I'm going to apologize now for updating so late into the night. Normally, I'm asleep now, but I figured I'd go ahead and update while I'm still awake.

So anyway...chapter 30! Yay!

Chapter 30: Dead People Know Everything

Charlene slammed the door and walked up to Terry, who was sitting at the desk in the guest room they were currently sharing. "You're a drunken fool you idiot!"

Terry jumped at her shouting and shoved something unseen quickly into one of the drawers of the desk. He turned around and gave her a shocked and confused look. "What are you talking about?"

"You get completely wasted and then you convince Philby that Maleficent's back? Now Finn and Willa are freaking out!" She punched him in the arm. "What's wrong with you?"

"I was telling the truth, Charlie." He rolled his eyes and turned back to whatever he was doing.

Charlene grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around. "Don't you turn your back on me! I will not stand to have this nonsense again Terry! Maleficent's dead! Now, I don't know why you would want to believe that she's not, but get over it!" Charlene leaned forward and got in his face. She pointed her finger in his face. "She's dead! Once you're dead, there's no coming back! There's no such thing as ghosts!"

Terry studied her. Her eyes were on the verge of tears, but beyond the tears was fear. The thought of Maleficent coming back was scaring her to death.

He stood up fast, causing her to stumble backward. He grabbed on to her arm so that she wouldn't fall.

"What's going on here Charlie?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you freaking out about Maleficent? We beat her once, we can do it again. No big deal!"

"NO BIG DEAL? So Maleficent coming back from the dead is no big deal?"

Terry knew there was something that she wasn't telling him. He let go of her arm and she stormed out of the room. Whatever was going on with Charlene, Terry was going to find out.

Charlene was walking down the hallway toward the garden. She knew she could have some peace there. The last thing she wanted to do was deal with Terry and his nonsense. Maleficent is not coming back to life! She just can't.

"Charlene."

Charlene stopped in her tracks. That voice didn't belong to Terry. She slowly turned around and saw her thirteen-year old brother, Thomas, standing there. He looked the exact same as he did on the day he died eight years ago—every detail the same, even down to the blood staining his hair from the fatal fall. But he was glowing. He didn't seem real.

"T-T-Thomas?"

"Charlene, I need you to listen to me."

Charlene didn't realize she was trembling with fear. Ghosts aren't real. You're seeing things, Charlene.

"Charlene? Is everything alright?" Thomas walked up to her.

"You're not real!" Charlene put her hands on her head and closed her eyes. She didn't want to see him anymore.

"I'm dead, Charlene. Of course I'm not real." He laughed.

Charlene looked up at her brother. For a quick second his image flickered and disappeared, only to reappear milliseconds later. It occurred so fast Charlene wasn't even sure it had happened.

"Charlene, I have to tell you something. It's really important."

"What is it?"

"That pirate you call your boyfriend?" Charlene slowly nodded. "Yeah, for once he's actually right. Maleficent is alive-"

"What? That can't be true! I refuse to believe it!"

"-and she's coming back for all of you."

"She wants to kill all of us?"

"Yes. Just like she killed our parents and me."

Charlene stared at he brother in disbelief. "She didn't kill you! You fell off your horse and hit your head!"

"You're right, Charlene. But that's only part of the story."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you remember Charlene? My horse never got spooked. It didn't see a snake that day. She enchanted it."

"What are you talking about Thomas? She didn't do that! It's perfectly normal for horses to get spooked by snakes!"

"If there was a snake, why didn't your horse get spooked?"

Charlene thought back to that day. That day was still implanted in her memory as if it was yesterday. Images from that day flashed through her head so fast she almost got dizzy. But one thing was missing. Her eyes widened in shock. He was right: the snake was missing-because it was never there in the first place.

"Now do you believe me Charlene?"

Charlene stared at Thomas. She couldn't believe that he was here. She couldn't believe that Maleficent would want this innocent, little boy dead.

"Why did she kill you? What would she gain from that? You were thirteen!" The tears were about to get the best of her.

"She somehow knew the future. She knew that the next ruler of Florida was going to help someone overthrow her."

"But she wasn't even the ruler in California yet!"

"She knew that was going to happen too."

"What? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Sure it does! Ask Jess!"

"How do you know Jess?"

He gave her his infamous are-you-stupid look. "I'm dead. Dead people know everything. Duh!"

"So why are you telling me about this Thomas? Why show up in ghost form and tell me? Why now?"

"Because…Charlene…she's coming back and somebody's going to die."

"Please tell me it's her."

"I can't tell you who it is. But if you don't want it to be you and your friends, there's something you need to do."

"What would that be?"

"Charlene? Is that you?" Terry's voice called out.

"Gotta go! Love you Charlie." Thomas reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder before disappearing. Despite him being a ghost, Charlene could still feel his touch.

Terry rounded the corner to see Charlene standing in the middle of the hallway, staring at something unseen. He ran up to her until he was standing a few feet away.

"Charlene? What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Huh?" She spun around and saw Terry. "Oh, uh, nothing." She shook her head, deciding not to tell him about her encounter with her dead brother. "I'm going to go…uh…get something to eat. I'll see you later."

"Finn, you're just overreacting."

Finn had been pacing in their bedroom for the past hour, necklace in hand. His newborn son was with Jess, so Finn and Amanda could finally have some time to talk.

"I don't think so!" He stopped and turned to his wife. "I'm not one hundred percent sure I killed her!"

Amanda got up from the bed and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him. "Are you sure this is even a real possibility? I mean Terry has said some pretty crazy things while drunk before."

"I know he has." Finn wiggled out of her embrace, walked over to the edge of the bed and sat down. "But how does that explain the necklace?" He held it out for her to see.

"It doesn't explain the necklace. Terry and his drinking problems are not the explanation for everything, Finn." She sat down next to him. "I'm sure there's a good explanation out of there. But until there's some actual proof that Maleficent is alive, you shouldn't worry."

"But it's very possible she might still be alive. I didn't exactly check to make sure she was dead before we left."

"But you said you stabbed her in the heart? I'm pretty sure that's instant death."

Finn lowered his gaze to his hands. "I didn't."

"What do you mean you didn't?"

"I stabbed her in the stomach, but not exactly in the heart. Well, I guess I could have…I don't know much about anything. The heart sounds better for the story, so that's how I tell it."

"Finn, sweetie, look at me." Amanda waited until Finn looked up at him. "She's not making any kind of come back. She's dead."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because she would have done something by now." Amanda stood up and faced him. "It's been three years Finn. She wasn't known for her patience. There's no way she would wait three years to do something. It's just not like her."

Amanda kissed Finn on the cheek and walked out of the door, leaving Finn alone. He wanted to believe her, but he just couldn't shake this feeling. He looked down at the necklace. There were drops of dried green blood staining his father's royal family emblem.

Finn had no clue how the necklace ended up back in California, but he knew it had to do with Maleficent. The captain was right—not that Finn would ever admit it to him.

Jess looked down at the picture she had just drawn and after her first glance, she was already scared for the future.

In the picture she saw Maleficent sitting on a throne. Not just any throne, though. It was Finn's throne. The throne that became the whole reason she had to disappear and leave Amanda and Terry during the raid. The throne that Jess, Wanda and a man named Jack had been working to get away from her for years before Finn came into the picture. The throne they worked so hard to get back three years ago. The throne that they risked their lives to salvage. The throne that Dillard had died avenging.

But that wasn't the only part that scared her. Actually, now that she thought about it, the fact that Maleficent was sitting on Finn's throne was the most calming part of her picture.

The background was foggy—which usually meant it didn't matter. But this time she had shaded it a dark gray color, so dark one could consider it black. Whatever the fog was, it was very important. The dark gray fog was all over the room, but the majority of it was directly above the throne, creating a demon-bat figure with glowing red eyes.

It clicked with Jess that she had seen that figure before. She flipped through her journal until she found a drawing from three years ago. This drawing was of Willa holding the journal as the ancient spirit was unleashed. Jess flipped back to her most recent drawing. It was the same spirit.

That can't be good, Jess thought to herself. She continued to scan the picture for more clues.

In Maleficent's lap was the journal, open to a certain page—one that Jess could not see. The same journal that Tia Dalma had used to summon the ancient spirit all those years ago. The same journal Willa had taken back with her and had hidden in her house somewhere—or so she claimed.

In Maleficent's right hand was a bloody knife. The blood from the knife was dripping off its blade and falling onto the floor. Jess followed the trail of blood to the floor. That's when she noticed something on the ground at the foot of the throne.

The fog was covering up most of it, but she could have sworn there was a dead body there. She could not see the face, but the outline of it was most definitely a person.

Jess dropped her journal. Someone was going to die and Maleficent was going to be the reason why.

"I'm glad we finally get to go home now." Philby whined. It was the middle of the night, but the moon illuminated the streets of Anaheim perfectly. They had stayed at the castle for a little over a week in preparation for Finn and Amanda's baby, and now that little Dillard was born, they could finally go home. And Philby couldn't have been happier to be sleeping in his own bed.

"Oh come on, Dell. It wasn't that bad!" Willa nudged him before slipping her arm into his. "You love babies just like every other human being in the world."

Ever since they got married, they had decided to call each other by their actual names. Philby had had a hard time getting used to being called Dell again, if he was being honest with himself. He only let two people call him that now: Jack and his wife, Isabel.

"I'm not saying I hate babies!" Philby defended himself. "The castle just doesn't feel like home to me."

"Then you better be glad Finn and Amanda had a boy. Otherwise, if something happened to them, I could be queen in a heartbeat." She smiled up at him.

"Why are you excited about that? I thought you didn't want to be queen?"

"I don't know…Amanda makes it look so easy! It's like she was born to be queen. She makes me think that even a girl like me could do it."

"Isabel, you know you'd be a great queen if it ever came to that."

She thought to herself then burst out into laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"The idea of me becoming queen is simply hilarious. I couldn't take myself seriously."

"Yeah, nobody else would either." Philby joked and Willa nudged him hard in the side.

"You're supposed to be supportive!"

"I can't make a joke every once in a while?" Philby couldn't contain his laughter. Eventually Willa joined in.

The sound of someone kicking down a door followed by a loud scream both brought them back to reality.

"What was that Dell?" Willa asked him in a shaky voice.

"I don't know, but I'm going to check it out." He pulled his sword out of his belt. "Stay here, Isabel."

"No! I'm coming with you!"

"It's probably nothing, Isabel. Just let me handle it." He kissed her on the forehead. "I'll be right back, I promise."

She nodded and he quietly made his way down the street in the direction of the noise.

Philby walked down the street and heard the sound of breaking glass. He found the door where the sounds was coming from and tried to find a way in. There weren't any windows that faced the street, just a door that was slightly ajar.

Philby held his sword out in front of him and slowly opened the door so that it wouldn't make a sound. He took one last glance back at Willa, just to make sure she wasn't anywhere near here.

When he saw that she was still in the spot where he left her, he quickly, but quietly, stepped into the front room and saw that the place had been ransacked. Everything was thrown into the floor and broken.

The one thing that alarmed him was the blood splattered on the wall.

He slowly made his way into the backroom—which in most houses in Anaheim was a bedroom. He quickly moved the curtain taking the place of a door and immediately felt the temperature of the room drop significantly.

Before him was Maleficent sitting on the bed. Before he could scream or do anything else, someone came up behind him, gagged him and bound his hands—his sword clanking as it hit the floor. His captor pushed him to his knees and bound his feet with rope.

Maleficent got up and walked over to Philby, leaning down so she could get close to his face.

"It's nice to see you Dell Philby. I'm sure your wife won't mind if I borrow you for a while."

She motioned to Philby's captor. Whomever it was knocked him over the head and Philby's world went black.

Ah, how I have missed the good old fashioned cliffhangers! :)

And the plot thickens once again! Mwahaha!

Please review! I LOVE reading them! :) I hope y'all are enjoying this story as much as I enjoy writing it...which is a lot! I want to hear what y'all think...and that can only happen in a review...so I'd appreciate it if you would write one! They make my day reading them!

I'll try to update as soon as I can!