by Ginny Baird
Then I’ll be there,
Yeah, be there,
With you
’Neath the blue, blue sky,
No lie.
I’ll be there,
I’ll be there,
Yeah, with you,
No lie…
Because ba…aby,
I believe,
Yes, I do,
Oh, ba…aby,
I believe,
in you.
And now, I, oh yeah I…
Am fa…alling,
As the winds, autumn winds…
They are call…alling,
And I’m here,
Yes, I’m here,
With you.
’Neath the blue, blue sky,
No lie.
Yes, I’m here,
Yeah, I’m here…
With you.
No lie…
Because ba…aby,
I believe,
Yes, I do,
Oh, ba…aby,
I believe,
in you.
Perry’s heart pounded as she set down her guitar. “Claire,” he said, meeting her eyes. “That was… Wow. That was, wow.”
“Thanks.” She blushed faintly. “Like I said, it’s still rough.”
“There’s nothing I’d change about it.”
“Really?”
“There’s nothing I’d change about you.”
Just then, Elizabeth’s SUV screeched up the drive, sending gravel flying. She quickly exited and strode toward them. “Honey, I’m so sorry!” she said, obviously out of breath. “Did you get Martha’s message?”
“Yeah, I talked to her,” Claire said. “It’s fine.”
Perry stood to meet Mrs. Jennings as she approached, scooting Phantom off his lap.
“I said I’d hang out until you got home. I hope that’s okay.”
“We didn’t go in the house,” Claire added quickly.
Elizabeth studied the kids, seeing they’d obviously been sitting on the porch. “Of course, that’s fine. Thanks, Perry.” She turned to him. “That was nice of you to want to stay with Claire.”
“It was honestly no problem.” He gazed briefly at Claire. “No problem at all.”
Chapter Eight
Melody met the others behind the Fenton house at nine o’clock. They’d ridden their bicycles there through the shadows and now huddled together by the back door with their backpacks. A third-quarter moon hung high in the October sky, reflecting eerily in the house’s windows. Somewhere off in the distance, a hoot owl called.
“This is creepy,” Joy said in a whisper.
“Way creepy,” Lilly agreed.
“Don’t be such babies,” Penelope scolded. “I could have done all this myself.”
Melody briefly considered taking her up on it. “Here,” she said, handing her backpack over and calling Penelope’s bluff.
Penelope narrowed her eyes in the darkness. “What’s this?”
“You said you wanted to do it alone.”
Penelope hesitated, glancing at the others. “There’s too much to do for just one person.”
“Fine,” Melody said. She tried the knob to the back door, finding it locked, then stared at Joy with agitation. “You were supposed to crawl in through the basement window and unlock it.”
Joy’s color deepened a shade. “I did come by today, but…”
“But what?”
She hung her head, then spoke softly. “I didn’t fit.”
Penelope started to laugh, but Melody’s glare stopped her. “You probably wouldn’t either.”
Penelope glanced down at her own curvy figure. At fifteen, all the girls had developed, some of them in greater proportions than others. And each was a little on the heavy side, excepting Melody. All eyes turned on her.
“You want me to go in there? Now? Alone?”
Melody’s pulse quickened.
“You’re the only one who fits,” Lilly said.
“Guess this is one time being skinny pays off,” Penelope said.
If this was the payoff, Melody wasn’t sure she wanted to win this lotto. “Maybe we should just wait. Until closer to Halloween, like Joy said.”
“But we’re already here,” Lilly protested.
“Yeah,” Penelope chimed in. “Here with all the stuff.”
Stuff like a bunch of cheap bed sheets, rope, and party balloons they could blow up and shove under the sheets to look like ghost heads. It had all seemed such a great plan. They’d set up the house with a bunch of fake goblins peering out the windows and throw stones and make noises until they were sure the Jennings were awake. Then they’d run for the hills like scared rabbits.
Melody peered around the corner of the house at the graveyard. No wait, they’d better run in the other direction. She’d hoped Joy would back her up in putting this whole thing off. Instead, the other girl handed her a flashlight. “You can take this.”
Melody puffed out a breath. “Thanks, Joy.”
Melody dumped her backpack on a step and went around to the basement window. It was always a little loose and had a lock that had been broken off years ago. She jimmied it open and stared inside at the cavernous black basement. It smelled of dampness, mold, and who knew what else that could have been down there fermenting forever.
“If you see old Mrs. Fenton’s corpse, step over it,” Penelope added unhelpfully from nearby.
“Thanks, Penny. Appreciate it.”
Getting down on her belly, Melody extended her legs over the window’s ledge and draped them inside. The thought flashed through her brain that something sinister might grab them. But she willed that thought away and slid her torso in next. With her grip on the ledge, she drew a breath and dropped down to the floor. Standing up on her tiptoes, she could just reach the flashlight Joy extended toward her. “Be careful!” Joy whispered.
“And hurry!” the others said.
Like I really want to take my time with this…
Her toe hit something that scraped across concrete and sent her tripping forward. Melody righted herself with a start. She checked the floor with the flashlight, seeing she’d just kicked a tin watering can.
“Shhh!” Penelope called from above.
“Why don’t you shut up and come do it?” Melody hissed back. She wasn’t even sure why she was here. As long as a few days ago, she’d decided she no longer wanted in on this game. It wasn’t right picking on Claire the way they all did. Melody realized she was the one who had started it. But after a point, wasn’t enough enough?
She found the stairs and followed them up to the kitchen, one creaky footfall at a time. Each time a new board shrieked, Melody shivered. It was as if this whole house was sending her a warning. A warning about what she ought not to do. Skittering noises sounded from across the room, and she wheeled her light in that direction, finding a passel of field mice. They were picking at straw from an old bale of hay that had been left rotting in the corner. Melody didn’t know why old man Robeson hadn’t cleaned this place up. He was angling to sell it after all. Then she remembered he’d had the lawn reseeded in September. The hay was probably left over from that. She could hear the other girls whispering outside, but as she climbed higher, their voices faded in the night.
Melody swallowed hard, thinking this was a stupid idea. Totally lame. But she had nobody to blame for it but herself. If she could wind back time, she’d undo everything. Maybe even make nice with Claire from the start. She’d been new in Blayton once herself and understood how awkward it was feeling like an outsider. While she acted tough on the surface, the truth was Melody was secretly ashamed of the bully she’d become. That wasn’t a person her mom could be proud of, or her Uncle Nathan either. And that wasn’t who Melody really wanted to be. At times, she’d thought it was too late to change things. She had her bad-girl reputation to uphold, after all. Then again, if she wanted to change, she’d have to do right. Not keep on hedging down a dark path.
Finally reaching the kitche
n, she pressed open the door and stepped into the chilly house. It was even colder in here than in the basement, owing to the fact that the heat was turned off. Melody thought she remembered learning something in science class about warm air rising but dismissed her rationalizing. What did it matter how cold it was where? All she needed to do was get to the back door and let the others in. Or maybe she could meet them, then stop this! Yeah. Nothing had been done yet. It wasn’t really too late. What was it her Uncle Nathan always said? Actions speak louder than words. So what if she and her friends had schemed to do something nasty? If it never came off, it would be like they’d never planned it at all.
But the only way to stop things involved getting to the outside door. That meant passing through Mrs. Fenton’s room. In her dying days, she’d been kept in the dining room because she’d been too weak to climb the stairs. The table had been taken out, and her hospice bed had been wheeled in. Only one piece of dining room furniture remained.
Melody turned toward the threshold to that room, her heart pounding. She knew the mahogany sideboard with its matching antique mirror stood there still. There were rumors about that old mirror. Stories she and the other kids joked about but that nobody thought were real. If you passed by it under a full moon, you could see the face of a ghost in the glass. Mrs. Fenton’s ghost, most likely. Though nobody knew for sure, as no one had been brave enough to test the theory. Melody hurried into the room, reminding herself that a full moon was a whole week away. She had nothing to worry about now. It was just a dumb superstition.
She was halfway across the room when something stopped her. Through the back door windowpane, she could see the others hunkered together waiting to be let in. But here in the blackness of this room, she felt a presence. It was something she didn’t totally understand, but still felt she knew. Melody swept the parameters of the room with her flashlight, its low beam bouncing off the surrounding windows. Then suddenly, her light went out. She shook the flashlight and batteries rattled inside it, but it failed to switch back on.
“Melody!” She could hear Joy’s hoarse whisper from beyond the door. “Come on!”
She wanted to go toward them. Really she did. But it was as if magnets were attached to her eyes, pulling them toward the mirror. Melody heard heavy breathing, then realized it was her own as her heart thump-thumped, thump-thumped in her ears. Her gaze panned slowly to the sideboard, then gradually…oh so gradually…to its dusty, overhanging mirror. Melody stared straight ahead, her jaw unhinged. And in that moment, she knew.
“Holy crap!” she shrieked, racing for the back door and bolting through it.
Joy caught her arm, but she broke free. “Melody! What’s wrong?”
Lights in the Jennings house next door flipped on.
“Let’s get going,” Penelope urged, strapping on her backpack.
Lilly and Joy hopped on their bikes.
“Where’s Melody?” Penelope asked.
Joy pointed down the road about a hundred yards to where Melody was already riding away, pedaling fast.
Nathan and Bernie went through the Fenton house in detail but didn’t find a thing, other than the basement window pushed open and the back door left ajar. Once Nathan was satisfied there was nothing more, he sent his deputy home. Then he went to speak with the woman who’d placed the 9-1-1 call.
Elizabeth opened her front door wearing pajama pants and a sweatshirt, her shoulder-length hair pulled back in a ponytail. There was worry in her deep brown eyes, and it pained Nathan to see it. If there was a way on earth to keep her from worrying ever again, he’d ensure it.
“It’s okay,” he told her. “The place is clear.”
She breathed a sigh, but her brow still wrinkled in concern. “We heard something, I swear. It sounded just like a woman screaming.”
“I’m not saying you imagined it,” he assured her. “It could have been anything. The wind, a fox…”
“It definitely wasn’t the wind,” Elizabeth said. “And how on earth could a fox get that back door open?”
Nathan wasn’t sure but didn’t want to trouble her further. “The important thing is, there’s nobody in there now. Bernie and I scoured the place from top to bottom.”
He spied Claire standing at the base of the stairs, the same worried look on her face as on her mother’s.
“It’s okay,” he told her. “Whatever it was, it’s gone now.”
The teen wrapped her arms around herself in a shiver. “It sounded really weird. Like, I don’t know. It wasn’t even from this world.”
“Everything sounds different at night,” Nathan promised. “It could even have been a cat.”
As if on cue, Phantom appeared from the kitchen.
“But this cat’s been right here all night long,” Claire said.
Nathan glanced from one to the other, sensing their level of concern. Of course they’d been bothered by whatever had occurred next door. While he couldn’t explain it, he was sure Elizabeth and her girl had heard something. And, whatever it was had left both of them spooked.
“Tell you what,” he said kindly. “If it makes you feel any better, I can stay here tonight.”
“Here?” Elizabeth asked with alarm.
“I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
“Can he, Mom? Please?”
Elizabeth studied her daughter, then glanced at Nathan. “Are you sure?”
“I’m happy to do it. I don’t really suspect any more funny business will go on next door, but I’m glad to provide backup just in case.”
The tension in Elizabeth’s expression eased. “That really is beyond the call.”
“No, it’s not.”
“He’s insisting, Mom.”
Elizabeth pursed her lips for a beat. “You’re really nice to do this.”
“Got a pillow and a blanket?” Nathan asked her.
The next afternoon, Belle stunned Nathan by walking into his office.
“This is a nice surprise.” He stood to greet her, but something in her demeanor gave him pause. “Belle? What is it?”
“Nathan, I don’t want you to get excited now…”
There was no more surefire way to set his nerves on edge. What is going on here?
“But I came to tell you Melody and I are leaving town.”
“Leaving?”
“This may seem sudden—”
“Damn straight it does.” He took his sister by the shoulders. “Where on earth is this coming from?”
She met his eyes in a determined fashion. “I’m not asking you to talk me out of it. I want you to understand.”
Nathan released his grip, his head still reeling. “Understand what?”
There was a peaceful calm about her. “Just that it’s time. Melody’s decided she’s ready to go home.”
“Back to Bristol? But you said you’d never—”
“It’s not like we’re going away forever. We’ll still be in touch.”
“But why now? So all of a sudden?”
“It’s been building for a while,” she told him. “This change in Melody. She’s ready now to face a lot of things.”
“I think I’d like to hear that from her myself.”
Belle glanced toward the door, where Melody had appeared in the threshold.
“Uncle Nathan,” she said, rushing toward him. “I’m going to miss you.”
She wrapped her arms around him in a hug, and a lump welled in Nathan’s throat. “You too, kiddo. You too.”
He met his sister’s eyes.
“Are you sure?”
An hour later, Dan hugged Belle good-bye at the orchard.
“I didn’t think our date went that bad,” he said, choking back his emotion.
“It didn’t,” she said. She met his gaze. “It was wonderful.”
“If only there could be another time.”
“There will be.”
“You sound so sure.”
A smile tilted up the edges of her mouth. “Maybe I know something you don’t.�
��
“Maybe.”
“Don’t lose faith.”
“It’s hard.”
“I know.”
“When will I see you?”
“Soon.”
“Promise?”
She wrapped her arms around him and did what Dan had only dreamed of. She kissed him on the lips. “Does that feel like a promise to you?”
Claire walked in the door, appearing troubled.
“Hey, hon,” Elizabeth said. “How was school today?”
“Okay.”
She continued to read her daughter’s expression but couldn’t decipher it. “Okay?”
Claire dropped her backpack to the floor and slunk down on the sofa, studying the worn hook rug.
“Claire?”
Her eyes were moist. “Something weird is going on, Mom.”
“Something weird, how?”
“I’m not sure. It’s just a feeling.”
“Did something happen today?”
“Not really. It’s just that…”
“What?”
“Melody wasn’t in school.”
“Maybe she was sick.”
“Perry heard she moved.”
“What?” Elizabeth asked in shock. “Just like that?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. Nathan didn’t say a thing. I mean she is his sister. He might have mentioned—”
“Perry says that happens here.”
“What happens?”
“People disappear. All of a sudden.”
“Now, that’s silly, Claire.”
“I know it sounds weird, but Perry says—”
Elizabeth sat beside her daughter. “Look, I don’t want you getting yourself worked up over some circulating high school rumors. Let me ask Nathan about it, all right? I’m sure he’ll give me the straight story.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Elizabeth opened her arms for a hug. “Now, come here.”
Claire scooted toward her, and she drew her into her arms. “Whatever’s going on, I’m sure there’s some logical explanation. Okay?”
“Okay,” Claire said, hugging her back.
