Inheritance

Sonya and Cleo inform Trey about the recent events at the manor. They theorize about the portraits, and Cleo suggests that they were hidden on the other side of the mirror. Sonya wonders if Hester conjured the bird to attack her and Yoda. They examine the portraits, and Sonya instructs Cleo not to wake her if she sleepwalks again.

Sonya and Trey discuss how she and Cleo met as college roommates. Sonya also shows Trey the final draft of the law firm’s website, and Trey approves. Trey spends the night. At three o’clock, he finds Sonya sleepwalking and brings her back to bed. While still asleep, Sonya mentions someone named “Lissy.” Trey hears a piano playing and a woman crying.

The next day, Trey recounts the night’s events and speculates that “Lissy” must be Lisbeth, who died in 1916 from 13 black widow spider bites. Later, Sonya meets Corrine, who is surprised that Trey agreed to the photography session. Corrine admires Clover’s portrait, which stands beside Collin’s portrait of Johanna.

Sonya asks Corrine about Johanna. Corrine explains that she introduced Collin to Johanna, a teacher who loved children. After Johanna’s death, Corrine saw Johanna’s ghost in the music room, asking Corrine to support Collin. Occasionally, Corrine still feels Johanna’s presence or smells her perfume, but she has not seen her again. Trey arrives with Owen and suggests using another photographer, but Sonya refuses.

Owen visits Cleo in the studio and admires her mermaid painting. Owen offers to buy it, but Cleo proposes a trade for a handmade wooden Sunfish sailboat. The group searches the storage areas for the mirror, moving other items. When Cleo and Sonya take the dogs outside, Trey and Owen explore the Gold Room. They hear banging, and suddenly the window opens and a fire starts. Trey enters the room and is thrown into the wall by an unseen force. Sonya and Cleo return, and Sonya scolds Trey for entering the Gold Room without informing them. He apologizes.

Cleo admits to Owen that she has also considered exploring the Gold Room alone. Owen warns her not to do so. Trey describes seeing Hester before being thrown and notes that Hester cannot pass the room’s door. Sonya invites Owen to stay the night. Owen tells Sonya that Trey dislikes being photographed.

Trey and Owen discuss the piano music and crying noises that always manifest at three o’clock in the morning. Owen observes that the wedding rings on the portraits also disappear and reappear during this time frame. Trey recalls Sonya noticing the same phenomenon earlier. Just then, Sonya comes downstairs and gives Owen plans for a doghouse for Yoda; the doghouse is designed to match the manor’s architecture. She trades the design for a late-Victorian mahogany desk.

The Gold Room’s bell rings, but they ignore it and explore the basement. Suddenly, the door slams behind them, the lights turn off, and the door locks. After some time, things return to normal. When they return upstairs, Sonya tells Trey that she held a woman’s hand in the dark; she realizes that the hand did not belong to Cleo, and Trey suspects that another ghost was trying to comfort Sonya. Trey and Owen return to the basement but find nothing.

On Monday, Cleo and Sonya prepare for the concert. Sonya wears the red dress that Molly laid out for her previously. They enjoy the concert, and Sonya returns to a quiet house.

Sonya sees Yoda chasing a ball and hears a young boy’s laughter. She notices the floor creaking and catches a glimpse of the boy, so she calls to him and thanks him for playing with Yoda. Cabinet doors slam, and Sonya tries to calm the ghost. Later, Clover reveals that the boy’s name is Jack. Sonya finds the Poole family history book lying open and learns that Owen Poole, who married Agatha, later married a woman named Moria, who had three boys and two girls. One of the girls, Lisbeth, became one of the lost brides. Lisbeth’s sister, Alice, gave birth to John (Jack), who died of scarlet fever at the age of nine.

That evening, Sonya, Cleo, and Trey watch a movie in the basement media room. The dogs bark as doors slam and pictures fall off the walls. Trey advises Sonya to wait out the latest haunting, and the disturbances eventually stop. They finish the movie and clean up the mess. Cleo and Sonya decide to host an open house at the manor in late May or early June.

One day, Cleo works on her mermaid painting. While washing her hands, she sees Hester Dobbs in the mirror behind her. Hot water steams up the bathroom, and the words “Leave or die” appear in the fogged mirror. The air turns cold. Sonya hears doors slamming and runs to check on Cleo, who emerges from the studio, scared and angry. They calm down and clean up Cleo’s studio. Sonya asks if Cleo’s grandmother might have something to counter Hester’s interference. Cleo agrees to check. They decide on a sleepover, and Cleo is instructed to follow Sonya if she sleepwalks and to call Trey for help.

In a flashback to 1916, the narrative describes the marriage of Lisbeth Anne Poole to Edward Whitmore. During the reception, Lisbeth experienced stabbing pains in her chest and fainted. She saw a woman in black, who stole her wedding ring, and Lisbeth’s awareness then faded away.

The narrative returns to the present. Cleo meets Corrine to create yoga-themed photographs for Sonya’s Ryder Sports project. Afterward, Sonya hears the doorbell ring but finds no one. In the library, Hester conjures a wind that knocks over Sonya’s mood boards and lifts her chair. However, Sonya hears Jack playing with Yoda and feels reassured. When a window opens, she starts to panic, but she realizes that Molly is simply airing out Cleo’s room.

When Cleo returns, she and Sonya find a note on the dog treats instructing them to “toss it.” Jack has trained Yoda to catch treats out of the air. Sonya prepares for a date with Trey, but he cancels due to a client’s medical emergency. Cleo and Sonya discuss Sonya’s romantic feelings for Trey.

Sonya and Cleo watch a movie before bed. After leaving the hospital, Trey visits Owen and recounts that his client Marlo was attacked by her ex-husband, Wes, who also injured Marlo’s son. Owen partially blames himself for the incident because he fired Wes due to the man’s alcohol addiction. Trey estimates that Wes will receive a 10- to 20-year sentence for the assaults.

An unseen hand wakes Cleo at three o’clock and whispers “Sonya” in her ear. Cleo finds Sonya sleepwalking and calls Trey. Cleo then follows Sonya to the former nursery. Cleo hears a woman crying, and a rocking chair moves. Sonya murmurs something about Carlotta grieving a child who died hours after birth.

Sonya then moves through the manor, stating that Hester feeds on fear and grief. She mentions Molly O’Brian, a former resident who had immigrated to the area. Sonya reaches the ballroom, where Cleo sees the mirror that they have been searching for. Trey and Owen arrive, and Sonya wakes up. Although Cleo and Trey see nothing but mirrored glass, Sonya and Owen see color and movement. Cleo suspects that their shared Poole ancestry is the reason for their enhanced senses in this case.

Sonya puts her hand through the mirror, but Trey pulls her back. Sonya insists that she feels a pull and that it is part of her inheritance. Cleo gives Sonya a charm, and Owen takes Sonya’s hand. Sonya and Owen step through the mirror as the house grows silent.