Tears in the Veil

Matthew watched as Rowan gathered herself and faced down the apparition. She seemed to glow as she stared at it and shouted it down and twin beams of pure white light pierced the face and tore it apart. He smiled at her but he was not sure she had completely rid the house of the spirit. He knew it was mainly concentrated in the basement and this could just be a foray by the spirit into her mind and dreams to see if he was able to scare her enough.

Now that he knew she was strong enough to take care of herself, he flew over and hugged her. "You did great Rowan. Just remember this feeling. If you remember how this feels you can do just as well next time and the time after that. No matter what happens, just remember you can do whatever you want as long as you believe."

Rowan smiled back at Matthew. Then, something occurred to her, "Sarah...her mother's family had a dairy farm. Maybe the cows in that field came from her. But, she never talks about her parents on purpose...I wonder where she is right now." said Rowan, remaining floating in an embrace with Matthew as they floated through space.

Matthew thought Rowan had learned a lot tonight so maybe he could show her a few tricks now. "Alright we should be able to find her if she is here. Remember what I said about anything is possible. Well I did mean it. It may be hard for you at first but you will get the hang of it." He summoned a magic carpet and they sunk onto it and sat down and then he pulled a little box from his pocket. "I could do this in a lot of ways, but this way we can still talk," he told her as he attached the box to the carpet and turned it on. A very faint red dot appeared and the carpet zoomed off towards it but they had no trouble staying on.

"Okay that red dot is Sarah and this carpet will take us straight to her. As I said I could do this a lot of ways. Green Lanterns power ring, Jet fighter and it's radar, riding on a guided missile just to name a few, it's all the same as long as you believe it will happen. Tonight was a good start, you forced that thing out of your dream, but I think he is still in your house. Something that dark and evil is not going to give up that easily I am afraid, but from now on we will be fighting together. Tonight you had to learn you were strong enough to defeat it and how to and you had to do it on your own. Now that you have I will be there to help you every step of the way I promise you, and even though he felt evil I have been up against worse."

Matthew was not lying but he didn't want to worry Rowan. This was a bad one and he knew eventually they would have to confront it in it's own lair where it would be at it's strongest. He hoped to train her up before then and to work up a plan before then. He had an idea but he needed to find out if it had a chance before he ventured down.

Sarah was found with the other ghost children. They'd built a fort with branches and sticks and were waving to the flying Rowan and Matthew from the various "windows".

"Do you like our pirate ship?" Sarah called to them, suddenly turning the forest below into a shimmering expanse of moonlit sea. The messy fort had indeed become the pirate ship of her imagining and Rowan and Matthew, still hand in hand, hovered above the deck.

Matthew smiled down at Sarah and looked at her ship. "It is beautiful Sarah but I think you need a little something that you and your friends forgot about." With that he changed himself to look like a Disney Pirate Captain. "Ha Ha you scurvy knaves. Batten down the hatches, Brace the mizzen mast, hoist the main sails and prepare to set sail me hearties. We have treasure to find and adventures to be have'n," he called out in his best pirate accent.

He winked at Rowan and swooped down onto the deck of the ship and walked up to Sarah and the other children. "So my little scalleywags. You are to be me new crew 'R ye. Well then it is time ye all looked the part." Matthew hoped this worked. He imagined heavily and suddenly Sarah and the kids were garbed in small old style Disney pirate gear with small wooden swords. 'Ahh much better. Now you are a true pirate crew." Turning to Rowan he glanced at her and ran his eyes up and down her body. "Now if only we had a first mate worthy of us," he hinted at her.

Rowan looked down at her Wonder Woman gear and laughed. "Yes, it appears I'm out of place. But, what should I wear?" She asked.

Sarah and the boys got to work looking for various ways to dress Rowan up, sometimes the results were hilarious if Matthew's laughter was any indication. Finally, she'd had enough of playing dress up and asked Matthew, "Would you please help?"

Matthew was having a good chuckle at some of the kids ideas but at Rowans request he finally relented and imagined her a nice outfit. Rowan looked great in it and it matched His. He reached up and pulled her down from the carpet and into his arms. As the carpet disappeared he cuddled her he chuckled. "Well hello you hearty wench, care to sail the seven seas with me crew and me?"

The easy manner Matthew had adopted with Rowan was very welcome to her. They snuggled and she couldn't deny the fact that being close to him felt better than good, it felt right. She sighed, leaning into his body as they held each other and he had fun commanding the "crew ". They played pirates with the children for quite a long time before finally the ship sailed into a cove and the sight of green grass in the hillside above reminded Rowan of the cow field and she looked at Matthew, he knew what she was thinking. Rowan turned to Sarah and asked, "Sarah, did your family keep a lot of cows?"

Sarah had been about to swab the deck and paused briefly, raising her eye patch to absently scratch an itch in the corner of her eye. She replied, "Yes, I was very little when we lived in the house Nan and Pop gave to mommy. When Nan died I was in her tummy. My parents moved to the farm to have more space and to help Pop. But, then daddy went to war before I was even three and that same year Pop had his stroke and went into an old folk's home...Mommy worked very hard there, all by herself. Daddy only got leave two times. War made him so...different...One of those times he left without even knowing he'd put another baby in her...I moved to your house when I was four. I don't remember much about that farm. I just remember the cows and...yeah...cows..."

Matthew realized that if the cow meadow had been there then Sarah must have been thinking of her family then. Perhaps it had been a happy time with her mother working on the farm with her father visiting or perhaps not, but she had been thinking about it.He had an idea why but it could be totally wrong and he would keep it too himself for now. Now it was time to cheer he up and the boys.

He looked out to sea and imagined a small navy boat flying the English flag. "Hop to it me hearties. I smell a treasure ship. We go a hunt'n tonight." Of course no one would get hurt. It would all be like cartoon violence. You got hit but survived anything, including a cannonball hit.

They played pirates with the children for a while longer until Maurice and his brother, Charlie, started fighting over control of the cannon and kept using it to blow each other to bits far too many times for anyone's enjoyment. The fighting turned into an all out smack down wrestle which the two adults had to break apart by pulling the boys off of each other.

Sarah took the youngest, Peter, and they were playing "I Spy" on the island while they waited for the drama to simmer down, occasionally complaining loud enough for the rest to hear about how bored they were.

"Let's go home!" moaned Sarah as Matthew escorted Maurice off the ship toward them, Rowan following with a tearful and sullen Charlie in her arms.

"What do you mean when you say "home", though?" wondered Rowan aloud. "What is really home to you?" She asked Sarah.

Sarah put her hand over her eyes to shield them from the glare of sunrise on the horizon, pointing with her other hand in the direction of Rowan's house rising from the water to settle on a spongey field of suddenly appeared grass with cows grazing lazily upon it.

Rowan found this change fascinating and cmumicated that to Matthew using her eyes. She said, "That house, I know. But, those aren't my cows..."

Sarah shrugged and skipped along the path toward it. "It's all still home to me." she said.

Peter took Matthew's other hand, his hazel eyes huge as he regarded Sarah's construction. "At least she can remember stuff." he complained. "We don't remember anything much."

(Occ Your little sister says Hello)

Matthew picked Peter up and threw him into the air and caught him as he fell giggling into his arms. "Well then me young Bucko, you are a lucky one indeed. You get to make up a your own memories and who get's to say they are wrong. Why don't you and your brothers get together and decide just who and what you want to be. I mean look at you," he said stripping away the pirate costume and revealing his real clothes as well as Maurice and Charlies. "Maybe you were sailors, or cabin boys,or perhaps you all lived here with your parents and played in those woods all the time. That's why you love playing in them so much now. See make up your own and then stick to them. Who is going to tell you you are wrong."

He walked after Rowan and Sarah with a happier Peter and he saw that even Maurice and Charlie now had smiles on their faces.

They walked through the field of cows, stopping to pet those who watched them passively and didn't hurry away from the humans. Nearing the front porch of the representational dream version of the house screams could be heard coming from within.

Only Sarah trudged forward. The rest of the group hung back. Peter cried out, "Owe! My leg! Sarah, don't make us go in there! Bear trap man is in there!"

Charlie gasped as he looked down at his brother's leg, caught to the bone in an old spring loaded bear trap. Tears filled his eyes. "One step further and we'll have our heads covered with sacks, be tied up and dragged to the bad place! Maurice, don't move!"

Sarah turned to regard her friends, "Don't let him do it! You can fight him. It's not real anymore! Fight him off! We have to go in there. He's got your babysitter!"

Maurice grabbed Peter by the shoulders, tears rolling down his cheeks as the memories rushed back and he tried to reason with his little brother. "Peter, there is no trap. Not anymore. You can wish it away, Peter, be strong! Wish it away!"

Charlie trembled, "Not again..." he mumbled, "...Maurice, the things he did to us...I can't do that again! Peter, make the wish!"

Peter was too scared and the pain of the bear trap felt too real. "I can't! " he cried.

Sarah felt it before she even saw the psychopath from the basement. "He's coming!" She howled just before two bulky, muscular arms lifted her in the air from behind and threw her like a rag doll.

ooc: She knows where and how to find me to say hi herself. But, thanks for being middle man.

Matthew knew that he could rush in and probably save Sarah but that psychopath would just keep coming back time and time again if he didn't fix the actual problem. "Rowan I need you to help Sarah. Remember what you have been learning, believe it and it is real here. Now go save Sarah and I will hopefully deal with things out here."

He then looked at Peter and grabbed the boy by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Peter I am going to teach you and your brothers a secret and I want you all to listen very carefully ok. Anything you wish for and believe in can happen here. That is why your leg is in that trap. You are actually doing it. You think it is supposed to be there because it was when you were in this house and you believe it so much. Well now I want you to believe something else. I want you to believe with all your might that your leg has nothing on it, and that you are wearing bright green pants."

Peter looked at him and his eyes went wide as he was shocked and Matthew saw the bear trap start to fade away as he was distracted. That was why he had said that bit about the pants. He grinned and him. "You heard me Peter. Didn't you know bright green pants can't be penetrated by bear traps or any other blades? Well now you do. Now think really hard."

Peter screwed up his little face and soon the trap started to fade from existence. Suddenly he was dressed in a pair of bright green pants and the trap was nowhere to be seen. "I did it,I did it," he squeeled in delight. "No more traps for me right?"

"That's right, the bad man can't hurt you now. As for you Maurice and Charlie," he said turning to them, " You have seen what your brother can do and you can do it too. Just keep telling yourselves you are stronger than that man and you will be. If he comes near you just hit him and as long as you are thinking that you won't be hurt."

Both boys looked worried at first then looked at their brothers pants and his big smile and then smiled themselves. "You got it Captain."

Matthew smiled then saluted all three boys. "Well me bucko's it looks like we have fair maidens to rescue and adventures to be had." He made three little swords appear in their hands and a large one in his. "Forward me hearties and let's go defeat the scoundrel and rescue the girls."

Screaming war cries they dashed into the house.

Rowan willed herself inside the house and strode directly to the basement where she heard the madman laughing and sniffles from Sarah. Rowan turned a corner and saw the man about to chain Sarah to the wall like the chains from her earlier dream..."Sarah, those aren't chains, they're spaghetti noodles!" she called out.

The masked man roared and turned to face Rowan just as Sarah turned the chains into noodles and broke through them with her little wrists.

Rowan focused all her anger and protectiveness into a deafening roar which shook the very walls and a fire flew from her like dragon's breath, melting the face from their foe's skull and he screamed in agony, falling to his knees just as Matthew and the boys burst in and Sarah ran to them.

Matthew pulled Sarah behind him as the boys formed a protective wall in front of them. They looked at the man who had been tormenting them for so long and watched as he looked up at them all. His face was now half melted from his skull and he whimpered at them as he kneeled before Rowan. Still he was not yet cowed and he yelled at her. "You stupid bitch! Look at what you have done to my face. It is going to take me all day to put this back together. I am going to kill you so slowly now you are going to be praying for death before I am done with you."

He started to try to stand up but Peter suddenly yelled and charged forward and kicked him in the head. The man's head flew backward and he sailed threw the air right into the wall. Peter stood there and glared at him. "Never threaten my friends again. I am so sick of you threatening us. Now how do you like it you creep." He turned to his brothers and smiled. "Hey Maurice, Charlie, why were we ever scared of this guy? C'mon lets beat him up once and for all."

The kids all smiled and rushed forward and started to pile into him. Because of what Matthew had told them and who they were they all believed strongly that they could beat him and as they kicked his butt that belief only became stronger. Finally they backed off and only a broken and bloody body was left.

Rowan smiled radiantly in amazement and looked to Matthew, "If we believe he's not just dead but vanquished forever perhaps he won't ever come back." She explained waving her hands over the remains and sparkling Stardust fell from her fingers and scattered to coat the unmoving embodiment of evil in a fine layer, sparkling, growing in their light. They melted through what was left, devouring it in shimmering light until nothing remained but a smattering of glitter on the cellar floor.

A loud whispering murmur could be heard from all the spaces in the cellar unseen or untouched for years, beams of light which vibrated with varying women and children's voices, at first whispering cautiously, then, raised in a song of freedom, stretched up, up, up to the cellar windows which blew open to let the sunshine in and the victims finally went free.

Rowan gasped as she looked down to see all three boys glowing, bathed in the same light. They had joined hands with each other and stood in a circle of pure joy. Pausing in their song, they waved goodbye to Matthew, Rowan and Sarah who smiled and waved back through tears. No light had come to take her home yet and she'd miss her playmates but she'd never begrudge them their freedom. "Goodbye, friends!" Sarah called out as they began to coalesce into one pillar of pure, white light.

As they departed faintly the voice of Maurice could be heard calling down to them, "Goodbye! Thank you!" The cellar was suffused with light and love for another full minute and then, suddenly, the place felt empty, neutral, and had gone back to a regular, dank, dark, old cellar again. Slowly, the trio walked up the stairs to the dream version of the house. They'd won a battle. The bad ghost in the basement was gone and his victims had moved on to their afterlives.

Sarah sighed and Rowan hugged her. "This is a good thing for them." She assured the child ghost.

Sarah nodded, "I know...I'm gonna miss them, though." she explained.

Rowan nodded her understanding and hugged Sarah tighter, "Me too." she replied.

Matthew watched as the basement was cleansed of all the dark energy as the boys and then rowan finally killed off the spirit of the serial killer and all of his victims were finally freed. He had never seen such a mass of spirits go to their afterlife at one time. It was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen.

He had seen Sarah look longingly up into the light and had felt sad for her. he had to find out what was holding her here, but for now he would just be her friend. He followed the two girls up into the house and watched as they hugged. He waited until they separated before attacking Sarah from behind. Grabbing her around the waist he tickled her then threw her up into the air before catching her in his arms. "What's with the sad face. You still have me and Rowan here to keep you company and we will always play with you, especially me. you should know by now I am just a big kid. Now come on and smile or I am just going to keep on tickling you."

With that he continued to tickle her belly and sides then with a devilish look began to make his way towards her armpits.

Sarah squealed with peels of laughter through all the tickling until near breathless when attire finally relented. Once the companionable moment of happy silence passed between the three of them Sarah was the first to speak."David should be next. We've got to get him to understand he's no longer of the physical world anymore, his keeper is long gone and he could move on if he wants to...or at least get him to leave the attic and enjoy himself a little bit."

Matthew smiled at her. "You are a good woman Sarah, and no I did not mispronounce that. You are always thinking of others instead of yourself. I will make you a deal then. I will help you with David as best I can but you are going to have to let me help you too."

His grin grew as he saw her eyes widen and he again picked her up but this time cuddled her close. "You do know you can be who ever you want to in here don't you? One day you are going to have to show me how you think you might have looked if you had grown up," he whispered in her ear. "I think Rowan would like that too."

He then walked over to Rowan and cuddled her tight as well. "Well my fabulous super hero. Defeating a mass murderer your first night out. Not a bad way to start your career as a ghost buster," he chuckled.

Sarah blushed and shrugged in silent response.

Rowan was pleased when Matthew hugged her and complimented her talent at "ghost busting". She felt comfortable enough in his arms to sneak a kiss on the lips in as well and replied, "Do you really think I could learn to do what you do?" she asked, thinking it sounded much more interesting than flipping burgers.

"Sure you seem like a natural," Matthew replied after he got over his shock. He had not expected Rowan to kiss him but it had been very pleasant and truth to tell he wouldn't mind doing it again and not only in the dream world.

"Have to warn you though it can be a lonely sort of life and people really do ridicule you a lot when you tell them you hunt for ghosts for a living," he smiled. "You are one up on most of the people in this industry though. Like me you can actually see ghosts so it would be a good career move."

He got serious though and looked at her. "Would you really leave Sarah and the others behind if they couldn't move on though," he asked.

Rowan's expression of elation and triumph faltered and became her usual, forlorn one of sadness. She shook her head, "They rely on me. They've become like family. I could never abandon them. And, I know from earlier exporters with Sarah that she can't follow me far from this property... I guess I can't good anywhere..." she said. The realization making her blue eyes shine with welled up tears of desperation. "I...wish I could have a different life and still keep this house and help my friends move on. But, I don't know..."

Matthew crumbled inside as he looked at Rowan and he pulled her too him and cuddled her tight before kissing her tenderly on the lips, forgetting for a moment just who she was and their situation. Breaking away he kept her in his arms and looked down into her eyes. " Look Rowan I won't lie to you. This has become more than just another job for me but it is a job. I will eventually have to leave, but there is a slim chance and I mean don't get your hopes up at all that things can have a total Disney ending."

He looked around and spotted Sarah carefully keeping her distance although she was smiling at the two of them. "I doubt Sarah is going to tell us how to help her until everyone else has been taken care of," he whispered in her ear while kissing and licking it for Sarahs benefit. "We are going to have to help everyone else first before her," he continued as he moved to her neck kissing and nibbling his way to her other ear. "I can also teach you to use your gift and the equipment at the same time, what do you say," he asked as he nibbled on her ear.