Chapter 16 #2
“And that’s important too,” Camden pointed out, “because not asking questions and just following blindly is inconsistent with the norm for his age. But maybe because they’re so caught up in their mother’s death and the reality of life without her, it could very well be that they’re making sudden decisions to really try and pull it off. ”
“I don’t think there’s anything sudden about it,” she argued.
“That’s the thing about all those energy remnants in the backyard.
” She got up and opened the door to peer out into the backyard, then quickly shut it.
“I don’t know how it’s possible, but there’s even more. Do I dare look at the front yard too?”
She shook her head and sat back down again.
“How can the neighbors not see all this? Yet I’m glad they don’t.
They would probably be clamoring for me to take care of it.
Like I need more on my plate. Thankfully we have so few houses on this short street.
… So, in terms of a tear or a rent or a pull of some kind, something here is attracting them.
” She turned to him. “Or something on the other side is pushing to get through and needs to clear a path.”
His eyebrows shot up as he thought about that, then added, “That’s a disconcerting thought.”
Something had been bothering her since this all started. “How does anybody have that ability before they die and not turn it into self-healing?”
“Very good question,” he said, sending a smile in her direction, “because, if Tabitha had focused on healing, maybe she wouldn’t have gone this other route.” He turned to head for the stairs. “Since Toby isn’t here, shall we look for that book?”
She nodded, and they went upstairs to his room. As soon as she got inside, she gasped. Weird symbols were written on all the walls.
Camden stopped and stared. “This is a little off.”
“A little?” she muttered.
He quickly pulled his phone from his pocket and started taking photos.
“Will you send those to Stefan?”
“I will. Give me a sec while I press Send. Obviously, if he knows anything about this, it’s something we all need to know about.”
“I’ll go check Tabby’s room.” She headed in to check her room, and Camden was right behind her, but nothing was here.
It appeared that just Toby’s room had the new artwork.
“Interesting,” he murmured.
“Is it?” she muttered.
“I don’t know. This could just be wishful thinking on his part.” He looked at her, then added, “That is something we need to keep track of.”
Devon suggested, “Maybe it’s all in his head that this is something his mom really wanted him to do. And somehow he … somehow he would have found a way on his own to bring all those lovely visitors in the backyard.”
Just then Camden’s phone buzzed. He looked down and murmured, “It’s Stefan.”
“Good, maybe he can make some heads or tails out of this.”
He half smiled at her. “We’ll see about that.” He answered it and said, “Stefan, you’re on Speaker.”
Stefan’s tone was hard. “Whose room is that?”
“It’s Toby’s,” Devon replied. “I’m right here with Camden.”
“That’s fine,” he murmured. “Do you know if the same markings are in the girl’s room?”
“No, we just checked.”
“There’s nothing, nowhere?” Stefan pressed.
“I didn’t check under her bed or in her closet or anything,” Devon admitted, “but, from what we could first see walking in, there’s nothing. Her room is clear.” An odd silence came from Stefan, and Devon got a little nervous. “Am I supposed to check every corner?”
“Yes, please do.”
Frowning, she went deeper into Tabby’s room. Camden followed her, asking Stefan, “Is there something in particular we should be looking for?”
“Yes, anything along the lines of these markings seen in Toby’s room,” he stated. “I don’t know whether it’s just one of them playing these games or if it’s both of them.”
“Does it matter?” Camden asked.
“Yes, it matters a lot,” Stefan declared. “The outcome can be very different, depending on what you find.”
They went through Tabby’s room, her closet, everything.
“I’m not seeing anything obvious.” Devon then bent down and looked under the bed and found large posters. She pulled them out and gasped.
Camden stepped up behind her to see them closely. “Stefan, there is a lot more here. Tabby’s got it all on posters under her bed.”
“Right,” Stefan confirmed, his tone hard but determined. “We need to see exactly what’s on those posters. Please take photos and send them to me now.” And he abruptly ended the call.
Camden looked over at her, and together they spread the posters out on the bed and on the floor. There were ten of them, each with different markings.
She whispered, “What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know, but let’s get the pictures that Stefan needs.
” He quickly took the photos and then sent them off to Stefan with a text message.
Please fill us in as soon as you know something.
“I’ve asked him to let us know as soon as he has any idea of what’s going on, but I really don’t know how long that’ll take,” he told Devon.
She stared at the images for a long time. “They used to doodle a lot, and I know that Tabby used to draw a lot.”
He looked over at her and asked, “Do you have any idea what any of this means? Did Tabitha draw anything like this before?”
“I don’t know because she never really showed me. I asked to see her art, but she just told me that she wasn’t comfortable showing anybody yet, but maybe one day she would.”
He frowned at her. “Do you think she has sketchbooks?”
“I know she does.” Devon turned and walked to the closet, then opened it up, seeking the sketchbooks on the shelf.
“I never really looked at them. I mean, there was no need for me to interfere in that,” she added.
“So, when these were something that they chose to move, I just assumed they mattered to them. So we brought them along.”
“Which it probably did,” Camden noted, as he walked a little closer and started pulling out some very large sketchbooks.
As soon as he flicked through them, he nodded and held them up for Devon to see.
She stared at them and whispered, “My God, it’s almost as if the kids have been copying these.
They’re in their rooms and on their posters and on their walls.
” She frowned. “What are the chances that the kids really have no idea what they’re doing, but they’re being programmed by someone else? ”
“I don’t know,” Camden replied, his tone calm, but he recognized that they were heading into something that they hadn’t really expected. He quickly took pictures of several pages in the sketchbook and sent them with a note for Stefan to take another look.
Stefan called back. “I know it’ll take a little bit, but get a photo of every page she has in there.”
“Okay,” he muttered, checking the time. “The kids are at practice. Hopefully we have a few hours.”
“I understand that,” Stefan said, “but this is important. I’m not exactly sure what she’s been doing, but every one of those images …
tells a story. It’s almost a commandment of things she’ll do.
And that is very important for me to be able to get the whole picture.
So, let’s get to the bottom of this right now, hopefully before the kids get home.
I’ve got somebody—maybe two or three in my inner circle—who can take a look at these, and having a full set of digital files will make it go a lot faster. ”
Camden hung up and slowly, but methodically, they turned the pages of Tabby’s many art portfolios, and he kept taking photo, after photo, after photo.
Finally Devon told him, “I’m starting to get really nervous. The kids will be coming home soon.”
He agreed and knew they were running out of time. “Let me finish up here. Why don’t you go downstairs and hold them off, and hopefully I can be done.”
“You need to be done. I don’t even want to think about them finding out about this,” she declared, her tone sharp.
“I get it, now go.”
And, with that, she bolted from the room.
He felt her own panic, but he needed to finish this. By the time he was done, he heard voices downstairs. He slipped out of Tabby’s room and headed to Devon’s room, making it look as if that’s the one he was coming out of.
As he came down the stairs, he smiled at the kids, then told Devon, “Hey, I need to head home and get something started for dinner. It looks as if the plumbing in your bathroom should be fine now.”
She smiled at him gratefully and nodded. “Thanks. That would be huge if that drip was dealt with.”
And, with that, he was gone.
The kids just laughed at her. “You’re getting awfully cozy with him, aren’t you?”
They seemed to be completely detached from everything else.
And yet the ghouls were still outside, and nobody mentioned anything about their increasing numbers. It was all she could do to focus on dinner.