"Wait, we still have to give the oracle her Token..."

She frowns, looking up at Grim. "Hes got a point..."

Ash touched the back of her arm, a silent, approving gesture, and Grimalkin stared at her as if she'd grown three heads. "Defying Leanansidhe. I had no idea it was going to be so interesting." He purred, narrowing his eyes. "Very well, human. I will accompany you, if only to see the Exile Queens face when you tell her the reason she had to wait."

~ ~ ~

The museum doors were still unlocked as I eased my way inside, followed by Ash and a continuously purring Grimalkin, who disappeared as soon as he slipped through the door. He didnt creep away or hide in the shadows; he simply vanished from sight.

A withered figure waited for them near the back, leaning against a glass counter, turning a skull over in her hands. She bared her needlelike teeth in a smile as they approached, raking her nails along the skulls naked cheekbones.

"You have it," she whispered, her hollow gaze fastened on Claire. "I can smell it from here. Show it to me, human. What have you brought old Anna?"

She takes out the ring.

The oracles smile grew wider. "Ah, yes. The doomed lovers, separated by age and time, and the hope that kept them alive. Futile though it was, in the end." She coughed a laugh, a wisp of dust billowing from her mouth into the air. "Went to the graveyard, did you? How brazen. No wonder I kept seeing a dog in your future. You did not, by chance, get the mate of this ring, did you?"

She then remembers what Ash put in his pocket, she shakes her head. "No, sorry."

"Ah, well." She held out a withered hand, like a bird opening its talons. "I guess I shall have to be content with the one." She takes the ring and smiled. A breath of wind stirred the room, and she dissolved into a swirling cyclone of dust

She smiles over at Ash, "We did it!"

Ash was looking out the window with narrowed eyes, "I think youd better see this."

And Grim had disappeared. Never a good sign.

She walks over to the window, looking out of it.