Sherlock, as a young boy, was running across a meadow. In the graveyard, the gravestone of Nemo Holmes and its impossible dates stood while young Sherlock sat in the graveyard reading a book. Then it all changed. Redbeard started barking and ran through the water at the beach, as young Sherlock ran towards him while his little sister stood nearby and watched. The vision faded to black as a little girl's voice permeated his brain.

"Hello?" The little girl asked, and lights came on in a very small rectangular room with black walls and floor.

Most of the room was taken up by a rectangular wooden table, about six feet long and about three feet wide. There were chairs on either side and a lit lantern was on the floor. Sherlock was sprawled face down on top of the table and some time since he was rendered unconscious, someone had dressed him in his greatcoat.

"Hello? Are you still there?" The little girl asked a Sherlock started to come to. Groaning, he pushed himself up onto his arms, putting one hand to the side of his head. The little girl's voice was coming from an earpiece which he had been fitted with rather than from speakers in the room.

"Yes. Yeah; no, I'm-I'm still here. I'm here," Sherlock told the girl weakly and, on the plane, the girl was sitting on the floor outside the open door of one of the toilets.

"You went away. You said you'd help me, and you went away," The little girl said, sounding upset and tearful.

"Yes, I know. Well, I'm sorry about that. We-we-we must have got cut off. Um ...," Sherlock said, turning onto one elbow, his other hand still at his ear. He looked around the room, then screwed up his eyes and shook his head hard, trying to clear his mind of the effects of the sedative before he started to sit up. "How-how-how long was I away?"

"Hours. Hours and hours. Why don't grown-ups tell the truth?" The little girl asked Sherlock, the sedatives still trying to pull him back under.

"No, I-I am telling the truth. You can trust me," Sherlock told the little girl, his hand now lowered from his ear.

"Where did you go?" The little girl asked, and Sherlock looked up. There was a large metal grille in the ceiling, and he could see the night sky above it. Although the sky was mostly cloudy, part of it was clear and showed a full moon.

"I'm not completely sure," Sherlock answered her, sliding his legs around to the side of the table. He sat on the edge of the table and looked around at the walls, then slowly stood. "Um, now, I tell you what. You-you've got to be really, really brave for me," Sherlock told the little girl, remembering Lexi's words. He leaned down and picked up the lantern from the floor and kept talking as he walked across to one of the walls, holding up the lantern. "Can you go to the front of the plane? Can you do that?"

"The front?" The little girl asked in confusion.

"Yes," Sherlock confirmed, and he light from the lantern showed that many pictures had been stuck to the walls. All of the nearby ones were large photographs of him as a boy. Some of them had part of the photo ripped off. "That's right; the front."

"You mean where the driver is?" The little girl asked, still confused.

"Yes, that's it," Sherlock told her, continuing to walk around the room, shining the lantern on the many photos.

"Okay," The little girl told him, and she started to get up from the floor. "I'm going," She added, and she started to walk down the aisle, pausing and looking down at the unconscious flight attendant lying in her way. Sherlock continued looking at the photos. Some of them were of him at older ages than his young pirate self and a few pictures were of other members of the Holmes family.

"Are you there yet?" Sherlock asked but it was not the girl who replied, but John, who jerked awake somewhere dark, the wall behind him bare rock.

"Yeah, I'm here," John answered, and he stood up abruptly when he realized that he was sitting in water up to his waist.

"John!" Sherlock exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah," John confirmed, his voice coming from Sherlock's earpiece.

"Where are you?" Sherlock asked quickly.

"I don't know. I've just woken up. Where are you?" John asked as he looked around his surroundings.

"I'm in another cell. I just spoke to the girl on the plane again. We've been out for hours," Sherlock informed the army doctor.

"What, she's still up there?" John asked in surprise.

"Yes," Sherlock answered him, and his voice came over John's earpiece. "The plane will keep flying until it runs out of fuel," Sherlock said, and John looked around and raised his head to look upwards. "Is Mycroft with you?" Sherlock asked curiously.

"I have no idea. I can hardly see anything," John answered him. "Mycroft? Mycroft?" He called out and Sherlock ran his hand over his face, looking worried when there was no reply.

"Are you okay?" Sherlock asked, knowing that he didn't have time to worry about his brother at the moment.

"Yeah," John told him, hoping that he was safe.

"All right. Well, just keep exploring. Tell me anything you can about where you are," Sherlock told the army doctor and as he continued walking around the room and looking at the photos, John turned and squinted through the darkness behind him.

"The walls are ...," John said, and he put a hand on the wall and felt it. "... rough. They're rock, I guess," John finished, and Sherlock frowned.

"What are you standing on?" Sherlock asked already thinking of possibilities for where John could be.

"Uh, stone, I think. But listen, there's about two feet of water," John answered him, looking down at his feet. He tried to lift one of his feet, but then he felt resistance. "Chains," John told him, shaking his head. "Yeah, my feet are chained up. I can feel something," He told Sherlock and he bent down and moved his hand blindly through the water until his fingers touched something floating there. Clasping his hand around what he found, he straightened up and ran the fingers of his other hand over his discovery. "Bones, Sherlock," John told the detective and Sherlock noticed something under the table and turned to look at it. "There are bones in here," John confirmed as Sherlock knelt down, put the lantern onto the floor and reached towards the object lying on the floor, a ceramic bowl.

"What kind of bones?" Sherlock asked as the lamp light flickered.

"Uh, I dunno. S-small," John answered him, and Sherlock lifted up the bowl and held it in both hands as he looked at it in shock. Painted on the side of the bowl was the word "Redbeard".

"Redbeard," Sherlock said softly to himself and he closed his eyes.

"Who's Redbeard?" The little girl asked, returning and Sherlock jolted, sinking his face into one hand as he replied to her.

"Oh, hello. Are you at the front of the plane now?" Sherlock asked the little girl who was in the flight deck, shaking the arm of the unconscious pilot.

"Yeah. I still can't wake the driver up," The little girl answered him and in front of the pilot the control column was jerking around under its automatic controls, and an automated voice repeatedly called out warnings.

"That's all right. What can you see now?" Sherlock asked her, wiping the corner of one eye.

"I can see a river," She answered Sherlock, looking through the front windshield and she stepped over the co-pilot lying on the floor to get closer to the front. "And there's-there's-there's a big wheel."

"All right. Well, you and I are going to have to drive this plane together," Sherlock told the little girl, wishing more than anything to have Lexi beside him. He slowly stood, looking up towards the sky. "Just you and me."

"We are?" The little girl asked him nervously.

"Yeah, there's nothing to it. We just need to get in touch with some people on the ground," Sherlock informed her, smiling so as to sound confident. He bent down to pick up the lantern then. "Now, um, can you see anything that looks like a radio?" Sherlock asked her and the girl, now sitting in the co-pilot's seat, looked around at all the dials and switches above her head. Alarms continued to beep, and the automated warnings continued to sound.

"No," The little girl answered him worriedly.

"That's all right. Well, we ... keep looking. We've got plenty of time," Sherlock told her, wondering who he was trying to keep calm in this situation. In the flight deck more alarms started to sound and the automated voice called out more warnings. The plane jolted violently, and the little girl screamed.

"What's wrong?" Sherlock asked quickly.

"The whole plane's shaking," The little girl told him and Sherlock grimaced, but kept his voice soothing, walking around the room as he talked.

"It's just turbulence. It's nothing to worry about," Sherlock soothed, try to keep her calm.

"My ears hurt," She told him, grimacing.

"Does the river look like it's getting closer?" Sherlock asked her, worried now.

"A-a little bit," The girl answered him, anxious.

"All right, then. That means you're nearly home," Sherlock told her, and he put his hand to his head.

"Sherlock?" John asked, his voice coming through the earpiece now while high above John's head, clouds in the night sky drifted past and the full moon came into view. Its light now showed John's location more clearly and he stared upwards. "I'm in a well. That's where I am; I'm in the bottom of a well," John told Sherlock who turned, frowning.

"Why would there be a well in Sherrinford?" Sherlock asked, confused and he raised the lantern and looked more closely at the array of photographs on the wall in front of him. "Why is there a draught?" He asked himself and he zoomed in on where two panels of the wall had a small gap between them. A photo of him as a teenager which was stuck across the gap was fluttering slightly. Frowning, he lowered his gaze to the bottom of the wall. There was a small gap between the wall and the floor too.

"Walls don't contract after you've painted them," Sherlock said to himself and he lifted his eyes. "Not real ones," He told himself softly and intensely. He put the lantern on the floor and now he raised both hands and slammed them hard against the wall. The entire wall fell outwards and dropped to the ground outside. In front of him was a very familiar burnt-out house and he stared at it wide-eyed.

"I'm home. Musgrave Hall," Sherlock said in shock as he took in the ruined sight.

"Me and Jim Moriarty, we got on like a house on fire ...," Eurus said, her voice suddenly coming from the earpiece. Sherlock bent down and picked up the lantern and walked out of the 'room.' Behind him the other three walls fell out and crashed to the ground. "... which reminded me of home."

"Yeah, it's just an old building. I don't care. The plane; tell me about the plane NOW!" Sherlock demanded, walking towards the house.

"Sweet Jim. He was never very interested in being alive, especially if he could make more trouble being dead," Eurus told him, ignoring Sherlock entirely.

"Yeah, still not interested. The plane!" Sherlock redirected her. Now was not a time to play Eurus' games.

"You knew he'd take his revenge. His revenge apparently is me," Eurus told Sherlock with a little sound of delight in her voice.

"Eurus, let me speak to the little girl on the plane and I'll play any game you like," Sherlock told his sister, reaching the front door of the house and opening it, going inside.

"First find Redbeard," Eurus told him slowly and precisely Beside the stairs in the hallway a screen was standing on top of a low cupboard which was covered with a sheet. The image of water was pouring down the screen but now it was replaced by Eurus' face looking into the camera, the area behind her dark. "I'm letting the water in now. You don't want me to drown another one of your pets, do you? At long last, Sherlock Holmes, it's time to solve the Musgrave ritual," Eurus informed her brother and Sherlock stumbled back from the screen. "Your very first case! And the final problem," Eurus told him, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "Oh. Bye-bye."

Sherlock stared at the screen which now showed the image of pour water once more. He looked up when a floorboard creaked and he raised the lantern, squinting into the dark as a figure stepped towards him. As they entered the light, Sherlock breathed a sigh of relief. Her eyes were set with a determined look as she gazed back at him.

"Lexi?" Sherlock asked his wife cautiously, hoping that it was true that she had been acting.

Without a word, Lexi launched herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck. Sherlock froze, ready to fight her off if necessary, before wrapping his arms around her as he realized she was only hugging him. She buried her face into his chest, breathing in deeply as Sherlock kissed the top of her head, happy to have her in his arms once more.

"Thank God," Sherlock said as he pressed another kiss to the top of Lexi's head.

"I thought you don't believe in God," Lexi chuckled as she pulled away slightly so that she could look up at him.

"I do now," Sherlock told his wife, looking down at her sparkling eyes.

"I will always marry you Sherlock Holmes," Lexi said suddenly as she gazed at him and Sherlock felt his breath catch in the back of his throat. "I'm so sorry, mo grá. It was all an act…," Lexi began but Sherlock cut her off with a kiss.

"I know," Sherlock told her, pulling back. "The twins?" Sherlock asked her worriedly.

"They're alright," Lexi assured him quickly. "Eurus trusts me now since she thinks she reprogrammed me. I got them to the safest place I know of," Lexi informed him, and Sherlock raised a brow, confused.

"How?" Sherlock asked and Lexi smiled at him.

"I slipped away while Eurus was distracted. I didn't need a guard if I was supposedly reprogrammed. Then I found Mary. You see, she was inside the walls quiet literally. All she had to do was plug her laptop into the computer system and hide in the little space she found. Eurus didn't even know she was here. She was behind the scenes during everything. Mary is now getting us help," Eurus informed her husband who brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Did Eurus hurt you?" Sherlock asked his wife softly.

"The opposite. She got me new clothes, let me clean up, patched up my nose and even fed me food she brought in from Angelo's," Lexi told him, and Sherlock frowned in confusion,

"And?" Sherlock prompted her, knowing there was more.

"We talked, just talked, like we did before. She wouldn't let go of my hand. I can see what she went through now. Left in a cage with no privacy, no human contact. It's horrible," Lexi told her husband and Sherlock hugged her tightly.

"I know. We'll help her," Sherlock assured his wife.

"I'm so glad you said that," Lexi told her husband as she pulled back to look at him.

"How did you get here?" Sherlock asked her, wondering how they got from Sherrrinford to here.

"I snuck out of Sherrinford. That was the easy part. Then I disguised myself again and got myself of the helicopter that was moving you three. Only problem was there were too many guards, so I played it safe," Lexi informed her husband and Sherlock smirked at her.

"Any shoes?" Sherlock asked his wife, amused and she chuckled.

"Not yet," Lexi told him, showing him that she had both her shoes on.

"Glad I didn't miss it then," Sherlock told her before taking a deep breath. "Where's John?"

"I don't know. Eurus was keeping me from her plans, so I never knew what she was planning," Lexi told her husband who squeezed her arms gently.

"He's in a well, but I don't know where," Sherlock informed her, and Lexi frowned in worry. In the well, water was pouring down from the top.

"Sherlock?" John asked, calling for the detective and Eurus' voice sang from his earpiece.

"I that am lost / Oh, who will find me / Deep down below ...," Eurus sang her old song as John began to panic.

"Sherlock!" John shouted as the water poured down on him.

"The old beech tree?" Eurus sang and Lexi and Sherlock shared a look as John's voice came from nearby as well as over Sherlock's earpiece. The two detectives walked across the hall and Sherlock opened the door to a room. "Help succour me now ..." Eurus continued to sing and going into the room, Sherlock and Lexi stared at what they saw.

"John," The said in unison, their hands joined together in a tight grasp.

"The East winds blow ...," Eurus sang as Sherlock put the lantern on the floor, he and Lexi hurrying across the room and staring in shock at the screen on the wall. It showed that a camera was set partway up the well and was looking downwards as the water pours down onto their friend.

"John," Sherlock shouted over the earpiece. "John? Can you hear me? John!" He called and then e looked at Lexi. "Can you get him back on?" He asked and Lexi shook her head sadly.

"I haven't got a single piece of tech on me to even try," She told him, and Sherlock swore as they stared at John.

"Sixteen by six, brother, and under we go ...," Eurus sand and in the flight deck of the plane, the girl screamed again as the plane continued to shake violently.)

"Help me! Help me, please!" The little girl pleaded tearfully.

"Sherlock!" John shouted, his voice coming from the screen. Sherlock had his hand to his earpiece as the little girl spoke but now, he lowered it, staring intensely at the screen.

"Be not afraid ...," Eurus sang as John came back to them.

"John," Sherlock said, and Lexi got closer to him to hear as well.

"Yeah, it's flooding. The well is flooding," John informed him loudly over the sound of the water pouring down.

"Try as long as possible not to drown," Sherlock told him, gesturing to the screen even though John couldn't see them.

"What?" John asked, putting his finger to his earpiece, finding it hard to hear over the sound of the water and Eurus' singing.

"He means you need to buy us some time John. We're going to find you, we're trying right now, but we need you to try and buy us as much time as you can," Lexi informed the army doctor who breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of her voice.

"Lexi?! Oh, thank God," John breathed, and Lexi smiled slightly. "Well, hurry up, please, because I don't have long!" He told the detectives loudly while the girl on the plane screamed again as it begins to bank hard to the right.

"It's leaning over, the whole plane!" The little girl screamed in fear. Sherlock glanced behind them to the door and then he turned towards the screen again and clapped his hand over his mouth, desperately trying to work out who to try and save first.

In the well, John turned and tried to get handholds on the rocks lining it in an attempt to hold himself above the rising water. He lifted his left leg as high as it would go to try to climb up the wall a little, but the chain tugged at his foot, his fingers sliding off the slippery stones, and he fell backwards and into the water with a loud cry. In the plane the girl stared in terror out of the windscreen.

"Shezza," Lexi said softly and all thoughts in Sherlock's head ceased as he looked down at his wife. "Two impossible situations, one final problem," Lexi told him as she reached up and held his face between her hands. "John first, the girl. The well will fill up faster than the plane will crash," Lexi told him, and Sherlock nodded before taking her hand in his. They turned and ran out into the hall as his sister continued to sing.

"Eurus, you said the answer's in the song ...," Sherlock said before he turned and looked at Lexi. He turned to the screen in the hall then and offscreen, Eurus stopped singing. "... but I went through the song line by line all those years ago ...," Sherlock said before remembering that he wasn't alone now. "... and I found nothing. I couldn't find anything. And there-there was a beech tree in the grounds, and I dug," He said remembering when he searched as a boy. "I dug and dug and dug and dug. Sixteen feet by six; sixteen yards; sixteen metres – and I found nothing. No-one," Sherlock said, and Lexi squeezed his hand as she went through the song in her own head.

"Sherlock?" John asked over the earpiece.

"It was a clever little puzzle, wasn't it? So why couldn't you work it out, Sherlock?" Eurus asked Sherlock on the screen, her eyes narrowing when she spotted Lexi beside him and Sherlock raised both hands to cover his mouth.

"Sherlock? There's something you need to know," Sherlock told him over his earpiece and Sherlock lowered his hands, breathing heavily.

"Emotional context. And he-e-e-e-re it comes," Eurus said, almost sounding delighted.

"Sherlock?" John asked, standing up in the water staring in anguish at what he had discovered. "The bones I found."

"Yes? They're dogs' bones. That's Redbeard," Sherlock answered him, turning and walking back into the nearby room to look at the other screen, Lexi trailing after him, watching her husband sadly.

"Mycroft's been lying to you; to all of us," John told them, and Lexi put a hand on Sherlock's arm, the detective looking down at her and Sherlock frowned in confusion.

"They're not dogs' bones," Lexi and John said in unison.

"Remember Daddy's allergy? What was he allergic to?" Eurus asked her brother and Sherlock stared towards the screen, which was now showing her rather than John. "What would he never let you have all those times you begged? Well, he'd never let you have a dog," She told Sherlock, unemotional and inside Sherlock's mind, a dog barked. He screwed his eyes shut and saw his younger self running through the shallows on the beach.

"Come on, Redbeard!" The young Sherlock called and nearby, young Eurus ran around, smiling. In one hand she had a plastic toy aeroplane and she held it up and 'flew' it through the air as she went.

"What a funny little memory, Sherlock," Eurus told him as little Eurus ran out of view in Sherlock's mind, revealing the Irish setter sitting on the pebbles with a purple bandana tied around its neck. Some distance away, young Sherlock, wearing his yellow jumper, rose his plastic sword and swooped it downwards, smiling towards his dog.

"You were upset ..." Eurus continued as young Eurus rans around behind the dog. "... so, you told yourself a better story," Eurus told him and still clutching her toy, young Eurus continued trotting around in a circle. "... but we never had a dog," She finished, emphasizing each word.

Young Eurus ran across in front of Redbeard, briefly obscuring him from view. As she trotted away, the Irish setter had gone and in its place was a young boy who was kneeling on the beach. He was the same age as young Sherlock, and he had red hair and he was wearing a thick checked shirt and had the purple bandana tied around his neck. He was wearing a black plastic eyepatch over one eye. He stood up, wielding his own plastic sword and young Sherlock turned to look at him.

As young Mycroft continued trying to skim pebbles on the steppingstones some distance away, the red-headed boy ran towards Sherlock, who turned and trotted away across the beach with the other boy following him. Little Eurus turned to watch them, and the red-headed boy stopped and turned back to her. They looked at each other for a long moment, but there was no friendliness in their expressions.

In the well, John lifted what he was holding in both hands, a small human skull. In the house, Sherlock stared downwards towards the floor in front of him as the memories came flooding back to him. He gripped on to Lexi's hand, trying to establish what was real.

"Victor," Sherlock whispered, loud enough that Lexi could hear him.

"Now it's coming," Eurus said softly as Lexi reached up and rubbed circles on her husband's back.

"Victor Trevor," Sherlock said softly, his voice shaking. He frowned a little as the memories keep coming. On the beach the two boys trotted away together and young Eurus turned her head away, a sad look on her face. "We played pirates. I was Yellowbeard and he was ...," Sherlock said, and Eurus looked into the screen, her mouth slightly open and an expectant look on her face. Sherlock raised his tear-filled eyes to her. "... he was Redbeard," He finished, Lexi leaning her head onto his shoulder.

"You were inseparable. But I wanted to play too," Eurus told him, and Sherlock looked away as he began to realize what started his sister's behaviour. Eventually he sighed and lowered his head, closing his eyes.

"Oh. Oh God," Sherlock said, crying softly. "What ...," Sherlock said, and he pulled in several breaths before he could continue. "... what did you do?" Sherlock asked as Lexi closed her eyes, thinking.

"I that am lost / Oh, who will find me / Deep down below / The old beech tree?" Eurus sang softly and more slowly than usual.

During the last line of her song, Sherlock and Lexi could see in their shared Mind Palace a young Victor, sopping wet and almost up to his waist in water, standing at the bottom of the well. His toy sword was floating beside him and he stared upwards and called out desperately.

"Please let me out! Please, someone help me! Please," Victor pleaded and as Sherlock and Lexi realized he was lost and abandoned at the bottom of the well.

In the house, Sherlock gazed downwards, lost in grief as he watched himself as a boy walking across the meadow, disconsolate at the loss of his friend.

"Come on, Redbeard!" He heard himself as a young boy calling out worriedly and as he continued searching in the meadow, his face anguished. In the present, Sherlock stood in the hall, surrounded by darkness and lost in memories. He gazed tearfully across the hall as he saw himself as a boy, tears pouring down his face, softly speaking the name of his best friend.

"Victor," Sherlock said in a whisper as he remembered when he, Lexi, and John stood in the pool area during their first game with Moriarty.

"Deep waters, Sherlock, all your life. In all your dreams. Deep waters," Eurus told the distraught Sherlock who stared ahead of himself, his face covered with tears.

"You killed him," Sherlock said, devastated as he stared sadly across the hall with tears on his face. He lifted his head then, looking towards the screen. "You killed my best friend."

"I never had a best friend. I had no-one," Eurus told him, quietly but with a hint of anger in her voice and Sherlock raised his head towards the ceiling.

In the well, John struggled to keep his footing, the water now up to the top of his chest as more poured down on him. Sherlock gazed upwards, his face anguished, and he closed his eyes.

In his Mind Palace, Sherlock watched little Eurus running around on the beach, flying her toy aeroplane beside her. The adult Sherlock stood nearby watching her. Smiling, she ran around him with her plane and she looked up at him.

"Play with me, Sherlock! Play with me!" Eurus demanded as she continued to run around him.

"No-one," Eurus repeated bitterly, and Sherlock lowered his head, his eyes still closed. In his Mind Palace, the young Sherlock ran across the graveyard towards the house.

"No-one," Eurus said again in a whisper.

"That's why you asked for Mycroft to find you someone to talk to. You wanted someone for yourself, someone to be your friend," Lexi stated, and Eurus stared at her, Sherlock looking down at her too before he focused on the gravestones in the graveyard in his Mind Palace.

NEMO

n. [nee-moh]

Latin - no one, nobody

In the hall, Sherlock bit his lip and raised his head, looking towards the screen with determination on his face. He squeezed Lexi's hand and nodded at her slightly.

"Okay. Okay, let's play," Sherlock told his sister more strongly, knowing that everything was different now. He wasn't alone anymore. He turned and picked up the lantern from the floor and he and Lexi ran outside, hurrying around the side of the house, through an open gate and into the graveyard at the back of the house. Sherlock and Lexi spilt up and ran around, bending down, Sherlock shining his light closely onto various gravestones as Lexi used moon light, the little girl's voice coming over his earpiece.

"Hello? Are you there?" The little girl asked tearfully.

"Need your help. I'm trying to solve a puzzle," Sherlock told her as they searched the graveyard for the clue.

"But what about the plane?" The little girl asked him confused.

"Well, the puzzle will save the plane," Sherlock informed her, and he ran to another gravestone and looked at the inscription. The bottom two lines read "1818 / Aged 24 and 26 Years". "The wrong dates. She used the wrong dates on the gravestones as the key to the cipher ...," Sherlock told Lexi and he ran to shine the lantern on Nemo Holmes' gravestone. "... and the cipher was the song."

"Is this strictly relevant?" John asked, shouting above the noise of the rising water. Sherlock took out the earpiece and tossed it to Lexi then.

"Eurus used the song as the clue to where to find Redbeard. That means it will help us find the well," Lexi explained as they searched frantically. Sherlock put the lantern on the ground and focused in on another, very old and worn, gravestone which gave dates of "134 - 1719".

The numbers "134" and "1719" appeared in the air in front of his eyes. He looked across to other gravestones, mentally pulling the numbers from each of them, including those from Nemo Holmes' grave, and putting them beside the first set until he had a long string of numbers in front of him. Rubbing his hands over his nose and mouth, he lowered them and breathed in sharply as Lexi came to stand beside him, seeing the numbers as he did.

"The lights are getting closer," The little girl told them worriedly and Lexi passed the earpiece back to her husband.

"Hush, now. Working," Sherlock told the little girl, gesturing dismissively to one side. The words of Eurus' song appeared in front of his and Lexi's eyes. Two verses side by side read:

I that am lost, oh who will find me?

Deep down below the old beech tree

Help succour me now the east winds blow

Sixteen by six, brother, and under we go!

Without your love, he'll be gone before

Save pity for strangers, show love the door.

My soul seek the shade of my willow's bloom

Inside, brother mine -

Let Death make a room.

Two further verses were underneath, but in much smaller print in their minds.

Be not afraid to walk in the shade

Save one, save all, come try!

My steps - five by seven

Life is closer to Heaven

Look down, with dark gaze, from on high.

Before he was gone - right back over my hill

Who now will find him?

Why, nobody will

Doom shall I bring to him, I that am queen

Lost forever, nine by nineteen.

"Let's number the words of the song," Sherlock told Lexi and she nodded. The row of numbers whooshed away, and individual numbers appeared above each word in the four verses. Sherlock and Lexi screwed their eyes shut and the words and their accompanying numbers started to roll around in their minds.

"Then we have to rearrange the numbered words to match the sequence on the gravestones," Lexi added, and the words and numbers spun around in front of them, some of them stopping briefly in front of their eyes before spinning on. The sequences which stopped read:

1 3 4

I am lost

17 19

Help me

28

brother

Sherlock's head snapped up and he opened his eyes with a gasp. He looked at the verses and the numbered words in front of him and the majority of the letters and their accompanying numbers shattered, and the fragments fell away to the ground. He breathed heavily, looking at the remaining words floating in the air, then he reached out and started swiping each word out of the air in the correct order, saying each word as he removed it.

"I ... am ... lost ... Help ... me ... brother ... Save ... My ... Life ... Before ... my ... Doom," Sherlock said slowly as he continued swiping the words away.

"I am Lost Without your love. Save My soul seek my room," Lexi figured out quickly and they both stopped dead on the last word, staring up as the last three phrases floated in front of them, the most prominent being the final three words, "Seek my room". They looked past them towards the burnt out house.

"Oh God," Sherlock said in a whisper, wide eyed before he grabbed the lantern and the two of them raced back towards the house. In the well, John stared upwards as the water continued to rise. In the plane, the little girl cried out panic-stricken.

"We're going to crash! I'm going to die!" The little girl screamed, and, in the well, John grunted with effort, his arms under the water as he tugged at the chains around his feet.

Sherlock and Lexi raced through the gateway beside the house and ran around the side to the front and then they burst through the front door and ran up the stairs.

"I think it's time you told us your real name," Sherlock told the little girl firmly.

"I'm not allowed to tell my name to strangers," The little girl told them as Sherlock and Lexi reached a closed door on the landing and stopped in front of it.

"But we're not strangers, are we?" Lexi asked her and Sherlock opened the door and the detectives stared intensely at what they saw.

"I'm your brother," Sherlock sad and, in the plane, the girl turned around in the co-pilot's seat and looked at him and Lexi who was standing just a step behind him. They weren't on the flight deck though and there was no little girl. The detectives stood in a burnt-out bedroom in Sherlock's family home and he lowered the lantern to the floor and held out his other hand towards the figure in front of him.

"I'm here, Eurus," Sherlock told his sister reassuringly. "We both are, me and Lexi," He added as Lexi held out her hand to Eurus too.

Still wearing the clothes that she wore in Sherrinford, Eurus was sitting on the floor with her knees drawn up in front of her and her hands wrapped around them and her eyes were closed. She kept her eyes closed and spoke to them with a child-like voice.

"You're playing with me, Sherlock. We're playing the game," Eurus said, and Sherlock nodded slightly.

"The game, yes. I get it now," Sherlock told his sister and he stepped closer to her. "The song was never a set of directions."

"It was a call for help," Lexi added, her voice calm and soothing.

"I'm in the plane, and I'm going to crash," Eurus told them, her eyes still closed and her voice child-like and frightened and Sherlock crouched down in front of her. "And you're going to save me," Eurus told them, her voice still child-like.

"Look how brilliant you are. Your mind has created the perfect metaphor. You're high above us, all alone in the sky, and you understand everything except how to land," Sherlock said and he shifted around and sat down in front of her, Lexi joining him and sitting down next to Sherlock who was breathless and anxious. "Now, I'm just an idiot, but I'm on the ground," Sherlock continued, and he reached out and put his fingers onto her hands. "I can bring you home."

"You just needed someone who knows how to land," Lexi added, putting a hand carefully on Eurus' arm.

"No," Eurus said plaintively, her eyes still closed, and her voice reverted to its adult tone. "No, no," She shivered. "It's too late now."

"No, it's not. It's not too late," Sherlock assured her, shifting closer to her and lowering his hand. She cried, her eyes screwed tight and her face twisted with fear.

"Every time I close my eyes, I'm on the plane. I'm lost, lost in the sky and ... no-one can hear me," Eurus told them, and she pulled her knees closer to herself, crying silently. Sherlock reached out and gently put his hand onto hers again.

"Open your eyes. We're here," Sherlock told his sister in a whisper and she opened her eyes and slowly raised her head.)

"You're not lost any more, Eurus. And you don't have to ever be lost again," Lexi told Eurus softly as she gently rubbed her thumb gently in circles on her arm. Sherlock shifted even closer and reached out to embrace his sister. She shuffled forward and wrapped her arms around him and they hugged each other tightly while she cried. She pulled back slightly and her eyes flashed to Lexi and Lexi wrapped her arms around them both.

"Now, you ... you just ... you just went the wrong way last time, that's all," Sherlock told her softly, stroking her hair, his voice becoming tearful. "This time get it right," Sherlock said, still softly, but more clearly. "Tell me how to save my friend."

In the well, John groaned with the effort of trying to keep his head above the water while Sherlock pulled back from his sister a little.

"Eurus ...," Sherlock began, and he cradled his sister's head with one hand and gazed pleadingly into her eyes. "Help me save John Watson," He told he,r and she stared at him, trembling and tearful as he gently stroked her hair.

In the well, John grimaced and then groaned, tilting his chin up out of the water as he strained with the effort of trying to pull the chains free. Then a light shone down onto him from the top of the well and a rope was thrown down to him. Gasping with relief, he took hold of it and as he looked up, the light illuminated the face of Lexi Holmes who was smiling down at him.