Chapter Eighteen

Sonya, Cleo, Owen, and Trey make strong progress in the ballroom, discovering small treasures and envisioning a larger, expanded game room on a lower level. Ghostly residents later move the heavy rosewood table, chairs, and bookcase downstairs overnight, signaling cooperation from the other side.

On Monday, Trey worries about Sonya’s daily risks with Dobbs and the mirror, but resists Dobbs’s lure from the third floor, honoring his promise after Clover blasts a warning song. He leaves, uneasy but determined to help within the limits Sonya set.

While Cleo sails and leaves Pye at home, Sonya handles virtual meetings. Afterward, she hears male voices and Bon Jovi from the den and finds a vision of Collin and Deuce playing chess on a wintry night. Time freezes; Collin turns to Sonya, speaks of knowing her father through the mirror as a child, and regrets not bridging the family divide. He admits he cannot give answers but believes the brides’ portraits and the rings are connected. He confesses the curse keeps him from Johanna—he can sense but not reach her—and urges Sonya to break the curse.

The scene resumes, Deuce checkmates Collin, and both vanish. Sonya records everything, tests the idea that the rings are “in the portraits,” and checks Cleo’s closet for the next painting—Catherine—but finds nothing. Dobbs slams furniture in the Gold Room in response; Sonya refuses to be intimidated.

Seeking balance, Sonya plays fetch with Yoda by the sea, then snacks and returns to work but shifts to sketching the vision. When Cleo returns with groceries and dinner plans, Sonya shows her the finished sketch on the deck and recounts the encounter in full.