They all turned to the opened door where the subject stood. She closed it right away as she’s carrying two eco-bags full of food. Under the yellowish light of the room, they could see her sweat forming on her forehead.

“What happened to you?” Kathleen reached to one of the bags to help her. Theresa grimaced and shook her head. “Long story, but it all started with the traffic.”

“Oh, yeah? I bet mine’s longer. Get over there,” Kathleen took the other bag and volunteered to place them in the fridge.

Theresa looked at Tomoya and then Takumi and then back to Tomoya as though she’s asking what’s going on, but he only shrugged and pointed the vacant seat beside him.

“What’s going on?” She whimpered the moment she sat down, slightly elbowing Tomoya’s shoulder.

“Where were you?” Tomoya bypassed her question. “I thought you escaped; I almost told them your little secret,” he grinned.

“Let’s get this done,” Kathleen spoke soon after, capturing everyone’s attention. She stood on the other side of the hospital bed in parallel to Takumi, looking quite dubious, but what choice does she has? She needs their help. “Have you seen anything, Theresa?”

“Yes,” she nodded.

“Did you see what happened to me and Christian?”

“Unfortunately,” this time, Theresa sighed.

“You know how visions work. They can sometimes be confusing… most of the times, rather.”

“I know. So, what have you seen, so far?”

Transiently, Theresa seems to have frozen in time that Tomoya had to poke her in the ribs with his phone.

“I-I’m sorry… my mind’s wandering. W-What did you say?”

“Never mind,” Kathleen snorted. “Just listen and tell us what you think afterwards.”

Theresa immediately nodded. Sweats started forming on her forehead again and Tomoya can’t help, but wonder why. Was she really that affected with what he said earlier? She must have liked Takumi that much. That’s all he could think of… or something more, yet he refuses to believe so.

“You’ve seen the mark, yes? Mr. Cagas showed you?” Kathleen turned to Takumi. He nodded and faced her completely.

“Yeah… lo and behold, it was a binding mark. What were you thinking? Whose soul did you sell?” He sounded astonished rather enraged which took a load of weight from Kathleen’s shoulders.

“It wasn’t me,” she grunted and looked at her boyfriend. “Christian did.”

“He—what?!” Tomoya almost vaulted on the couch in surprise and turned to Takumi for answer, but by how his brows met, he could tell he wasn’t expecting to hear such thing.

“B-By any chance, can Christian see dead people?” Before Kathleen could speak, he reappraised and emended. “Can he see or hear the dead? Perhaps, souls… demons?”

The corners of Kathleen’s lips drew down into a frown, tears dimming her visions. “I d-don’t know. He’s not telling me anything or maybe, I failed to hear h-him just because I’m too focused in finding a way to get Shane back. Now, I lost them b-both,” her words broke into sobs. Slowly, she moved upwards and caressed Christian’s cheek.

“I don’t know what he did exactly. All I know is he saved me from that girl.”

“What girl?” Tomoya moved closer to Takumi as if he’s expecting to hear a familiar answer.

Kathleen’s lips dwindled into a fine line. “Agatha… Agatha Shye Brown: Shane’s twin sister.”

Suddenly, Takumi’s shoulders rose and Tomoya was just in time to move them down. “Don’t react,” he whispered, acting simple, so the two won’t suspect. “We’re not sure if it’s really her.”

Yes. Takumi thought. It might not be her, but she’s alive and been living in a cold and empty place for so many years.

“Is there something wrong?”

“Uh-huh?” Tomoya faced Kathleen in a heartbeat. “None, please continue crying—I mean, you were saying?”

Kathleen flicked her tears, signaling Takumi to come over which he immediately did. Actually, all of them did, including Theresa. Kathleen rolled Christian’s gown sleeves, revealing three snarled lines on both of his forearms.

“He was possessed by Agatha… I’m not sure, but that’s what it looked like to me that time. What didn’t make sense is I clearly remembered him chopping only this,” Kathleen pointed Christian’s left hand.

“And I was wounded. He stabbed me on my shoulder and then I talked to Agatha; she was offering a trade, but then… I don’t know. All of the sudden, I collapsed and woke up to these,” she tapped the lines, knowing damn much, Christian couldn’t feel it.

His body might be alive, but it’s only a vessel and Kathleen’s aware of that. “And my wound is gone,” she looked at Takumi who stood on her left. “Am I making sense?”

“No,” he shrugged. “None of these makes sense, but these lines do. Tomoya, can you show us the grimoire?”

“Yeah,” Tomoya hurtled to the couch where his black bag is and took the book back with him, opening it to a specific page.

Truly and fortunately, he can now be trusted fully as he must have really studied its contents… the whole day.

“Then, what kind of marks are these? I can’t read Latin” Kathleen had to ask, looking at the little hand-drawn illustration in the book. “Binding marks?”