It was as though we were cursed. I speak now, of course, looking back on losing nearly everyone I knew to the prevailing darkness. But even then, something ominous loomed in the shadows, drawing to us every foul thing arisen on that spoiled plane.

I couldn't be sure how they came our way, but members of the Choir came, one by one. I worried we had somehow caught up to the world of the beastmen, and it troubled me. I told Detective Winters, when he found me sitting in the night, watching the wall at the edge of the manor's estate grounds, with vast primeval forests beyond.

"I'd not worry, we can fortify this place. Anyone approaching will be at our mercy."

Fortunately, we had a master of warfare, in Detective Winters, and had not his resurrection cost such a grotesque and almost unforgivable toll, it was essential when we did it and paid off when my friend showed us most of our best defenses.

It was Jacoby and Charlie, two former orderlies of Dellfriar, who first showed up. Detective Winters had them at gunpoint with his automatic shotgun pointed at them.

"I don't know how we came here. It was as though moonlight took us in our sleep." Jacoby said to us.

"No, it was like the pull of the moon, on a beam of light." Charlie explained.

"There's a darkness watching them. It means to infiltrate us." Agent Saint said quietly to Dr. Leidenfrost and Detective Winters.

"These men were at Dellfriar. I left them among the beastmen." I said.

"We escaped them and headed towards Thule. There's supposed to be a human settlement there. We got separated from the rest when those lights got us in our sleep. Moonlights." Jacoby insisted.

"Very suspicious. You can't stay here. My husband already declined to bring you along. Following us was a mistake." Dr. Leidenfrost proclaimed. I felt a chill.

Detective Winters indicated he would use his weapon at the slightest provocation. Both orderlies got up and fled. When they were gone I felt no relief. I had grave concerns, for if they could show up on our doorstep, any of the Choir could, or worse.

Perhaps the answer lay in their odd description of the lights that had brought them to us. I knew that ratmen and cat sorcerers all held positions on the moon. I suspected they had something more to do with the Hooded God, however.

On my last night before my petrification, I actually dreamed of Circe. In the years we had at Leidenfrost, the best and most peaceful times were the days of my life. I knew it wouldn't last forever, and I never took the tranquility and security for granted. I'd known too many awful adventures.

"Grandson, you've said the name of my stone, your wife-stone, as many times as it takes. We only await the proper light of the moon. Wouldn't want it to steal any of my beauty, would we? And I've waited thousands of years for this release, so what are a few moments, lingering in the sweet comfort of your meaningless dreams?" Circe monologued, as I slept.

When I awoke, I had taken her place in the imprisonment of the emerald. She held it in her hand, as she had taken my place at Leidenfrost manor. "It is a good time to live again. You've done all I required of you. Now you may rest as I did, and watch the world revolve around unseen forces. You could hear me, my true heir. But believe me, I never even considered letting the opportunity to live again pass me by. As sweetly and tenaciously as you cling to life, mine was worth far more."

"Where is my father?" Penelope was suddenly at the door of the study. She had no fear of Circe, and this frightened me.

"He's made of stone, forever. He is dead, but he cannot pass on, for he is trapped, body and soul, in the form of stone. This stone." Circe tossed the emerald through the air and Penelope caught it.

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"If you call to him day after day, he will be free, but only at the cost of your life. He could trick you into casting spells, drawing on his words, as I tricked him. He won't though, not unless you have dire need of magic. You see, your father has a secret. A secret about you." Circe laughed evilly.

"My father kept no secrets from me. I knew his every thought." Penelope held the emerald and looked into it.

"This one secret he kept from everyone, almost even himself. But I knew him better than that. I could tell you his secret." Circe folded, grinning with contemptuous enthusiasm.

"I could guess since I felt this moment. Tell me if you will, but I care not to expose my father's deepest feelings. When I see him again, he will willingly tell me. You have no power over the bond between us, nor can you manipulate our relationship for your ends." Penelope spoke as the sorceress in her, challenging Circe.

Circe said nothing but smiled with satisfaction. Evidently, she had wanted to see the person my daughter was deep within, beneath her current childhood. Circe had guessed that Penelope was born of an old soul, perhaps even as old as Circe herself.

"Go play, child. Keep him close, use as much magic as you want." Circe laughed wickedly.

"I don't need to draw from the emerald." Penelope whispered to me as we walked away. She cast a simple spell of her own, and suddenly I could speak to her. She alone could hear me, but it was enough. I was not to be trapped alone, no, I would be able to watch over my daughter, at least.

"My Daughter, where is my Lord?" Cory found her sitting in the great hall of Leidenfrost Manor, beneath the double spiral staircase's middle landing.

"Dad is trapped in this emerald. Circe is here, in the manor." Penelope said with some thoughts.

"What will we do? We should tell your mother! We should tell everyone!" Cory exclaimed.

"No. For now, we play her game by her rules. Unless you know a better way to free my father?" Penelope asked Cory.

"What is it she expects of you? Has she asked you not to tell on her?" Cory asked Penelope.

"She didn't bother. She knows I know what she wants. She wants me for an apprentice. This is a test. Should I fail, there will be death." Penelope explained her thoughts.

"There will always be death." Cory told her.

"Are you with me?" Penelope asked the bird.

"My Daughter thinks that this crow has a problem with keeping secrets?" Cory asked her, tilting his head so that the light made her a reflection in his eye. Penelope flinched, she'd seen things that scared her in the eyes of the crow before. She'd grown up around the bird.

"You never told on me when I stole cookies or played with my mother's things. You said the secret was worth a fortune between us. I always loved that about you, how everything is fair. I love you, Cory." Penelope told the crow.

"Of course, Cory is a good friend as well. My Daughter is loved in my heart, but only as much as anyone else." Cory said oddly.

"You know just how to make me feel right." Penelope giggled. I wondered at their exchange. It felt like I was eavesdropping. Obviously, she had her own bond with my crow, and their own inside jokes.

Penelope held the emerald up to the shimmering sunlight of the evening. "I've always known your big secret, Dad. Nothing about you is a mystery to me. Charming you was a spell I learned as an infant. I know you love me best of all. It's my eyes, they enchant you."

The sparkles from the emerald at sunset shown on her eyes, one gold and one purple, but both a kind of gray in that light. I saw past the surface colors of her eyes into the being she was, and was before, the older part of her soul. That soul regarded me as the child, and felt protective and nurturing towards me. I realized I belonged to her, and not the other way around. I'd always sensed the magnitude of her presence, even when she was a little baby, and catching a glimpse of her, after I'd died, revealed to me my own core.

"I will confront Circe, when I am ready, and find a way to restore you to life. In the meantime, you and Cory can help me. I have much to learn." Penelope took me and Cory to her room and put us on her desk.

She got out her notebook, something she'd written 'Book of Shadows' on the cover. It contained a sketch of her sister, jokes she was saving to tell to Cory, copies of recipes her mother had for pies and canning and two functional spells. One of them involved fairy dust and the other was called 'shielded from boredom'. I looked at her spells she had made, realizing I'd never once crafted a spell. She already had two.

"You cast Shielded From Boredom when you and Persephone were in the Golden City. That's how the two of you stayed sane." I wondered.

"I did. We were getting very bored, after we wandered the maze for too long. It felt like a very long time."

"Probably an endless amount of time." Cory squawked.

"Incredible. You realize that spending an eternity in a place like that would normally shatter the sanity of anyone? Your spell worked. Somehow it kept you and your sister safe." I pointed out.

"It just came naturally." Penelope smiled, proud of herself.

"Who does my Daughter speak to?" Cory looked around.

"I can hear Dad. He's in the stone, dead, but he isn't entirely gone, he has a presence."

"My Lord," Cory spoke to me, although he could not see or hear me: "You may be as a wife-stone, but you are in good hands. My Lord will be set free, someday."