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Ba…
Ba paced along the main corridor of the high camp. They’d moved up with the colder weather to the high ground and joined the others. It was the closest they got to hibernation, gathering the families together. She paused and turned toward her stepdaughter, who was walking with her. “You’ve notified her men?”
Whist halted her forward stride to answer. “They are coming home soon.”
“All of them?”
Whist nodded.
“Trouble follows that girl. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“This isn’t her doing. From what the Wolves say, this has been coming for four years.”
“How many humans are in this cult? How could we have not known about them?”
“It’s uncertain. They know a group of humans are gathering to televise a live stream from Colorado. I don’t understand everything Ansel is sending me. We are working hard to access the video when it happens.
“And David?”
“They are going to find him.”
“I should have never let him go with that girl.”
“It’s what he wanted, Ba.” The woman reached out to touch her arm. “What if it is his destiny?”
The old woman threw her coffee cup, and it shattered against the wall. “I decide what his destiny is.”
“Listen to me. There is more going on, Ba. The world is changing.”
Ba rounded on her, her hands balled into fists. She pointed at Whist with her eyes narrowed.
Whist brought both of her hands up. “The guardian contacted me, the one with the girl’s mother and grandmother.”
“What about them? They are out of sight and out of mind.”
“One of them is dead. The older one.”
Ba cursed and stomped away from her. “Find me, Joe!”
*
Kennedy…
The drive to the lake was awkward. The little stuffed bear sat on Kennedy’s lap. “Couldn’t we just cleanse this toy?”
“Well, historically there have been three families that believed they could just cleanse a house. You know how that turned out.” Terry’s mom steered her truck toward the off-ramp to the country road that led to the big rock. “History insists keeping anything from that house is a poor idea.”
Kennedy stared down into the stuffed bear’s little button eyes.
“If it’s that dangerous, why does the rock behind the property have so many names carved into it?”
Terry’s mom snorted derisively. “The danger adds to the draw. The rock and lake are not part of their property, but just at the edge.” She shook her head. “When I was a girl, the boys used to dare each other to touch the railing on the back porch. There was a thrill in watching them race across the yard. The place was overgrown, but nature has never fully reclaimed it.”
The older woman turned right and headed up the long, rutted drive that led to the house. “Currently, that is Mr. Miller’s fault. He goes up there every once in a while and mows the high grass down. He doesn’t like his kids very much. They never visit him.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“So he mows a haunted lawn to spite them?” Kennedy asked.
“Spite isn’t exactly the right way to think of it.” As they came around the corner, they startled an owl who was standing in the middle of the dirt drive. The old woman hit the brakes and Kennedy’s seat belt tightened across her chest. The owl took flight and headed right toward them, startlingly close as it flew over the top of the truck. Kennedy swiveled and looked out the back window. “Whoa. What is he doing out in the daylight?”
Terry’s mom gripped the wheel tighter and pressed the gas pedal down. “Telling us to go home.”
“Then why aren’t we?”
“Because of how you hold that relic.”
Kennedy looked down and realized that she had cradled her arms around the little bear. Spooked, she placed the toy on the dash far away from her.
“Don’t let seeing an owl get all twisted in your head. This time of year, it could just be poison. The farmers, to keep their grain, kill the mice. The owls eat the mice and the poison disorients them before it kills them.” She shuddered. “It might not be a warning.”
“Can we just drive up to the gate and throw it into the yard?”
“We can not. Our family has enough ghosts.”
*
Mary Lynn…
“Are you sure it’s her?” Mary could not wrap her mind around the idea that the small curled body under the sheet on the deck was her mother-in-law. The crew member gently lifted the edge of the sheet covering her. It was her.
“Miss, we need you to move back a little. We need to get her safely out of the public area.”
“Why? So you can pretend something awful isn’t happening? So you can hide her?”
The crewmen’s voice was kind. “If you would just come with us, we can go down to the medical center and discuss the next steps.” The guardian rested his hand lightly on her arm and she jerked it away from him.
“Why aren’t you doing CPR? Isn’t that what you are supposed to do?”
“Mam… she is gone.”
“Move out of my way. I will do it.” She reached forward and placed her hands on her oldest arch-enemy. The body under the sheet was stiff and too cold for a living person. Mary snatched her hands back, sorrow rising in her in an unexpected and painful wave. She hated her. Why did she feel this way?
The guardian’s big, gentle hands came to rest on her shoulders and he drew her back. “Come now, give them room.” She choked down a sob. “Nana wouldn’t want to be laying on the deck in front of everyone.” How could this have happened?
*
Kennedy…
Crunching through the high grass, she held the little bear by one hand. When she stepped onto the first step leading to the porch, she felt a cool breeze sweep across her arms.
Kennedy’s mom froze. “Did you hear something?”
“No, what did you hear?” Kennedy rubbed the goose bumps rising on her arms.
“A baby crying.”
“Quit trying to scare me. I came here before. It was fine.” Kennedy pushed past her and went to the front door. Once again, it wasn’t locked and swung inward easily. The interior had a faint lingering floral aroma. No wonder the little bear smelled like roses.
Behind her, Terry’s mom stood stiffly, head cocked as if she was listening.
Ignoring the woman’s superstitious nature, Kennedy reminded herself that Terry’s mom was half mad. She was a bone-eating, mentally ill, off-center nut job. A wave of anger filled her, and Kennedy resisted being distracted by it. Hot and insistent, the feeling didn’t easily banish.
This woman had ruined Terry, crippled him. She could cripple Kennedy too if she let her and the baby. His mother was dangerous. Kennedy shook her head, trying to banish the intrusive thoughts. That’s when she heard it, panicked, a tiny cry weak from extended, desperate crying.
For a moment, she forgot the woman behind her and raced toward the mother’s room. What if some horror of a person had placed a child in there and abandoned it to die? Panic flooded through her, sweeping out the hot, hatred and anger. The emotions felt like a costume she was wearing. She gripped the handle and rattled the door. It was locked. Fighting with it, she dropped the bear to the dusty floor. Why wouldn’t it open? The cry became a squeaky, ragged breath. How close to death was this baby?
Motion snatched her attention as Terry’s mother reached for the teddy bear at her feet, her wide eyes locked on her.
“Don’t you touch that!!!” Rage exploded in Kennedy like a supernova.
Infuriatingly, the woman ignored her, gripped the toy, and chunked it through a hole in the wall.
Kennedy had made that opening, and yet she had forgotten it in the heat of the moment. She looked down at her hands, which were curled into claw shapes. On the brink of attacking the older woman for daring to touch her, she forced herself to stop and think… the baby. Kennedy had broken two nails fighting with the door, and ruby drops dripped to the floor. An icy wind blew hard through her and around her. Dust swirled and followed the bear through the opening.
“Holy shit.” Kennedy sank to the floor.
“Girl, don’t you do one more thing. While they are both in there, we need to close this wall.”
“What was that?”
“The mother and the child they kept from her.”
The hair rose on Kennedy’s neck as she heard it then, a mother soothing a distressed child. The rocking chair within the room creaked back and forth. Kennedy rocked herself to the rhythm, self-soothing until Terry’s mom returned.
When Terry’s mom went out to get the second load of tools and the bucket of mud, Kennedy followed her.