Chapter 14 - 14

"You really think that this is all a family curse?"

Seraphina sat back on my bed as she spoke. It was the next morning, and she'd come into my room to hang out with me and Lenore. Of course, she'd had a lot of questions for me too, especially about what had been discussed the night before between me and dad and Raphael and Michael.

"You know we do. But seriously Sera, I didn't think you were the type to eavesdrop on people." I responded.

I was sitting back against the bedframe with Lenore curled up against me as she rested. She'd been awake and did eat breakfast, but she had tired out afterwards, so I convinced her to take a nap. Of course, it had to be on me because she feared me leaving her alone right now. Guess she was more traumatized then I thought.

Seraphina made a face at me, "It's not, but I don't like being left out of what's being said, especially when I heard you talking about Noah. Come on Sevee. I told you what happened last night. Don't you think it's only fair that I know what's happening to him and me?"

She had a point. I could tell it was really bothering her too.

"It's okay Sera. I didn't say anything about that, and all you need to do for now is stay away from him until we figure this out." I reasoned.

"But that's not fair Sevee. You know Noah's my closest friend. Our closest friend. The three of us grew up together, and we've always leaned on each other. I can't just snub him like that. This isn't his fault."

"No, but if you don't do something, then you might end up putting him in a position that he's going to regret. You heard what happened to Noel and our great grandmother. They killed themselves. Do you really wanna chance that with Noah?"

"No."

Seraphina looked down, chewing her bottom lip. She looked upset now.

I let out a long breath, "Listen," I continued, "it's not like I'm saying this is forever, and you know he'll understand too. I don't like it either. I want us to go back to normal, and for him to be around you and me and Lenore. We just need to be careful so that nothing else bad ends up happening. Okay?"

"Okay." Seraphina sighed. She slid off of the bed and stood up.

"Hey," I called as she walked to the door, "you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. I just need some rest now, and that might help me feel better. It's just been a really crazy since yesterday" Seraphina replied. She didn't look at me as she spoke, her hand on the door.

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

I didn't believe her, although I remained where I was as she slipped out of my room. I listened closely, making sure that I heard her go into hers like she said. That conversation had felt kind of weird to me, and Seraphina's actions of listening in on what was said the night before was too. She was my twin, and I felt like I knew her better than anybody.

Looking down at Lenore, who was fast asleep now, I felt the frown cross my face. Was I imagining things, or was my sister actually acting kind of jealous?

Nah, I was probably just overthinking things.

I sat back, closing my eyes and trying to relax. That was all this was. Way too much stress could do that to anybody, even me.

My mind drifted, and slowly, I began falling asleep with Lenore. The room was comfortably silent, and her soft breathing was lulling me into this state. A smile cross my face as I relaxed. At least this felt good.

My sleep was felt very comfortable, my mind floating in an inky void. There was relief in my soul with that. At least I wasn't having another nightmare of Missy.

But then, something odd happened.

All at once, I was in another dream. I stood on what looked like a long gravel driveway, and there was a farmhouse about fifteen feet in front of me. I looked around me, trying to figure out where I was. Even though I couldn't recognize it, something still felt familiar here to me. It was almost like being in some distant memory.

The land around me had some woods and big fields, along with fences like farmers would've used to keep cattle in the fields. I could see an old barn in the distance too. The farmhouse looked older, the outside painted white and the roof shingles dark. I moved forward towards it, feeling pulled there.

But as I was halfway there, I realized that a figure was coming towards me. They were walking steadily up the driveway. I stopped, squinting my eyes to get a better look at them, and realized that it was a woman. As she got closer, I could make her out better, like she was stepping out of some kind of haze. She was a beautiful lady, with long light brown hair that fell into curls to her waist and pretty green eyes, and while she was on the shorter side, she appeared to have an hourglass figure in that blue sundress she wore.

I remained still where I was as she approached, and she stopped about five feet from me. I stared at her, feeling this strange longing deep within my heart. It was like I should've known her, like I was relieved to see her, even though I had no idea of who she was supposed to be. I'd never seen her before.

Wait a minute...

A picture flashed in my mind as I stared at her. Hold on. I had seen her before. She had been in that album that I'd found in Michael's attic.

"You're... my great grandmother..." I whispered.

She flashed me a gentle smile, "I've been wanting to meet you for such a long time, my handsome Sevee." she told me.

"You know who I am?" I asked dumbly.

"Of course I do. You're my Michael's grandson."

I looked around us again, taking in the serene energy of this place. It was so different from any of the dreams I'd ever had before. But then, she was different from any that I'd seen in my dreams before. She was so beautiful, and her aura felt so gentle. I wanted to hug her, to feel more of that loving warmth, but I managed to stop myself.

"I don't get it." I said after another minute of staring at her, "Why are you here? Did you come because you wanted to see me?"

"Well, I did want to see you for a long time, and I wish I could see your mother too. But I'm here because he asked me to be. He wanted me to tell you that he's going to help us break this curse once and for all." she promised me.

I took a step towards her, "Are you talking about the Angel who made our family? He sent you here to talk to me?" I pressed.

"He did." she confirmed.

All at once, the area around us began to darken. Her gentle expression changed to a distraught one, and she moved forward, holding my arms as she looked up at me.

"You must wake up! She's in danger!" she warned me frantically.

"Who?! Who's in danger?!" I responded, my voice just as panicked.

"Your sister! She has called to her, and the curse means to kill her!" my grandmother insisted. She squeezed my arms tighter, "Please, wake up and save her!"

It literally felt like I was pushed out of that dream and back into my body. I sat up quickly, my breath coming out hard. Lenore, who had been sitting beside me, looked alarmed as she saw this.

"Sevee? What happened? Did you have another nightmare?" she asked me as she moved closer.

"Where's Seraphina?" I asked, ignoring her concern and questions as I looked around.

"I... I don't know. I think she went out about half an hour ago. I heard her go downstairs." Lenore answered. She looked frightened now, "What's happening? Did you dream about something happening to her?"

I jumped up from the bed, "I don't know, but I have to find her!" I insisted.

I didn't wait for her response as I ran out of the bedroom, literally jumping over the railing to the first floor. Mia stood up as I did from where she'd been sitting in the living room.

"Sevee?! What in the world are you doing?!" she blurted out.

"Where's Seraphina?!" I demanded.

"She just went outside. She said she wanted to take a walk on the trail in the woods out back." Mia answered.

"Shit!" I cursed as I turned away and hurried to the back patio door.

I heard Mia call my name, and her footsteps as she raced behind me, but I didn't slow down. I was sure that my great grandmother had been warning me about what was going to happen to Seraphina. She might've started out trying to tell me something else, but she was now trying to get me to save my sister's life.

Everything outside looked like it always did as I wrenched the door open and raced into the backyard. The sun was still shining brightly, although the shadows looked a little longer with the late afternoon setting in. I made a beeline straight to the woods where the trail began, not slowing down as I got there.

The woods were quiet now, and I could hear the pounding of my own feet as I ran on the dirt trail. I was cursing again for how long it was. Seraphina could've been anywhere in here. I didn't even think to ask Mia how long ago she'd gone out.

My grandmother's image kept racing through my mind. Her frantic look as the skies darkened, how she'd grabbed my arms and looked at me in desperation.

You have to save your sister!

I swore I heard her voice in my head as I stopped to catch my breath. By now, I'd made it to about the midway point of this trail. I looked around, noticing how quiet everything had become. Even though it was still afternoon, it looked darker to me too, like the clouds had obscured the sun. That familiar chill crept through me at the feeling in the air. This was too much like when Missy would come after me. I had to be close now.

Standing up straight, I began running again. The trail was winding through the trees, and as I got closer and closer to where I was sure Seraphina would be, that feeling of darkness grew more immense.

"Sera!" I called, hoping that she'd hear and answer me.

But there was no sound except for me running. The worst scenarios began running through my head now.

"Please!" I begged loudly, "Please don't kill my sister!"

I didn't know who I was begging with all of this. Was I pleading to Missy? To God? To this damned devil that was trying to destroy us?

I finally skidded to a stop as I came to a clearing towards the end of the path. I could see a figure standing there, not moving.

No, wait, there were two figures.

My body stiffened as I stared at the scene before me. Seraphina was standing in the middle of the clearing, staring at Missy's spirit as she stood just a foot in front of her. The dark mist was swirling around both of them, coiling almost like a snake over my sister's waist and shoulders. She looked transfixed as she stared at Missy, showing no signs of fear.

I could hear whispering in the air as I stood there, and realized that it was Missy's voice. She was whispering to my sister.

"Come now. You know this is the right thing. You don't mean anything more to them, and you will never have what he has. It is a curse to be a Renaldi, so you must end things yourself before it takes you."

I slowly realized that it wasn't just Missy's hissing voice that was doing this whispering. There was another underneath of it; a deep, dark one.

No way, I thought frantically. Is that the demon?

Seraphina held up her hands, and Missy placed a large knife in them. Her expression remained blank as she brought that knife up, holding the blade to the side of her neck.

I finally broke free of my frozen state as I saw this, my body moving without any thought except stopping her.

"Sera! Don't!" I yelled.

Seraphina suddenly whirled around, and I nearly fell as I stopped and slid on the dirt. She was glaring at me as she held the knife towards me, her eyes much darker than I ever remembered seeing them before. No, this wasn't my sister in control right now. That mist had seeped into her and taken control from her.

"Leave me alone!" she snarled at me.

"Sera..." I breathed.

Missy's spirit floated back, her dead eyes glaring at me.

"She's not your sister anymore." a deep voice came from her, "She's going to belong to me once I kill her."

"Leave her alone!" I demanded.

I tried to get to Seraphina and grab her arm, but she moved incredibly quickly. I had to jump back as she swung the knife at me, slashing my shirt. It was cut open and I could feel the blade lightly slice into my skin. Some blood came out of the cut as I stood about two feet from her.

"Stay away from me Sevee!" Seraphina ordered.

"Come on Sera." I urged her, "You've gotta fight. Don't let it control you. You don't want to do this."

Seraphina slowly shook her head, keeping the knife held up towards me.

"What do you know?" she responded, "What do you know about how I feel? Mama and Daddy always pay more attention to you. Everybody does. You've always been the better twin. Everyone likes you no matter what you do. You don't even have to try."

"What?"

My heart began to sink as I realized what was happening here. This thing, it was feeding off of Seraphina's hidden jealousy. But it shocked me too. I'd never realized that my sister felt this way. She's always seemed so happy and content with our lives, and she was always the first one to stand by me, no matter how stupid I acted.

"Do you know how hard it is?" she continued as tears filled her eyes, "I get so tired of acting. No one likes me for who I am. They all think I'm pretty, and they like that my family has money and my mom's beautiful and dad's handsome; and they really like that you're my twin brother. I hate it. I hate being so lonely!"

It hurt like hell to hear her saying this and see those tears in her eyes. I knew that she was telling the truth. This wasn't just the influence this darkness had talking. Seraphina had been hiding these feelings for a long time, and this was forcing her to face them.

"Sera, please, just listen to me." I reasoned. I stayed where I was, holding up my hands and trying to be as understanding as I could to calm her down, "I get it. I swear I do. It's hard being a Renaldi, and especially like us. We're even different from our own family because of how we're mixed, and it sucks. We're supposed to have the ideal life because our family has money and we're supposed to be beautiful to everyone else, but it doesn't mean anything when you don't feel like you belong anywhere. You've always tried to help me when all of this gets to me. Please Sera, let me help you now. Don't let him take you away from us, away from me."

Tears were streaming down Seraphina's cheeks now, her hand shaking as she held the knife handle tighter.

"I... I can't do this Sevee. I don't want to be here anymore. You're going to leave me, and now Noah can't see me. I'm all alone." she cried.

"Hey! Don't!" I yelled as she held the blade of the knife to her throat. It was less than an inch from her skin, and I could see her trembling so much that I was scared she'd lose control of it and cut herself.

"S-sorry... I'm so..."

"Sera!"

Mia's voice cut through the still air, and the next thing I knew, she was there, grabbing Seraphina's arm and holding it tightly. Seraphina struggled against her, but she wouldn't let go.

A deep growl came from Missy's spirit as she witnessed this, and I could see the dark mist around her swirling angrily, but I felt frozen again. This scene didn't feel real. It couldn't have been. Seraphina wouldn't have done this.

"Stop it right now! You don't really want this Sera!" Mia insisted, keeping her tight hold on Seraphina's arm.

"Let me go! Leave me alone! You don't really want me! All you've ever wanted is Sevee!" Seraphina declared. She was struggling just as hard against her.

"That's not true and you know it!" Mia responded, "You're my babies, and I love you both equally!"

Seraphina wasn't listening to her, still struggling against her. Mia cried out as the blade cut her arm, but she still refused to let her go.

"Mom!" I heard myself yelled.

I was finally able to move, and raced over behind Seraphina, grabbing her under her arms and holding her tightly against me. She struggled hard, but I knew she couldn't break away from me. I'd always been a lot stronger than her. Mia also kept hold of her arm, trying to wrench the knife out of her hand.

"Let me go! Leave me alone Sevee!" Seraphina yelled at me.

"I'm not letting you do this! I won't let you die!" I argued.

Mia finally managed to get the knife out of her hand, throwing it away from us. She grabbed Seraphina's face as I kept hold of her, and my sister froze, staring at her with tear filled eyes.

"That's enough Sera! This isn't you! It's trying to make you do this so it can take you away!" Mia insisted. She looked close to tears too, but was holding herself together just enough to try to get through to Seraphina.

I felt Seraphina's tenseness easing, but didn't release my hold on her. I didn't want her going for that knife again, even if it was far away from us now.

"Please Sera," I breathed, "please stop. This isn't you. Even if you feel this way, we're here for you, just like you've always been here for me. I'd never leave you like this."

"I..." Seraphina's voice trailed off, and a sob came out of her.

I loosened my grip as Mia continuing caressing her hair and face, "It's okay baby. It'll be okay. We'd never leave you like this, and I love you so much, just like your brother. I'm so sorry if it feels like I've been ignoring you. I've never meant to." she apologized gently.

"Mama... I... I'm sorry...!" Seraphina whispered.

I went from holding her back to hugging her, resting my head on her shoulder, "It's okay sis. I'm sorry too. I didn't know you felt like this, and I should've seen it." I apologized too.

Seraphina managed to nod, although she was crying hard now. I felt some relief go through me now. She was coming back to us. She'd be okay.

But my relief was short lived. All at once, a dark shadow rose up behind Mia. She let out a small gasp as her body tensed up, then fell forward. I stared in shock as I held Seraphina and took a few steps back, seeing Missy's spirit standing there with the bloody knife in her hand. She'd just stabbed Mia in her back.

All hell flew through me as I saw this, igniting a fury that I'd never felt before. Not only had she tried to lure Seraphina into suicide, but now she'd stabbed my mother, her own daughter. Cursed spirit or not, this was going too far.

"Mama!" Seraphina screamed as I let her go and she raced over to Mia, who was still sitting on her knees.

I remained where I was, the heat surging through me. It felt like I was changing now, but not into a Fox like I always had before. I held up a hand towards Missy's spirit.

"Get away from us!" I ordered.

Blue flames erupted from my palm, flying at her spirit with bright intensity and easily avoiding my mother and sister. But it still wasn't quick enough. With an evil cackle, Missy's spirit vanished in a flash of darkness. She was completely gone, and the woods returned to how they'd always been.

My breath came out harder as this intense anger finally began dying down within me. My body felt like it was going back to normal too. What the hell was that? What had started happening to me?

I was brought back to reality by the sound of my sister sobbing. She was still sitting on the ground with Mia, although Mia was now hugging her and trying to comfort her.

"It's okay baby. It'll be okay now." she was whispering.

Panic swept through me as I hurried over and knelt down with them.

"Mom...!"

Mia drew in a painful breath as she touched my cheek, "It's alright Sevee. I don't think it's that deep, but I'm going to need some help. I don't think I can get up, and I don't want to let go of your sister yet." she told me.

Seraphina didn't say anymore, even though she'd gotten her crying under control. She was now curled up against our mom, her eyes closed, and face buried in her shirt. I could tell that she was still trembling.

"I can't just leave you like this-"

I was interrupted by the sound of flapping wings, and looked up to see Michael flying down from over the trees, along with Gabrielle. I wondered if Lenore had called them. I had left my cell phone in my room, and Michael's name and number were listed in my contacts.

They immediately landed and hurried over to us.

"Mia, what happened?" Michael was asking her. He was very alarmed as he saw all the blood on her back and arm, which I was only just now noticing too.

"It tried to take Seraphina, Dad. But Sevee sensed it, and I followed him to stop her." Mia managed to respond. She looked like she was in a lot of pain now. The shock must've been wearing off.

"We have to get them back right away Michael. I'm not sure how deep this stab wound is." Gabrielle stated as she carefully tried to look at Mia's back.

Michael managed to nod, "Alright." he agreed. He looked over at me, "Please bring your sister back Sevee. I'm going to fly your mother to the house so that we can help her as fast as possible."

"Y-yeah. I've got her." I managed to respond. My own shock was setting in, and it was hard for me to find my voice. As Michael helped Mia so that he could pick her up, I pulled Seraphina over to me, "Come on Sera. Mom will be okay. Pop and Gabrielle will make sure of it. We need to get home now."

She whimpered and wrapped her arms around my shoulders as I hoisted her up, snuggling against me with her eyes still closed. I could feel the wetness of her tear-stained cheek against my neck, bringing tears to my own eyes, but managed to hold them back. I needed to get her back, and hopefully Mia would be okay too.

Michael and Gabrielle took Mia and flew back to the house, and I walked back with Seraphina. My mind was reeling from what had just happened, so maybe this was the better way for me to head home, not to mention holding her like this made me feel a little more secure. At least I knew she was safe for now.

"Hey Sera," I said quietly as I carried her down the path, "you know I'd never abandon you, don't you?"

She shook her head, but said nothing.

"I get how you're feeling too. It's hard to be alive. I think I've been starting to understand that more now. But I also get that we've been very lucky too. Our family loves us no matter what, especially Mom and Dad. It's my fault too that they have to spend so much time dealing with me. It's not that they love me more than you. Hell, I'm always getting into trouble, and Mom's always the main one defending me. Half the time I wonder why Dad doesn't skewer me." I continued, a slight chuckle coming out with at my last statement.

Seraphina still didn't say anything, but I did feel her hug me a little tighter. Not that I minded. It felt nice to say what I wanted to. Besides, it was in my heart too, and I should've told her some of this a long time ago.

"Anyway, Mom does love you a lot too. She loves doing all kinds of stuff with you, and she's always telling me and Dad how much fun you guys had going out together and shopping and all kinds of different girl's stuff." I chuckled again, "She's always talking about how beautiful her daughter is too, how amazing and sweet and kind you are. She's right you know. You are amazing Sera. Anybody who doesn't see how amazing you are doesn't deserve to love you."

I felt her lip quiver as I said this, but she still didn't respond to me. Even though it bothered me a little, I decided to let it go, stopping for a minute to kiss her forehead.

"No matter what happens, I'll always love you sis, and I'll never abandon you when you need me. I promise."

We continued the rest of the walk home in silence, although getting there didn't stay that way. While Mia wasn't in danger of dying, she had been hurt pretty bad, and it took a while for Gabrielle to patch her up.

Seraphina also wasn't doing any better emotionally. As soon as I put her down in the foyer, she'd rushed upstairs and curled up in the far corner of the hallway. This was alarming for me, but I didn't know what to do. I'd never seen anyone do that before, and it was already hard enough worrying about Mia.

The thing that caught me most about this though was seeing my grandfather's reaction when he saw Seraphina doing that. While I'd seen Michael have a range of emotions about different things during my life, I couldn't remember him ever looking like that. It was like this was too much for him to take, and he'd had to leave, not saying anything. While some people might've thought it was a heartless thing, I knew better. That look in his eyes said it all. He couldn't take what he was seeing. It was like it was nearly breaking him.

I remained standing there afterwards, looking at my traumatized sister and not knowing what I should do. I'd said her name a few times, but she refused to respond to me. I wished Sean was back now. He'd know what to do. But he had gone that morning to see Musket on the other side of the Veil. Talk about bad timing.

A touch on my shoulder brought me back to reality, and I looked over to see Lenore standing beside me. She was finally strong enough to get out of the bed, and obviously was worried about what was currently happening.

"It really was bad out there, wasn't it?" she guessed softly.

"Yeah. Mom's hurt, and I don't know what to do for this. Sara should be coming, but I'm scared to leave Seraphina; and now I'm worried about my grandfather too." I confessed.

Lenore glanced around us, then looked back at Seraphina.

"How about I sit with her for a bit? Then you can check on your grandfather and your mom. I can make sure that nothing happens to Seraphina while you do." she offered.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. It's obvious that she's been through something really horrible, and she might not be able to do anything for a while, but it might help her if one of us can stay close to her."

It wasn't like I had much of a choice here, and I knew that Seraphina had liked Lenore before. She did say that it felt like they could be friends.

"If you could do that, it would really help right now. Maybe Mom can do more to help her too once Gabrielle gets her patched up." I reluctantly agreed.

"She'll be okay Sevee. We all will." Lenore assured me. She gave me a quick kiss, then went over to Seraphina, slowly sitting down beside her. I watched as Seraphina glanced at her, then closed the distance between them and rested her head on her shoulder. A gentle smile crossed Lenore's face as she put an arm around her, stroking her hair to comfort her, "It's okay. I'm here with you now."

I felt slightly better seeing that. At least Seraphina had some comfort there with Lenore until Sara got there, and hopefully Mia would be recovered enough soon to take over. If anybody could make either of us feel completely better, it was our mom.

It took a lot of effort for me to walk to the stairs, and I glanced back a few times before continuing down them. But I couldn't not check on Michael. I was worried about him too. This had to be insanely tough on him in so many ways.

I headed downstairs and found Michael in the living room, sitting on the couch. He'd had his face in his hands, and as I came in there, he sat back and let out a long breath. I hesitated as I saw this, but forced myself to go over there and sit down beside him.

"Hey, Pop, are you gonna be okay?" I asked him.

"Yes." Michael breathed. He faced me to apologize, "I'm sorry Sevee. I'm not trying to scare you. I just needed a little bit of time to pull myself together."

"I get it. I'm still shook up too, and I feel terrible. I don't know what to do to help Seraphina, and Mom ended up getting hurt because of it. It's like I couldn't do anything to help." I confessed.

"Don't beat yourself up so much Sevee. You did what you could, and your mother will be fine. Her wounds aren't that deep, so all Gabrielle's doing is cleaning them up so that they don't get infected. She'll probably be healed in the next few days." Michael reassured me.

That was a relief. At least Mia was going to be alright. But there was still the issue of what was happening with Seraphina.

I glanced over towards the stairs, "Um, Pop, are you okay too? I mean, about Seraphina. You looked... I don't know... broken, when you saw her like that."

Michael let out a long sigh, looking down and shaking his head.

"I'm sorry about that. I never thought I'd see anything like that again, and seeing it with my own granddaughter was too much. I really did think I was about to break, and I didn't want to do it in front of you or her."

He'd seen something like what was happening with Seraphina before. It dawned on me what he must've been talking about.

"You mean with your little sister Noel?" I guessed.

"Yes." Michael confirmed, "After she was brought home back when she was kidnapped, she used to curl up in corners like that almost constantly. She was so traumatized that she didn't want to move, and she wouldn't talk to anyone. I can still remember trying so hard with Gabrielle and Raphael to get her to talk to us and come out, but it never worked. Even our parents couldn't snap her out of that. I guess in a way it was a good thing when Raphael managed to get through to her, but it took a long time."

"How long?"

"I believe it was close to a year before she spoke again."

"A year?"

I couldn't imagine a whole year without hearing Seraphina's sweet voice, or seeing her curling up in corners. That might end up breaking me down.

Michael rubbed my back, "It'll be alright Sevee. Whatever happens, we'll help Seraphina, and I know you'll do whatever you can too. Aside from your parents, I think that'll be the best thing for her. She's always adored you."

I let out a frustrated laugh, "Yeah, and I didn't even know how much she was hurting inside. Some twin brother I am."

"Well, for what it's worth, I do admit that Seraphina wears an incredible mask most of the time, but your mother was aware that she'd been feeling down for a while now. We talked about it a few weeks ago in private because she was worried about her. For her part, Seraphina had asked her not to tell you because she didn't want to worry you." Michael informed me.

"That sounds like Seraphina." I sighed, wiping away the tears that had tried to form in my eyes, "It hurts though. Her and Mom and Dad have always been trying to protect me. I need to start doing that for them, but I don't know how."

"Don't beat yourself up over all of that Sevee. We all struggle with those things, but we also learn in time what we can do. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we all go through hard things, especially the ones like us, but we always end up making it through." Michael told me.

"You really think I can do that?"

"I know you can." A smile crossed Michael's face, "Besides, you're way too much like I was at your age. My father always swore I was the biggest headache he had half the time for how much I liked to challenge him."

Hearing that brought my dream back to me.

"Hey Pop, out of curiosity, what were your parents' names? I don't remember anybody ever telling me."

"That's true. I don't believe we have spoken that much about them to you before. My father's name was Melvin, and my mother's was Elvira." Michael answered.

Elvira. I felt like that name fit her really well.

"You were close to both of them, right? What was Elvira like?" I probed.

"Hmm, well," Michael thought about it before answering, "she really was a beautiful and graceful woman. She also had an incredibly strong spirit, and she was very protective of her family. Even with all of the trouble I told you about, she was always doing her best to protect us, and I think that extended to our father too. Mom was really was an amazing person."

"Yeah, she was." I whispered to myself.

I could feel Michael looking at me, "Is there a reason you're so curious about her now?"

I shook my head, "Not really. I just thought about seeing those pictures before and wondered about her. But since you say all of that, I think Mom inherited her strong spirit and protectiveness, and so did you."

Michael chuckled, "I like thinking so. I always did admire her, and I'm glad that we could keep that part of her alive within us."

Looking back at this moment, I did feel a real connection to Elvira. If she hadn't come into that dream and begged me to save my sister, then Seraphina probably would've died out there. She was still protecting her family, even though she'd left this world decades ago.

But even more, her words gave me hope. We weren't alone in this, and soon, we'd be able to break this curse.

Our Angel hadn't abandoned us, and one day soon, he was coming back to make things right.