Once they had returned home from the forest, Victor had skipped dinner and immediately went up to his room to sleep. Sleep didn't come quickly though, and he spent a good hour thinking about the entire situation. He wondered whether Lucas was right about the experiments being only temporary. Victor doubted that Sparky was now immortal, and that brought up the question of how long Sparky would last. A few years? A few months? He may only have a few days for all Victor knew.

Deciding to ignore the issue, Victor had snuggled closer to Sparky and finally drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Victor was gently shaken awake by his father.

"I think it's time we had a talk with your mother," he said.

Victor got out of bed and dressed himself before following his father to the living room where his mother was calmly waiting. They both sat on the sofa opposite of her. Sparky ran over and sat down near their feet.

"Victor...I apologize for how I reacted when I saw Sparky," his mother said gently, staring at Sparky. She didn't seem scared or uncomfortable around the dead dog, much to his surprise. Most people would have been unsettled to be anywhere near something deceased.

"It's alright," Victor replied. He was glad, and a little bit shocked admittedly, that she wasn't upset with him. Victor imagined that parents generally would have been extremely troubled to find that their son had brought something back from the dead.

"I was just worried," his mother stated. "Our family has been outcasted since…Well..."

"Victoria," his father interrupted, "I told him."

She was silent for a while before saying, "He would have found out eventually I guess...I had just hoped after all these years it would have died down and people would start treating us like normal human beings."

His father got up and went over to sit on the couch next to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"I'm just worried about the way others would treat us if they discovered that we had a dead dog living with us," Victoria sighed. "I only want the best for our family."

Victor thought about not mentioning that fact that Lucas knew about Sparky, but he wanted to be completely honest with her. He was tired of all the secrets.

"I don't think we need to worry. The only one who knows is Lucas, and he won't tell anyone."

Victor could see that she seemed very distressed to hear this piece of information, but she didn't voice her concerns.

"It will be difficult to hide him," his father said. "I think we can manage, however we must always be careful. One slip up and we'll be forced out of town."

Victor was fearful to ask, but his curiosity got the best of him and he said, "And what happens if Sparky is discovered and everyone wants us to leave town?"

"I guess we will just deal with that then, if it ever even happens," his father said.

Victor nodded his head in agreement. He wasn't sure what to say, and he was still quite amazed at how well both of his parents had taken to the situation. He no longer had to hide Sparky from them, and as long as no one else found out, everything would be peaceful. Though he had to admit, a large part of the excitement had left him. While stressful, it had been thrilling and even a bit fun keeping Sparky his little secret.

Victor was thankful however, to have his parents on his side. Keeping Sparky a secret would be much easier now that he would have the help of his parents. In the end, it was all about keeping Sparky safe.

After the family talk, his father said his goodbyes and headed off to work. Victor decided to take the opportunity to speak with his mother alone.

Victor wanted to know more about the events that had happened before his birth. He still wasn't at all convinced that they had even happened, which is why he wished to bring up the subject with his mother. If her story aligned with his fathers, it would be difficult to find a reason why it wouldn't be true.

"Mother?" Victor inquired.

"Yes?"

"Would it be okay if I asked you about...everything that happened that night?"

Victoria's expression froze, and she became quiet. Victor could tell it was something she did not like speaking about, but she only remained silent for a few moments before answering, "...Sure."

"Father told me he wed a corpse and got taken to the underworld. Is that really true?"

"Yes," Victoria sighed. "...It is."

Victor's eyes widened slightly in surprise. While he knew his father would never lie to him, finding out that the tale was true was still shocking to him. He had never been one to believe in life after death, and the descriptions he had heard of the Land of the Dead seemed too dream like and odd to be real.

"Can I ask why you hate talking about it so much?" he asked.

"Well," she started, avoiding eye contact with him. "It didn't have anything to do with the fact that she was dead, but you must understand the story from my point of view. Your father and I fell in love the moment we met each other that day, and then within only a few hours suddenly there was another woman I was competing against. Before I knew it, he was about to leave me and give up his entire life to be with her."

She kept her face turned away from him and her voice became more and more strained as she continued. "It's painful knowing that the man you love loves another woman. Victor, I know your father loves me but...I know that he also still loves her."

Victor nodded in understanding and said tenderly, "I'm sorry for asking."

"It's alright," his mother said, turning to him and giving him a small smile. "I can't blame you for being curious."

Victor smiled back at her. Satisfied with their talk, he left Victoria alone so that she could concentrate on her house work and went up to his room to read.

Later that night, while they were eating a late supper, they were interrupted by a sudden knock on their front door. Victor looked over to see Lucas staring at them through the window.

"We better start keeping the drapes shut from now on," Victoria muttered, staring down at Sparky.

As his mother went to go put Sparky in another room, Victor got up and answered the door to a very nervous looking Lucas.

"What is it?" Victor asked, letting Lucas in the house so that he was not standing in the rain.

"Victor...I'm really really really sorry but...I told someone," Lucas confessed to him.

"What?! Why in the world would you-"

"I'm really sorry! Okay? But I can't change that now and I thought I could handle the situation on my own but I can't and I just really need your help."

Trying not to completely panic just yet, Victor kept his voice steady and questioned, "Who did you tell, and what happened?"

Shaking, Lucas said, "I told three boys that are temporarily in town with the the crew setting up the fair. It got out of hand though and suddenly they wanted to try the experiment themselves…"

"And?"

"...And they brought back three humans from the dead."