"What do you mean, he didn't abandon me?"

"Well, not entirely." William put a hand on his daughter's shoulder, gently pushing her into the chair at his old desk. He sat down on one of the other tables, rubbing his eyes. He looked so tired and Vera wanted to hug him, but she remained still and silent, knowing he was about to speak. To finally reveal to her the whole truth.

"The Kress family had... enemies. They had made many shady business deals to build their fortune. Debts needed to be paid, and the family had avoided them for too long. Jacob Kress did not want to be a part of his family's business anymore. He wanted to be with you. But his father found out, and gave him a choice. He could leave with you... on the condition that he take one more job for the family. Jacob couldn't say no to his father, so he took it. He met with one of the family's business clients. It ended badly. Who exactly these clientswere, I don't know, but it doesn't matter. They were cruel, evil men who wanted to send a message to the Kress family. His body was never found."

Vera wasn't aware of the tears rolling down her cheeks until she heard the faint sounds of them vanishing into smoke. She ran a hand along her cheek, and they almost felt real. "How... how do you know this?"

"He told me himself... when he came to this house. As a ghost."

Her eyes widened. "How... how could I not remember any of this?"

"Again, you hadn't returned to us just yet. Not completely. Like I said, it's so hard to hold onto your memories when you're detached from this world. But we knew you were there, trying to reach out to us. You see, I had already been studying the paranormal long before you died on that horrible night. I started toying with the idea of crossing the boundaries between life and death. I had started building this machine, but it was nowhere near complete. I had experience with spirits haunting certain places, and soon after you died, I knew you were still among us. I could feel your presence. And so I buried myself in my research with a new purpose. To bring you back to life."

Vera looked at the machine as he floated over to it, slamming a fist into it. It echoed loudly in the cave.

William sighed. "Jacob did not come to me first. He returned home. And so I was eventually approached by his father and fellow believer in the supernatural... Desmond Kress."

He spoke the name with a surprising amount of venom in his voice. Vera stayed silent as William was lost in thought for a moment before he continued speaking. "He knew about my research and my crazy desires to test the gap between the two worlds. So he came to me, offering as much money as it took to make sure I brought his son back to life as well."

Vera watched her father float over to the chemistry set table, picking up one of the empty bottles. "I was about to tell him that it was just impossible. But that was when I made a crucial discovery. You see, I originally built this laboratory to research a strange, unidentified substance I had discovered in the waters beneath this house."

"A substance?"

He nodded, pointing to the pool of ocean water in the lab. "There is a cave down there. Strange, red plant lifeforms that I had never seen in any science book grew down there. I took some and brought them up here, turning them into a chemical. All I knew for sure was that the fish around here were eating those plans and growing to unusual size. As I studied them, I realized it was because they were living far, far longer than they should have. I could barely contain my excitement. I had discovered something that could grant... immortality."

William looked back at her, a wondrous look on his face. "I know you must have so many questions about these strange plants. Unfortunately, I don't have all the answers. This house has been here for far longer than any of us know. I had a theory that it's no ordinary house. That it was constructed because of this phenomenon that does not seem to exist anywhere else in this whole world! Who knows why? There are things in this world that we just can't explain."

Vera looked at the floor, disappointed that she could not ask further questions about the origin of these strange plants. She shrugged it off and looked back at her father.

"All that matters is that I had discovered another property of the plants. I started to test it out on dead fish and other animals, and exactly as I thought, it brought them back to life!" He smiled darkly. "I may have been losing my mind, but I'm definitely no Frankenstein, so I wasn't about to go dig up your grave like a crazy man to see if I could resurrect you that way, and Jacob's body was nowhere to be found. I even tried letting Jacob drink it in his ghost form, to see if it would cause any sort of reaction, but nothing happened. And so I decided to test another theory... that I could harness the energy that all ghosts have using this machine, and somehow fuse it with this incredible potion turned into its own kind of radioactive energy. After months and months of nonstop work... the machine was finally completed."

"But...?" Vera asked.

William buried his face in his hands. "But something went wrong. Like I said, I completed it... but that doesn't mean I did it right. And Jacob paid the ultimate price for my foolishness."

"What are you saying...? What price?!" Vera demanded, afraid of the answer.

"At first, it seemed to work fine. I saw him start to change, Vera. It was like... he was flickering between being a ghost and being a human. The two energies I had combined seemed to be working perfectly. But then... he started screaming in pain. The electricity from the machine seemed to be overwhelming him. He screamed for me to help him. He started to glow... it was such a blinding light. And then... there was an explosion within the chamber of the machine. The door flew right off! Almost killed me. And when it was all over... Jacob was gone. Completely and totally gone. Not a human... not a ghost. Just gone. Erased from existence."

Vera covered her mouth in shock, tears flowing freely from her eyes once again at the horror of it all. The boy she had adored, the boy who had never betrayed her... painfully ripped out of existence itself. He had not made it to the afterlife. He was just... gone.

"I fell into a dark place after that," William whispered, terrible grief in his voice. "I left my research behind, grieving that I could not bring you back to life. It should have ended there." His eyes grew murderous, giving Vera a terrible chill. "But Desmond Kress had other plans. I understood his grief, of course. I had just lost you. But while he loved his son... Desmond Kress was a truly vicious man. He and a group of... bastards that he paid to work for him... came to the house and took your sisters away."

Vera's mouth dropped open. "I don't want to hear this..." she whispered, covering her eyes. "Please..." She felt his arms encircle her, and she put her head into his chest, crying openly.

"I tried to tell him it was impossible. That there was nothing left I could do to bring Jacob back, and I would do anything he wanted if he would just let them go. He refused. Telling me to 'find a way'. He warned me not to call the authorities... but what else could I do? I called them. They found them at his house. It ended violently. The men who... took your sisters... were all shot to death."

"Good," Vera said, her voice full of hatred as she felt her father hug her tighter. "I hope they're in Hell."

"As do I," he said softly. "But it was too late to save Lena, and Bertha, and Stella. And even worse, Desmond managed to get away."

"I'm so sorry," Vera sobbed into his chest. "I don't remember this... I can't even imagine how you felt."

"I'm glad you don't remember. I would never wish that kind of grief on you. The pain was unlike anything I ever felt before. All of my children... gone. Your mother was in absolute agony. She cried every night. We started to fall apart. We didn't speak anymore. I believe she blamed me for it all. She would have been right to do so."

"Daddy..." Vera protested, shaking her head. "That's not..."

"I was a fool," he interrupted. "I played with forces I was never meant to play with. And I still hadn't learned my lesson. After losing all of you, all I could think was that I had to bring the machine back to full power. I had to repair it and put it together properly this time. I had to make sure it was absolutely perfect, so I could bring you all back and fix what Desmond destroyed. I didn't even know if you would ever appear to me in full ghost form like Jacob did, but I didn't care. I was obsessed with bringing you all back to life."

"So that's why it's not destroyed now," Vera said softly, looking at the machine.

"I finished it," William said, motioning to the machine. "This is the completed form. I finally finished it. But I was never able to test it. I had gone back up to the house to tell your mother about it... and then I saw him. Desmond. He had come to the house with a knife to kill your mother. Just to make me suffer. But she wasn't home. I was. So we fought. He managed to stab me in the stomach, but I managed to knock him out. I dragged his body into secret room behind the shelf."

Vera's eyes widened, remembering the strange corridor she and Dean had discovered in the library. "The one with the books inside and the desk?"

"So you've seen it," William said. "But I'm guessing you didn't find the secret room within that hallway."

"A secret room in a secret room?" Vera asked, unable to keep from smirking.

"Hey, I didn't build this house," he said with a twinkle in his eyes. It didn't take long for his eyes turned dark again. "But yes, pulling on one of the books on the shelves opens up a secret room in the wall. I stuffed him in there and closed it up. There is no way out of there. Within minutes, he no doubt woke up, and found that he was trapped within walls forever. I left Desmond Kress to starve to death like the rat he was."

"Good," Vera said. "I hope he suffered."

"Once again, so do I. Maybe I should be telling you not to be so vengeful, but just this once, I think we can make an exception."

Vera nodded resolutely, giving her father a hug. "So then... that's how you died?"

"Yes... Desmond got me, but I got him first. I was trying to hurry down to the basement. You see, I didn't open up that room just for Desmond. That was also where I stashed the last of the potions I had created. I couldn't bring myself to destroy them, even after I had given up on the machine. I grabbed as many as I could carry and then I made my way down to the basement, bleeding all the way. My strength was fading away. All I could think was maybe I would be able to test the machine out on myself when I died. Put myself at risk before anyone else. But when I finally got to the basement... I finally lost all my energy. I collapsed right here, and the bottles fell out of my arms and into the water. I couldn't go after them. They were lost forever. The very last thing I was able to do was send the chair back up to the house. I suppose my last hope was that someone would eventually find this place. Then I staggered away, lost my balance, and fell into the pool. Eventually, the water wore down my bones and my clothing sank. It was as if no trace of me ever existed down here."

"But... if you hoped someone would find this place... why would you tell me not to use the machine now?"

"Because I've had to cling to some kind of life for nearly a century with nothing but my thoughts. Only now I realize how foolish I was. Playing with the laws of life and death. Nothing good can ever come out of it. Now I know why I've remained here so long. What my... unfinished business is. And now that I've finally joined this world, I can finally carry it out. I'm going to destroy this machine, so that it can never hurt anyone ever again." He floated over to the machine, looking it over with disgust. "I can at least do that much. Float into its inner workings and pull it apart piece by piece."

"No!" Vera cried out suddenly, as William turned to look at her in surprise.

"Vera, this has to be done," he stated. "There is no other choice."

"But..." she trailed off. "You said you fixed it, right? After what happened to..." Her voice got caught in her throat for a moment, and she closed her eyes. "J-Jacob. You said you never had a chance to test it out."

"Vera, Jacob lost his whole existence because of this machine. And Lena... and..." He let out a short sob, covering his face at the dark memories.

"That wasn't because of you," Vera protested, hugging him close again. "That was Desmond. He made his own choice. He was an evil person."

"Everything that happened is still tied to this machine! All because of the worst mistake I ever made. Why would you not want me to destroy it?"

Vera looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. "Daddy... I want to be alive."

William looked at her, thunderstruck. "No," he said simply. "Out of the question. We can't play with the laws of..."

"You keep saying that!" Vera shouted suddenly, making him turn towards her in surprise. "The laws of life and death. But aren't we already breaking those laws just by being ghosts?!"

William floated back from her, caught off guard by her words. "I..."

"If those laws were truly set in stone, why would we even exist? Why wouldn't we just go to the next life? We shouldn't even be here at all, right?!"

"I... I never thought of it like that." He shook his head violently. "But it doesn't matter! Because you know what the consequences are for making even one mistake. Even the tiniest, microscopic mistake, and I could destroy you!"

"Then destroy me!" Vera screamed.

William stared at her in horror. Vera blinked, her eyes wide in shock. "I- I mean..." she stammered. "I... I..." Silent tears ran down her face as she let out a wail and sank to the floor, sobbing loudly. William quickly floated down beside her, hugging her tightly. "If I can't live..." Vera gasped through her sobs. "Then I don't want to be here anymore."

"Vera, that's not..."

"I'm tired, daddy. I'm tired of being trapped here. I want to leave the house on my own. I want to see myself when I look in a mirror. I want to eat food. I want to drink water. I want to swim in the ocean, and walk in the forests near the house. I want to have friends that won't run away from me. Friends who I don't have to worry will die one day while I remain here forever. I want to go to school. I want to feel wind on my skin. I want..." She sobbed, wiping away her tears. "I want..."

"What do you want, darling?" Her father asked her tenderly. "What is it you truly want?"

"I... want to be with Dean. I want to tell him how I feel, even if he doesn't feel the same way, because I know he'll still be my friend, and there won't be this constant wall between us. I want to hold him without having to think about it so I don't pass right through him. I want be able to feel his hands. I want to... give him a kiss..." She looked down at herself hatefully. "But not like this. I don't want to be a ghost while he's alive. I don't want to tell him how I feel and always be reminded that it will just never, ever work. It hurts too much."

William watched his daughter weep softly, feeling his heart breaking in two.

"Aren't I the worst person in the world?" Vera asked him, covering her face in complete despair. "I just learned about Jacob... but I'm just thinking of another boy."

William shook his head, gently brushing strands of her hair out of her face. "It's been decades upon decades since you loved him, my darling. Even love fades away. Especially when you believe they have abandoned you."

"But he didn't abandon me..."

"He chose his family over you, after convincing you to abandon your own... and it cost you your life." William said, a familiar disapproving tone in his voice. Vera couldn't help but feel comforted by it. He certainly sounded like a dad. "Jacob wasn't perfect, darling. And he knew it. He apologized many times for his mistake that caused you your own life. He wanted to come back and then try to bring you back as well. In the end, he was a good boy, far better than his father, and he deserved better than what he got, especially from me and the horrible mistakes I made. If either of us should be guilty for what happened to him, it's me. And only me. Nevertheless, he made his own mistakes that night."

"But he did love me... didn't he?"

"Yes, he did," William agreed, gently rubbing her cheek comfortingly. "And you love Dean."

Vera stuttered in surprise. "I- I mean... we haven't known each other v-very long, dad! I like him, but..."

William silenced her with a finger on her lips, laughing softly. "You didn't know Jacob all that long either, angel. You teenagers just have such strong emotions." He chuckled and kissed her on the forehead. "But fine, you have strong feelings for him that could eventually become true love. Better?"

Vera looked away, embarrassed as her father laughed at her again.

"Why should one form of love be more important than another? Falling in love with only one person for your entire life is a ridiculous idea. You must know that, or you would be far less welcoming to the idea of Dean's mother pursuing a relationship with that other man who was here."

"Dustin..." Vera clarified. "I guess I never thought of it that way..."

"Don't underestimate your genius father," William joked, brushing more hair out of her face. "Vera, listen to me. Is this truly what you want? To take such a risk? Is this... Dean boy worth it?"

Vera was silent for a few moments, thinking back to all the time she had spent with Dean over the past few weeks. The laughs they shared. The comfort they'd offered each other whenever they needed it. Her admiration of his love and protectiveness of his mother. His forgiveness and selflessness in always being there to help her before himself. His intelligence as he helped her piece together the mysteries of her home.

"Yes," she whispered. "He is so worth it."