B7/Ch10: THE PROMISE OF A NEW DAY

Danielle watches as Rebecca & Caspian enter Hope Hospital

On an overcast morning, Rebecca and Caspian entered Welshport Hope Hospital for an appointment with Dr. Peter Ward. Caspian’s head wound from the night at the caves was on the mend, but the blow he suffered required weekly checking-in’s with Dr. Ward. 

On this particular gloomy morning after a long stormy night, a storm that had yet to pass fully, the hospital seemed busier than usual. 

Rebecca shook her dark umbrella that has collected small water droplets from that air just outside the doors when she spotted Nurse Danielle Holten off in the distance sorting patient files at a desk. 

A sinking feeling crept into Rebecca’s gut — she wanted to be sure Caspian remained Caspian and any interaction with his forgotten daughter Danielle could destroy the happiness Rebecca has longed for. 

“Are you alright?” Caspian asked his older wife. “You suddenly look a bit pale.”

Rebecca shook her head almost as if to shake out the very thoughts that plagued her of Danielle. 

“Oh! Yes of course, darling. I was just thinking of the note we got last night about Johnathon checking himself into Churchill Green and, well memories wash in.” She said quickly thinking of a cover reminding him of their time together in that same asylum. 

Caspian grabbed her hand, he too had memories of how they were confined to Churchill Green together after his possession and her mental breakdown when the note from Dr. Ward arrived late last night on Johnathon’s admission. 

“He’ll be alright.” Caspian reassured, she squeezed his and smiled half happy that he believed her excuse and half happy to feel his hand in hers.

“Mr. and Mrs. Casador, thank you for coming in again. Right this way.” Dr. Ward said, appearing out of a side room. 

“Darling why don’t you go in ahead. I’ll wait for you here.” Rebecca said, her eyes quickly shooting over to Danielle who had finally noticed the pair across the large white tiled room with two golden chandeliers dangling over head. 

Rebecca slowly walked over to Danielle, who felt as if an ocean wave was about to cash over her. The heaviness and pressure of the moment weighing on her forced her to hold her breath. Rebecca, the ever stoic and methodical matriarch could smell Danielle's nervous energy was like a shark in blood tinged water. 

"Nurse Holten, I'm so glad I've run into you." Rebecca said, clasping her hands in front of her. 

"Mrs. Casador." Danielle replied kindly. "What can I do for you?"

"I know that you've been in a bit of state in search of someone you think is your father, in fact you came all the out to Tirymor about this very subject and I just would like you to know that you're searching in the wrong place." Rebecca lied.

Danielle's jaw clinched. "With all due respect Mrs. Casador, I know exactly who I am looking for. I know what my father looks like and there is no doubt in my mind who you married, and his name is not Caspian, its Viktor Holten." 

"It was Viktor Holten." Rebecca shot back without skipping a beat. "You see, I don't think you understand what he's been through since you went off to school and since your mother died. His entire life since then is a blur, a void. There was no one else he's ever been in his whole life than who he is right now. That will never change." 

"It will never change? Or you won't let it change?" The nurse asked to Rebecca's annoyance. 

"This is just reality now dear." 

"I don't accept that!" Danielle exclaimed.

"Life is not about things you accept and reject." Rebecca said with a raised brow. "It's about what is present in front of you and having to adapt to it. You'll just have to adapt to the idea that this man is no longer your father no matter what you think."

Danielle felt disgusted. The woman in front of her, so pious and patronizing was actually trying to make her pretend that that her father wasn't actually alive and that Caspian wasn't Viktor. It was strange and bizarre. 

"Why does it matter to you? What would it change if he is really my father Viktor?" as soon as the question left Danielle's lips she realized what it was. "Oh... you're afraid, aren't you?" 

"I've already been afraid; you have no idea what your father was before you came back Danielle. What he has survived and what he and I have been through together." Rebecca replied. "You will never know, because that part of him is gone and I saved him from it." 

"That's exactly it. You've taken claim over someone you believe is yours but he's not just someone you love; he's someone I love too. You're afraid that once he realizes his true self that person won't love you back any more. You're deathly afraid of losing him, so much so that you'd hide who he is. That's...that's cruel, he deserves to know." Danielle replied.

"His old life, whoever he was before he met me caused something dark to creep inside of him. His life was altered and a force of great strength that you will never ever know in your whole life took over. Do you really want to bring him back to that place? Bring him back to that person that for the good of us all is dead?" The stoic elder woman asked. "Think about what you bring back to life if you suddenly reveal who he was."

Danielle couldn't believe Rebecca's request. The woman's fear of losing control of a man she had married only the year before was so great she'd say anything to protect the connection she had with him. Rebecca had Caspian locked in a vice, a vice of their marriage and now that there could be more to who he was it threatened her. 

"I won't give up on my father, Mrs. Lord." Danielle said, suddenly removing Rebecca's new married last name, a point she wanted to make. Rebecca saw it as a clear sign Danielle would not go easily. 

As the heated discussion between the two women carried on at the nurses' station, a side door that led to the grand courtyard between the main hospital and Churchill Green asylum opened and Celeste DeViana-Lord entered. She had been next door at the asylum checking on her hospitalized brother after receiving the note of his self-admittance into the institution. 

Celeste's worry of where her missing brother was for all these days was somewhat quenched but a new worry was clearly splashed across her face with his mental fragility, however the tense conversation between Danielle and Rebecca did not go unnoticed and she slowly hid herself behind a large potted plant, large enough where the giant ceramic pot covered her long black skirt and her body slid inside of a hidden wall. 

"You father is gone. Accept it and move on as you were all these weeks and months. Don't think I haven't discovered what you were doing to Viktor Holten's identity. Keep that idea and declare him dead. That's what is best for you." Rebecca said.

"But he's not dead!" Danielle replied with a raised voice. "You are married to him! Why can't you understand that I want my father back in my life?" 

Rebecca lifted a brow, she was sure Danielle would simply cower as she confronted her, many others did, but this young nurse had a will as strong as steel. She would not go silently. 

"Keep this as a warning, Nurse Holten, continue to believe the man you knew as your father is dead and if you don't, I can make life very unpleasant for you in many, many ways and for many, many years.” Rebecca said.

The stoic woman slowly turned and went back to the area where Dr. Ward's exam rooms were and where Caspian was inside being checked on leaving Danielle standing in the wake of threat, she never thought she'd receive and Celeste with more ammunition against her mother-in-law.

**

Inside the exam room, Caspian sat patiently as Dr. Ward wend over the wound on his head and checked him over. He checked off little boxes on a form and sat across from Caspian happily seeing Caspian seemed to be getting better.

"I don't see why we'd have to make any more appointments, Mr. Casador, you're looking better and better each time. How have you been feeling as time has gone by? Any pains? Any trouble sleeping? Confusion?" Ward asked.

Caspian furrowed his brow. "Just headaches."

Then Dr. Ward furrowed his brow "Is that so? How long have you been having these headaches. You haven't mentioned them to me." 

"I didn't really pay much attention to them to bring them up to be honest. They'd come and go quite quickly in the beginning and of course I just thought they'd get better as I healed. But...just recently they've gotten worse." 

"I see." Ward replied concerned. "Well, I don't see any more issues from the outside. Of course you could have cerebral issues, the blow to the head you received at the caves would do that. I want to give you some medication that should help with the pain, what I need you to do, he rest as much as you can, stay away from alcohol and smoke and try and keep stress to a minimum. Doctor's orders." Ward smiled.

"Understood. Doctor, would you also keep this from my wife, at least for now. I'd like to see how I progress before I bring her into anything. She tends to over dramatize things that may not need to be overdramatized."

"Of course, but if things get worse, we'll have to tell her." 

"Yes, of course." Caspian said as he took the paper for his medication hoping to hold yet another secret from his wife at least until he understood more of what was happening to him. 

****

Morgan & Charlotte in Tirymôr’s main drawing room 

As a second storm off the coast began to brew off in the distance in the east, a cold wind foreshadowed its coming. Charlotte Lord and Morgan Thorne sat in a well-lit drawing room of Tirymor awaiting their turn at court, as a summons to appear in the trial against the witches had reached them. 

They sat reading to take their mind off of the increasing pressure around them, hoping it would all just go away. 

Morgan looked out of the large windows in front of him with the Court forms in his hand and watched as the storm over head churned. He felt like that inside too. The twisting and turning of his emotions, his fears. Charlotte picked up on it and walked over to him and took for forms from his hands.

"It's going to be alright." She said. "We just have to tell the truth."

"The truth, we know the truth and I don't think it'll help your mother." He answered.

"They already believe she's a witch, we just have to make sure they understand she's not to be feared. She doesn't want to hurt anyone. She never did."

"But that does seem to be what they want, they want her to be something to fear. Everyone is out for some kind of ... I don't know. I'm scared Charlotte. I don't want to say something that will push this town further over the edge. Your mother has been more of a mother to me than my own! I want to help her not make things worse." 

Charlotte smiled and squeezed his hand. She knew how much he cared for her little family and how they'd all become so close right before the darkness fell on them when Filipe was taken by the wolf's bite.

"Don't worry it'll be---" But before she could finish, Aaron Hamstead entered the room. 

"May I speak with you just for a moment?" Aaron asked. 

Charlotte and Morgan looked at each other, unsure of what Aaron needed.

"Of course." Charlotte said. "Is there something the matter?"

"I know that you've had some interactions with someone by the name of Christopher Wesley in Village Park." Aaron revealed.

Charlotte gulped. She knew Chris was her uncle David.

"Yes. He's Ms. Thorne's companion. We met them there." 

"Did something happen to Christopher?" Morgan wondered.

"No, no, he's fine. I just, well, I know that Charlotte and he had a good long talk, and I too met with him and he hoped that, well, he hoped that you could help him, Charlotte." Aaron explained.

"With what?" Morgan wondered.

"This is really a conversation for Miss. Lord, Morgan, would you mind if I spoke with her alone?" 

Morgan's chest puffed out, his neck stiffened. "No." He replied forcefully. "Charlotte and I are best friends, and, well, I ... I don't want her to be alone with any bad news you're about to tell. We've had enough of that already." 

Aaron smirked seeing how Morgan slowly put his foot forward in a way to block Aaron from access to Charlotte, but the news Aaron had was nothing to be worried about. 

"I assure you, I have no ill will towards Miss Lord, she knows this. We go way back." Aaron winked. 

"It's ok." Charlotte said, blushing. 

Morgan's eyes narrowed. He scrunched his mouth to one side "I'll just be down the hall." He said.

Once Morgan was gone, Aaron opened up about Chris but made sure to keep his voice down. Everyone at Tirymor knew the walls had ears.

"Your uncle David needs you to find a way to get to Sebastian. He wants to reunite with him." Aaron said.

Charlotte took a deep breath "I don't know about this."

"It would mean the world to Dav--- to Christopher. He wants to tell him what really happened the day his mother died. You know the truth too Charlotte, you can convince him of that."

"I'm confused, Uncle David had me promise not to reveal who he really was. Now he wants to speak with Sebastian? That's letting one more person into the truth. It's a dangerous slope. And even if I knew where Sebastian was, I don't know if he'd even want to speak to him." Charlotte added, excluding the fact she already knew Sebastian had returned and saved Filipe. 

"If anyone can find your cousin and convince him," Aaron said, "its you Charlotte. The two of you are more like brother and sister. And you've grown up, he'll understand. Christopher only wants to do right by Sabrina. It's very important to him."

"I haven't had a lot of interactions with Sebastian in a while, I don't know if he'd listen to me the way you think he would." She replied.

"I do. He loves you. He trusts you." 

Charlotte sighed, she looked out into the coming storm just as Morgan had. The coming gray of the clouds so ominous and angry. "Is Christopher really sure he wants this?" The smart Charlotte asked, continuing to use the assumed name of her uncle David.

"He wants to make right what happened to his family before you even came into this world. Your Aunt Sabrina's death was placed on him like a curse, and we all know whether we want to admit it or not, that he would never have done what he was accused of." Aaron said. "He needs Sebastian to finally hear it from him first hand." 

"Will he confront my father." Charlotte questioned, surprising Aaron. He had not known she knew the true killer was Jacob.

"For now, I think he just wants to reconnect with his son. Jacob's future and punishment for what he did may not come from this meeting. It may come from something much bigger. That Karma is for Jacob to discover on his own, I think your uncle understands that now." 

Charlotte nodded her head signaling she'd help contact Sebastian with her psychic powers but warned, she did not know what state he was in, she did not know if he'd come and she did not know if he would stay long enough in her mind to agree.

Aaron thanked her and promised her Uncle David, now known as Christopher, would be in debt to her for helping. 

When Aaron left, Morgan quickly came back into the room with a confession.

"I listened the whole time." He said blushing. "Are you sure you want to get involved in this? You and your gift are not tools people to come and use whenever they want, Charlotte. Your gift is something you've been given to help when you see fit, not to be abused." 

"But wouldn't this help? It would reconnect my uncle and cousin who've been separated by years of lies. I think they should reunite and if I can help, I'd like to." She said with a soft voice.

"But Sebastian is a vam...." Morgan began but stopped himself to be sure no one was listening. "Well, you know. We know how he's been in the past. Unpredictable. One minute he's kind of loving the next he's tearing through a throat to feed. At least that's what I've been told. I just don't want you to get hurt."

Charlotte stood up from her chair and faced Morgan. So young they were and so close. Sometimes it felt like they were the only two people in the world. She felt like she had found the best friend every girl needed in their lives to console and to council. They'd become a team, these 14 year olds, and she started to feel something else. 

Love. 

For the very first time in her life she felt actual romantic Love.

"You'll protect me." She said with a smile. 

He blushed and said "And you'll protect me?" 

She giggled. "Deal!"

They stepped closer to each other and there in the dimming light of day from giant storm obscuring the sun, they shared their first true kiss that lasted only a few seconds but long enough to know that they'd now become more than just friends. They'd become a happy young teenage couple. 

****

Timothy and Nathan in Timothy’s office 

Later that evening in a darkly lit office in Village Hall, Mayor Timothy Churchill sat in his dark leather chair in plumes of cigarette smoke that swirled and floated around him like a white moat. His aide Nathan Cramer sat uncomfortable in front of him shuffling newspaper after newspaper from around the area detailing what has happening on the small island of Welshport. 

"'A SCENE NOT WITNESSED IN 200 YEARS', 'STRANGE CASE AGAINST 3 ON SHAKY OLD LAW', 'HYSTERIA HAS RETURNED TO THE UPPER EAST'.... these are the headlines sir. And those are just local papers here in Maine and Massachusetts. I don't even want to know what The New York Times is saying."

Churchill scrunched his face at Nathan "Why are you so nervous? This is great for us!!" 

"Great? They're making our community out to be some sort of hysterical country bumpkins who've been trapped on a tiny island too long giving into our old folk history. That's bad for the village. It's bad for our people. And it's bad for our economy! We already have the lowest number of tourists in Maine, it'll be less going forward into this trial, sir. My advice stays the same, be on the right side of this. Not the side we're on now." 

"You're not seeing the bigger picture, Nate! Once this is all over they'll see that I came in, got the right prosecutor on the case and made sure these types of people were set off to meet their end." Timothy said through a tight lipped grip of his cigarette. 

"These types of people?" Nathan said.

Churchill sat back again in his chair behind the vail of smoke. "It doesn't matter the details, you know what I mean. And it just makes it all the better that it's the beginning of the end of the Lord family monopoly on Welshport. They've been able to sit on that throne far too long, my boy. My family once held court just as much as the Lords and we were ravaged by them, everything taken from us, from money to property, to prosperity and --- all of it. Everything they have, WE had. Its not nice to not share!" 

"Sir, I really don't know how this will play out for you. It all seems so trivial and --" Nathan said before Timonthy quickly and angrily interrupted. 

"TRIVIAL!?? Do you really think that? Because if you think what we are doing here is trivial, I can find someone else for this job. I need someone on my side who'll be doing what I ask of them without questioning why I am doing it. My family's legacy, blackened by the Lord's greed is NOT trivial. Get that through your head. Now, before we carry on this conversation, Mr. Cramer, shall I get someone else or are you good enough to listen and do as I say?" 

"Sir, I... I apologize I'm just trying to look out for your political future. I envision so much outside of Welshport and this could look bad if you'd interested in offices bigger than Mayor of this little island town." Nathan explained.

Churchill calmed down, his political future was always something he wanted to push into a larger realm, but Nathan's ambitions perhaps were too large for the 78 year old Mayor who had long decided his main goal was to tarnish the Lords just as his family was. The Lord family had indeed taken all that Churchill said from his family, but under no circumstances was it illegal, cruel, or for the purpose of pushing that family out. For all their internal family squabbles and scandals, the Lords never ever did unscrupulous business dealings. Their companies, whether connected to the Publishing company or their real estate portfolio were aboveboard. Impeccable. Clean.

Churchill was just a jealous man seeing his future dwindle in his old age. This was his last stand.

"I'm not backing down. My Family name will be remembered for restoring the balance within this village and breaking down the hold of power and influence the Lords have had over Welshport for far too long. It will happen Nathan, no matter what you think." Timothy asserted.

"Will it be worth it sir? Truly worth it? Evie and Mary and Matthew, their lives are at stake here if this stupid old puritan law is held over their heads. What's more, we don't even know what the judge will think of this past the opening arguments." Nathan added.

Timothy grinned a grin that sent chills up Nathan's spine. A cold feeling fell over his neck as if something monstrous was breathing down his shirt. 

"Don't worry about the Judge. We go way, way back. He knows where a certain bonus pay came from." 

"Sir...., you didn't." Nathan questioned Timothy realizing there was a quid-pro-quo involved. 

"This'll be done in no time. Just you watch." 

As the second storm of the week begin dropping rain onto the Village Nathan saw this was not going to end well -- he just didn't know which side would see the end of the storm. The supposed witches, or Churchill. 

 ****

Sebastian enters Evie’s jail cell 

That night as Mary, Evie and Matthew were lulled into an uneasy sleep as the pitter patter of rain drops sang them a deep lullaby on the high windows of the basement jail cells inside Village Hall. They'd had a difficult day in court, the trial was now going into its full-throated attack into their lives after the oral arguments and life outside the cells seemed to be a distant memory. 

In the shadows of the room something began to materialize. The darkness began to fold and twist into a shape, it was small at first but quickly began to grow and morph into the clear shape of a man in black. It was only second before suddenly a face appeared; it was Sebastian Lord materializing in the cell as if he had walked through the walls. 

In truth, he had only sent his spirit through the wall, his body stood outside in the rain under the cover of darkness with his eyes closed.

His bodily transference stood there at the bars of Evie and Mary's cell. he lifted his hands and something he'd never done before occurred; he froze time just there inside the cell for everyone except Evie and herself.

"Evie." he whispered. "Evie wake up." 

When she didn't wake, he walked through the bars of her cell, knelt down next to the sleeping beautiful Evie and caressed her head with his hand and then kissed her cheek.

His touch instantly woke her almost as if he’d broken a spell.

Her eyes, first blurry, could see her former husband in a a strange silhouette but one she could somehow still make out his face. She gasped, her body jolted upwards towards the top of her cot shocked to see him. 

"Sebastian??? Is that you?" She asked, her eyes still adjusting.

"Shh." he whispered taking her soft face in his hands. "Are you ok?" He asked reaching over for her hand. 

She did the same reaching up to his chiseled jaw, his body seemed transparent, like he was some kind of vision, a mirage of the man she once adored. She could feel him, however, despite his translucence. Her eyes softened to his beauty, his eyes to hers. It had felt like a generation of years had passed since they touched each other. 

"What are you doing here? How are in here?" She asked.

"I had to see you. I've come back." He smirked. "But I couldn't just walk down here, I had to find a creative way. I'm really just outside this wall. But I am here." 

"Oh my god! You're ok! You're really alive and ok!!!" She said in a shout but suddenly covered her mouth realizing how loud she was.

"Its ok no one can here you." He reassured her.

"When Filipe told us what had happened, I wasn't sure to believe it, I was so worried for you.” Evie said then suddenly changing emotions. “I hate her, I hate Jacqueline so much for what she's done to us. If I ever cross paths with that bitch again, I... I don't know what I'll do." Evie said, her jaw tight with anger.

"Jacqueline. I don't think we will have to worry about her anymore. We can't find her. " He replied.

"What?"

"She's vanished. So far at least. But listen enough about her, are you ok? I want to get you all out of here and I'm doing my best to come up with a plan."

"Sebastian, no," She said, reaching for his transparent hand that somehow she could take hold. "It's too dangerous. As much as I hate to admit it we have to go on with this dreadful trial to show that we're not what they say we are. I have faith the judge will find us innocent. They have no proof." She said.

"They saw Mary use her powers."

"Lear has a plan. I trust it." She repeated with optimism.

"But still, what if you're wrong?" He asked, inching closer to her. So close she could literally smell the warmth of his skin even though his body was standing out in the cold. 

Memories of their first time making love filled her head. The same scent hung in the air that night. A sweet scent of peach and rose, or something like it. She could see his eyes there in front of her. The blue still so deep like two little oceans floating in the air. Then she looked over at Matthew who was sleeping.

She loved him too.

She loved both of them.

One man had always been there for her through her darkest moments and protected her, the other wanted to protect her at all costs but the darkness inside of him always seemed to take him away from her. 

Evie sighed and squeezed his hand again. "We have to trust it Sebastian. But I miss home. I just want everything to go back to normal and I could go home and be with our son. I miss his little face, his warm little kisses. I want to go home to him so bad. But i have to be brave. We all have to."

He inched closer. "Evie, what if Lear’s plan doesn’t work? I can help.” Sebastian offered. 

Evie stepped back suddenly seeing the coldness in his eyes return at the end of his sentence. The very coldness she feared and ran from years ago. The coldness she hated. Evie realized his lust for killing could consume everything and end it all but that’s not what Evie wanted to hang over an already dreadful situation. Not for her or her son. Not for anyone. 

“No, you can’t do that.” She whispered. 

“I just want to save you, save you all. And make this all go away." He said.

"Sebastian, you cannot hurt anyone. You've promised me never to do that. I cannot let you be around Gabriel if you hurt people." 

Sebastian frowned, "Then, I'll take you away from here, take you and Garbriel away and we'd never have to come back. The world would be ours, Evie. We could start all over again and forget this place. I can make it happen. Johnathon told me about a place -- where a friend of his is...." He said still on his knees next to her on the cot just before just cut him off.

"Take us away?" She repeated the feeling of freedom from everything around her was tempting.

"We'd be together. The three of us, just this little family and no one would hurt us ever again. We could go to Paris. We could go back to London. Or Lisbon. Milan. Or where Johnathon's friend is. Anywhere you want to go and where you'd want to raise our little boy. Welshport -- it’s heavy with our past. I want to be free of it, I know you do too. Evie let me do this."

Evie narrows her eyes “Johnathon’s friend? What are you talking about?”

“He told me of a friend that could keep us safe. He said that there’s a place somewhere far away where this friend is and that there no one would ever find us or hurt us.” He explained. 

“Sebastian slow down. Stop. This can’t happen. I have to stay here — I can’t abandon…” she paused then looked over at Matthew across in the other cell and realized how much he'd sacrificed for her. How much he'd given to her since he'd returned and when his memories slowly returned, he'd fallen in love with her... and in truth she'd fallen in love with him -- again.

That was until this very moment when her heart suddenly split in two once more. 

"It's Matthew. I see." he replied.

“Sebastian, listen to me. This is our home and no amount of running away can take away the pain that has already stained us. It'll never leave us. Those memories, they're real. They're there in my heart and yours and if we're in Paris or London or wherever they're still there." She replied, unsure of what to make of Sebastian's escape idea.

Evie continued “I’m prepared to face whatever comes and face it with Mary and Matthew." She answered.

Sebastian looked at the beautiful woman he adored. She was loyal to her friends he couldn’t fault her for that. But he wanted his family back more than anything. He’d go to the ends of he earth to finally have them back free of the shackles his curse and Welshport had around his whole existence. He stepped closer to her. 

"I want to make sure you know how much I love you. How much I have always loved you and there is nothing in this world I wouldn't do for you. No storm. No entombment. No witch trial. No Matthew. No Jacqueline. Nothing will ever take the love of my life away from me. We're forever linked, Evie. I will always protect you." He said.

He then leaned in and as soon as his lips touched hers she backed away; her back up against the wall. She did this not because she didn't want to kiss him, but because she DID want to.

She was fighting every urge to fall back into the world with the man she came to Welshport for. She was fighting her heart telling her to let him touch her, kiss her. Let him love on her, take her in his arms and make love to her the way they used to when they lived together at Lockwood Thicket as man and wife. 

She looked at Matthew sleeping. Such a good man. Such a kind and sweet man who'd love her until the end of time, she knew it. He didn't deserve her kissing Sebastian right in front of him or her confused fantasies of what could have been with Sebastian. 

"We can't." She simply said. "We can't."

Sebastian lifted a brow and followed her eyes again to Matthew in his cot across from them in his cell.

"Whatever happens next, just know I did it for you." He said cryptically, not directly referencing hurting anyone.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I'm going to prove to you that we belong together, and I won't let anyone stop me. I won't let anyone stop us from reuniting as a family once and for all and this whole thing is holding us back. Jacqueline took me form those caves and it was for a reason. It was so that we'd find each other here and now and we'd come back as one again." He said sounding odd to her. 

"Sebastian no… You can't really believe that she did this for us, do you?" 

He didn’t answer her. 

She stood firm “I need you to accept my decision to stay here and fight this.” She said.

"I don't." He shot back as the flash of thunder hit in the sky lighting up the room. 

"Well -- you have to." She replied forcefully. 

Sebastian smirked seeing she still had a fight in her, and she still was stubborn. She'd never let anyone move her. Where she stood was where she stood. No budging. 

He walked over and took both her hands in his "Just remember that I love you with all my heart and all my soul. I want to take care of you and our son." he said. "And in good time I'll figure out how to do that to make you happy." He said. 

"Sebastian..." She began, hoping to remind him she wanted no one hurt in her name, but it was too late. 

Sebastian's soul went back into his body outside in the pitch dark. His eyes seemed strange his mind again filled with thoughts of feeding. He needed blood. Evie’s decision not to go away with him filled him with a cold hunger that needed to be quieted. Then he vanished back into the forest to find his quench.  

Time returned. And watching Sebastian from a distance, a person who's face was not revealed. A watcher. A person who'd secretly been keeping tabs on Sebastian since he'd been back. An informant.

Inside the jail, Matthew and Mary slept soundly. They never heard a thing.

Evie stood there in the middle of her cell shaking. Unsure of what her ex had planned and what he meant by main key. 

Who was he talking about? Who was he going take care of to free them?

A lighting flash hit again igniting a bright light in the sky that caught the tears running down Evie's face. Her worry was that Sebatian was going to kill someone in her name again and that would worsen the problem -- a mysterious death of someone connected to the case could easily be seen by an already overly superstitious public as part of the 3 witch's curse.

"God help me." She whispered to herself as another flash of lightning lit her face. 

 

B7/Ch9: THE STORM ISN’T IN THE AIR

The Storm at the Courthouse

A storm raged overhead and pelted the onlookers who eagerly awaited the accused Welshport Witches in the rain. 

“Do you feel the air?” A man asked his shivering wife. “A storm is here.”

She looked up at him, her gray eyes filled with worry. 

“The storm isn’t in the air.” She said to him as she turned her face slightly and looked towards the street as several black cars with chrome mirrors and trim rounded a street corner and drove into the area the police had marked off for convoy. 

As puddles began to form in the crevices of the cobblestone street more villagers gathered and stood on the courthouse steps on either side of a narrow pathway that led up to the courthouse iron doors. It was like the Red Sea made of black umbrellas had parted and Mary, Evie and Matthew were about to cross.

“It’s them!!!!” A voice on the street shouted towards the opening car doors. 

The guards opened umbrellas and covered each of the accused, shielding them from the rain and the cruel eyes of the angry villagers. 

“WITCHES!” A woman shouted.

Then another shouted the same, then two more than four more than the entire crowd began to chant the word as the three slowly made their way up the slippery steps. 

Evie’s guard, that held her closely by the forearm, tilted his umbrella alight up revealing a solemn Evie to the front row of villagers. 

A woman standing under her own dripping umbrella tilted it up and spit at Evie pelting the accused witch in the shoulder and arm. 

Evie was horrified and turned away from the screaming voices in either side of her. Seeing this Matthew began to jerk in his captor’s grasp. His anger began to build up and the pain of seeing the woman he loved treated with such vitriol and disgust made him see red. 

“Oi!!!! The guard yelled out in his Irish brogue. “You’d best calm yaself before we get in there!

“Look what they’re doing!” Matthew shouted continuing to try and pull himself out of the guard’s grip.

Then someone spit at Evie again. Mary gasped as this time the spit went directly onto Evie’s face.

There was no holding him back, Matthew jerked so forcefully out of the guard’s hold and lunged towards the crowd and balled his fist so tightly and punched the man who spit on Evie the second time square in the nose. 

Evie screeched Matthew’s name as the guards jumped on Matthew and pulled him back into the isle going up to the doors. The rain poured as flashing cameras caught the entire split second alternation. 

Evie had never seen Matthew react in this way. With such violent anger. With such fire. With such pain expressing itself through his body; through his fists. 

“You’re going to regret that.” A guard whispered to Matthew finally getting him back under control as Matthew’s thick black hair drained the rain down on to his face and neck. 

*

Inside the Court

Inside the courtroom, the three accused sat behind a long beech wood table. Their lawyer, Lear, quickly exited the Judge's chambers where he and Eden Syndey met with the judge to go over the morning's preceding. Lear sat down and looked at his clients their faces pale and restless with the long weeks in their cells with little to no sun.

Evie, her hands bound in front of her, reached over to Matthew who had not recovered from watching villagers spit on Evie as she walked up the front courthouse steps. 

She squeezed his bound hands. He turned to her with a cold look in his eye, a look she'd never seen before. At least not from him

"Are you going to be ok?" She whispered.

"Those people. They don't know what they're doing." He said back. "They spit on you Evie. They actually spit on you." 

Evie watched as Matthew's face turned from stone cold to emotional and heartbroken. There was something about that moment, that sick moment where strangers decided to humiliate an already humiliated person was not something Matthew could get through mentally.

He'd been in Evie's position many, many years ago. When he was a child. When he'd walk around Welshport and the villagers treated him and his family the same way. His people, native to the island, had seen this sort of cruel treatment of people who were marginalized and 'different'. 

Seeing Evie treated this way, a woman he loved more than life itself triggered his long-term memories that had faded away after he'd been lost at sea and like the debris from the ship he was on that sank, those horrible and sad memories float back up to the surface of his traumatized psyche. 

"Everything will be alright." Mary whispered to them. "I told you; I'm going to tell them it was all me." 

"Mary, we are not going to let you ...." Evie began before Lear shushed them.

"They want to kill us. They want to kill us like animals sent to slaughter." Matthew said his voice slightly raised. 

Evie turned to Mary, the worry for Matthew's mental health all over her face.

Mary whispered to Evie "We have to get him home." 

"Shh. You have to stay quiet. Everyone in this room is watching you." Their lawyer Lear ordered.

The accused quickly looked around and saw their families there just the few rows behind them at their table: Nik, Aurora, Jacob, Celeste, Rebecca, Caspian, Cora, Lucas, Father Donavon Ryan and even Fatima Braga. Mayor Churchill, his assistant Nathan Cramer and staring directly at them too right behind Barrister Eden Syndey as he took notes of their whispering interactions. 

"ALL RISE." The bailiff shouted at the front of the court. "Presiding here, Magistrate Coleman Banning." 

Judge Coleman Banning presides 

"Be seated." The judge said. "This is a very peculiar case that we are all here for today. I understand that there is law to guide us on this matter before us but in all honesty, I find it very strange that the prosecution would ever consider charges such as these to begin with in a world where we know what is real and unreal. Nevertheless, the law is the law. I cannot question why this law still exists, that is not my job, my job is to sit on this bench and weigh the evidence accordingly to see if this should ever go forward. My hope is that we all can come to an understanding of what the evidence suggests and what the eyewitnesses saw and experienced first had to see if indeed this very archaic and superstitious law was actually broken by the three accused. Councilors, please state your names for the record and representation." 

"Barrister Eden Sydney for the prosecution, your honor representing the State of Maine and the United States Government." 

"Your Honor, defending the three accused, Lear Lockwood." 

"Thank you, gentleman. Before we begin oral arguments, I'd like the three accused to please stand and one by one I will ask how you plead to the ...." the judge paused when looking down at his paper reading the charge of Witchcraft, which again, felt idiotic to even say out loud. "yes, uh... to the charge of Witchcraft and murder." 

Evie, Matthew and Mary stood up almost in unison, but Mary spoke up before the other two could even muster any words. 

"Guilty your honor. Just me. I am the only guilty one." She said to the shock of the crowd. "Ms. Jordan-Lord and Mr. Winterborn are innocent of everything. They are only here guilty by association, and I beg you to please release them from this." 

"Mary!" Lear said, quickly standing up next to her. 

"Quiet!! We'll have quiet here!!" The bailiff shouted over the Judge's gavel. 

"Alright, alright. Seems like we're going to get off on a very wild start, aren't we. Ms. Jordan-Lord and Mr. Winterborn, is this true? Are the two of you in agreement that Ms. Goode is a witch, that she indeed is some sort of sorceress and that what she did caused the horrors we all witnessed the night of the Full Moon Celebrations? Because, that is what we are up against as we face down this trial." 

Evie and Matthew shot each other looks. They did not want to abandon Mary but Evie had a child to think about. She had to think about her future and Matthew too. They were in love and had been apart for so long while he was lost at sea. Not to mention all this time in jail accused of such terrible acts had already taken so much from his personality. They could not risk any more. 

The two nodded yes.

"I'll need you to speak this so that the record may show." The judge ordered.

"We are innocent." Matthew said.

"Innocent." Evie said in a shy voice.

"And you agree that Ms. Goode is guilty?" The judge asked.

Mary looked at them her eyes told them to agree.

"Do something." Churchill whispered to Sydney. 

"Uh, I'd like to object your honor." Eden Sydney interrupted.

"Your honor my clients are speaking directly with you. This is not testimony yet -- they deserve to reply directly to your questions without prosecutorial intervention." Lear said.

"Your honor it's clear that Ms. Goode has influence over the other two. How can we be sure that their pleas are truthful and not based on some kind if spell the already confessed witch Mary has placed on them?" Sydney replied.

"Why would she place a spell on them to seek innocence when she's plead guilty, Mr. Syndey?" Lear asked.

The audience murmured behind the two lawyers. 

"Order! I'll have order here." Judge Banning gaveled. "Your objection is overruled Mr. Sydney."

Churchill's brow furrowed. 

"Mr. Winterborn and Ms. Jordan-Lord, I asked you a question: do you both agree that Ms. Goode guilty of being what she is being accused of? A witch? By saying so she is fully responsible for the deaths and horror we all witnessed the night of the Full Moon Celebration?" 

Mary again turned to Evie and Matthew her face begged them to agree. She wanted to take all of the blame off of them and clear the way for no one to ever find out that Filipe was the actual cause of the terror the night of the full moon.

"Agree." Evie said. Matthew nodded and said the same.

"Your honor..." Sydney began before the judge silenced him.

"Very well. Your pleas have been recorded. Mr. Syndney, you may begin your oral arguments." Judge Banning said.

"Thank you, sir." Eden replied in a frustrated tone.

"Wait? What just happened?" Mary whispered to Lear as they all sat down, thinking Evie and Matthew would have been let go.

"Mary, you just made the case against you that much easier for conviction. Just because you've separated yourself from Evie and Matthew for their own good doesn't mean the judge can just drop everything on them at this point. He still has to hear the case against all three of you—only after can he decide if there is enough to go forward to a trial. What you've done is only locked yourself into a guilty plea and possibly a conviction.” Lear replied angrily. 

“But you said the burden of proof is on Sydney's side.” Evie reminded. “He’ll have to find proof she really says what she says she is.”

 “I thought I made this clear, even though it’s his burden he still has the power of the eye witnesses. My job now just got ten times harder if you’re already guilty.”

"What happens next?" Evie gulped.

"Oral arguments. I have to find a way to untangle Mary’s guilty plea from my strategy now. They're not going to let this go, they want three convictions, and they'll do whatever they can to get it." Lear explained. 

"I'm so sorry, I thought they'd release you and Matthew." She whispered to Evie. “I’m so sorry.” 

Evie smiled politely and grabbed Matthew's hand. He sat silently. His face frozen with worry. 

"Your honor, ladies and gentlemen in the court, my evidence will show that the three accused here today were part of an occult coven that by means of their own witch crafter were able to devise a plot to kill several of citizens the night of the full moon celebrations and before. Eyewitness accounts of situation that proves their ability to kill will be presented. As his honor has stated here today, this is indeed a strange and unusual case that perhaps has not been presented in a court of law since the late 1600's. Regardless of time the law is the law, and people were killed because of something unnatural that occurred in the weeks and days before the celebrations. Motive here will seem just as alien to us but relevant. Sacrificial killings on days and events like the full moon have been recorded through history as a way to appease some sort of deity, a god, a goddess. The devil. In fact the moments at the Caves where hundreds of native people are buried, the three accused were caught red-handed in some sort of bewitching ceremony among the dead." Syndey said in his oral arguments. 

"No." Mary's voice was heard.

"Quiet." The judge snarled at her.

"Why can he lie like this?" Evie was then heard.

"I said quiet, Ms. Jordan-Lord. Mr. Lockwood, contain your clients." The judge said again. "Continue Mr. Sydney."

"Evie calm down, calm down." Matthew whispered to her. 

"Evidence will show that a book, which has been missing since that night, was the guide to these witches and that their poisoning of some Feral animal from the Tirymor Forest caused it to go mad and kill. It did so, 11 of our citizens among them two fisherman days before then Constable Reigns and two young women who had not even arrived at the festival are dead. The State of Maine requests the maximum punishment for the already admitted witch, Mary Goode, and we hope you find the other two, Mr. Evangeline Jordan-Lord and Mr. Matthew Winterborn guilty and punished the same. Thank you." 

"Mr. Lockwood, please." The judge requested.

Lear stood from the long beech wood table and gulped. He was shaking. He had never had this type of courtroom attention before. All his other trials were involving the Lord Family business, corporate law, never anything like this. But he promised he'd do what he could.

"Thank you, sir. And thank you to all here today to witness something of a spectacle that my prosecutor friend Mr. Syndey quickly glossed over in his opening argument. Yes, a trial on witchcraft has not been since on this side of the Atlantic in over 220 years. In fact, the trials that were dragged out for months and months in old Salem-town just 200 miles south of here were based on old superstitions, lies, hysteria and public that could not separate themselves from their own religious persecutions. Instead of looking inward and finding that they were just as guilty of something, they pointed the finger at innocent people to explain away things they could not understand." 

The audience in the courtroom murmured low like a purring cat at Lear's words. They wondered if they'd been like the people of Salem, hysterical. Irrational. Overly superstitious and worst of all gullible. 

Lear continued. 

"My clients here are not what the prosecution has deemed them to be. Witches? Far from it. And before anyone jumps up and says one has already confessed, she has confessed only to save her friends -- mistakenly of course. She is no witch, your honor. Neither of these people are witches. They are no more witches than I am invisible to your eye. What happened on that terrible night, the night most of our lives were put in danger had nothing to do with my clients. Nature, ladies and gentlemen, has a way of changing the fabric and biology of all living things. An animal, Feral and diseased did come into the park that night and it did kill. But it was not some sort of magically poisoned wolf my clients bewitched. And the events witnessed by an already angry mob that had already caused horrifying and disgusting attacks on a private home would see anything to point the finger at some to justify something they did not understand. Ladies and Gentlemen here today and Your honor, the evidence that will be presented is tainted by the hopes and desperation of people who have jumped on the bandwagon of a mayor who desperately needs to remain popular with the people and small village government he controls. How could a town trust a man who allowed sickly animals to get even sicker and diseased to the point where they then come into the village and kill? Where is our Mayor's guilt in this? Because it is not witchcraft we should be charging here, it is the malpractice and neglect of our village leadership that is truly to blame. My clients, Sir, are merely scapegoats in the Mayor's attempt to push blame away from himself. The three sitting here, they are innocent. Thank you." 

"Well now." Rebecca said to Jacob in a low voice sitting in the courtroom audience. "I didn't know he had that in him."

Jacob turned to his mother, as the storm outside the courthouse windows blasted across the sky and raised a brow. "We pay him enough to bring that." 

"Pay him?" Rebecca questioned. "You pay him to watch over the company, are you paying him for this?" 

Jacob lifted a brow and shrugged his mother's questions off.

"Thank you both." The judge said. "As with many trials, we will have days to go over evidence and testimony and, in the end, I will decide the fates of the accused who sit before me. This will not be an easy trial because as I mentioned we are basing everything off of a law created very long ago. But I have decided based on the attached crime of murder, that we should at least hear the entire package. The defense has chosen a bench trial, and I will be the deciding voice here, no jury. Ladies and gentlemen, the storm is quiet plaguing, let us reconvene tomorrow at noon." 

The judge gaveled the end of the oral arguments, the bailiff requested all to rise as he exited.

"Wait... that it? That's all?" Mary asked Lear. "Why didn't he set Evie and Matthew free?" 

"The judge can't do that Mary, not just because you said you were guilty. Now they'll go over the evidence and eyewitness accounts to be sure what was seen was truly seen and if it's credible. This will all be discussed at the official trial starting tomorrow." Lear explained.

"What happens now?" Evie wondered.

"We wait." Matthew said. "We go back to our cells until tomorrow and we wait. But I believe in you Lear. Whatever you have planned, I believe in you."  

Lear smiled and mouthed a kind 'thank you' just as the three accused were rushed of the room by several strong-armed bailiffs back to their dark cells below Village Hall in a flurry of shouts and photographer's just outside the building. 

"Pinning this on me are you Lockwood?" The mayor said back in the courtroom walking over to Lear.

Lear smirked as Lucas walked over to congratulate him. 

"I think you know what you've done." Lear replied to the Mayor.

"You can stop all of this, sir, if you just admit you saw nothing of the sort." Lucas replied trying to defund his new friends.

"I wasn't the only one who saw 'what they saw', Mr. Mural. Mr. Lockwood should be careful with how far he takes his case. The truth will always set you free." Mayor Churchill added.

"MAYOR CHURCHILL! MARYOR CHURCHILL!!!" Baxter shouted from the back of the courthouse pushing though several people standing in the isle. "Any comment on the preceding thus far? It was a bit of sleeper there for a minute." 

Churchill smirked and lifted a brow as Barrister Eden Sydney approached. "As I mentioned to the defense, just now, and again you can quote me Bax, I've always believed in the truth shall set you free, but in this case the truth of these monstruous people will keep them locked away for all the days of their lives." 

"If they're convicted, they're up for execution, you ok with that?" Baxter wondered.

Nathan and Lear shot each other looks; they knew one another quite well. Nathan was a major reason Lear's relationship with Baxter crumbled and here they all were caught in Churchill's web of publicity and scandal all for his own grab at power and adoration from the town he already led.

"We have a 3 o'clock sir." Nathan said to the Mayor, quickly rushing him out of the room away from answering anymore questions.

As Nathan and Churchill exited from the Courthouse out into the storm dropping torrential rain just outside the iron doors of the court, Lucas hugged Lear.

"Your speech was very well said, you did great!" 

Lear smiled. "Thank you."

"I think they have a chance." Lucas said helping Lear with his papers.

Lear shook his head unsure as lightening lit up the courthouse from the six large windows in front of him. "They need a hail-Mary." 

****

Aaron catches the intruder 

As day turned to night and the storm continued to swell in the sky above Welshport, a widow near the servant's entrance at Tirymor House began to slide open.

The person entering knew that this window had never been well kept and that if pushed to the side and lifted slightly off it's internal pully would slide open without anyone hearing a single thing.

This was a person who'd been here before. Knew the grounds at Tirymor like that back of their hand and had no fear of the shadowy corridors they began to walk through as the storm raged outside and everyone in the mansion slept. 

The person, in shadow showing the silhouette of a man, quietly walked his way through the mansion’s maze of corridors and came upon a large brightly colored painting. He looked up towards the paintings, it was of Calgary Lord, one of the great patriarchs of the family. Next to Calgary, a painting of a little girl with dark hair sitting next to three little dogs in front of a landscape, the grounds of Tirymor. 

The man smiled at the little girl, Rebecca and Albert's late daughter: Vivian Victoria, Vivee as they called her. 

He continued on, but he was not alone. Aaron Hamstead had heard someone walking the halls. It was his job to be sure everything at Tirymor was running like a well-oiled machine. Believing it to be someone of the family awake and searching for a midnight snack, he peeked through his own bedroom door down the hall and saw the person walking through and did not recognize the shape.

Aaron followed the mysterious man but stayed quiet to not startle the intruder. 

The man left Vivee's painting and continued into a study in the east wing of the mansion. There he would find a vast Lord family library of photographs of Summer's gone by, weddings and funerals. Winter snowstorms where the wealthy children-built snow armies on the grounds. Books of family trees and family history. 

As the intruder continued to fumble through the Lord family world, Aaron pushed the door open, the light of his lantern glowing bright around his face. 

The person turned to reveal to Aaron the face of Christopher Wesley, more recognized as David Lord. 

"What the devil?!?!" Aaron said at the sight of Christopher. "David??"

Christopher smiled kindly and shrugged. 

"A ghost." Chris said with a grin.

"I -- I don't understand."

"I don't go by that name. That life is gone." Chris said.

"But it's you?"

Chris found a way to confirm without confirming "How are you Aaron?"

A flash of lightening lit the room, Aaron walked over to Chris and pulled him into a hug. Before Christopher, when he was still calling himself David, vanished into the sea he and Aaron were best friends. They had grown up together and David had even gotten Aaron the job at Tirymor. Over the years, Aaron had become the most trusted member of the Lord family household and even when everyone thought David was dead, Aaron remained on, in a way become his proxy to Rebecca who never recovered mentally form losing two of her three children. 

But Aaron knew David never died. Aaron knew David had simple decided to vanish forever because of what Jacob had convinced him he'd done. Sabrina's death weighed on David's mind as if he had committed it in a drunken rage -- the lie Jacob convinced David of. 

The night at the lighthouse, when David stood on the very balcony holding himself with both hands preparing to jump off, Aaron was there. Aaron begged him not to jump, to stay with him so that they could figure out what really happened to Sabrina on that beach. Aaron tried to sway David from not jumping into the ocean to his death because of the guilt he felt for Sabrina's life being lost and Sebastian never being able to see his mother again.

It was Aaron who came up with the plan of David vanishing into the night -- alive -- and he'd be the one to tell the family and the rest of Welshport that David jumped to his death. 

He'd keep that lie for almost 20 years. 

"What are you doing here?" Aaron asked again.

"I had to see this place. It's been so long. You still sneaking around the island doing my brother's bidding?" Chris said.

Aaron smirked. "It's a living. We've missed you, I wish you had told me you were coming back." Aaron said. "Your mother would be so happy to--- " Aaron continued before being interrupted.

"No! No, that is not why I'm here. I'm not here to reunite with the Lords. That life, David's life is gone. I'm no longer David Lord. Aaron, I've moved on and I've had a good life since I left here, since you helped me leave. I cant go back to it. My name, Aaron, is Christopher Wesley. That is who I want to be and who I will be until the day I die." 

Aaron nodded. "Welcome to Tirymor --- Christopher." He said.

Chris smiled. 

"There is one thing though." Chris said as he picked up a newspaper from weeks before that had been left on a pile on the desk of the study. "This." 

Aaron took the paper Chris was handing him, the headline was one of Baxter's vicious attempts to pin the deaths that were happening in town before the Full Moon Celebration on Sebastian, David's son.

"You don't know?" Aaron asked, Chris shook his head.

"Sebastian's life has not been one that aligns with -- well -- the norm." 

"What do you mean?" Chris asked. "The norm?" 

"Sebastian isn't exactly the man you think he is, in fact we don't really know where he is. The paper, this headline, is a lie. We know he wouldn't hurt anyone. Not the Sebastian we love, but there are some things about him we can't ignore." Aaron explained.

"Is my son alive?" 

Aaron smiled seeing Chris take on being Sebastian's father even though he refused to identify as David. 

"He's alive. But he lives in the shadows now." 

Chris was confused. 

"In hiding?" He wondered.

"You can say that. Yes." Aaron added. 

Chris felt like Aaron was talking in riddles, like he was only giving him part of the information. There was clearly something about Sebastian that made Aaron hold back and not explain but he could not figure out why. And why would Baxter write something so strange? Why would they believe Sebastian was something of a creature hunting people at night? 

The questions poured into Chris' mind like an untamed waterspout. 

"I want to find him, I need to." Chris said. "I have a lot to make up for.

"We don't know where he is." Aaron confessed. "So much has happened over the years that it would take days for me to explain. I'll help you find him. I'll do everything I can, but at some point you'll have to reintroduce yourself to the family. It's the right thing to do. No one, and I mean no one, thinks you killed Sabrina." 

Christopher thought about it for a minute. He looked around the study and all the books his family had put together about who they were, who they'd come from, and what they were meant to be. His family's legacy was all there in the history of those pages. 

Chris walked over directly to a large leather-bound book with a blood red silk parker right in the center. He knew this book so well. It the edition of his family tree where he and his own family had been recoded. He opened the book where the red maker had been holding place and turned to where his name, his old name, was written. 

There it was. His life
DAVID ALBERT LORD BORN 20th OF MAY 1868, PRESEUMED DECEASED 1st OCTOBER 1899.

MARRIED SABRINA ELIZABETH SPENCER BORN 8th JANUARY 1870. DIED 25th SEPTEMBER 1899.

ISSUE: SEBASTIAN CHARLES LORD. BORN 14th JANUARY 1890

"We'll find him." Aaron said. "Ill help you."

Chris did not answer. The rain spoke for him as it spilled down the glass like a waterfall.

"Charlotte." Christopher said, to Aaron's confusion. 

"What about her?" 

"Find Charlotte, she has... abilities. She'll be able to tell you exactly where Sebastian is." 

Aaron had known there was something special about the young Lord heiress but he had never truly dived into it himself. But he agreed. He'd get with Charlotte and together, they'd reunite the Lord family in one form or another. 

****

Johnathon & Sebastian on the edge of a cliff 

The wind was relentless, and yet there was finally a break in the rain. 

On the cliffs above a crashing sea standing in the darkness, Johnathon DeViana stared out onto the dark horizon in front of him letting the wind blow across his exposed skin like an icy kiss.

As he stood there his mind filled with what happened only a few days ago. He saw his wife Jacqueline freeze him in time, heard tell Sebastian of all her horrible deeds and then, when Filipe arrived, he watched them tussle and then the stabbing. The stabbing that took her life and his child's life right there in front of her. 

Near him, the Welshport Lighthouse spun. It's bright beam of light hit the now ghostly Goode Island. The waves crashed against the rock below him with such power he could almost feel them himself. 

His heart hurt. His mind began to break. The vision of Jacqueline dead on the floor of Lockwood Thicket would not leave his mind.

He took a breath with tears streaming down his face and screamed out into the wild wind. 

He begged God to tell him why he had even met her. He begged God to take him right there on the cliff below the lighthouse. He screamed into the wind again, cursing his guardian angel for not taking care of his fractured soul.

Then, as he began to shake with the cold, he realized what he had to do.

What did he have to live for? No wife. No child. The Lords only patronized his existence by using him to battle each other, they never once treated him truly like he was one of then. His own sister kept him on a leash. Her priority much more on her own son Fabian than her little brother Johnathon. 

He moved closer to the edge of the cliff and looked down. The rock and crashing waves looked blurry in their distance. He could barely make out the bottom, but he knew that is where he wanted to go. 

His foot moved across the edge of the cliff. Part of the earth breaking free and falling down to the rocks and vanishing in the waves. He moved closer, the wind blowing all around him like a wild vortex as the lighthouse spun wildly in the back. 

Then a voice from behind.

Johnathon turned towards the voice in a snap, wiped and almost fell but the person who called to him grabbed him by the collar of his coat and yanked him back to harder land. 

The two scuffled and fell to the floor. Johnathon forcing himself back towards the edge of the cliff hoping to end his misery. But the person pulled him around and the two faced each other.

In the blur of his sadness, there stood the face was of his father, the man he barley new Albert Lord. 

His dead father. 

That face, and man, obscured by the shadow of the lighthouse began to shift and change as Johnathon started to finally come out of his mental break.

The voice spoke again "Johnathon." But the wind carried the name out to sea and soon the man in front of Johnathon that saved him from a terrible self-inflicted fate to the bottom of the cliffs was not the ghost of his departed father Albert, it was actually Sebastian Lord. 

Johnathon had hallucinated Albert.

"Sebastian? What -- What are you doing here?" Johnathon asked, shivering in the violent storm's wind. 

Sebastian didn't want to tell Johnathon the truth. In the dark wooded area around the lighthouse is where he'd come to feed on animals in the night. A way to keep from seeking the blood of humans. 

"I come here to think." Sebastian said, his voice, now audible above the wind. "What are you doing here?"

Johnathon shivered in his skin. He adjusted his coat that had gotten tabled up in itself in his scuffle with Sebastian. He turned and looked out on to the sea again, this time far from the edge of the cliff. But the urge to jump still burned inside of him.

"To think too I guess." Johnathon replied.

"I didn't pull you back from a cliff because you were in deep thoughts. I'm glad I saw you when I did." 

Johnathon shrugged and realized there was no hiding what he was about to do. "What difference does it make? I'm alone, Sebastian. Look at everything that's happened to me. Why shouldn't I just wash it all way down at the bottom of this cliff? The family barley acknowledges me, my wife and child are dead. What's left for me?"

Sebastian took a breath. His poor uncle Johnathon, new to the family, had never quite gotten his footing within the Lord family pecking order. Jacob and Rebecca only used him as leverage against each other; Celeste did all she could to protect him but even she paid any attention to him since he ran off and got married. The poor man was left in a terrible lonely place. 

Sebastian walked over and put his arm around him just as the storm clouds began to again flow in from the east. A slight drizzle fell on the two men and Sebastian squeezed his uncle close.

"I know right now things seem as if there is no hope, I've certainly been in a situation where I just wished I'd be gone and forgotten too. But something keeps bringing me back, Johnathon. Something in this universe, whether it is good or bad, continues to bring me back to this world and continue to live. Maybe not in the way I'd have chosen, but I'm here and I continue to press on. I have a child out there that I want to see grow up. I intend to do that."

"Well good for you. I don't have that anymore." Johnathon replied.

Sebastian's face sorrowed. He knew the death of Johnathon and Jacqueline's child was heartbreaking, but Jacqueline was still alive. And even though Sebastian hated the witch who'd done terrible things to him and Evie, Johnathon loved her. And he couldn't help seeing the parallels to Johnaton on the edge of a cliff and his father's own - supposed - death from the edge of a lighthouse.

"You should know that Jacqueline survived. I went back to the thicket, and she was gone. She's not dead."

Lightening lit up the sky and Johnathon's face as the cold wet drizzle hit his face as the wind picked up again.

"But how? She... I saw her die. How could she have survived that horrible stabbing?" 

"You know as well as I do how strong that woman is."

"And so that could mean our child is alive??" Johnathon hoped.

"That I don't know. Jacqueline will have to reveal that when, and if, she ever comes out of hiding."

Johnathon suddenly felt sick. He didn't expect this news and suddenly the happiness of Jacqueline being alive wasn't something he actually wanted. She'd lied to him. She'd told him the child was his but it wasn't his. He heard her say it. Maybe it was best, Johnathon thought to himself, for her to really be out of his life. 

Their love was one sided. He loved her. She used him.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. I thought I knew, I thought I had it all but, she used me. What am I even happy for? Why would I even care if she was alive? She deserved the pain she got. She lied to me and so many people and then tried to use you against us all!" Johnathon recalled.

Sebastian could see his quick emotional swings was not a good sign for his uncle's mental state. Like the storm, he was unpredictable and unable to control how he felt from one second to another.

"You should take yourself somewhere where you can be safe and think about what you want to do next. And it's not here at the base of a lighthouse on the edge of a cliff." Sebastian said.

"Where should I go? I don't want to go back to Tirymor or Philadelphia. I've made this my home and yet I have no home." Johnathon added.

"There is a place in the village. Nikolas can help you, you should go there Johnathon." Sebastian said, trying to hint at Johnathon getting help.

"Nikolas? Are you talking about Churchill Green? The mental institution??? DO YOU THINK I'M MAD!?" Johnathon said, quickly walking backwards towards the cliff again. 

"Listen, Johnathon, listen to me." Sebastian said reaching for his uncle and grabbing him by the coat. "Its not the type of place we all think it is. You need help to sort things out and you can get that help there. Don't fall into patterns like my grandfather did." 

Johnathon froze. "Albert?"

"Grandfather had a lot of ghosts in his closet too. He fought so hard to rid himself of these things and, in the end, they took him. He fell into the world of madness and, Johnathon, he never came back. Don't let that happen to you. Don't let this curse of our family take another one of us. Go to Churchill Green and get healed. Find your new path with their help and return to the family better than new." 

Johnathon thought for a moment and turned back to the sea. The waves, unseen from his vantage point now, boomed down at the bottom of the cliff. The spray still lifted into the air proving their existence to those on the cliff. 

The storm, strengthening as they stood there, continued to pelt them with rain and wind. But in the distance out over the sea on the horizon, as Johnathon quietly in his mind asked for a sign, a peek of sky opened up with not a trace of the storm in sight.

The storm was clearing, but it was far. And inside of him too, his own storm would clear and perhaps a trip Churchill Green to find his way through the storm was the best way forward.

"Alright." 

"You'll go?"

Johnathon nodded. 

And then, a surprise: Sebastian grabbed his uncle by the shoulders and hugged him tightly as the wind washed over them. 

"And you? What'll you'll do? You can't haunt this world forever as you are." Johnathon added.

Sebastian was confused. "I don't know. I'd like to get my family back." He said.

Johnathon grinned; a cruel icy wind blew over them both. "That's impossible." 

Sebastian didn't know how to answer his uncle, a man on the verge of madness. He could tell there was a still a streak of cruelty in him, but the next thing out of Johnathon's mouth was surprising. 

An idea, something he once read about but then a friend of his from his time in Philidelphia confirmed it was real. A place so strange and out there it could only be written in fiction; a novel by Braum Stoker even. 

"I've heard of a place, in Europe.” Johnathon revealed in a quiet voice to his nephew. “A place you can go and be there safely. I've never told a soul about it; in fact I wasn’t even sure it was real.” 

Sebastian moved closer, he narrowed his eyes as the wind blew colder and through his thick dark blond hair. 

Johnathon continued with tears in his eyes realizing the end of a very long tug of war with Sebastian was coming to an end.  “It's a place a friend of mine told me was real, he’s there now even. I'll write him for you. I’ll set you up and tell him about you. You can be safe there. Forever." Johnathon said.

Intrigued at first Sebastian quickly realized his secret life could not come out. “No! You can't tell anyone about me. Why would you do that?" Sebastian asked.

Johnathon did not reply directly, he only said "Trust me, it's where you will be safe." 

Sebastian did not answer. He stood there, on the edge of the North Shore Cliffs as he watched Johnathon walk off into the darkness but not before he turned back one last time to look back at Sebastian under the glow of a crescent moon. 

Later that night, Johnathon signed himself in to Churchill Green Asylum while Sebastian watched from the shadows of the hospital gardens and he did what he told Sebastian he would do too, he wrote his friend in Europe.

A man who lived in America most of his life but followed a secretive dark world of the underground. Filled with people that Johnathon did not understand at the time, but meeting Sebastian and Jaqueline he now did. 

It would be a place that if exposed to those in Welshport, would change the existence of Sebastian and those he loved for all eternity. 

B7/Ch8: FALLING ON SWORDS

The Village prepares for the 1st day of the trial  

On a usually chilly spring morning, a large crowd gathered at the front of the Welshport Village courthouse. Today was the first day of the trial of what the press was calling THE WELSHPORT WITCHES. 

Barrister Eden Sydney had a very strange job to do on this morning as he sat inside awaiting everyone's arrival.

Because the law in the city charter which Mary, Evie and Matthew were accused of breaking was so old, and so lacking in so much reality, Eden had to twist his prosecutorial knowledge in a way that would make sense for the village magistrate to agree for the trial of witchcraft to go on in the first place. 

If the magistrate refused even the very idea of a trial, he'd set the three supposed witches free.

This is what Lear Lockwood was hoping for as he defended the three. Unfortunately for Lear, there were actual witnesses to Mary using her powers where a man died. This would be the basis for Eden's reasoning for the wolf that killed many in town too -- Under his very cohesive accusation, Mary and her supposed coven of Evie and Matthew came to the caves where many in the village caught them to continuing to summon black magic and where they bewitched a stray wolf in the village to kill and where Mary used her sorceress powers that killed the Mayor's aide, all total fabrications created by Mayor Churchill to nail the three in a conviction.

Outside under the gray spring sky, Baxter Murphy stood on the front steps of the courthouse watching everyone arrive. He salivated at the very idea of this entire trial. Two mothers of Lord Grandchildren sat accused of witchcraft, a local fisherman, formally lauded by his peers as a true man, was tangled up in the mess too like a tuna in one of his nets. A small-town scandal that Baxter helped create with his venomous newspaper columns just got even more scandalous as the trial began.

And the locals wanted justice. 

As Baxter stood at the top of the steps, he watched his adopted sister Cora Taylor arrive with Evie's family Aurora and Nik in a small black taxi with shining chrome mirrors. Baxter's stomach dropped. He hadn't seen her since their tense moment at The Siren's Call pub. Her eyes quickly located him, and she hesitated walking up to the courthouse doors.

Nik turned noticing her lag behind then looked up to where Cora's eyes were targeting to see Baxter standing there nervously awaiting his interaction with Cora. If there'd even be one.

"Are you going to be alright? You don't have to be here, you know. You can easily go back to Tirymor and wait with Gabriel." Nik said.

Cora shook her head. "I'll be fine. I owe it to Evie to show my support, besides I don’t know how comfortable I’ll be at Tirymor before we let Rebecca know." 

Aurora turned to Cora “Know what?” 

Cora sighed “It’s a long story.” 

Aurora and Nik shot each other looks. They knew better than anyone never to keep secrets from a member of the Lord family, especially Rebecca. For her part, Aurora had hoped Cora too would have learned her lesson, but she’d have to let Cora make her own bed this time.

 The truth that Cora was really Maggie Lockwood, Rebecca's niece who’d been sold on the black market as an infant to the Murphy family, would for now stay locked away. 

Aurora took a breath and looped her arm through Cora's "It'll be alright. Whatever it is.”

The three again started up the front steps when a flurry of villagers gasped and began whispering at the newest people to arrive at Court: Jacob and Charlotte. 

Baxter swallowed his anxiety and quickly rushed down the steps pushing through a gaggle of press and clamoring photographers to scoop a quote from Jacob, one of the richest men in New England whose family was at the center of real-life witch trial.

"Mr. Lord!!!! MR. LORD!!" a reporter from a rival newspaper in New York shouted, "What does it feel like to have members of your family accused of something so bizarre!?" 

Jacob did not answer. 

"MR. LORD! Who’s side are you on? Do you believe the accusations?" Another reporter from Boston shouted.

"MR. LORD! OVER HERE! MR. LORD! Are you a witch believer? Does your family openly practice?" third reporter with a photographer shouted with a laugh as Jacob pushed through holding on tightly to the terrified Charlotte who herself hid her supernatural abilities. 

"I can't believe he brought her." Nik said, viewing the scene 12 steps below him.

"They have to show a strong front for Mary." Aurora explained. 

"MR. LORD! WHERE'S YOUR WIFE?" Baxter shouted at Jacob. "Is she jealous you're here supporting your ex, the accused witch Mary Goode!?" 

Jacob quickly turned to Baxter who's voice he recognized as the man on his pay roll and slugged him in the jaw with a right hook.

The crowd began to chatter about such salacious question knowing the volatile history between Jacob and Mary. Cora turned away and buried her face in Aurora's shoulder. 

"I'm here for Charlotte's mother and my nephew's widow." Jacob growled attempting to set the record straight. 

Baxter turned back to Jacob, his jaw sore, his lip plump and smiled "I'll quote you." 

Jacob and Charlotte then quickly moved up the steps where guards began to block the nagging press below. Watching this, Aurora, Nik and Cora who slowed down their pace met Jacob and Charlotte at the courthouse doors. 

"Thank you for coming." Aurora said to Jacob. "I know that Sebastian would be happy to know his family is here supporting Evie and of course Mary. We're all family to that end. And since Matthew is all alone in this, we have to be here for him too." she added.

"Poor Matthew." Cora whispered to herself. 

"My nephew's life ... and death..." Jacob began again regurgitating the lie that Sebastian was dead, "has left a deep wound on my family's heart. This entire situation is just salt in that same unhealed wound." He added, neglecting to recall his involvement in Sebastian's apparent death.

"Is my mother here yet?" Charlotte asked the Jordans. 

"We're not sure honey, but I don't think so." Aurora replied.

"Miss Taylor, interesting to find you here. You've nowhere to be? Perhaps eavesdropping at Tirymor reporting back to the slug of a brother down there?" Jacob said, cutting through the kind family reunions straight to Cora's betrayals.

Aurora and Nik shot each other looks again; someone had told Jacob that Cora was the mole at Tirymor passing info to Baxter.

"I know you must be angry, sir," Cora replied, her stomach tightening when she realized she'd been outed. "but I promise you just as I promised Mrs. Jordan and Dr. Jordan that I -- I regret everything I did to help Baxter. I truly do and that's why I'm here today, so that the judge can see that I'm on Evie's side. I hope that you and Mr. and Mrs. Casador know that. Gabriel, he's just been such a light in my life and my error for my hand in all of this is my biggest regret."

"Yes -- Jane told me as much." Jacob said, revealing his source. "I can't say that I will trust you today or tomorrow or ever again -- but Aurora seems to, at least with little Gabriel, but I'll let that be Aurora's mistake to make, it won't be mine." 

"Jacob, I do trust her." Aurora said. "She made an error, and although it helped get us to this point, I think we can all agree that Coraline is indeed sorry for what she did. I think she deserved a second chance." 

Jacob lifted a brow and pursed his lips mulling over Aurora's kindness to a woman who'd betrayed them all. But quickly digressed back. "Again, that'll be your mistake not mine because Miss Taylor, I hope you know that nothing in this village goes on without my knowledge, I may have somehow looked passed you this time, but now you're on my radar. The minute the trip line snaps, and something tells me you're the one caught in the snare, there'll be no way out. I hope I'm clear." 

"Jacob...please." Nik said irritated with Jacob's cold threat.

"She said she was sorry, Daddy, we have to accept." Charlotte added.

Jacob did not reply to either of them, he only tightened his arm around Charlotte and began to enter with her into the courthouse but not before turning back to Aurora, Cora and Nik.

"Well, are you coming? I thought you wanted us to the family front." Jacob said.

With those words, Cora then realized he'd listened to Charlotte and Aurora. He'd accept her into the small circle for now to show a supportive front for the accused. 

But Cora knew his threats were never empty. She'd never cross him again. Never. 

****

Celeste & Genevieve meet up in the gardens 

Walking along the pebbled path of the Tirymor Gardens, Genevieve Thorne cuddled her almost grown son Morgan as he squirmed in her arms. She'd missed their closeness so much. Her regret for leaving to search for David was so great it felt as if she'd left part of her heart in Welshport while she was in London. 

A true error in her part she'll never forgive herself for.

As they walked under over-cast sky, Genevieve, in her thick fur coat and he in his own camel peacoat, watched as a mother robin dipped her head into a nest and fed her one single baby bird that stretched it's neck high above the nest's rim reaching for it's mother's beak full of worms.

Morgan wrinkled his nose at the little bird's odd shaped head.

"Every baby at that age looks a little funny." Genevieve giggled. 

As they continued to walk through the gardens they noticed Celeste and Fabian sitting on a bench together under a gorgeous willow, equally as chilled by the day.

"Will Charlotte's mama come back?" Fabian asked.

"We don't know yet meu amor." Celeste replied, her adoration of her sweet boy clear in her ancestral Portuguese.

"Oh." the boy replied sadly as another thought formed "What will happen to her if she doesn't come back?"

"Well, we're all hoping she and Evie and Mr. Winterborn will come back, so we should focus on that. A happy return, not something that would make us worry more or be sad." Celeste answered.

Fabian was unsatisfied.  

"But what if she doesn't? Will Charlotte go with her?" He asked of his big half sister.

"No, no, Charlotte won't go anywhere." Celeste reassured him. "She's part of the family and no one can take her away." 

"But Charlotte's mama is her family, and they will take her away!" Fabian answered still trying to connect the dots.

"Fabian, no one will take Charlotte away, not ever. And her mama-- don't worry about her mama right now. Daddy is going to do the best he can to help her." Celeste said.

"I hope so." Fabian said squeezing a hug from his mother who happily reciprocated. "And Evie. Do you still like Evie? You don't talk about her." 

Celeste sighed. She hadn't realized how instinctive her little boy was, especially on the strained relationship Celeste and Evie had since Gabriel's custody squabble that Rebecca was able to quickly squash. 

"Of course I like her, but darling, sometimes friends…” she paused to think “well, they grow distant when they have children. Life changes. But --- yes, I still like Evie." Celeste replied smiling when she realized that wasn't a lie. She actually did like Evie; she missed their friendship too. 

"Looks like we all had the same idea today: fresh air.." Genevieve said, surprising Celeste.

"Genevieve! So wonderful to see you again." Celeste said as the two hugged, in a chilly tone. "Morgan would you be a dear and show Fabian the fountains, they're so very pretty in this time of the day."

Morgan looked at his mother, the two of them knowing in a second that Celeste wanted to be alone with Genevieve. 

As the two boys went off to the fountains, Genevieve sat next to Celeste on the stone bench. The two almost never looked at each other. There was still an icy animosity between then after Genevieve dissolved her relationship with Celeste's brother Johnathon and ran off to London in search of David Lord.

"I'm actually surprised you'd come back to Tirymor considering everything that happened." Celeste said, watching the same mother Robin fly off for more food from her nest.

"My son lives here, of course I'd come to see him. But that won't be for very much longer. I'm going to ask him to come back with me soon, perhaps after this messy trial." Genevieve said.

"To live with you? And this stranger you brought back from London?" Celeste said, the village gossip of Christopher's resemblance to David still hadn't reached the Lords.

Genevieve gulped unsure if Celeste was testing her. 

"Christopher is a father himself, and Morgan is my son. I know that he'll be happy with us. I have lot to prove to him, and I want that chance." Geneieve replied. 

Celeste stood and faced the woman who almost married her brother Johnathon. The sky was getting darker, a clear sign of a coming spring storm. As the wind picked up, Celeste closed her arms around her body for warmth and sighed-- there was more on her mind and she cautiously chose her words.

"Listen, whatever you do with this Christopher person is your business and I won't stop you from reuniting with Morgan. A mother should be with her child. I've made a mistake crossing another mother, and I've lost that friendship forever. But, what I am really still upset over is what you did to my brother. I don't know if you heard but he was married recently and unfortunately something has happened to that marriage that's put my brother in a very dark place. I blame you." Celeste said.

"Me? Why would I be blamed for Johnathon's dark place?" 

"Geneveive, I've never seen him like this before. He came home last night and it was as if he'd been gone for 50 years. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy. His face dry and weathered. He'd been in the same clothes he left in days before. Dirty, disheveled. Sick. Something was very wrong with him. He has never been the same since you left him." 

"What could have happened to him?" Geneveive felt horrible.

Celeste shook her head. 

"And where is he now?" Geneveive asked. "We saw him in the Park the other day. He did seem off."

"He must of home here after that." Celeste noted.

"And no one knows what happened to his wife?"

Celeste shrugged. "God only knows. He ran off and we haven't seen him since. I'm very worried about him. I'm worried about Jacqueline, even know I can't stand the sight of her. She never felt good for him, she...something about her ached my bones."

"I wish there were something I could do." Genevieve answered.

"There might be."

Geneveive finally turned to Celeste and scooted closer to her eager to hear of the what Celeste's idea was. "Anything!" She said.

"When we do find him, stay away from him. Don't come around him, don't seek him out. Don't write him. Don't come by. Just -- stay away. He's been through enough with the women in his life and you'll only bring him more pain — what happened between the two of you set him on this course." 

"Celeste, I don't wish to bring Johnathon more pain. I would never -- " Genevieve began before being cut off. 

"Good." Celeste said, getting up quickly from the bench. And glancing over at the boys at the fountain. "I'll let Fabian and Morgan have some time together. They seem like they're having fun." She added then made her way back to the mansion back through the garden.

Genevieve sat there frozen in place. Her fur coat bristling with the cold breeze rushing through the trees. She felt paralyzed with guilt over Johnathon's misfortune since she had left for London. Her heart ached for the hurt she caused not only her son but her ex. 

Over by the fountain, Fabian and Morgan watched as water sprayed from two hidden spigots below the three iron horses of the fountain that were attached to bronze waves below their galloping legs. The fountain's water shot out below the horses making them seem as if they were running through a river of the clearest water. 

 "My mommy says Charlotte's mommy is going to be ok." Fabian said out of nowhere.

"Oh! Well, maybe she's right, we all hope so." Morgan added. 

"Gabriel's mommy too." He added.

"Yes for her and Mr. Winterborn. They're nice, aren't they?" Morgan replied attempting to keep conversation with the little 4 year old.

"Gabriel likes it here at Tirymor. I try and bring him to this fountain alot -- when it's not cold." 

"That's nice of you." 

"He likes it here." Fabian repeated.

"Who wouldn't? It's like a castle where princes and princesses live." 

"He likes it most when his daddy comes." 

Morgan froze. "His daddy?" 

Fabian nodded his head. "His daddy comes to watch him at night. I saw him twice now.

"Fabian, you saw Gabriel's daddy here? At Tirymor?" Morgan asked.

"Mmm hmm. You know, he's my cousin." Fabian confirmed.

Morgan took Fabian's hand, and moved him to a small stone bench just in front of the fountain hoping to get the distracted little boy to focus on what he had just said. 

"Fabian when did you see Gabriel's daddy? Was it recent?" Morgan asked.

"At night. I think not last but before. Twice. At night only." Fabian answered.

Morgan sat back and looked over at his mother who waved the two boys back to where she was sitting. Morgan felt shellshocked. Sebastian had returned, at least according to a 4 year old who could have been imagining or even dreaming seeing him. But if Sebastian did indeed return, had he connected with Filipe? Morgan's heart raced.

He hoped and prayed this was indeed true. Sebastian's return would change everything. He took the little boy's hand and the two went back to Geneveive. 

"Everything alright, darling?" She asked, noticing his stunned face.

"Um... fine. It's fine." he said vaguely. "I just need to get to town, I want to see if I can catch up with Charlotte."

"Alright. I'll take you down." Geneveive answered wondering what on earth little Fabian had said to him to cause such a stunned reaction. 

****

The Defense builds its case 

Across the Tirymor Forest over it's lush green canopy of Beech trees and back into the winding cobble stone streets of the Village, Nikolas arrived from the courthouse to meet Lear Lockwood at Village Hall where in the basement the old town jail was being used to house The Witches of Welshport. 

The two had met to go over the case. Lear, unsure of how his strategy would play out in court, worried he'd fail and all three would be put to death as the law dictated on a guilty verdict. 

Nik and Lear entered Village Hall and walked down it's echoing marble corridor that lead to a large staircase in the center under a large rotunda that lit up with small bits of light coming from several of the rectangular above. The two men slipped into a side door under a large portrait of the very first mayor of Welshport, Holland Lockwood, a long gone ancestor of Lear's and Rebecca’s.

"Lockwood?" Nik noted, reading the name on the golden tag of the frame.

Lear shrugged as he opened the door to enter into a stairwell that led to the basement, "Some great-great-great uncle of mine or something." 

Down in the basement, a new guard was keeping watch over the three accused as Lear and Nik entered. He was tall and handsome with red cheeks that seemed to blush every time Evie looked at him. 

Evie rushed the bars and called out to her brother as they hugged, the pinch of the iron between them never letting them forget where they were.

"We have a new guard." She whispered to Nik, who looked at her confused. "The other one got caught sleeping on the job." She added, her mind trying to keep up with any silly jailhouse news to keep from going stir crazy.

"Evie are you ok?" Nik asked seeing his sister was a bit worn out. 

She didn't answer.

Mary walked over and grabbed Evie's hand. She looked at Nik with concern. "We have to get her out of here. She hasn't been sleeping well."

"Guard, I'd like to meet with my clients, please. In private." Lear said.

"No can do, you'll have to talk with me here. Last night we had a guard fall asleep on the job and they want us front and center." The guard said.

"They have a right to discuss their case without you present." Lear reminded.

The guard walked over to Lear with a sympathetic face. He nodded in agreement but said he had his orders. "Listen, sir, if it was up to me none of this would be happening, alright. You all have free rein to talk, I won't bother you." 

"He's telling the truth." Matthew said, from his lonesome cell in a dark corner. 

"My god, Matthew!" Nik exclaimed, seeing Matthew was slowly but surly growing more and more tired and gaunt from his time in the cell alone too. "have they not been feeding you well?" 

"Off and on." Matthew said. "It’s like they're trying to make us go mad in here. I think it’s Churchill's orders. If they make us go insane and hungry maybe we'll confess." 

"No one is confessing." Lear chimed in. "I have an idea that might get this all sorted out but you'll all have to agree to it."

"What is it?" Evie said, her voice frail.

"We'll have to make it seem as if Mary didn't do what she did, that what they say was some kind of weather pattern that struck the caves and struck Mary. I have researched several instances where a weather pattern could have come in contract with the ground, like a lightening strike. Its happened several times and recorded in this area alone. It would explain what people saw come from Mary." 

"But there wasn't any lightening." Evie said. 

"No, there wasn't but ..." Nik looked back at the guard who pretended to be busy with a book, giving them a sense of freedom "but we have to say there was." 

"What would that do? They could easily say it wasn't true." Matthew said.

"They'd have to prove it. The burden of proof is on their end, and they'd have to prove Mary actually did something like that. Its not a human trait to shoot lightening out of one's hand. They'll have to enter into evidence things that are based in myths. That can't fly in a court of law because myths can’t be proven with tangible evidence. By us using a strange weather phenomenon as the reason Mary did what she did, at least that would counter anything supernatural— it’s more believable, more real world." 

"The judge seems keen on allowing all of this to continue." Matthew replied. "Otherwise, wouldn't he have thrown it out already?" 

"Not necessary." Lear corrected. "We have to have a hearing first so that the judge can see what evidence there is at play to then decided if the three of you can stand trail." 

Evie began to feel sick. She slouched over and vomited into a basin at the foot of her cot. Mary helped her up and washed her face. The two women stared into each other's eyes and Mary knew what she had to do. It had been too many days. Too much pain. Too much worry and stress for not only the three of them but their families too. She couldn't force the issue any longer and make Evie and Matthew suffer in the squalor of these make-shift cells because of what she did. Because of her own actions by exposing her powers, the three of them were being accused. 

"No." Mary whispered.

Nik turned to Mary "No what?" 

"We won't lie." She replied.

"Mary what are you saying?" Evie said, her voice frail, her skin pale and gray.

"I've already decided that I was going to confess and get this all settled. We can't go on like this any more. Look at Evie! Look at Matthew! They deserve to be home with their family. This was all my fault, everything since the day we went to the caves has been my fault. I'm going to confess Lear, no matter what you do or say right now, and the judge will let them go and I'll stand trial." 

"Mary that's a death sentence. This town has already has it's nooses ready to hang the three of you, if you decided to fall on your sword now, what then? They'll execute you. We can't let them continue the hysteria like this and make the rest of this town fear things they don't understand. I've had just about enough of that." Lear said.

"I've made my decision." Mary replied.

"What about your children?" Matthew added from his cell. "Don't they deserve you home too? And Filipe? My god, Filipe has been through so much, and you'll just confess to this stupid crime and leave them?" 

"They won't execute me." She added, feeling sure of herself. "I know they wouldn't go that far." 

"Mary, they went to Tirymor House searching for Sebastian, a man we all know is dead and ransacked the place. They dragged Jacob, Caspian and Rebecca to the caves and held them at gun point forcing them to watch everything. They do not care about anyone. This town has lost it's innocence, and they are out for blood." Nik reminded her.

Evie stood up hearing Sebastian's name. She knew he was not dead. She knew he was somewhere where Jacqueline had taken him -- she said nothing. She only held Mary in a tight hug as Mary continued to say she was going to confess no matter what Lear's plan was. 

"I don't know if that's the right thing to do Mary. I know this is what you've been telling us you wanted but it's certain death. I can't have that happen. We know you're not an evil person. We know that Churchill is just using this to make things worse for the Lords. We can't let him win." Evie said.

"Evie, they want a witch. They're going to find a witch. I have to do it." She said.

"NO!" A voice sounded from the shadowed door near the staircase that led back up to the main hall.

"Whose There!!" The guard shouted, bounding over to where the voice came from.

Stepping out of the shadows of the staircase, was Filipe Braga. 

Mary yelped at the sight of her husband who rushed to the bars. They embraced through the iron too and held each other tightly. His large arms barely able to squeeze through. It had felt like forever since they'd seen each other. Like they hadn't felt their skin touch over centuries. Her hair smelled the same even though she'd been locked away, his skin was still warm and caramel toned just as she'd remembered it. They held on so tight and everything, all the misery and darkness and horror, melted away as if they were the only two people left on the planet.

"Are you ok???" She asked him feeling his body as if in search for new wounds.

"Fine, I’m fine." He smiled.

"The children? Fatima?" 

"All fine." he said. "Charlotte, Morgan and Caleb are staying at Tirymor while we sort all of this out." 

Evie and Mary, knowing the terrors they suffered at the mansion gulped at that idea.

"Its ok, I'll fetch them soon enough." Nik said. 

"Mary, you cannot confess, you must fight this. Churchill wants to ruin the Lords and he's using you and Evie to start it off. He wont stop until that name is erased from this town forever." Filipe said.

"I've made my decision. I won't allow him to take Evie and Matthew down with me. It's the right thing to do." She said with tears in her eyes.

"But what about our family?" He asked. "Don't we get a say in this? We want you to live!" 

"That's why I've tried to sell my plan to her, she won't budge." Lear added.

"Mary, please -- " Filipe began before being interrupted by his wife.

"Listen to me, they will not execute me. I -- I don't know why I feel this way but I do. They would never ever do that. The will put me in jail, I will serve out my time and I will be back to be with our family. I promise you, I can feel it." 

"Charlotte, can Charlotte see that in her dreams? Or ... is this something you've seen already? A premonition?" He wondered.

"I just feel it." Mary replied to the sound of a silent room. 

"Filipe, how are you feeling?" Matthew asked, knowing Filipe was the wolf that killed so many. 

He turned to Matthew and smiled realizing they'd not heard the news, for obvious reasons.

"You'll never guess what happened." He said turning to Evie. "He came back, he saved me. Jacqueline had him hidden away at Lockwood thicket and he saved me. I'm saved!" 

Those in the room that understood who the 'he' was screamed with joy. A giant relief filled the room, especially on Mary's part where she'd be able to be put away in jail knowing Filipe would be with the children. 

Lear, Nik and the Guard looked at each other confused but kept silent. 

"This is why you have to fight this Mary, I can be with you now and we don't have to hide." Filipe said.

"Where is he? Where is he???" Evie asked, as Matthew stepped up to his bars with a worried look on his face.

The two of them had just come back together, their love strong but always weakened with Sebastian reentered the equation. 

"Right now, with me and Fatima. We're watching over him and making sure he stays safe." Filipe told her.

Evie's face lit up as Matthew looked on, his heart sinking like the shipwreck that almost took his life. 

"And Jacqueline?" Mary wondered of her one-time coven sister who turned them all in.

Filipe shook his head. "Dead." 

They all gasped yet did not know there was an error in Filipe's telling of the story. She had only appeared dead to them. Jacqueline was indeed alive. Mary then realized her encounter with Mary in her dream was perhaps Mary contacting her from the other side. A ghostly apparition. 

"It's time." Lear said.

They all turned to him.

"We have to get to the courthouse." he added.

As the guard began to unlock the cages and place handcuffs around the wrists of each of the accused three more guards were called in to start hauling out the group that would head to the courthouse and begin the testimony in front of a magistrate who'd decide, soon enough, if the trail would even take place. 

While on their way, Matthew's mind raced wondering if Sebastian's return would once again swallow up his relationship with Evie, something that was only just reigniting before they'd been arrested. He wondered too, if maybe they were better off together in prison away from Sebastian's cold fanged world. 

What would he do now knowing his rival had returned? Would he allow Mary to be the only one to fall on her sword or would he turn the tables and force them all to withstand trial together that way, Evie would be with him and have no contact with Sebastian. 

Matthew felt as if he was holding his breath the whole way to the courthouse in the car the police had provided for the group.

This trial, Matthew felt, could be the very last of his time with Evie. Squandered behind bars in a stinking, damp cold jail. 

And it killed him inside to watch her love slip away.

Forever.