Chapter 223 - Back From The Dead? - Part 3

Belle had lunch with her parents before they went to their room to have some rest. With them gone, she finally asked Lucas, 

"Do you know what is going on here?" she asked him, "Are they really my parents or…"

"They are your parents," answered Lucas to Belle's query. Lucas had not moved and left Belle alone with her parents for not too long time as at first, he wasn't sure if it was really her parents but their memories were intact except for the part where they died. 

"What are we going to do now? They want to meet my aunt and uncle. They will probably die out of shock and call the council to check what is going on, and if I buried my parents alive," Belle stated, worry laced over her voice. 

"It will be one of the natural deaths if Irene and her husband died," answered Lucas, his voice continuing to lack any emotion and he received a look from Belle, "Don't tell me you want them to live after what they put you through. The shame and pain, embarrassing you in front of your own guests and then setting you up with a filthy man who wasn't worth standing near you."

Belle closed her eyes, and said, "It's not that I mind…" and she opened her eyes to find Lucas looking at her with a smile. She knew death was not something to play with and to wish upon someone who was your family which was wrong, but when the same people wronged her, Belle didn't see why she should hold back over it, "But not this way. How do we know how they came here to be?"

"We dig their graves," came the abrupt solution that had Belle frown, "That's one way to know what's going on because graves tell a lot of more stories than the people themselves," his words were quiet for only Belle to hear. 

He then said, "There are many possible theories of why they came here if they really are your parents. Might be because of the black witches who had been trying to break through the walls of the land of the dead in an effort to reach out for the locked black magic. The second one being, there must be a crack from the land of the dead." 

"If there's a crack...wouldn't that mean there are more than two souls who have seeped out of the realm of the dead to this land of the living?"

"It is possible," he answered and this had Belle take a step back to lean against the wall, "But there's another possibility. Like time being played."

"How is that done?" asked Belle. 

"The timekeeper's watch has been stolen and whoever has taken it is changing time. With every change comes a price and this might just be it. The other people still don't know about it, like the Hawverts else there would be a bunch of howls from the hellhound." At the mention of hellhounds, Belle remembered the pain she felt when the creature had bit into her leg to drag her to the gates or chew on her, "So far nothing like that has happened. We'll need to send them back."

Belle was torn between sending her parents back to the land of the dead while wanting to keep them here, but keeping them here would bring nothing good. 

"So what now?" there was no way they could continue living as if nothing was happening here. 

"Lucas!" Barron's voice came, huffing, "I sent the other two maids into the kitchen but the third one, she's not in the mansion. Mary. She's missing."

"We need to dig your parents grave and see if they are still there and if there is any change in their body," announced Lucas. 

"Okay," Belle nodded her head, "We need someone to watch over the house while someone goes to dig," she said looking at both Lucas as well as Barron. It would have been easier if Barron was more on the responsible side of being a Grim reaper but leaving him alone was equal to knowing that the house could be burned down in his presence.

"I will go dig the graves in the cemetery," Lucas decided before telling, "You and Barron can stay here in the mansion and look after your parents. If they ask you about me, you tell them I went to the market to get house supplies. Alright?" 

"Alright," Belle responded back to him. 

"Good luck with them and do not let your parents step outside the mansion." He grabbed his coat quickly and left the mansion to be looked after by Belle and Barron.

"How did they seem? Your parents," asked Barron who decided to sit in the hallways near the stairs to know when Belle's parents would come to walk down so that they could stop them.

"Normal I guess. Just like they used to be but a little more...pushy," she replied back, her eyebrows drawing together in concentration before they smoothened out. It was something she noticed with the way her parents wanted to get their way over her matters. 

"So they do seem different. How do you feel?" Interviewed Barron.

Belle had conflicting emotions with her parents being here right now in the mansion, "Is it strange that I am not happy to see them, that I want to send them back because it's not right," more than surprise she was shocked. 

"We'll figure this one out. We only need to make sure your parents don't step out of the mansion and also the maids," responded back Barron. The maids would definitely wonder what was going on, especially the way they were asked to not step out of the kitchen and were asked to go back to their rooms until they would be called. 

"Yeah," Belle replied back, "How are the Grims?" she inquired knowing how Barron loved checking up on them every once in a while. 

"Quiet."

"Good," she sighed.