"Derek, what's wrong?" Alex asked after finding him brooding in his office the next day.

"I had to kill one daughter to save the other," he said after several seconds. "There was no appealing to her. It was as though she had absolutely no understanding of humanity. No morals. Almost like she wasn't human. Somehow, she was connected to every member of that cult. Like their lives were directly linked to hers. When she died, so did they."

"But wouldn't that mean her mother no longer led the cult?"

"It doesn't make sense. They take over by either passing over leadership or deliberately killing their current leader ritually. It didn't sound to me like her mother willingly passed leadership over. Yet, I was the one who killed her."

"Could there have been a ritual done as you were killing their mother? It makes sense," Alex said.

"That must be what happened. I can see no other way." He was quiet again for a while. "Do you remember that little pendant Arabella got for her last birthday?"

"The one Philip gave her? With the little medal on one side and the pink stone on the other? She had me looking for it yesterday. I couldn't find it."

"That's because it was left behind at the school. Her roommate found it after we left with Arabella. She gave it to me when we left the hotel room saying we'd need it."

"And?"

"They were all terrified of it, except for Arabella's sister. I'm not sure why it didn't affect her. When she knocked it out of my hand, it fell into a bowl. They'd beed performing a spell of some sort. It completely destroyed the contents."

"I guess you could say Philip was there by extension."

"Not unless it has to something to do with the medal. It has important significance to many people. I've never heard of it doing anything like this before though."

"Have you given it back to her?"

"No. I thought it would be better if she could rest more before getting it back."

"I did look in on her before I came in here. Both her and Philip are sleeping. Her stomach is shrinking."

"That's good. I'd rather that she sleep through it if she can. I'm having a doctor who's worked with the Legacy before come to look at her. She's met them before, but never for anything medical."

The doctor Derek had sent for left the room. "She's doing well, all things considered," she told Derek. "She should stay in bed until I clear her though. She's had quite the trauma. It's not advisable for her to finish her school year."

"I've already made plans to pull her out. She won't be happy though."

"Good. I noticed Callaghan didn't leave her side. He feels responsible, doesn't he?"

"Yes, he does."

"If he doesn't wear himself out if he doesn't get enough rest himself. Speak to him about that. I'm going to put Arabella on a strict diet. Her health may have been badly affected by what happened. Have her take a pregnancy test in a few weeks because you don't know how far that curse you told me about reversed itself. Arabella also could have gotten pregnant regardless."

"She wasn't active before. Not ever. I know my daughter."

"So she told me. Regardless, sperm lives inside the uterus for several days. If the curse did reverse completely, she could still get pregnant just because there's still a chance of fertilization. So, this means we don't know for certain. Try to alleviate any pain and discomfort she continues to suffer from as best you can. Avoid giving her pain relievers too often."

A few weeks later

Alex came into Derek's office. "Derek, we have a little problem."

"What's that?" he asked.

"I can't get Arabella to take that pregnancy test you had me get for her."

Derek sighed. "She's probably afraid to use it. Try anything you can think of to get her to do it. The doctor is waiting to hear from me about this."

"I guess I'll have to go back to the mainland," Alex said.

"Why?"

"Taking one myself might be the only way to get her to use it," she answered.

"Ok, we're going to try this again," Alex said when she came back into Arabella's room later that day. "Only this time, it's going to go a little differently. I'm going to do it too. I'll do it first, ok? It's not that hard."

"I know how those things work. I'm not stupid," Arabella said. "I'm still not doing it."

"Arabella you have to. Do you know why? Because if you don't, your dad will call the doctor and have a blood draw done and we all know how much you hate needles."

Arabella made a small noise.

"Now, do we have a deal?" Alex asked.

Arabella nodded a little.

"I got the job done," Alex told Derek when she went into his office later.

"And?" he prompted.

"The test was positive."

"I'll call the doctor and get her checked out. Make sure she's doing well."

"Derek, there's something else." She dropped a test stick on the desk in front of him.

He looked at it. "You're pregnant?"