Season 3, Episode 4: "Vision"

Although most of us use our eyes to see the world around us, there are people who can see more than that. Remember Evelyn? I've also experienced the firsthand effects of someone…or something….that was able to see the future before it happened. Even though I've never met one, I'm sure there are people out there who can see the future before it happens. I've been told that you can change anything, but it really makes me wonder: can the people that have the power of foresight change what they see, or are they helpless to watch as their visions come true?

As the first notes of the song came out of the keyboard, everyone in the club went quiet as Molly took a deep breath, preparing for the lyrics she was about to sing. As much as she didn't like the memories associated with that particular song, it seemed fitting to put on that night's set list for some reason.

"It's dark outside and the baby's asleep, you're going for a ride," she sang, feeling the same combination of sadness and dread as when she'd first written it.

"Why is it black? What is this tingle on the back of my neck?" Surprisingly, the words came true and she felt a growing sense of foreboding. Maybe it was just the song, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It worried her even more that she couldn't put her finger on what it was. She kept singing, but a look of worry was starting to creep over her face.

"Words that will never be spoken the moment I lose you…" As soon as she sang those words, she had to keep herself from falling to her knees. In her head, she could hear a horrible sound, like metal being ripped apart.

Mom! She could hear Fi's voice, screaming. The one word was filled with terror.

Mom, no! Jack was screaming as well, and then both voices were silenced by another loud, metallic noise. It was all she could do keep a tear from falling down her cheek.

-X-

As soon as the band started playing "Love is Broken," Fi felt a chill go through her entire body. Although she hadn't been around to hear her mother perform the song in New York, the thought that it might have been a premonition of her father's death had been haunting her since then, especially after what her mother said to her after that whole incident where they all went silent.

"What's wrong?" came a voice from behind her, and she jumped, turning around to see Jack standing there.

"Nothing," she replied, uncertain that she was telling the truth. She felt something akin to resonation just under her skin and looked down at her ring. To her surprise, a silvery light raced across the engraving, and she looked up to see that her mother's was doing the same thing. Thankfully, the bright stage lights would just make it look like a reflection and Jack was too busy watching their mom perform to notice, but something was definitely happening. She noticed that her mother was having trouble standing.

"It couldn't be…" she whispered, trying to decide if the conclusion she'd arrived at as to what was going on could even be feasible. After everything Tristan and her mother had told her, it seemed likely, but she didn't think she'd ever know for sure. Running her finger over the engraving on her ring, she felt some of her worry melt away. She only wished she could do the same thing for her mother.

-X-

As the guitar solo ended, Molly felt a comforting feeling wash over her. It almost felt like…Rick? As impossible as that would be, it made her feel better to entertain the thought.

"Your breath is still on my lips…"

-X-

Everyone seemed worn out as they boarded the bus, and they knew that twelve hours from now, they'd be in the next town where they'd do the same thing all over again. Carey and Ned were loading the last of the equipment into the storage compartments, and Molly turned to Fi and Jack.

"Hey, you two, it's been a long night. Go to bed," she said, earning a nod from her son and a sigh from her daughter.

"Can't I just stay up and check my website for an hour or two?" Fi asked, her tone hopeful.

"You'll have plenty of time to check your website tomorrow, Fiona. Get to bed," Molly replied, giving her a stern look. Her daughter frowned, climbing the stairs to get inside the bus. Ned popped in.

"All right, we're ready to go!" he called, and they started moving as soon as Ned brought the bus to life. Molly was worried because the sense of foreboding hadn't left her when she'd finished performing. The things that she had heard had been frightening, but she was probably just suffering from post-gig stress. It happened, especially since she'd decided to go back on tour right away.

She felt slightly better as they rolled out of town, but she didn't feel like going to sleep. There was too much to think about.

-X-

Fi turned over restlessly in her bed. What had happened in the club had been bugging her since they left, but she couldn't do any research…or could she?

Ever so quietly, she snuck over to the stand where she kept her laptop. Keeping constant pressure on the switch so it didn't make any noise, she opened her computer. Suddenly, her door opened and Molly stood there, looking into her room.

"No computer tomorrow," she said, and Fi stood there, dumbfounded.

"How did she know?" Fi asked aloud.

-X-

Molly slept quietly, having banished the thoughts about…whatever it was that had happened while she had been singing.

The air around her window started to shimmer and, silent in the dark, a shadow hovered above the bed. Molly's breath quickened as it passed over her and her eyes fluttered open. Faintly, her ring glowed in the dark as she awoke, skin tingling with the sense that something was wrong.

She sat up, looking around for anything that might look out of place. It wasn't there, but it was near. Quietly, she got up and opened her door, squinting against the soft lights that were still on in the main part of the bus. She looked over at Jack and Fi's doors, trying to find whatever it was that had woken her. All of a sudden, every light in the bus went off, plunging her into darkness.

She gasped as she realized that the lights were still on and made her way up to the front of the bus, where Ned was driving.

"Hey, Ned, is anything wrong with the wiring on the bus?" she asked, worried.

"No, why?" he asked and as he did, all of the lights went out, including the headlights. Ned applied the brakes quickly, doing his best not to jolt the vehicle as he did so. Molly's breath caught in her throat as she saw that they had come extremely close to going off the road. Ned looked shocked.

-X-

Molly bent down to see what Ned was pointing at.

"See? The battery wires got disconnected. I guess it's a good thing that they didn't break or we'd be out of luck," he said, reconnecting the cables to the battery.

"Besides, it's only a minor setback. We'll be to the next town right away," he added, leading the way back to the bus. Thankfully, it started and they were on their way. The foreboding she'd felt before was gone, but she was still wary. That didn't seem like it had happened on accident.

-X-

Molly was up with the sun, and they were just getting to the outskirts of town. She'd let the kids sleep in, but the adults on the bus had to take care of business and set up on stage. It was going to be a long day of rehearsing before the gig.

-X-

"…but I come out on the other side of paradise! Oh, yeah, paradise!" The lyrics bled from the speakers and the rough sound made by the guitar Molly was playing filled the empty house, and the entire band was playing their hearts out.

"That sounded amazing!" she said, earning cheers from the band members. Her smile froze as she felt her heart beat faster, a chill coming over her entire body. Her fears were confirmed when she looked over at Ned.

"Ned, look out! The speaker!" she shouted, turning everyone's attention to Ned. They all watched in horror as one of the larger speakers started to topple forward. Ned looked up at the speaker in shock and was taken down as Carey tackled him out of the way. They both landed on the ground, but Carey was groaning in pain. Molly took the guitar off and ran over to see that the speaker had landed on the younger Bell's foot, crushing it. Without another thought, she ran over to a table offstage and took out her cell phone, dialing 911.

-X-

As soon as the speaker fell, Fi knew that something weird was definitely going on, but what was bothering her was that her mother had said something a second before it fell. Could her mother have seen or felt it coming? Her remarks hinting that she might have known about her father's death before it happened were starting to make more sense, but she couldn't know for sure. She'd definitely have to observe things more closely from now on.

-X-

Molly waited with everyone outside the theater as the ambulance took Carey away. He had said that he wanted the show to stay on, but his dismay at not having been able to play the gig was apparent. The foreboding was back, and it seemed to Molly that something bad was just seconds away from happening.

When they were all back inside, she gathered the band together.

"Okay guys, we're down a guitarist, but there's not much we can do about it. We can just change some of the songs on the set list," she said, trying to keep morale up.

"So what kind of songs do you want to do?" her bassist asked.

"Well, I could do The Rock, Rebecca, Love is Broken, just songs that don't really require any solos. We can do a few shows like that for now. I don't think we're going to any big venues for the next month or so." Everyone nodded.

"Okay, let's get to practicing. We haven't done The Rock in a while, so we'll rehearse it a few times to get it down," she announced, and everyone got into position.

-X-

When the band started playing, Fi ran over to her laptop and opened her browser. She opened the e-mail window and started typing:

Tristan –

Meet me on InstaGab when you can. I've got something to ask you.

- Fi

She hit SEND and then opened InstaGab, but only her username showed in the window. It took a minute, but Tristan's e-mail popped up.

Tristan: Long time, no talk, Fiona.

Fi: Sorry about that. I have an important question for you.
Tristan: Is it something paranormal?
Fi: You know it. Is there any way I can identify a spirit?
Tristan: What do you mean?
Fi: Well, I think there might be a spirit haunting the building my mom's performing at. Is there a way to identify it so I could get rid of it?
Tristan: …I don't know. Let me check the book.
Fi: Okay.
Tristan: Here we go. A Modagh circle. Turn to page 80 in the book.

Fi: Okay, what does it do?

Tristan: Read the page.

Fi looked at the book and read what she saw aloud.

"A Modagh circle is a design that protects a building from entry by spirits that intend to do someone harm. Drawn with white chalk at the four points of the compass, it creates a barrier that evil cannot cross." The intricate design was intimidating, but if it meant protecting her family, it was worth the effort.

-X-

Fi felt heavy as she walked into a store, eyes darting around before finding a sign that said "Office Supplies." It didn't take her long to find a pack of chalk, but she felt silly buying it to ward off evil spirits. After all, did chalk really have any magical power?

She dismissed the questions in her head for now and walked up to the register, where a woman who looked decidedly bored greeted her.

"Did you find everything you were looking for?" she asked, and Fi nodded, avoiding eye contact. Her chalk was paid for in no time and she hurried out of the store, anxious to start making the protective circles.

-X-

"Up…and…around," she said aloud as she imitated the design on the book's page. After comparing her design, she was satisfied that it looked like what it was supposed to. It had taken her an hour, but she'd finished all four designs. Hopefully, they would be enough to keep them all safe until they left.

-X-

"Please welcome…Molly Phillips!" Those words were Molly's signal to go onstage with the rest of her band, and she was met with cheers and applause.

"Hey, everyone! We're trying something a little different tonight, so we hope you enjoy it!" she said into the mic, strapping her guitar over her shoulder. The count of "one, two, three" was given and they all started to play In the Darkness.

"Demons come from every side…"

-X-

Fi felt her ring resonating again, and she looked onto the stage to see if everything was okay. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something might happen.

-X-

"Free to be down here on my knees, yeah," Molly sang, strumming the strings of the guitar.

"Just when I thought I'd lost my sight…" She almost stopped when she got the overwhelming feeling that she was in danger. Nothing was happening, so she had to continue playing, but something was going to happen.

-X-

When In the Darkness finished, she turned to the band.

"Love is Broken," she said, getting a chill. While she didn't want to play that song, it felt like she had to. The keyboard started and she took off her guitar, stepping up to the mic.

"It's cold outside and the baby's asleep, you're going for a ride. Why is it black? What is this tingle on the back…" She stopped mid-sentence and looked up to the steel beam that the stage lights were on.

"Move!" she yelled, scrambling backward just as the beam came down onto the stage. She fell onto the floor and stopped, blood frozen in her veins. Her mic stand lay crushed under the beam, exactly where she'd been standing.

-X-

Fi stared, mouth agape as she watched the accident unfold in front of her. Her mother had almost been crushed, but she'd moved back at the last second. She was glad Molly was okay, but it was starting to look like the possibility that her mother had seen these things before they happened was starting to become something more than a possibility.

The concert came to a halt after the beam fell, and the theater had been evacuated by the manager. Irene was talking with the club manager, trying to figure things out on the business end.

"Well, the beam fell and that was pretty much it," Molly said, and the policeman nodded, scribbling some notes down on a pad before turning away. The musician turned to Fi.

"Baby, can I use your computer?" she asked, and Fi gave her a strange look.

"Sure. It's over there," she replied, pointing to where her laptop was. Molly nodded and walked over to it, flipping it open. She paused before doing anything as she remembered the first time she had searched for information on premonitions, but the articles had all seemed too far-fetched to make any sense. The way things were going, though, had started to change her attitude.

She opened the search window and typed "PREMONITIONS" into the box. One click had the computer working and she chose an article from the list that had appeared on the screen.

It was nothing she hadn't seen before. It was the ability to see the future, but she hadn't found anything to answer a more pressing question. Frustrated, she closed her eyes to stop the tears from coming up.

"If I can see the future, why can't I change it?" she said. Suddenly, an icon popped up.

"You have mail," the computer announced, and she warily clicked on the icon. To her surprise, she found an e-mail addressed to her from an unknown sender. She bit her lip and opened it, reading the message it contained.

YOU CAN CHANGE ANYTHING.

"What?" she whispered, confused by what she just read. Had the computer heard her question and answered her? Or was something else at work here? In any case, she felt her helplessness vanish, replaced with comfort. She had gotten the answer to her question.

-X-

"The club manager says he'll pay double if you'll play here tomorrow night," Irene said, holding the contract.

"Did he forget that I almost got killed onstage?" Molly countered, crossing her arms.

"He said he was sorry, but he's getting a new beam put in tomorrow and he swears it won't fall like the last one," the manager said, and Molly sighed.

"Fine, but I won't play if I almost die again," she replied, still conflicted about her choice.

-X-

Fi opened InstaGab in the hope that Tristan would be there. He wasn't, but his screen name popped up.

Tristan: Hello, Fiona.
Fi: Hey, Tristan, I've got good news and bad news.

Tristan: What's the bad news?

Fi: The Modagh circles didn't work. My mom was almost killed last night.

Tristan: I don't think I can help you because I don't know exactly what you did. Try re-reading the page again and see if you missed anything. So what's the good news?

Fi: I think I'm stumbling onto a major discovery about my family.

Tristan: Care to elaborate?

Fi: I'm not sure yet.

Tristan: Be sure to keep me updated. I have to go study for a final, but e-mail me if you need any help.

Fi: Will do.

She closed InstaGab and turned around to run outside. Making her way to the bus, she went straight to her room and produced the book of Celtic magic from inside her trunk. She located the page about Modagh circle and found a section of text she hadn't seen before.

"The protection of the circles is activated with the incantation dúnaim." She let out a frustrated growl as she realized how stupid she'd been for not having read that part in the first place, but there was nothing she could have done about it; however, there was something she could do about it now.

Determined, she walked out onto the stage where the beam was being cleared away and closed her eyes, focusing on the designs she'd drawn.

"Dúnaim," she said, feeling her ring resonating again. When she opened her eyes, everything felt…safer, somehow. The magic had worked, and her mother would have no problem as long as she stayed inside the club.

-X-

The next day, Fi approached the nurses' desk at the hospital, and a woman looked up at her from some files.

"Can I help you?" the nurse asked.

"Yeah, I'm here to see Carey Bell," Fi replied, placing her hands on the counter.

"Carey Bell…Room 302," the nurse said after punching something into her computer. Fi thanked her and started her journey down the hallway to the room.

Carey's face lit up when he saw her over the leg the doctors had suspended in the air.

"I didn't know I'd be getting visitors today!" he said, exuding his happiness at seeing her.

"Well, visitor. Everyone else is getting ready for the gig," she teased, taking a seat at a chair next to his bed.

"Wait, Molly's playing again?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah…your parents didn't tell you?" Now Fi was worried.

"They didn't mention anything when they were here last night." His head sank back into some pillows.

"Well, she's playing again tonight. The club owner assured her that she'd be safe." Her words reflected her amount of belief in the promise.

"Something else happened?" He raised his head up by stuffing more pillows under it.

"Yeah. One of the lighting beams fell onto the stage." It was all she could do to not relive the incident.

"That club's pretty dangerous," he remarked, making her laugh.

"So how's your foot?" she asked.

"Better than I thought. He said that it's just a severely sprained ankle. I'll be out of commission for at least three weeks," he answered, sounding depressed.

"Three weeks? We've got a lot of gigs between now and then. What are you going to do?"

"Your mom said she'd get another guitarist until I get out of the hospital. After that, I'm going to see if she'll let me play sitting down." He laughed at the last part of his statement.

"I'm sure she will," Fi assured him.

"Hey, I'm going to get going. I have some homework to do," she said.

"Oh, okay. Make sure you come and visit again," he admonished, doing his best to sound serious. She chuckled and got up.

"Everything's going to be okay," she said, turning around when she reached the door. She didn't know why she said it, but it seemed to ease her fears as well as his.

-X-

Molly ran her fingers across the guitar strings.

"The rock forged my spirit, the rock was my anchor…" She froze mid-sentence as a horrible feeling of dread filled her again. Before her eyes sprawled a scene of a street, cars going by. Suddenly, Fi rounded the corner and, after seeing that she had the OK to cross, stepped into the street. Just as she did, a car turned a sharp right and slammed right into her. She started stammering into the microphone.

"Um…take five! Take five!" she said loudly, and the band stopped, confused.

"I have to go do something really quick," she said, taking the guitar's strap off and setting the instrument on the stage. She ran for the entrance, the terrible sight of the vision burned into her mind. She had to save Fi.

-X-

Almost to the theater, Fi stopped at a crosswalk, waiting for the red hand to turn into a white man. It did and she started to cross, keeping an eye out for any cars. Just as she was about to step into the street, she saw her mother running to the intersection, waving her hands and shouting something. She paused to try and make out Molly's words, but the world stopped as a car zoomed right in front of her. Had she been in the street at the time, she would have been killed.

It seemed funny that rather than fixate on the fact that she'd almost been killed, she was more concerned with the fact that she'd been stopped from crossing the street. There was no way she could have been coming out of the theater at the right time and tried to warn her, and things were starting to become clearer. She just needed to investigate this matter a bit more.

-X-

Molly watched as Fi stopped just short of being hit. Her warning had come just in time.

As much as she hadn't wanted to have the vision, she was glad she had, even if she was still coming to terms with the fact that she now fell into the category of things her daughter called "Weird." If a person who could see the future didn't go there, then she didn't know what did.

She didn't want to tell anyone, as she already knew how the bus crew reacted to Fi's reports of weird stuff. She'd probably just get dismissed as "stressed," but of course, there was always the chance that Fi was going to find out anyway. Her daughter had a knack for curiosity and perseverance, two traits she'd inherited from Rick. That, coupled with an affinity for the paranormal, and she probably already knew.

It hurt to know that she had now been drawn into what had gotten Rick killed, but as long as she had visions, she would protect her family. She had to, now that her husband was gone.

-X-

The gig went off without a hitch. Nothing bad happened, and no one else got hurt, but the air took on a different feel outside of the club. Both Molly and Fi could feel something more sinister, but neither of them knew what it was. Since Carey needed to stay the night at the hospital, Irene decided to stay with her son and Ned had opted to take them to the next town. He'd drop off the Phillips' and the band at a motel and go back for them.

Everyone except for Ned and Molly was asleep, and Molly was busying herself with Fi's laptop. She was still searching for articles about premonitions, hoping that at least one of them held some valuable advice for her about her gift. When she didn't find anything, she set the computer on the table and went back into her bedroom. She closed the door behind her and laid down on the bed, awash in foreboding. She had a feeling that what she'd seen so far was nothing compared to what was coming.

Just as she got to sleep, her eyes shot open when the horrible grinding sound she'd first heard playing Love is Broken woke her up. It was going to happen.

She got up and reached for the door handle but when she pulled it, the door didn't open. Her heart almost stopped as she frantically tried to open it, realizing that whatever was coming was getting closer, and she wasn't able to do anything about it. Closing her eyes, she sighed and leaned her head on the door, frustrated. Out of nowhere, she found herself thinking about the e-mail she'd received.

"You can change anything," she whispered, and her ring started to glow. She felt a new determination grow in her and she yanked on the door handle, successfully opening it. Immediately, she bolted for the front of the bus.

"Ned! Look out!" she yelled, bracing herself for what was about to happen.

Ahead of the bus, there was something lying in the road. As they approached it, she realized that it was a large tree branch, and Ned swerved as she caught sight of it, but wasn't fast enough. The bus' right front tires hit it and were lifted off the road, causing the bus to tip. Ned erratically jerked the wheel, and the motion caused the vehicle to sway in the air, eventually causing a shift in balance that stopped time itself.

In that split second, Molly felt the world turn as the bus landed on its side, still propelled by the momentum it had from accelerating at sixty miles per hour. She fell backwards, landing on the top of one of the bench seats that jutted out from the wall with the table. A horrible grinding sound filled the air and she lay there, helpless and being showered by sparks created by the metal scraping against the road.

-X-

Fi woke up as soon as she felt her ring resonating, and she knew immediately that something was wrong. She got up and cracked her door in time to see her mother's fly open. She watched as Molly ran to the front of the bus, yelling something, but before she could make out what it was, the bus turned on its side and she fell through her doorway onto the wall next to Jack's.

"Mom!" she screamed.

-X-

Jack sat up in bed, confused. It felt like he'd been having a nightmare, although it must not have been very vivid because he couldn't remember it. Suddenly, he tumbled out of his bed and hit the wall of his room when the bus turned over. His ears were assaulted with a metallic grinding and without a thought, he grabbed for the top edge of his bed. He hoisted himself up until he was close enough to the door to push it open. It swung upward and he grabbed for the doorframe, letting out a cry when the door slammed on his fingers.

Fighting through the pain, he pried the door open and stuck his other hand in, using this new position to force the door open when he pulled himself up. He looked over just in time to see his mom fall.

"Mom! No!" he yelled, almost drowned out by the horrible scrape.

-X-

The bus skidded to a halt and Molly looked up to see the bus in utter chaos.

"Jack? Fi?" she called weakly, struggling to position herself more comfortably.

"Mom?" she heard them both call, and an immense wave of relief washed over her. Both of her children were alive.

"Ned? Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm okay, Molly," he replied, and she knew that, regardless of the damage done to the bus, they were all alive. Irene would probably have a meltdown that the bus was out of commission for at least two weeks, but that wouldn't matter. She could put the tour on hold for now.

-X-

They all stood outside, awash in flashing red and blue lights. Police had helped them all out of the overturned bus, and trucks were working to put it upright again.

"There was a tree branch in the middle of the road and it got under our tires," Molly explained to a police officer.

"Thank you, Ms. Phillips. We'll let you know if we need any more information," he replied, and she nodded. When she turned around, Fi was standing there.

"Did you see it, mom?" she asked, and Molly froze.

"What do you mean?" she countered.

"I mean, did you see the accident before it happened?" Fi pressed, crossing her arms.

"Baby, I…just had an instinct, that's all," Molly said, trying to dismiss her daughter as best she could.

"Mom…" Fi started, but Molly walked over to her and wrapped her in a hug.

"Baby, I don't know what it was, but I promise you that I'll always protect you," she whispered, leaving Fi curious and frustrated at the same time when she walked away to find Jack. It was then that Fi thought of something and ran over to the bus that was now sitting on its tires like it was supposed to.

She looked frantically through the chaotic inside and found her laptop surprisingly unharmed. Setting aside her discomfort after having discovered her computer untouched, she opened it and saw that the e-mail screen was up.

"One for mom?" she asked aloud, feeling like something was off. When she caught sight of the message sender, she clicked on the message without hesitation. A smile came over her face when she read the words on the screen.

"You can change anything." This was what she had been waiting for. At least she'd finally gotten the answer she was looking for, and this time, it unlocked a part of her family's history.