Two days had passed, and I was too scared to go to them. The Chasses and Wicklows were in a dark place after what happened. The last time I spoke with any of them was when they had left for their family getaway. That seemed so long ago now. As they made preparations for their fallen men, I stayed away. The looks on all of their faces told me all I needed to know. They were hurt… bad.

  I stayed pretty close, roaming the woods beside the Chasse house as they made plans for a funeral. Annabelle and Shelta were there most of the time since that night. They planned on having a joint funeral. They talked like they would both be buried in the same place, which I thought was strange. However, both families seemed to know exactly what they talked about, so I figured I’d have to wait and see when the time came.

  Kayla was a mess. She never left Autumn’s room after they all got back home that night. She couldn’t stay on the guest side anymore; it reminded her too much of her father. Remembering Zeke walking around that side of the house must have been too much for her. Arthur was back, staying on that side of the house, but he didn’t talk much to anyone. He never spoke that much, but this seemed different. From what I could hear and sense from out in the woods, Arthur seemed so quiet that I thought he’d never talk again. Kayla spoke to Autumn now and then, but Arthur could have been a ghost. I could hear him flipping through the pages of a book at times, but other than that, he was silent. The scarred hunter was even more damaged inside.

  When the Wicklows all came over… it was hard to watch, and even harder to listen. My senses allowed me to feel as if I were standing within the home, able to witness everything. Sarah, the Wicklow I felt I knew the least, never had clear eyes. The red strain that grew in her gaze was so potent she almost looked like a vampire. Sarah's bloodshot eyes cried off and on in the arms of Eleanor, Annabelle, and even her own son.

  Patrick stayed strong around everyone, taking on a similar persona to Arthur, but when he got a few moments alone… I felt his pain. He went to the bathroom a few times just to get away from everyone. Once inside, he’d barely crack the lid that kept everything contained. I could hear his faltering breath from out in the woods. He thought he was alone, but my senses put me right there beside him.

  They were all busy as the days went on. Many things had to be done. People needed to be notified in the supernatural world and the human world. The civilized world, however, contained many more hoops to jump through. Carter seemed to take the lead, however, speaking with three different contacts within the government infrastructure of the known world. It seemed as though there were specific steps they took whenever these dreaded events tore someone from their family. They couldn’t just call the police and say their family members were killed by a gypsy necromancer. They had to let their family members fade from existence without causing a stir within the human world. The thought of it all stressed me out for the two families, but they seemed to have done this many times before.

  On that second evening of lingering in the woods, watching my friends, I was surprised by footsteps that approached quickly. They rushed through the light breeze that blew against my back. The strange and powerful scent of my landlord registered in my mind. I turned quickly and saw his familiar face staring at me with a questioning look. Martin approached me under the shade of the trees.

  “Sam, what are you doing here?” Martin asked. He seemed shocked at my presence.

  “Waiting,” I said slowly, curious as to why he was there. Maybe he just wanted to check on them as well.

  “For Peter to return?” Martin asked.

  “Yes and no. I just wanted to be here… if they needed anything.”

  Martin cocked his head to the side, “Do they know you’re here?”

  “No. I didn’t want to intrude,” I said. “I’d call them, but I still don’t have a phone.”

  “I can get you a new one, same number and everything. I know a guy,” Martin nodded his head, answering a question in his mind. “They haven’t reached out to me until today. Carter asked if I could come by.”

  “He did?” I questioned. Why did he want Martin… and why not me?

  “Yes,” Martin answered, obviously tiptoeing around my reaction. “I’m not sure why they are all keeping their distance, but I thought it odd that he hadn’t reached out to me sooner.”

  “I know they’re hurting. I want them to have what they need. I think right now what they need is space… and time.”

  “I believe you are correct,” Martin agreed. “With the waves in their family already, this will cause their ties with… us… to be more scrutinized.”

  “Did Carter say what he wanted?” I asked. “Something to do with the funerals?”

  “No, not that. Even with all of the planning they are doing, Carter still wants to look into what kind of creatures those four-legged beasts were. He has found something and wants me to take a look.”

  “In a bestiary?” I guessed.

  “Yes, in one of Arthur's, I believe.”

  I looked back at the guest side of the house, “That must be what he’s doing over there. Arthur’s barely been on my senses since they all made it back. He hasn’t spoken hardly at all.”

  Martin nodded sympathetically, “To lose your family like that, so quickly and unexpectedly… I’m sure it would rattle even the strongest of us.”

  I nodded in agreement. Then I started thinking about my own family, and then Martin’s.

  “I wish I could have been there… I was useless…” I remembered the feeling of being too late to stop the two deaths, and then once I arrived, they already had the situation under control. I was… no longer necessary.

  “There is nothing you could have done, Sam. Peter even said you weren’t coming. Alex and I realized he must have done something to you. It seems like he doesn’t want to encounter you again. I think he can’t do what he is planning with you around,” Martin explained his recent thoughts. “You are still unexplainable, and I’m starting to think even Peter can’t plan for things to happen his way with you around.”

  Martin and I had a moment of silence as we tried to figure out what it all meant. I wanted to say more, but I already told him, Jane, and Alex that I was right there. I saw it all happen, but I was helpless to do anything.

  It was fully dark out in the trees, and the gap to the Chasse house was dark enough for Martin to cross.

  “I should get in there,” Martin suggested.

  I nodded, “Go ahead. I’ll stay out here and keep a lookout. Peter could come back at any moment, and I want to be close when he does.”

  “Thank you, Sam. I know you care about them all just as much as I,” Martin spoke sincerely. “If you could have helped… I know you would have been the first one there.”

  I only nodded.

  Then, Martin blurred across the darkened gap to the back door. He knocked only twice before he was greeted by Eleanor. She looked like she had a drink in her hand, trying to take the edge off everything that was going on.

  “Martin,” Eleanor greeted the vampire with a hug.

  “Eleanor,” he returned, “I am so sorry, my dear.”

  Eleanor nodded in sadness, gritting her teeth. She was trying not to cry again.

  “Is he in his study?” Martin asked.

  “Yes. He’s waiting for you up there,” Eleanor informed.

  They closed the door, and I stopped focusing. I wanted to reach out and see if I could concentrate on Autumn’s voice. I wanted to hear her breathing, her heart beating inside the house. If I were lucky, I might get to listen to the sweet music of her voice. The thoughts of all the loss and being alone made me start to realize just how precious my time with her was. I wanted to be with her while I could. I wanted to create as many memories as I could before that’s all I had left of her. In those dark moments in the woods, apart from my friends, I didn’t care what it meant or what was right for me to do. I just wanted time with her. I wanted time with them all.

  After maybe an hour, Martin returned out through the back door and crossed the expanse to me. He sped through the dark like a shadow as he returned.

  “Well, did you learn anything about those creatures?” I asked Martin.

  “Yes, I did. Arthur’s side of the family called them Devourers. Arthur had read of them before and remembered their distinct lower jaw and blunted teeth from the writings in his family's bestiaries. Nothing major to note, though, silver kills them just like everything else; massive brutality is an excellent substitute as well. They haven’t been seen in many years, so they must have come from down deep in the pits,” Martin thought aloud. “At any rate, they have been dealt with.” Martin looked back at the house for a moment and then had an anxious thought come to his mind. “They are all swamped, but I think this is the right thing to do. The funerals are tomorrow, and I think they want you there. No one said anything, but it’s pretty hectic inside. Hearing from out here and seeing their faces up close are two totally different things. I think it would be good if you come tomorrow,” Martin suggested.

  “You really think so?” I asked.

  “Yes. I think they’ll all want you there, even the Wicklows. Why don’t you come with me… I think I have a suit that might fit you. You can't necessarily go to a funeral in the same coat and hood you always wear, Sam,” the old vampire laughed.

  I smirked, looking back at the Chasse house, “You think they’ll be okay?”

  “They’ve got Annabelle and Shelta. If Peter came here… Shelta would destroy him again. Plus, I think that he’s biding his time until he can get stronger, somehow. He won’t show himself until he thinks he can take out Shelta… and you.”

  Martin’s words soothed me. I agreed with what he said, and I left with him, leaving my family and friends to actually have some privacy.

  The next day came too slowly. I went back to Martin’s bar behind his massive sliding steel door. I passed by the other patrons who didn’t eye me once. Alex, however, stared at me from the moment I entered the establishment until I moved out of sight behind the kitchen window. I didn’t think she feared for her friend; she was just curious as to why I was there.

  Martin did have a suit for me that he let me keep. It was all black, which I thought fit me perfectly. I hadn’t ever really been a suit guy, but I actually liked the way I looked. I took my time in the back of Martin’s bar and got myself cleaned up.

  When it came time for the funerals, Martin and I left Alex behind at the bar as we dropped below the sewers. She was cleaning glasses, wiping down tables, and doing very menial and mundane tasks. It was strange to see her working so diligently like a normal person.

  It was daylight, so I had to carry a thick black blanket with me as we made our way across small sections, blocking the sunlight for Martin so he could walk in the light without burning. He had a strangely constructed umbrella with him, also. It looked like it was made out of some kind of animal skin. The material was like black leather that expanded and stretched to the little frame of the umbrella when fully opened. In direct sunlight, he would start to smolder even if he rushed through a small expanse of light. The blanket didn’t do a good enough job, so we had to be quick while we were above ground.

  We made it to a graveyard that was isolated from everything else. Tucked away in a dark plot of woods, on private property, was a large area of grass that was cloaked in the shade of the massive trees at its borders. A low stone wall was built up around the entire shape of the graveyard. There were small headstones littered throughout, while much larger tombstones and even a few statues stood high inside the dark place. For a moment, I was reminded of the dark forest I visited when Jon called me to the fields recently. It was almost a comforting feeling.

  When Martin and I arrived, the Wicklows and Chasses were already there. They stood around two different groups of tombstones that had pre-dug holes. It didn’t take me long to realize what this place was. This was their cemetery. The joint family of hunters, the newly dubbed attuned, and werewolves buried their dead here. Even in death, their families were connected. Bartley Wicklow lay killed inside his pine box right beside Zeke Chasse. They both rested in coffins in a central area about thirty yards away from where Martin and I entered the graveyard. I could hear a low grumble in my ears as their voices littered my senses.

  I saw mascara running with tears, voices cracking and sobbing, and the same hardened look on all the men’s faces. Every person there was clad in dark, mournful clothing. They were still just as hurt as the moment they both fell in that alley. I think now it had really set in for some of them in a way it hadn’t until that point.

  I saw Arthur standing like one of the grey statues as he looked at his brother. Kayla wept loudly by his side. Autumn was there, supporting her cousins’ weight when her knees wanted to give out from the grief. Autumn’s face ran dark lines of tears and makeup as she too lived in the sorrow with her family. I wanted to go to her.

  Patrick, Sarah, and Shelta all wept right next to them. Bartley’s family was shattered.

  The trees above were so thick that they produced enough cover and shade for Martin to walk freely. He popped open his strange umbrella and laid it across his shoulder just in case a few stray sunbeams found their way through the trees above. I laid the folded blanket down on the edge of the stone border wall as we both entered the graveyard.

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  Carter and Eleanor looked up as we entered the space, aware of both our presence at the same time. I secretly feared what they would think when they saw me. Would they be angry… upset, or disappointed that I wasn’t there for them in their dark hour of need?

  But, to my thankful surprise, I was quickly welcomed by Eleanor's relieved expression. Carter also looked thankful to see me in such a dark time.

  We walked up to meet them, quickly gaining the attention of the others. Autumn saw me as her parents began to move towards us. She had a strange look on her tearful face. She looked beyond emotional, but was trying to hold it in. She was straining to maintain what little composure she still had as she tried to be there for Kayla.

  "Sam...," Eleanor walked to me quickly with her arms spread, ready to pull me in for a hug. She latched on as soon as she could put her arms around me. "I'm so happy to see you, Sam. I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks. These last few days… they’ve seemed like they've lasted forever,” she cried quietly between sentences.

  "I'm sorry, Eleanor. I'm sorry for what happened to Zeke… and Bartley. I wish I had been there sooner…” I struggled to find words I thought would help. “I tried but…”

  Carter stepped up next after greeting Martin, “This isn't your fault, Sam. You can't be everywhere at once."

  “But I was there,” I admitted to them. “I made it to you all but… Peter had been doing something to me. He didn’t want me there, so he knocked me out. I was at the old factory…” I replayed the events for them. “I fell asleep, like I was in a coma or something. I slept for days. He showed me things… things that made me want to stay in the things I saw.”

  Martin added, “I believe Peter sees Sam as a threat to whatever it is he’s planning. So much so that he couldn’t afford Sam to be there to interrupt. He took him out well before he made his moves on us.”

  “I made it there… just too late. When I got there, it was too late to help you guys… I just had to watch.” I explained.

  Carter hugged my neck, “It’s alright, Sam. We can talk about the details later. But none of this is your fault. I promise you, none of us thinks that.” Carter patted my back as he talked to me.

  Autumn broke away from the pack of tearful mourners and met me beside her parents. She walked right in between both of them and wrapped her arms around my neck. Autumn and Eleanor both had on black dresses that almost matched. Autumn's hair was done up in a loose bun, and her eyes were tired from crying.

  “I'm sorry,” I tried to find words to comfort her. I didn’t think it would help, so I just held her tightly.

  “I'm sorry I haven't talked to you since everything happened," Autumn spoke through her stumbling words as the emotion grew thicker in her voice. "I tried calling, we all did, but it went straight to voicemail. Then… Annabelle said we had to stay away from you until today. She didn’t want us to even attempt to contact you because she thought it might blur her vision,” Autumn explained through brimming tears.

  I looked over to Carter and Eleanor, who nodded in unison.

  "It's true," Carter said. “She wanted us to maintain a distance from you. I don't know exactly why, but I think after losing Bartley, she wanted to make sure she could see our futures. She said she could see everything leading up to the funerals today, and then everything blacks out.” Carter looked back over to the attuned elder, who was actively watching us from a distance. "She says that we all walk out of here safely, once the darkness clears from her vision, so she was okay with you coming.”

  “You knew I would show up here?" I asked, confused at the old woman’s power.

  “Yes, but we wanted you to be with us sooner. Annabelle has her reasons sometimes, and we have to listen to her. Her power has saved us more times than any of us can remember,” Eleanor said. “We’ve learned over the years to just listen to her. She usually has a perfect reason for the things she requests.”

  Autumn spoke up through the other information, "I missed you.”

  “I missed you, too," I told her.

  Autumn stepped in close again and wrapped her arms tightly around my neck, pulling herself very intimately into me. She did it right in front of the onlooking Wicklows. Even Patrick was watching as she did it, but she didn’t care. At that moment, I don't think any of them cared. Too much had happened…

  “Come, join us. We're about to start,” Eleanor placed her hand on my shoulder as she led me towards the rest of the extended family.

  The coffins almost matched as they sat directly beside one another at the central ceremonial gathering. Everyone was there; all of the Wicklows I knew, the entire Chasse clan, and even a few of the Talbots. Jane had arrived shortly after Martin and me, bringing along a few other members I had only ever seen in passing. Alan and Eloise stood near Carter and Eleanor. Almost everyone had on black with a few darker grey tones. We all stood in a crescent formation as we gazed upon the fallen family members, as their bodies lay motionless and pale.

  Before Annabelle stepped up to say a few words, I started to have a moment. I pictured this being my family back home. How many more years did they have left until one of them was lying in a box? Who would it be: Dad, Mom, Seth, my sisters? What if it was Vicky… or Caydee? Anything could happen in the world I lived in.

  I didn't hear the words that were spoken at the joint funeral; I just stood as motionless as the corpses. I thought about the loss that was eventually coming my way. The only other thing I could feel in those moments was Autumn’s fingers gripping my arm tightly. I could feel her muscles shaking in her grip, and I could hear the rapid flutter of her heartbeat. I tried to memorize everything about her, committing everything to memory for a day in the future when I didn’t have Autumn anymore. A time would come when I would lose all of my family and friends, and I would be alone.

  The rest of the ceremony went by in a hazy blur. I felt lost out in those shady trees surrounded by the loss and grief of my friends. I didn't feel what they felt, not entirely. I wasn't close with Zeke or Bartley, but I could see all their pain. If it had been Autumn, Eleanor, any of the Chasses, or my family back home… I’d never be the same again. Just knowing that one day I’d be facing what they felt had me stressed. How many times would I have to feel it?

  Once everything was over, and we had buried the two men in the earth, everyone slowly started to disperse with their own grief. It wasn’t long before I found myself standing in front of Shelta and Annabelle.

  “Thank you for being here, Sam,” Annabelle’s old voice choked out. “Bartley would be glad you are here to protect us… in your own way,” she added, dabbing her eyes with an old handkerchief.

  “I wouldn’t have been able to kill Peter if you hadn't taken care of those devourers on the roof,” Shelta said. It wasn’t a thank you; she was too distraught at losing her brother, but I knew she meant it.

  Then I wondered, how did she know I killed the ones on the roof? I didn’t think any of the others, outside of Martin, Jane, and Alex, knew I was there until this point. But then I realized they could know and see things in ways others couldn’t. She probably sensed me there somehow.

  “I’m sorry. I wish I could have done more,” I said as I looked over to the two freshly covered plots.

  “Me too,” Annabelle spoke sullenly, almost hanging her head.

  "But I know we still have more to do. Peter's not dead, he'll be back; it's only a matter of time.” I reminded everyone of the reality we faced.

  “How can you be sure? There was nothing left of him. How would he be able to come back from that?” Shelta asked.

  I think she wanted to believe it was over. It was easier than the truth.

  "It's hard to explain… but I was told I'd be shown a way to kill him,” I informed.

  “What do you mean?” Eleanor asked from behind me.

  “Was it…him?” Autumn asked.

  They all realized what she meant; who she meant, rather.

  “Yes. He said that when the time came, he'd show me what I needed to do. I didn’t hear anything the night you burned him, Shelta. Peter will be coming back, I just don't know when,” I assured them all.

  "Well, it seems we all need to prepare ourselves then,” Annabelle said.

  “Prepare… how?” Shelta asked through her drying tears.

  Annabelle answered smoothly, "I believe I have a plan. It's a way to tip the balance in our favor; in your favor, Shelta.”

  "What are you talking about, Annabelle?" Carter’s strong form asked the older crooked lady. He seemed oddly worried about what she spoke of.

  They all knew that if Annabelle had a plan, then it was in their best interests to go along with it. Even with all of their strength, none of them could match Annabelle’s ability to direct the flow of their battles.

  "All in due time, Carter. For now, I suggest we all return home and get what little rest we can,” the elder Wicklow put on a weathered smile.

  Everyone trusted her, so they nodded in agreement and prepared to leave.

  “Sam,” Annabelle’s voice grabbed my attention. “May I have a word?”

  Her request shocked me. I looked back at Autumn, who still clutched my arm tightly, as if, as soon as she let go, I’d disappear.

  “Only Sam,” Annabelle easily let them down. “It’s best if we have this moment alone, so things will work out as I have seen.”

  Eleanor placed her hand on Autumn’s shoulder, “It will be okay, sweetie.”

  “Will you come by the house later?” Autumn asked as she loosened her grip on my hand.

  I nodded to her, “I’ll be there.”

  Autumn let go and turned her teary face from me. Her makeup was running just like her mother’s as they both followed Carter back to their vehicles. Martin stood near the Suburban like he was waiting to talk to Carter.

  “Walk with me, Sam,” Annabelle said, easing slowly across the grass towards some older graves in the Wicklow section of the massive graveyard.

  Shelta eyed us intently as she waited beside her brother's grave. She let her mother continue on with her plan, even though she wasn’t in the loop yet. It looked like it was worrying her.

  I followed her willingly. I still didn’t fully understand what all the Wicklows could do. It didn’t make sense in my mind how Shelta was able to basically melt Peter that night in the alley. I definitely didn’t understand Annabelle’s ability to look into everyone’s futures. Yet, I strangely trusted her. I wanted to hear what she was thinking.

  “We have a lot of family here,” Annabelle said as we came to a stop outside of some older-looking headstones. “A lot of my loved ones are laid to rest here. All of my family I knew before I had children of my own. My husband,” Annabelle eyed a much older-looking stone.

  I looked up at the ruby-colored concrete to the name that was carved into the slab. It read, Michael Wicklow.

  “I know you two are celebrating right now,” Annabelle said to the headstone. “I’ve missed you so much, darling. I thought I’d be coming first… never our son.” Tears poured from her eyes through the crow’s feet at the corners. “I’ll see you both again… soon,” her old, shaky voice barely got out.

  Annabelle pulled a cloth handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed her eyes gently.

  “I know that there are no words I can say…” I started.

  “Don’t worry yourself about it one bit, my boy. Life is life, and with it comes death. I never planned to outlive any of my own children. I lost my Michael almost twenty years ago this December. He was a darling man,” she thought back to him.

  “Michael Wicklow?” I asked. “If he was a Wicklow, did you come from another attuned family?”

  Annabelle smiled with genuine intrigue. “Attuned… where did you hear that?”

  I didn’t answer, and I think that told her all she needed to know. It was from the cloaked side of my reality, she could see that.

  “No. I am a Wicklow, Michael’s last name was Peterson.”

  I tilted my head in confusion.

  Annabelle laughed lightly, “Michael took my last name. Once he knew what I was and what my family did, he wanted to help me… us, in any way he could. It was unheard of in the times we lived in, but Michael loved me and didn’t care what anyone else thought about it. He was proud to be a part of the Wicklow family. He trained with Carter’s father for a time in our younger years. He didn’t have our…” She eyed me intently. “Our ‘attuned’ blood, but he wanted to help in our efforts against the darkness of the world.”

  “How did he die?” I asked after a brief pause, looking at his aging stone.

  “It was on a hunt,” Annabelle nodded. “I saw him come out of it safe and unharmed… but then, things changed. It happened too quickly for me to warn them…” she relived it as she spoke.

  “I’m sorry,” I felt like an asshole for asking the question.

  “I got to see him one last time after it happened. He lived long enough for them to bring him back to me. We spoke before he passed, and he was happy. He knew it was his time, and he was ready. He died protecting his family… he was never scared of anything as long as he was fighting for all of us.”

  Annabelle looked like she was working things out in her head as she spoke to me in the quiet cemetery. She was calm on the outside, but I could see her eyes racing as she looked into futures at various stages of each life she monitored.

  “What is it you see?” I asked.

  The old woman took in a slow, deep breath as she calmed her mind’s eye.

  “I won’t be here much longer. I’ve seen how it happens,” Annabelle admitted. Before I could speak and let her know we wouldn’t let it happen, she lifted up her hand to stop me, “This is my time, Sam. I’ve seen it. It doesn’t matter if you stop the way I’ve seen, it will just come around for me in a different way. I am going to die. There’s no escaping it… and honestly, I don’t want to. I have more family on the other side than I have left here. My time is coming to a close.”

  “What about Shelta?” I looked over slowly as I saw her sobbing on the top of her brother's grave. I whispered the words so she wouldn’t hear. “What about Patrick and Sarah? They’ll be the only ones left.”

  “They’ll be okay. I’ve seen our family’s future, and they will thrive again as we have before,” Annabelle seemed almost proud as she started tearing up again. This time it was tears of joy. “I’ve seen Patrick and Shelta find happiness with others that lead to a rebirth of our family. Our family has lost much in the last generation or so, but they’ll grow us into something powerful again. The family blood will continue after I’m gone.”

  “So, what do you want from me? Why did you want to talk to me alone?” I asked.

  “I’ve seen the way it happens. I transfer my power to Shelta,” she looked over to her daughter, who was still sobbing. “When Peter comes back, he is far stronger than before. Shelta’s power alone won’t be enough to stop him anymore. I give all of my power to my daughter, and then I pass on. However, her power isn’t what will eventually kill him,” Annabelle said.

  “It’s me,” I knew what she was going to say.

  “Yes, Sam. Shelta’s power has to be strong enough so she can contain Peter until you can kill him. There is no other way… I have to put my power into her so she can help you end all of this,” she was sure. “Peter has ways of moving that are… unexplainable. He’s in and out of my vision constantly. It’s like one minute he’ll exist, and another, he’s gone from our world. I didn’t recognize that at first, that’s why he was able to hurt us as he did, but I know his patterns now. Shelta will slow him when he returns. She’ll lock him down in place for you. When you take him from there… he never returns…”

  I had questions, but I just nodded. Annabelle probably saw countless ways she decided to go against Peter, all of them failing, except sacrificing herself to save her family and friends.

  “I’ve seen you… Sam. I’ve seen you in my visions, unlike before. It is only for a moment, and it is right as I die, but you aren’t blocking out my sight like normal. You’re hard to see, but you are there in some way that allows me to see you. For only a moment, I feel you in my mind, and I feel what is with you,” she spoke ominously.

  “What is it?” I was almost afraid to ask.

  “You really have no idea what you are, or who the other person is?” she asked.

  “No…” was all I could say at first. “He told me that I had to figure that out on my own. He said that if I learned it too early, I wouldn’t be able to handle it… that it had to be this way.”

  She nodded, staring off into the shadows of the trees that surrounded us. “I suppose that is probably best. When I felt the presence of that other… thing, it scared me, Sam. I’ve lived a long life filled with all kinds of creatures that you probably haven’t even learned of yet, but nothing compares to what I felt in that vision where I saw you. If you are tied in with something like that, Sam… I fear that you will have a very hard life, my boy,” Annabelle apologized. She actually seemed like she felt sorry for me, and whatever she felt about my future. She tried to get herself back on track, “So, when it happens, and I have to give my power to Shelta, I need you to be there. That’s the way I’ve seen it, and it has to play out like that. Nobody else can know. I cannot tell my family yet, as they will most assuredly try and convince me otherwise. However, I needed to tell you so that you’ll be with me on that day.”

  I nodded, “Don’t worry, I’ll be there. When’s it going to happen?” I didn’t know how to feel as I agreed to it. She was basically going to kill herself, and no one else knew. What would they think when they found out I knew and didn’t tell them?

  “We have one week until Peter returns. I’ll transfer my power to Shelta the night before, and you all will prepare for his arrival,” Annabelle was dead set. She knew exactly what we were going to do.

  I nodded. “Okay. If you think this is the only way… then I trust you. I’ll be there, and I’ll do as you say.” I knew all too well what happened when people tried to escape their fates and live beyond their natural lives. I’d come for them. I probably should have argued with her… but I knew things that made me keep in line with her plan.

  She smiled and pulled me down into her older crooked frame, “Thank you, my boy. You will help protect our families when I am gone, and you’ll do it in a way that no one else can. For that, Sam, you will always have my gratitude… and my sympathies.”

  Annabelle and I parted ways after we finished speaking at her husband’s grave. All of the Chasses had left, knowing I’d return to their house later in the evening. Unfortunately, I was hesitant to go to them now. I had a secret to keep from them again. Annabelle said that they couldn’t know until it was happening. That’s how it had to be; I just hoped that they all saw it that way. Would Autumn?

  Martin and I returned the way we came, bouncing between shadows and tunnels as we returned to his bar. I cloaked him from the sun when we had to go topside. I could tell he wanted to ask me about what Annabelle and I spoke about, but he never said a word about it. I think he understood that if Annabelle wanted anyone else to know, then she would have told them.