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Rodney fidgeted in the chair trying to find a more comfortable position as he sat next to John's bed. His gaze flicked from his tablet to his friend who lay on the bed still restrained; his dull eyes fixed on the ceiling, an untouched tray of food nearby.

Like Carson, they had to sedate John so he could get some sleep….but it wasn't working; he was fighting the sedation leaving him in a dark, tense stupor of sorts.

Frowning, Rodney put his tablet aside.

"Sheppard?" He leaned forward towards the tray of food.

"You gonna eat this, cause I haven't eaten in hours and I…." His hand accidentally brushed John's arm and he jerked back as John's whole body flinched, the restraints rattling against the side of the bed.

"S-sorry!" Rodney sputtered and leaned back in the chair, brushing his hand over his hair and picking back up his tablet.

"I'm sorry...sorry Sheppard." he murmured, his emotions threatening to overwhelm him.

"Sorry I didn't find you guys sooner."

Carson awoke to a blonde woman standing by his bed; she smiled kindly and touched his hand making his mind flash back to the night by the hill and the betrayal.

He jerked his hand away, his eyes flicking around the room looking for the Sovereign and his son.

"Carson?"

The woman placed both hands on the sides of his face forcing him to look at her.

"Please, say something." pleaded Jennifer.

I'msorrysorrysorry

But he remained silent.

"Sir, we have incoming."

Woolsey moved out to the control room.

"It's Teyla's IDC." said Chuck.

"It's about time, lower the shield."

Seconds later Teyla, Ronon and Lorne and his team came through the Gate all looking very tired. Lorne had a gash on his forehead and blood was dripping from the sides of his face; he was leaning heavily against one of his men as he limped forward behind two of his other men who were carrying a large wooden rectangular box that was covered with a tarp.

Woolsey walked down to the Gate room.

"What happened?" he slowed at Lorne, worried. "You've been gone for hours, I didn't think the manor was that big!"

"It wasn't." Ronon huffed and motioned to the box the men were carrying.

Woolsey noticed the heft of the box as the men lowered it to the ground with a thud.

He frowned. "Is that it?"

"It is." Teyla replied, fatigue evident in her voice. "We were fortunate to find this container to put it in."

Curious, Woolsey moved towards the box.

"Mr. Woolsey, not here; somewhere…more secure." Teyla's expression spoke volumes.

"Is it dead?" he asked.

Woolsey received several silent weary gazes in return.

"It's bad isn't it?" he whispered.

"Yes….and yes." Teyla replied.

Fifteen minutes later, with Lorne being checked out by the infirmary staff, John's team, Woolsey, Jennifer and Lorne's team stood in one of the isolation rooms with the box; an exam table sat nearby so Jennifer could get a clearer view of Lucius' pet.

"What exactly is it?" Jennifer asked.

Teyla looked at her, wearily. "We will need a bigger table." she stated, garnering looks of dread from Jennifer, Woolsey and Rodney.

Woolsey motioned to a guard who left the room, returning minutes later pushing another table. He moved it next to the first, locked it into place then stepped back.

Teyla nodded her satisfaction, then turned to Ronon who pulled the tarp off the box; he and one of Lorne's men then reached in and took hold of Lucius' pet. They hefted it over the side and onto the tables that rattled in protest.

The gasps of those seeing it for the first time echoed throughout the room.

Rodney stumbled backwards. "What the hell..?" he croaked.

"Don't worry, it's dead." Ronon grunted.

Jennifer slowly walked around the tables examining the creature.

It looked like…

She paused for a moment staring at it with a horrifying fascination. She couldn't really compare it to anything, because…it wasn't like anything she'd ever seen.

Its body was huge and round, about two feet across in size. It was thick and bulbous, covered in short stiff dark brown hairs; except for at its center where there was a pale deep round hairless opening almost as large as the body itself. Around the opening, thorny dark green tendrils spread out like petals while inside the opening, thick pinkish worm like tubes each almost a foot long emerged; their insides lined with small sharp spines, making them seem like they had teeth.

"Dear God…" murmured Woolsey.

Fascinated, Jennifer stepped forward to examine one of the tubes. As she grasped one, she noticed a slight give and pulled gently; more of the tube emerged from the creature's body, the tube's length expanding from creepy to terrifying. She quickly let it go, stepping back, subconsciously rubbing her gloved hand on her lab coat.

The rest of the creature…the rest of it was legs.

Legs surrounding the body that were long as the body was wide. She lost count at ten and for her sanity decided not to start over.

Covered in dark hairs like the body, and lined with sharp hollow spikes; they flopped off the sides of the exam tables.

Jennifer cringed; it was too much.

It was all too much.

She felt nauseous as she tried to imagine the creature when it was alive and stretched to its full width.

Then a thought hit her.

Where are its eyes?

Woolsey turned to Teyla. "This…" he pointed with distaste at the creature, "was in the room Odalia spoke of?"

"We believe it was," said Teyla, "But when we found the room, the door had been left open allowing the creature to escape. The room was in darkness when we came upon it…it is possible that Lucius may have locked the Colonel and Doctor Beckett in with the creature…in the dark."

The room was silent, everyone imagining the horror of that implication.

"How did you find it then?" asked Jennifer, wondering.

"It found us." said Ronon then corrected himself, "Well, it found Lorne."

"All the guards had fled by the time we returned and the place had been ransacked." said Teyla. "The servants however all remained; according to one of them, awaiting the return of their Sovereign."

"Why didn't they leave like the guards?" asked Woolsey.

"We do not know." Teyla replied. "But they were acting odd, still going about their duties, almost….desperate in their actions. None we spoke with claimed any knowledge of the creature. I believe, it…" she pointed at Lucius' pet, "had something to do with their behavior."

"In what way?" asked Jennifer.

"I have heard stories as a young child of a creature that feeds off a person's spirit and eats their will." Teyla replied.

"Eats?" Woolsey asked, subconsciously taking a step back from the creature. "With..." he motioned nervously to the tubes on the creature.

"That's not its mouth." said Ronon. "I heard the same stories as a child. It's what it uses to find its prey." he pointed at the tubes, "It sniffs them out."

"That's why it has no eyes." said Jennifer, understanding.

Ronon nodded. "It doesn't need them, the tubes see for it. It also uses them when it's angry or scared to make a kind of shrieking noise."

Rodney's mouth dropped open. "It-it shrieks?" he stuttered.

"Let out a loud one, when I shot it." Ronon replied.

Rodney turned away and put a hand on his head.

Teyla held up one of its legs. "According to the stories, when it is ready to feed it uses these to get what it wants." She turned the leg, showing the hollow spikes.

"It eats who you are…sucks it right out of you. I thought they were just stories, a person's will and spirit are not tangible...but the Colonel is not the Colonel and Doctor Beckett is not Doctor Beckett; so maybe there is some truth to it all." she sighed, lowering the creature's leg.

"What is it called?" asked Woolsey.

"Our elders called it an Ashen." Teyla replied. "It was the invisible monster in the woods; the fear of it keeping many children from wandering away from their parents."

"Invisible monster?" asked Rodney, who had regained some of his composure and turned back around. "It looks pretty visible from where I'm standing."

"It is dead, that is why we can see it. It can camouflage itself in direct light. We missed it the first few times we searched the hallways and rooms; there was too much light. We were walking past a darkened hallway and had just rounded a corner when it attacked Major Lorne." Teyla exhaled heavily, remembering Lorne's screams as the creature wriggled on top of him before they ran back and opened fire on it. First stunning it, then as it scurried off of the Major, Ronon shooting at it until it shrieked and finally dropped, its legs wriggling slightly, then grew still.

Woolsey shuddered inwardly at the image then turned to Jennifer, "We need to find out more about it."

"I'll run some tests." she replied, her eyes still glued to the creature.

-tbc-