“I-I don’t know,” she stuttered, eyeing me with utter confusion. “Sh-she wanted to be alone and went out for a walk.”

Having no time to exchange further words, I turned away and wound along the streets of the Vale in search of her. Humans noticed me as I rushed by, and some even called out, but I didn’t even stop to acknowledge their existence. I just continued forging ahead, searching for the girl I loved. Where would she have gone?

Derek

I couldn’t unglue my eyes from what—unless all of us were suffering from the same delusion—appeared to be my dead brother, standing in the clearing and embracing his long-lost son.

I had already verified with Sofia, Rose and Vivienne several times that they could see him and this was not a side effect of Herbert’s excursion into my brain. Although there was the possibility that I was imagining the three women too, and all this was a hallucination, right now I had no choice but to accept the sight before me.

We had just seen my son returned from the dead, then Kailyn, and now… here was Lucas.

We remained rooted to the spot at a distance while Lucas and Jeramiah embraced. Then, when they finally drew apart, I heard my older brother’s voice for the first time in almost twenty years.

“I’m sorry,” he told his son.

His voice sent chills down my spine, bringing back a swathe of memories. Then I frowned. In all the centuries I’d known him, I could count on one hand the number of times I’d heard him say, “I’m sorry.” That these were the first words to escape his lips was… jarring.

“How are you here?” Jeramiah asked, his hands shaking. “Is this… is this real?” Clearly, like me, the young man was also having doubts that this wasn’t all just the work of the ghoul.

“It’s real,” Lucas murmured.

“You never knew me. H-How did you even recognize me?” Jeramiah asked.

At this, Lucas averted his eyes to the ground. “I did know about you,” he replied in a low voice.

It looked like every muscle in Jeramiah’s body tensed.

Lucas breathed out deeply. “I even knew that your mother was pregnant,” he went on. “And I… I tracked you down when you were a boy. Though you never saw me, there were some years when I watched over you.”

Lucas’ admission dropped like a bombshell on Vivienne and me—he kept his son a secret from us all that time?—and I could only imagine what Jeramiah must be feeling inside.

“But it’s not true,” Jeramiah denied forcefully. “M-Mother said—”

“Your mother lied to you,” Lucas replied. “To help ease the pain of my absence, no doubt. She was a good woman. Too good for me… In fact, I was…” His shoulders sagged. “I was an asshole.”

Who is this creature and why has he assumed the form of my brother?

I couldn’t help but think that Corrine’s impersonation test had failed us.

“You… you knew about me all this time?” Jeramiah looked shattered.

Lucas hung his head—something that I could’ve sworn I’d never seen him do in all my life.

“I wasn’t fit to be a father,” he replied. “I was… a coward.”

If my eyes bulged any further, I was sure that they would pop out of my skull. Did he just admit to being a coward?

I looked at Vivienne in sheer bewilderment, hoping for some kind of enlightenment from her side. But she only shared my look of astonishment.

What is going on?

I couldn’t help but move closer. Maybe, as soon as I neared, this strange vision would vanish in a wisp of smoke. But as I closed the gap between my brother and me, this “vision” only became more convincing. I stopped three feet away from my brother, gaping like a moron.

“Where… What happened to you?” I managed.

Lucas looked at me with uncertainty, his blue eyes that matched my own roaming me from head to foot. Then his gaze passed over my shoulder toward Vivienne and finally settled on Sofia.

He swallowed hard before replying, “I had a… timeout.”

River

Since our visit to the oracle, I hadn’t been able to eat or sleep. I just wanted to be alone. Tired of my mother insisting that I eat something, I left the house, intending to go for a long walk. I found myself gravitating toward the least crowded areas of the island, away from the smooth, sandy beaches, and toward the shores that were lined with rocks. I began climbing over the boulders, my mind elsewhere as I gazed out at the dark ocean. I kept moving until I felt completely isolated, then sat down on the edge of a rock and slipped my feet into the mild water. The waves lapped around my ankles, providing some semblance of calm amidst my raging emotions.

I didn’t want to cry again. I was tired of it. All it did was drain me and make me feel even more desolate. I closed my eyes, and, panning my head up to the sky, desperately tried to drown out my fears that Ben was lost to us forever. Wishing there truly was a God above, I prayed that somehow, someday, my love would find a way back to us.

I opened my eyes after a few minutes of intense wishing. Roughly brushing aside an escaped tear, I focused on the rippling reflection of my red, puffy-eyed face. A breeze kissed my skin, and I breathed in deeply, allowing my eyes to glaze over.

However difficult it was, I had to focus on the positive.

Have faith in Ben. He’s survived until now, hasn’t he? At least, in a sense. Imagine how much worse if it would be if he had passed on like most other spirits do. Then he really would be lost forever. But he’s still here, in this mortal world. And he promised me that he’s doing his best to find a way back to us.