As the days continued going by at what appeared like a faster pace for Lia it was an eternity dragging by for the Losers. Lia and Pennywise grew closer as they spent their time together hidden away behind the safety of Niebolt House or wrapped in a glamour strolling the streets of Derry undetected by any and everyone they came across. Pennywise was still as smitten as ever with the unique creature and old friend of his and Lia was quickly realizing that her feelings were just as deep as the killer clown's.

Bill had tried to talk to Lia several times since her stunt of appearing and saving Pennywise from being ganged up on and she always watched from the shadows as he left sadder, more confused, and angrier then when he arrived which always seemed to amuse Lia to no end.

The rest of the Losers were all terrified of her now and wanted nothing to do with her, she was more then fine with the decision.

As the time carried on Lia felt something deep in the depths of her core shiver and shake and rattle, like it was trying to break free from an unseen binding that kept it firmly in place. She felt herself change and grow.

She was witnessing her own Evolution.

Lia and Henry went back to normal as if the incident on her front porch never even happened but Lia was always waiting, watching for the signs to come. She knew Henry was gonna have to be a tool but she also knew she could set him free from that deep pain inside of himself that he carried so hatefully due to his father's abuse. She would have Pennywise free him and in turn he would serve them in the future more so then now.

The future was a fickle thing. Some things were set in stone, destiny as some would call it. Lia meeting The Deadlights was destiny. Their relationship growing was destiny. Lia becoming more powerful. And it were these facts alone that everything else became changeable in the grand scheme of things.


Blowing a soundless raspberry Lia was splayed out on the large bean bag in the middle of the much cleaner room at Niebolt House reading a fashion magazine.

Since spending so much time at the abandoned Victorian mansion Lia had given it a deep clean as best she could and put some actual furniture in some rooms like the pair of large bean bags and side tables in the study she always found herself in and the pretty red Christmas lights that Pennywise had surprised her by stringing up for her one day in her absence.

Lia had quickly learned that red was definitely Penny's favorite color which she realized he didn't even seem to fathom he just seemed to be drawn to the color. She found the habit cute. And very human like.

Jingle. Jingle. Jingle.

Lia looked around her but saw nothing, she focused her hearing and yet still nothing. Not even with her enhanced hearing she had come to control but she had heard the bells and she knew could only mean one thing.

Pennywise.

Standing up slowly Lia made her way where she could have sworn she thought the bells had come from originally which were in the direction of the kitchen leading to the back door. She knew that space always had a very echoey sound to it and those bells sure did echo.

Once she made it to the hallway between the kitchen and the back door she took a deep breath and focused all of her senses again as she wait.

Jingle. Jingle. Jing-ly.

Lia bolted back the way she came and up the stairs heading to the bedroom she had set up for Pennywise even though she knew he wouldn't use it much and threw open the door only to jerk to a stop as it was empty.

She scowled in annoyance, turning to head back out the door she suddenly gave a small short scream and jerked backwards so suddenly she tripped and fell. Lia squeezed her eyes so tightly she made her face hurt and waited for the impact of the floor to connect with her body but instead she felt the strong secure grip of masculine arms wrapping around her.

Slowly the red head opened her eyes and lifted her head up to see a strong chest encased behind a silver Victorian clown suit and she let out a sigh and let her head drop to Pennywise's chest. Pennywise's shocking blue eyes were wide and stunned as he gazed down at his friend but he held her close not daring to move his arms for fear of her falling. Pennywise thrived off fear. It was a part of what fed his existence but for some reason the taste of Lia's small burst of fear even if it was only in the form of being caught off guard made his extremely tolerable stomach swish and turn as if all his innards wanted to suddenly come outward by spewing out his mouth.

"You're an ass." Lia chastised.

Pennywise gently twirled a loose curl between his gloved fingers with a childlike pout on his face.

"Sorry.."

Lia could only chuckle at the fact he said sorry but she looked up at his towering form and smiled. Lia wasn't short by any means, at 16 she stood at 5'9 but Pennywise was 6'10 in his clown form and about 6'4 in the shape of the young man he had been using more often then not around her.

She wrapped her own arms around his middle and hugged him tightly causing Pennywise to turn to mush in her grasp as he leaned around her like a cocoon encasing her in his person. The extraterrestrial loved when the red head hugged him.

Moments like this he truly felt invincible.

Like she made him so.


Returning home later that day Lia found a sight that made her give pause.

Her father was in the middle of the living room putting things slowly into boxes but at the sound of the door closing he turned and suddenly the pair were face to face after months apart.

Nigel's face showed shock as he took in his daughter's appearance. She was taller. Not too far behind his own 6'0 frame now and her face was somehow more mature her cheekbones sharper and her jawline more noticeable. Her once shocking lilac eyes were currently a depthless, ink black and held an alluring gloss like sheen over them.

Dressed in an oversized torn band t-shirt that was stretched out to the point it hung off of one shoulder and a pair of high waisted bleach stained jeans paired with her old boots and her long nearly crimson hair piled on top of her head in a stylish yet messy bun the young teen could easily pass for a young woman of twenty with her height and mature figure.

He knew he had no right to feel pain at the sight of his only child looking older beyond his years but he did. Oh boy did he.

"Hey love bug." Nigel mumbled softly.

Lia didn't think she had ever physically flinched so hard at words before in her life, the immense rage that instantly followed made her jaw click. Nigel instantly regretted speaking.

"Don't." Lia warned through clinched teeth causing Nigel to sigh sadly but nod in agreement.

The man went to speak again when Lia zoomed passed him quickly making her way to the stairs. The teenager had just put her boot clad foot on the bottom step when sadly her father found his voice again.

"Ophelia!"

The red head paused, one foot on the step the other at the base of the staircase. A single hand lightly resting on the banister. Her head held high, facing forward with her shoulders back. Proud. Unaffected. Giving nothing away.

"I know by this point you hate me." Nigel began his cigarette strained vocals reminding her almost of a frog these days with their croaky like notes.

She hated how much she once loved the stories that voice told.

"I don't blame you. I hate me too." Nigel ruffled his thick greeting hair looking down at his boots "but I hope one day I can make it up to you. I hope one day we can get back to what we used to be."

The silence was deafening. It was nearly suffocating to Nigel as he began to sweat and give off the faintest tremble. The energy his daughter gave off made him more then a little frightened.

Slowly but surely Lia looked over her shoulder, her swirling glassy lilac and black eyes gazed deeply into the older man's soul causing him to gulp and his stomach to lurched nauseatingly.

"My father died the moment he choose getting his dick wet with some young piece of ass then the wife that stayed with him through broke, content, homelessness, and sickness. The wife that stayed with him through his cancer, twice!" Lia hissed her words holding so much venom Nigel stepped back.

"The wife that supported him as a waitress and a cashier while he got his masters degree in Engineering! The wife that stayed beside him through an intentional overdose because he felt he was a burden her! Through the death of your first child together!" Lia practically roared with a searing hatred causing Nigel to visibly shake like a leaf in the strong wind of Autumn.

"You're worthless you know?" Lia sneered, a violent glint in her eyes that seemed to swirl rapidly as she gazed head on to the man she once thought of as a hero. "You're gonna pack your shit. You're gonna head back to what ever shit hole you crawled out of. You're gonna kill that little whore of yours and you're gonna hang a noose and jump. My mother will get your money, your insurance policies, the house, the vehicles. All of it. Fix your mistakes Nigel. Fix them."

And just like that she disappeared up the stairs leaving her father in a haunted daze before finishing up his packing and leaving the house with out a sound.

Come morning the town was yet again in an uproar. This time instead of terror of missing children it was the gossip and utter shock as the headline on the local news would read

"Local resident brutally murders his mistress before hanging himself."

Ophelia Quinn slept like a baby that night.