~ Jed ~

I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't… nothing. Not a flash, not a glimmer as we made our way down to the cellar entrance. I found myself trailing my fingers along everything, the banister, doors, even the walls, but there were no ghosts or shocking visions at all.

"See, they've closed this all off. You can't even access Grace's old place any longer," Ryan said, tugging on a heavy padlock and chain over the doors.

"And this is how you got in before? Where the cave in was?" Gemma asked, and I shook my head.

"No, that was upstairs. There was a closed off room that had a lift that went to a part of the cellar I'd never been to before."

"That's all walled off again now, Warren saw to it even before you were out of the hospital," Ryan said.

"That's where Kate first saw something, when she was a kid," I remembered.

"She did?" he blinked. "She never said."

"Yeah, that's why I busted through the wall in the first place. She was sure she'd seen something bad in there. A girl that was killed by staff."

"Maybe you should see if you can pick up on something up there then?" Gemma suggested. "If it's been all blocked off again, maybe that girl will want to be heard?"

"Yeah, it's worth a shot," I agreed. Other than that, I wasn't sure what else to try. I'd never had to work so hard to see them, they'd just always come.

"In the meantime, tell me all you can about this girl that was killed," Ryan said, interested.

"I don't have much to tell, it was Kate who had all the details. I never saw her," I said as we headed upstairs again. "All she'd seen was her dad and granddad with a dead girl, moving her body. And then Warren was screaming at us not to bust into the room, that we didn't know what we were doing. But when I broke through and went in, there was nothing there. Nothing but the lift."

"Not much to go on," Ryan sighed. "I'm pretty sure he had the lift deactivated and the shaft blocked off too."

The corridor looked just as before, smooth, like there had never been an opening in the first place. Steeling myself, I touched the wall, but still I got nothing at all. Ryan and Gemma watched me, eyes wide with anticipation, and I shook my head. "Nothing. There has to be another way to get down there."

Gemma looked down the corridor. "There you are, I was beginning to worry where you'd got to. Jilly's back," she said, prompting Ryan to shoot me a look.

"It's a long story," I said, waving him off for now since Gemma's brows had pinched together with worry.

"Jilly wants to leave, right now. Something's coming."

That didn't sound good. "What kind of something?" I asked.

"She says we don't want to wait around and find out."

"You'd better go then," I said, giving her a squeeze on the shoulder.

Her eyes flew wide with concern. "You're not coming?"

"That's what I'm here for, right?" I smiled. "If something's coming, I want to know what it is and what it's trying to tell us."

"Okay, but be careful," she said, giving my hand a quick touch and then starting off toward the stairs.

"I'll stay," Ryan offered with a determined nod.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why not? Things have been too quiet around here anyway," he grinned.

I grinned back, then we both fell silent, waiting for whatever it was that was coming. The silence stretched on, and I felt a prickle of awareness, the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention. "Do you feel that?" I whispered.

"I was just about to ask," Ryan whispered back. "And is it just me, or has it gotten colder?"

"Definitely," I nodded, seeing my breath puff out in front of me as I broke out in gooseflesh. But that was the extent of it. I didn't see anything, I didn't hear anything. Eventually, the cold dissipated and the odd feeling went away.

"So… was that it then?" Ryan frowned, disappointed, and I felt the same.

"I suppose so. I have to say, I really expected more. Maybe a feeling of dread, at least, but…" I shook my head in frustration. What had Jilly been so frightened of?

"I guess you really have lost it," Ryan shrugged. "This is it then, the chance at a normal life. That's what you always wanted, right?"

"I guess so," I allowed, not quite trusting it. "It almost doesn't seem real though. Like this is the dream I'll be waking up from at any time. I've always seen them. Always."

"It must be like… not being able to smell any longer, or losing your hearing," he nodded.

"Well… except this will likely make my life easier, not harder," I pointed out. At least I hoped so. Now that I'd been given exactly what I'd wished for… I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it.

"Does that mean you'll think about moving back in?" Ryan asked hopefully, but I shook my head.

"Unfortunately, Warren is still very real, and he still hates me for some reason."

"Ah well," he sighed. "I suppose, in a way, that's better than if he liked you and wanted to take you under his wing, or something. Then you'd have to spend loads of time with him," he smiled.

"Thanks for that silver lining, mate," I grinned. "Well, I should be going, Gemma's waiting."

"Yeah, what's the deal with her and this Jilly?"

I let out a long breath. "Like I said, that's a long story, but Jilly's her sister, who is no longer living."

His brows rose in surprise. "Then she's like you?"

"Not anymore," I realized. "And Jilly's the only one she can see, so no traumatic visions for her."

"Ah, I see. Well, off you go then, thanks for coming around." Ryan offered his hand, and I shook it.

"Don't be a stranger, yeah? We'll get together."

"Of course," he nodded.

I left him at the flat, box of possessions in hand, and started down to find Gemma. The hallway lights flickered and then went out before I'd gone three steps. "Great," I muttered. But then a single light came on up ahead. Once I got to it, it went out and another turned on, farther down the corridor. That went on for two more lights, as soon as I reached one, it went out and the light ahead came on.

"Jilly, is that you?" I asked, remembering her affecting the lights at the house and the light flickered rapidly. "Is something wrong?" The lights flicked again. "Okay, one flash for no and two flashes for yes. Are you just having a laugh, messing with the lights?" The light flickered once. "Is something wrong with Gemma?" The light flickered twice. "Can you take me to where she is?" The light flickered twice and the next one down the corridor came on. "Lead on then," I muttered, starting down the corridor at a run.

Jilly kept up with me, illuminating the way, taking me down and around where we'd come before, by the entrance to the cellar. Gemma sat slumped there against the chained door.

"Gemma!" I cried out, dropping the box to crouch in front of her.

She looked up, her bright blue eyes covered with a rheumy film, staring wide. "I can't get home." Her voice was wrong, as though she spoke through the filter of advanced age.

"I'll get you home," I said, trying to pull her to her feet, but she hung limp in my arms.

"Oh, my boy, you're back," she smiled, but it quickly dimmed. "You said you would help me before, but you can't. Not like this. Can't get through in this body."

Can't get through? What did that mean? What was… and then it hit me. "Grace?"

Her smile returned. "You remembered."

I didn't know what it meant that she was speaking through Gemma or what it was doing to her, but I had to ask, "What happened to you? How did you die?"

"Couldn't breathe," she whispered. "Choking…" Her hands went to her throat and then fell away. She stood on her own two feet now, stronger.

"Who? Who did this to you?"

"I never saw, he caught me from behind. I felt his ring though. I felt this." She raised her finger and traced it along the wall. Everywhere her finger touched, the wall darkened as though it'd been burned until the symbol stood there – that stylized B with the design around it that stood for Bettany.

"Warren," I bit out with a few choice curses for good measure. "We'll make him pay for that, I promise you."

"Makes no nevermind to me, I'll still be dead," she said with an impish shrug and a dry laugh.

"Do you know where my mum is?"

She nodded. "He won't let you talk to her."

"Who won't?"

"Ba'laam."

"Ba'laam?" That single word left a taste of dread in my mouth. "Who is that?"

"He is everywhere. He is eternal. You're tied to Him. You all are, the Bettanys."

"I'm not one, I was adopted." It seemed important to make that distinction. I wasn't one of them, not really.

"My dear boy, don't you know?" She reached out to touch my cheek. "You are a direct descendant of the Bettanys. It's your legacy."

I pulled away from her touch, too shocked to say more than, "What?"

Her face crumpled with pity. "What your poor mother endured here at his hands…"

"At whose hands?"

"Caleb."

"Caleb is my father?" But somehow, I knew what she'd said was true, knew it in my marrow.

"Don't worry, you're not your father's son. You have her inside you as well, and she's strong."

I couldn't think straight, too many thoughts crowding at once. That meant I was the child of rape and I was forever tied to the family legacy responsible for it. It meant that Kate was my niece, not my adoptive cousin. No wonder Warren had always tried to keep us from getting too close. That also meant, if Warren knew that I was his brother, then he'd still treated me like shit from day one. Why?

I came to realize that Grace was still going on about something and I hadn't been listening.

"I thought she'd be here."

"Who?"

"My daughter. But I've looked everywhere and she's not here," she said sadly.

"Perhaps she's moved on?"

She shook her head miserably. "She's not here. No matter where I look."

I took hold of her arms. "Grace, do you hear me? Perhaps she's moved on. You should too. Let Gemma go."

"It does feel fine to be young again," she resisted, looking down at her hands.

"Yes, but it's not your body. You must let her go," I pleaded, and the lights flickered twice, Jilly agreeing with me, I supposed.

She turned those rheumy eyes up at me. "And will you let her go? She's not for you, my boy. Not now. Not now that you've got what you wanted."

My brows drew together in confusion. "What I wanted?"

"A normal life. That's what she wanted for you too. That's why she led you to the cellar. So you could cast off the otherness."

"Who did? What do you mean otherness?"

"The Sight you were given when you died."

"When I died? After the cave in?"

"No, as a babe when you were born. That's when you were tied to the other plane for not going with her when she left."

"My mum?" Tied to the other plane… was that what it was?

"Yes, she wanted you to come with her in the worst way, but you wouldn't go into the light with her, your will to return to your body was too great. So she stayed behind as well and tethered a bit of otherness to you, so she could stay by your side."

"My mum did this to me? Gave me the Sight, you call it?" Why would she do such a thing?

"Yes, she hoped with it you would See her, but you never did," she said sadly. "It was more of a curse than a gift in the end. That's why you had to die, to break that tie to the other plane. She knew you'd come back, of course. You're too strong to be beaten for long. Right proud of you, she is."

Then all of it, the ghosts, the visions, it was because of my own mother's plan. And to think she'd led me to the cellar knowing I'd be killed… to free me… it was more than I could process, I had so many questions. "Can you see her now?"

"Not through these eyes, but other times, yes. She roams this place with the others."

"And she wanted me not to See anymore."

"She wants you to be free."

"And what about her, will she be free now to leave this place?"

"Oh no, he won't let us go, not without a fight."

"Who won't, Ba'laam?"

Her face twisted with fear. "Don't say His name, it gives him power."

"If I say it enough, will he come here to fight me himself?" I glowered, feeling the need to lash out and he seemed the best target.

"Don't even joke about that, Jed," she cautioned, her voice hushed. "You're powerless to stop him. Maybe once, but now…" she drifted off and then scowled at the space to the right. "Alright! Stop your chattering, girl, I'll let her go soon enough."

"Is that Jilly? Can you see her?"

"Silly chit… no respect for her elders…"

Time was running short, and I hastened to ask her one last thing. "Grace, is there anything else you can tell us about the disappearing girls?"

"There's no hope for them. He's got them now," she with a low, mournful sigh.

She swayed on her feet, eyes closing in a swoon, and I caught her, brushing her cheek when she didn't respond. "Gemma?" I said, checking to see she was still breathing, but she appeared to just have fainted. The lights flickered like mad around me. "That's not helping, Jilly. I can't see her well when you do that." The lights immediately settled down just in time to see Gemma's eyelids flutter open, her eyes the same bright blue they should be.

"Gosh…" she gasped, blinking up at me. "Did I miss something?"

A/N: So, finally some answers. What did you think?

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