by Alexie Aaron
“I hesitate to do so. Last time, I fucked things up royally.”
“Oh dear, your language. You have been in my mind too many times,” Mia teased. “Come, I only have a moment.”
It just took a moment. Mia watched his face and saw the brows unknit and the jaw unclench. He opened his eyes and regarded Mia.
“You have his feather inside you.”
He could tell by her shocked look that she had no idea.
“I don’t think he put it there to do you harm. I think it’s more a memory device. It also notified him you were airborne. That’s how he saved you from killing yourself. You silly, indulgent little bird.”
“But I’m not a little bird, Angelo. I’m not a bird at all. Mia turned around, dropped the robe and opened her wings.
Angelo took a step back as the mighty wings of an archangel were presented. “How in the world?”
Mia grabbed the robe and clutched it to her front before turning around to face him. “Not a bird, not an angel. What am I?”
“Something wonderful,” he said. “Forgive me, Mia. I have been a fool. It would be an honor to fight beside you. It will take some time, but I’ll come to grips with your alliance with Sariel.”
“Thank you. Forgive me, Angelo, for my part in the misunderstandings between us. You see, you were right. I did love Murphy enough to activate the curse when I was too young to know what love was. But the curse has been broken. I now control my own destiny. I can love my husband with my whole heart, and I do. Please understand that.”
“Mia, give me time,” Angelo said. “Go now. Because I still want to rip that robe from you, take you high into the heavens, and mate with you as we plunge to our deaths.”
Mia’s eyes widened. She dropped the robe, extended her wings, wrapped them around her and disappeared.
Angelo stared at the empty space for a while before smiling.
Ted was still asleep when Mia arrived on the deck. Brian was singing his good morning song. Mia picked him up and walked him over to the changing table. “Good morning to you too. We have another day with Daddy,” she said excitedly. “Your mommy is a very lucky lady, and you’re a lucky boy. Your Daddy can build castles out of Legos and robots out of wires. He can make me laugh with his jokes.”
“Da De,” Brian said.
“Oh my god, you said…”
“Da De,” Brian said, looking over at the door.
Mia turned around, and there stood a very sleepy Ted. “He just called you…”
“Da De,” Brian said again and reached his hands out.
Ted’s eyes lit up. “He did, didn’t he?” Ted walked over and lifted his son in the air. “Well, Da De and Brian are going to dance. Tango music please,” he said to Mia.
She sang out, “La de la dah…”
Ted realized as she sang, it was the tango they’d danced at Ralph’s wedding. This was the strange little song she had been singing yesterday.
Mia continued to sing as she took care of the soiled diaper and cleaned up the nursery. Ted moved out into the cottage with Brian, dipping him when appropriate.
“Honey, we have a visitor,” Ted said.
Mia, who was still just clothed in the Chiefs jersey, shrieked, “Oh no, I’m not dressed.”
“Come here,” he said.
Mia stuck her head out and followed Ted to the lakeside windows. There, out on the railing, was a gray squirrel.
“Brian, that’s a squirrel. Can you say squirrel?”
Try as he might, the child couldn’t put the right sounds together. “Pblsst!”
“I think, Ted, you’re going to have to be happy with Da De for today,” Mia commented. She walked into the kitchen and fixed Brian his morning bottle. Matt, Brian’s pediatrician, said that soon she should try a sippy cup, although Brian may still want a bottle before bedtime. He was growing so fast. Mia knew he was going to take after his tall father, and this pleased her. It was difficult being short, especially if you were a guy. Although, it didn’t seem to bother her grandfather Orion any.
“I’m going to make some cookies today,” she said, handing Ted the bottle.
“Good. Why the sudden industry?”
“We have to return the pie plate. Ralph says you never return a dish without something in it.”
“Well, live and learn. I thought that I might stick my nose in the boathouse and see if there’s anything I can tinker with.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t already. I’m sorry, I didn’t think when I packed to bring your toys.”
Ted stuck his tongue out. “You have your wings; I have my things.”
“Oh, I like that,” Mia said and sang, “You have your wings, and I have my things…” to a waltz tempo.
It made Brian turn from watching the squirrel to watching his mother as she danced around the kitchen while starting breakfast.
“They are going to take you away soon,” Ted teased.
“I’m sure I’m not going alone,” Mia countered.
~
Mark walked back through the woods and quickly past the old house on his way home. He didn’t want to be waylaid by the ghosts today. He had six large perch to get home. He did stop before he hit the street and look back at the building. The sun reflected off of something shiny inside. He was tempted to investigate, but the fish and his gran were waiting.
“He’s still interested,” the wife said to her husband. “We haven’t lost him yet.”
“I do hope you’re right. I have a feeling that he’s our last hope.”
The boys started bouncing a ball upstairs.
“It has to be hard being stuck in the house on such a nice day,” the woman commented, looking upward.
“They have borne worse,” the man said, putting his arm around his wife’s waist.
“Let’s not think of that,” she said, putting her head on his shoulder. “Let’s forget that ever happened.”
“I’m not sure we can,” he said sadly.
~
“Gran, look. Doesn’t this look like Mrs. Martin?” Mark said, handing her the bible, open to the picture.
“My goodness, so it does. Mark, you do know that this is just an artist’s representation of what he or she thinks an angel looks like?”
“Yes, but I’d like to show it to her if it’s alright with you?”
“Of course it is. I’m pleased that you’ve been reading the bible, Mark,” she said.
“I kinda started on my namesake’s chapter.”
“They call it a book. You see…” Edie went on to explain to her grandson how the books were gathered and the bible was put together to the best of her knowledge. “A grand undertaking but a good one.”
“There are some good stories in there if you can get by the begets.”
Edie smiled. “There are quite a lot of begets, aren’t there?”
There was a light tapping on the street-side door. Mark walked to the door and opened it. “Hi, we were just talking about begets.”
Mia walked in the open door carrying Brian with one arm and Edie’s basket with the other. “Begets? Oh, the bible. Well, you could say the pie your grandmother baked us in a way begetted these cookies.”
“Oh, thank you, you shouldn’t have,” Edie said, rushing to the door, taking the basket from Mia. “Come on in. Put your feet up.”
Mark looked at the woman whom he could stand and look eye to eye with. She was short but strong. She didn’t have on makeup like his mother put on every day. She had what Grandpa Sam would say was a fresh-scrubbed face. The baby looked more like Mr. Martin. He had a rather prominent nose. But his eyes were the color of moss, like his mother.
“We were just talking about you this morning,” Edie said, sitting down.
“Uh oh, what’d did I do?” Mia asked, worried.
“No, nothing like that. Go on, Mark, show her.”
Mark held the book out so she could see it but Brian couldn’t grab it.
“That looks a bit like me,” she said, laughing. �
��I wonder who painted it?”
“Why, we didn’t think to look. I got the bible at a yard sale. I like books, especially bibles, with pictures in them. Mark, look for an illustrator’s credit.”
Mark looked in the back and shook his head.
“Try the copyright page,” Edie suggested.
“Ee mile Nay er.”
“Um, can I see that? I think the name’s French,” Mia said, looking at the name. “Émile Neyer. I’m related to the Neyers. I wonder if it’s a relative.”
“I bet a family member posed for the picture,” Edie said, excited.
“There are artists and clowns on that side of the family. I think that’s where I got my odd sense of humor,” Mia admitted. “Thank you for showing me. There is an interesting story that involves a picture and my grandfather, Neyer, finally meeting me just last week.”
“Coffee first. Mark, run upstairs and get the company box.”
Mia was puzzled about the box until she saw that it contained baby toys.
“I wash them after every chew,” Edie said as Mark opened the Ziploc bags.
Once Brian was settled down on the clean sheet with the toys, Mia began her story. “I was raised by very distracted parents. My parents are archeologists and anthropologists. My mother didn’t talk at all about her family. She was only interested in whatever subject she was writing about. I didn’t even find out that I had relatives on my mother’s side of the family until my cousin was doing a genealogy search and asked her. Most people would think this is odd or maybe there was some kind of falling out between my mother and my grandparents, but if you met my mother, you would understand. I suspect she may be a bit autistic. She is very unfriendly and not nurturing.”
“That’s sad,” Mark said. “My mom is busy too.”
“Earlier this summer, I went to the beach and…” Mia told the story of the contest, the poster, and her aunt seeing it. “She called my grandfather, and he hired an investigator, and he found me. His name is Émile Neyer. He’s from Alsace, France. So you see, I’ve had a happy ending from an embarrassing situation.”
“Are you mad at your mother for not telling you?” Mark asked.
“Honestly, I’ve gotten used to her ways. I’m sad that I didn’t have them in my life when I was younger, but I’m overjoyed to have found them now. Family is so important, Mark. My mother isn’t perfect, but neither am I.”
“My dad is in a coma,” Mark said. “They call it ‘locked-in’. He can’t move, but he can open his eyes. He needs special care and is in a veterans’ home in Chicago.”
“That must be so hard for you, Mark.”
“He can’t talk to me. I have no idea if he hears me.”
Edie watched the young woman and her grandson interact, surprised by how Mark was opening up to her.
“If we found a way for you to talk to your father and he back to you, would this make you happy? Even if what he has to say is sad?” Mia asked.
Mark thought a moment. “I guess so, but we can’t afford that machine…”
“What machine?” Mia asked, interested.
Mark got up and ran upstairs. He came back down with an article. He handed it to Mia.
“EEG technology, huh. Would you mind if I borrow this and show it to Ted? You see, my husband is a bit of a genius. He invents things. See this?” Mia picked up one of the necklaces that she wore. “This little round bead is monitoring my heartbeat, right now. It normally is picked up by Bluetooth and sent to a computer so my husband can watch over me when I’m investigating.”
“Cool.”
“Mia, what kind of investigating do you do?” Edie asked.
Mia frowned. “This is where you are going to politely ask me to leave.”
“Nonsense. Tell us.”
“I’m a paranormal investigator,” Mia said and waited for the roll of the eyes.
Edie asked, “Like ghosts and things like that?”
“Yes. I’m also a sensitive. I may be able to help Mark communicate with his father, depending on how deep his dad is locked-in.”
“Nonsense,” Mark said.
“Come here, both of you. Let me show you. I’m going to ask you, Mark, to think of something - I’ll tell you after I explain – and I’m going to ask your grandmother to reply by thinking. Then I’m going to tell you both what you said to each other.” Mia took off her gloves and took each of their hands. “Mark, you ask your grandmother about something you’ve never asked her before, and, Edie, you reply.”
Mia smiled and dropped their hands.
“Mark, you asked if your grandmother thought I was a charlatan, and Edie said that you should always give people a chance, even crazy ones.”
“How did you?” Edie started.
“Oh man!” Mark exclaimed.
“Wait, I want to try something harder. It may not work. My cousin Sabine is better at this than I am, but I’d like to try. Mark, you’re going to ask Edie a question, and, Edie, you’re going to hear it in your head. You need to think back the answer, and, Mark, if all goes right, you’re going to hear that in your head. It may tingle or even burn. Are you two game?” Mia asked.
Both of them nodded. “Okay, give me your hands. Mark, ask your grandmother how she feels. Edie, you answer him. Wait until I squeeze your hand.”
Mia closed her eyes and linked with both grandmother and grandson. She squeezed Edie’s hand. Mia felt something akin to sinus pressure but didn’t hear anything in her mind. She waited until Mark lessened his grip before opening her eyes. “Did anything happen?”
Mark and Edie had tears rolling down their cheeks.
“I’m sorry, did it hurt?”
“No, you marvelous girl,” Edie scolded. “I heard him.”
“I heard her. How is this possible?”
“Ted would say that I’m a USB chord between two devices. I’m thinking that maybe we can arrange a time when your mother is back and see if I can help you to hear your father. But, Mark, I have to warn you. He’s been locked-in for some time. He may ask you to do something that you aren’t going to want to do.”
Edie looked at Mia and nodded. “Go ahead, tell him.”
“Mark, some people who are in the physical state your father is in, want to die. They see death as their only escape.”
Mark nodded but didn’t say anything.
“In the meantime, I’ll have Ted look at this. Between him and a doctor friend of ours, perhaps they can make this machine better and cheaper.”
Mark sprang at Mia and hugged her hard. “I don’t care if he asks to die. I want to hear him say it.”
Mia held him and patted his back.
“Welly Bees,” Brian said from the floor.
Mia smiled down at her son. She was proud that he connected with the heartfelt moment. He was going to make someone a great husband one day.
“There’s a haunted house near here,” Mark said, letting go of Mia.
“There are a lot of haunted houses, Mark. What makes this one special?” she asked, getting on her knees to play with Brian.
“I think the house is calling to me at night, in my dreams.”
Mia looked over at Edie, who was nodding her head, and back to Mark. “Tell me about the dreams?”
“I don’t see how the people died inside of it, but I see the house as it was when it was happy and now that it’s dying.”
“Sam and I have a hard time believing the house can feel,” Edie admitted.
“I’ve come across a few buildings that could. One did everything in its power to keep functioning as an inn,” Mia told them. “Have you ever walked into a room that people just finished arguing in? Yes? There is a lot of stored energy. Sometimes the home absorbs this energy and, in a very unscientific way, comes alive. The worry I have is that the house is calling to you, Mark. Have you been in it?”
“No, Grandpa Sam asked me not to. He said it wasn’t safe. But I’ve seen and heard a few things.”
“The house is dangerous. After the window
s went, nature got to the floorboards,” Edie said. “But the funny thing is, the wood trim looks like it’s been cared for.”
“Gran, have you been in the house?” Mark asked.
“You’re not the only one the house calls, Mark.”
“Tell you what… If one of you will watch Brian, Ted and I will take a look. We’ve been through places like this before.”
“You might find the gold,” Mark said.
“Gold?” Mia asked.
Mark and Edie took turns and told her the story of the Wayne house.
“Do you know who owns it now?” Mia asked.
Edie shook her head.
“When I get to a place where my cell works, I’ll have my good friend Audrey, she’s our researcher, see what she can find.”
“If we found the gold, then we could buy the place and fix it up,” Mark insisted.
“Unfortunately, the gold would belong to the people who own it,” Mia said. “But sometimes there is a small finder’s fee.”
“I doubt there’s anything there. It’s been almost stripped to the bone by treasure hunters,” Edie said and then offered, “I’ll watch Brian anytime you and your husband want to go out.”
“How about now? Could we go now?” Mark asked excitedly.
“I have to ask Ted first, and then the three of us need to prepare. We don’t have any of our gear here. How about tomorrow?” Mia asked. “Today, I’ve promised Brian a swim, and then we’re going into town for some ice cream. Would you like to come along?”
Mark looked at his grandmother.
“As long as you have your chores finished,” she said.
Mia picked up the toys and then Brian. She thanked Edie again for the welcome basket and promised to pick up Mark on their way into town. She climbed the hill and stood there and closed her eyes a moment. She didn’t feel anything malicious in the wind. But then again, the wind could change at any moment.
Chapter Nineteen
Orion set down on the patio. He wasn’t surprised to see Angelo perched on the wall overlooking the herb garden, but he was surprised to see him happy.
Angelo got up and shook Orion’s hand. “Come inside. Once you’re refreshed from your flight, I’ll serve breakfast, and you can tell me about your research.”
