"...Then we're going to find the time witch."

A move easier said than done. Neither one of them had any idea who this witch was or what said person was capable of. Maybe this was Serena's murderer. It wasn't ghost, but who knew if this time witch was a ghost or not.

When they got to the crime scene, they found the room blocked off with yellow tape and two detectives behind it. One was crouched down examining something he'd found on the floor while the other paced while barking something into her cell phone. A uniformed cop practically materialized out of nowhere and spotted Isabella and Seth. "You kids can't be here," said the young cop, who didn't look much older than Seth. The cop folded his arms across his chest, blocking the doorway.

"But she's..." Seth started then stopped when Isabella linked her hand with his and gave it a tug. He looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"It's okay, officer," she said, plastering on a smile then turned to Seth. "Let's go look at the you know what?"

Seth frowned but let her lead him away. "I do?"

Isabella shook her head. "The book," she mouthed, eyebrows pushing up her forehead.

"Right. Sorry."

Instead of heading back to the elevator, Isabella strode down the hallway and turned left into the small open sitting area exclusive to this section of suites. Seth followed her, a frown etched into his forehead, as she made her way through the sitting area to a large window on the other side. "Just what I thought. You could easily climb up here from the gardens," she said as she opened the window and pointed to a trellis.

"It doesn't look very sturdy to me."

"Trust me. It is."

When they got back to her room to get the book, Isabella found Lana and Evie gone. Lana had left a note scrawled on the back of pink notebook paper. Going home to sleep in a real bed. Not working today. See you later. Isabella checked her cell phone to see if she'd followed up with more detail. She had not.

Isabella made her way back to the living room to comb over the contents of the book with Seth. A part of her wanted to contact the rest of her cohort, but she decided to be careful. Better to start small than invite whomever was necessary as their private investigation moved along. Thankfully, she trusted Seth. He was easy to work with. A yin sort of to her yang, though she'd never tell him that. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea. Regardless, whatever direction their work might take them, they would hopefully be able to find answers without leading a killer to chase them down.

"I don't like this," Seth said, "the killer could be anywhere."

Just then, a sound of something dropping in the kitchen clattered. Isabella gasped and Seth stood up. "Calm down, Seth. It's probably just my grandmother," she said, standing up behind him. "Nano!?"

No response. Instead, something fell to the floor a second time. Isabella clutched the book to her chest and inched forward, but Seth held her back with a hand on her shoulder. "Hold on."

Isabella rolled her eyes. "Nano?! Are you okay?"

Seth stepped in front of her and headed toward the kitchen. "I can just throw up a shield."

"And I can throw a blast." Seth shot her a hot glance. "Yours is less harmful."

Before either of them could go in, the kitchen door flew open to reveal a young teenage girl with rust color curls dressed a bit like a girl pirate minus the cap.

"Mimi!" Seth and Isabella cried out in unison.

"Oh, hey guys!" The rather short girl held her hand behind her back, revealing her half-human-sized teeth with an easy smile.

"Why didn't you say it was you when I was calling?" Isabella wanted to know.

Mimi shrugged. "You were calling out for your Nano person lady, not me."

Isabella sighed as she felt resisting the urge to face palm himself next to her. They were getting more in sync that even usual now that they'd been spending more time together again.

"What are you doing here, Mimi?" Seth asked. "And what's that behind your back?"

Her pale cheeks tinted pink. "It's nothing," said the morphling girl they'd met in the Underground over a year ago.

Seth stepped closer.

Mimi turned even pinker. "You know. You're even more handsome than you were when I first met you Seth. Isn't he, Isabella? Very tall, too."

"Mimi," Seth warned stepping another step and looming over her.

She held out her hand. It was a green apple. "It just looked so shiny. Morphlings aren't allowed to eat apples in the Underground."

Isabella sighed. "You can have the apple, Mimi, but you shouldn't take things."

"Sorry," she said, bringing the apple to her lips then taking a hearty bite. "Wow! It's got such a pop and a zing to the taste, doesn't it?" She took a few more slurpy bites.

She started toward the door. "I'd hoped you'd be here so I could say hi. Theophilus called me."

Side-by-side, Seth and Isabella trailed behind their fast-talking friend.

"Wait. He did? Why?" ask Isabella.

"Not supposed to say. Good to see you, Isabella, Seth," she said but before she could reach the door, she stopped and turned to them with a sniffle. She ran toward Isabella and embraced her, then hooked her arm around Seth's waist to pull him in for a group hug. "I've missed you guys."

Isabella and Seth shot each other awkward looks. "Uh, we missed you, too," said Isabella, patting Mimi's back. She would have given her a normal hug if she hadn't tried pressing her into Seth.

"Well, gotta dash – that means run, right? Gotta run? Maybe I'll run. Maybe I'll walk. But I better run because Theophilus is waiting. Bye!" Then she was gone.

"Should we follow her?" asked Seth.

"I don't think so. The Light Council can do their thing, and we can do ours."

After a nod, a sigh and a slump back onto the sofa cushions, Isabella opened the book on her lap again. It didn't take her long to find the section on time witches. "This is exactly what the ghost said. Almost word-for-word," she explained to Seth. No matter what others might think of her clinging to the book, it knew things, things people did not want to tell her, or at least seemed really uncomfortable doing so. She was tired of secrets. Isabella cleared her throat and read, "A time witch is an empath who can pass through time. Once they die, they linger in one place, often a location with hidden secrets. They harbor the ability to move themselves and any living empath they choose back through time or into the ghost realm."

Isabella could not imagine having such a power. Controlling her emotions and learning to balance energies tore through her fight to remain an everyday kid enough. Time travel was not something she wanted to add to the list. Yet there was something intriguing and powerful about being able to go through time. She wouldn't just hear of the past, she'd could be part of it, too.

"So, the time witch moved Serena back through time for what? And did moving her back kill her? That couldn't be. I didn't see anything about that in the book. It would have said it, right? I mean—"

Seth interrupted her thinking out loud ramble and buoyed her back to reality, "Abilities can be dangerous when mishandled, it says."

Isabella shook her head. "The Light Council said it wasn't a ghostly kill, so it has to be something else...or someone else."

"Are all time witches ghosts?" Seth asked.

"No. They find out they're time witches when they're fifteen and still alive. Sort of like like when we get called to our duties as empaths. They're empaths, too. But! They can be dead and assigned to spot after death. It says that in the beginning."

Seth ground the balls of his hands into his eyes. Just as Isabella was going to reach out and drop her open palm on his back in an attempt to soothe his frustrations, he abruptly stood. "Hey! Ghost! Tell us what to do! Oy!"

"I doubt that's going to make them come out." Isabella rolled her eyes. No matter how smart Seth was he could be such a boy sometimes. No subtlety whatsoever.

Seth looked at her wide-eyed. He no longer seemed so quick to pump spirits for information anymore. "Them? Is this building haunted then? There's more than one?"

"I think so. There were at least two, maybe three speaking the other night. And I doubt we have dangerous ghosts floating everywhere just waiting for random celebrities to kill." She smirked when Seth rolled his eyes and nudged her. Even when life hung in the balance they found a way to keep each other sane. Maybe the guardian thing would get less awkward one day.

Before Seth could make a witty comeback. Isabella noticed something gold and shiny glimmering near the baby grand piano Theophilus had given her for her birthday last year. Then it was gone just as quickly. Was it some kind of playful ghost or tricky specter? She couldn't tell.

"Where did it go?" asked Seth.

"You saw it, too?" Isabella asked on a gasp.

When the shiny gold spinning circle re-appeared by the door, the teenagers jumped.

"There it is," Isabella said, pointing. It spun like a top then slowed long enough for them to agree it was a compass shaped like a star. The weird object bounced in place several times then dissolved through the front door.

They barreled out of the penthouse to follow the flickering object down the hallway, letting it lead them down corridor after corridor throughout the hotel until they found themselves in the theater. It moved toward the secret passage on the far end and slipped through it. Seth and Isabella wasted no time following it, opening the wall as they'd done the year before when seeking answers about a very different mystery.

"Maybe it's going to The Light Council's lair," Isabella stage whispered.

Nope. The golden top moved right past it and eventually led them to the speakeasy room, which unlike the year before, no longer asked them for a password to enter. The room knew them now, which seemed almost as odd as the spinning light that was now standing in the middle of the room not moving at all.

"I hate to break it to you light, but we hang out here everyday."

"It's not moving," said Isabella with an exasperated sigh.

Just the words left Isabella's mouth, the top flicker-danced over to one of the walls and disappeared.

"Oh no, where did it go!" Isabella panicked. "There's no door there," she said, eyes glued to the mahogany paneling.

"Stupid flicking ghost thing," Seth muttered and kicked the wall several times. "What the--?"

The wall made a clicking noise and gave way.

"Come on," Isabella said, pulling Seth with her into the time witch's secret room neither had seen before. It was papered with maps and adorned trinkets from all parts of the world. Sure, the speakeasy room had maps of the entire Underground. Much like the room beside it, this little dark room had books upon books, but rather than stacked neatly they sat upon a large desk, a small round table and various rugs on the floor. The little room sent off a certain energy of mystery and discovery.

"It's almost as impressive as Elias Landry's study. His isn't as neat as mine," said a soft voice.

"Hello?"

No answer.

"Are you telling me that Silver woman found this place on her own?"

"No way. It had to be the compass. She wanted her to find her."

The lights went out. Paintings on the wall stand out even more than usual. Seth and Isabella moved closer. Neither were in a hurry to play parts in a pseudo horror movie. But with a murder, ghosts and abilities abound, they were practically in their own murder mystery novel.

"That's right, Isabella. I wanted her to find me. I wanted her to tell their story. She said she would, but he didn't let her. He didn't want to."

Seth and Isabella huddled together in the darkness.

"Who didn't?" Isabella was the first to speak up.

"I cannot say. I cannot reveal the secrets of the dead. You must find out the truth yourself."

"I don't like the sound of this," said Seth.

"You can find the answers in the ghost realm."

"So, send us to the moment of Serena's murder, then we can see," Isabella reasoned. It seemed a simple enough solution. Then they'd know who the killer was and would only need to find proof to officially implicate him or her.

"No time in the past decade is accessible."

"Then what's the point of going back?" Seth wanted to know.

"She went to the past to find something out, didn't she? And someone in that time found out what she knew and killed her?"

Seth looked sideways at Isabella. "If I hadn't been with you, I might think you were a suspect. You wanted her gone."

Isabella rolled her eyes. "Seth, be serious."

"What about everyone else? They all seemed so in love with her."

"Maybe she had them under a spell and when the spell broke..."

"Someone lashed out and killed her? Maybe Serena let slip the wrong thing?" Seth mused.

"To the most wrong person ever," Isabella mumbled, "this ghost business is making my head spin. Let's check out Serena's room for some kind of hint of what she was looking for."

"Uh, did you forget, her room is off limits?" Seth said.

Isabella gave him a look. "Fine we'll go, but let's stop by my room first for a few things."