A.N. : Looky looky, I write something new!!! Yup, here it is... the answer to that cliff hanger I left... I got yelled a little for that. Lol...

Chapter Thirty

A high pitched screech pierced the tension of the room followed by the rhythmic beat of wings and a flash of brilliant color, red and blue, a well needed interruption from the sudden weight the atmosphere had taken on.

The tall lanky man at the door was forced to duck and cover his head from the sudden appearance of the brightly colored bird flying into the kitchen. Even Millonay took a moment to stop crying and pleading to look at the disturbance. Neither, of course, was able to recognize the strange bird as its species did not exist in their world.

Trisha carelessly raised her arm and Koochoo landed on it, looking around. “What are you doing in here?” she asked, stroking the mixture of feathers and fur.

To help you, of course. It’s part of my reason for being attached to you.

“Help me with what?”

Well, you did sense something here, correct?

“Yeah. A spirit of some sort, but I can’t quite pinpoint where he is.” Trisha looked around, though she looked with more than her eyes. She felt out the room, seeking the foreign presence. She was then only vaguely aware of what went on around her, as she connected herself with two levels of consciousness.

Well, I am your channel. I am a magical being, and you can use our mental link to magnify your ability.

Millonay cried out once more, fearfully. “Master Matthew… p-please…”

Matthew knelt down before the woman and smiled. “You’re okay, dear. Just calm down. No one is going to harm you in any way.”

The tall man slowly entered the kitchen and went to Millonay. “What happened?”

“Leno… you… why…”

“I heard a loud crash and you crying so I came to see what was going on. Now what is going on?” Leno knelt and pulled the fearful young woman into his arms, stroking her hair.

Millonay sighed and closed her eyes. “I… can’t.”

“It’s alright, dear,” Matthew urged her. “Tell us what’s going on. I promise you, you are protected here.”

Trisha suddenly spoke, startling the other three people in the room who had almost forgotten she was there. “A boy!” She could sense him now. See him, hovering in the corner, playful and young, but sad.

Millonay tensed, eyes widened at the awesome appearance of Trisha, with her long black hair hanging down her back and brilliant grey eyes, which seemed suddenly flat. She was looking in the corner, yet seemed to be looking past the corner to something the rest of them couldn’t see.

“Trisha?” Matthew asked, raising his eyes to look at his wife. “What are you seeing?”

“A little boy,” Trisha answered. “He… isn’t very old. Maybe eight or nine? Kind of longish blonde hair. Hey, can you hear me?”

“Trisha?” But she wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. Matthew turned back to Millonay. “Do you know of such a little boy?”

Millonay trembled and didn’t answer.

“It… sounds like her little brother.” Leno answered, furrowing his brows. “But… he died a year ago.”

“No!”

Trisha appeared to be listening to someone speak; she tilted her head in the direction of the corner. “You can hear me? It’s okay, I’m a friend. Little boy, can you tell me your name? No, don’t run away.” She took several steps forward toward the empty corner.

Matthew looked up, fascinated by her. Leno was watching her like she was crazy.

“Please… tell me your name.” Trisha reached out her hand. The air around her seemed to ripple and waver as if she were enclosed in a cloud of heat. She no longer stood completely in the land of the living, but Koochoo kept her centered so that she would not be lost completely to the land of the dead.

“Is he saying his name, Trisha?” Matthew asked, hoping she would hear him.

“The names are so strange here,” Trisha answered. “I’m not sure… Al-something. Like.. Alamo… but not. Say it again, little boy. I’m having trouble hearing you correctly.”

“Alimon…” Millonay murmured.

“A witch!” Leno’s eyes widened in fear and awe.

“Then it is your brother?” Matthew asked the trembling young woman.

Millonay slowly nodded her head. “I took care of him because both of our parents were dead. I… did my best, but, he got sick… But… after he died, things started happening…”

“Things?”

“Things would fall or disappear, or get rearranged.” Millonay covered her face with her hands. “I wanted it to stop, I did my best not to let anyone know…Sir, please… don’t…”

“I won’t. You aren’t going to get into trouble, don’t worry.”

Trisha took a few more steps toward the corner, the vision of her becoming more and more faded.

“Trisha!” Matthew said sharply. “Don’t go any further.”

“Matthew, I have to get to him. He won’t come to me.”

“Do as I say, Trisha. No one here can pull you back if you go too far.”

Trisha sighed, but didn’t move any closer to the corner. “Alimon, is that your name? Alimon, won’t you please come to me? You don’t have to be afraid. No, no one is going to hurt your sister, Matthew won’t let them. Please.”

Trisha’s fingers curled up and seemed to be holding something, now. The others in the room gasped as a faint outline of a boy appeared. The outline was strongest where the boy was touching Trisha, and faded from there. Trisha knelt before him. “There, see? That wasn’t so bad was it?”

The image moved, appearing to shake its head.

“Alimon, why are you here? You are no longer with your body and you shouldn’t be haunting this place.”

The image wavered.

“Oh, I see.” Trisha looked back where Millonay sat on the floor, supported by two men. “He says… he says not to cry for him anymore. He likes you a lot and he’s glad that you’re his sister. He’s sorry…” She appeared to listen for a moment. “He’s sorry if he got you into trouble, he just didn’t want you to be lonely.”

Millonay suddenly cried out and reached toward the figure holding Trisha’s hand. “Alimon! I’m sorry too! I’m sorry I let you die! I … I love you…”

Trisha smiled. “Hear that? She loves you. She isn’t upset with you at all.” Trisha took the figure’s other hand and the image became brighter, more pronounced. “Hey, how about you stop wandering around here like some poor lost soul, okay?” She smiled at her own joke and the little boy nodded, seeming to like her joke too. But then he shook his head, and seemed to say something to Trisha, though no one else in the room could hear.

“Well, then I’ll have to help you.” She smiled.

“Trisha, do you know what you’re doing?” Matthew slowly stood and moved to Trisha. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but he was afraid to, not sure what sort of effect it would have.

Trisha held her hands out flat, palms up, so that the boy’s hands rested on them. “Look around you, Alimon. Open your eyes for the first time. Are you seeing?” She paused. “Now, take a moment, do you seeing a bright light, almost blinding?”

“Trisha…” Matthew was getting a little worried. He’d seen his mother send spirits on before and Peter as well, but never like this. They were never standing half in half out of reality. Koochoo was on her shoulder, sitting stock still as if he was completely melded with Trisha. He hoped Koochoo knew to not let her get hurt.

“You do see it now? Good. I don’t want you to be scared of that light, Alimon. I want you to embrace it. Go toward it, it’s warm.”

The little boy released Trisha’s hands and faded away.

“Alimon!” Millonay cried out once more, reaching for her brother, but Leno pulled her back, looking frightened.

“Can you feel its warmth, Alimon?” Trisha asked, smiling and lifting her arms as if she were lifting the boy toward whatever light she spoke of. “That’s right. Don’t be afraid of what you might find. Just keep your head up and move forward.”

Trisha dropped her hands then and slowly her image became more defined. Koochoo ruffled his feathers and shook his head, making a small noise and then took off, flying around the kitchen.

What were you trying to do? Get us both stuck in the land of the dead?

But Trisha didn’t answer him. She looked up at where the boy had disappeared. “Rest in peace, Alimon.”

A set of strong arms suddenly wrapped around her. She startled and looked up to see Matthew smiling down at her. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Trisha slowly nodded, leaning back into his chest. She was suddenly aware of how horribly tight her dress was, and she struggled for air. “Matthew…I… need… I can’t… breathe…”

Matthew frowned and quickly began to unlace the restricting dress. His fingers were not as nimble as the maids’ who had put it on, but with each lace that was freed, Trisha was able to breathe a little better. He got the topmost garment, the jacket off, and Trisha took a breath. “That’s… a little better,” she said softly. She nuzzled into her husband and smiled a little, closing her eyes.

“S…sir…” Leno stuttered, not sure what to think of all of this.

Matthew looked back at him and smiled. “Take Millonay to rest, and don’t speak a word of what you’ve seen.” Matthew stroked Trisha’s hair, crushing the strands between his fingers. “Remember, after all, the first of my ancestors who lived in this place was a woman of outstanding majickal power.”

Leno slowly nodded, and helped Millonay to her feet.

“But… Dinner…” Millonay tried to pull away from Leno, but he wasn’t about to let her go.

“Don’t worry about it,” Matthew said, smiling at the loyal woman. “Trisha and I are quite capable of taking care of ourselves. We’ll find something to eat.”

-::-::-

“Goddess! Did you bring the rest of the Earthling population here with you?” Jericho grinned at his sister as he helped her down from her makeshift wagon and then hugged her tightly. He’d been so worried for her while she was away; regretting every night that he’d sent her away with such ill tidings. Too busy with making sure his sister was completely unharmed, he took no note of the man climbing down on the other side of the wagon and watching him with a certain amount of suspicion.

“Well, not quite,” Whitney said, kissing her brother on the cheek, glad he wasn’t upset with her, “but I think I made a good dent.” She had been expecting him to holler at her the moment she stepped off the wagon, but he appeared to have cooled down quite a bit since she left.

“Oh!” Whitney suddenly pulled away from her brother. “This is Marshall. Marshall, I’d like you to meet my twin, Jericho.”

Marshall smiled and extended a hand to Jericho. “A pleasure to finally meet you,” he said in English. “Your sister speaks of you often.”

Jericho shook Marshall’s hand and smiled in return. “Same here. I have to say, it was quite a surprise to find out she had a man in her life.”

Marshall chuckled and drew Whitney back against him. “I think, perhaps, Whitney likes to be secretive.”

“I think you might be right.”

“Okay, you can stop talking about me now, I’m standing right here.” Whitney crossed her arms, looking from one man to the other.

Jericho laughed at her softly. “But you’d get mad at us still if we were talking behind your back.”

“Then why talk at all?” Whitney asked sweetly, batting her eyelids at her brother.

“Oh!” Was heard then, and Kathryn came running up, wiping her hands on a towel. “You’ve finally arrived! And with so many people, too. We’ll have to find more housing.”

Whitney was eyeing the towel in her sister’s hands. “Don’t tell me you got your hands dirty.”

“Hm? Oh, no, not at all.” Kathryn draped the towel over her arm. “Just helping with a bit of cooking.”

Whitney rolled her eyes.

“Speaking of which,” Jericho said, breaking into the formulating argument, “why don’t we get people fed and settled in.”

“And hopefully we don’t all die of food poisoning,” Whitney interjected innocently.

“Oh, really!” Kathryn pursed her lips. “You haven’t been back for ten seconds and already you’re insulting me!”

“Actually, it’s been more like ten minutes,” Whitney said, “You just didn’t show up until ten seconds ago.”

“Ooo… Whitney, I don’t know why you have to be so mean!” Kathryn swirled around and walked rapidly away, nose in the air.

“Careful!” Whitney called after her. “You might run into something!”

“I take it that was your sister?” Marshall asked.

Jericho shook his head. “That is most certainly our sister. Come on, let’s get people organized.”

-::-::-

Alone, finally, Matthew took a moment longer to give attentions to Trisha, running his fingers through her hair, kissing the side of her neck. “Are you okay?” he asked, gently breathing against her throat.

Trisha shuddered, closing her eyes. “Yeah, I think so.”

Koochoo flew around over head before finally finding a place to light. He sat on his perch, preening his feathers.

“What happened? I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“I don’t know. I don’t know how I did it. I was… I was able to physically touch him. I’ve dealt with spirits before, but I’ve never been that close to one. It was strange. I heard you talking to me, but it was all fuzzy, like I had cotton in my ears, you know?”

“Not really, but I’ll take your word for it.” Matthew crushed a handful of Trisha’s hair between his fingers and buried his face in her neck. “Trisha…”

Trisha licked her lips and smiled a little, leaning back into him, enjoying the feel of his arms wrapped tightly around her. She was comfortable, cuddled into his chest, like she’d never been comfortable with anyone else.

A.N. : Thanks to oo-Julia-the-Great-oo, Just me and myself, Anne1822, and Harumi Satoshi for your reviews. :) More next time! Keep reviewing! It makes me happy!