man without fear

#xcoatlicuex #v; bad boys for life #((that dirt is oberyn for trying to poach her lieutenant from her))

"And," he started, "I haven't made a decision yet." It'd been about a month since he'd received the email with the application from Oberyn Martell and two weeks since he'd completed and submitted it. "I got called in for a formal interview last Friday." They'd offered him the job at the end of his interview, telling him to take some time to consider what they'd offered. A couple of days ago, they'd reached back out with an improved recruitment package and bonus.

xcoatlicuex

"Uhu, tell that to the poor flowers you killed in my office," she huffed quite dramatically, dropping her spade and leaning back.

"Why are you intruding upon my sacred gardening time?"

#xcoatlicuex #v; bad boys for life #((hal: 'she's about to throw that spade at me.'))

"Me barely nudging that pot in your office did not make them die." He stood by that. But talking about the plants in his Captain's office wasn't why he'd stopped by. "I got a job offer from the feds."

xcoatlicuex

"Please be careful that you don't trample my flowers."

#xcoatlicuex #v; bad boys for life

"I wasn't going to trample your flowers."

One time. He'd nudged a potted plant with his foot in her office one time, and he'd never been allowed to forget it.

Donna took a moment to finally take a bite of her sweet. Was it her utmost favorite? No, but it was up there. As she chew she thought about Hal's response.

"Where are you afraid this conversation will go?" she asked, "after all, you have heard my questions already. Which ones do you not want to answer?" she had thought her questions had been pretty innocuous and clear. "Wait, the cards." She really did not want to forget to give those, Ally would be really mad with her. She moved back to the entry way and picked up her briefcase, bringing it with her to the kitchen counter.

"Well, sisters tended to be right, clearly." Donna had been a single child, so she did not know personally, but she had a number of cousins. Margaery was probably the closest to a sister she had. Finding the cards, she pulled the two of them out and placed them on the counter. In a neat script, one said Get well soon Aunt Laira and the other said Get well soon Uncle Hal. Laira's had what supposed to be a cat made up of pompoms with googly eyes, while Hal's had what was supposed to be plane made of pompoms and it too had googly eyes. Why did the plane have googly eyes, Donna did not bother asking. They were also drenched in glitter, which Donna knew was never going to come out of her briefcase.

"I've been around you and some of your friends enough times to know how easily you can turn a conversation." Iolande Martell was one of Laira's closest friends alongside Dinah. Even though Iolande wasn't as devious as her sister, Arianne, he'd still been on the receiving end of her tormenting. He knew Donna could be worse than her, especially if Arianne was involved in any sort of way.

Getting a glass for himself, he filled it with ice before cracking open his can of soda and pouring half of it into the glass. When the cards from Ally were placed on the counter, he looked over at them. Helen had sent him a number of cards and letters since she'd been away at school, ones that he kept on the opposite side of the refrigerator where they wouldn't get damaged. He'd put up Ally's cards there when Donna left.

"I don't remember half of what you've rattled off since you got here. Like I said, if you're going to interrogate someone, you need to go one question at a time." He could remember some of the things she'd asked. Even though he couldn't specifically remember what he'd had on at the time, the dress that Laira'd been wearing the first time he met her was permanently ingrained in his mind. But, he wouldn't even begin to know how to describe it. "I went to a charity event that Ollie wanted me to come to. That's where I met her." Hea had been doing a little bit of matchmaking before that whole event. She'd been the whole reason Ollie'd insisted that he come.

He still owed her -and he guessed Ollie- for getting him there. He didn't know if he would've ever crossed paths with Laira otherwise.

It was funny how similar Hal and Guy could be. Sometimes all they needed was one tiny thing to cause them to unravel. Now, it was not that she did not want to know the details about Hal and Laira's relationship. Of course she did, but just the same, Donna tended to want to fix things. She was not there on behalf of her husband, that was true...but...well, she could be the stand-in for some of that anger.

Besides, Hal was not telling her anything she did not already know. She focused on that, and not in the way her stomach tightened. Hal would never hurt her. Donna did not have to worry about what would happened if she said the wrong thing. This is exactly what Donna had been expecting and counting on. What were some nightmares if it meant helping people she cared about? The knot in her stomach remained.

Do you feel better now? The words were at the tip of her tongue but they would probably come off at flippant when she truly meant them. She could say that no matter what Guy did, the fact that the person she loved was hurt would anger her regardless. Guy could have killed someone and her thoughts would still go to Guy and his hurt. She figured that was not necessary, Hal knew. She would burn it all down for Guy just like Hal would for Laira. Her thoughts would always go to her husband first, she would not apologize for that.

After all, she was there poking at a wound, not for Hal and Laira's benefit. She did not let out a tired sigh, but she wanted to. God, Coatli had been right.

"Would you feel better if I left?" was what she finally voiced. The answer was clearly a yes. Honestly, she had not wanted to stress him out but at the same time, well...she had not been overly worried about stressing him out either. Ari was going to be so disappointed that Donna did not get any details. She was going to take the mini lemon meringue pie with her though, because she really had missed lunch. "Before I do, I told Ally you weren't feeling well and she made you a get well card, and one for Laira too. So let me just grab that."

Would he feel better if she left? That depended on how the rest of this conversation went. It was that very thought that he voiced aloud. Right then, he couldn't say for sure if he would or wouldn't.

"That's going to depend on where this conversation goes," he told her, the response an honest one. He and Laira'd hid their relationship for a number of reasons, some more serious than others. Despite what Gardner -or anyone else, for that matter- though, Hal was honest about things when it came down to it.

He wasn't one to skirt the hard things. He never would have made it in the military if he had been. He wouldn't have made it to where he was in the force, either.

Moving to another set of cabinets, he opened the door and reached for the top shelf. Drawing down one of the crystal wine glasses that Dany had gifted to Laira for Christmas a couple of years before, he shut the cabinet back and then set the glass on the counter beside the wine bottle and the pastry box.

"I met Laira through Oliver Queen," he spoke. He pulled open his refrigerator while he talked, taking out a can of lemon-lime soda before shutting it. "Technically, I guess I met her because of Hea. Ollie claims she kept telling him that she had a sister she thought I'd like."

"Oh, he reminds me how much of an adult he is every night, and morning, and sometimes he manages to get in some time during lunch," she stated with a serious face as she took the offered plate, before offering an innocent smile, "he is definitely a handful, I have to use both hands." Was this the time for her to do her usual teasing? probably not, but she couldn't help it. She blamed Ari.

"Sorry, too soon? In all seriousness, he has prickly armor but he is all sweet inside...." she paused after she said that, because that did not sound right did it. She could have chosen different words. Hmm. "I did say he was capable of some thoughts, not a lot, but some. Once a year maybe." And she would not change him for the world. She did not want to touch the jaw breaking, did not want to think about it but she was unable to fully ignore it.

"And you tried to break his jaw right back," she snapped, a bite to her words as she took the menu with more force than necessary. She took a deep breath and slowly released it, forcing the protective surge to recede because she was not here for that. Perhaps she should have eaten something before arriving.

She took another deep breath as she looked over the menu, "the garden delight sounds good, thanks dad." She had to remember why she was here, which was to get the details on his relationship with Laira. "It's not an interrogation, why would you call it that?" she resumed her not-interrogation, tone lighting up as excitement came back, "if you are married, then give me the deets of the ceremony, what were you guys wearing, was there cake? are there pictures? It's not rocket science Hal."

"And it's obvious he didn't tell you what made me swing back," Hal said, ignoring her teasing completely. Even though he kept his voice calm, there was a warning in it. "You can feel defensive or be pissed about the fact that I hit him back, but Guy was in the wrong when he showed up here and threw the first punch without any justifiable provocation when I opened that door." He gestured to the door Donna'd just made her way through a couple of minutes before. "If I'd wanted to be a real jackass, I wouldn't have hit him back. I would've filed assault charges and had him busted back to traffic." That would have impacted Donna, Ally, and Lumina, though. Hal wasn't going to make that type of call over a single punch. No matter how much part of him had considered it.

Taking the menu back from her, he focused on submitting the order that she wanted for delivery. As he was paying for the food, he started speaking again. "The only reason I swung back was because he got in Laira's face, yelled at her, and said she was insane. And that was after I told him to back off. I don't give a shit how betrayed he feels, Donna. That doesn't excuse the way he acted. It doesn't give him an excuse to show up at my apartment and do whatever the hell he wants. What if Helen had been here and seen all of that? Or Lyanna?"

He stashed the menu back into its drawer, checking the delivery time on his phone. Fifteen to twenty minutes and it'd be there. "I know for a fact that if the roles had been reversed and someone had done that to you, he would've done a lot worse than one hit." He took a breath, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the counter again. "He can be pissed at me. You can too if you want. I don't care. He can beat the hell out of me all he wants to, but he's not going to treat Laira like he did. Not while I'm here."

After the case and everything that had happened in hours before Guy'd shown up at his door -when he'd thought he may never see Laira again- Hal had wanted to do worse than just one hit. Part of him thought he should have done worse. But, that wouldn't have been who he was.

He knew Donna hadn't shown up there for this conversation, but he was saying his piece. "If that's going to be an issue," he gestured back to the door with a nod of his head, "you can show yourself back out. If not, I'll answer one question at a time and only if it's something I feel like Laira would want me to tell." That was going to be clear before this conversation proceeded.

He was not wrong, she tended to want to try and fix things. It was one of the reasons why it had been so easy for Stephen to sink his claws oh so deeply into her. Of course, after a while, it was less about wanting to fix things and more about her fear of what he would do to her but that was neither here nor there anymore.

Her itch to fix things was put to good use in her practice, making her a damn good lawyer if she said so herself. It helped to curtail the bad habit outside of court. Her therapist had been clear about how easy it would be for her to seek something to have control over after her utter loss of it. After years of working on it, Donna liked to think she was better at figuring out when to give a push and when to let things take its course. She was still human though.

"He is an adult and capable of some thoughts in that pretty little head of his," she shrugged, easily pealing the sticker holding the box closed. "He has to deal with the hurt and anger at his pace." Her therapist also reminded her that she could not make the emotional work for people. Now that one was way harder for her to stick to. Because Donna did want to speak up for her husband, wanted to make everything better, get them to talk, sooth the pain and anger, make it so there was no ache in his heart...but that would not be fair to him and they did not get this far in their marriage by her stepping in every single time. They had been two broken hurt people and look at them now.

"Thank you dad, how about less lectures and more wine glasses?" she picked out one of the lemon meringue mini pies which looked both cute and delicious. "It will give you time to think about the wedding question, along with, what is the date and time you guys met? what was Laira wearing? what were you wearing? What was the first date? Did you asked her out or did she asked you out? Oohh, what was the first words you said to her? Did time stop when your eyes locked?"

"You sure about the adult part? Could've fooled me." Gardner had nearly a decade on Hal in age, but it felt like he was trying to wrangle a moody teenager on his best days. Then again, Ollie wasn't much different. Except, Ollie was like trying to wrangle a college frat boy instead of a moody teen. "Pretty sure he dealt with some of the anger when he tried to break my jaw."

Days earlier, when Hal'd opened his door and found Gardner on the other side, he'd known within half a second what was going to happen. There hadn't been a bit of surprise when it had.

Opening the cabinet directly beside him, he took out a small white plate and handed it over to Donna. Then, he opened a drawer and passed her a menu for a pizza place just down the block from his apartment building. "I'm not giving you a glass unless you actually agree to eat something that's not just pure sugar. Pick something out and I'll get it delivered."

Right on cue, there was the interrogation that he'd known was coming. "If you're going to interrogate someone, it's better to start with one question at a time." Not that he couldn't answer every single one of those questions. He could without a doubt. But, Hal wasn't going to make it that easy for Donna. "Who says we're not already married?"

Donna followed behind Hal, closing the door behind her with a gentle kick. With a sigh of relief, she kicked off her heels, happy to be out of them for a little bit. She nudged them to be right by door, before neatly placing her briefcase down next to them. The weight of the briefcase was not necessarily physical, but more the weight of the seriousness of some of her cases.

"Peace offering? Those are for me, I missed lunch again. I can't have wine on an empty stomach, everyone knows that Hal," she rolled her eyes because honestly, "and why would I be bringing over a peace offering?"

She moved over to the counter and pulled the box of pastries towards her. "I have important questions, the first being, when is the wedding?"

His shoulders bunched a little when the door shut a little louder behind Donna than he would've liked. For a second, he listened for any sound coming down the hall from the back of his apartment. He didn't hear anything, meaning Laira was either still sleeping or she'd chosen to ignore the noise for the time being.

"I did say peace offering or not." He rolled his eyes right back at her, leaning back against the counter. "It'd be a very 'you' move. You like to try and fix things, Donna," Hal reminded.

It wasn't a bad thing. There were just some things that she couldn't fix or smooth over. This whole situation was one of those things.

"Wine and sweets aren't a meal," he pointed out, ignoring her question for the moment. He'd seen that coming a mile away. Maybe not that exact question, but something -anything- about him and Laira. This was about to become an interrogation.

Donna juggled her briefcase, a bottle of wine, and a box of pastries. She was ready to break the door down, her arms were beginning to ache from holding everything. What was taking so long, honestly?

Relief filled her when the door finally opened, because thank the lord.

"Uhu, here take this," she pushed the box of pastries and the wine bottle into his hands, "could you have taken any longer to open the door?"

"I was working." That wasn't a lie nor was it an exaggeration. The proof was in his office, stacked in the middle of his desk and displayed on the screen of his desktop. Oberyn had sent over at least two dozen forms and reports to be filled out for the case they'd just closed. There was a job application as well, one that Oberyn had forewarned him about just last night, yet still sat unopened in his inbox. For then, Hal was choosing to focus on settling the paperwork that was needed to close the case for good.

Wine and pastry box shoved into his hands, he arched a brow down at Donna's question. "I can always shut the door and try again. See if I can take any longer." It was a joke... for the most part.

"Peace offering or not," he raised both his hands in motion to the box and bottle, "I'm still not apologizing to Gardner." Turning, he moved into his kitchen to set the bottle of wine and pastries down on the counter. While he didn't verbally invite Donna in, he didn't shut the door in her face either.

#fullrangeofemotions #v; bad boys for life #((i did the thing because why not 😂))

[ @fullrangeofemotions ]

In hindsight, Hal should have pretended that he wasn't home. He could've easily stayed in his office, continued working, and let whoever was on the other side of the door leave. But, Laira had been sleeping the last time he'd checked on her. After the last few days, he wanted her to rest. It had been that thought, and that thought only, that had gotten him up and to the door.

Unbolting the lock, he wasn't as surprised to see Donna on the other side of the door when it swung open as he should have been. He'd been expecting her to show up a few days before, in fact.

"I'm not apologizing to your husband."

mymothershumility

“He is faithful to you,” Viserion grumbled, ambling back to her temporary nest beneath Laira’s balcony.

He loves you, she almost said. Such a reminder –such a sentiment– seemed unnecessary, though. Laira knew such a thing already. Viserion could feel it shimmering just beneath her rider’s skin, could feel the calm that lingered now that the man was among them. It was such a feeling that mattered above all.

So long as Laira was happy, Viserion would make no objections to the man’s presence.

“I have not doubted such a thing,” Laira told the dragoness, her High Valyrian soft. “Not since we have arrived here.” Within the prison of the Red Keep had been a far different story. Those particular thoughts had not plagued her once since arriving upon the island.

“He is a good man,” Viserion admitted. Part of her was loathe to do so. Yet, the admission came all the same. “He will keep you safe. He will make you happy.”

With a final shake of her great body, Viserion coiled herself beneath her rider’s balcony, her shimmering scales darkened by the shadows cast by the castle.

Laira watched her dragonmount with a smile, listening to her words as she settled back into place within the gardens. Since Highgarden, Viserion had said little when it came to Hal. For her to so openly praise him spoke volumes.

One last glance given to the cream and gold dragoness, Laira returned inside her apartments, closing the balcony doors behind her as she went. As she reached to latch the doors shut, she could hear the steady fall of her husband’s footsteps approaching from down the hall.

#mymothershumility #v; the wolves will come again #;in brightest queue

Walking the halls back to his and his wife's apartments felt far different than the trek he'd made earlier in the day. Though there was a sense of unease that continued to linger about him, the frantic fear that he'd felt that morning was gone. His heart no longer felt as though it was going to beat itself out of his chest.

Such a difference aside, something weighed upon his mind as he walked the last torch lined hallway back to Laira. Viserion had called his wife's terrors and trials back in the capital monstrous. Hal had not thought to question his wife's mount the specifics of what she meant by such a word. He thought it to mean Laira's nightmares, the ones that had started plaguing her just weeks after Daenerys' attack.

But, perhaps it meant something more. Viserion's bond with Laira was a deep one. It could be that the dragoness had felt something when his wife had been ill.

Up ahead of him, Moone darted back through the doors into Laira's rooms. Hal heard her yip happily as he strode down the last half of the hallway. Passing back into his and Laira's apartments, he found Moone already at his wife's side, sitting dutifully beside her as she swept a hand over her head.

"She's entirely spoiled," Hal chuckled, reaching to shut the door behind him.

@neverflownwithme sent in “say the word and i will crush his ribs.”

The day had been sunny for once, Donna had been so sure that luck was going to be with her. She was excited, nervous, but hopeful, had even asked Laira to wish her luck. Her roommate had been amused but sent her off with a remark that she'd want to hear all about it.

Her curls were tamed to fall just perfectly around her face and there was a slight gloss to her lips. It had not been hard to find Guy. 'Do you want to go to the dance?' she had asked him, beaming from ear to ear only for her heart to shatter into a million pieces with his oh so nonchalant, 'oh yeah, I'm going with Tora.'

What exactly she responded to that, Donna could not remember, something about being excited for her first dance and so happy she would see them there....then she walked off until she found herself on a random bench in town.

"If you crush his ribs you won't be able to attend the dance with Laira," she answered, wiping at her cheeks and putting on a smile before turning to look at Hal.

"Have you bought your suit?" she asked, wanting to focus on something other than the sting of rejection.

#fullrangeofemotions #v; your first mistake was thinking i'm one of your sheep

Picking up the last shift at Torrhen's Square gave him a little more wiggle room for clocking in. Parked on the street, he looked across the road and in the front windows at Wylla and Wynafryd. There were only two customers in the small cafe, a couple of girls that he recognized from the Academy sitting in one of the front booths at the windows. Wylla and Wynafryd were both behind the counter chatting with one another as they refilled sugar dishes and napkin dispensers.

He always worked the late shift so they weren't alone when they closed up at night. It allowed him to watch Helen when she finished with her ballet classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays too. Working the late shift today had let him come across Donna in her predicament.

"My offer still stands." All she had to do was say the word and he'd knock Guy Tully's block off. No other questions asked and no other reasons needed. Honestly, Hal couldn't figure out what she saw in Tully.

At her comment about the dance, Hal snorted and leaned back against the passenger's side door of his truck. "I think Laira'd be forgiving if she knew why. Probably a lot more forgiving than she was about our first date." That wasn't something Hal liked thinking about, much less talking about. He still couldn't remember what had happened the night he and Laira were supposed to go to the gala at White Harbor. He couldn't remember why he hadn't shown.

"Better yet. I'll tell her about it. I bet she'd feed him to a dragon."

Could ghosts talk? Donna wondered as she heard her name being uttered by the apparition before her. She would have taken a step back in fear had she been able to move her body. In that moment, it failed her, for her feet remained glued down. Perhaps she had lost her mind, but oh how he looked like she remembered Ser Harold to look like.

He had been a constant in her brother's life, a brother in arms if not by blood. Which meant he had been as much of a constant in hers. He had always indulged her questions, and she had so many of them. He never brushed her off and she was sure it was because he was used to it with his cousins. It nevertheless made her feel special. In the recess of her mind and heart, she yearned to one day find herself married to someone as loyal and handsome as Ser Harold. If she always wore what she thought were her best dresses when he visited, it was only for her to know. Now...she would never have to worry about that ever again.

She still remembered the day news of the Red Wedding reached them...but they hadn't had much time to mourn amidst the war raging across the land. She had penned a letter to his cousin, Lady Sansa, but Donna never heard back from her. She wondered if it had even reached her. Did his ghost plague her too? Did it plague her brother?

Perhaps this was Ser Harold's final farewell to her. She could say her goodbyes, send him off to a peaceful rest and to never see him again. Her shoulders slumped, weariness replacing the shock and fear that the vision before her had filled her with. Now, all she felt was the ache of loss.

"You are here to say your final goodbye, aren't you?" the side of her mouth tugged up into a shadow of a smile. She took a step forward, not wanting to get too close in case it triggered his disappearance before she was ready for it. She did not want to cry but her eyes turned glassy nonetheless. "But I do not want to say goodbye, I know this one will be forever."

#fullrangeofemotions #v; the moon breaks through the darkness

"Is your brother here with you?" Hal asked, stepping away from the archway a bit more. He could still see Helen out among the gardens alongside their host. The Princess had assured him that her walls were well guarded, that the Unsullied positioned about the extensive manse would do their duty if anyone attempted to gain entry without her given consent.

Still, Hal found that he liked to keep Helen, as well as his sister and his cousin, nearby and under watchful eye. He had come to prefer the same for the Princess as well. His sister had teased him mercilessly over such a development. Lyanna had suffered dearly in her life, yet still found joy enough to pick fun at him as only an elder sister could.

"You are here to say your final goodbye, aren't you? But I do not want to say goodbye. I know this one will be forever."

His brow furrowed at her words and the unsettling tone of them. It was not the first time Hal had heard such a tone from another. Lyanna had used the very same one when he'd arrived at White Harbor to retrieve her and Helen. He'd been long thought slain alongside Robb by then.

Hal could see the very same belief reflected in Lady Donna's own stare, could hear it in her voice.

"Lady Donna..." he began, his voice soon overtaken by a bright laugh and the rushing sounds of tapping feet coming his way.

"Uncle Hal!" His niece laughed, coming to a pause beside him beneath the archway. Her linen skirts were damp at their edges and their was a bright bloom tucked carefully behind one of her ears. On her bent arm, a brightly colored parakeet was perched, chirping quietly. "Look!" Helen told him, holding her arm up to him. "Her Grace says they live in the trees of the gardens. Isn't it pretty?"

As she spoke, Helen noticed the figure lingering some way down the hall. Turning, she brightened at what she saw. She had met Lady Donna only once, but she remembered her all the same. "Lady Donna!" she exclaimed.

xcoatlicuex

"When exactly do you want to deal with it?" she asked, eyebrow raised already knowing that the answer would be never. They would never want to deal with it. Sadly, that was not a choice. They could fake their death and run away, that was a thought. Except, no one stayed dead for long, she should know, she had tried that before.

"What if Donna was your sister and you found out she was dating Guy?" she couldn't help asking him. "Wait, does Donna know you two are dating?" sometimes Donna was too good at keeping secrets that even Coatli could not figure her out. The question about coffee derailed all other thoughts because caffeine.

"Coffee? Sure, I'll take one black coffee, no sugar no cream," there was a stack of paperwork still waiting for her in her office. She was not looking forward to it.

#xcoatlicuex #v; bad boys for life #;in brightest queue

"Not right now," he said, dragging his hand down across his face. At some point in the future, he and Laira would cross that bridge. But, for now, Hal wanted to keep it to themselves. Part of his reasoning was selfish, the other part practical.

They'd tell people eventually. Until then, Hal was going to enjoy the time that he had with Laira before the bubble they'd formed around their relationship popped.

He made a face at Coatli's question. "If Donna was my sister, I'd rather her keep her dating life to herself. Especially if it involved Gardner." He knew Donna well enough to know she would've used something like that to mercilessly torture him if the opportunity had presented itself.

"No, Donna doesn't know." He was positive if she did know that she would have confronted him about it by now. "Only people who know are you and Laira's two sisters." Hal suspected that Laira's team leader knew as well or, at the very least, suspected.

He supposed that Ollie knew as well. But he'd known from the very beginning and, as much as he could be a pain in the ass, Ollie did know how to keep a secret when he needed to.

Texting Coatli's request to Laira, he placed his phone on the bed beside him. "I'd rather it stay that way too. That she didn't know about Laira and me." He didn't want her put in a tough spot with Guy if it came down to it. Keeping her in the dark was for the better.

There was so much to see and explore, she did not know where to start. She had decided to not think about home, or what used to be home. She was not going to wonder if they would ever be able to go back. She most certainly was not going to worry about the possibility of anyone being sent to hurt them. Perhaps, most importantly, she would not think of the people they had lost already.

With those resolutions in mind, Donna focused on looking around her as she mapped the many halls. That they had been allowed sanctuary in such a calming atmosphere, it was a blessing. She hoped Lady Coatli would be able to visit them, she was sure she would love it there with them. She loved her brother and Dinah to bits, but Coatli was a newly made friend. She was funny.

Donna rounded the corner with a slight bounce to her step, eyes scanning the hallway, a smile on her lips....until her eyes landed on a ghost. She froze in her place, smile instantly dropping as all color drained from her face. No, she told herself she would not think of the people they had already lost. The figure before her was merely a ghost.

She no longer wanted to explore. Where was Ollie? She needed her brother. Slowly, she took a step back, her eyes never leaving the ghost before her.