It seemed that the girl had managed to read the thoughts of the anchor- woman who had reported the story of Ryan's death. The woman knew a detail that the police had asked her to keep from the public. The main suspect in the murder was Helen Mitchell. The anchorwoman had not known why they suspected Helen, so Helen didn't know either. Argent cast a glance at her young friend. The girl had calmed down, and was sipping tea with shaking hands. Helen caught Argent's eye, and gave a thin smile.

"What now? I mean, how can they think I did that? There were more pictures than what they showed on the news, you know. The images were so... And that woman! She thought..." Helen could not continue as a wave of chills hit her so hard she had to put her cup down to keep from spilling it.

"I have worked with the police before . . . not here . . . but I have. I don't know what evidence they have on you, but we can find out, at least, you can," Argent said gently.

Helen was conscious of her abilities now, and kept herself from entering Dr. Goodman's mind, but sometimes very strong thoughts came to her even if she was not trying to hear them. She felt a great sadness in Dr. Goodman's mind when she mentioned the police. The name that escaped the older woman's thoughts was wrapped in a bittersweet veil of love. Helen quickly closed off the connection that was trying to form before she invaded a privacy that she knew would be painful to her friend.

"I can feel it when you read me, you know. I can also tell when you're not trying to. Thank you, for that," Argent said. Helen cast her eyes to the floor, ashamed of her abilities and what they could reveal to her. She could feel Dr. Goodman staring at her, and brought her own brown eyes up to meet kind gray ones. She nodded and mumbled, "You're welcome."

The two talked for several hours. Dr. Goodman insisted that Helen would need an attorney, in case the police tried to make more public accusations. Helen was surprised to find out the Dr. Goodman's sister was an attorney, and a very good one at that, from somewhere out East. A quick phone call set up Leah Goodman-Wang's arrival for sometime the next evening. Helen made another surprising discovery about Dr. Goodman's family in the blue black twilight of pre-dawn.

"You have a daughter?" she asked.

"Two, actually. They're....away....right now. Aura is the oldest, she's about your age. Simone is younger."

Helen could feel the love that Dr. Goodman held for her girls, and was suddenly and painfully aware that she had lost two mothers in her brief lifetime. The tears that pooled in her eyes, and then trailed down her cheeks were bitter and scalding. After the earlier shock, the memories of her mother were just too much for the girl, and she put her face in her hands and shook with the force of the sobs that overcame her. The sun rose, pink and gold burning away the shadowed night, as Argent Goodman held the crying girl.

Captain Robert Tawning of the Glen Oaks police department spent a similar sleepless night. It wasn't often that he had to investigate a murder, and he had never seen anything as gruesome as this. To say the body had been mutilated was an understatement. It had taken weeks just to identify the body, and when they finally had, knowing that distorted thing used to be a young, healthy, outgoing teenaged boy was even more sickening. Captain Tawning sat now, just as he had been for the last hour, looking at the crime scene photos, and the autopsy reports, and was just as confused as he had been last night.

Glen Oaks was known for it's low crime rate. There had only been two murders before this one since the subdivision had opened its gates four years earlier. Both of those had been domestic in nature, and quite easy to solve. This case was very different in two ways. First, the body had not been discovered in Glen Oaks, but it had been determined that the murder had taken place there, giving jurisdiction to the Glen Oaks police department after a brief territory dispute. Secondly, this was no domestic killing.

"Hawkins! Get me the Mitchell file again. There has to be something here I'm missing," he grumbled. Lack of sleep and the brutality of the case were taking their toll on the thirty-five-year-old captain.

He took the file offered to him and began to riffle through it for the hundredth time.

Helen Mitchell. Age: 16. The girl in the picture was smiling, and she was beautiful. He could hardly believe she was a suspect, but he had learned after ten years on the force that looks could be deceiving.

He studied the file, noting the entries made from interviews with teachers and students from her school last year. Violent tendencies. Acts of rage against students. Disrespect towards teachers. He could tell that she had probably been provoked in these incidents, but that didn't make her any less dangerous.

She had violence in her past. Her father had been murdered. Her mother had died not too long ago, but this time it seemed from natural causes. Maybe that had been the trigger. His mind whirled, wrapping itself around every minute detail and squeezing out all the possible information.

The evidence against her was all circumstantial. Her fingerprints, taken when she and her mother moved into Glen Oaks as a mandatory part of the security detail, had been found on the Thomas boy's books and on his watch. That in itself didn't mean much, the two were known to be acquainted. The biggest and most incriminating part of the evidence was several strands of her hair that had been found clutched in the boy's palm.

It was the hair, in the end, that made Captain Tawning decide to issue a warrant. He reasoned that the only way for that hair to be where it was, was if the two had struggled in some way, and that struggle had somehow led to Ryan Thomas's death.

Helen Mitchell arrived in Glen Oaks in a very different way than she had left. Then, she had been very alone, with only a silent social worker as a companion, but now, she had the Goodman sisters. She had liked Leah Goodman-Wang instantly. She had the same disarming qualities that Dr. Argent Goodman possessed. They had spent the previous night going over Helen's case, and it was a case now, the police had issued an official warrant for her yesterday afternoon. Helen found it easy to talk to Leah, and found herself laughing at times, almost despite herself. The three went into the station house knowing with certainty that the charges would be dismissed.

They were in for a shock, however, when Leah was handed a copy of the warrant, complete with evidence statement. Her face was grim when she sat down next to Helen at the long table in the conference room.

"It seems they have some rather incriminating evidence." Leah said carefully.

"What is it? What does that paper say? I promise, I told you the truth. I haven't seen him in months! Please! Please tell me you believe me?" Helen said frantically, her eyes wide and frightened.

"Helen, I believe you, I really do, but the police found your hair. They found it in his hand," Leah said gently.

"My......my hair? What? I don't understand. How?" Helen asked, her mind racing, trying to make sense of what she was hearing.

"I don't know. The police think that there was some kind of struggle, but we might be dealing with something else...." Leah trailed off.

"Ms. Goodman-Wang, I know that I haven't seen Ryan in months. I know I didn't kill him. I don't know how my hair got in his hand, but I know that I did not put it there," Helen said with conviction.

"That's exactly what you should tell the officer then. We'll get through this, one way or another," Leah replied.

The interview was short. Helen answered the questions as best as she could, with occasional help from Leah. She could tell, however, that the officer thought she was lying, as did the court reporter that typed up her statement. She was taken into a small room, and was fingerprinted. She had her picture taken with a small numbered sign, and was officially booked on charges of murder. Tears came to her eyes, and ran down her face throughout the process, and it only made her cry harder to hear the thoughts of the officers. They all believed she was crying because she was guilty.

Thankfully for Helen, she was released into Dr. Goodman's custody. Her foster family couldn't, or wouldn't, post bail, but Argent Goodman came through for her once again. The car ride back to the house was a quiet one. The day had been long and exhausting for Helen, and she went to sleep soon after they arrived at Dr. Goodman's house.

"This is just like Makoto," Leah said softly after she was sure Helen was asleep.

"Don't think like that, Leah, maybe you can get her off," Argent replied, her eyes tired and sad.

"What am I supposed to say to a jury? Her hair was planted in that poor boy's hand by a supernatural being? I'd be laughed out of the courtroom, and Helen would be put on the fast track to prison." Her voice was quiet, but the emotion could be felt clearly.

"Can we send her somewhere? Like Makoto?" Leah asked.

"I don't think the gate will be open again until the end of this month, and even then, it would be risky. You know that Halloween marks an alignment for all the planes. The chance of a transfer error is higher. It may be our only solution, though," Argent said.

"Have you spoken with the boy's spirit? Do you know what killed him?" Leah asked her sister.

"That's something else that troubles me. I can't seem to locate his spirit. Whatever killed him was either powerful enough to obliterate his spirit, or it has strong enough magic to trap his essence in a soul jar. Either way, it's not good for Helen."

"What about her Senshi powers? I saw the sigil, three stars, you know what that sign means. She should be able to eliminate just about any force," Leah said.

"She's still not ready to accept her power. She fights against it constantly, and now, with this newest trauma, I don't know if she'll ever come into it fully," Argent said, putting an end to the conversation.

In the small guest room, Helen tossed in the narrow bed. A low moan escaped her lips, hinting at the horror of the dream that captured her mind.

She was running, looking over her shoulder, but she wasn't fast enough. It felt as if she was running through deep sand, every step was a struggle, but she had to get away. The wall that suddenly loomed in front of her had no top or sides that she could see, only an endless expanse of dirty gray brick that complete blocked her path to safety. She turned then, placing her back against the wall, for she had heard it's stealthy approach.

"Stop! Leave me alone!" she cried, hunching down and putting her arms over her head protectively.

"Useless..." it hissed, it voice dripping with acid. It had no discernable shape, only a dense black mist that seemed to swallow the light. Helen cowered, fear rooting her to her place against the wall.

"I know your name......Himiko......," the malevolent, disembodied voice said with a mocking laugh.

"LOOK AT ME!" it screamed.

Helen felt her head being forced upwards, and squeezed her eyes closed. She then felt the awful, disturbing sensation of her eyelids being pried open, until she was looking at a shocking sight......her father, Tony Mitchell.

"Da....Daddy?" she question meekly.

"Not quite...." the hissing voice replied as her father's head was ripped from his body.

Helen began to scream, panic racing through her veins.

"I might be someone else.....," it said. The headless body before Helen began to shake, and with a sucking sound, a new head began to emerge from the gruesome corpse.

"Mama! Nooooooooo!" Helen shrieked, unable to close her eyes or turn away. The repulsive caricature of Lana Mitchell took one stumbling step towards Helen, and the head exploded, covering the terror-stricken girl with decaying flesh and brain tissue. Helen retched and screamed until her vocal cords froze.

"I know who you are.....I can see the trinity mark on your head......you will be destroyed.......but first.......you will suffer........," it hissed.

The once again, headless corpse shuddered again, and seemed to melt and change. Helen watched helplessly as it took on it's final form. She had expected to see Ryan standing before her, but instead, a woman was there. She had long wavy auburn hair, like Helen, and brilliant green eyes. She felt a strange warmth on her head, and saw a faint light reflected in the dark mist.

"She will be next............then you will be destroyed....," the voice trailed off as the auburn haired woman in front of her imploded with a grisly thud. Helen's voice unlocked and she screamed with all her breath.

The chilling scream carried over into the waking world when Helen was thrust back into it, shaking and sobbing. Both Goodman sisters were at her bedside, trying to calm her down and find out what had happened.

"I don't think that was just a dream..." Helen whispered, her voice trembling. She did not have to read their thoughts to know they agreed.