Katherine brought her car to a stop as they entered the parking lot of the Kress Beyond main office building. She shook her head slightly as she looked at the name of the well-known fashion brand. "To think she's not even in control of her family's own company," she said.

"The first in the family history to not own it," Penny said, looking down at her feet. "I think she believed he would hand it over to her in his will when he passed away, but he didn't. He secured a position for Ms. Kress in the company, and he made sure she couldn't be fired from it... but he would not allow her to become CEO. He loved her dearly, but he knew her shortcomings."

"He sounds like he was a good person."

Penny smiled. "Mr. Kress was the first man in my life who ever felt like a father. I lost my father when I was very young. I never knew him. My mother had... many boyfriends. None of them ever stayed long, and they were never kind or warm either. Mother certainly had a... type. I suppose they related to each other." She blinked and shook her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to reminisce."

"Don't be," Katherine said softly, watching her in silence for a moment. "How did you and Kathleen end up working together, anyway?"

"Mr. Kress gave me a job when I needed it the most. I had been laid off and was struggling and was just about to end up on the streets. Made a lot of plans for myself that just fell apart. He found me in town, just absolutely crying my eyes out on a park bench. We started talking and, thankfully, my qualifications fit an opening in his business. He offered me a job that was similar to my last one. I did the job well and he was happy for me. Then Ka... um, Ms. Kress came in begging him for a job after she'd lost a good deal of money. He gave her my job, but he bent some rules and kept me around to be her assistant so I could keep working and earning a living. I was grateful... but it definitely made things harder on me."

"I'm sorry, Penny."

Penny shrugged with a weak smile. "Don't be. I was never too sore about it. She was his daughter. Of course he would prioritize her." She sniffled, blinking misty eyes. "I just wish he would have said something when Ms. Kress would yell at me and humiliate me in front of everybody in the office. But I tried not to hold it against him."

"Family blinds us sometimes," Katherine said softly. She smiled at a memory. "Especially fathers and daughters. My father let me get away with so much more than my mother did."

Penny smiled as well. "Yes... that was just like him as well." The smile faded quickly. "But on top of that... he was old, and tired, and starting to get sick." She clenched her fists as they rested on her legs. "I cried more over his deathbed than Ms. Kress ever did. She was practically waiting for him to pass. It was like he... outlived his usefulness to her."

Katherine took her shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly. Penny placed a hand over hers, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I owe the Kress family everything, Ms. Robison. I wouldn't have survived without them. It hurts me to do this, but..."

"But that woman has hurt you worse and for too long," Katherine finished for her, shaking her head. "You poor girl."

"I'm fine," Penny said quickly, gently brushing aside her hand and turning towards her door. "We should go, before I lose my nerve."

"Can I ask one more question?"

Penny hesitated, then nodded.

"Why did you decide to do this? I know you don't agree with what she's doing, but... what prompted you to help us?"

Penny hid a smirk, remembering the previous night when Lena had shown up in her apartment. Penny had fainted at first glance, leaving Lena to awkwardly wait until she woke up. Penny had left the building and gotten home very late, having stayed behind to finish up much of the work that Kress had just put aside. Lena had followed her, and had come to talk to her about doing something to help Katherine, and Penny had come up with an idea. Lena had been adamant that she not tell Katherine anything about her visit, especially since everything was going to be Penny's plan anyway.

"Just seemed like the right thing to do, that's all."

They both got out of the car and made their way to the building, entering the elevator as they ascended up to Kress' office.

"I don't... I don't understand," Vera stammered, instinctively floating backwards away from her father. She didn't know what to do. Her instincts told her to embrace him, but this bizarre sequence of events left her feeling almost threatened. As though this were some kind of trick.

"I know, my dear," William Eckland said in a warm, comforting voice. The voice of a loving father. "I suppose I should begin with the most obvious question. I am here now because I always have been. I have been trapped in the limbo between this world and the afterlife. You know this existence well."

"I... do?"

He smiled. "Well, you should. I heard you talk about it to that boy while you were down here."

"Oh!" Vera said, understanding and realization hitting her. "When I couldn't get through to you and everybody."

William nodded. "The difference was that you were confined to a place with people in it. In time, you were able to reach out to us. Only in small ways at first, interacting with the physical world. Enough so that we knew you were there."

Vera turned to look back at the machine. "So you were the one pushing the switch to send it back down? Even though you didn't have your own form yet?"

Her father nodded again.

Questions still flooded her mind. "But... why?"

"Why what?" He asked with a smile. "I imagine there are many 'whys' you'd like me to answer."

"Why could you never enter this world? Why would you leave me alone for so long?" Vera's voice broke as tears ran down her face.

"I'm sorry, love. That was not what I wanted. I never had a chance to reach out to you. Until recently, I did not even know you were still here. I thought perhaps you had crossed over to the next life a long time ago. You see, I was confined to this laboratory, even while in limbo."

Vera was confused for a moment, but quickly caught on. "You mean that thing where if you try to leave, something just... feels wrong and you have to come back?"

"So you've felt it as well."

She answered with her own nod. "For the house. I've been trapped here for so long, I even started to forget it was my family's... well, our house at one point."

William gave her a sad smile. Vera could tell he was trying to comfort her, while hiding an immense sadness behind the smile. "I discovered this in my research many years ago. You likely don't remember now, but I had already started researching the paranormal alongside my inventions before your death. My interest only increased afterwards. Now, as a ghost myself, I was able to test my own theories. As ghosts, our memories become fractured with time. Bits and pieces remain, while other bits and pieces disappear. The longer we stay on this planet, the more our memories fade away. Unless we find something to focus on. Something to keep ourselves... sane, I guess. That is why, for almost a century now, I've focused on my research. Over and over again. So I'd never forget who I was. To hold onto my humanity."

"But why hadn't you already taken form in the world like me and the others?"

"Others?"

"Yeah... Lena, Stella, and Bertha."

William looked surprised, then he smiled. "So... they also made it into this world? I'd like to see them again when I have the chance. But..." His smile faded. "Now I know that none of my daughters made it to the afterlife. That is... truly tragic."

"And mom?"

William shut his eyes for a moment, a lifetime of regret on his face. "I can only hope there is some truth to what your friend said here the other day. That perhaps she passed on to the next life. Somewhere she can be happy. Without me."

Vera waited for him to continue, but he didn't. She smiled and tried to cheer him up. "Well, you don't have to worry about Lena and the others, at least. They're not trapped here like I am. They like to travel the world and haunt places and play pranks on the living. They're not exactly suffering."

William stared at her in confusion for a moment, then burst out laughing, surprising her. "Yes..." he said softly as his laughter died down. "I should have expected. Not even death could stop those three. Little troublemakers, they always were. Especially with you."

"Yeah, well, some things never change," Vera muttered, old bitter feelings returning. "They weren't exactly nice to me for a long time. Death didn't stop that either."

Her father frowned. "Is that so? I'll need to have a word with them then."

Vera chuckled. "I don't think you need to worry about that. I've already taught them several lessons with my powers." As a sample, her eyes glowed blue and she made the books and papers on his desk float up in the air in a spiral before settling back down on the desk.

He laughed with pride. "Well, good. I can certainly see that you've grown bolder. You're not the quiet, reserved little girl I knew in life. Something tells me that a certain someone caused that change in you. That handsome boy you can't stop staring at, perhaps?" He asked teasingly, making her look away in embarrassment.

"Daaaaad..."

He grinned before holding up his hands. "Alright, alright. We're getting off track. I couldn't manifest myself into this world because it would appear that we ghosts need an important reason to be in this world in order to enter it. This is why so many ghosts are trapped in abandoned haunted spots, only able to affect the physical world for a few short moments. I believe that most times, ghosts require a powerful connection to other people in order to cross that boundary. Maybe not all ghosts, but most of them. And for most ghosts, there just isn't a powerful enough contact between them and the living, or even other ghosts, to cross the barrier between the living world and the limbo we enter after we die."

He gave her a sad smile again. "Perhaps many of them died alone. There is nothing more important in this world than a connection with other people. Even the people who choose to be lonely eventually begin to feel the crushing weight of being alone. When you are truly alone... something inside you dies."

"And no one ever came down into this basement until recently..." Vera said, feeling a deep sense of sorrow for her father. "You were alone down here... for so long. With nobody to talk to. You didn't have a reason to cross the boundary." She could certainly relate to that feeling, but at least her sisters would eventually come back from their trips. They may have been mean to her, and she had been right to lash out at them, but absolutely no contact for decades upon decades sounded nightmarish.

"Not the most fun time I've ever had, I must admit. But it's all in the past now."

"If I had just searched the house more thoroughly instead of feeling sorry for myself..."

"No," he said firmly. "No blaming yourself for this. This was my punishment, Vera. My penance for playing with the laws of nature."

"What? What are you talking about?"

His face grew darker. "It's time we get to the real question. Why I don't want you to use this damned machine..." He stared at her with a look of the deepest regret, and Vera felt the cold stab of worry enter her heart. Or, whatever the closest thing to a heart she had was.

"This machine has caused more death than it has ever given life."

"What do you mean?" Vera asked, now fearful.

William hesitated for a moment. "Do you remember his name, sweetie? The boy you loved? The one who never arrived?"

"I... I don't remember," she whispered.

"I wish I could say the same." He took a deep breath. "Jacob. Jacob... Kress."

"Jacob... Kress," Vera said softly. Slowly, the face of the boy she had once loved returned to her, as well as all the pain. She could see the snow again as she shivered, waiting at their agreed meeting spot as she whispered his name on her freezing lips over and over.

William gave her a guilty smile. "I never would have imagined you'd be dealing with a descendant of his family nearly a hundred years later. I never really believed in fate, but it would seem the fates of our family and the Kress family are forever entangled."

"I don't get it," Vera said.

William floated back and forth as if pacing, deep in thought. "If you truly don't remember, then perhaps you've completely blocked it out. Of course, this all took place before you materialized into our world. You were still trapped in the limbo between this world and the next. These memories were probably lost to you before you could get them back. It was probably for the best, but... you should know the truth if you are to understand why this machine must never be used."

"Dad, please start making sense."

He chuckled. "Heard that from your mother several times." His face turned serious again. "My darling daughter... Jacob did not abandon you that day."

"W-what?!"

Ms. Kress was sifting through various files as Katherine and Penny entered, taking a swig of a drink. She looked up at them and stood up. "Penny, about damn time! Get over here and start going through these files."

"Yes, ma'am," Penny said. "But first... it's about time we signed the contracts, don't you think? The one I sent you?"

"What? Oh, right. Yes, yes, whatever, let's get this over with. I really don't even see the point."

Penny shared a look with Katherine as she set her things down on her desk. "Did you read the contract like I asked, Miss?"

"Yes, yes, hurry up already," Kress said impatiently, pulling out a copy of a contract specially written up by Penny from her bag and placing it on her desk.

"Shall we go over the details together, Ms. Kress?" Katherine asked, pulling out her own copy.

"Let's not and say we did," Kress muttered, picking up a pen and flipping through the pages.

"You've already read it all?"

"Yes, already. Where the hell do we sign for the damn house, anyway?"

Katherine chuckled and Penny gently took the contract from Kress, flipping to the appropriate pages. "Here we go." She nodded to Katherine, who flipped to the same page of her copy. Penny instructed Kress first. "Do you agree to all of the terms listed here, Ms. Kress?"

Kress scanned the text of one of the written agreements before the signature line and smirked. "$50,000 initial payment, followed by the rest every other week effective immediately? Well, alright, Robison. I could have been more lenient with your time, but it's your money."

Katherine smiled back. "Indeed."

When Kress had finished signing, Penny then motioned for Katherine to come and do the same. The entire process was repeated, much to Kress' annoyance, on Katherine's copy of the contract as well.

"This one's for you, daddy," Kress declared triumphantly as two of them signed on the final lines, putting Katherine's contract aside with a grin as Penny walked over to her desk to pick up her phone. "One ugly, dilapidated hell hole of a house... sold! Now, Ms. Robison, we can move onto more important matters. I'm curious if you'll be able to keep this up? A constant stream of payments all the way up to 4.5 million? That's gonna be tough." She smirked cruelly.

Katherine gave her a quizzical look. "I'm... not sure what you mean, Ms. Kress."

"The house you just got," Kress said in a deliberately slow voice, motioning to the contracts with a disbelieving look. "The one you're paying me for."

"Oh, of course," Katherine said with a grin. "Well, I certainly know about the payments I'll be making you. But I don't know what all this nearly five million dollars business is."

"What the hell are you talking about, Robison?"

Katherine opened up her contract, reading off one of the agreements. "Both parties do hereby agree to the specified payments to be made from October 30th, 2021, ending on November 28th, 2021."

Kress went pale. "November 28th?! That's not nearly enough time or money."

Katherine chuckled. "Oh, but it is. More than enough for the amount we agreed upon, that is."

The distressed Kress yanked her contract out of her bag, flipping through the pages blindly. "What amount? What are you talking about?!"

"Roughly $200,000 would be the amount specified in the contract, directly above where you signed," Katherine said, pointing to the spot on Kress' contract.

She pulled it close, reading every word and growing redder by the second. "What is this?! I didn't agree to this!"

"I'm afraid you just did," Katherine said, no sympathy in her face. "$50,000 as my first payment. $50,000 for the next. And so on and so forth until we reach our agreed upon amount. Our business will be concluded at that point."

"When did... you..." Kress sputtered, before turning her gaze on Penny with a hiss. "You! You little bitch... you gave me this stupid contract and you didn't tell me about this! You tricked me!"

Penny glared at her, and suddenly walked closer, forcing Kress to take a step backwards in surprise.

"I did no such thing. I handed you this contract this morning and told you to read it. Twice. We came into this office and I asked you again. Then Ms. Robison offered to go over the details. Every time you said that there was no need and that you understood the terms. And on top of that, the terms were all there on the only page you DID read, but you didn't bother to question any part of it... because you didn't bother to read it. That was your responsibility, not mine. The fact that I knew how unlikely it was that you were going to take responsibility, for once, is irrelevant."

"As you must know," Katherine interjected with a deceptively sweet smile, as Penny moved back to her desk. "Contracts are binding, and the law is not sympathetic to people who sign contracts without bothering to read them. Of course, if you feel like we manipulated you in any way... feel free to fight this in court with your own money and try to prove it. Just remember I have more than enough money to hire my own attorneys to fight you back just as hard. But good luck arguing against your own words."

A livid Kress turned to where Katherine was pointing, and Penny held up her phone she had picked up from her desk earlier. She clicked "Play" on a recording, and Kress' voice was heard. "This one's for you, daddy. One ugly, dilapidated hell hole of a house... sold!"

Kress moved suddenly towards Penny to try and seize her phone, but Penny placed a hand on her chest and shoved her away, hard. Kress feel against her desk with a wince, glaring at her former assistant.

"You have pushed me around for far too long," Penny hissed. "You will never lay a hand on me again."

Kress slammed her fist into it. "You think you can just do this to me and still have a job with my company?!"

"Of course not," Penny said coldly. "Consider this my resignation."

"You can rest assured I will abide by every word of this contract, and pay you the money I promised," Katherine added, slipping her copy into her purse. "You will receive more than enough money for a house you were fully intent on destroying, anyway... with your own money, no less. Despite our feelings towards you, I agreed that I would pay you enough to clear away the majority of your existing debt. After that, you'll still have your job here and your usual income, and it'll be up to you to budget properly. Best of luck to you, Ms. Kress."

Katherine and Penny turned to walk out of the office as Kress sputtered indignantly after them. "This doesn't end here, Katherine! I'll contest this! I'll drag you both into court and sue you for everything you have!"

Katherine turned around with a smirk. "Knock yourself out." She turned around and walked out of the office.

As Penny followed her, Kress' vicious voice made her stop in her tracks. "Daddy would be sooo hurt to see you now, Penny. So disappointed. To know he wasted his time on a filthy little vagrant like you! That he took in and gave a job to a crying, thieving traitor like you!"

Penny took a breath and turned around, giving the leering Kress a look without emotion. "Not half as hurt as he always felt having you for a daughter, Kathleen."

She allowed herself a moment to take in the shocked look on Kress' face before turning away with no remorse. Kress stopped her again with her small, heartbroken voice. "Penny...? Penny, don't go." Penny didn't turn to face her this time. "I didn't mean it. I just wanted you to stay. Don't leave me. I have nobody left. Nobody here cares about me. Please. I didn't mean it. Please don't leave me alone..."

Penny shook her head and kept walking down the hallway towards the door where Katherine had already left. "Goodbye, Ms. Kress... I hope you can turn your life around some day. For your father's memory, at least, if you won't do it for yourself."

She didn't look back again.