One minute she was sitting next to Lazarus, listening to him recount what he had found in the strange stack of paper, and the next thing she knew a strange scrapping sound came from down the hallway. There was something coming up the stairs and there was no way for them to get out. In a swell of panic and fear, Mae got up, moving as fast as possible from it all. Then she turned to watch as he pushed the dilapidated couch up to hold the rotten door into place. In that moment she felt a hot flash across her mid torso but decided to ignore it as Lazarus pushed her into the narrow hallway toward the bedroom. As soon as she'd gotten into the room, and sat along the bedframe, she heard the rotten old oak wood door smash into splinters. Then everything went black.
She could see everything going on and for a little while all Mae could do was stand in a corner behind Lazarus and watch. She saw him hold the couch in place while the creature clawed at the other side then she saw him look back at her body. He appeared to debate with himself but only for a split second before hunching down near her limp frame; it didn't take long for the strange monster to come barreling into the room and clean through the other side. Everything happened in slow motion and as she watched she noticed something familiar about this creature's crimson eyes. She couldn't be sure but for a split second the creature reminded her of Caspian. Except that had to be wrong.
Mae turned away as the creature fell two stories down and hit the ground below, the she turned back, and came face to face with the ghost of a woman who looked almost entirely like Celest. The woman's eyes were silver haze and she had two long pointed teeth that when she spoke would be shown. There was no doubt she had been Celest's mother; a long gash ran from the curve of her left ear and down the base of her throat. She had been bled out but even in death you could see she was still strikingly beautiful, almost hypnotizing.
Mae took a shaky breath and prepared herself for the worst but instead became surprised when the woman held out her hand. She motioned for Mae to come closer but after a few seconds of waiting, the woman decided to move herself. As she stepped closer a memory began to play itself around them and Mae couldn't help but watch.
She saw a group of three teenage boys breaking through thick brush and stumbling upon a large group of creatures. There were a few with ember eyes but most had either silver, sapphire blue, or deep ruby red. She noticed the fear that spread like an incurable disease amongst the creatures as soon as the boys had broken through. Then she watched as a beautiful woman with silver eyes stepped through the crowd of gathered creatures; something told her this was the dead woman standing in front of her and she turned to see the apparition nodding as if to confirm. Then the woman pointed back to the trio of boys as one of them stepped forward holding something long and reflective behind his back. She watched in horror as he stepped within arms length of the woman, and took the knife out, quickly slashing a deep gash down the left side of her throat. Mae screamed in terror and in vain as the woman immediately fell to her knees; drowning in a pool of dark black blood.
The image changed and once again Mae found herself surrounded in white light looking into the hazy silver eyes of a slain creature. The woman smiles sadly at Mae and motions once again for her to step forward. This time she complies. The woman reaches out her left hand and opens it, revealing a golden locket on a broken chain. She motions for Mae to take it and as soon as she does, a mix of pain and anger crashes down on her. She cries out and closes her eyes but the strange woman doesn't help. Instead she feels her body growing colder by the second; so she decides to wait a few heartbeats before opening her eyes. Except she doesn't have a beating heart anymore.