Isabella flicked her tears away with angry thumbs as she stomped down the hallway to her room. Stupid Seth¸ she thought bitterly, a lot of help you'll ever be. But he does help. He has helped before. No. Forget it.

Isabella resolved to figure out a solution herself, maybe the Empath Book could give her some more guidance. By the time she reached her door, she felt a bit better, partially from deciding once again she didn't need Seth Logan but also because she might find a better way of getting Serena to talk.

Deep in thought, she entered her room distracted, letting out a shriek when she caught sight of someone – scratch that, two someones, sitting on her bed. Her heart hammered away in her chest, relief flooding her once she recognized Lana and Evie.

"What are you doing here?" Isabella asked, weary and just wanting to hide.

"Girl's night, remember?" Lana responded, concerned at Isabella's appearance. "Your grandmother told Elyse to let us in if you didn't show up by the time Evie arrived."

"I thought you'd be too scared to come back up here alone," Isabella said, not elaborating further with Evie in the room.

"Well, I was with a civilian not a...you know, heiress, so I figured I'd be safe," said Lana. Her best friend was a lot braver than she gave her credit for.

Quickly changing topics, Lana pressed, "Did you find Seth?"

Isabella went to her dresser and proceeded to fix her ponytail, smoothing down the stray hairs that had fallen loose. The nonchalant gesture bought her a moment before replying, "Nope, nowhere to be found."

"Oh."

If Lana believed her, Isabella would be surprised, but her best friend decided not to press. Turning, she noticed that Evie and Lana were flipping through Evie's phone.

"What are you guys looking at?"

"Um, guys, of course," said Evie with a little shrug of her shoulder.

"Right."

Lana sighed. "Tonight is supposed to be fun, Izzy."

"Sure. I guess I should ask Cleo if she can come up. Micah will blab to her about tonight anyway," Isabella said as real life flooded her senses.

"No! Johnna's with Cleo. I saw them in the lobby."

Isabella groaned. "Oh, no way then."

"Her parents were there, too. Her mother was talking to your grandmother, and her father was pacing back and forth with Cleo and Xander's dad as if something had upset him."

"Probably something Xander did," said Isabella.

"Yeah, maybe," Lana said, not sounding convinced. "But Xander hasn't gotten in trouble since you guys came back from all the crazy. It's like he's matured." Lana looked down. "Well, I mean, you all have."

That was true. Where Lana still hadn't gotten fully over her childhood animosity for Cleo, she seemed to have forgiven Xander. Isabella didn't take the time to ponder that any further as she noticed Lana shifting.

"There's more isn't there?"

Lana sighed with a nod. "I stayed to spy for a bit –"

Isabella opened her mouth to ask Lana if she'd been discreet, but Lana cut her off. "Yes, your grandmother spotted me."

Isabella opened her mouth again to ask a follow up question, but Lana cut her off again. "I told her I was waiting for Evie."

"Okay. Okay. What else?" Isabella looked over at Evie who now had the TV on and was flipping through the stations, chin in hand, clearly bored at whatever Isabella and Lana were talking about.

"Nothing. Just after the weird conversation that I couldn't hear between Johnna's dad and Cleo's dad, I saw Theophilus, the twin's parents, Seth and Micah's parents and your grandmother all head back into her office.

The Light Council was meeting in the hotel? That was definitely odd. Maybe they'd figured something out about Serena. "Did you see Serena when you were down there?"

"Nope," Lana said, her lips popping out the 'p' sound.

Well, Isabella decided to shift everyone's thoughts back to movies and snacks. She'd think about it all tomorrow.

As night climbed toward midnight, after pizza, gossip and two movies were over, the doorbell to her suite chimed. And two minutes after that, Isabella found Seth standing on her door step, scratching the back of his neck in an uncharacteristically nervous gesture. "I need to talk to you."

Isabella, happy that Lana and Evie had been too engrossed in watching The Duff to want to move, gestured for Seth to step inside. He looked rumpled and tired.

"Do you want something to drink?"

Seth was usually the type to say no, or insist on getting the drink himself. This time, he nodded and sat on her couch wordlessly.

"Lemonade, water, diet coke?"

"Lemonade."

Isabella returned with two glasses, hers half-filled, his sloshing near the top of his glass. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I'm sorry for before."

Isabella nodded. "I'm sorry, too."

He smiled a little. "There's nothing going on between me and Cleo."

"It's not my business."

"But I want us to be friends. To trust each other."

"I do trust you, Seth," she said.

They both started to speak at the same time, then laughed. "You go," he said.

"I was just going to say Lana and Evie are upstairs watching a movie, and my grandmother's still working."

"I think the council is meeting tonight."

"Still?"

Seth shrugged. "I was wondering if you knew what was going on."

"They'd tell you before they'd tell me."

"Nah," he said, his hand reaching for her cheek then dropping after as if he'd just realized what he'd been doing. "But, uh, I did hear my parents complaining about Colin inviting the Landry Brothers skyside. Apparently, there's a restriction on them to do so."

"Why?"

Seth shrugged. "It sounded like it was a restriction on the whole family."

"I know their family owned that house on the studio lot that led to the underground."

"Yeah, I remember. It's weird. And don't you think Colin was acting a bit off?"

"Yes! Inviting that woman to watch us train. And my grandmother and Theophilus were entertaining her that morning. I thought she had a spell on everyone."

"Not me," said Seth. "She's up to something. I know it's upsetting you, too."

Isabella nodded. "Yeah, there's something else, I need to tell you...."

***

A scream tore through Isabella's mind. Elyse. That was Elyse.

"Isabella, you okay?" Seth asked.

She shook her head, pressing her fingers to her temples. "There's something wrong." Immediately, Seth lay a hand on Isabella's shoulder and closed his eyes. Isabella instantly calmed and focused. "It came from the north side of the hotel. But that part's..."

"Shut down. Are you sure, Iz?"

Isabella nodded once. "Do you think we should go? I mean, what if she's in danger?"

"It's too late," a voice whispered.

"Did you hear that, Seth?"

"What the hell was that?"

"It's too late, Diadem queen."

Both frightened and incensed at the cryptic nature of the words being spoken, Isabella asked, "What's too late? What's too late?"

The ghost did not reply. Isabella put on a coat and headed for the lobby, where they found Elyse tiredly standing behind the front desk, checking in a late arrival guest. She turned to Seth. "She looks fine. Tired but fine."

Isabella's shoulder's slumped. "Maybe my instincts are off. But what about the ghost."

"I don't know. Maybe they're poltergeists or something. I'm staying upstairs with you. I'll sleep on the couch."

"You're not a ghostbuster, Seth. I'll be fine."

But there was no use arguing with Seth.

The next morning, Isabella left Lana and Evie, who were still snoring on two air mattresses in her bedroom, to head down stairs. She and Seth shared a couple of orange juices before he'd left to go shower and change in his apartment.

Something was wrong. She'd known it from the moment she'd woken up that morning, but she didn't say anything to Seth. It was only a feeling after all. Of course, her feeling had been right. As soon as she'd showered and changed, and checked in to see that Lana and Evie were in fact still snoozing away, she'd received a text to come down to her grandmother's office.

When she got to the lobby, she found several police officers standing around. Her heartbeat quickened as she dashed past the concierge desk into the corridor for the offices.

Dread slipped over her body. Death. She felt death, and it wasn't coming from the ghosts. Was it Elyse? Oh God. Trembling, she turned the door knob of her grandmother's office. Her eyes went wide when she saw her cohort there, too. Cleo's eyes were raw and red and Micah had his arm around her where they stood in the middle of the room with Xander beside them. "What happened?"

Cleo cast her a sideways glance, then sighed. "It's bad, Izzy."

"They found Ms. Silver dead," came a voice from behind her. Seth.

Surely, she must be dreaming. "Miss Silver?" Seth nodded. He communicated with her that he knew what she was thinking. This was what the ghosts had been talking about. Isabella cleared her throat. "Where did they find her?" Isabella whispered.

"I heard Elyse found her on the balcony of the north side of the hotel," said Micah.

Isabella gasped and looked at Seth. She only partially clarified to the others, "What would Elyse be doing there? They're just storage rooms now." Isabella knew those rooms used to belong to her Aunt Beatrice and that was likely why the snooping, now dead woman, was doing there.

Cleo moved away from Micah and dabbed the corner of her eye with her monogrammed hanky. "I don't know, besides I guess Rolf had told her to check the rooms."

"That's strange, why would he tell her to go up there? Unless Miss Silver told them that's where she'd be."

"I have no idea, but someone else said that Rolf saw Colin up there twice, once last night and then again this morning."

"Impossible," Isabella breathed, her heart quickening. "Why would Colin have any interest in that part of the hotel or any part of the hotel?" This was getting out of hand.

"I'm not sure; somebody said something about he was looking for a better place for training. More secure maybe?"

"Seems to me, a whole lot of somebody's is talking about everything, but nobody knows anything."

"That's about right," Cleo agreed.

Suddenly, Isabella was impatient for answers, and instinct told her that she would have them soon enough when she spotted Nano and Theophilus.

"Attention, please," Catherine addressed the small gathering in her office, which basically included Isabella's cohort and The Light Council. "This is a very sensitive situation."

"I am sure you are all aware that Ms. Silver was found deceased this morning by one of our staff members. This is shocking news for all of us here, but I want you to know we are working hard to get to the bottom of this situation."

"Did someone call the police?" Mrs. Antonelli, dressed in an upscale looking house coat, asked.

"Yes, the proper authorities have been notified and have recently just arrived. We need to handle this ourselves as well. Serena Silver was an empath and killed in a Violet City sanctioned territory."

"This is hotel is Violet City sanctioned?" Isabella asked.

Catherine sighed, "Yes. If it has a portal, it's sanctioned. And she was an empath."

"Why didn't anyone tell us that?" asked Cleo.

"Which part?" Cleo's father asked.

Cleo snapped her head toward the large imposing man. "All of it."

Gerard, Seth and Micah's father, leaned over, knuckles underneath his chin. "None of us should leave the 'otel. Including you, children," he said in his thick French accent.

Catherine nodded. "Agreed. Until we can determine a time of death, we will need to keep everyone here."

Xander's brows knitted. "Can you tell us anything?"

Cleo nodded, coming to stand next to her brother. "It feels like there is more to all of this."

Catherine took a deep breath, her lids dropping as if boulders of tension rested on them. Before she could speak, Theophilus shared. "There was residue found around the body."

"What type of residue?" Isabella wanted to know.

"The residue of the spirits."

Isabella gasped. "It wasn't...ghosts, was it?"

Catherine narrowed her eyes. "No. As far as we are concerned, ghosts cannot kill."

"Are there any in this hotel?" Isabella pressed.

Isabella noticed Seth's mother shifting uncomfortably from the corner of her eye. "Mrs. Logan. Do you know something?"

Seth's father shook his head at his wife. "Mariah, no."

Seth's mother sighed. "The energies at the Foxworthy are strong but no spirits have presented themselves to me," said the spiritualist empath. "But they are here. A lot has transpired at the Foxworthy, as you all know. But as your grandmother said, this was not a ghostly kill. Though I disagree with her on their ability to do so, this was not the case for Ms. Silver."

"Then why the residue?" Isabella asked.

"It means Ms. Silver has traveled to the ghost realm," Theophilus explained.

"The what?"

"You already know far too much as it is," Catherine said with a sharp look at Theophilus.

Isabella was not satisfied. "Do you have any idea who did this?"

They Light Council members remained silent until Theophilus addressed the room again, "For now, the Council will handle this. But we wanted to keep you young people informed. For now, you may return to your regularly scheduled obligations."

"How can we with all this going on?" Isabella asked, when she felt Seth's hand on her shoulder. He gave her a pointed look. It meant. Let them do things their way, while we do things ours. Isabella nodded. "All right, Nano. Theophilus. Let us know if you need anything."

When Isabella and the others spilled into the hallway outside of Catherine's office, she started to tell them everything she'd heard from the ghosts, when she realized. The only people she knew were with her for sure last night were Seth, Lana, and Evie. She trusted her cohort with her life, but she thought it might be best to handle this ghost stuff without them.

"What's going on, Izzy?" asked Xander.

"Seth and I will tell you later. Let's meet in the Basement at 4:00 for dinner."

"Dunch!" Micah attempted to joke. They all stared at him. "You know. Like the dunch bars? It's not quite dinner, not quite lunch. We're too young for happy hour. Although Seth isn't in some states and countries."

Cleo looked between Seth and Isabella then back at Micah. "Can you teach me how to use the projector, you guys? Since Theophilus will be busy today, I'm sure you could use an extra hand," Cleo said, referring to Xander and Micah's work in the projector room at the theater in the hotel.

Xander looked skeptical. "I don't know, Cleo. I thought you were going shopping today."

"I can't remember?"

Xander sighed. Micah beamed. "I'll teach you, Cleo."

Cleo winked at Isabella as the boys were now engrossed in something new. Isabella could feel Xander's anxiety, however. He was not to be placated. Micah was even more nervous, but due to his propensity for fainting spells, Colin had been working with him on blocking his overexcitabilities, and he'd been doing quite well at it.

When they were gone, Isabella and Seth started toward the elevators. "We going up to the crime scene?"

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