The next day Maggie woke up early, quietly got the keys out of William's coat pocket and snuck out side, something she had been doing for the last several days as the weather got warmer and she couldn't stand being cooped up in the cave all day.

The entrance to the cave was hidden in the middle of a large forested area with an area cleared for the truck to be kept and an over grown driveway, but otherwise it looked as if the forest had never been touched by man. Maggie loved walking around in the morning, with fog rolling over the ground and shafts of the early morning sunlight shining through the trees to illuminate the fog, the whole place felt magical.

Heading in a new direction she walked for a while until she came to a clearing that was surrounded by a wrought iron fence lined with weeds and vines. As she walked around to the gate she realized it was an old cemetery, inside of the fence some of the weeds had been pulled, the tombstones cleared and fresh flowers placed at each one as well as tulips, irises, day lilies and other flowers that would come back each year and what looked like rose bushes that had grown over the fence all the way around it. Maggie knew instantly that this must be the family cemetery where William had buried his family; he had told her that he had buried them all by him self on his grandfather's land in the family cemetery where his great grandparents and an aunt who had died in childbirth along with her son had been buried. After counting the tombstones Maggie found all twenty seven tombstones along with a few broken ones leaned up against the fence that looked like William had replaced them with new ones.

"So you've found my family."

Maggie jumped and spun around, "Don't sneak up on me like that." Maggie said smacking him on the shoulder.

"But it's so much fun to see how close I can get without you noticing." William said smiling.

"I hope you don't mind me sneaking out here, I just couldn't stand being in the cave all day." Maggie said.

"If I minded I would have stopped you the first time you snuck out." William told her.

"You knew?" Maggie asked a little surprised that he had never said anything.

"Of course I did, you can't get away from me that easily, I just made sure I got back before you so you wouldn't know I had been awake before you got back. I was just waiting for the perfect chance to scare you." William said.

"You really are evil sometimes and apparently a very good gardener too." Maggie said looking back at the cemetery.

"I only wish I could see it in the summer when the roses bloom; they were my mother's favorite. All but the two by my great grandparent's graves came from my mother's garden. I transplanted them here after my family was killed and I guess they've done well, I just wish I could see them." William said sadly.

"Maybe you will, there's still five days for me to figure out how to break that curse." Maggie said.

"It's not something you can figure out, but I do hope that you will be the one to break it." William told her, "Now come with me there's something I want to show you." He said leading her down an almost completely over grown path.

After a while the forest changed from huge ancient looking trees to ones that were still large but in comparison seemed to be smaller. Several minutes later they came to a big old house, the windows had been boarded up and the roof looked like it had several alternating layers of tarps and sheets of metal over it.

"Is this your grandfather's house?" Maggie asked.

"Yes, I've done everything I can to protect it, but being abandoned for twenty three years at a time has taken it's toll on it." He told her as he led her onto the large porch and then inside where furniture sat covered with sheets and tarps.

"I moved all the paintings and family heirlooms into the cave where they would be safe, unfortunately I didn't have room for all of the furniture. Every piece of furniture in this house as well as all the wood work was made by my grandfather. I always worry someone will find the house and take everything my grandfather made or that something will happen to the house and the furniture will be damaged. I make as many repairs as possible when I'm awake, but I always worry that I've missed something and I'll wake up to find the roof leaked and the furniture has been damaged." He hesitated a moment then turned to look at Maggie, "Maggie, if the curse isn't broken will you keep an eye on the house for the next twenty three years or at least as long as you live in the area? If you ever need to make repairs you can use the money in the cave, what you took to help your friend was only a small amount of what I've saved over the years, so it would never cost you anything." William said.

"If, you're not here to take care of it your self, I will." Maggie replied then asked, "Is this something you ask all the women you've taken to do?"

"No, you're the only one I've trusted enough, none of the others ever knew about the house or the cemetery, half of them didn't even know about the curse because they wouldn't even speak to me the whole time they were with me." William told her.

"If they wouldn't even speak to you why didn't you just find someone else?" Maggie asked.

"I can only take one woman each time I'm awake, once I've chosen one I can't change my mind." William explained.

Once he had finished showing her the house they headed back to the cave.

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