A/N: Hello again and welcome back to Ghost of a Kind! Goodness me! This fic blew up a little bit over on AO3 and here after the first episode's conclusion, didn't it? XD But I won't deny that it's a good start to the opening for the second episode, which I think readers are much more excited for, and rightly so. I have quite a few surprises planned for the second episode, with some interesting revelations that are going to change the course of canon a little later in the episode. But I'm getting ahead of myself. XD
Chapter 9 officially marks the introduction to Episode 2, but unlike with the actual episode, this introduction is a little different. The opening of the second episode timeskips to the following day after Alison and the ghosts discover she can see them, but because of how I ended the last chapter, it didn't feel right for me to jump straight into that particular situation. There were still a few loose ends that needed to be tied up, along with the fact that I wanted to explore so more of Cordelia's internal conflict and the beginning of what the summary of this fic claims she's going to do. So, instead, you'll find that this chapter opens up shortly after the events of the last one on the same day, and acts as the 'context scene' as to how Robin winds up scaring Alison in the bathroom. Chapter 10 will have the official opening for the second episode though, so you'll still get to read about the ghosts' antics there. XD
Also, I need to mention that in Chapter 8, I made a mistake that I have since gone back and corrected regarding how long Cordelia claims she has been on the Button Estate as a ghost for. It was supposed to be 150-something. I miscalculated the years, so to those of you who read this fic before I made the correction... I'm sorry. XD
In the meantime, thank you so much for the recent follows, favourites, reviews and views. Your continued support is greatly appreciated. I'll try to get Chapter 10 out as soon as I can, but I do hope you enjoy the opening to episode 2 despite it mainly just being filler. And Cordelia bickering with the other ghosts and internally panicking... XD
Chapter 9: Opened Eyes
For the second time since Alison's and Mike's arrival to the countryside estate, the atmosphere within Button House had once again devolved into a haze of chaos, so much so that Cordelia didn't know where she needed to start to properly process this strange and shocking reality she and her fellow ghosts were now plagued with. Moments after Alison had attempted to scream the roof of the ballroom down and deafen the gathered ghosts with her high-pitched sounds of distress, the Captain (who somehow managed to snap out of his shock quicker than the rest of them) wasted no time barking orders to retreat downstairs and hastily usher them out into the hallway with the whip of his baton, his voice succeeding in volume to be heard over Alison.
In the time that followed, everything happened so quickly for Cordelia that her mind could not comprehend much of what transpired between leaving the ballroom and following the others to the common room, the trip from one floor to another blurring like oil paint mixing with puddle water. Though the Victorian ghost did vaguely recall specific sights and sounds clearly enough amongst the vibrant mess that momentarily took over her head—Robin and Thomas drunkenly staggering their way out to the stairs, forcing themselves to move despite being unable to take their eyes off the commotion that had since erupted; Julian speed-walking out of the room like his life depended on it (even though that wasn't possible anymore); Fanny muttering under her breath about how it was 'unseemly for a lady to shriek like an ill-bred hen' as she strode her way out; Pat gently guiding her away from the window and keeping a hand on her back while using his other arm to secure Humphrey's head, leaving the Captain to take on the responsibility of leading Humphrey's body out with them using his baton from the back of the pack; Mary and Kitty continually looking between Alison and the leaving group before they both collected clumps of their dress skirts into their hands and jogged after everyone; the collective echoes of the group's hurried footsteps as they filed down the stairs in awkward pairs.
Once all ten of them had reached the common room, however, the confused haze cleared and gave Cordelia the breathing room she needed to properly gather her senses, with Alison's cries having quietened down from above and leaving them all in tense and confusing silence. She wished they could have fled somewhere else to collect themselves, but given the situation they were dealing with, Cordelia was prepared to endure that irritating prickling sensation burning faintly from her wound for the time being. After all, no one really knew what to do at present. They were all acting out of instinct. They couldn't be blamed for that at a time like this.
With Humphrey's head placed upon the table by the fireplace and his body blindly staggering about the common room as it usually did, the other eight ghosts gathered themselves within the common room's seating area to discuss the situation at hand. Fanny, Thomas and Kitty stood together in front of the fireplace. The Captain took to standing beside the armchair that Mary had seated herself in before the chess set on the circular table. Pat and Robin stood close to the armchair opposite, with Julian sat in a wooden and armless chair just behind them. And then there was Cordelia… who had chosen to stand close to the wall at the far end of the room, making as much distance as she could from the fireplace yet trying to remain in sight so she could still converse with the other ghosts if needs be. Which turned out to be the case because they were all naturally eager to know about what on earth had gone on prior to their arrival upstairs.
The events that had transpired with her, Alison and Humphrey was still taking time to settle amongst her tumultuous thoughts, yet with occasional input from the Tudor nobleman from the table, Cordelia did her best to relay everything that happened from the moment Alison found her and Humphrey in the ballroom.
Several minutes passed by the time the Victorian ghost reached the end of her explanation.
"—And that was what happened prior to your panicked entrance," she concluded, calmly staring at the now gawking and wide-eyed ghosts on the other side of the common room whom she had seemingly rendered speechless.
Not that Cordelia could blame them. They were reacting exactly how she had upon having the same shocking realisation.
"Good lord," the Captain muttered under his breath upon becoming the first to break out of his shock, with Julian being the close second with a loud snort.
"Ha! Creepy, old-fashioned lady! Actually not that much of a stretch!" he remarked as he crossed one leg over the over, remaining oblivious to Cordelia's narrowed blue eyes boring invisible holes through the back of his head. "Makes her telling me to wear a hard hat seem tame in comparison!"
"Until she realised you were wearing no trousers and reacted with appropriate disgust," Cordelia retorted, only to furrow her brows at Julian when he turned to her with a blink, looking like he wanted to say something until she quickly changed the topic. "Though why were you checking up on Alison in the first place, Julian?"
"Oh, yes!" Kitty chimed in with a breathless gasp, clasping her hands to her front as she tilted her head at Julian sat across from her. "You did ask if Alison was okay when they arrived, didn't you?"
Julian's answer was delayed by the immediate closing of his mouth, his eyes briefly darting in the direction of the windows while the other ghosts silently awaited his answer. Of course, Cordelia already knew why Julian had been with Alison, with Kitty's comments helping to cement her suspicions, but she couldn't resist the opportunity to put the former MP on the spot as payback for that unnecessary comment.
Awkward silence lingered until Julian willed himself to break it with the loud clearing of his throat, something Cordelia sure he only did because he realised he'd been quiet for too long and didn't want to arouse further suspicion.
"W-Well, I, uh…" he started to stammer, trailing off and tugging at his shirt collar with a finger as Cordelia caught the sweat visibly glistening upon his brow being highlighted from the sun managing to peek through the common room windows. A few more seconds of hesitance passed before Julian gulped thickly and then proceeded to swivel round in his chair to face everyone else, returning his clasped hands to rest upon his knees. "The point is, Cordelia proved I was right! Alison did speak to me! So there!"
Cordelia let a faint smile of amusement slip at watching Julian turn his nose up to the ceiling in a proud manner, recognising that he was trying to change the topic to avoid her question; one of his many not-so-discreet tactics that Cordelia had become very familiar with. The same also applied to the rest, with some of the ghosts reacting with quiet tuts and shakes of the head or deciding to just ignore him. The former reaction is what prompted Cordelia to shoot Fanny a brief glance from where she was standing by the fireplace, locking eyes with the Edwardian noblewoman as she unintentionally did the same. As if the two of them had communicated telepathically, Fanny was soon rolling her eyes in response to the eye contact and subtly tilting her head at Julian, mouthing 'I did tell you,' while doing so. Cordelia acknowledged the mimed words with a slight nod, even though she was, admittedly, a little surprised at the positive interaction between them.
'It would appear my angry outburst the other day has shaken Julian to his very core. He seems hesitant to rebuff my remarks. Whether because he knows what I am trying to imply and cannot bring himself to refute it, who can say?'
But in the least, his actions certainly confirmed Humphrey's and Fanny's words to her. Her actions had made a lasting impression upon the other ghosts, though it was still too early for her to tell if that was a good thing…
"Yes, indeed," the Captain agreed with Julian. Gripping his baton tightly between his hands and behind his back, he swirled on his heels to face the windows and pace towards them slowly. "As shocking and confusing as this new development is, it would seem that by some quirk of fate, the new Lady Button—"
"Ahem," Fanny interrupted with the loud clearing of her throat, bringing the Captain to a halt and drawing everyone's attention to her.
"Yes, Fanny?" the Captain enquired while peeking at her from over his left shoulder, causing Fanny to scrunch her nose and purse her lips.
"Could you please not use that title? That girl is no lady, nor is she fit to be called a Button."
'So says the resident misery.'
Cordelia released a quiet huff and shook her head to this, yet she did the wise thing and kept her mouth shut. Nothing good would come of her starting a pointless argument with Fanny over something so trivial, after all.
"… Very well," the Captain conceded after a slight delay, only to knit his brows together for a few seconds before giving the group a quick glance. "Now, where was I?"
"You were saying something about the events of previous being the work of 'some quirk of fate'," Cordelia replied, causing the Captain to nod at her out of acknowledgement before facing away again.
"Ah, yes! Thank you, Cordelia!" The Captain continued his walk to the windows. "It would seem that whoever this young lady is, she can now see us." He eventually stopped and rolled back and forth on his heels. "And this has clearly changed things."
Squints and frowns were shared amongst the puzzled ghosts as they dared to exchange gazes between each other, no one saying anything at first while they attempted to understand what the Captain was trying to say. But when the Captain didn't expand on his words, Pat eventually gained the courage to question him.
"How so, Cap?" he asked with the slight tilt of his head.
"Because, Patrick, this has opened up some intriguing possibilities that could help us pull off a full-frontal assault," the Captain replied without breaking his gaze from the windows, his words only deepening the frowns some of the ghosts had resting upon their brows, Pat included.
"Didn't we already try that?"
"Yes, however…" The Captain briefly trailed off as he turned to face the group once more, whipping his baton to his front of him with a triumphant smile. "…that was when she couldn't see us. But now, we don't need to use haunting to get them to leave. We can order them to do it face-to-face."
"Yes!" Mary shouted immediately afterwards, causing the other ghosts to look her way with wide blinks and slight tilts of the head. Upon seeing their reactions, Mary shrugged her shoulders and twisted her lips. "Conversings with the dead be witchcraft. We'll be burnt at the stake 'less the husband and wife go!"
Cordelia opened her mouth in preparation to refute Mary's comment, namely to remind her that as they were ghosts and times had changed drastically from her own, the logic behind her words did not make sense. But she was soon prevented from doing so upon seeing Thomas step forward just a little past Fanny, an index finger raised.
"Yet does the question on whether she can actually hear us still not remain?" he said, further elaborating at the frowns and raised brows that were soon directed towards him while gesturing between Humphrey, Cordelia and Julian. "It is obvious that fair Alison has beheld Julian, Cordelia and Humphrey, but aside from speaking directly to Julian… she hasn't given ear to their overtures, has she?"
"But Julian and I never attempted to speak to her, Thomas," Cordelia replied matter-of-factly, only to cup a hand under her chin when her eyes wandered to Humphrey's head upon the table. "Though she did not seem to acknowledge Humphrey when he responded to her…"
"Yeah, but to be fair, that was probably the shock of seeing a severed head for the first time," Humphrey added, prompting Cordelia to nod and lower her hand from her face. "Honestly, I'm used to it."
"Still, Thorne isn't wrong," the Captain said as he returned his baton behind his back and turned his squinted gaze to the floor. "It has been assumed that she can see and hear us because she has spoken directly to Julian, Cordelia and Humphrey, yet while we have confirmation for the former, we do not know for certain if she can hear us."
"Which is big problem," Robin piped up, raising and pointing both of his index fingers at his ears. "Can't make Kim Wilde go if she no hear us!"
Cordelia and Humphrey both frowned at the unfamiliar name and hummed out of confusion, prompting Pat to clear his throat and turn to Cordelia to clarify in a low voice.
"He means Alison." The scoutmaster forced a smile and gave a light shrug of his shoulders when Cordelia mouthed an 'Oh!' and nodded a bit in understanding. "They were listening to one of Kim's songs when they got out of the car the first day they arrived. Robin must've confused my comment about the singer with Alison."
Meanwhile, the Captain sighed heavily and shook his head slowly to Robin's remarks. "It's Alison, Robin," he corrected sternly. "But yes. Which means our first course of action is to get that necessary confirmation."
"In that case, what can we do?" Thomas enquired with a quick glance around the group, as if expecting the others to throw about suggestions.
A moment of silence descended upon the ten ghosts as eight of them scattered their gazes off in different directions, with some falling into thought with strokes of the chin or cupping of a cheek. But Cordelia was one of the two remaining to keep her blue eyes focused on the others, allowing them to flit between them one at a time as she took to pondering the matter in her thoughts.
'Yet do we really need Alison to hear us in order to force her and her husband to leave the estate? She was scared out of her wits by simply seeing Humphrey and I, the former especially because of his gory appearance—'
Cordelia interrupted her train of thought with an audible gasp, grabbing the attention of the other ghosts just as her head straightened up with the widening of her eyes. Jemima's words before the failed haunting operation returned to the forefront of her mind like a flash of lightning striking the ground, the imaginary cogs turning inside of her head beginning to form the semblance of what she believed was a brilliant idea.
"But why not tell them? You could scare the lady away with what you can do."
The group of nine ghosts, however, remained oblivious to the sudden realisation that had dawned upon the Victorian ghost, with Pat being the one to enquire when she didn't say anything and her current expression didn't change.
"What's the matter, Cordelia? Did you think of something?"
But Cordelia didn't answer straight away, instead choosing to bask in her moment of pride the moment she felt it swell within the confines of her chest and straighten her posture.
'This is my chance to atone, is it not? An opportunity has arisen for me to finally take the reins and prevent further disaster by offering my capabilities forward!' She gave her twitching fingers a brief glance. 'After all, we do not necessarily need to confirm if Alison can hear us. The possibility that she can perceive apparitions is more than enough to send her and her husband running without verbally ordering them away. And I am well aware that my ghostly abilities will meet such a feat!'
Cordelia returned her gaze to the others with renewed vigour, her mouth opening with the intent to relay to them her carefully guarded secret in the hopes of finally being of some use to their cause…
But the moment blue eyes locked with the pair of eyes that belonged to Humphrey silently observing her from where his head lay upon the table, the sudden surge of courage she gained shrivelled like a prune, her mouth freezing agape as her breath became caught within the confines of her throat.
It had only been literal minutes since their conversation, and yet one look at Humphrey was all was needed to make his self-reflecting question echo at the forefront of her mind, rendering her speechless with the dreaded reminder of her epiphany.
"So, don't you think the reason why you didn't help the others with the haunting was because you wanted the living people to stay?"
'… Ah. Of course. If I do offer my aid to their cause and we are successful in sending Alison and Michael away…'
An ache sprung to her gut as her train of thought trailed off, one that was twisting her invisible insides as if someone had stabbed her with a fork and was erratically moving it about. Darting her eyes between the expectant stares of the other nine ghosts before her with a twitching jaw, it was slowly dawning upon the Victorian ghost that she was once again the eccentric outcast amongst their little menagerie. She wasn't entirely sure of how certain ghosts felt about Alison and Mike staying (well, barring the ones who were very obvious and vocal with their objections or favour), yet she was aware their opinions mattered little when the Captain's reigned supreme, and he wanted them gone. But did she?
'My conscience dictates I should cease my follies and pledge my loyalty to my invisible acquaintances, and yet my heart is screaming for me to hold my tongue. After all, if what Humphrey claims to have observed with myself is true, then I am putting the fate of this grand manor house into worse disrepair than the one at present! Goodness knows whose hands Button House could fall into upon the leave of Alison and Michael—'
"Cordelia?" Kitty's concerned voice calling her name brought the biologically young blonde back to reality with three wide blinks, her eyes locking with the Georgian ghost as she innocently tilted her head at her. "Is everything all right?"
"Uh…" Cordelia managed to utter as her eyes darted about for a second time, only to briefly cut herself off with a quiet gulp at the sweat she could feel gathering on the sides of her forehead.
She couldn't do it. The very thought of expressing her original idea increased the ferocity of the pain lingering in her gut, to the point where she nearly visibly winced and gave herself away. But then… what was she to do now? She couldn't backtrack without looking suspicious, yet she couldn't openly oppose the plan without suffering an earful from the Captain. Worse still, if he deemed her an 'enemy' of some kind to their cause, she didn't even want to know the kinds of harassment he'd set upon her!
'God, spare me! I have dug a hole around myself so deep, there is no logical way for me to climb out of it!'
There was only one thing for it: she was going to have to make up something convincing.
"Ahem!" Cordelia loudly cleared her throat and roughly patted a hand against her chest a couple of times, waiting a couple of seconds before continuing. "Forgive me. I thought I had something caught there." The other ghosts momentarily shared sideways glances and confused blinks at this declaration, prompting the Victorian ghost to square her shoulders and tilt her chin up to the ceiling while saying the first suggestion that popped into her head. "But back to the topic at hand: I was going to suggest that, perhaps, we could try having one ghost converse with Alison at a time when she is alone and it is quiet."
Silence fell between Cordelia and the group of nine when no one dared to say in response to her suggestion, causing the blonde's shoulders to stiffen a little more at the sweat now trickling down the sides of her face. However, after what felt like a long and very tense stare down amongst the two parties, heads turned to the Captain when he hummed in thought and stroked his chin with a hand, visibly pondering on Cordelia's words.
"Hm… Yes…" he muttered, returning his focus to Cordelia to speak at regular volume for the sake of present company. "It does sound like the simplest and most efficient tactic to uncover the answer to our dilemma."
Murmurs of agreement followed from the rest with accompanied nods of approval from a small minority, prompting Cordelia's shoulders to relax ever so slightly upon realising they had bought her flimsy cover (while also taking the opportunity to dab her shirt sleeves at the sides of her face to remove the sweat, noting the other ghosts didn't seem perturbed by this despite how suspicious it likely looked; maybe they'd naturally assumed it was nerves, seeing as she rarely gave suggestions during discussions like these?).
"Hence my suggestion," she lied, clasping her hands to her front once more as the pain gradually eased and dispersed. "We do not need to over-complicate this, after all. We are merely seeking out confirmation."
"Quite right." The Captain cocked a brow. "And did you have anyone specific in mind to undertake this particular mission?"
"… Um…" Cordelia hesitated after a slight delay, only for her eyes to flit towards her left at catching a glimpse of movement.
She spied Robin with his eyes closed and his hand vigorously scratching away at his wild and mane-like hair like a dog using its hind leg to remove an intense itch from behind its ear.
Cordelia didn't know what came over her in those several seconds of staring. Maybe it was an impulsive moment of panic, or her instinctively deciding to once again go with the first thing that popped into her head. Yet before she could register what she was doing, she was returning her gaze to the Captain and blurting the caveman's name out of her mouth without a second thought. "Robin."
Heads turned to the mentioned caveman with simultaneous hums and faint frowns of confusion, with Robin himself pausing with his actions and blinking widely at the Victorian ghost with a grunt. The confusion was soon dispelled by an amused and snobbish sounding snort from Julian, a reaction that left Robin narrowing his eyes at the former MP. Cordelia couldn't fault Robin for his reaction; Julian's snorts were very pig-like.
"Robin?" Julian repeated with a crinkled nose, clearly enquiring if he had heard Cordelia correctly.
"Hey!" Robin exclaimed defensively, straightening his posture and crossing his arms against his chest with his face scrunching up. "Why you say like that bad?!"
"Because it is," Thomas answered with a smug smile and the gentle shake of his head, gesturing a palm towards Robin when the caveman whirled to face him with a slight recoil and raised brows. "What makes you think you can start a conversation with Alison? You can barely hold one as is!"
Robin scowled and jabbed a thumb harshly into his chest. "That not true! Me speak good!"
Thomas' smug air only worsened at this response with the widening of his smile and the puffing of his chest, causing Cordelia's left eye to twitch.
'Oh, good Lord, here it comes…'
"Well," Thomas corrected with purposeful emphasis. "It's I speak well, my good fellow."
Robin's shoulders twitched with the deepening of his scowl, appearing to be resisting the urge to launch himself across the common room and pin the Regency-era poet to the floor. Not that Cordelia could blame him. She was not the subject of Thomas' prideful and cocky display and yet she was offended on Robin's behalf. Sure, she'd only said his name out of panic, but she didn't see why his ability to not speak in grammatical and coherent English sentences made him unfit to undertake this particular task.
"Though I am curious about your choice, Cordelia," Thomas continued and dared to step forward past Fanny and Kitty, with the former of the two ghostly women rolling her eyes and clicking her tongue at Thomas' demeanour. "After all, you have a talented poet in your midst!" He lifted his chin to the ceiling and placed a hand to his chest, ignoring the quiet groans and mumbles that came from the other ghosts around him. "Surely, dear Alison would appreciate a conversation with one whose mastery of the English Language is their…" He briefly trailed off and squinted upon struggling to place the right word, only to resume after a few seconds with the quick twirl of his other hand. "…thing."
"It's forte, good sir," Cordelia retorted sarcastically while managing to keep a straight face, a response that had Julian twitch from suppressed laughter and force him to look off to the side with slightly puffed cheeks and his hand close to his lips. "And as for my decision…" She trailed off to momentarily flit her gaze to Robin, whom she'd noticed had turned to her with a cocked head and multiple blinks; he was likely curious about her reasoning as well, she assumed. "…I believe Robin has other useful talents that would be more beneficial than his speech." She mumbled the next part under her breath. "And yourself."
Which wasn't a lie. Despite his animal-like and uncivilised behaviour, Robin was one of the few ghosts whom Cordelia knew fell under the saying 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. He had demonstrated many times that underneath his scruffy appearance, he was a lot smarter and observant than the others gave him credit for, and not just because he was the oldest ghost on the Button Estate chronologically.
Yet Cordelia's reply still caused the biologically older ghost to stare at her with a small gape and a quiet noise of confusion, likely because he was shocked that she was sticking up for him, she thought. Thomas, meanwhile, raised a quizzical brow.
"Quoi?!" he exclaimed, aghast, dramatically recoiling and smacking a palm against his chest like Cordelia had just stabbed him through the heart. "And how exactly is Robin the better choice out of the two of us?!"
"Because we all know your only desire to speak with Alison is related to your coquetry behaviour," Cordelia answered bluntly, causing Thomas to loudly gasp and dig his fingernails into his clothes.
"Well I never!" he said in an exaggerated tone. "I'll have you know, Madam, that while Alison is, indeed, a lady of beauty and radiance, I would never—" He interrupted himself upon seeing Cordelia's eyes droop, allowing his gaze to wander around to the other ghosts in turn, who were also copying the Victorian ghost's current expression. It took a few seconds for it to settle in that no one was convinced by his theatrics, prompting the Regency-era ghost to slump his shoulders with a defeated sigh. "Very well. I know when to concede." But then Thomas placed a hand to his hip and gestured to Robin with his palm. "But that still does not explain why you believe Robin is best suited out of everyone else. What does he have that we don't?"
Cordelia's brows furrowed while she thought of an appropriate answer to Thomas' prying and the attention returned to her, naturally because she hadn't thought she was going to get this far with her bluffing. But then another quick glance in Humphrey's direction awoke the recollection of Alison's earlier screaming, causing the imaginary light bulb to flicker on above her head.
'Aha!'
Allowing a rare and proud smile to slip onto her lips, Cordelia squared her shoulders, clasped her arms behind her back and proceeded to lean her body forward a little to look the Regency-era poet directly in the eyes.
"Why, his hunting skills, of course," she stated confidently. When the group of ghosts collectively released exclamations of 'Huh?!' and 'What?!' (even Robin himself), accompanied by crinkled noses (which Fanny did) and twisted mouths (which the Captain did) in some cases, Cordelia took that as her cue to continue. "You witnessed and heard how Alison reacted to our presence upstairs mere moments ago, did you not? She is just as perplexed by possessing the ability to see us as much as we are, which means merely attempting to strike a conversation without startling her is inevitable." Cordelia jerked her head in Robin's direction. "However, if we consider Alison's behaviour to be similar to, say, a scared animal, then Robin's stealth and mischievous tricks are advantageous."
"Oh, yeah!" Robin cried out of agreement and excitedly waggled a finger in Cordelia's direction, his wide and wild eyes darting between everyone else with a goofy grin appearing. "Cordel right!" He hunched his shoulders and arms, taking two stretched steps forward on his toes. "I just sneak up behind Kim Wilde like this and then go 'BOO!'" He yelled, bent his fingers and held his hands above his head with a brief bounce on his toes, breaking out into amused laughter soon after while relaxing his stance again. "Then we know if she hear us!"
"A quick in and out," the Captain mused. "Jolly good idea, Cordelia!" He rolled his shoulders and then squared them to survey the rest of the gathering of ghosts upon raising his chin. "Let's put it to the vote. All those in favour of allowing Robin to undertake this special operation, please raise your hands."
Cordelia silently watched the other seven ghosts each lift a palm up in agreement, with Humphrey sideways glancing the opposite side of the common room to see his headless body (which had temporarily stopped its staggering) also holding up a palm.
"Mine's up too!" he declared, prompting the Captain to give a stiff nod of approval.
"Excellent! Then we shall commence the operation tomorrow at 0800 sharp to recuperate from—"
While the other ghosts lowered their hands and listened intently to the Captain's instructions, Cordelia took the distraction as an opportunity to release the relieved sigh that she hadn't realised she'd been holding in this whole time, tilting her head up to the ceiling and squeezing her eyes shut.
'Oh, thank you, Lord, for being merciful to my plight this day, even if this time is merely borrowed!'
So much had happened in such a short span of time that the Victorian ghost didn't even know where to begin. Yet if there was one thing she was sure of in the very least, it was that she needed to use the next twenty-four-hours wisely. Because thanks to Humphrey, it seemed that Alison wasn't the only one who had her eyes opened to a reality she could never believe existed to begin with. Cordelia's had been opened for the first time in over a century and a half, and she didn't know if this was going to be a good thing in the long run.