"I've done wrong again, haven't I?" Maggie sighed, walking up to the front door of her house. "Bella is the only thing that can bring Robert back and I've just said no to her".

"Yes, you'd get Robert back, but you'd lose Olalla. Swings and roundabouts, dear", Garson replied.

"But I've only got you, Ravi and Olalla left. I mean Robert's never coming home, Lottie's God knows where and I've messed up Louis so much that he's faked his own death just to get away from me".

"Hey, hey", he said, turning her around to see him and holding her hands, which were shaking slightly. "You are the greatest person ever for dealing with this. This is something no one can even start to comprehend, let alone live with, yet here you are. And for that I will always admire you".

"Thank you Garson. I just...don't want to lose anyone else".

"You're never going to lose me Maggie. And as for Ravi, the only thing you'll lose him in is a book". He stepped forward, pushing the door open to see Olalla and Ravi sitting on the stairs.

"Well?" Olalla started. They didn't move, but Ravi looked rather sorrowful at his siblings being gone.

"They can resurrect her, but they want something. And I won't give it to them", Maggie said, leaning on the iron teasmaid.

"What do they want?" Ravi asked curiously, but Maggie didn't answer, just stared at the floor guiltily and picked up a mug ready to fill.

"They want you, Olalla. In return for Bella", Garson exclaimed, answering for her. Olalla face turned into complete dread at first, the memories of her childhood in Tenebrae coming back to her. However for a moment she pondered it, thought of her brother coming home, and gave a weak smile.

"I'll do it".

"What?" Maggie bellowed, almost dropping the china in her hand. "No, no, you mustn't".

"I have to. If it gets Robert back then I'll do it. I'm sure it's not too late", she lilted, and grabbed her fitted, duffel coat from the closet.

"Please don't..." Ravi whispered quietly. "Don't go".

"I'll be back, little brother", she answered quietly, throwing a pack of cards towards him. "Look after these for me. I'll test you when I'm back". With a spin, she began walking out the door, but Maggie latched onto her arm.

"I've already lost your brother and sister, I'm not losing you too", she murmured, eyed huge and innocent.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" she retorted, then backtracked when she saw her grandmother's face. "I can't, I just I can't sit here when I could be doing something about this. Don't you want our family back together?"

"I do, of course I do. In fact the one thing I want to do is wrap you all up in cotton wool and not let you out so things like this can happen".

"But, what way is that to live?"

"It's no way, and I know that, but... You're all my little baby chicks, and I just want you to all stay in the nest and not fly away", she replied, smiling slightly at her metaphor. "Go, but on your terms, and if any one of them hurt you-"

"I'll be fine", she interrupted, and Maggie released her grip on her. "And don't worry, Grandmother Birdie, I'll come back, maybe with a couple of siblings too". With a small beam, she walked outside the door, waving to Ravi, and shut the door behind her.

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"It doesn't look too... bad", Lottie murmured, and Louis scoffed.

"You have no idea", he answered. Everything just seemed so plain, no ghouls, no man-eating monsters, just a maze. A maze she needed to get out of. Louis walked slightly further ahead, holding his blade aloft.

"You never told me", she exclaimed, stopping his in his tracks. "W-why did you leave? I mean I was seven years old, Robert and Olalla four, why leave us, just like that?"

"I had to get away".

"I'm guessing it was Tenebrae, wasn't it?" she asked, dropping her voice to little more than a whisper.

"I'm not going to lie to you Lotts, because I know you're a smart girl and you probably read me like a book. Tenebrae let me go; they weren't going to follow me, all they wanted to do was hurt me. Actually I was just running away".

"From what? What could have been more important than your own children?"

"You don't get it, do you?" he retorted, going very quiet, then sighing. He grabbed onto the wall and slid down it onto the dusty ground. "After Robert and Olalla were born, your mother...passed on. She...didn't survive the birth. So, I tried, I really did, to look after you all. In fact, I threw away all of my father's monocane that I knew of to try and get rid of Hyde. But she was the carer, the one that would give everything and never think of herself. I suppose I lasted for a while, but in the end I just couldn't live with Hyde always clawing away at me. The endless hunger for monocane, it was killing me. That's when I met Dance again, I had already been introduced to him during the war, and he offered me a place in an 'exclusive organisation for monsters', where I could have all the monocane I wanted. So I joined, and now it's one of the things I regret most. They were cruel, and they were vindictive; but I didn't know, didn't care I suppose, I was Hyde for most of the time. And I loved it, I felt so free, and I thought it was good for all three of you. But all that time, they were testing on you. When I did find out, which was, shamefully, quite a while later, I went mad. I threatened to quit, I told you three to run away where they wouldn't find you, and, when they did, I masqueraded as a Vetala and took Robert and you away. I had to leave Olalla behind, and that has been a weight on my mind everyday of my life. The monocane I was taking had expired, and it was poisoning me. I knew that I couldn't look after you any longer, so I gave you to your grandmother, and Robert to an old friend I met in the army, Vishal Najaran. I couldn't keep you together, you'd ask too many questions when you were older, and Robert would forget me anyway. Seems that the one test that worked on Robert was that whenever he lost all hope, whenever he became so angry or sad that even Hyde wouldn't suffice, he would just forget. He would just forget everyone and everything that happened to him, and start making his morals out of the broken memories. I ran then, to the Middle East, changed my identity, was going okay for over two decades. Then Tenebrae found me again, and I've been here ever since. But, you have to believe me Lotts, I've always wanted to come back, but I knew that nobody would accept me back after just...abandoning everyone like that".

"You did abandon us, I'll give you that", she murmured, trying to take in all the information at once. She slid down next to him, and put her arm across his shoulder blades. "But with good reason, and... I got too deep into Tenebrae too, so I know how you feel... ish".

"Thank you, Lotts", he lulled. "I know I've said this at least twice before, but... you're so much like your mother".

"Who was she? I never really knew her".

"Her name was Evelina Alexander. I met her in London, didn't know where I was going with it but she was... an incredible person. But I knew that every relationship in our family was like poison; at least one of the people in them ended up dead. However, I went ahead, got engaged to her, had a family. Then... well, you know the rest", he replied. "Evelina..." he murmured quietly to himself.

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