The automated chair came down the ramp from the cave beneath the manor, carrying Katherine and Dean as he sat on her lap. Katherine giggled, hugging Dean from behind. "Thanks for protecting me, sweetie."

Dean rolled his eyes and rubbed the smudged lipstick and toothpaste flecks off of his face. "Happy to be a shield, mom." To keep from making two trips, Dean had suggested they ride the chair to the basement together. As always, he had been ready to shield his mom from anything, and since dodging any of the automated features would mean Katherine getting hit instead, he'd forced himself to sit still and allow the machine to attack him.

Katherine had slept in for a long while after the previous night, up until now in the early afternoon. After they had had lunch and Katherine had taken some more headache pills to cope with her current hangover, the two had begun to make their way down to the basement laboratory after Vera had already gone ahead.

As the chair came to a stop, the two stood up and looked around. Vera was waiting for them by the desk with a puzzled expression on her face.

"What's up?" Dean asked.

"Notice anything?" Vera answered with her own question, motioning to the large pool of water in the middle of the chamber.

Dean's eyes widened. "The machine! Where is it?"

"It's still there," Vera said, pointing down. And sure enough, Dean could barely make out some pipes in the water that he probably wouldn't notice if he hadn't already seen the machine.

"Oh," Dean said, smiling a bit. "I was so worried we brought mom down for nothing, I didn't really stop to think why it was missing."

Katherine chuckled, rubbing her temples as she was still recovering from the drinking last night. "Well, even if it had mysteriously disappeared, the trip was well worth it!"

"Yeah, for you," Dean muttered, making her laugh again.

"But that's just it..." Vera said softly. "We didn't send it back down last night."

Dean's smile faded, replaced with the same confused look as Vera. "Huh... that's right, we didn't. Does it just... retract when we leave the lab or something?"

"I don't think so. I came back down here last night for a little while after we left just to look things over a bit. Everything was still here. I'm pretty sure this switch is the only way to bring it up or put it back down. None of us pushed it, so... why?"

"Good question," Dean said. "The book was closed too, right? So it's not like... I don't know, a really big bug landed on the button or something." Vera giggled and he shrugged. "I'm not great at detective stuff."

Katherine looked down into the water, not sure what they were talking about. "Maybe it's an automated process in case someone forgets to send it down... but I don't even know what we're talking about, so..."

Vera laughed. "Sorry, Miss Robison. You're right. Maybe that is the reason. Anyway..." She flipped open the secret book and pressed the button inside.

The loud boom of machinery filled the chamber as the machine rose up once again, the pipes spraying water in the air, which rained down on Dean and Katherine.

"I guess your father didn't mind getting wet after all the trouble of getting ready?" Katherine asked in a amused tone.

"I think he always brought an umbrella," Vera joked as the machine finished rising up at last.

Dustin pulled up to the Nightingale Manor, stepping out of his car and making his way up to the old house. He wasn't sure what he planned to say to say to Katherine, if he even planned to reveal his half-baked plan for Kress. He'd spent most of the day thinking about it and the previous encounter with Lena. He figured, if nothing else, he could just tell her about his talk with her. Judging by what she had told him, Katherine would probably be happy to at least learn that she was indeed making progress with the ghost girls, enough that they would go out of their way to defend her. Not that Lena would admit it, but still.

And in the end, it was a good excuse to talk to Katherine again anyway.

As he reached for the doorknob, the door suddenly swung open, making him jump. Then an invisible force suddenly pulled him inside as he let out a scream, and the door slammed shut behind him.

Then Bertha and Stella appeared, laughing. "Hey, Mr. Graves. Good seeing you again!" Bertha said, letting go of his shirt and smoothing it out. "Sorry, we couldn't resist."

"That's alright," he said, further straightening his shirt. "Honestly, I'd probably be doing the same thing as you if I had your abilities."

Stella chuckled. "But more importantly, we've kept your presence here a secret!"

"Excuse me?"

"Katherine and Dean are down in the basement of the manor," Bertha explained. "Our dad designed the doorbell of the house to make a sound down there so he'd know when we had a visitor, and he could go back up immediately. So, we've kept you from spoiling the surprise."

"Oh... I get it," Dustin said, even though he didn't, really. He noticed they were missing someone, and looked around. "Um... where's your... other sister?"

"Lena? Eh, who knows?" Bertha said with a shrug. "She just took off somewhere randomly. Didn't tell us, so I guess she wants to be left alone for some reason."

"Ah." He nodded. He looked around until he saw a slightly open door to the side, leading to a downwards staircase. "So, that's the basement, then?"

"Yup!"

Dustin started walking in the direction of the stairs, but Stella blocked his way. "Wrong way, mister!"

"What...?"

"That's the basement. You want to go to... the basement." She did finger quotations as she said the second basement.

Dustin sighed and mimicked her finger movements. "The... basement?"

"I'll get things ready," Bertha said to Stella. "I don't believe Mr. Graves has ever really seen our house."

"Oh, of course, the grand tour!" Stella said in an upper class accent. "Right this way, darling!" She took Dustin's hand and floated off into the kitchen and dining area as the confused Dustin stumbled along after her.

While she kept him distracted, Bertha hurried to the library and pulled the lamp chains in a certain order to call the automated chair back up. Within a minute, the chair had begun its backwards journey all the way back to the library where it came from. Right on cue, Vera appeared from the floor, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing, Bertha?"

"Sorry, sorry, just thought it'd be funny to trap them down there," she said sheepishly as Vera glared at her. "Oh, alright, spoilsport. I'll send it back down, alright?"

"You better," Vera said, flying back down into the basement. "Don't bother us, we're busy!"

"Too easy," Bertha said mischievously.

As Vera returned to the lower levels, Dean looked up at her and smiled. "So, what were they doing?"

"I don't even know," Vera muttered. "Just my sisters being my sisters."

They chuckled and looked over at Katherine as she was immediately ascending the metal steps onto the walkway leading to the small room, inspecting every inch of the machine with amazement as she scribbled down notes in her notebook she had brought with her.

"Amazing... your father really must have been far ahead of his time to create something like this. I'm not even sure where I'd start to figure out how this works."

Vera flew over and pulled the levers from before to turn on the lights inside the room, and the door opened up to the small room with the lightbulbs inside. "We think this is where I... or any ghost would go. And, well... I'm not sure what would come next."

Dean came up next to Katherine as she inspected the small room. "I was telling Vera about what you believed about souls and electrical energy, and how that might be how ghosts exist in this world at all. We were thinking that might have something to do with this."

Vera pointed out the levers to Katherine. "When we turned it on, these turbines underneath the water activated, and it was generating a lot of electricity, but nothing happened because we think we need some kind of chemical to go in here." She pointed out the hollow space. "Unfortunately, we don't have any idea what the machine could need to work."

Katherine nodded. "That would be the million dollar question. I'm guessing you've checked out all of his notes?"

Dean nodded, motioning in the direction of the desk. "Every single one, most of which we don't understand. We were hoping you might."

"Well, I'll try," Katherine said, hurrying to the desk and sitting down in the wooden chair in front of it. "But like I said, Vera's father was definitely working on a level beyond anything I'm familiar with. Or most scientists, for that matter. Bringing ghosts back to life isn't exactly a popular field of study."

"You're not most scientists, mom," Dean said, squeezing her shoulder affectionately.

"Yeah, you're a lot smarter," Vera included.

Katherine giggled, kissing Dean's hand and smiling at Vera. "I'm pretty sure that's provably false, but I very much appreciate it. Thanks, sweetie."

Meanwhile, Dustin was genuinely interested by the old breakfast machine in the kitchen. "I always used to want to create stuff like this as a kid," he said, examining every part of it. "I had this idea to make something to serve my dog breakfast every morning so I wouldn't have to get the can myself. Never worked, of course. I didn't know what I was doing."

Stella giggled. "That's actually really cute. You were such a nerd," she teased, but Dustin could tell she meant it in good fun.

"Yeah, maybe a little."

Bertha poked her head in through the wall, getting Stella's attention. "Whoops, tour over!" Stella said, taking his hand again.

"Aww..." Dustin said, forced to keep up with Stella again as she immediately led him to the library and up the stairs to the second level.

"Here it is," Bertha said. "The entrance to the basement."

Dustin looked around. "We went up to get to the basement? How does that make sense?"

"The chair, silly," Stella said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What about it?" He asked, confused.

Bertha rolled her eyes, bumping him with her stomach. "Just get in the chair!"

"Oof!" Dustin landed in the chair, which was thankfully plush and comfortable.

"On your marks, get set..." Bertha pulled the lamp chains in the right order. "Go!"

Dustin gasped as the chair moved on its own, leading him down the frightening spiral stairs and down through the trapdoor in the floor. The sisters chuckled, giving each other a high five.

After a long trip through nothing but darkness, Dustin found himself surrounded by the old, dusty appliances and inventions that littered the sides of the track. As he looked around, his childhood wonder coming back to him, he was then surprised by the three powder puffs.

"Agh! Blegh! Ack! Aah!" He screamed, jostling around in his seat as the puffs smacked him. While he was still coughing, the toothbrush whipped out and entered his mouth. "What the fu-bleugh?!" It retracted, and he was coughing again.

Shaving cream then blasted him in the face, giving him a huge Santa Claus-like beard that smelled like old spice.

Then the shaving blades came out, making Dustin scream and flail his arms around in a karate stance. "HELLLP!"

The sound of the chair rattling down the ramp was ignored by Katherine as she continued comb through the notes. "Now I wish I had pursued that engineering degree... but even then, I've never seen calculations like these before. Just what in the world was he using to generate this much power...?"

In the meantime, Vera and Dean were staring in amusement at their new guest. Dustin was sitting in the chair looking terrified with a face full of makeup and a glob of shaving cream still on his face. The long sleeves of his shirt were torn and it looked like a bit of his hair had been lopped off from the razors he had ducked from... eventually, as well, judging by the few clumps that had stuck to his shirt. Luckily, it wasn't enough to be noticeable.

"Um, mom," Dean said, patting her on the shoulder.

"Yeah, sweetie?" She asked, not looking up from the work.

"I... think my sisters sent you a gift," Vera said with a giggle.

Katherine turned around, and the work on the desk was quickly forgotten. "Dustin...?"

"H-hi, Kat," he said softly.

Katherine was by his side in three seconds. "Oh, my goodness, what were they thinking? Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you? Look at you, all covered in makeup... not that it doesn't look great on you, if you're into that, of course! But I..."

"Mom, slow down..."

Dustin chuckled, standing up from the chair. "I'm fine, Katherine. I... lost a fight with those razor blades, but they weren't fast enough to cut me, just ruin my shirt. Thankfully, today was Bad Shirt Saturday."

"Bad Shirt what?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Saturday... I tend to go out on Saturdays for one reason or another, so I make sure to wear a shirt that isn't particularly nice so if something happens to ruin it, it's no big loss."

As he turned his attention back to Katherine who was fawning over him again and promising to buy him a new shirt, Dean looked at Vera with a roll of his eyes. "Do you buy any of that?"

She chuckled. "I'm pretty sure he just wants to set your mom at ease. But I have to give him credit for coming up with a cute story on the fly."

"Cute... right," Dean muttered, his eyes serious as he looked over Dustin.

Vera was surprised at his demeanor, then she smirked. "Are you in protective mode right now?"

"Anybody who might be interested in my mom has to get past the Dean screening test," he said, still glowering at Dustin.

"You're too cute, Dean," she said as Dean blushed.

Suddenly, a loud ringing was heard throughout the chamber. Dustin clung to Katherine in fear. "Oh, god... now what?"

Katherine giggled, patting him on the back. "That would be the doorbell."

"Oh... right. They did mention that."

"I'll be right back," Vera said, flying upwards and leaving the three in the basement. She hurried over to the front door and turned herself invisible as she poked her head through the door to see who was outside. To her very unwelcome surprise, it was Amy. As no one else was around, she made herself visible and opened up the door.

"Hello, Amy," she said testily.

Amy jumped in surprise. "Oh, hi! Um... Vera? Yeah, Vera. Wasn't expecting you."

"Come in," Vera said, beckoning her inside.

"Oh, right... don't worry, I won't stay long."

Thank goodness, Vera thought nastily to herself.

"Looking for Dean?" she asked Amy. Maybe I should tell her he's not home...

"Um, no actually. I was looking for you."

"For me?"

"Yeah, I made... um, I have something for you. I started making it after I left your house the other night. I remembered the whole thing about reflections and all that and... nevermind, just here." Amy opened up a folder that Vera barely noticed she had been holding in her arms, and she pulled out a piece of paper.

Vera took it and looked at it. On the paper was a drawing of a beautiful girl with long blonde hair, bright green eyes, a cute smile on her face, and the beginnings of a white dress from the shoulders down, though it was a portrait-like picture and didn't go past her chest.

"Wow... you have talent."

"Thanks! I kinda pride myself on making realistic looking drawings. I just focus on something or someone, rather, and boom. I'm already drawing and shading it in. Art school, here I come."

"Well, it's great, but... why are you giving it to me?"

Amy looked confused for a second, and then chuckled. "Oh, right, right. Vera... it's you."

"Me...? What?"

Amy giggled. "Yeah, you know. You can't take pictures of yourself and you haven't seen your face in so long, so... I thought it might be nice if you knew what you looked like. Everyone should be proud of their own beauty. Um... not that you weren't proud of who you are or anything before, of course. I just... oh, you know what I mean. My point is, you're like, really beautiful and I wanted you to know it for sure."

"I... I don't know what to say..." 'I'm sorry' comes to mind... but I don't feel like explaining why I hated her... or that I hated such a good person at all for such a petty reason...

Amy smiled, waving her hand in the air. "Nothing you need to say. It was my pleasure. And hey, if you ever want another one, just tell Dean to let me know. I love to draw and design fashion too, so I can have you wearing all kinds of cute stuff! You know, if you want. I can also... oof!"

Amy stumbled back, caught off guard by the tight hug Vera was giving her. There was jolt of coldness, but it wasn't uncomfortable somehow. Amy smiled and hugged her back. "A hug's worth a million words, I always say." Vera pulled back from the hug, and Amy was shocked to see tears dripping from her eyes. She watched as they dropped to the floor and dissipated into smoke. "Those... those are tears of joy, right?"

Vera giggled. "Well, mostly. Maybe some sadness knowing I couldn't see myself for so long... but it doesn't matter anymore because I have this now." She stared at the picture intently again.

"Ah, well, that's good, then. I'm glad for that, then." She smiled again and turned towards the door. "Well, I should be going."

"Are you sure you don't want to see Dean?" Vera asked suddenly. "I can tell him you're here if you want."

"No, it's okay! I don't want to distract him. I need to get back home anyway. Getting ready to go out with the friends for the day. Honestly, knowing what we know now, Rory and I totally get why he doesn't usually have time to go out with all of us." She chuckled. "Jennie and Dylan know that we know something, but don't worry, we aren't telling."

"It's gotta be tough," Vera said with genuine amusement. "Sitting on something this big, not being able to share it."

Amy giggled. "I have experience keeping secrets from Amber purely to annoy her. Rory, on the other hand, is probably gonna explode from the secrecy." The two of them laughed together. "But the good news is, he'd rather explode than reveal anything that could cause issue for Dean."

"That's good. Are you sure you have to go?"

"Yeah, it's all good. I'll see you later." Amy waved and turned to open the door.

"Amy," Vera called one last time. As she turned around, she smiled at her. "Dean's really excited to take you to the dance, you know. I hope you guys have a lot of fun."

Amy's cheeks turned pink. "I hope so too! Thanks, Vera." She waved again and then shut the front door behind her.

Vera looked at the picture in her hands and then held it close to her chest. She stayed like that for a few minutes of silence.