His flashlight shone across the grass as the passenger door slammed and Scully sighed, her own flashlight turning on and joining his beam.

"Stick to the cemetery," she said and he nodded, glancing toward the dark forest.

"At least until tomorrow," he said, his breath billowing out around him.

"Tomorrow is fine with me," she agreed, taking a step forward and nodding at him.

Fauna had told them where to find Sarah's headstone as she had walked with them to the car, stating she needed to cool down from the warmth of the office and also to tell them goodbye. Inky the cat had run up, winding around her legs and purring loudly.

"Not ready to chase mice?" Fauna had asked, bending down to pick him up and hold him like a baby. He had purred even louder, pressing into her hand. "He's a stray that adopted me, not the other way around. As soon as he let me pet him, I felt like a proper spinsterly witch."

They had all laughed and then Fauna had looked at Mulder as she scratched behind Inky's ears.

"You still have a question you want to ask," she had stated and he stared at her before glancing quickly at Scully.

"Do you think Sarah has anything to do with the recent disappearances?"

"No, that's not the right question."

"No?"

"No." Fauna had smiled and raised her eyebrows as she waited.

"You think she did. But not how others in this area may believe," he had said and she had sighed, tilting her head minutely. "You think she, and by that I mean the area, has… magical properties."

He had heard Scully's sigh, one he had heard thousands of times. The one that meant she did not believe a word he said and the logical side could not possibly correlate with the fantastic one.

But he had kept his gaze on Fauna and watched as she had drawn in a deep breath, put Inky down, and brushed off her hands.

"When I was sixteen, I was struggling with my sexuality. I knew that I was gay. Had known for a long time, but I didn't know how to tell others. I was so scared my parents wouldn't understand and…" Fauna had shaken her head and sighed loudly, looking off into the distance. "I was depressed, withdrawing from everyone, even Flora, which was odd for us. She's two years older than me, but we always said we had been meant to be twins." She had smiled and shaken her head again.

"I had already known about Sarah, of course, but not to the extent I do now. Not until I spent time walking in the cemetery and then sitting in front of Sarah's headstone," Fauna had wiped at her eyes and laughed softly. "I don't have faith in God, I lost that long ago, but I did have faith in her, in her past and the struggles that she had faced. I felt that pain and sadness she'd had in her life. I empathized with her on my own level and that day in the cemetery I broke down."

Inky had meowed, rubbed around Fauna's legs again, put his paws on her shin and looked up at her. He had meowed again and she had laughed, bending to pet him.

"I'm okay. Thank you," she had said and Inky had laid down and rubbed against her boots. "See? He's adopted me."

"Couldn't be any clearer," Scully had said softly and Fauna had smiled.

"That day in the cemetery," she had said, continuing her story. "I cried harder than I ever had before. It hurt in every aspect. I had horribly dark thoughts that I whispered as I leaned closer to her headstone, almost like a prayer, if I believed in that kind of thing. I felt… broken and…"

She had stopped talking and took a few breaths, looking down at Inky as he stared at her with his lantern-like eyes.

"I felt this… this feeling on me," she had said quietly. "It was a windy day, but not wild or anything. And what I felt was not wind. It was like something was being wrapped around me. Not arms, not like a hug, but like a blanket or something encompassing."

Mulder had glanced at Scully and watched her watch Fauna, a concerned look on her face.

"As soon as I felt that heavy pressure, I stopped crying. I felt a peace wash over me. A calm. Like… a warm drink on a cold day. Or a balm on a wound. I felt instantly better and the worry I had was gone. I sat up and stared at Sarah's name, thanking her, because I knew it had to be her. Her spirit, whatever you want to call it, had been there and she had healed my sadness. She saved me from a very bad place I had found myself in that day." She had looked up, tears in her eyes, and smiled at them. "Ever since then, she's been my obsession. Trying to emulate her concern for those who shunned her and treated her so terribly. I visit her grave often, leaving flowers there and where their house once stood. Some people say the cemetery is scary or the woods are haunted. But for me, it's not. It's peace and harmony balancing in nature and in me anytime I walk within it."

"So," Mulder had said, nodding in understanding. "Do you think it's possible that Sarah, in some unexplainable way, could have seen the men and thought they needed help? So she took them somehow, wanting to rectify the past she could not control?"

"I don't know," Fauna had said, wiping her eyes again. "It sounds more than impossible. Crazy even. But then so does my story. But I know what I felt. I know what I experienced, so I fear my opinion may be a bit biased."

Mulder sighed as he thought of Fauna's words as he shone his flashlight on a headstone, a thought filling his head that he was not sure he wanted to acknowledge.

"Just up here," Scully said ahead of him and he nodded. "This is actually where we were walking earlier today. We probably saw it and had no idea it was there."

"Yeah," he said, licking his dry lips.

"You know," she said, shining her light around and then looking at him. "I think this is where you received your karma and nearly fell." She smiled and he forced one back, but did not feel it. "Be careful this time. Minimal injuries, remember."

"Ha ha," he said as she turned around and chuckled softly.

He shone his light to his right and stopped in his tracks, swallowing hard as he read Sarah's name.

"It's here," he said quietly, and he saw her flashlight swing around as she joined him.

"This is the spot where you slipped isn't it?"

"Yeah," he said, staring at the green moss growing on Sarah's headstone.

"Fauna said Obadiah's headstone is close to hers. Two rows up from here. I want to see his too."

"I'll catch you up," he said, and she continued on alone.

His hand holding the flashlight began to feel warm and he switched it to the other hand, but the feeling remained. He flexed his hand and glanced over his shoulder at Scully, her light now far away.

Reaching out his hand, he paused, sure it would be a bad idea, but still needing to know.

Closing his eyes, he placed his palm upon the extremely cold headstone, and the warm sensation in his hand began to grow.