Gary Sanderlin was growing angrier by the moment. Tyler was not cooperating as planned. Stu Westburn had defected in the height of media attention and was coolly displaced, spending all of his time with the battle reenactors on the second location. Gary looked over his shoulder and saw Tolsen on his mark, as was his leading actress. Waving in the distance, with cameras poised were a dozen local, national, and international media markets waiting for the next suspenseful mishap on location with Will-O’-The- Wisp. Already, his production coffers were filling. Post-production was paid for well in advance now. Logitech was also benefiting from the jasper chip production line with many orders coming in from all around the world. F/X companies were fighting for placement orders. All in all, it had been worth it, he thought to himself smiling. A fleeting memory of Hunter Eventyn, the fourth, approaching him at the benefit dinner in New York, passed. The old man had gone over and beyond his wildest dreams! Dying during production was the icing on the cake! There had never been so much publicity about a film before it had even finished production. Ticket sales were going to be astronomical!

But Tolsen looked edgy, nervous and rather unreliable at the moment, Sanderlin surmised. He looked over, spying the policeman that Rollie Tyler had brought onto the set, engaged to Lucinda Scott. It was a surprise element, but he could deal with it. His assistant, Rob Nesbitt was already on it.

"Captain Vanduran, is it?" a man asked, coming over to Vanduran’s side, clipboard in hand.

"Yeah?" Marvin replied, taking his eyes away from Lucinda for a moment.

"Just got word from our director, Mr. Sanderlin on the direct request from Miss Scott…seems I’m to take you to wardrobe and get you dressed."

Marvin looked at the small, rather pinched face man and glanced back at Lucinda who waved enthusiastically.

"What? Dressed for what?" Marvin asked, scowling.

"For the shot…sir, you’re going to be in the picture in this scene…."

"I’m what?"

"Miss Scott’s request, sir…"

"Lucinda!" Marvin growled her name under his breath, clutching his paperwork. Why in the world did she choose now for something so foolish!

"Nice try, but NO!" Vanduran told the assistant, waving him off.

"Sir, I was told to not take ‘no’ for an answer and that if you wanted to uh, get serious with your proposal, then, you’re to dress now for this scene."

Marvin looked at the little rat-faced man, swallowing hard and back to Lucinda who was making motions with her hands at him. She was pretending to put a ring on her left ring finger.

He groaned and looked back toward the parking area, seeing no F/X van in sight. Tyler would just screw this up and be late. Now, he was caught in the whim of Lucinda and some plan of hers, probably involving him being embarrassed to no end.

"What do I do?" he asked then, giving in.

"Do?"

"I mean, am I what? A dead body or something on the field? Is that what she’s up to?"

Rob Nesbitt shook his head, seriously; "no sir…uh- just come with me. Your costume is waiting."

Vanduran gave Lucinda one last look, his eyes narrowing as she chuckled in the distance and began to talk with her leading man on the ground nearby. Tolsen, as the monster thing, in heavy costume, was pacing, still waiting for his headpiece.

"This can only get worse," Marvin said, under his breath as he followed the assistant to wardrobe.

Rollie looked back in the rear view mirror as he saw Angie busily adjusting some last minute detail work on the headpiece. She was bracing herself as he drove. Aidan was strapped in securely in his car seat, entertained by his own steering wheel fixture, in his own make-believe world at the moment.

"Too bloody bad we can’t put a little current zapper inside that thing, Ange!" Rollie commented, pushing down the gas a bit more, realizing they were likely to be docked for no show on the set.

"Umm, not a bad idea…" Angie replied, clearing her throat from her workstation. She raised her eyebrows slightly, a smile forming on her lips.

Marvin Vanduran looked at himself in the full-length mirror in wardrobe and was amazed. He had been fitted in a Massachusetts Fifth Regiment Colonel’s uniform. His long jacket, double breasted with braided epaulets and brocade sleeve insignia was outstanding. He touched the brass handle of his saber at his side, pulling the blade from the sheath and smiled. It was the real McCoy! The make-up girl asked him to sit in her chair then and he suddenly forgot about the news he had for Rollie and was absorbed in the process of having mutton-chop hairpieces applied to the sides of his face, extending his sideburns with an excellent match in color. She then went about applying a thick, bushy moustache. Once through, she smiled and gave him a thumbs up. He didn’t recognize the man in the mirror.

"Unbelievable!" he exclaimed, opening his mouth in surprise.

"Your hat, Colonel…" the wardrobe mistress added and plopped the Colonel’s distinctive hardee felt hat with gold cord and insignia attached. A gray and white ostrich plume completed the full effect.

Vanduran touched it slightly, glancing once more in the mirror before he walked out of the wardrobe R/V to the waiting Rob Nesbitt. He exhaled deeply, wondering who would laugh first once they saw him.

"Okay, I’m game…lead on…" he told the assistant.

The wardrobe mistress was cleaning up when she found a manila envelope lying on her table. It was marked for Rollie Tyler. Shaking her head, she put it outside the R/V in her mail bin. The stupid set postal service was always screwing up distribution.

Rollie parked to the sound of clapping outside the location markers. It was the little rodent assistant of Gary’s, Rob Nesbitt. As he descended the steps of the van, he could see quite a few faces now that weren’t exactly grinning to see him.

"Trouble with your phone, Tyler?" Nesbitt said in almost a whine.

"As a matter of fact…" Rollie began but was interrupted by the thunderous voice of Gary Sanderlin as he approached him. Rollie could almost see steam rising from the collar of his purple Ralph Lauren polo shirt.

"TYLER! Where the HELL have you been?" he shouted, his neck beginning to show a reddened demarcation line above the expensive collar.

"Okay…as I was saying, the phone is on the fritz…and we had a flat tire…bloody awful on that sidewinder of a road up here, Gary…" Rollie said, slowly and calmly. It was loud enough for Angie’s cue.

Gary could hear Angie grunt inside the van and presently, she appeared at the door, rolling a tire with a gaping 4-inch diameter hole in it. She was shaking the cell phone as well with her other hand, her face showing a mark of grime from the tire.

"Rol, we need the set mechanic to find us another tire for our spare for this van today. I’m not going to travel around with Aidan in here and no spare! And uh, yeah- the phone is completely gone. Battery is okay but there is a short in the circuitry. I just finished the diagnostic…" she said, and then looked surprised to see Gary standing beside Rollie with his arms crossed.

"Oh, hey Gary! Sorry about this trouble! I’ll have that head piece on set in a jiffy!" she greeted him, smiling coyly.

Gary Sanderlin shook his head, cursing under his breath; "just…just get on set, Tyler! We’ve been waiting for almost two hours!"

"Right-o, Gary…be right with you!" Rollie replied, nodding his head and smiling. He waited until both director and assistant let the lot parking area before turning around and looking up at Angie.

"You were wonderful, as usual, my darling…" he commented as she wiped the grease smear from her nose.

"This tire has save our butts quite a few times, hasn’t it?" she replied, patting it gently.

Rollie winked at her and she rolled the tire back to its stationary holding bin beside ambler’s desk and the workbench. She popped the phone back off and replaced the bad circuit board with the working one. "Man, I’m good" she thought, grinning as she returned her attention to the headpiece. She didn’t have but a few minutes left to finish her adjustment and run a diagnostic.

Rollie was setting up their workstation off camera as he grinned over at Lucinda groaning and pulling up the weighted material of her long dress.

"It’s about time, Rollie! I’ve heard of prima donnas in actors, but really!" she said, chastising him in true Scott fashion.

John Grant looked up from his lying position and waved; "Hi there Tyler, are you in for some ghost hunting tonight?"

"Umm, I should say so! I think we might have quite a show tonight, John. And as for you Ms. Scott, that’s the pot calling the kettle black, you think?" Rollie replied, eyeing her with that twinkle in his eye that she knew so well.

"Where IS Marvin? Rol, get this! I had make-up and costume grab him and dress him up as a Union Colonel. He’s going to get a walk-on!"

Lucinda was grinning from ear to ear, with impish glee as John rolled his eyes and laid back down.

"What, Vanduran is here? That reminds me, I need to talk to him…" Rollie told her, stepping back at his handiwork. He was hoping that Vanduran had come through…that the fingerprinting and other reports had come back.

The sound of disgruntled unrest made him turn toward the voice- Judd Tolsen’s, in fact. The actor complained of the heat of his suit, pacing back and forth to a dismayed make-up artist who would have to retouch him every couple of minutes. Rollie wanted to go over and beat the living daylights out of him now that he knew Judd had some part in all of this fiasco. But, he knew he needed Vanduran’s information before he reacted totally insane. "Patience….pace yourself, Tyler…" he told himself. So instead, he put his hands on his hips, looking back to the van and saw Angie descend with the headpiece. He could not see her face, just the huge headpiece and her legs as she wobbled toward the set.

He ran toward her but a good Samaritan had just rescued his wife before he could get there. A tall Union colonel in full uniform had taken the burden from her.

"Whoa! Is that you? Captain?" Rollie asked, stopping a few paces in front of them.

"That’s Colonel, to you, boy!" Marvin roared back in character, as Angie chuckled and Rollie grinned.

"Lucinda said she’d gotten you into this film! Wow, you are bloody marvelous looking! I’d followed you into battle anywhere, sir!" Rollie continued, saluting him suddenly.

"Cut the crap, Tyler! I feel like a fool! What I do for this woman!"

"Oh, believe me, Captain, there is SO much more to that whole pattern of thought!" Angie added, winking, "just wait until the honeymoon is over…"

"Oh yeah, then see what she has you doing….what, with the changes to your house and …."Rollie started to milk the idea but was interrupted by Angie.

"Uh, don’t scare him, Rol…he WANTS to get married."

"Tyler, I got back the reports you wanted, and …." Vanduran started to say, shrugging off the couple’s playful banter with him but suddenly felt inside his jacket, looking lost.

"Damn it! Where the hell is that envelope?" he said, angrily.

Rollie folded his arms across his chest; "no, don’t tell me…."

"Hey, I’ll find them, don’t worry!" Vanduran replied, pointing a finger at him in a frown, making his muttonchops pucker slightly.

"And Uncle Sam wants you too!" Rollie commented, a bit worried now; "but, just tell me this…was there an I.D. on the fingerprints in the room?"

"No….no I.D., but there was a lot of skinny on that director, Sanderson and well, just some nuisance restraint orders on that guy, Westburn. Seems he likes to protest nuclear sites…"

"Nothing on Mrs. Gallagher?" Angie piped in.

"Nada…and Tolsen doesn’t turn up either…." Vanduran added, shaking his head.

"Captain, you gotta get me that stuff on Sanderson….please find it!"

"Yeah, right…here!" he told Rollie and handed him the headpiece. He looked over at Angie and tipped his hardee hat at her; "ma’am…"

"Ha!" Angie responded, waving him off as he grinned and went to retrace his steps.

"Rollie? Just what ARE we going to do with this information? I mean, haven’t we learned our lesson with jumping in feet first and not letting the law, uh, you know- that man handle it?" Angie asked, pointed to the back of Vanduran as he walked slowly away, trying to retrace his steps.

Rollie’s brown eyes fell on Angie’s. There was ever so much of a flash of hurt in them, that her faith was not what it had been in him. She knew that he had detected that and felt guilty, her eyes breaking from his as she turned around, hearing Aidan call out from the van.

"GO, I have to take Aidan to Anita’s van…she said she watch him while we were running the headpiece…" Angie told him, her cheeks burning slightly. Her eyes met his again, he said nothing. He turned around with the headpiece and left. Angie cursed herself for ever having said that Vanduran should handle the investigation alone. Pulling up Aidan from his car seat, she carried him out of the van and started to head toward Anita Valtez’s co-production trailer. As she turned slightly to watch the top of the longish locks of her husband as he disappeared into a sea of crew people, she shook her head. "Nice going, Angie…" she said out loud and rounded the corner, admonishing herself.

"Missus Galger!" Aidan exclaimed, happily, his feet digging into Angie’s hips as she jerked in surprise and followed her son’s gaze. A flash of what actually appeared to Angie as Megan Gallagher’s tweed jacket and graying, black hair swept up in a french twist quickly disappeared around the corner of the catering truck. Angie picked up her pace, actually running with Aidan in her arms. She would talk with this woman if it meant running a mile to catch up to her!

She ran toward the parking lot, out of breath, Aidan like a sack of bricks in her arms now, her lungs burning. The woman had vanished, seemingly into thin air.

"Damn it!" she cursed, trying to catch her breath and released Aidan to the ground, holding him by the hand as she knelt, exhausted.

"Damn! Damn!" Aidan repeated, his facial expression mirroring hers and she shook her head, once again remembering how easy it was to forget how much he absorbed.

"Come on, sweetie….we’d better get back and tell Daddy about our little exercise in futility!" Angie told him, standing up and letting him walk with her as she made her way back to the set and Anita Valtez’s trailer.

Giving up Aidan to Anita, and not without a reminder that she must have a caretaker for him after this day, Angie thanked her graciously. She felt like a teenager, a bad one at that, as Anita was always ready with a reproach- this time about children on the set and ill-prepared crew people costing time and money.

"Yeah, yeah-" Angie muttered, under her breath as she waved back to Anita and headed toward the set. She knew that Rollie would have come back to the F/X van and retrieved Ambler for her by now and that he would be peeved in general for her disappearance.

A scurry of activity, the last mark sets and clapper going off signaled her silence as she moved stealthily up to where Rollie was standing at the podium, poised and waiting. Her hand slid in between his arms and he jumped slightly, but accommodated her then as she moved in front of him, feeling him behind her. She waited, hearing Gary shouted: "ACTION!"

Her hand moved to Ambler’s keyboard, deftly, skillfully as Rollie’s hands left just as quickly. They went to her shoulders for a slight second, wordless support that went between them as she barely touched her head to his chest.

Lucinda was breathing harshly, fumbling in the muddy shores of the river, smoke rising around her. The sounds of distant cannon fire were cued for her to jerk in response as she fell to her knees, surrounded by bodies of dead soldiers- the nearest being John Grant’s Hunter Eventyn character.

"Hunter!" she screamed out, pulling his body toward her, crying, rocking back and forth. Several extras were cued to run by them, scavengers stealing and rifling bodies nearby. Angie waited, telling herself that Judd’s entrance into scene was in 45 seconds. Rollie had moved from her side to make last minute checks on Tolsen who stood off camera nearby. The headpiece had been placed before Angie had arrived. Carefully and slowly, she pulled up her last minute macro she had created in the van. It would cause the whole scene to be ruined, she knew that. She bit her lip, looking over at Gary Sanderlin who was monitoring from first camera position. Behind him, several media people were watching, waiting….she looked over to Rollie who seemed very controlled standing next to the man who tried to poison them. She had to give him credit at his patience and coolness. She wondered how cool he would be after she ran the macro.

Lucinda was trying to revive her beloved on the battleground, her emotions raw and brilliant as Gary Sanderlin held his breath. Angie could see he was hoping for one take….and she grinned. That bastard!

Rollie turned suddenly, waiting for Tolsen’s cue and caught the concentration on Angie’s face. He also saw that she was set and ready for activation of the headpiece. Their eyes met, fine tuning from years of working together and in that second, he also knew she was up to something.

Gary’s hand motioned the cue, Tolsen was activated by Angie and he entered camera range from right of mark. Rollie walked quickly back over to Angie, his hand coming to rest on top of her right hand softly as she worked. She looked up at him, puzzled for a second.

"No…don’t! I need you to wait on this…" he whispered, trying not to let Gary see or detect them. The sounds of extras moaning and Lucinda’s crying helped somewhat.

"Rollie?" Angie’s hand tightened into a fist as she felt his fingers wrap around her wrist tightly then.

Gary’s aide, Rob Nesbitt flashed a look at the F/X artists at their console. He frowned and turned back to Gary, whispering something into his ear.

Gary shook his head and refocused on the playing scene. Angie stepped back, letting Rollie take over. She was not thinking clearly at the moment. Her swelling emotions were overcoming her judgement at the moment. Embarrassment and anger were tearing her apart as she fought to keep in control. She backed away and moved toward the rear of the crew seats. She kept walking, stiffly as she heard Lucinda begin to scream loudly. She heard the sound of the monster’s bellow perfectly executed as she began to run.

"Angie?" Captain Vanduran had called out to her as she ran past him as he waited on the sidelines.

She kept going. "Damn it! What am I doing?" she asked herself, as she found herself alone now, down stream from the shoot. She looked up, wiping a tear that had fallen down her cheek. "Get a grip!" she told herself, shaking her head and wiped her face with the sleeve of her jacket. She wanted Tolsen and Mrs. Gallagher and Sanderlin and whoever else, punished for what they had done and were about to do!

The sounds and sight of the monstrous rape were being filmed up stream, the scene still going strong and she leaned against a tree, its giant roots entangled and exposed near the bank. She gripped the old tree with her arm, pressing her face toward it. The sounds of war, the screams of men dying and cannon balls exploding resounded, shaking the earth around her. It was too real! It was….

She looked up, the smell that filled her nostrils was caustic as she coughed and wiped her eyes. They burned. What were extras doing running down the hill toward her? She looked up, toward the set…where the hell was the set?

From the roar of a smoldering cannon, a ball whistled nearby, its target barely forty feet from her left, an explosion taking her off her feet. She felt the air leave her lungs as she scrambled to get up and felt the horror as her limbs refused to cooperate. From her fallen vantage, she could barely make out the line of men falling beside her, around her. She heard the cries of pain, of death and the smell of burning flesh all around her.

"My God…what?" she cried out, in a hoarse cry, "Rollie!" she called, desperately.

It was then, through the haze, through the bloodied bodies around her, the moans and cries, that she saw them…a woman, lying on her back. She was moaning, her arms flailing as a man moved on top of her. He held her arms then, pinning them over her head with one hand. He cursed at her, hitting her repeatedly as he raped her.

Angie could do nothing. It was as if a cinemagraphic slow motion was performing in her mind’s eye. That wasn’t Lucinda! There was no monster….a man, yes! A horrible act bearing her a witness! Angie tried to move again, able now to rise slightly to her knees, crying out, screaming at him as he paid no heed. The woman had stopped fighting, her head rolling slightly toward Angie. Her bludgeoned eyes looked at Angie’s, her face contorted in such excruciating pain that Angie reached out her hand;

"Noooo!"

There was a sound, no, it was silence….it was deafening still around them…nothing moved now. Angie could see that up the river, the film crew’s appearance had returned but superimposed on the grounds of Seven Pines hill and the banks of the Chickahominy river were bodies strewn everywhere.

"Help me, Angie….find me….save us all….!" The voice called out, a woman’s voice, a pleading one and Angie could see that the face contorted in pain had changed…had suddenly loomed in a spiritual projection surrounding her, going through her!

"Siobhan!" Angie called out in anguish, her arms reaching out.

"Anyone seen Angie?" Rollie asked, the scene wrapped. Lucinda was pulling on a robe, her emotions still raw from the scene she had just done. John Grant was hugging her slightly as Judd Tolsen removed his headpiece, handing it to Rollie with a slight push.

"Tell Angie, it’s still too damn hot!" he told Rollie, angrily and walked away. Lucinda left John Grant and walked over to Rollie.

"What’s up, where’s Angie?" she asked and Rollie turned around, hugging her shoulders as she curled her head into his chest.

"Don’t know…she left halfway through the scene…hey, you were great, Luce. God, you were wonderful!" he told her, kissing her forehead.

"Oscar material, for sure!" she replied, smiling but still unnerved from the scene. Tolsen had been rough and it had been a bit too real for her as she felt the bruising of her hips from the crush of his weight on her.

"Where’s that fiancé of yours?" Rollie asked then, looking around with her at the crew break-up, "Isn’t his walk-on soon?"

"Yeah….where is he?" she asked, pulling away from him. A make-up woman had reached her and was assisting with the hairpiece that was falling to one side of her head from the roughness in the scene. The dress was in shreds as had been expected and executed. Lucinda’s teeth chattered, as she pulled her robe tighter to her body.

Marvin Vanduran didn’t know what had hit him. It had been from behind. He could feel the sharp waves of pain coming from the back of his head toward his forehead. He reached back and felt the sticky warmth of his own blood. He sat up, realizing he was still in the confines of his costume. Trying to remember what had happened, he coughed. The air was thin and dank. It was also pitch black. He felt around, feeling loose dirt and rock in some sort of filled wall behind him with some support beams as well. Was this a tunnel of some sort? He could hear water trickling somewhere. He felt his face, the muttonchops still there. He tried to remember again. He had been walking over, retracing his steps. He had reached the make-up trailer, ready to go inside when he had spied his envelope resting in the mail out bin outside the trailer door.

He had reached up to retrieve it when someone said behind him; "I’ll take that, if you don’t mind…"

It had been a woman’s voice. It was also the last thing he remembered besides the pain. What had he been hit with? He felt the back of his head again. Damn! Wasn’t this just par for the course? This of course, had something to do with what Tyler had stumbled into and now him! He wondered if anyone had missed him yet. Taking a deep breath, he reached up to see if he could stand. Slowly, he got on his feet and realized that this tunnel or whatever it was only about five and a half feet high as he hit his head again on the ceiling beam, dirt falling on his shoulders. Something wriggled by his feet and he shivered. Of course, there would be rats….he hated them!

Rollie checked the F/X van and then went over to Anita’s trailer. Aidan was playing quietly on the window seat with a puzzle book. Anita was perturbed, to say the least.

"What do you mean, you’re looking for her?" Anita said, pacing back and forth, "I’ve got a press meeting in a half an hour…you got to take your boy, Tyler. I can’t watch him any longer…"

Rollie breathed deeply, picking Aidan up and barely thanking her for her babysitting as he walked out, carrying Aidan tightly in his arms.

"Owwh!" Aidan responded, beginning to grow restless in his arms, "where’s mommy?"

"I don’t know…let’s go find her, huh?" Rollie replied, loosening his hold and trying to console him. Aidan’s face was starting to crumble.

He saw Lucinda’s trailer and knocked on the door.

"Entre!" she barked from inside and Rollie walked in, holding Aidan who was already crying loudly.

"Oh no! Rollie! I have another scene to do in less than an hour!" Lucinda protested. She had her warm, plush robe on and was lying down on the bed, a icebag on her hips.

"Can’t find Angie, Luce…we, uh, might have had a bit of a fight…" Rollie went on, pleading, as he shook Aidan in his arms in a terse rocking motion. It had no effect at all. Aidan was starting to become combative.

"What do you mean, MIGHT have had a fight…? What do you mean?" Luce asked, sitting up, pushing the bag off and taking Aidan from him. Aidan clung to her, his thumb going straight into his mouth.

"I hate that! Why the bloody hell is he doing that? I mean, I’m his father and he just was fighting me to death!" Rollie exclaimed in anguish.

"You’re frightening him, silly! Calm down! I don’t know anything about kids but I know what would frighten me! Rollie, what did you say to her? What’s going on?"

Rollie sank into a chair next to the bed as Lucinda sat down, Aidan still wrapped like a monkey around her. She kissed his hot little face, smoothing his curls away from his forehead.

"She was going to do something…she had changed the headpiece control program. She was going to do something to Judd, for sure. I know that look in her eyes. I told her to wait…that we’d get him in due time…" Rollie blurted out, running his hands through his hair.

"Why would you guys be doing something to Judd? I know he’s an ass, but what’s the deal?" Lucinda asked, confused.

There was a furious rapping on the door.

"Jeez, when it rains, it pours!" Lucinda said, standing up and handing Aidan back to Rollie.

Aidan took one look at Rollie and began to cry again; "Oh Aidan, I’m sorry! Come on, I’ll be better, see?" Rollie tried to smile and relax.

John Grant stepped up into the trailer, seeing Rollie and swallowed hard;

"Everyone’s been looking for you, Rollie!"

"Angie?"

"They found her down on the riverbank, about five hundred yards from the set location…." Grant replied, his face white and his jaw clenched firmly.

Lucinda pulled Aidan from Rollie without a word as Rollie left with John Grant.

"Okay…there now….mommy’s been found…she’s okay…" Lucinda told Aidan. Aidan didn’t like the way Lucinda’s face was set. Lucinda was trying to convince herself as her voice trembled slightly. His crying intensified.

Stu Westburn was kneeling on the ground beside Angie’s still body. He had just lifted his lips from hers, having forced two forceful breaths into her, seeing her chest rise and fall. He was getting ready to repeat a series of chest compressions when he heard Rollie Tyler cry out her name.

"Rescue squad is on its way! Give him room! Where’s the set nurse?" screamed someone in the small crowd gathered.

Rollie watched almost in a state of shock as Stu Westburn continued to do CPR on Angie. He dropped to his knees on the other side of Stu.

"Rollie! Breath for me, come on…! I’m exhausted!" Stu yelled at him.

"What happened? Why?" he asked, as Stu suddenly stopped the compressions.

"Give her two breaths, Rollie, now!"

Rollie bent over and did as Stu demanded, forcing his own breath into his wife’s cold body. Her lips were like ice.

"Keep it up, on my fifth compression, breath once…now!" Stu shouted again and Rollie obeyed. His fingers clasped her chin, his thumb stroking her cheek, so pale and cold.

"Angie! Please!" he begged her. He could hear and feel Stu’s forceful compressions on her chest. This was madness!

"Breath!" Stu commanded him

Rollie forced his air into her, her cheeks filling as he kept his lips tightly over hers. Suddenly, he felt resistance. She was breathing, pushing against his own breath.

Angie coughed and sputtered, her eyes blinking as she focused through tears. It hurt to breathe!

"Rollie?"

"God, yes!" Rollie answered back, as Stu fell back exhausted. They could hear the ambulance siren in the distance.

He hugged her in his arms as she rolled her eyes, trying to stay conscious. Her mind was still trying to grasp what had happened to her.

"I found her here, we had just come down as Johnson’s left flank, rehearsing the upcoming battle scene. At first, I thought it was a dummy, left over from a couple of days ago…from the last battle scene, the Pines forward advance…and then, when I realized it was real, I mean- it was Angie! She was so pale and still. I found she had no pulse and the rest, you saw…"

"Stu…why, what happened Angie?" Rollie asked them both, still rattled, his pulse was racing in his throat.

"Siobhan…I saw her, Rollie! I saw what he did to her!" Angie said, suddenly tensing up, a chill beginning to rack her body.

"Okay…let’s just get you to the hospital, sweetie…get you warmed up…" Rollie told her, soothingly, dismissing her comments.

"No! I don’t want to go to the hospital. I’m okay!" Angie protested and struggled to free herself of Rollie and sat up.

"Angie! My God, you weren’t breathing!" Rollie protested as Stu looked at her in astonishment as well.

Angie swung her arms around, pushing Rollie from her, standing as the world swirled around her. She fought the blackness that crept before her eyes and prayed for strength.

"Take me to Aidan….just take me home…" she told Rollie, her voice terse.

"I could have crack a rib or two, Angie!" Stu voiced, concerned for her welfare.

"You didn’t…I know what that feels like," Angie told him and then glared at Rollie. Rollie hung his head, remembering a similar experience in a cave in South America.

"Leave it, Stu…tell the ambulance crew that we’re sorry for the inconvenience…" Rollie said, softly as Angie left on her own power ahead of him.

Stu nodded and lifted his hat off his head, wiping his brow. The fact that Angie Tyler had mentioned Siobhan O’Bralley…that she had seen her again was all that he could think about. There just might be hope…after Eventyn's death.

"You gave me such a scare…" Rollie whispered into Angie’s ear as they lay in bed that night. She was on her side, her back to him. She had been quiet all evening. Rollie had tried several times to find out exactly what had happened to her but she just couldn’t fathom the whole thing herself. She felt raw and unnerved from what she had experienced. The brutal rape, the battle around her, the smells; Siobhan’s face hovering over her and pleading with her.

"Sorry…" she replied, curling tighter into a ball. She felt his hand on her shoulder and closed her eyes tightly.

"Angie…"

"Rol, I am just so tired, please…."

He stopped, her coldness leaving him bewildered and alone; their usual connection severed so completely that he felt lost. He rolled on his back, leaving her warmth, putting his arm over his face, covering his eyes.

"Where are you, Angie?" he asked her, in silent angst.

Angie felt completely shut off from everything. She was empowered only by one thing, the promise she had made to a ghost. Siobhan had found a new person to haunt on a daily basis now that Hunter Eventyn was dead. Maybe this had been what she had wanted all along….