93. The Answers

"How's he now, doctor?" Rose was sitting beside David who had now gained full consciousness with their son, John standing on the other side of the bed with his arms folded.

Earlier that day, David was feeling better - better enough to start a conversation about how he is feeling alright to go home - but Rose insisted that taking a doctor's opinion is a must as she still thinks that David needs rest no matter what he says.

The doctor ran a few tests in the morning and was looking at the results clipped to the board now.

With every turning page, John wished that the doctor would give good news. He hoped that his dad would get a discharge from the hospital so that they all would go home. Rose felt the same way.

"Please tell them doc that I'm perfectly fine to go home," David said still lying halfway in his hospital bed.

Rose shushed him in a playful way as they waited patiently for the doctor's reply.

"Well," the doctor began after scanning a few pages of the report. "Mrs. Jackson, I don't see why your husband can't get a discharge but -"

"Told ya," David cut the doctor in between to face his wife as he couldn't hold his excitement of being right and the feeling of finally be able to go home.

Rose shushed him again as she smiled at him. "I'm sorry, doctor. David can be a child sometimes."

The doctor smiled a bit and continued, "It's alright, Mrs. Jackson. You can take him home now. But continue to give him the medicines, don't forget to apply the ointment, and take care of his eyes. No tv, no phones, no anything with radiations. You can use the ice to soothe his eyes but just because he's getting a discharge doesn't mean he must not take rest."

"Don't worry, I will," David replied.

"Good." the doctor looked at David and then towards Rose. "I just want you to come with me to sign the discharge papers."

Rose nodded as she followed the doctor outside leaving an excited David with their son in the room.

- - - - - -

"Done." Scarlett descended down the stairs.

It didn't take long for Diana, Helena, Ryan, and Clyde to understand what she meant.

"No!" A weak Clyde who was still under the effect of the power of the pentagram struggled to get the words out.

Helena and Ryan looked at each other. If Emily's dead, what will they do now?

"Good job, Scarlett. I knew I can count on you." Diana looked at Scarlett.

Scarlett bowed down.

"This can't be happening," an alarmed Ryan said.

"Face it," Diana's voice reflected her victory. "Emily is dead. And it would be only a matter of few moments when I finish you all off and move all of you out from my path."

"You can't kill us and you know that," Helena said going towards a nearly fainted Clyde who fell on the floor.

Diana pouted her lips as she arched an eyebrow up in anger. "That doesn't mean I could make your sufferings any less. You'll all pay for your sins!" Diana said before leaving the basement with Scarlett following her.

"Are you alright?" Ryan and Helena helped him to get up.

Clyde nodded his head. The pentagram had drained almost all of his energy rendering him too weak to even speak.

"What do you mean that she can't kill us?" were the words Clyde struggled to get out from his mouth.

"We'll tell you everything later," Ryan said still being the half support of Clyde, Helena being the other half. "but first you need to rest. The more you rest, the more you'll recover soon."

As the three stood there in the basement away from the pentagram, Clyde asked, "As much as I don't doubt Diana's power, do you think Emily's dead?" Clyde's eyes were definitely tired but they never stopped reflecting a ray of hope.

There was a silence in the basement for a few seconds before Helena said, "If Emily's dead, what would we do now? We all came here to save her, but I guess it was too late."

Ryan and Helena hung their heads in defeat.

"No." Clyde began with a determination just like an injured soldier who even though his life is hanging by a thread, will never give up that easily. "Y'all think Emily's this weak? These past couple of days that I've spent with her had told me that she's a girl who never gives up. She's a girl who'll never give in to defeat. She's strong and brave. And even though Scarlett killed her, something inside me tells me that she just can't die like that."

Ryan and Helena took a wavering breath before Helena replied, "There's only one way to find out."

Ryan and Clyde knew what she meant. With their minds thinking of Emily, they closed their eyes as Helena teleported them to the spot where Emily's car was caught on fire.

Clyde stumbled a bit due to his weakness but Ryan held him before he could fall down.

The air had an abundant amount of carbon, the sound of the raging fire, and the heat surrounded them from the moment they teleported in the scene.

The first sight they could see was the deadly fire that was eating the car up.

"No, no, no!" Clyde yelled in a weak voice. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening."

Ryan and Helena placed their hands on Clyde's shoulder. It was too late. They had lost Emily to the fire.

But just like when you think that all the doors are closed, He always shows you that one door of hope.

They heard another sound intertwined with the sound of the flames.

They heard it carefully trying to differentiate it apart from the crackling sound and soon realized that there was someone around them too as they heard a faint sound of human coughing.

The trio looked around and in no time their hearts filled with reliefs as they saw a nearly burnt and injured Emily coughing with her back supported by the trunk of the tree and blood covering her face from her head not far enough from the burning car.

"Emily!" they all shouted in happiness.

Emily looked at them still not recovered from the pentagram, the fight with Scarlett, and her successful attempt to save herself. She looked at the source calling her name. With her vision still hazed she recognized the voices of Clyde, Helena, and Ryan. She looked at the three relieved faces as she smiled and coughed.

"Thank God you're alive!" Clyde said in excitement.

"Thank God you're ok too and how could I not be?" Emily still tried to keep herself awake which her body wasn't allowing her to. "I couldn't let what you did for me go to waste and I couldn't let Diana win. I ain't going down so easily." She weakly smiled.

"But Scarlett told us that she killed you, how did you manage to escape the blaze?" Ryan asked.

"Well, just as Scarlett was about to burn the matchsticks, I saw what she was doing in the mirror. With my vision still blurry and with no strength left inside me, it didn't take long enough for me to put two and two together. Just as she was about to let the matchsticks go, I gathered all my strength and jumped from the car and hid behind the tree and crawled my way ahead. My legs had no strength left in them to walk. Scarlett thought that I was still inside the car as she ran away, but she didn't see me escape and hiding behind the trees just a few seconds before the blast."

Helena smiled and said, "As much as we are glad you're ok, let's get you to the hospital first."

- - - - - - - -

Emily was rushed to the hospital.

As none of the people at the hospital could see Clyde, Helena, or Ryan, they saw a nearly burnt Emily with a bleeding head limping her way towards the reception.

In no time, two nurses came with a gurney and took her to the emergency room.

"Why did we bring Emily to this hospital?" Ryan asked Helena. "The Jackson family's here too along with John."

"Because," Clyde replied, "I saw them leaving with Mr. Jackson before we came here. He must be discharged and besides this was the nearest hospital."

There was nothing else for them to do but to wait. Wait for Emily to recover and feel a little better. Clyde was also getting recovered and his energy was slowly being recharged.

"I know this isn't the right time but I need some answers," Clyde broke the silence as they were waiting for what seemed like an hour.

Ryan and Helena looked at him unsure as to what he was about to ask but Helena told him to ask whatever was on his mind.

"Did you have the powers to teleport before you died? And also can you teach me? Please? It's so cool!"

Ryan and Helena giggled at the childishly cute question and an excited expression of Clyde.

"No, silly," Helena replied in a playful tone. "You see when we die, each spirit is given a special power of their own to fulfill their journey. Like I'm given the power to teleport, Diana has the power of telepathy and Ryan has the power to slow down the time and shift dimensions but he hadn't tried to alter the dimension yet."

"If you could stop the time," Clyde looked at Ryan with a cold stare. "why didn't you do something back there? Back when Diana was giving Emily a slow death?"

"Clyde, my powers only work on humans, not on spirits. Besides, they aren't that strong enough and the last time I tried that on John when Hannah, Emily, and he first arrived at Skylar's house, he fainted. I swear I had no intention to scare that boy, but who can blame him? I was only trying to tell him about the curse and Diana but I guess what Diana did to my face was more than enough for him to pass out.

And the next time he was at Skylar's house, I knew that it was Diana in the disguise of that little girl who gave the box to John. So, I tried to tell him that, but I guess he couldn't get over it. Now I wish he was as strong as Emily. At least she didn't faint when she saw me."

Clyde eased up a bit on Ryan as he wondered what his powers could be.

"Can I ask you one more question?" Clyde asked.

Ryan and Helena nodded as Clyde began in a rather serious tone, "You said to Diana back there that she can't kill us. What do you mean by that? She's powerful enough to kill anyone so why is it hard for her to kill us?"

Ryan and Helena looked at each other. "Tell the boy, Ryan, he needs to know," Helena gestured Ryan to answer.

Taking a deep breath, Ryan began, "It's true, Clyde. Indeed Diana is powerful enough to wipe all of us off but she can only kill the humans. She cannot completely kill the dead."

"What do you mean?" Clyde asked.

"What he meant is," Helena began to explain, "She can only make the deads suffer just like she made Ryan and I suffer but she cannot completely kill us. That's why even though you were in the pentagram, your energy definitely got sucked by it but not that much to kill you completely. That cannot happen but if it was Emily or any human for that matter, it would've resulted in their death."

"Why so?"

"Because Clyde," Ryan replied, "Diana can kill the humans by taking their souls from their body. The body is just a vessel for the soul. Without the soul, the body is nothing - resulting in what the living call as being dead. But when you are a spirit, Diana has no power to completely wipe off your existence.

You see when we all come in this world, we all have a purpose in this life and without fulfilling that purpose, we as a spirit, cannot be completely free. That's why some spirits roam free and haunt people even after their vessels - their human bodies - die. Until their purpose gets fulfilled, they cannot be freed from this circle of life."

"Wait, so what's the purpose of both of you then?"

"We have lived on this earth as spirits for a very long time now," Helena began, "but as we came to know about the Jacksons, we became clear as to what our purpose is and what we have to do in order to free ourselves. Diana cannot kill both of us until we save the Jacksons and that's what our purpose is. To help the Jacksons fight the curse. And that's why Diana wants to kill the Jackson family because if she succeeds in killing them all before we save them, she can in that sense get rid of us too."

"But why she wants to get rid of you?" Clyde asked.

"Helena, I think it's time for them to know the real truth."

"We'll tell you, Clyde," Helena looked at Ryan and then towards Clyde. "But we'll tell you in front of Emily. She deserves to know too."

Clyde nodded and then said, "So, if you are saying that all of us have a purpose on this earth to fulfill, what could be Nick's purpose? His soul wandered as long as mine but the day I guided Hannah and John to Nick's house, he was free. Nick's soul was finally free. So, you mean that he had served his purpose and his soul became free?"

Helena nodded.

"If that's the case, that meant that Nick's purpose was to have his Diary being found out by Hannah. Because as soon as she found out his diary, the house in which Nick's soul stayed crumbled down. And because of the diary, they went to Nick's old house before Diana possessed Hannah."

Clyde asked after a few moments of silence, "Then what's my purpose?"

"That my boy is for you to find out." Ryan smiled.