Stephen (23 page)

“
It’s a letter to the finder. It says that whoever finds this is a treasure all of their own. I think it was a teenager. And by the prose, I’d say from the fourteenth century.” Hawk touched the pouch, then nodded. Stephen continued telling the story as he read.

“
He was sixteen and sickly. His father was a merchant sailor and died at sea. The mother had to sell everything they owned to keep from going to debtors’ prison. Apparently his plan was to find the desk when they were settled and get his treasures. He goes on to say how his father was a bastard and that he was glad to be rid of him.” Stephen picked up the pouch and dumped it on the desk. “Christ.”

“
He was a pick-pocket.” Clar spoke as she came into the room and smiled at Hawk. “Hello. I thought you’d be back.”

Stephen looked at his friend and lifted a brow. Hawk flushed and stammered a little before he explained. He was embarrassed, something Stephen would never had guess the man to ever be.

“
I was just telling Stephen you could do this as well.” She sat down next to him and picked up the biggest emerald he’d ever seen. She put it down and picked up the dozen or so rubies that lay in the pile and started to separate them by gem as Hawk continued. “The boy is hanging around the desk. He wants someone to…he has descendants. Not many, but they could use this money. He doesn’t want them to have it all because he believes they will spend it stupidly, but he does want to know if you’ll help them.”

“
Yes.” Stephen looked at Clar when she spoke. “If you don’t mind, I guess. It’s your desk after all.”

“
It’s our desk and yes, we’ll help them out.” He picked up the will and handed it to her. “This is not from the same kid. This was put in years later and is written by hand. I’m sure that whoever put it there hoped that someone would find it after he passed.”

“
His lover died before him. They were together when they were robbed.” She put the will down and looked at him. “The son killed them for the money. He decided that since they had cut him off without a penny, he’d take it all. He still lives and has worked his way through their savings and is now looking for a way to capitalize on more.”

Stephen waited. There was something else going on here. Something that had Hawk come into their home in the middle of the night. When he started to help Clar separate the gems out, Stephen nearly told him to get to it when he finally spoke.

“
I have found something…someone. She’s just a child, but she is haunted by something that I cannot touch. I was wondering if you’d help me.” He didn’t look up from what he was doing but continued speaking in low tones. “Her parents despair of her ever being normal…not that I really know what normal is, but she won’t be unless the thing that haunts her is dealt with.”

“
A spirit?” Hawk shrugged at Clar. “You don’t know what it is or you don’t want to tell us?”

“
You, not both of you. While Stephen is as strong as you are, he is a male. And the spirit that harms her is male.” Before Stephen could point out that he was male, Hawk explained. “I come to her as my hawk. For some reason we can speak, even though there is no reason for us to be able to.”

“
You think she’s a clairvoyant like me.” Again he shrugged. “Do you know anything? I mean, so far all we know is she’s a kid who’s having nightmares.”

“
He is killing her.” Hawk got up to pace. “This thing doesn’t just haunt her, but he takes her body. And when he does, he makes her harm herself. Not like that movie where the little girl was possessed by the devil, but a spirit. I think he might be a ghost that has found himself a toy. Two times I’ve been there when he’s taken her over. He will do things like try to drown her in the tub. Once he had her leap from a tall building, and if not for the man below, she would have fallen to her death.”

“
You think he’s doing this to kill her so he has a playmate?” Hawk turned to look at Clar. Stephen could see by the look on his face he’d not considered that. When he sat down, he looked pale and afraid.

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He could, couldn’t he? Kill her so that her spirit will be there for him forever.” Clar stood up and so did he. “You will help me?”

“
Now. We’ll go now.” They both disappeared, leaving Stephen there alone. It took him several seconds to realize that he had no idea where they’d even gone. Standing up, he started putting the gems in the pouch again when Hawk came back. He was grinning.

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I got caught up in the moment.” Stephen nodded. “Would you like to come with us? I’m not sure what you can do for her, but if you’d like to come I can—”

“
Protect her.” Hawk nodded. “Make sure that whatever happens there that you protect her at all costs. And I will take care of the other things.”

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You’re a good man.” Stephen shook his head. “You are. I was worried you’d tell me no. That you’d say something about mates and that she wasn’t going to be allowed to help me.”

“
Have you met my mate? I mean, seriously, do you think if I tried to tell her she could or couldn’t do anything, it would go over all that well? I think she’d simply do whatever I said she couldn’t just to piss me off.” He smiled at Hawk. “You’ll have a mate that will—”

“
No. I can’t. I don’t…I know that most men our age would say that we’re too set in our ways, that finding a mate this late in our lives is going to be difficult or some shit like that. But I never want a mate because of what I am. A woman would be…she wouldn’t be able to understand what I am.”

“
You’d be surprised.” Hawk only shook his head and told him he’d watch over Clarice. “See that you do. And let me know if you or she needs me.”

After he was gone, Stephen wandered about the house. He used to do this before he’d found Clarice…move from room to room and enjoy the peace and quiet of it all. Now the silence bothered him. It was entirely too…well, there was no Clarice there to make it a home. Finally he settled at the desk again and read the will. His first order of business was to find this family, then deal with the gems for the young man.

~~~

Clar watched the little girl interact with Hawk. She was so gentle with him that she wanted to sit and watch them for hours. But when she turned to look at Clar, she could see the hatred there as well as something evil.

“
You think you have me figured out?” The voice of the small child was so contrary to the harshness of the words. Clar didn’t say anything as the child/thing laughed. “I’m not going to leave her be. And even if you do manage to get me to leave her, I’ll just find someone else to play with.”

“
You think?” Clar sat down and pretended to consider his words. “Nah, I don’t think that’s going to happen. You see, I’m a good deal stronger than you are, and not to mention, I know what you’re up to.”

“
Do not.” When he moved from the girl and sat on the bed beside her, she could see what had happened to him.

“
There was a fire. And you were left behind.” Clar knew the kid from his picture in the paper the previous year. The fire and the deaths had made the headlines for months. Petey glared at her, and she hurt for him. “You started the fire, but you in no way killed you and your two sisters. The fire you set burned down the entire building.”

“
So.” He got up to walk to the window, and she wondered if he could see out without Daniy, the little girl’s body. “I can start a fire here too if I want. Do you think she’ll be able to find her way out of here without me?”

“
I think you’d mislead her just so she would die.” He looked at her, and she could see she’d hit a nerve. “Is that what happened with your sisters? You tried to get them out and got all turned around?”

“
I told you I set the fire. What more do you want from me? You think I got them lost in the building to make them die with me? I wasn’t going to be the only dead person. I wanted company.” He moved toward her, and she noticed that he moved through the bed and not around it. “I killed them.”

“
No, you didn’t.” He stopped moving. “You might have set the fire, but it wasn’t to kill anyone. It was to keep them warm. You also did try to get them out, but unfortunately for you and your sisters, your mother locked you in the house so that she could go to a friend’s house to get high. There was no way you could have gotten them out.”

“
She said she’d be back soon and that we’d be okay.” He looked at Daniy when she started to cry. “I didn’t make her do that.”

“
Of course you didn’t. You’re scaring her though. She’s as frightened as your sisters were when your mother locked the door. How long were you in there?” He looked at Daniy again and reached out to smooth her hair. She couldn’t see him, Clar thought, but she could feel his touch. “Your name is Petey, right? Your sisters were Porsche and Grace.”

“
They were little. Both of them were so little. I couldn’t carry them at the same time.” He looked at her. “Mom put a box of diapers in the room with us and a box of cereal with some milk. There wasn’t enough milk for their bottles and the food, so I’d eat it dry to save them some. We were in there for a long time.”

Clar knew how long they’d been left. The mother had claimed that she’d left them for only a weekend. But under further investigations it had been more like two weeks. It was a small wonder that they’d been able to survive as long as they had. The heat had been turned off the day after she’d left them, and the temperatures had dropped to below zero for nearly that entire week before they’d been murdered. The pictures in the paper of the fire had made her sad when she’d seen their lovely faces. The girls, a set of identical twins, were only seven months old; the little boy was six.

“
You can’t hurt her any more. Daniy’s parents are very worried about her. You don’t want her to die, do you?” He shook his head. “I can understand that you’re lonely. I’m that way too, but she can be your friend. She can talk to you.”

“
I want her to play with me.” Clar nodded and picked up a book. Daniy took it from her and turned to the first page and started reading. In a few minutes Petey sat beside her and looked at the pages as she turned them. “I didn’t know she could read.”

“
I’m sure there are a good many things you don’t know about her. Did you know that she has a brother? And that he has toys that he lets his sister play with? Maybe she could bring some in here for you and let you play with them.” He looked at the floor that was covered in toys that Clar was sure he’d tossed there. “You’ll have to be nicer to her or she’ll cry again. Her parents might even move away, and then what will you do?”

“
I don’t want her to leave me.” The temper flared again, and Daniy pulled away from him. Before Clar could tell him to calm, Petey touched the book again. “Tell her…can you tell her I’m sorry?”

“
She knows.” Daniy started reading the book again, but she kept looking in the direction where Petey was sitting. It wasn’t long before Petey was smiling and laughing when the little girl did. Clar stood up.

“
Are you leaving me?” She nodded at Petey. “Are you taking the man with you? The bird I mean?”

“
I am. His name is Hawk. He’s the one who brought me here.” Petey nodded. “You’re going to not hurt her now, right?”

“
I won’t hurt her.” He looked longingly at the window. “I wish I could tell them I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for them to die. And sometimes…I wish I could ask my mom why she didn’t come back when she said she would.”

She could have told him that she was in jail for their murders, but Clar doubted that would help him. Clar also thought about telling him that the little girls had died in his arms and that people around the world had been horrified by what had happened to them. That many sent money to pay for their funerals and the beautiful headstones that marked their tiny graves. But again, she didn’t. It would do him little good now. Instead, she put out her hand and told him to take it. When he smiled at her, she knew that he’d made a connection with her.

“
All you need to do is call out to me and I’ll come to you. It might not be right away but I’ll come, okay? You be a good boy and Daniy will care for you.” He nodded. “I’m sorry that this happened to you, but you have a chance to be happy. Let it come to you.”

She left with Hawk, and when she was alone in the living room, she went to find Stephen. He was on the phone with someone, so she sat in the chair across from him. When he hung up, she smiled at him.

“
Would you like to have a baby?” He cocked a brow at her, and she laughed. “A real one, not a ghost.”