As Tyrone requested, Deus and Erica, Cian and Theresa, and Mathilda and Liam arrived at his house as the sun awoke to renew the morning. Crystal and Landon, Robin and Alina, Lauren, and Valerie were also present. However, it took a good deal of time for everyone to calm down and make their way inside. Lauren’s homecoming was a lively topic of conversation. Being the close family that the Landgraabs were, many hugs were exchanged, and Lauren was welcomed home with excitement, happy tears, and loads of questions.

Crystal and Erica served coffee to the grateful family members. This early in he morning, everyone needed a jolt. Plus, alertness was key if they were going to crack this mystery.

“Thank you all for coming,” Tyrone started out. “I’m sure you all know why you’re here.”

“Indeed,” Mathilda said. “This gathering has been a long time in coming.”

Tyrone nodded. “I should have done this a lot sooner, I know. It took my grandmother verbally kicking my ass for me to fully listen to my Sixth Sense and acknowledge what I already knew. It’s just…” He vigorously rubbed his hands over his face and groaned in frustration and despair. “How does one come to terms with something like this? I lost my wife…saw her die and felt her leave me…only to come to the realization that who we buried wasn’t her. How the hell am I supposed to deal with that?”

“You’re dealing with it now, brother. You’re taking action, and that’s what needs to happen,” Valerie said, then took a huge gulp of her strong, black coffee.

“You’ve been through a lot, sweetie. You’ve had major reasons to feel scrambled,” Erica replied. “The main thing is that we’re all together now and can compare notes. Perhaps with all of us putting our heads together, we can come up with an explanation, at least maybe a partial one.”

“We all agree that Tyrone’s decision to have Lenora, or who we thought was Lenora, exhumed is the right thing to do. Am I correct?” Cian added, getting to the main reason for the meeting.

“Agreed,” Mathilda said with an emphatic nod.

“I trust Uncle Tyrone’s instincts,” Robin added. “Never have I known them to be wrong.”

“How does this work?” Valerie asked. “I mean, we all can’t just march out to the cemetery like an army of ants and…” An audible click was heard as she swallowed around the large lump forming in her throat.

Deus squeezed his younger daughter to his side and patted her shoulder. “It takes some doing. Even in a Supernatural community such as ours, it takes some doing. An order must be sent to the President of the Witches’ Council to be signed off on. Now we have an in since it’s up to Erica, who is the current President. Besides, Mathilda’s opinions carry a ton of weight, and Robin’s agreement as a magical police officer will speed things along a lot faster.”

“Guess it pays to have family in charge. But…but just what are we looking for? I mean, this is such a strange situation.” You don’t know the half of it, and you’ll all hate me once my part in all this comes out. I shouldn’t have come here. I should be–

Valerie’s panicked thoughts were interrupted by another comforting squeeze from her father. Unable to help herself, she clung to Deus as tears slid slowly down her cheeks.

However, Valerie wasn’t the only one crying. Alina’s cheeks were wet, and she’d gone the color of sour milk. Robin snaked an arm around his distraught betrothed’s waist and snuggled her close. “It’s…it’s…so ghastly,” she squeaked, her voice constricted with revulsion and grief. “She will stink of the ground she was buried in, and…and…” She gasped and closed her eyes at the grisly images that assaulted her mind’s eye.

“Alina, child.” Mathilda came to Alina’s other side, took her cold, clammy hand, and rubbed it vigorously between her own warm, comforting ones. “We spelled the casket and what was inside to keep everything perfectly preserved. The body was contained in a magically induced airtight seal. Tyrone wanted it that way, darling. Lenora…well, what was thought to be Lenora…will be as she was when we saw her last…at the funeral.”

“I-I just couldn’t bear to think of my Lenora rotting and decaying in the ground. The mere thought of it just made me ill. I just couldn’t allow that to happen.” Tyrone rested his elbows on the palms of his hands, hugging himself. This was so hard to face, even with the loving support of his family around him.

“We understand, Uncle,” Lauren said, rubbing his back, then taking a healthy swallow of her own coffee. I don’t fully understand. I mean, I’ve never been loved like that. I wonder what that feels like.

“Right then. Let’s get down to it.” Theresa got to her feet, conjured a large easel, and waved her hand before it. Taking it upon herself to be the group’s secretary, she called forth a small blue light that poised itself in front of the white paper, ready to write as each person spoke.

“It’s clear to all of us that it was Lenora at the hospital, and it was she who apparently passed,” Deus began. He related his experience of smelling something akin to almonds on her breath as he’d sat by her bedside. “I’ve smelled something like that before but even now, I just cannot, for the life of me, put my finger on it. Plus, Lenora certainly did not smell of death beforehand nor afterward.”

“A burning question I want to know is, how the hell did Ma get so sick in the first place? This so-called mysterious illness is suspicious in itself,” Landon said. “Ma was the picture of health, then is near death the next instant. That, to me, doesn’t add up.”

Valerie winced against Deus’s side and swore under her breath. This is hitting way too close to home. I didn’t remember any of it until Neil jogged my memory. Oh, Landon, you’ll want to kill me when you find out what I did. I…I’m so, so sorry.

“Valerie, honey, are you okay?” Deus asked, rubbing his daughter’s shoulder.

“Y-yeah. It’s all just so sudden. I mean, this is just about like one of those B-rated horror movies except it’s real and happening to us. I’m just a bit…spooked, I guess.” Spooked, hell! I’ll never watch another Friday the 13th movie again!

“Me, as well. I ne’er could have kindled anything so vexing in all my imaginings,” Alina added.

Robin nodded and kissed his fiancé’s cold fingers. “I know, my love. I’ve seen way too much in my career, but I must say that this is rising to the top of that list.”

Everyone was silent for moment, lost in their own thoughts. The first to speak was a shaken Liam, who exhaled a shuddering breath. “When Mathilda and I returned, we went to see Lenora for ourselves. It was my beautiful granddaughter lying there. That was undeniable. But she was warm when she should have gone cold. By the time we got there, she should have been cold. I held her and–” Liam bowed his head into his hands and wept softly. “Och! My beautiful, sweet Lenora! To see her that way–” His brogue thickened with the immense heartsickness that engulfed him.

“I know, Liam, dear.” Mathilda took the broken Irishman in her arms to console him. “We’ll figure this out, dearheart.” Her poor Liam had been as much of a mess as Tyrone but in a different way.

Tyrone clapped Liam on the shoulder and sighed. “Lenora loved you with all her heart, Grandda Liam. You can be sure of that.”

“Aye, laddie, I know. A grandda just isn’t supposed to see his heart’s treasure like that. It isn’t right.” Liam ran a hand through his hair. “Forgive me. Yowling and ringing my hands certainly won’t help us get to the bottom of this.”

A great, despairing sob racked Valerie’s body, and all the color drained from her face. “I…I must get out of here. I’m so sorry. I’m…sorry. Please…forgive me.” With that, she ran from the room, nearly crashing into the broom stand from barely being able to see through her tears. The gust of inconsolable weeping was abruptly cut off as she ran from the house, slamming the door behind her.

“Auntie, come back!” Lauren called, then stood up to go after Valerie. “Oh, gosh!”

“Let her be, sweetheart. I’ll talk to her later and try to calm her down. I think your auntie just wants to be alone right now to sort all this out in her own mind.” Theresa put a sure, comforting hand on her daughter’s arm.

However, Mathilda’s lips thinned, and she shared a look with Liam. //Something is off with that girl. She’s been off since before all this happened.//

//Aye, Mathilda, my darling. She’s been wound up tight as a drum for so long now. She knows something but isn’t sharing.// Liam immediately responded to Mathilda’s telepathic message, affirming his own suspicions.

After an awkward silence, Theresa cleared her throat and spoke of her attempts to contact Cian during Lenora’s illness. “What I find odd is that Cian, Grandda Liam, and Mathilda were unreachable during all this. Something…or someone…wanted to keep all of you away for some reason. It’s my hunch that any of you could have found out what the problem was and fixed it. So then, it’s this Dr. Hughes who ends up with Lenora’s case. Now, I think we all believe he did what he could to the best of his ability and was sincere in wanting to help Lenora. However, I’m unfamiliar with him and why he handled her case.”

“Neil Hughes is a very talented and promising young man. He has much to learn, but he learns fast. He’s been studying under me for quite some time now. Plus, he’s very gifted in figuring out Supernatural illnesses and cloning organs to be used for transplant patients. The knowledge he has and shares has saved more lives than when people had to wait for someone else to die to receive a much needed organ. Lenora was in good hands with Neil. This was just too much and happened to quickly for him to get a handle on,” Cian said. “Still, darling, I understand your concern.”

Tyrone then spoke of what his Sixth Sense had been trying to bonk into his head. “Who was laid out in that casket looked like my Lenora, but deep down, I knew…I knew…she wasn’t. All I could smell was embalming chemicals and death, nothing else. There was no sense of my Lenora there. She smelled like a…clean slate.”

“I didn’t think about this, to ask to look at her more closely as she was laid out,” Liam continued, “but hearing all of what everyone is saying, I should have. I had no reason to believe it was anything other than Lenora being prepared for burial.” He ran an agitated hand through his hair.

“What is it, Grandda Liam?” Robin asked.

“Lenora has this mark behind her right knee,” Liam said quickly. “It’s a crescent shaped mark but a very powerfully magical one. She was marked as the Chosen One.”

“I know that mark very well,” Tyrone said. “I didn’t look for it either. I didn’t think of it. All this other stuff hit me, and that mark was the farthest thing from my mind.”

“You had to really look for it to ever notice it,” Theresa replied. “We all know about Lenora’s mission and how special her powers are. That mark would definitely single her out.”

“It is a mark that cannot be duplicated,” Mathilda said. “This is reason enough to move forward with the exhumation. Whatever…or whoever…is buried in that grave needs to be thoroughly examined. First, we must confirm our suspicions that it’s not Lenora in there. Secondly, if what we suspect is true, we need to find out what happened to the real Lenora and why. And if Lenora truly is no longer with us, she deserves to be laid to rest in what was prepared for her…where she belongs.”

“She belongs with me   with us!” Tyrone barked. “My Sixth Sense keeps telling me she’s alive. Somehow, she’s alive. I get flashes where I can feel her plain as day but then, they’re gone almost as quickly as they came. She’s alive! I know my Lenora is somehow alive out there, and she needs me.” He got up to pace, his nerve endings on edge from restless agitation.

Erica rushed to her son’s side and enfolded him in her arms. “Okay, darling. It’s going to be all right, Tyrone, darling.” She rubbed his back and spoke in low, soothing tones. “I know you are in turmoil and rightfully so. We’re going to fix it, sweetheart. If you say Lenora is alive, we believe you. Robin is right. Your instincts have never been wrong. They have never failed your Lenora, and they won’t now. We’re all going to help you find Lenora and get her back home to you and the children. She’ll come back. She’ll come back to all of us. Keep believing that, Tyrone. Your Lenora needs you to do that for her, all right?”

“Thank you, Mom.” Tyrone kissed his mother’s cheek and hugged her close, his heartbeat returning to a more normal pace. “Did I ever tell you I’m eternally grateful that you’re my mother?”

Erica chuckled and rubbed a loving hand over his hair. “Yes, dear, but I never get tired of hearing it.” At seeing him smile, Erica’s own grin widened. “There, now, that’s my love. That’s my Tyrone with the laughing eyes. Oh, how I’ve missed that. I wondered if I would ever see your smile reach your eyes again.” She framed his face with her hands and drank him in. “We will find Lenora. We will find her and bring her home.”

“Aurora always said Lenora would come back,” Tyrone said.

“You should listen to her and believe in her. Your beautiful princess has the second sight of Ariadne,” Erica said matter-of-factly.

“I will, I promise.” Tyrone leaned his cheek against his mother’s warm, capable hand. “But the biggest question remains. Where is my Lenora? Where…is…she? Who did this and why? I want answers, Mom, and I swear when I get them, I cannot promise I can hold the Wolf back from pounding into the ground whoever hurt my Lenora and took her from me and left my kids without their mother. I will not rest until my beautiful Lenora is back in my arms.”

The sun was starting to shine through the curtains when Andrea awoke from a dream-filled sleep. “Ma?” she croaked, her eyes still closed. Andrea’s dreams were filled with her mother. She swore she could feel her mother’s long golden hair tickle her cheek as she leaned over to kiss her. The scent of Lenora’s favorite lilac perfume permeated the air. Andrea was positive she’d heard her mother calling to her in her dream. I’m alive, Andrea, my heart. It’s going to be all right, love. Ma loves ye so, so much, Andrea. Please, please believe that.

Tears slid from under Andrea’s closed eyelids as wakefulness pulled her up and out of the dream. The images and sense of Lenora began to fade, and Andrea fought, without success, to slide back into dreaming slumber.

Andrea slowly opened her eyes, sniffed loudly, and ran the backs of her hands over her wet cheeks. This was not going to be a good morning, not at all.

Feeling parched, Andrea climbed out of bed and made her way toward the bathroom with the stealth of the wolf she was. However, she stopped short when voices from downstairs reached her. Six O’clock? She frowned at her watch,, puzzled at hearing so many familiar voices. It was way too early for company, even for close family members.

Unable to resist the pull of curiosity, Andrea tiptoed back to her room to riffle through the top drawer of her dresser. “Ha, gotcha!” She grinned in triumph as she retrieved a set of Apple AirPods that Aurora had magicked in order to make eavesdropping much easier, even for a wolf with supersonic hearing. Pushing them into her ears, she sneaked to the top of the steps and pointed the open case toward where the voices sounded. Oh, GG Mathilda had probably put a sound-blocking charm on the living room to keep them from waking up and hearing anything. However, Jonas and Aurora had figured out a workaround, and Aurora had made the spell on the AirPods even stronger with her magical music.

Andrea stood, transfixed, mouth agape, as the conversation revealed itself to her. “Holy…!” She breathed out the word as soundlessly as she could, then clamped her hand over her mouth to keep the surfacing expletive from actually surfacing. She gripped the banister as she listened. Her Ma was alive! Aurora had always believed it and said she would come back. Da now believed it. Andrea now fully believed it, too, thanks to the chilling conversation and what she felt in her dreams. It was real! Somehow I felt her. It was real. Oh, Ma, where are you? Please come back to us. We need you so bad.

//Ma…?// Andrea reached out her blossoming telepathic senses.

Andrea jumped, momentarily losing her hold on the banister, and nearly falling down the stairs when she felt a quick flash of her mother’s deep-seated unconditional love come to her.

Author’s Note: You can read more about Robin and Alina by clicking here. They have their own story, which is a crossover with this story. If you haven’t done so, please don’t forget to subscribe and follow my other blog as well as this one. Please, and thank you. 🙂

Sorry I couldn’t get all the characters pictured in this chapter that were present. The more Sims I have in a household, the laggier (is that even a word? Haha!) and more temperamental my game gets. Crashing, then, becomes a huge problem, and I end up doing a fair amount of cussing. 😀 As there was a lot of dialogue in this chapter, I figured it would make my life a helluva lot easier to just make everyone sit down and drink coffee, especially with so many Sims to contend with.

As always, thanks so much for reading, commenting, liking, and subscribing.