***Hankie Alert***

It wasn’t often that Goddess Ariadne Dreamweaver was shaken to the marrow, but this was one of those times. Events leading up to and surrounding Lenora Landgraab’s illness and apparent death caused the walls between universes to grow even thinner than they already were. The entire cosmos was in a perilous state; the situation needed immediate attention.

Ariadne knew she and the other divinities would be facing a cataclysmic event. it was preordained by the Watcher, and Ariadne understood she and the others were helpless to stop it. Even gods and goddesses had limitations on how far they could exercise their power. They couldn’t stop the event, itself, from occurring, but there were ways to point the key people in the right direction. This was a situation where she and the other divinities could not just spread their arms and fix it with the crook of a finger.

Ariadne had no choice but to call an emergency meeting of the divinities. She needed help, and she needed it now.

Drogo and Phaedra, along with their offspring Azura, Caleb, and Magdalena cane at once. Calista, Goddess of Fairies soon followed. Iliara, Goddess of Vampires was invited but graciously declined due to her own work. “Please do let me know if I can help in any way from here, Ariadne, my friend. I must finish my training and instructions to Prince Stefano but will come to you if I am truly needed.”

Voicing her understanding and wishing her friend well, Ariadne invited her friends and guests to her sitting room. “I’m sure you all know why I’ve asked you all to come.”

“Of course! We could feel the ground tremble from worlds away. It is a wonder there wasn’t more damage,” Drogo replied.

“Yes,” Ariadne said grimly. “It is thanks to Poseidon, who did what he could to counteract it. I’ve had to appeal to Olympus, too, for help in what we are dealing with. This is a much, much bigger problem for one divinity or a small group of us to handle. I can honestly say I am truly frightened at this time.”

“That is understandable,” Phaedra replied. “Lenora was not meant to die. The loss of her has put this universe on a course to certain destruction.”

Ariadne nodded. “The only reason this universe was not destroyed instantly is that she truly is not dead but was made only to appear so. Even so, it was enough to cause possible irreparable damage. Lenora is vital to the survival of this universe and possibly the cosmos. The fact that she remains in true danger weakens the walls between this universe and others. If this is not solved in due course, the walls will crumble, and this universe will be destroyed. What was shown to Lenora by Mathilda those years ago will surely happen, which, in turn, means that all universes are in great peril.”

Azura pursed her lips in contemplation. “Lenora believed that Tyrone and the children, once older, could continue her work. Without Lenora, poor Tyrone is lost. Mathilda could direct the children until Tyrone feels stronger, but…well…it is less than ideal, to say the least.”

“Lenora never realized how great her importance truly is. She knew she was The Chosen but never realized that without her, worlds could collide. Right now, Tyrone cannot see beyond his own grief, not that I blame the poor man,” Ariadne said sadly. “They truly are a special couple who are absolutely incomplete without the other. The children are destined to achieve great power, but there is much for them to learn. The long and short of it is that Lenora’s work is far from complete, and she needs help to return to her destined path.”

“Where do Liam and Mathilda fit into all this? They’re not here, which, to me, is very ominous,” Caleb added.

Ariadne heaved a sorrowful sigh. “Unfortunately, Liam and Mathilda must be kept partially in the dark because of their close bond with Lenora. I hate that they must endure such anguish, but their genuine grief will help ensure that the ones behind this will be apprehended and dealt with appropriately.  Amadeus is already suspicious. He and Mathilda will be a driving force in finding the needed answers and setting things straight. Liam, too, will be needed but in a very different way.”

“I must be with my son and grandson to do what I can to help,” Magdalena said. “Tyrone is my grandson, after all, and knowing he is deeply grieving hurts me so.”

“Yes, I understand. But please remember that you must not directly interfere,” Ariadne warned. “Keep reminding Tyrone of who and what he is so it may be reinforced to him that things are not what they appear and that all is not lost. Your presence will also be very beneficial to the children.”

“He needs to be reminded that his sixth sense as an Alpha Wolf is very powerful and true and that it’s telling him things for a good reason,” Azura added. “He’s so mixed up right now that he can’t think straight. To face what any Wolf who’s Imprinted on their mate dreads more than anything and survive would rattle the strongest of Wolfkind. Tyrone fits into that category, but right now, he needs looking after and direction.”

Magdalena nodded and wiped at a couple tears that sparkled on her cheeks. “It is times like this when too much knowledge is painful, but not enough knowledge is even more so.”

“Our position is never easy, and times like these are truly challenging. Anyway, we all must be extra vigilant and do what we can to indirectly point everyone in the right direction. Calista, we need to speak as well. Flora is up to her old tricks and has kept Liam and Mathilda detained far longer than they should have been. Can you retrieve them and make sure they arrive home safely? I must go to my son, Cian, and send him home. Phone and Internet services are out of reach where he is.”

“Yes, of course. Then, I must go to Prince Silvan and prepare him for his own destiny,” Calista replied.

“Thank you, my friends. I hope our next meeting is under far better circumstances. Blessed be.”

The tragic news wasn’t received well at all by Liam and Mathilda. They returned home in silence, both of them lost in their own grief. Tears poured down Mathilda’s face while Liam wept unashamedly.

“How could this have happened?” Liam asked in a broken, mournful voice.

Mathilda shook her head and took in a ragged breath. “I don’t know, Liam, dear. I just don’t know. Some time back, Gunther gave me a cryptic warning that Lenora would someday be in danger, but he had no further details to share with me. I never imagined…never dreamed that she’d be taken from us.”

“I need to see her for myself,” Liam sobbed.

“Of course you do. So do I. I just can’t help but feel something about this isn’t right.” Mathilda wrapped her arms around Liam and rubbed his back. “I love you so much, Liam. We’re going to get through this.” Her own voice broke as she choked out the words.

Because Mathilda was a known and sought after Supernatural Healer, she was entitled to certain privileges at the hospital. She was somber as she signed herself and Liam into the morgue. As the attendant led them to where Lenora lay and told them to take as much time with her as they needed, it was unbeknownst to them that Lenora would later be stolen by a mysterious figure and a clone created to take her place.

Liam gasped as Mathilda folded down the blanket to reveal Lenora’s still face. “My darling Lenora!” Liam sobbed out his grief as he took his granddaughter into his arms and kissed her. Tears traced their way freely down Mathilda’s cheeks as she watched Liam cradle Lenora and whisper to her in Irish. Seeing Liam so devastated and Lenora so lifeless made Mathilda want to wail. Mathilda felt absolutely powerless as her heart broke for Liam and what Lenora’s loss meant in her own life.

Mathilda gently kissed Lenora’s brow and stroked a hand over the soft golden strands. “Thank you, Lenora, for showing me how to open my heart again. If it hadn’t been for you, my life would have been a lonelier, bleaker one. I love you, sweetheart.”

“Grandda loves ye, Lenora, forever and ever,” Liam whispered hoarsely. Still holding her, something began to break through the iron fist of grief. “She’s warm! She…she was brought here hours ago, but she’s warm.” Liam stroked his fingertips over Lenora’s cheek then pressed his lips to her forehead. Placing a hand over one of his granddaughter’s, he blinked in bewilderment.

“I noticed, too,” Mathilda said, rubbing Liam’s shoulder comfortingly. “There is no doubt that whatever happened here was magical in nature. Perhaps whatever this is keeps the body warm for a certain amount of time.” She slid her arms around Liam which sandwiched Lenora between them. “I promise I will get to the bottom of this. None of this makes any sense.”

They sat like this for a long time, holding each other with Lenora situated between them. “I was just remembering a time when Lenora was about five or so. We had a big storm which frightened her. She crawled onto my lap and buried her wee face against my chest as I sat in my rocker. To comfort her and try to get her mind off the storm, I held and rocked her, and I told her stories about her mother and how Anne and I would hold Maggie between us when she was scared. Ye know what Lenora said?” Liam said in between anguished sobs.

“What, love?”

“She said…she said Grandma sounded really nice and that she wished Grandma could be here so we could make a love sandwich.” A wracking sob shook Liam’s shoulders. “She would have loved being held like this and feeling surrounded with love. She would have loved being held like this betwixt ye and me had ye been in our lives when she was a wee thing.”

“Oh, Liam, my heart! Lenora was surrounded with love every day of her life. We all held her between us always even if it wasn’t through physical touch. She felt our love around her every minute of every single day. Lenora knew how much all of us loved her.” Mathilda choked on a sob, realizing she’d spoken of Lenora in the past tense. “She’s really gone, Liam. By the ancients, what are we going to do? I miss her so much already.”

“I know, darling Mathilda,” Liam cried. “My heart is so heavy with sorrow. I don’t know how I’m going to bear it. But…but we must be there for Tyrone and the wee ones. The poor lad must be beside himself. The wee ones…oh, they are going to miss their mother so.”

With great reluctance, Liam and Mathilda left twenty minutes later, both mulling over how to pick up the pieces of their shattered hearts.

Aside from losing his Lenora, telling his children she was gone was the hardest thing Tyrone ever had to do. He decided it was best to get them from his parents’ house and bring them home to break the news. The anguish on their little faces and the waterfall of tears mirrored his own agony. It took everything within him to offer what comfort he could, which, to his thinking, wasn’t much. All he could do was hold them and let them cry as long as they needed to. He tried not to cry but failed miserably.

“What do we do now, Da?” Aurora sobbed helplessly as she held tight to her father. “I don’t want her to be gone.”

“I don’t either, Princess. Oh, Drogo, I don’t want that either.” He swallowed hard to try to relieve the tightness in his throat. “All we can do is try our hardest to get on without her. We have to do our best to make her proud.”

“We were so scared when the ground started shaking,” Andrea said. “Grams got us all under Granther’s piano, but we were still so scared.”

“We thought all of us were going to die,” Jonas added. “Afterwards, Grams was crying, but she wouldn’t tell us why.”

“We sorta knew Ma was g-gone…but we didn’t want to believe it,” Chris said. “We were afraid the ground would shake even more and make you die, too”

Tyrone’s heart broke all over again as he gathered them close. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said as firmly as his constricted voice would allow. “I promised your Ma I’d take good care of you.”

“Who’s going to take care of you, Da?” Aurora said, reaching up with an angel’s touch to wipe a tear from Tyrone’s cheek. “You’re so sad right now. I can feel it.”

“We have to take care of each other,” Tyrone said, kissing his little daughter. “That’s what Ma would want. It’s okay to be sad. I expect we’ll all be sad for a long time because we miss her so. It’s painful to say goodbye to someone you love, especially when it’s someone so very special like your Ma.”

“She was the best Ma ever,” Jonas said, bursting into fresh tears.

“Yeah, son, she was,” Tyrone said, wrapping his son in a tight hug.

“I wanted to tell her I loved her one more time,” Andrea said, her own tears welling again.

“Oh, sweetheart, she knew. She knew how much we all loved her.” Great Drogo, how could he cope with this? How could he help his children through this when he could barely keep himself upright?

“We’ll have to have a…um…funeral, won’t we, Da?” Chris whispered.

“Yeah, son. I’ll be making the arrangements in the morning,” Tyrone said somberly.

“Can we go?” Andrea asked.

“If you want to. You don’t have to if you think it’s too much, but it helps to be able to mourn.”

“Ma…she’ll be in a box. What…what if she doesn’t look like Ma?” Jonas asked through his tears.

This was nearly the end of Tyrone. He bit his lower lip to stifle the primal howl that threatened to escape. He closed his eyes and mentally counted to twenty.

“Da, are you gonna Wolf Out? I mean, it’s okay if you need to.” Aurora touched his cheek to offer gentle comfort.

“No, honey, I’m okay. It’s just…so hard…for us all.” He took a deep breath and kissed Aurora’s temple. “Your Ma will be put in what’s called a coffin. It’s a big, sometimes fancy box that’s used to bury a dead person. There’s a piece on the lid that opens so mourners can see the person and be able to say their final goodbyes. They’ll make Ma look very beautiful, and she’ll look like she’s asleep. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Do you understand?”

“Yeah. It’s just…well, we never knew anyone who died except Great Grandda and Landon, but they were alive again when we were born. I wish Ma could come back, too,” Andrea said.

“Me, too, sweetheart. I wish for that with all my heart, but it seldom works that way,” Tyrone said, hugging her.

“She’s with Goddess Ariadne now, isn’t she?” Aurora asked.

“Yes, I expect so. I’m sure Goddess Ariadne is taking very, very good care of her and reminding her of how much we love her.” Tyrone gave each one an extra tight hug then looked into each face. “Ma loved you all very, very much. Never forget that, okay? And I love you all so very much.”

“We love you too, Da,” Andrea said, fresh tears surfacing. “Can we all sleep with you tonight? We’re scared to be alone.”

“Of course. Truth be told, I don’t want to be alone either.”

Author’s Notes: I just wanted to point out a couple things. When referring to the clone of Lenora that was made, I’ll put her name in quotation marks. So, when it’s written as “Lenora”, that will refer to the clone.

I also wanted to bring your attention to the timeline of events. As you’ve noticed, this chapter backtracks a little in regard to the previous one. There are a lot of characters to cover, so there’s the need to get everyone caught up to the same point. So, here’s what we have.

1. Valerie visits Lenora and puts something strange in her tea. She has no memory of lacing Lenora’s tea due to Shane’s mind manipulation.
2. Lenora becomes ill and is taken to the hospital by Tyrone and Landon.
3. Neil strives to find a cure, but time is running out.
4. Neil receives the blackmail call.
5. Lenora says her goodbyes and apparently dies.
6. Tyrone, Deus, and the others at the hospital spend their needed time with her. Tyrone and Deus perform the Wolf Ceremony, then Theresa performs the Last Blessing.
7. Neil begins creating the clone.
8. Lenora is taken to the morgue.
9. Liam and Mathilda finally arrive and are able to spend their time with Lenora.
10. Neil finished the clone and brings her to the morgue. Lenora is taken to Room 22, and the clone is put in Lenora’s place.
11. Lenora is stolen from the hospital by a mysterious figure.

As always, thank you for reading, subscribing, liking, commenting, and lurking.