I open my eyes and see the familiar grey atmosphere around me. I wade my arms through the clouds so that I can see properly again.

This is getting so old...

The clouds grow thinner and thinner and I can make out a basic outline of this scene.

I think I see something glowing and I hear fire crackling.

What the...

The clouds completely dissipate and
I look behind myself. Dylan, Allison and Ethan are also here with me.

I rotate my neck to see the rest of this place.

There is a bed in the centre of this large room and also a wardrobe near the side.

Dylan, Allison and Ethan are also peering around this bed chamber.

The light is really dim here.
The only source of it, is the fireplace.
But even its light is as dim and dull as the twilight from the side window.

Why are we here?

"I suppose that you have seen Isabelle and Timothy Ingram in the library?"

I look where the voice came and turn my head to the left.

Henry is standing by that same window from which moonlight was pouring through. The twilight is in patches because of some tree outside the window. He turns towards us and puts his hands in his pockets.

"Yes, we did," Dylan says while folding his arms across his chest.

Henry's eyes flicker to Dylan for a second before he turns to gazing out of the window again.

Is there some tension between them?

"Um, if you don't mind me asking...
Why are we here now?" Allison puts her right index finger on the side of her lips.

"To answer a question that I am quite sure, every one in this room would like to know." He scans the room and presses his lips together in a straight but tight line.

All of us stay quiet for a good minute or two, the only sound between us is of tree twigs colliding with the window's glass.

Ethan runs a hand through his hair and says,
"Why are you a ghost? How come only you can see us?"

Henry considers Ethan's question for a moment before answering,
"When I told you all that all of this is happening due to a spell... I used the positive connotation..."

"What?" I ask.

"According to the person to cast this wretched enchantment upon this family, 'tis a spell. However, it a curse.
A curse that gave me immortality when I didn't want it. It is a curse due to which I have to endure my family's tragedies over and over.... and over again."

"Wait, how can you be immortal and a ghost? Aren't ghosts supposed to be dead?" Dylan interjects.

"Immortaily does not require for the soul and body, both, to remain above the ground for all eternity. The only necessary requirement is of the soul.

"After I died, my soul did not Transcend to the next realm, it stayed in the mortal world.
And in answer to Mr Ingram's second question, nobody else can see you all because you do not actually travel through time when you come here. The happenings of the 1890 Edenfield is only but a recording of the past. I, being the one who wrote about these events myself, can see you. It is against the laws of nature to travel in time, whether it be the future or the past."

Whoah, that's just... I don't know what to say about it...

"What about Matthew Knightley? Who's he and how are you related to him?" Allison asks.

"You will find out about him very soon..."

If time travelling is against the laws of nature...

"If time traveling is against the laws of nature, then how come immortality is allowed?" I ask.

I think I hear light footsteps. Everyone else is also straining their ears to listen.

Henry turns towards us and whispers quickly,
"Haud multo post me, et invenietis, placere."

What?

There is a sudden knock on the door and all of us snap our heads towards it. Allison blinks several times after hearing what Henry said.

What's up with her?

"Enter."

Elizabeth, the house maid, and the man who was reading from a scroll at the ball appear. He's wearing a black butler's suit and gloves.

"What is the matter, Elisabeth and Edmund?" Henry inquires.

Both of them look at each other and Elisabeth whimpers.

Henry eyes both of them and demands,
"What is the matter?"

"Mistress Isabelle..." Elizabeth begins to say but breaks into sobs.

"What about her?"

"She has left us, Sir.... our poor young mistress left us..." Edmund says.

"I am not able to comprehend what you are saying, Edmund. Where has she gone?" Henry presses on, with the colour of his skin becoming almost snowy white.

"Gone... gone forever...
We found our young mistress in the library... " Elizabeth starts to cry again.

Henry pushes past Edmund and Elizabeth and rushes out of the room. The two servants also follow.

The rest of us stand in the bedroom, thinking what we should do.

"I think we should follow him. I'm not an expert of Latin but I'm pretty sure that Henry said,
'You will find out soon and follow me, please.'" Allison says, the rest of us shrug and walk out of this bedroom.

Oh, so that's why she blinked so much. She was translating what Henry said in her head.

We all jog to the library to see what Elisabeth and Edward were talking about.

Can Isabelle be...

Dylan is the first one to reach the library following Allison, Ethan and me.

He completely opens the ajar door so that the rest of us can enter.
I think I get how this invisibility thing works. We can only touch the things that we want to. Otherwise, we can just pass through them.

Henry is standing next to the double seater sofa and he is shaking.

I peer over and my breath gets stuck in my own throat. I instantly regret looking over.

Isabelle is lying on the couch, lifeless and immobile. Her skin is as pale as an empty canvas and her eyes are unfocused.

"Belle..."

Henry's knees buckle and he kneels next to Isabelle.

"W-what happened to her... to my sister..." Henry asks.

"We found this in Mistress's hand, Sir..."

Edmund shows Henry a small phial.
It's completely empty.

Isabelle couldn't have commited suicide. From what I've seen in these past memories, she was a strong woman with high morals.

Henry stares at the phial and shakes his head, as if to rid it of thoughts.

"Master, do you think... that Mistress could have taken her own life..."

"MY SISTER DID NOT TAKE HER OWN LIFE! S... SHE WAS STRONGER!" Henry shouts and Edmund jumps up in surprise.

"She was stronger... stronger than me..." Henry whispers and closes Isabelle's eyes.

Henry starts shaking again and is now sitting on the floor, wholly. He puts both of his hands behind his neck and ducks his head.

Elisabeth stops crying and says,
"Master... are... are you all right..."

Henry shakes his ducked head again and says,
"No, I'm not... M... my parents and sister... all gone... my brother..."
Henry inhales loudly and continues to shake.

Brother...

Edmund puts a hand on Henry's shoulder and says,
"Master, I know this timing to be inappropriate but I must ask...
Everyone will know of Mistress's passing by the morn. What are we to say of the cause of her death and her post mortem..."

Henry looks up and averts his gaze to Isabelle. He consider Edmund's question before replying,

"Bribe the coroner, tell him to report that she had suffered from pneumonia and had not i-informed anyone of her d-disease due to the present circumstances."

"And would you like to bring in the photographers, Master..."

Henry shoots Edmund a look that immediately silences him.

I glance to the opposite direction so that I can stop seeing Dylan- Henry this broken. Did my brother react the same way when he found out that Mum, Dad and Kathleen died?

Looking away from my brother- ancestor, a slight shine catches my eye.

What's that?

I go closer to the table from where I think the shine came from and see that a tray with a china tea set has been placed on it. A single cup with a golden linning is placed at the centre of it and I can see a few drops of tea in it.

I feel a growing uneasiness inside myself as I lift the cup and bring it to my nose.

I can't smell anything, it's totally normal.

"Today class, we shall learn about common elements and compounds which can be so deadly that you'll take your last breath before you see the next sun rise," Mr Henley says.

"First of all, I would like to tell you all about those elements and compounds which were widely used in the Victorian era as poisons." Mr Henley points to the periodic table set on the board along with a chart of componds and alkaloids

Mr Henley has always been a nut for Victorian related stuff.

"There were three commonly used;
Arsenic is an element with the atomic number thirty-three,
Cyanide is a compound,
Strychnine is an alkaloid."

"But don't these have some smell or something? Victorians weren't total baffoons, afterall?" I ask.

"I was coming to that, Ms Knightley.
If you smell bitter almonds coming out of nowhere, you can suspect that the smell is either of arsenic or cyanide.
Strychnine, however, is odourless.
If it's added into something, the only way to find out, is by tasting it. It has a bitter taste and well mostly people then didn't survive till they've realized what chemical reactions are occuring in them, and died.

"In other words, strychnine 'bonds' quite well with the environment." Mr Henley chuckles but seeing as no one is laughing, adruptly coughs and continues the lesson.

Could strychnine be added to this?

I place the tea cup back into its tray and turn my back towards it.

It can't be a total coincidence that Henry's parents and sister suddenly died.

I look at the rest of the group.

Allison has turned her face away from Isabelle's corpse, Ethan looks like his eyes might pop out of his sockets and Dylan looks a little shaken. He doesn't look at Isabelle nor Henry directly, only from the corner of his eye.

I, on the other hand, just feel so weird stading here alive while my douppleganger may never open her eyes again.

I have this sudden sense of trepidation and nauseousness in myself right now.

I put my fingers on my forehead and close my eyes. I'm already tired of all that has happened in this memory.

I slowly open my eyes and see those bizarre clouds infront of me again.

This time(luckily), the clouds are quick to vanish and I find myself in a cemetery.

Dylan, Allison and Ethan are also standing beside me.

The clouds did disappear but there are thick dark clouds in this cemetary too.

Large droplets of water are descending from the sky as the final piece of earth is put on a grave to cover it completely. Although our group remains the same, like chipped skin on a cold winter's eve.

The gravestone is made of white marble but the soaking earth will probably turn its pure white into a dirtied- dark stone. Several bouguets of lilles lie on each side of the grave but there is one one bouquet thah has a white chrysantheums. White chrysantheums mean truth.

Only three lines are written on the gravestone.

Isabelle Clarice Knightley

31 March, 1870- 15 April, 1890

"True clarity cannot be acheived while the whitewashing deceit lingers."

That kind of explains the chrysantheums but what is true clarity
and whitewashing deceit?

I look over at Henry standing at a side, water is dripping from his thick coat and top hat. He's the only one not using an umbrella, along with Timothy.

After the burial is complete, everyone offers their condolences to Henry and leave. Even Timothy's parents leave but he stays behind.

Timothy walks over to Isabelle's grave and lightly touches her tombstone. His dark brown eyes linger onto the grave, his brows in a constant downward crescent. He whispers something which I can't hear over the rain. After heaving a deep sigh and shutting his eyes tight, he finally finds it in himself to step away from the grave.

Timothy walks past Henry, but the latter holds the former by the arm. Timothy turns around to face Henry, but before he can say anything, a silver pendant is thrusted into his hands.

Timothy blinks at the necklace and Henry answers for him,
"She would have wanted you to have it back."

Timothy's eyes remain on the pendant, but he decides to stoy away the necklace into his pocket.
He nods and thrashes the water puddles underneath him.

Henry is now all alone, with rain water dripping from his chin.

A sudden neighing drags my attention from Henry to the cemetery entrance. A man in a large-ragged overcoat dismounts from a horse. He pets the creature and makes his way through the patches of mud and dirt gathering nearby. Henry's back is towards the entrance so he hasn't seen the man.

He takes off his top hat and reveals his blond hair. He makes quick steps towards Henry. He looks like a few years older than Henry. His eyes are aquamarine, the same as Isabelle's.

He clutches his fists together as one healthy arm makes its onto Henry's shoulder, making him turn.

Henry's eyes widen as he sees the person standing right infront of him.

"Matthew..." Henry starts.

"Brother..." Matthew pulls him into a tight embrace.

I see an eye blinding light again.

Time's up.

First of all(meaning before anyone says that there's spelling inconsistency in this story), look below.

Not that that's clear, here's my original AN.

Testing, testing, 1-2-3, testing.

Are you guys there? I thought I lost you all at Chemistry related stuff:D

How are you all!?

I know, I am so sorry for the delayed updated. Those who've read the notice I published last week will know of it

This chapter is dedicated to ElfinRain- who is an amazing person, friend and writer:)

Can you guys BELIEVE that Emma Watson pic I found above? I searched and searched but I could not find the right pic(pun intended), but then I found the perfect picture for this part:D

Okay, now to today's question:

What do you think REALLY happened to Isabelle? Where did Matthew jump out from?

Let me know in the comments below:)

(And, what do you guys think of the chapter?):D

Avoid weird typos.

Hoping you all have an absolutely fantastic week,

Love,
MS Zame