The Velvet Ballroom had several chambers, or what Isabella and Seth knew to be VIP rooms in their time, adjacent to a rear corridor for lounging, private dealings or simply listening to music. Isabella and Seth followed the upset starlets down that very same hallway at a relatively safe distance. Tension pumped through the air. Something horrible was about to happen. She could feel it as sharply as a knife to the skin. They ended behind a pillar just before rounding the corner to where the starlets had fled.
"We're here," they heard Dena say to Beatrice, who stood in the frame of a wide door to one of the chambers wearing a fiery glare. "Please don't ruin our careers, I beg of you!"
"Get inside and don't say another word unless spoken to," Beatrice barked at the woman, gesturing toward the open double doors behind her.
Dena and Fran hurried into the back room while the teens peeked from behind the column. As soon as the coast was clear both dashed for the door which was left open a crack and peeked inside. The coincidence of Beatrice being there put them right back on mission.
"So, you little jezebels thought it was a smart thing to do to play a little hanky-panky with my Leonard, did you? He may have come back from Korea a little less like himself, but that doesn't give you the right to... " She narrowed her piercing emerald eyes. "Where is Elaine? I know for certain she's one of the little harlot's he's been sleeping with."
"I never slept with him, I swear," Fran whimpered. "I'm sorry for anything bad I said behind your back. It was just harmless gossip..."
Beatrice slapped the young starlet across her face. "Shut up! I don't believe a word you say."
Grace handed over a bawling Posy to Dena and marched up to Beatrice. "Listen, you spoiled little witch, I'm not afraid of you. Leonard says you are a monster, a tyrant. Feel free to ruin my career but know that I've known real work from my upbringing. Elaine and I were the ones who screwed with your husband. She was just smart enough to take off. The only reason I stayed was to ensure that poor Posy remained safe. She, Fran and Dena have done nothing to you."
Beatrice looked almost crazed, her green eyes darkening, her cheeks flushed with rage. When her eyes fell on the other women, huddled together, arms linked, lips pressed together as if they'd dare not speak. "You see them? They know their place and you better learn it you, Southern trash."
"I'd rather be trash than a desperate debutante!" Grace taunted back. "Why don't you run back to your parents? Jack is the real talent anyway and I remember when you were a B level actress at best. Face it, you charmed and screwed your way upwards. You're no better than us. And your mother, she was born in a gutter, right? So what does that make you, spawn of the a sewer rat in glittering heels?"
Visible waves manipulated the air in the room as Beatrice screamed in rage so loud glass broke. The five starlets spread out to avoid the glass.
Isabella almost cried out but Seth covered her mouth. "Shh. Shh." Isabella pulled his arm around her from behind and clung to it, digging her fingers into the sleeve of his jacket. Too shocked watching the scene unfold in front of her to reprimand him for shushing her.
Beatrice glared at the young women. "So, I'm the spawn gutter trash, you say?" Glass started to rise in the air, the pieces fusing into sharp spear-head like shapes. The women screamed. "Well, let me share my feelings straight from the heart!" She sent the shards at her helpless captives, stabbing them each fatally through the heart. Blood splattered everywhere as the starlets slumped to the ground.
Isabella was frozen in horror. Beatrice was a monster. This was who she'd wished she could be more like, who she revered practically her whole life? The darling of the Foxworthy family, the woman who met her tragic end, and they all mourned? But then she felt a sickening feeling she recognized. "No," she whispered.
Just then Jack bolted out of the closet he was hiding in. "What have you done, Beatrice? We need to get you out of here."
Isabella immediately slid away from the door and pulled Seth to the end of the corridor. Seconds later Jack dashed out of the room with Beatrice. Both running in the opposite direction. "That was too close."
"We should follow them."
"Yeah...." Isabella said, mind whirling at what she'd just seen.
"Wait. Is your necklace glowing?" Seth said, curling a hand around her shoulder.
Isabella looked down and saw he was right. Upon touching it, a cool sensation enveloped her body and suddenly she was no longer in the hotel but instead in a dark space with swirling shapes. Before her, an oval-like fog appeared and from it, emerged an image of Cleo.
"Izzy! Izzy, can you hear me? I can see you. Can you see me?"
"What is going on? Where am I?"
"The time witch created a communication slide for me to talk to you," Cleo explained. "Is Seth still with you?"
"He's not in this black hole if that's what you're asking."
"Don't worry about that. The time witch said you'd still be in the place you left when you touched the necklace during communication. No one will notice."
"We were spying on my Aunt Beatrice. You will not believe what we're seeing. She—"
Cleo cut Isabella off, "I thought you were there to find out who killed Serena. What does your Aunt Beatrice have to do with any of that? Have you even seen Serena?"
"No. But whatever is going on with my aunt was what she was investigating, and so I'm sure this will give us a clue— Wait. Why are you contacting me now? Did something go wrong at home?"
"Well, it's not life or death...yet anyway."
"What does that mean?"
"It means the Shadow Watch arrested Colin."
"What?! Why?" No. No. This could not be happening. Not yet. They'd just gotten there.
"They found evidence linking him to Serena's murder. The Council had no choice but to give him over. He was also breaking laws by shuttling not only Neeta and Max over but the Landry's who've been forbidden to leave the Underground. They would have let all that go, but they are saying that he killed Serena. There was no getting out of that. They took him to Empath Hall, to the Stockade."
"The Stockade?"
"Yeah, remember. It's the jail they have beneath Empath Hall. If he's convicted, he's sent off to Diablo Island."
"They can't do that!" Isabella cried. "We're coming back."
"No! You have to find something to get him off. I know he didn't do it," Cleo cried, tears leaking down her cheeks. Isabella knew that Cleo cared for her brother, but she never realized how much until now. He was their mentor and, of course, he'd saved her life once.
"I want him free as much as you, Cleo. I promise we'll figure it out."
"Okay. He goes on trial in seventy-two hours."
"What? So fast?"
"The Empath Society's not like Skyside. Their system's efficient...like freaky efficient."
"The time witch said we'd return to the same time...I think."
Cleo shook her head. "It's not precise. It's better for you to return based on the amount of time you've been gone. It will make the transition smoother, and you can pinpoint your return of location anywhere you want."
"She didn't tell me that."
"I know. I ask better questions than you," said Cleo.
Isabella couldn't really argue with her there. "All right. I better go. Thanks for telling me, Cleo."
"See you soon, Izzy."
As soon as Cleo's image faded, Isabella was back beside a panicked Seth shaking her. "Stop it. I'm fine!"
"Thank God," Seth sighed.
"I got a distress call from Cleo. Colin's in trouble. As soon as we find out what happened to Beatrice then we can focus on finding a way home. She said that we can request where we'd like to land if we opt to return based on time spent rather than trying to get back to exactly when we left," Isabella said.
"How do we do that?"
"Ask the time witch, I guess."
She used her empath powers to track Beatrice's emotions. The woman had started to feel sadness over killing the starlets. Or maybe that monster was just sad that Leonard was not the one inside that closet. "Let's catch up with them. I think I got a lock on Beatrice. Let's go.
***
They caught up with the adult pair in the highest room in the hotel, a part of the closed off wing – Beatrice's quarters, exactly where Serena had been killed. Since Beatrice and Jack are arguing, they are able to sneak into the room unnoticed and hide behind a stack of boxes.
"Saved me? I don't need saving!" Beatrice raged, "Leonard should be here helping me, not you. But he let the war get to his head," she intoned.
"Immanuel was his best friend," said Jack in a voice warm empathetic voice that surprised Isabella.
"And he died right in front of him. I know, but instead of turning to me, he's going after harlots and booze. Why can't he just love and support me?"
"Are you really complaining about my worthless brother?" Jack seethed. "He and my father cheated me out of my career. After I was injured and others turned away, do you know what my father uncle the great Oswald did? Instead of helping me, I was forced to stick only to music and watch Leonard's star rise as some Hollywood bad boy. He's a kitten at best!"
"Oh, shut up and get over it," Beatrice snapped, "you were always wallpaper, Jack. People like Leonard and me reach for the stars while less-than-nothing's like you..." her words were cut off as she started to choke.
Jack's eyes blackened as he glared at her hard. The more he glared the harder Beatrice choked.
Isabella and Seth stood, frozen. Unless Jack already knew he could do this, his powers were manifesting in dangerous ways right before their very eyes.
After a few seconds, Beatrice slumped to the ground, gasping for breath, free of the invisible choke hold.
"Oh no," Jack realized what he had done. "I didn't mean to, Beatrice. I had no idea I could do that."
"Stay away from me," Beatrice coughed then pushed open the two glass doors that led to her balcony – the same balcony they'd found Serena's body. "If you ever loved me, stay away," Beatrice went on.
"What are you doing? Come back inside, Bea. You'll catch your death out there!" Jack shouted climbing out after her.
Isabella and Seth dashed to a window where they could see the pair on the balcony but neither dared to go out there. Their voices were clear though the wind whipped Beatrice's hair out of its pin curls and left it slapping across her face. Her back against the railing as Jack leaned over her. "I never loved you, Jack."
"You do love me, Bea. You've just forgotten. When we were younger, everything was better. Then he ruined us. It's his fault you killed those women. It's his fault you've become so angry inside, that you've let darkness overcome you, but I can help you stop it. I can help make it better." He dropped his hands on her shoulders, and for a moment, Beatrice seemed to melt. Her expression warm in the harsh wind. "Beatrice. I love you so much."
The moments the words were out of his mouth the Hollywood darling's face hardened. She pushed at Jack's chest, and twisted her body to try to get free. But Jack did not move. His fingers seemed to bare her down. "Jack, let me go!"
He dropped his hands, panting as if sudden exertion had struck him. "You're right. I'm nothing."
"Jack....I always believed you could do anything," Beatrice said taking another step back. Jack reached for her, but she stepped away from him abruptly and lost her footing. A scream tore from her lungs as she toppled over the side.
"Beatrice!" He roared like a beast sliced open from its bowels to its heart. Isabella and Seth looked on in horror. So, it was Jack who lead Beatrice to her death. They watched his back heave as Jack stared down at the sight below him. A fiendish sense of the man's hot despair rippled through Isabella. She'd never felt anything like it, not even the night her parents' had died and she thought she'd wanted to die, too.
"I have to get out of here," she declared, bolting from the room and down the hallway with Seth behind her. They rushed down to the lobby floor and through the front entrance. They curved around to the darkened service road where Isabella knew Beatrice's room sat several stories above. Seeing Beatrice's broken body twisted over the asphalt made Isabella want to wretch. Her great-aunt's face looked so much like hers but pale and lifeless, as blood pooled from the base of her skull. Isabella felt Seth drag her over to a dark corner to hide. "Serena!" Isabella all but cried out upon finally seeing the familiar figure of the woman who'd died in her hotel in their time. She stood at the corner of the service road, eyes wild at the scene she was taking in. As Jack stormed around the bend and rushed over to Beatrice's corpse, a man in a dark cloak emerged from the shadows.
"Jack?"
"You're here." He said, approaching the body, trembling. "Long John, what have I done."
"I'll help you with her," Long John said, moving to reach for the body. Jack pushed the large man away.
"No, I want to... I have to..."
Jack froze, staring at Beatrice. Long John bent down to scoop her up. "I'm so sorry, Jack. Where do you want me to take her? To the Black Underground?" Long John and Jack both turned toward the sound of obvious movement made by Serena. "So to the Black Underground?" he asked again.
"No... Yes, I.... Take her," Jack whispered, looking at this man he called Long John. Then the man, who seemed to be of his own free-will a moment ago, stiffened, expression vacant.
"You'll help me all right," Jack said. "You'll help me and my beloved. My Beatrice."
Isabella felt an essence of something hideous surge up inside of her – a power that ran both hot and cold and soon realized Jack was hypnotizing the cloaked man. Right then the cloak fell back and she recognized the face underneath. The man walked away, but as he did so, she saw Serena emerging from the shadows with another figure a few paces behind her. Jack raged in fear when he saw Serena. Then the man in the shadows emerged. "Jack," he said.
Before they could see any more, Isabella felt a strange tug, and she and Seth fell on their butts in a new place. Theophilus's shop. How had that happened? Just then a small silver liquid like circle emerged from Isabella's necklace. It darted through the shop. "Catch it!" Isabella cried out, chasing it as it zig-zagged through the aisles until it came to a shelf holding various types of mirrors. The liquid-like orb melted into a hand-held mirror. Isabella picked it up with Seth at her side. Inside, they saw Jack snapping Serena's neck, then handing her over to an older version of the man they'd seen in the cloak. The image faded when another person approached them from behind.
"What happened?"
Isabella whipped around. "Cleo!" Her blonde friend stood there, eyes wild, darting between Seth and Isabella. Behind her Xander and Micah appeared.
"What was that?" Xander wondered.
"Are you guys okay?" Micah asked his brother.
Seth just shrugged. "We're fine, but how did we get here?"
"Sorry. That was me," said Cleo. "We couldn't wait for you guys any more. Sorry to pull you out like that. We're worried they might move things up even faster for Colin's trial. Did you find anything?"
Isabella and Seth shared a look, then looked at the mirror in Isabella's hand. "If this thing does what I think it's supposed to do, yes. We found something huge."