Elyssa's eyes slowly fluttered open, and as they did a dizziness crept over her that made it hard to focus on her surroundings. Something felt wrong, but she wasn't quite sure what it was. She struggled to push herself to a seated position. She felt so weak, and yet her body moved forward as if it was as light as a feather. It was the most disorienting feeling she had ever had.

She sat there silently for several moments waiting for her head to clear and her eyes to push away the haze. When they finally did, she was surprised to see herself sitting in the very same room she had died in. She turned to her side, and noticed Annette sitting silently beside her.

"Did it work?" Elyssa asked to no response.

"Annette?"

Again, her question was met with silence. Before she could try for a third time, a crash startled her from out in the hall followed by the sound of footsteps racing towards them. A split second later Dantes appeared in the doorway, his face twisted in worry and concern.

"...Dantes, what's happening?"

He too seemed oblivious to her as he took one final look into the room and then closed the door. She heard a loud click as he locked it behind him, and then the sound of his footsteps disappearing back down the hallway.

Without thinking she jumped from the table and rushed to the door to stop him. Her hand grabbed for the knob and to her surprise it passed right through it along with half of her forearm. Bewildered, she pulled it back and then stared at her hand in disbelief.

"...What is going on here..."

Carefully she pushed her hand up against the door again, and just as before it passed right through. She watched as she pushed further and further until her whole arm was no longer in sight. She wiggled her fingers. She could still feel them, she just couldn't see them. Next, she closed her eyes and leaned forward letting her head pass through the door.

When she reopened them, she was looking down the hallway while the rest of her body was still on the other side of the door. She was like a ghost, resembling those odd moments when they begin to pass through objects and only a portion of them is visible.

Dantes was nowhere to be seen. Wherever he had run off to, he was in a hurry. She pulled herself upright, her head returning to the other side of the door.

"Annette, what is going on?" she asked again as she turned around and then froze. Annette was still sitting where she had been. She hadn't moved an inch. What scared her was what she saw on the table. Lying motionless beside Annette was her own body.

She again looked down at her hands in disbelief. The spell had worked, just as Annette said it would. She wasn't like a ghost, she literally was one. She could go anywhere she wanted without the fear of being seen. The hunger she had been almost constantly experiencing was also gone.

She also realized her whole feeling of being was different. She felt free in a way she had never felt before. All the worries and stresses of life were gone. It was like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She wanted to explore and experience this new adventure to the fullest.

Her thoughts were suddenly stopped by a tinge of pain in her hands. She glanced down to see that her new etheric body was shimmering, as if it was struggling to hold its form. She looked up towards Annette, and caught what appeared to be a pained expression upon her face. Moving her eyes to Annette's arm, she realized the wound had grown in size. Annette's magic was weakening.

Whatever you do, do not get distracted when you're there.

Elyssa had almost forgotten Annette's warning. She only had so much time to accomplish what she was sent here to do before Annette would have to pull her back. Something wasn't right though. This was supposed to be some form of the spiritual world, and yet it looked no different than the real world. The threads of life that Annette had spoken of were also nowhere to be seen.

Elyssa felt another jolt of pain, her whole body again shimmering out of existence before pulling itself back together again. A feeling of panic began to consume her. Either the spell didn't completely work, or she was missing something.

"Annette!" she tried screaming at the top of her lungs to get her attention. It didn't work. No one could hear her in this etheric form. She took a deep breathe, trying to calm herself. She had to think. There had to be something she could do, she just needed to calm herself enough to figure out her next move.

She closed her eyes, attempting to take a deep breath when she noticed something odd. She wasn't breathing, at least not air. It was an entirely different sensation, one that felt odd yet familiar. It was a feeling she hadn't felt since she lost her powers. It felt like...magic.

She opened her eyes as she tried to take another deep breath. As she watched, she could see what appeared to be energy being sucked into her body, the very energy that powered the magic of witches such as she had been. She had missed that feeling, the ability to draw on and manipulate it. It filled her whole body with warmth, and a sense of belonging. She didn't realize how disconnected she had been from that very essence of life until now.

At first, she thought she had her powers back. She could feel all of the energy around her, and it only made sense that she'd be able to bend it to her will as she had done before. What better way now to solve her dilemma than to use the magic she once wielded so easily.

She lowered her head, whispering a location spell under her breath. When she looked up, she expected to see that tiny blue light dancing around and waiting for the name of the person she was looking for. Yet, there was nothing there. She tried a second time, and the result was exactly the same.

Confused, she tried another spell that was simple in nature and it too failed. She was missing something. She could feel the energy around her. Her body was even using it as part of her ethereal body from what she could tell. It had to be what was holding her together, and what was being disrupted as Annette struggled to maintain her magic.

For all she knew, it was Annette's magic and the energy it produced, that was feeding her ethereal form. If Annette was already struggling to maintain her powers, and then feeding it to her, it meant she likely had even less time than she thought. She had to figure out how to find these threads of life Annette had spoken of, but how?

It was in that moment that she realized what she had been missing. Life was energy, and the others had often talked about how they were all connected through it. It made sense that these threads were made up of this very same energy. Maybe she couldn't manipulate the energy around her as she could as a witch, but she knew she could certainly see it.

Without another thought, she concentrated on the energy around her, letting her eyes scan the room for any signs of threads. Her eyes instantly went over to Annette and it was then that she saw it. Barely noticeable, but faintly protruding from Annette's stomach, seemed to be a slightly dense collection of energy around the area.

As she let her eyes focus on it, she could see that the energy was even denser than it first looked. It extended out from her body almost like an umbilical cord before jutting off in many different directions, with each thread varying in how bright it was. As she followed one of the threads of energy, she realized it actually came towards her. She looked down and noticed the same energy spilling from her own stomach in a similar manner, with one of the threads connecting back to one of the threads from Annette.

"We're all connected..." Elyssa spoke under her breath, finally understanding completely what the others had meant when they had said such in the past. Through these threads they really were connected. Now she was confused again. Between both her and Annette, there seemed far too many threads to follow. How would she know which one led to the three fates, and which went to those she knew.

She looked again at the varying degrees of brightness with the different threads coming from her and Annette. The one that connected both of them was one of the brighter and stronger looking ones. She noticed Annette had only two others that were brighter. There were a few more threads almost as strong looking as the ones that connected the two of them. The others were much fainter in nature by varying degrees.

She glanced down at the threads coming from herself. Similarly, there were two threads brighter than the one that connected her to Annette, a few others that were about the same brightness, and a bunch of threads that varied widely in how strong they looked but overall were fairly dim.

She thought about it for a second, and decided her best chance to find the thread leading to the three fates would be to follow one of the brightest threads. Before she could take a step, she noticed her ethereal form start to shimmer again, and the agony it caused was almost unbearable. She looked over at Annette, and noticed the pained look on her face. Time was running out.

Quickly, Elyssa rushed from the room following the two brightest threads. She almost fell as she reached for the doorknob. Her hand passed right through it again causing her to stumble as she disappeared onto the other side and almost through the opposing wall. Obviously that was going to take some getting use to.

The thread lead her down the hallway and towards the kitchen area. It was odd watching them all as she moved. The threads all veered in opposing directions, twisting and turning as if they were tied to her like a rope being dragged along the ground. The ones she was following seemed to be getting absorbed and shortening, leaving no loose lag behind. Luckily for her, she noticed that the two brightest strands were leading in a similar direction.

She ran through the entryway into the kitchen, and then stopped abruptly. She had found the source of one of the two threads. Standing by the small closet in the kitchen, frantically going through it and grabbing items was Dantes. There was already a large pile of rope on the ground behind him, along with a large sleeping bag. From the closet, he grabbed bottle after bottle, reading the labels before finding what he was looking for and tossing it atop the other supplies. She glanced down at the label on the bottle.

"Chloroform? What are they doing with chloroform in the kitchen..."

Just as she asked the question, Dantes looked up. For a second she thought he had heard her.

"...Dantes?" she tried. He stared in her direction, as if he sensed something, but then looked away a moment later. Before she could try again he had gathered up his supplies and was rushing out the door. She wanted to go after him, but she didn't have time. She needed to find the three fates.

As if on cue, her body began to shimmer again, and the pain that accompanied it overcame her. She fell to her knees and curled up in a fetal position as a loud scream escaped her lips. There was no telling how much longer she had to find the fates, and she didn't have the luxury of following the other thread to another dead end. As soon as the pain subsided she was back on her feet and trying to figure out what to do next.

She looked at the only other thread that was as bright as the one attached to Dantes and thought back to the conversations she had had with the others at various times. They always spoke of certain connections being stronger with some than others. Someone you loved would have a stronger connection to you than someone you cared about as a friend. An acquaintance would have a connection too, but even weaker. In that way, it made sense that the thread connecting her to Dantes was one of the two brightest ones. They had loved each other through numerous lifetimes, and in many ways they appeared destined to be together or attached to each other in some way.

She could only assume one of the bright threads from Annette was attached to her mom. They too were extremely close. While Elyssa was close to Annette, explaining the brightness of their own attached threads, it paled compared to that of Annette and Alicia.

If everyone was connected though, maybe the reason she didn't see millions of threads was due to how weak those connections were to one another. Only the ones of some significance were seeable. It was the only explanation she could think of as to what she was seeing, and what she had been told.

If that was the case though, where did the final bright thread lead? She had never met the fates, which meant the way to them might not be found through following the other strong thread. What led back to them could very well be one of the millions of attachments she couldn't see. For all she knew, the other thread could lead back to one of her parents. Wouldn't a mother have a strong connection to her daughter?

On the other hand, if the fates were at the start of everything, it would only make sense that they could have the strongest attachment to everything in life. She thought for a moment. If the three fates were one of the weaker connections it could take her forever to find them, particularly if she couldn't see that connection.

Annette did say to trace the thread back to the source. That had to mean the brightest one, and if it wasn't...She didn't want to think about it. It would mean all was lost and they might as well just give up. She wouldn't have enough time to follow every other thread.

Without wasting another second she began following the last bright thread. It lead her outside and down the streets of San Diego. As she ran she watched those walking the streets around her in amazement, noticing threads brightening between them as they came in contact with one another. Every conversation, every touch, created a faint glow. Others walked down the street hand in hand, the thread connecting them glowing brightly. In the busiest areas, there seemed to be so many connections it was almost as if everyone was swimming in a sea of energy.

She wished she could stop and just watch the creation of these connections. It was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. Everyone looked so tiny beneath her in the waves of energy that...She stopped, realizing she was no longer running through the streets but flying above everyone. The moment this realization hit her, she could feel herself begin to fall.

She flailed her arms, trying to grab for the threads which her hands seamlessly passed through. She glanced down, seeing the ground rushing towards her. There was nothing she could do but scream and accept her fate. She scrunched her eyes shut, preparing for the impact.

Time seemed to slow down as she waited, and then she waited some more. When she finally opened her eyes, she was already lying on the ground. How odd, she thought. Maybe being an ethereal being had its advantages. With that came a problem. As she looked around, she realized she had fallen into one of the busiest areas where some type of celebration was going on. She was awash in all the various threads that connected everyone. She couldn't tell where one ended and another started.

While it was an incredible sight to behold, she struggled to make out the bright thread she had been following since everyone around her had at least two or more of them themselves. Although from the air, where she was, it'd be easy to follow. She'd also be able to better tell where it lead to. For all she knew at the moment, the thread looped around the country, if not the world.

That thought didn't leave her much hope. She glanced around, trying to figure out where exactly she was. To her amazement, she was quite a ways from Annette's shop. At least several miles by her own estimate, and she couldn't have left the shop more than a few minutes ago. Had she really been moving that quickly without realizing it?

Trying to remember it, everything seemed like a blur, but yet she could pick out exact details of what she had seen as she made her way through the city. It was as if time acted different as an ethereal body. If the end of the thread was halfway across the world, maybe there was a chance she could reach it before her time ran out.

As if on cue, her body was racked in pain, knocking her off her feet. She screamed in agonizing pain as her body shimmered in and out of existence. Several people around her stopped and glanced in her direction before continuing on their way. After what seemed like several minutes the pain subsided, and her ethereal body pulled itself back together.

She sighed in relief, and tried to gather her thoughts. Her head felt like it had been through a grinder. Another episode like that and it could all be over. She wondered if those around her had actually heard her as she got to her feet. More importantly she wonder how she could get back up in the air again. If only Dantes or Annette were here to tell her what to do. They knew more about this other worldly stuff than she could ever dream of knowing.

She tried to concentrate, focusing on her body being lifted up into the air. Her attempt failed miserably, only further depressing her. She noticed something odd in that second. That feeling of desperation and disappointment made her feel heavier, as if the world was pressing down on her. She realized that her mood had been different when she found herself in the air earlier. It was happier, or at least curiously excited.

She wondered if her mood was part of the reason she was able to do what she had done. Maybe that emotion was called an 'uplifting moment' for a reason. Regardless, it was worth a try.

She closed her eyes again, trying to focus on happier thoughts. She thought of Annette and Alicia, and the times they spent together teaching her how to use her magic. She remembered all the times she spent playing with Tobias, and how seeing him frolic around outside brought her joy.

Most of all, her mind drifted to Dantes. She remembered what it felt like the first time she found the rings and realized their relationship had gone much deeper than he had let on. She thought about the first time he had told her he loved her, the first night they had spent together, and all the time they had spent talking and playing. She realized how much she missed those moments, and how warm and happy they made her feel.

Nothing felt any different. Maybe her idea failed, but at least she had a second to relive nice memories in case finding the three fates didn't work out. She slowly opened her eyes, expecting to still be surrounded by the crowd. There had to be something else she had overlooked.

To her surprise she was back up in the air. It startled her for a second, and she felt her body begin to fall again before recovering.

"An uplifting thought..." she whispered under her breath with a smile on her face. At once she was off, flying through the air while following the bright thread in front of her to its destination. As she neared Los Angeles she looked down. The millions of other bright threads were converging in the same area that she was heading towards.