It must have been past five in the afternoon when Lia opened her eyes and tried to wake up without much result. She was tired, exhausted from so much crying, but somehow that deep, silent exhaustion had brought her some peace.

She staggered to her feet and approached the bathroom mirror. She brushed her fingers over the purplish marks on her throat and let out a moan, remembering the night before, the gut-wrenching feeling that had gripped her as she choked, the look of terror in Ian's eyes.

"Ian...! How could I have made him do this to me?"

She had to talk to him, she had to explain that fit of madness, she had to... she wanted to tell him how she felt, no longer for Grace's loss, but for him. For him who had spent so long trying to keep her ghosts away, until he had finally succeeded.

She hurried down the stairs, looking for him, but the sound of an arriving car stopped her. She discreetly peeked out the window overlooking the porch and saw Katherine em