I may have my power back, but its not doing me any good at the moment. The rain fell in sheets outside of the cafe, where Dominic was hunched over a counter with a latte in hand. On the news each day, more people are dying of mysterious illnesses as my brother tests his power. I can't pinpoint where he is at anytime, something or someone is blocking me from his exact location, and my best tactic right now is just to search for him. He glanced at his watch. 1 am. They are going to close up soon. He slid his money over to the cashier and headed out, this time with an umbrella.

He quickened his steps as the cold wind got to him. Better get back, Lina goes into her 'worried housewife' mode if I'm late. Before he got a chance to cross the intersection, a sickening screech and crash sounded behind him. Two cars, then three, then four, had smashed into each other.

Shit. He ran over and began tugging at the door of the small red car, trying to pry it open. Inside a toddler was trapped into a car seat. He saw part of her mother within the twisted metal, and, trying to ignore the horrific image, gave the door one last jerk before it opened, but just a little. He braced his foot against the insider and was able to get it open more with his foot, and immediately reached for the child. Unbuckling her, he pulled her out of the wreckage.

This is the time where I forget my cell phone! He looked at the child, who was crying and wriggling around from all the commotion. By now other people had crowded a scene, and he could hear the sirens of police cars in the distance.

I can't promise you much, but I won't let Jacob get your soul.. Human nature caused him to take one last look at the wreck, and a cold shiver crept up his spine and brought a tear to his eye. The child's parents were dead, and worse off, they couldn't even rest in peace as long as his brother was on the loose. He waited impatiently for the authorities to get there and immediately handed over the child.

"I- I got her out. From over there." He pointed to the red car.

The officer took the child and nodded. "Thank you, you should clear the scene now so we can do our job." She walked off, and Dominic was left in yet anothe predicament. He had to find a new way back home.

The only option he could think of was to cut across someone's yard to the other street, Hartly street he was sure it was called, and then down to the house. He grabbed the umbrella he had dropped on the sidewalk, and trudged through the mucky, muddy grass to the other side.

I don't think Lina will ever be able to convince me those things aren't death traps. The speed is convenient, but there are enough ways to die as it is. He made his turn on Hartly, then sprinted towards the house. Two feet away from the door a light came on in the house. Then the door opened. He slowed down even more, as he got a glimpse of Lina, her hair in two curlers, a huge T-shirt with the words "You're in for It" on it, and a jug of hot chocolate resting in her right hand.

"In."

He obeyed, shaking off his umbrella first and sticking it in the umbrella rack beside the door.

"I'm not going to freak out at you. But please at least tell me before you take off." She handed him the hot chocolate and rubbed his back, leading him further inside.

"If I tell you something, will you promise not to sue me for smacking you with that car a while back?"

"What's going on?"

"We have a visitor." She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the kitchen, where an older man with a toupee and a twinkie in his mouth was sitting there reading the newspaper. "Dominic Deegan, this is my uncle, Eric Starrow."

Pam walked back into Luna's room, food in hand, and served a steaming bowl of vegetable soup to Gregory. She looked to Carrasah, and in a polite, quiet voice, asked a question.

"When you performed that ceremony over Luna, were you not supposed to contact the other side and warn them of Luna's illness.''

The witch stared Pam straight in the eye, and began to pace about the room, rubbing what appeared to be the start of a mustache. When Greg's eye caught this, he squinted his eyes and lowered his head in an attempt not to laugh. He knew if he laughed now, Pam's question might never be answered.

"I can't."

"What?" Greg clenched his fist. "You didn't give them any information when you did all that."

"They switched for a time, this you know. The only message I could get out, subconsciously at that, was when to end it less there be more trouble."

Luna nodded and stood up, relieved to be on her feet again. "I remember that. I remember knowing that I had to go, and my heart breaking that I couldn't stay there much longer. I just wish I could've told Dominic to tell Lina what to do."

"If this Lina has dark powers I don't think he'll want to." Gregory took a seat on Luna's bed, "You know how much of a hangup he has about our brother. If it is along those lines, I don't think he will have it in him to do it."

Pam squeaked.

Everyone stared.

She took a deep breath. "Sorry, this is all making me really nervous. He just has to know. Luna, since you know the whole story now, next time you cross over into Lina's world you can tell him exactly what is going on. "

"What if I don't do it right? " Luna began to sob, "What if he doesn't want to save me? What if this Lina girl is prettier than I am? And if she is just like me, but more beautiful, he will have no reason to look at me at all."

"You know for a fact that is a lie, Luna." Pam crossed her arms, "And as a healer, I know that thinking things like that is unhealthy. Until we can get you back over there you have to relax."

"Pam's right," Gregory cut in, "My brother is no two-timer. He may be a geek and an outsider, but he is loyal."

"Spoken like a true brother." Luna patted him on the back.

"It's the tooth."

Luna eyes sparkled with flame as she stared right through Greg. The poor guy was a breathing target.

"ERrm, Too-Truth!!" He sprang to his feet and backed up, " I can't believe I screwed up again. I'm not usually this bad, sorry Luna. We are all a little stressed here."

Pam blushed at the embarrassing display, and focused her attention back on the old witch"Madam Cassarah, how long will it be, before you can reestablish the connection? It is possible to try it again, right?"

"Since you are going to be keeping me here, I suppose it is. Two Moons. Two Moons from now I will make a connection, but there will not be a third time. Travoria better get through to Dominic, and fix this thing or the lass," Just one of her eyes shot to Luna while the other stayed on Pam, "Will not make it much longer."

Pam nodded, and then took stock of the run down mood of the room. "We just need to get our minds focused on something positive. How about a word game?"

"I'll be finding me own room," Cassarah murmured, and hobbled out of the room much to everyone else's joy.

"No. I don't want her getting mixed up in this. I think you should leave."

"Kid, if all the stuff you are saying is true, then Lina here really is the ressurection of our family's name." Eric stood up and stared straight in the seer's eyes. "I knew there would be a time when we would be needed, somehow, and because of all the bad publicity necromancy gets you people want to shut it down."

"You idiot. What possible good could a magic of death and destruction do for anyone? That is all it is, I know first hand!"

"Child, don't speak what you don't know. You try to fit everyone into little boxes. Necromancers bad, normal people good, well it doesn't fit that way and you know it. I don't care if your brother was a diablos, it doesn't mean he is necessarily evil."

"You don't know ANYTHING about my brother!" Dominic took a step forward to get in the old man's face, but Lina's hand on his shoulder held him back.

"Lina, hun, I'm so glad I found you again. It was heartbreaking them taking you away from me, but that is the past. Necromancy, just like any other art, is an ability that you can either learn on your own or it can come naturally. It is in your blood, Lina, so it would be foolish to deny it."

The seer hissed, "Yes Lina, go out and poison a bunch of people."

"Yeah, think of the rewards, Lina!" Her uncled pulled her to his side, letting his arm hang down across her shoulders. "You'll never get mugged, you can play hero every once in a while to a bunch of crooks, and you might even be able to halt death."

"Halt it?" Lina asked. She was doing her best to stay calm, but her nervousness was apparent. She got herself another glass of cocoa, and poured her two guests glasses too. Knowing her uncle's temper, and Dominic's big fat nerve about the subject, she expected an explosion at any time.

"You are lucky, Lina. Normally the effects of those practicioners that had to learn the art and study it for a long time are not at all good. You see, the gaunt complexion, advanced aging, and all of those other halloween-esque potrayals do have a ring of truth to them. However, since it is already within you to do so, you will experience no pain once you gain a level of mastery."

Lina kept her eyes away from both of the men. "Pain?" She whispered fearfully.

"Well, being uncomfortable comes with any muscle you work, and this is just the same. You don't have to use this for evil, Lina, that is what the world just doesn't get. Necromancy is basically controlling Death Essence. To manipulate the breakdown of decay, raise it up and build it up to suit your purposes. "

"My brother could've died because of that shitty Essence," Dominic's voice was quieter this time, but the venom in his tone was noticable. "It's a disease, nothing that should be practiced."

Eric ignored Dominic and kept his eyes on his neice "Lina, you have free will, don't you?"

She reluctantly looked at him, and handed him his cocoa, "Yes, I do."

"Then use it. I bet I can get you to practice this power right now."

"What? How?" Lina pulled up a chair and sat down, knowing that her legs would fail her if she stood much longer.

"You can use your power to have decaying effects on inanimate objects as well as those that walk and breathe. For some others this is an impossibility, but for your, the perfect building step."

"I don't like the sound of it either, Uncle Eric, but, do you really think this can help us defeat him?"

"Absolutely. I can't tell you what you can do in the heat of the moment, but I can tell you you need this." Eric stood up and grabbed a wooden clock off the highest shelf in the room. He put it down on the table and looked at his neice intensely. "Lina you are going to turn this old thing into nothing but rot. First you have to do your best to concentrate on the Death Energies within you, and push them outwards, out of your fingers, to the clock and, in a word, kill it."

Avoiding Dominic's gaze fearfully and completely, she touched the clock and stared at it. "Its not doing anything Uncle Eric."

"Well thinking it to do anything is never a good way to start. Looks like I'm going to have to awaken it a bit in you first. The best way to do it would be...hmm." He spun around on his heels in thought. "There must be, ah, Yes!" He dug around in one of the kitchen drawers and took out a kitchen knife and ran it across a napkin to test how sharp it was. Once satisfied, he flicked the blade around in his hand playfully and a gentle dark glow surrounded it.

Lina held her chest. "I heard you tell me all that stuff but I never- I never...Never.."

Eric turned his back to her and walked around a little bit, picking up random objects on the counters but still keeping the knife tight in his ehand. Without warning, he turned around and in one swift moment, cut Lina's arm with the pulsing blade. Lina screamed and fell out of her chair, and Eric grabbed the clock and held it in front of her face. "Do it Now! Force out the pain you feel!"

Not putting much thought into it, Lina shoved her arm forcefully into the clock. She looked on in complete horror as her hand passed right through the clock, as it disentigrated into nothing but decayed rot, then dust. Her hand still in the air, she stared at it, turning it slowly as her mind tried to come to grips with the situation. Already Eric was bandaging the wound on Lina's arm.

"Don't you see what he just did to you! Your arm is probably poisoned now." Dominic immediately got into a defensive stance. "We have to get your uncle out now, I can't even say for sure if he is not working with Jacob."

"So now you think I would harm my own daughter. There is nothing in her of mine, any Death Energies within her are her own. I simply initiated it. The only real damage I did was a slit to the arm, which will heal up in a few days." He patted Lina on the back, "Sorry about that hun."

Dominic tore away the paper towel that Eric had put to Lina's arm and examined in closely. He's telling the truth, there is nothing here. But now I can't even, I still can't trust him. There is no good in this practice, there never was! He pounded his fist against the table and stomed off into Lina's room, again, but Lina was still in too much shock to even utter a word.

"He'll be okay." Eric sat down and put his arm around Lina, putting the paper towel back up on the small wound. "You have to remember Lina that what you learn isn't going to change you unless you let it. I understand that this guy has had a bad history with others, but why don't you go and show him that not everyone who practices fits into the maniac box. You can bring the good out of anything, Lina, or the evil. Its up to you to choose."

" I always wanted to hang out with you. " Lina finally spoke up, but her eyes kept to the floor, "The little bit you told me did seem interesting, but then my parents..and.."

Eric pulled her closer, "I miss them too. My own flesh and blood, my sister, how could I not?"

"If you had these powers over death, why didn't you save them?" She started to cry softly. "I want to know. You tell me I can use these powers to help people, how can I if I can't stop death?"

"When I said Halt Death, I think you got the wrong Idea. We can freeze it, or manipulate it, but we can't restore death to life. Death is simply that, there is no talk of crossing over from one to another. If I had the power, hun, I would've saved them and a whole truckload of others. But I couldn't. Having your parents walk around if there was no soul to them wouldn't do a bit of good."

"Then what good is this? What good am I? I thought you would have all the answers."

"Really? If you do know someone who has all the answers, I'd sure love to hear them. I've found ways in my life to help people in my path, and I know somehow you are going to do the same. So, you asked this Dominic guy out yet?"

"What??!" Lina blushed beet red, "Wh-Oh, no no! No of course not. He has a girlfriend."

"So steal him away."

"Uncle Eric!!"

"Oh, so NOW I'm evil. Heh, you won't even have to try. You are so pretty you will do it without thinking."

"I don't think so." She rested her head on his shoulder. "I know he and Luna care deeply for each other. She looked a lot like me when I was younger, the teeth problems and everything. If you fall in love with someone, their inperfections as well as their highlights, its hard to look the other way. It makes me feel like I was wrong to get braces."

"So being pretty is a sin?"

"No. But altering yourself is, in Dominic's eyes. That's why, even if something happened between him and Luna, he'd never look at me."

Eric frowned and turned his neice so he could give her a full fledged hug. "He is the seer right, not you? That means don't go pretending you know the future. Because you don't. So maybe you won't get him, but someone's gonna come around and like you just as you are, altered, unaltered, dealing with death or anything else."

Lina hugged him tightly and stopped herself from crying further. Everything slowly began to sink in, but the thought of an angry Dominic still loomed in her mind. She slowed her breathing and shut her eyes, forcing herself to relax. "I want to do the right thing."

"Then that is what you are going to do. I know you won't prove this old man wrong."

Dominic sat down on the floor of the bedroom, becoming increasingly annoyed at the situation. I just don't know if I have it in me to trust him, or her. But Belinda would want...I don't know what to do. I just want to go home. I want to have Spark bug me, I want to be with Luna, I want to hear Gregory tell me how cool I am, and I want my pipe yet, but of course Gregory ruined smoking for me. I want Jacob to go away, but nothing I want is going to happen, is it?