?"

"It should," Maya frowned. But I don't trust Althea. "We should take it."

"Okay." Phoenix said with a shrug, as he helped Maya load all of the paperwork she had pulled out back into the box. "So I just spoke to Gumshoe..." Phoenix began.

"Yeah? What about?"

"He said that Lillian's case is being turned into a murder investigation."

Maya frowned.

"Did they find something?"

"Toxins in her blood." Phoenix replied. "Althea was very resolute that they rule Lillian's death as natural. She's not going to be happy when she finds out that the police know different."

"I would say not." Maya agreed. "But this will work in our favour. It will distract her from whatever she and Andre are planning, or at least slow them down."

Maya paused, thinking for a minute. "What if…"

"What?" Phoenix asked.

"Maybe I could channel Lillian. We could find out exactly what happened. It might help Gumshoe's investigation in some way."

Phoenix nodded as Maya took on her meditative stance. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate and Phoenix waited for her appearance to change. But nothing happened.

Maya frowned and tried again. Still nothing.

"It's not working. I don't get it." Maya said, clearly frustrated.

"Could Althea have blocked her too?" Phoenix asked.

Maya's shoulders slumped. She nodded slowly. She should have known that Althea would have already thought of that.

"Nick…" Maya croaked. "How are we going to win when she's always ten steps ahead?"

Maya was fighting back tears as Phoenix lifted her to her feet. He didn't have an answer for her. He wished that he did.

"C'mon. We should get out of here." He said softly. Maya nodded absently as Phoenix leaned down to pick up the box of papers.

"We'll just have to get ten steps ahead of her." Phoenix said gently as they continued to gather up their things. "And this box of paperwork will help us do that."

Maya nodded, giving him the best smile she could manage. She turned and moved towards the door, but a sheet of paper slipped out of the folder she held in her arms and fell to the floor.

"Wait." Phoenix said, kneeling down to pick it up. "You dropped this."

He glanced at the document, before quickly realising that this was a deed of ownership. And it was in her parent's names.

"Maya, did you know that your parents owned land somewhere?" Phoenix said handing the paper to her. She shook her head.

"Woodlands Road? I know where that is. It's about an hour from here." Maya said, reading the document.

"Maybe we should go check it out?" Phoenix suggested.

Phoenix brought the pushbike to a stop next to the spot where Maya had left hers. His legs were killing him. He felt like they had been riding for hours, but in reality it was more like 45 minutes. Maya seemed to develop an abundance of energy when Phoenix had suggested that they go check out the land her parents had owned, which actually now belonged to her.

And as it turned out, what Maya had inherited wasn't just land.

Letting his bike fall to the ground, Phoenix headed over to where Maya stood, looking up at a run down and unfinished two storey house. The design and fixings were breathtaking, and Phoenix could tell that if it had had a chance to be completed, it would have been a beautiful home. He glanced down at Maya, and was surprised to see her expression was pained, and she was fighting back tears.

"What is it? What's the matter Maya?" Phoenix asked worriedly.

Maya shook her head.

"My life, Nick. My happy life. My normal childhood. My family. It was meant to happen in this house."

Tears began to trail down her cheeks. Phoenix placed an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. She rested her head against his shoulder, still looking up at the house.

Phoenix closed his eyes and vowed silently that one day, he would make sure she had the happy family she had always dreamed about.

And as for the people who took this perfect white house and all it represented from her? He was going to make them pay.