Chapter 279: Beyond Saving
Arabella Donovan watched the scene, a sting in her nose.
Before she could shake off the inexplicable wave of emotion and sorrow, the little one suddenly turned to look at her. Its large, distinct eyes began to glow faintly, like tiny stars in the night sky.
A moment later, a flash of light shot into her forehead. A series of memories, not her own, flickered past like a slideshow, giving Arabella Donovan a deeper understanding of the hidden truths behind the affair.
’So that’s what happened!’
Dennis Donovan and Guinevere Preston, still hiding in the back room and not daring to come out: "?!!" ’What has she figured out now? Spit it out and let us hear it!’
As if sensing something, Ms. Cain touched her forehead. "Is he gone?"
"He is. But he said a proper goodbye before he left."
Ms. Cain pursed her lips, but just as she was about to speak, Mr. Lewis’s phone rang. Their expressions soured the moment they saw the caller ID.
Curious, Arabella Donovan tiptoed to sneak a peek. ’Oho, the man of the hour is calling.’
The person calling Mr. Lewis was none other than his treacherous, ungrateful younger brother.
"Answer it!" Ms. Cain sneered before Mr. Lewis could even react. "I want to hear what disgusting filth he’s going to spew this time."
"Brother, did you and Sister-in-law go into Terence’s room today?" The call had barely connected when a familiar, accusatory voice came through.
"So what if we did?"
Apparently surprised that his usually mild-mannered brother would use such a tone, Paul Lewis fell silent for a long moment before speaking again.
"Brother, I don’t mean to overstep, but how could you and Sister-in-law just enter someone’s room without permission? Terence may be of a younger generation, but you still can’t do that. Kids these days are all about their privacy. His mother and I rarely even go in there, and now he’s giving us the silent treatment because you two went in."
"Oh, and did you take the box he kept in the second drawer of the bookshelf, the one by the window?"
How could Mr. Lewis fail to realize that this long-winded lecture was all a lead-up to that final, probing question?
He let out a soft chuckle and answered truthfully, "That’s right. We took it."
"Going into his room is bad enough, but you took his things? That box is a birthday gift for his classmate! He spent a fortune on it and needs it tonight. Bring it back to him, now. Or just tell me where you are, and I’ll have him come pick it up."
"A birthday gift for his classmate?" Hearing this, Mrs. Cain’s fury boiled over. She snatched the phone and sneered, "Does this ’classmate’ know your son got him a little ghost as a present?"
The line went silent again. After a long pause, a calm voice asked, "So, you know everything?"
"Why would you do it?"
"What other reason could there be? Money, of course." There was no trace of guilt or panic in Paul Lewis’s voice at being caught. Instead, he sounded strangely excited.
"Don’t blame me, Brother. I was doing it for your own good. Sacrifice one child to secure a lifetime of riches for your family—you have no idea how many people would kill for a deal like that!"
"Paul Lewis, you’re shameless! That’s your own nephew! Aren’t you afraid of retribution?"
"Retribution? He’s *your* son. You’re the one earning the money, and you’re the one reaping the benefits. If there’s any retribution to be had, it shouldn’t fall on me. And Brother, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Even if you and Sister-in-law take that little ghost out of the box, it won’t change a thing. I’m the one who’s been raising it for you, for over a decade. It’s completely loyal to me now."
"If you bring it back now, everything will be fine. But don’t get any funny ideas about destroying or purifying it. One wrong move, and you’ll piss it off. Then you and Sister-in-law will be the ones paying the price."
"Oh, really?"
Startled by the unexpected sound of Arabella Donovan’s voice, Mr. Lewis and the others instinctively turned to look. They found her staring at the wooden box on the table—or more precisely, at its contents.
"Look," she said. "The thing in the box... it’s... it’s gone."
It wasn’t completely gone. The soul imprisoned within had simply departed. With its purpose served, the physical vessel was no longer needed and had disintegrated into a pile of black sand.
"What was that noise? Who’s talking?" Paul Lewis’s voice boomed from the phone, sensing something was amiss.
He barely got the words out before he was cut off. A heavy THUD echoed through the phone, followed by a woman’s terrified scream that pierced their eardrums.
"Paul! Paul, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me!"
Chaos erupted on the other end of the line. When it subsided slightly, a different voice spoke.
"What did you do to my dad?"
’Oho. So *this* is Terence Lewis?’
Arabella Donovan raised an eyebrow. Ignoring the curious and excited stares of the others, she walked up to Mr. Lewis’s phone and spoke with profound meaning, "You should ask your father. Everything he intended for his own brother will now befall him."
Terence Lewis seemed startled by Arabella’s words. After a moment’s silence, he demanded with false bravado, "Who are you? Uncle, my dad’s your own brother! How could you team up with an outsider to hurt him!"
Mr. Lewis almost choked out a laugh at the outrageous accusation. It just went to show: birds of a feather truly do flock together.
"I hurt him? That’s the biggest joke I’ve ever heard. He brought this entirely upon himself."
"Mr. Lewis, give me your full date and time of birth."
"Alright. I was born on..."
"What are you trying to do? Stop, stop it now!"
The moment Terence Lewis heard Arabella mention the birth details, his voice jumped an octave. It was obvious he was fully aware of what his parents had done; he wasn’t innocent in the slightest.
After receiving Mr. Lewis’s birth details, Arabella announced them to the heavens. The destruction of the little ghost had already drawn The Providence’s attention to the unnatural state of the Lewis brothers’ fates. With Arabella now adding fuel to the fire, the destinies that had been swapped for years were effortlessly reversed.
The Evil Energy that had been clinging to the wooden box, unable to disperse and with nowhere to go, finally began to move.
A tiny fraction of it flew into Mr. Lewis, but the vast, swirling mass shot off into the distance, clearly seeking its true master.
"Order has been restored; the karmic debt is set. It is time for certain people to taste the bitter fruit they planted so many years ago."
Arabella had barely finished speaking when Terence Lewis’s voice screeched from the phone again. "Blood! Dad, why are you spitting up blood? Mom! Mom, what’s wrong with you? An ambulance! Someone call an ambulance!"
The sounds of toppling furniture and shattering glass were followed by a dead dial tone. The call had ended.
Ms. Cain’s heart began to pound as a realization dawned on her. "Master Donovan," she stammered, "does this mean they..."
"One always has to pay for enjoying a good fate that isn’t theirs."
"They are beyond saving."