Watching his cousin move around his shabby home, flummoxed at the strong scent of rosemary mixed with melted wax and the soot from the fireplaces, she questioned her cousin as he stood in the threshold of the guest bedroom, a look on his face, before Annabelle finally snapped him back into reality with a loud, "Eggie!"
Blinking quickly, Edgar struggled as he gestured towards his cousin, pleading with her to return to the safety of Rhode Island, that it wasn't safe for her to remain in Baltimore, without explicitly telling her why, but the twenty-something remained stubborn since they've met when they were younger.
"I've got nothing to fear, Eggie," Annabelle refused to leave Baltimore at her cousin's request, unafraid of the killings that have been happening.
Tried as he might, there was nothing Edgar could've done to change his cousin's mind, she remained firm on her stance staying the week with her beloved cousin, and Edgar's aware of her infamous stubbornness.
"I've nothing to be afraid about as long as I have you, Eggie!" Annabelle boldly tells her cousin, that she isn't afraid, since she's with her beloved cousin.
Unable to argue with her further, she remained stuck in her ways, Edgar's put in a difficult spot as to how to handle the situation with the Drekker and keep Annabelle safe, without her panicking, without her accusing him of insanity.
Trying to keep his composure, Edgar helped bring Annabelle's luggage to the guest bedroom, there she questioned him on the strong smell of rosemary, and Edgar had to come up with an elaborate story how he didn't want to smell like a bar, figuring that rosemary wouldn't be overt compared to other scents.
"You smell like my friends' homes!" Annabelle pointed out how the questionable use of the rosemary was more than overt, it smelled like a dinner party with her friends, all wearing strong perfumes, if not for the fireplace, Annabelle wouldn't have been able to breath.
Edgar's insistent that it wasn't anything like that, he's keeping his promise to her, though he struggled for words on how to tell his cousin why the house smelled the way it did.
Concern in her baby blue eyes, Annabelle sensed how tense Edgar was, asking if he ate anything, at all, and he admitted that he didn't think about it, causing her to pull him downstairs towards the dining room where she ordered him to stay while she went to prepare him food.
A shock coming from someone like Annabelle, but Edgar couldn't afford servants, and well, not exactly someone to be trusted to cook for himself.
Sitting at his chair, a despondent look on Edgar's face, attempting to eke out a way for Annabelle to remain safe, but her legendary stubbornness meant that he couldn't sneak out of the shabby house without her knowing.
Certainly, couldn't sneak back in without her finding out, either.
He couldn't say he was going out to drink, Annabelle would refute, with the killings being on everyone's minds, and telling her the truth was out of the question.
Softly groaning, Edgar rubbed his eyes, he stopped when he remembered he still had the number to the Doctor, if when there's an opportune time, he'll call and see what the Doctor wanted to do, now that things became complicated for Edgar.
On his mind, Edgar knew one of the possible answers would be for him to remain in the home with Annabelle while the Doctor and Taylor handle the Drekker, but the uncertainty that nagged him didn't help.
"I looked it in the eye," Edgar couldn't shrug off the slight at what he done, he broke the Doctor's rule, and weighing on his mind's how the Doctor's going to react, as Edgar now doesn't know what to expect, and the only one who could help's the Doctor.
The Big One didn't charge at him, it didn't come for him, it just sensed him, surely, he had nothing to worry about, but with the uncertainties presenting themselves, Edgar's at a loss.
"Here you go!" Edgar's startled when he heard Annabelle coming through the doorway with the silver tray of food, accompanied with a pot of tea.
Setting it down on the dining room table, she set plates out for them, pouring then drinks, as she does, she asked Edgar how he was doing before she arrived and he padded time by telling her about his attempts at getting noticed by publishers.
Same story as he told her seasons ago, no one wanted anything to do with him, as he was unproven, and though as he tried to prove himself, they still found fault with him, someway.
He did everything possible to change his writing, finding the perfect formula for it, but it all ended in failure.
"You know you could come work with my father's company," Annabelle reminded Edgar of her proposal in one of her letters to him, that should he given up his dreams of writing for whatever reason, there's a position waiting for him back in Rhode Island.
It's not what Edgar wanted to hear, but Annabelle pointed out that he's been trying for a while, having no luck yet, concerned that if he didn't think of something, he'll risk homelessness.
Seeing how disheveled he looked, enforced Annabelle's fears for her beloved cousin, more than the fears for the Ravens.
"I think I have it," Edgar insisted that he has something that'll get his foot through the door, causing a stir in Annabelle as she questioned him.
Gesturing, Edgar swears having spent much of the night writing, offering to show Annabelle the drafts, and she agreed to read them, after he eats.
Prodding him, Annabelle forced Edgar to eat food, actual food, and instead of some spirit to wash everything down, hot tea that coated the back of his throat.
When he finished and everything put up, he showed his cousin his latest drafts, watching her face tense up in fear, reading them while Edgar hoped this would show his cousin why he's afraid for her being in Baltimore.
To his dismay, Annabelle found the drafts enticing, in a way that they're frightening, but she didn't see between the lines like Edgar hoped, instead she declared that these must've been the better drafts she's read, thus far!
"Though, I have a question," Annabelle rested her thumb on the part of the draft, "what's this about a raven with eyes of a man?"
The passage drew Annabelle's curiosity, wanting an elaboration from Edgar, and he gestures as he explains that he had a nightmare of a raven with eyes of a man, leering at him, from afar, that he couldn't shake the images from his mind, that he had to write it into his draft.
An approving nod, Annabelle encouraged Edgar to continue writing about the raven with eyes of a man, seeing it a frightening addition.
She's surprised when Edgar nearly jumped from his chair when the phone gone off in the study, Edgar excused himself, saying it's a publisher, before rushing off to reach the phone.
Upon lifting the phone to his ear, Edgar heard a familiar, "Mr. Poe?"
Exhaling sharply, Edgar sputtered as he tried to keep his voice tempered, "Doctor! I need your help!"
Surprised at Edgar's outburst, he heard the Doctor ask him what was wrong, and wasn't pleased when Edgar finally broke down, telling him, "I looked at it in the corner of my eyes, Doctor, I thought I could catch a glimpse. I deserve your ire, but I need your help once again, my cousin's here, and she will not return to Rhode Island. I don't know what to do, Doctor."
Unable to hold himself back, in a broken mess, Edgar tells the Doctor how he broke his rule and now, unsure what to do, now that Annabelle's in the mix, if there's any repercussions expected looking at the beast in the eye.
There's silence on the other end, before Edgar heard the Doctor ask him, "What's your cousin's health, Mr. Poe?"
Harkening back to their youth, Edgar remarked that Annabelle hardly gotten sick, but that didn't appease the Doctor, warning him that the Drekker can smell sickness even before it makes itself apparent.
She may look and feel healthy, but that it didn't matter if the Drekker can still smell the sickness in her.
The Doctor then proceeded to tell Edgar, "Stay with your cousin, Mr. Poe, do not attempt to leave your house after sundown for any reason. Keep your fireplaces tended, your curtains closed. I will send a delivery man with more rosemary concoctions, but as I told you, that there's only so much it can do. I must also warn you, Mr. Poe, that it can speak. And it will mimic. You must be careful what you say and hear. You'll have to explain it to your cousin somehow."
Gesturing Edgar wanted to know if the Drekker will come for him, but the Doctor states he wasn't sure, only that the Drekker were unpredictable in some regards.
Especially, the Big One.
"Follow my instructions, Mr. Poe, me and Taylor will do our best," the Doctor said.