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| Filipe crawls up from Fatima’s basement |
A dark sky covered the island of Welshport like a blanket of deep purple hews with polka dot stars scattered across it. At Fatima's house in the village, Mary, Charlotte, and Morgan continued to push for answers on why Fatima was hiding the injured Filipe.
Charlotte knew the answer, her mind was able to tap into the energy around her at Fatima's.
"O lobo da lua." Charlotte said to a shocked room.
“What did you say?” Fatima asked, stunned the young girl spoke in Portuguese.
“Charlotte?” Mary replied equally as stunned.
“What? What’s happening?” Morgan whispered.
"The moon wolf." Fatima then replied, translating for Charlotte; a who felt just as confused as everyone else.
Down in the small basement that had been converted into a bedroom, Filipe could hear talking. He held tight to his bandaged and injured body, wounds that were ripped into his flesh by a vicious and hungry wolf from the foggy forest on Goode Island.
He moaned in pain as the shabby stitches holding his flesh together stretched and squeezed the wound. Filipe’s heart pounded in his chest as he made his way up the wooden staircase barefoot and limping. His large feet felt each and every grain of splintering wood in incredible detail, instantly his mind knew the type of wood they were made of as if his feet were pulling the natural fibers into his body and showing him the exact tree the wood came from.
All his senses were intensified. He could smell his family in the other room as he slowly walked up the wooden steps. He could hear each of their heart beats as if they were drums tapping in his brain.
He could sense them, almost as if he were in the same room with them and as he got to the top of the basement staircase, he put his hand on the door and closed his eyes--he could actually see them in his mind standing in Fatima's front room.
"Stop with your antient superstitions, you're frightening Charlotte and Morgan." Mary said, pulling little Caleb from Morgan's arms into hers.
"But it's true!" Fatima insisted. "When Filipe was attacked by that creature, the monstrous, ghostly thing in the woods, it bit him. It took from him flesh and blood and bound them in a way that is unnatural. This will create something very dangerous for all of us in the coming days when the moon finally appears full in the sky."
"No." Mary dissented. "That can be true."
"The wolf wasn't normal." Morgan interjected to a stunned room. He was the only true witness to what happened.
"Morgan. please...." Charlotte began hoping to keep him from broaching the terrible memory of that night.
"Let him explain." Fatima added. "Go on menino." She said using the Portuguese word for boy.
"It wasn't normal. I saw it with my own two eyes. It was hollow and frightening and large. A wolf from a different breed, something from a nightmare. It wanted to kill me but Filipe saved me, if it weren't for him I'd be down in the basement suffering. The wolf I saw --- was not normal. It wants death and only death." Morgan added as Filipe continued to listen and watch from his incredibly powerful mind.
Morgan turned to Fatima who nodded her head encouraging him to continue to tell them what he saw and what he knew. He then turned back to Mary to explain.
"It, the wolf, seemed to be, I don't know, almost searching for someone to pass this curse on to. He was larger than any wolf I had ever seen before. Its paws were massive, and the head was giant and when it lunged at me Filipe jumped in its way, I swear it was almost as large as Filipe."
Behind the basement door, the irises of Filipe's eyes suddenly began to change from a light brown to a ghostly deep yellow and seemed to glow. His toes curled gripped the edge of the very last wooden step before the door. His hand that propped his healing body up curled too causing his thick fingers to twist downward and his fingernails to scratch long lines down the wood-paneled wall.
The truth of what happened to Filipe and what was happening to his body was like a fire poker plunging deep into his mind. Flashes of the attack came across his mind: The wolf, Morgan in terror, the high moon in the sky, the dark forest, blood in the snow and a howling so deep and so furious it would turn anyone's blood ice cold.
"It tore through Filipe's body like it hadn't eaten --- ever." Mogan continued.
"The wounds were terrible." Charlotte recalled after bandaging them herself.
"Then what can we do? What can we do to stop him from suffering from whatever is going to happen to him when the moon is full?" Mary asked finally accepting the danger that was to come.
As the four discussed the issue of Filipe's fate, he let out a heart stopping scream of pain, something that sounded like it was coming from a hurt animal trapped in some kind of iron vice. His mind was splitting. He was beginning the long process of transition into the Moon Wolf, the painful cruel process that began with his mind and would end with his entire body -- and further down the line of this process, possible death and destruction.
Hearing this ungodly scream from the beyond basement door, a horrified Mary handed Caleb to Charlotte and rushed over to the door's exterior lock. Filipe, in pain, fell backwards down the small flight of wooden stairs back down into the basement.
"FILIPE!!" Mary shouted hearing the man she loved yelp in pain. She quickly began to unlatch the locks but suddenly Fatima rushed over and put her hands over them stopping Mary from finishing.
"Do not open this door!!!" Fatima ordered.
"He's in pain, I have to help him! We have to help him!" Mary shouted.
"I will help him, but you cannot go down there. It is too dangerous Maria."
Mary narrowed her eyes and shoved Fatima away and quickly unlocked and opened the basement door. She stood at the top of the basement and looked down the dark stairwell but saw Filipe's feet and legs laying sideways where he landed cloaked in the shadows of the room.
"He's hurt." Mary said softly and she slowly made her way down followed by a nervous Fatima.
"Oh my god." Morgan whispered, his stomach turning where he stood away from the action.
"Are you alright?" Charlotte asked her peer.
Morgan nodded that he was, but in truth all he wanted to do was run.
As Mary and Fatima got to the bottom of the stairs, they found Filipe there breathing heavily with no shoes or shirt. Only half covered in dark pants and large white bandages across his chest that were stained in his blood. He was sweating profusely. His heart was bounding in his chest. His body hair, Mary noted to herself, was visible thicker.
Mary knelt down next to him; he was covering his face with one arm.
"Filipe, its Mary. Did you hurt yourself?" She asked him softly as she slowly reached for this arm to move it away from his face.
"No!" Fatima said, grabbing Mary's arm. "Don't touch."
Mary yanked her arm out of Fatima's hand and touched Filipe anyway, and when she did a powerful surge of energy filled her mind like a waterfall blasting large amounts of water into a lagoon. She saw the wolf, she saw bloody jaws and teeth, she heard screaming and dying she heard howling and waves crashing and more screams.
"LET GO!" Fatima shouted.
Filipe groaned in pain as he too was seeing what Mary was seeing.
Mary fell backwards, her mind filled with these images of horror. Her eyes wide and panicked. His feet and hands now in the light from the above floor showed signs of the transition.
"What do we do?? WHAT DO WE DO??" Mary asked Fatima realizing now how much danger Filipe was in and even worse, what he was capable of.
Fatima lifted a brow and pointed over to the bed where Filipe was laying. She reached for a shelf that was near her and picked up several long strands of heavy chains.
"We must constrain him before he fully transitions. The moon is coming."
Mary gulped and helped Filipe to his bed. As he lay back, she put her hand on his bare chest feeling the thick hairs grow thicker before her own eyes. Their eyes locked, she could see he was there he was there but there was something different. A darkness that was unnatural to Filipe's true self. He looked frightened and then mouthed to her "I'm dying."
"No, no, you're not dying. You're not." Mary replied hoping to reassure him.
Filipe began to speak through a soft, scratchy, weak voice "I need you to know that I love you Mary. I love you with everything that I am, whatever happens, Mary. Mary I love you."
Mary began to tear up. Her heart felt as if it was ripping in two. She loved him too, with all her heart. She buried her head in his chest. "I love you too." She said.
Fatima came and began to chain him to the bed, a sight that disturbed Mary to no end.
"I can't believe we are doing this." She said.
"We have no choice, if we all want to live if we all want to be sure that no one on this island ever knows that this man is a monster we need to be sure to keep him save here in chains. Its the only way." Fatima said.
They chained him successfully. He moved and the chains chimed and clinked together loudly. He moaned as the change in his body grew stronger and stronger.
Seeing Filipe's agitation grow, Fatima quickly ushered Mary up the darkened stairwell and back up into the house.
"How is he??? Can we see him?" Charlotte asked.
Fatima shook her head.
"We have to go." Mary replied with a tear-stained face.
"Mother, what is it? What's happened??" Charlotte asked in deep worry.
"But what about Filipe? We have to help him!" Morgan insisted.
"Morgan, we have to go, now! We can't help him here. We'll find a way to help him, but it can't be here." Mary said as she pulled Caleb back from Charlotte's arms.
"Do not be foolish." Fatima replied, "there is nothing we can do but lock him here."
Mary turned to Filipe’s biological mother posing as his aunt and seethed with anger. She felt as if Fatima wanted Filipe to be this way. Mary thought this was Fatima's odd way of doing what she never did when he was a child: be there for him. Mary saw this as Fatima needing this moment to somehow give back to Filipe for all the years that they lost as long-long family members. To Mary, this was selfish of Fatima for not even attempting to help find a real, solid solution to poor Filipe's suffering.
"I will not allow him to transition into anything like what I saw in that vision. We cannot let it happen” Mary shouted in frustration. “Filipe will not kill anyone in any way shape or form. It’s not in his nature! It’s not who he is!” She added.
“But don’t you see child, this creature has changed him -- every fiber of his good natured heart is gone now. It’s not who Filipe wants to be but it is who he has become!” Fatima explained.
“NO!! STOP SAYING THAT!” Mary shouted back infuriated. She had already seen the disasters of what the supernatural world could do to a person she cared for. She did not want it to happen again. Not this time.
“Then what do we do?” Morgan asked meekly.
“I will protect him, Fatima. Now Decide: do you want to help me? or will you allow this monster to take over the Filipe we love when the full moon finally rises?”
Fatima sighed but said nothing just crossed her arms over her chest in defiance. She believed she knew better for Filipe; she believed the folklore she was taught of O Lobo da Lua would guide her in protecting her son.
Mary raised her eyebrow and looked at Fatima with disappointment. "No number of chains will contain him; do you understand Fatima? Nothing will contain him. You are not powerful enough."
Fatima sighed again "Don't be foolish with your actions, child."
Fatima's rebuff was Mary's answer. She gathered the children and left Fatima's small home in the village with a patchwork plan in her mind to save the man she loved from turning into the monster that she saw.
"What are we going to do?" Charlotte asked as the small family made their way back to the docks to return to their cottage on Goode Island.
Mary wasn't sure what to say but answered cryptically "We're going to do all we can to save him, my darling. We have to. He saved me, he saved us, now we save him."
Mary's mind went straight to her only hope of salvation, her powers and her mother Eliza's book of spells.
Back inside the small home, Fatima closed the door and stared back at the basement. A single tear fell down her race. Nothing in her tarot cards would tell her how to get out of this, she could only wait on the folklore and time to show it's face. She feared Mary's unwillingness to let things progress natural would lead to everyone's undoing.
In Portuguese she whispered to herself "O disastre mortal chega quando viramos a cara da realidade Maria."
The deadly disaster comes once we turn our face from reality.
****
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| Rebecca’s key may unlock Evie’s freedom |
The next morning, Aurora and Evie sat on a small balcony having morning tea over at Gregory Reigns home where Aurora and now Evie were staying. Evie couldn't bear be apart from her son Gabriel who was at Tirymor House; those legal entanglements were still being worked out. For now, Jacob and Celeste held their clutches tightly to their legal right of being the little boy's guardians -- and his money.
For her part, Evie was in no way shape or form going to stay another day at Tirymor House with the Lord family despite her right to as Sebastian's widow and Gabriel's mother. Jacob's constant conniving and shadowy plots pushed her too far and the very memeory of what the old Caspian had plotted for her child chilled her to her core even now. This way, she felt safe in the home of the Constable, even if it meant leaving little Gabriel — for now.
It hurt her deeply to leave him and only visit in the day but it was all she could do -- for now.
As the two Jordan women drank coffee, their minds equally off in some foggy place thinking of their children, a small black car puttered up the cobble stone street in town below the balcony where Aurora and Evie were sitting.
The car was instantly recognizable: It was Rebecca and the family driver Aaron Hamstead.
Aaron, a tall golden bearded man with a top hat on covering his bald head, quickly leaped from the driver seat and dashed around the car to open the back door for Rebecca to step out. His white gloves almost looked like they were glowing in the morning sun.
"What in the world is this about?" Aurora whispered from the third story balcony.
Rebecca lifted her eyes up towards where she heard Aurora's voice. The sun stinging her cool gray eyes.
"Aaron." Rebecca said, passing her hand to him for help up the apartment steps.
Evie took a breath and shot her mother a look of concern. Her stomach muscles tightening over what Rebecca might say or do during her unannounced visit.
It only took minutes for Rebecca and Aaron to get to the apartment, and as Rebecca lifted her hand to knock, Evie opened the door.
"Psychic powers." Rebecca joked.
Evie smiled politely. "We heard you drive up, please come in, Mrs. Lord."
“Lord-Casador.” Aurora said as she entered the room reminding them all of Rebecca’s new marriage.
Rebecca smiled politely but felt a twinge of Aurora’s sarcasm and stepped in while Aaron went back and waited outside by the car.
"You can come in too Aaron." Evie said kindly just before he vanished down the stairs.
"No miss, thank you, I'll be alright downstairs." He replied, stoically. "Ma'am." He added dipping his head to Aurora who smiled back.
Rebecca turned back to Evie from Aaron and smiled "He's working." She told Evie, reminding her who was the queen in the room.
"What can we do for you Rebecca?" Aurora asked as she motioned for Rebecca to join her to sit.
“Congratulations on the marriage by the way.” Evie added. “Even though I still have incredibly deep concerns about Caspian moving about my son at Tirymor house.” She added.
“Thank you dear, I did hope you wished us happiness. I can assure you Evangeline, what Caspian did to us,” Rebecca began “all of us— is in the past. I know it’s hard to fathom that after everything but as I promised you, Gabriel is safe.”
“Yes, well we can only hope.” Aurora answered, her tone still dripping with skepticism. “My grandson is too precious and he needs to be here with his mother safe and sound not around a former demo…” she paused, “— we just want everyone to be..." Aurora paused again. "....happy.” she said sarcastically.
"Thank you.” Rebecca replied clocking Aurora’s slight. “But in truth, I didn’t come for anyone’s well wishes, I came to check on you both. I know that there hasn't been a lot of talking between us since all of our mutual tragedies, but I wanted to be sure you both knew that I was very much still the concerned grandmother of this family." Rebecca said.
Aurora lifted a brow suspiciously "That's very kind of you."
"I can't blame you for your skepticism, Aurora, we've both had a lot of history that I'm sure we'd rather forget. But as Ive mentioned to Evie a few nights back in Gabriel's room, I am determined to reunite her with her son and reverse everything Jacob has done in the past few months. I have a lot to clean up, and I take full responsibility for what happened. Everything, Aurora, everything—Caspian’s transgressions included. The poor man can barely remember his own life before he was…well we all know what he was.” Rebecca replied.
Aurora turned to Evie who hadn't filled her in on her private conversation in Gabriel's room.
"Its true, Mrs. Lord-Casador was kind enough to say she'd help me get Gabriel back." Evie confirmed.
Aurora turned back to Rebecca, "I won't sugar coat anything Rebecca, it’s obvious that I still have a very difficult time trusting you. Actually it’s even made worse to do so since the marriage to Caspian. We all know what Caspian did to me."
"I want to assure you that he is different. I promise you this. Not a day goes by that that man doesn't regret all of the horrid things that happened while he was.... well, in polite terms...take over." Rebecca answered referring to Caspian's possession.
"How is he different?" Evie said now sitting next to her mother across from Rebecca.
"Our experiences at Churchill Green, the psychiatric ward, were unique. We found a way to come together after we realized what had happened to him and that he was just a victim of the creature inside of him as I was. And as you were Aurora. We were all subject to some kind of possession, his was just far worse because it lived in him. I've had the challenge to see him in a new light and I do, he is no longer the thing--- the monster. He's a person again."
Aurora sighed and grabbed Evie's hand unsure what to believe. Evie looked at her mother and gave her a comforting smirk and squeezed her hand, a sign that she believed Rebecca.
"I can't say that I am one hundred percent fine with any of it, and I will steer clear of him, but its your life Rebecca. You can marry anyone you want. Just ... be careful." Aurora replied.
"My mother has been through hell and back, as we all have, you can understand that." Evie added.
"I can." Rebecca said with a smile. "Believe me I can. Now, there is something else I wanted to do while I was here."
"Oh?" Evie wondered.
Rebecca nodded and reached down to her purse at her feet and slipped her hand in removing a small golden rope with four keys tied to it that fit perfectly into a fan shape in the palm of her leather gloved hand.
"Evangeline, these are for you and hopefully soon, your son." Rebecca said.
Evie and Aurora looked at each other confused.
"What are the keys to?" Evie asked.
"Go on, take them." Rebecca said, Evie complied.
Evie felt the cool metal of the keys in her hands as she inspected them seeing each one had laurel leaves engraved on the bow with the beautiful letter L in the center of the laurels.
"When David and Sabrina were married, my husband Albert had a home built on Bellmore Beach just above the North Shore Cliffs. David and Sabrina loved that home. It was theirs. They lived there and it's where Sebastian spent his first 3 years of life. Jacob too once had an eye for it while he courted Mary Goode but we all know where that ended up." Rebecca explained as she rolled her eyes at Jacob's past.
"Sebastian never mentioned it to me, he preferred Lockwood Thicket." Evie said mentioning the cottage from Rebecca's family in the forest.
Rebecca smirked, "Well, he was a baby when he lived there. He may not have had the same connection as his summers in the cottage. I imagine too it was too painful to go back there after everything. The beach is where his mother died."
"I see."
"That being said, and hoping you'll be able to see passed that awful history, the house is yours. I'm giving it to you to keep for as long as you want to live with whomever you want. But again, I promised you -- Gabriel will be in your arms permanently soon. I'm still doing everything to make sure Celeste and Jacob loosen their grip."
"I just need to stop you there." Aurora interjected. "Why should we trust you, Rebecca? You almost killed Gabriel, you were under mind control before, how do we know you're not that way now? How do we know this House on Bellmore Beach isnt some kind of trap for my daughter and her son? It's not like this is a place she has ever been in or for that matter even knew about. I have a big problem just believing you."
"You're absolutely right to question me. A good mother would. If there is something you want from me, anything, to prove that I am here for Evie and Gabriel and want nothing more than their happiness and to be together I will give it to you. Name it... what can I do?" Rebecca said practically falling on her sword.
"Mother, please." Evie interjected, trying to ease the tension building from Aurora's tone.
Aurora took a breath and shook her head. "I-- I don't know. But I will say this, if even for a second, even for a split second, I see something is amiss and that your word of protecting Evie and Gabriel has faltered, I will come after you Rebecca Lord. I will make sure you are held accountable. This is not some kind of empty threat. It was a warning. I will not have anything happen to them -- not again."
"Mother." Evie said again softly. "Its ok."
"No, no, Evangeline, she is your mother. She's being protective, I completely understand. Aurora," Rebecca replied as she lifted a brow "I'm giving you word as a mother, and a grandmother and a great-grandmother -- this is true and real. This home is for Evie to feel safe for her and her son and for her to find peace so long as she wants to be on Welshport Island."
"Thank you, Rebecca, really. I do appreciate it." Evie answered, quickly blocking any more toxicity from her mother's clear skepticism.
Rebecca smiled and got up. Evie did too and after a quick awkward beat, Rebecca reached over and hugged Evie.
"Please let me know if you need anything." Rebecca said as she turned to Aurora to said goodbye.
Aurora politely returned the goodbye and when Rebecca opened the revealing the still stone like Aaron Hamstead she quickly grabbed his arm and went back down the stairs to their awaiting car.
"Do not go into that house." Aurora said as Evie closed the door. "I urge you Evie. DO NOT go there."
Evie sighed and stared at the four keys in her hand. They represented her own freedom but at the same time she knew her mother Aurora has reason to worry.
Was this beach house finally her piece of the Lord family pie, or was it a devious trap by the queen of the family herself.
****
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| Gregory surprises Asha in her office at Hope Hospital |
At Welshport Hope Hospital across town, Dr. Asha Hoffman worked in her office looking over paperwork, but her mind was not on her work. Her mind was on the awful thing she had helped Gergory Reigns with.
Not only had she helped hide the child Aurora gave birth to and adopted him out to Mary and Filipe, but she had also helped beef up the lie to Aurora the child had died. Aurora, believing she gave birth to a still born girl never knew her child was a boy -- and alive.
To make matters worse, Nik, Asha's partner that she adored and Aurora's son, overheard the secret being revealed unbeknownst to Asha and Gregory.
Nothing could keep Asha's attentions on her work because of all guilty conscious and mind pushing her to a place she hated. She had promised Nik that she'd never keep secrets again, as she did in the past, and now because of Gregory calling in a favor to her, she was coving the biggest secret and lie she had ever helped craft.
Being a child who was also adopted, made it hurt even more. Despite the child's father conceiving while being under the control of the demon inside Caspian, the baby did deserve to live with its real parents. Asha knew this! She knew that Gregory's jealousy and worry of Caspian's connection to Aurora via their child together didn't necessarily mean Aurora would leave him for Caspian, and it didn't mean that Aurora would suffer more pains being this child's mother-- those were Gregory's own self-conscious and selfish thoughts.
And yet--- she was trapped. She owed Gregory for protecting her lie about that man who killed her father. That lie was the spider that trapped her in Gregory's web.
As she shuffled her papers, unable to connect to her work, she suddenly heard a faint cry. She stopped her shuffling and listened; her hazel eyes fixated on the corner of the room as if she were in a trans unable to be released. Then the sound became more and more clear... it was in the room, this cry, and she could hear it better and better as the seconds passed.
Asha stood up from the great oak desk she sat behind. Her dark hair slipped from it's perch her shoulders and dropped to the center of her back like a long carpet of black and brown silk.
She listened closely again to the sound. It was a baby crying.
She didn't believe it at first. She chuckled realizing how tired she might be. But then the sound grew louder then softer then louder and louder then suddenly quiet.
The again, the cry would come taunting her over and over again.
Asha felt as if she was being surrounded, hunted. The voice of a child was calling to her reminding her of what she did and who she did it to and how evil it truly was.
The cry came again!
"Where-- where is it?" She said to herself out loud, quickly rushing from around her desk and into the four large cabinets to her left frantically opening them to find only clutter, extra white coats and more and more paperwork.
The baby's voice grew louder.
"Where are you? Where are you????" Asha screched, her voice echoing up into the high ceilings of her old hospital office.
She began to tear open drawers and flip over tables and pull out sofa cushions desperatly searching for this phantom baby who would not stop crying.
"No, its not real." Asha said to herself as she slumped to the floor, her arm clinging to the top of her office sofa.
But the child's cry did not vanish.
She began to feel like her office walls were closing in. She jumped up from the floor, her left foot snagging on the front hem of her long blue dress yanking her down to the floor where she banged her head on the hardwood flaps of her office floor.
The baby's cry got louder and louder.
"STOP! STOP!!!" She screamed out loud.
The baby's cry began to laugh a wicked baby's laugh. He chilled Asha to the bone-- the taunting cry, the taunting baby's laugh. It was calling to her to make her mad. She knew she was losing her mind. She couldn't grasp her normal life any longer. Work no longer took her mind away from her crimes, Nik could not save her from herself, and she could not, would not allow this any longer.
She had to tell the man she loved what she had done to his half-sibling and where he was. She could not allowed herself to fall deeper into whatever Gui ridden burden was slowly beginning to was over her as the days went on. It didn't matter what Gregory planned to do in retaliation, she had to be honest now.
She jumped up from the floor, a slight bump on her forehead aching as she reached for the door knob and pulled it open only to find Gregory Reigns standing there with his in a ball ready to knock.
He quickly noticed the frantic expression all over her face and did not hesitate to wonder why.
"Are you ok?" He asked, testing her.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, her nerves now on edge.
"Dr. Hoffman, you do not look well. What's happened?" Gregory asked, knowing she'd already been questioning their crime for weeks.
Asha didn't answer, and pulled him into her office that was thrown into chaos.
"And what's happened here?" Gregory asked, worried things were about to fall apart between the two coconpirators.
The baby cried again in Asha's mind, she winched as if it were a knife slicing through her head.
"Asha, what's going on. What happened here?" Gregory asked again trying to keep calm.
"I don't think I can do this anymore Gregory. We have to tell Aurora. If I keep this from Nik any longer, I think I'm going to..." she paused.
"Do what? Asha? What are you planning on doing?" Gregory interrupted.
"I just have to tell Nikolas. Maybe he'll agree with us! Maybe he'll think we did the right thing by taking that demon's baby from Aurora and giving him a home that could raise him without the stigma. Maybe he'll help us!" Asha explained.
"NO!" Gregory shouted. "I knew this was going to happen, that's why I came. I had to make sure you were alright. After our last conversation I didn't feel confident that our plan would stay in once piece and now I see that I was right. The minute you tell Nik anything everything we've planned to keep Aurora safe from whatever that child could be is gone. When are you going to understand Asha, that this was the best thing we could have done for everyone."
"I don't believe that." Asha replied. "We took a child away from it's mother and told her it died!!"
"A child conceived by a man possessed by the devil! Aurora didn't deserve to be saddled down with---" Suddenly, Asha shushed Gregory mid-sentence.
"It stopped crying." She said softly.
"Asha there was no one crying. It's in your mind. Your mind is playing tricks on you." Gregory explained.
"No, no it was loud. I heard it as I hear your own voice. It was real--- a sign. This child is telling me what we did was not right, we have to correct it, Gregory, we have to."
"Asha, you're worrying me. I don't want to have to do what I said I'd do if this all fell apart. If I tell everyone that you lied about Andrew Kim being the man who shot Jacob and Christian Evans two years ago, you'll go away to prison for lying. I'll show them the evidence you fraudulently claimed was real. Everyone will believe that I was duped just as much as they were by a woman who sought vengeance for her father's death. Kim will go free, and you'll be taken away--- away from here, your work and Nikolas. You can't want that, can you?" Gregory said stepping closer and closer to her.
Asha felt the threat as if it were a noose around her neck tightening. She could see he was dangling her freedom in front of her, the carrot to her rabbit. But she didn't want to continue to keep the secret, not this one anyway.
"You have to understand that what we did was cruel. And I'm worried Nikolas may already know." Asha confessed.
"If he already knew, don't you think he would have made it obvious?" Gregory asked.
The baby cried again. Softly this time as if it were two rooms away.
Asha looked off towards her right shoulder where the cry was coming from, distracted from the conversation. Gregory, sighed, his frustrations growing more and more with his partner's slowly breaking mind.
"Asha!" He shouted as he clapped his hands to get her attention.
She turned back to him. The baby's cry vanishing in the sound of the clap.
She did not say anything back to Gregory, she only stared at him with water welling up in her eyes. Gregory knew now that things would slowly get out of line if Asha was already this fragile. He had to make sure she was going to keep his lie locked away, and the only way he could so was to make sure Asha herself was kept locked away.
He had to take action.
Gregory smiled kindly, yet like the cat that ate the canary, and pulled the cracking Asha into his big arms for a hug. He held her tightly, like the big brother she had slowly begun to see him as and kissed her on the head.
"Don't worry." He said softly.
"What are we going to do?" She asked, her face buried in his chest.
"I'll take care of everything. No one will ever know." He said cryptically.
"You'll tell Aurora and Nik but say I had nothing to do with it?" She asked, foolishly.
He confirmed her question, saying he'd do what needed to be done. She hugged him tightly believing this meant he'd protect her and also tell the truth.
But in the relection of the window of her office, the cold stare of a man shined on the glass. He adored Aruroa more than anything on the planet, the love he had for her felt like an undying fire that burned deep in his body and no one would extinguish it. Not a child by another man that, to Gregory, thretened his relationship's stability, and not his slowly breaking down co-conspirtor's guilty conscious.
Gregory's eyes had no feeling now. They only refelcted the cold hearted desire to keep what he wanted no matter who was hurt.
As Asha's trust refreshed in Gregory, the slow faint sound of baby continued to ring her in ears. She winced in pain hoping the crying would die soon.
But the only thing that might die soon, was the mentally frail doctor hearing the phantom cry of a child she'd help kidnap.
****
 |
| Evie & Nik find someone familiar on Bellmore Beach |
Later that afternoon, Evie and Nikolas arrived by taxi to medium cliffside mansion overlooking the Atlantic ocean with a clear view of the horizon that seemed to go on and on of just blue sea and sky.
The wind was strong this evening and dusk was only hours away. As they stood there staring up at Bellmore House on the beach, Evie felt as if she was finally home.
Her home.
"Are you sure you want to do this? Be here?" Nik asked, unsure if idea of Evie being alone in such a remote home to the east of the island was a good one.
Evie smiled and looped her arm into her brothers and began to pull him up the stoney path "Oh, Come on you worry wort."
Evie slipped the key in the lock and pushed the front door open. The salty smell of old sea air rushed her. She and Nik entered the house to find the furniture in the very first room covered in white sheets and patches of fluffy dust. There was a simplicity to the home, comfortable in it's pale blue walls with white painted border. The golden varnished hardwood floors still shined as if there were new. The chandelier in the foyer hung like an upside-down umbrella sparkling in the evening glow.
"It's actually really adorable." She said staring up into the rafters. "Gabriel will be very happy here."
"So you really trust Rebecca in helping you get Gabriel back then?" Nik asked already up-to-speed on the latest family drama.
"She promised, and if Rebecca Lord does anything its keep her promises."
Nik nodded.
"I'll do what I can too to make sure she does too! I would have for all of this to be some sort of trick of hers or something Jacob and Celeste cooked up to trap you. Mummy was quite sure it was something like that." He said.
"Nikky, mummy might be going a bit overboard on that, but she means well." Evie added looking around her new home.
"We could reach out to Lear too. Maybe he can think of something legally to switch things up on Jacob and Celeste, you know legally -- keeping Rebecca out of it. Having her get into the mix in anyway may be to our detriment to the court." Nik said.
Evie shook her head "Absolutely not! He's the family lawyer, the last thing he would do is go against his own family especially after he's the one who filed the paperwork in the first place. If Rebecca isn't able to convince Jacob and Celeste to do the right thing and give me back my child, I'll think of other ways to do it. I've learned a lot since I've been on Welshport. No one is going to take advantage of me anymore."
Nik suddenly realized his sister was not who she was when she left London almost 4 years ago. It was, in a way, a bittersweet change in her personality. She was beginning to stand up for herself and fight back but at the cost of her sweet innocence. The Evie Jordan that left London would have never felt the need to find other avenues of getting what she wanted, but at the same time, she was doing the best she could to keep her family together and Nik admired that in his big sister.
"Sebastian would have loved to live here again with us." Evie noted.
"I bet he would. I'll admit, It's really magical here. Evie, about Sebastian; do you ever want to talk about what happened? About the medication I prescribed and…” Nik asked hoping to clear the air about his involvement in her almost dying.
Evie interrupted “Nikky — stop. I know you didn’t do anything that caused what happened to me. I know that for a fact. You’d never hurt me, and I want you to just let any guilt about what happened go away.”
“But if it wasn’t for me, you would have never..”
She interrupted again “I said I don’t blame you. Believe me.” She replied with a warm smile.
She was telling the truth: the blame was squarely on the mysterious Jacqueline Gray; the witch who caused all of this pain and Evie’s near death deep inside a grave. But fearing the Lord’s would once again lock her in an insane asylum for such a wild story of witches and spells, Evie kept it all a secret from her family. And so far, it seemed to Evie that Jacqueline was long gone, vanishing from Evie’s life once and, thankfully for all.
“Hey, Look at this!" The now relieved Nik said, removing a sheet that clung over framed photo.
It was a small 4x4 photograph of Sebastian as a child in a silver frame. The boy sat on a horse on the beach. The edges of the photo inside the frame were frayed and old, the color was already darkened by age but it was Sebastian.
"His eyes are the same." Evie said happily.
"'Are' the same?" Nik questioned with an eyebrow up.
"Were." She replied quickly.
"Where is he Evie?" Nik quickly asked.
Evie turned to her brother and huffed. She had told everyone that Sebastian had saved her but no one really believed her. They all thought she had hallucinated him digging her out of the grave but by the evidence of her nails and all the dirt on her when she arrived back at Tirymor it seemed to them she miraculously dug herself out and the lack of oxygen had only created Sebastian's image.
To everyone else in the world, Sebastian was long dead from the explosion long ago at Lockwood Thicket. Nik on the other hand, never ever second guessed his big sister. If Evie said Sebastian was alive and saved her, he was.
"What?" She replied coyly. "He's nowhere. He's gone." She added playing along with what everyone else belived.
"Now, now, you're talking to me here. Go on, tell me." Nik said.
Evie turned to her brother and saw his sweet face. His trusting eyes. His loving acceptance of whatever she would tell him was true, was true.
"He's safe somewhere where no one can hurt him." She sighed "Not society, not Jacob and not Jacqueline Gray." She answered as she yanked down sheets over several of the paintings on the wall.
"You know what everyone thinks don't you?" Nik asked. "They think you dreamed it all up."
"Well, let them think that. I know the truth, and now you do too. Besides, Nikky, I don't care what everyone thinks, you know me better than that." She said grin.
"Right, I do, but still...." he answered apprehensively. "I just want to be sure after everything that's happened you're going to be ok here and, if Sebastian is out there then we have to be sure you'll be safe from him."
"Nik, Sebastian won't hurt me. He won't hurt anyone at any time. He's not what you think. I know it's hard to believe, I know its hard to accept that after what he did to you at the Thicket, I felt the same way too! But when he saved me, we connected again. Together we made the decision to finally put him somewhere where no one would look and he could move on and so could Gabriel and I. Its going to be that way forever. He and I agreed."
Nik decided to drop the subject. As hard as it was for him to believe Sebastian was alive and that he helped Evie out of the grave where she was buried, Evie was firm in her version of events, events that were true, but to the rest of the word were too wild to believe.
As Evie made her way through hew new home that she hoped would soon include her baby boy, she went over to a large group of windows and pulled the drapes back revealing a large veranda that over-looked the rocky shore below.
She stepped out onto the veranda and leaned on the ledge watching the waves crash below on the black rocks. She could feel the vibrations of the water bashing like bombs deep in her chest. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of cool ocean air and when she opend them again, down below on a small patch of sandy beach, she saw a man walking.
She squinted her eyes. She recognized him. She knew who he was, but how? How could it be?
"Matthew?????" She said to herself as Nik exited the house and joined her on the veranda.
"What?" He asked hearing her say his old friend's name.
"Look down there!" Evie answered pointing to the beach.
"Is it? Is it really him? How?" Nik asked.
"It's Matthew. That's Matthew!!!" Evie said joyfully remembering the man she once loved after Sebastian and who had supposedly been lost at sea.
"But his ship, his ship sank months and months ago!" Nik exclaimed.
"It's him Nik! It's really him! MATTHEW IS ALIVE!"
Evie rushed from the balcony that over-looked the sea and dashed through Bellmore House's living room with it's furniture covered in white sheets.
"EVIE!" Nik shouted at her from the door as the sky finally showed signs of a setting sun. "WAIT!!"
She was like a woman gone mad. She couldn't believe her eyes. She desperately needed to see if the man down on the beach was Matthew Winterborn, her long lost at sea fiancé.
She ran down a dirt path that winded and turned down the rocky edge of the North Shore Cliffs She ran and she ran down the path, overgrown bushes snagged on her dress, yanking and scratching her as she went but she was undeterred.
Evie ran and she ran.
She heard the bashing waves grow louder and louder and finally, she climbed over the sharp black rocks and got to the sand and threw off her shoes. She ran towards the beach and there he was standing there taking in long deep breaths of fresh sea air as the night came.
Nik stood at the top of the cliffs and watched in awe of his sister.
"Matthew." She said as the waves crashed on the beach.
He turned.
Matthew's eyes widened. There she was the woman from his memories when he woke up peeking into real life.
He walked over to her almost as if he was afraid, she was some kind of memory again, a phantom of what he wanted to see, but she was real.
"Matthew is it really you??" She asked, the water washing over her bare feet.
He smiled politely unsure how to answer as his memory was still foggy.
"I think so." He answered.
His voice was proof enough, Evie yelped like a schoolgirl and jumped into his arms as the sun set behind them bathing them in an orange light that filtered through her hair like golden rays of sunshine as the spring air quickly clicked into summer.
****
 |
| Celeste & Cora have an dicey conversation |
As night fell, Coraline Tyler was putting Gabriel to bed. They had a very good day of sign learning and for being such a young boy, Gabriel was picking up the very basic ways to communicate quite quickly. Cora was pleased with his progress and hoped that the little boy with hearing loss would soon be able to speak perfectly with his hands.
"Now we just have to get your family up to speed." Cora whispered to the sleeping toddler.
"Cora." Celeste said softly from the little boy's bedroom door.
Cora walked over "Yes Mrs. Lord?" She whispered.
Celeste motioned for her to follow her into an upstairs parlor where they could chat. In the dimly lit room, they sat on facing blue sofas and Celeste poured her some evening tea.
"How is he doing?" She asked.
"He's learning quickly, thankfully. In a few years I suspect he'll be teaching us new signs for words." Cora said, graciously taking the tea.
"That's wonderful news, you've done an amazing job. We're all very thankful for you." Celeste replied. "I also wanted to get your opinion on something."
"Oh?"
"Now that his mother is back, do you feel that keeping the boy from her would harm him? Maybe slow his progress in learning?" Celeste wondered, showing a glimmer of guilt for taking Evie's child.
"Well it hard to say." Coraline answered. "I'm not a psychologist, but I can tell you that being with is natural mother would do wonders for him. That's true for any child."
"Can I tell you something? Something that you'll keep between you and I?" Celeste asked.
Coraline nodded. "Of course, Mrs. Lord."
"Jacob and I, we.... I feel we've made a bad choice taking Gabriel from Evie so quickly. Maybe we…Jacob…acted on impulse instead of, I guess, well I’ll say it, integrity. Maybe I need some reassurance from someone who 's been close to him, like you have, to see if its affecting him in anyway."
"Of course it could effect him, but how those effects will develop overtime I can't say. Again, I'm not a psychologist." Cora replied.
"Would you advise we drop the guardianship?" Celeste asked.
To Cora the answer was simple, YES, but she knew what her true job was. She was there under-cover for her sleezy brother the investigative reporter Baxter Murphy. He wanted dirt on the family. He thrived on their dysfunctional tendances and bad behaviors. He wanted to be the one to take down the most powerful family on the Easter Seaboard and Cora was tasked to do it for him.
Her conscience told her to tell Celeste it was best to give Gabriel back, but her allegiance to her brother spoke first.
"I, I think you did the right thing." Cora said, the words burning her lips with lies.
"You do?" Celeste asked in surprise.
"Uh…well, we don't know how stable Evie is, do we? After all the woman was buried in a grave and she said some witch, or something put her there and that her dead husband came and dug her out.” Cora said surprising Celeste.
“Cora,” Celeste said pausing after a beat, “how did you know that?”
Cora then realized she gave her eavesdropping self away.
“Oh! I’m so sorry I know what it looks like Mrs. Lord but I wasn’t purposefully listening. I just … I… I just heard it as I passed the room.”
“I see.” Celeste replied with an Eye brow lift.
“Well, as I was saying, Something has to be wrong with her, so yes, yes I --might -- feel like you and Mr. Lord did what, was.... best...for Gabriel." Cora replied, hesitating while she spoke as the lies continued to flow.
Celeste smiled back, her training as the good wife of Lord settling in nicely but her unease with Cora now revealing she’s a bit of a eavesdropper didn’t sit well.
"Thank you, for your honesty Coraline." Celeste replied slightly frigid in tone.
Cora couldn't stand herself. She felt sick for lying. She knew Evie was indeed capable to taking care of her own son, she felt that any mental unease Evie went through over the last few months were all products of intense stress and grief over being put in a mental institution by Jacob and Celeste and that whatever she imagined after being buried alive was also a product of that stress and, of course, lack of air.
There were logical explanations for Evie’s version of events, Cora believed. But she had to keep up appearances for Baxter and she had to report back to him.
To Cora there were cracks in Celeste's veneer and perhaps there would be a division to come between Jacob's plots and schemes and Celeste's willingness to go along.
Cora knew this information would be pay dirt to begin to break the Lord Family once and for all. But she had no idea if by then she’d have the stomach to keep going along with Baxter’s snooping.
