“What happened to it?” Mark asked.
“I took it home,” Mia said. “It needed to go home. At this point, I thought that the house was protecting you from it. I’m sorry, I was wrong.”
“Were the ghosts inside evil?” Edie asked.
“No. They did have to play along, but they gave us clues that all wasn’t right. I missed them,” Mia said.
“We all missed them,” Glenda said. “The man said that he was tired and needed rest. It was early in the day. No son of a farmer would be tuckered out at ten.”
“The boys exchanging the jacks for knucklebones. They were trying to send us a message that things were not what they seemed,” Mike said.
“Isn’t hindsight great?” Burt said. “We all can look back at times in our lives, see the clues and rue that we didn’t pay enough attention to see what was truly valuable at the time and what wasn’t.”
“The tornado destroyed the house. What happened to the Waynes?” Sam asked.
Burt looked over at Mia.
“I saw them in the light. The boys taunted me, told me that ‘they won,’ which I think means that they survived the house.”
“Why was the house evil?” Edie asked.
“It wasn’t in the beginning,” “Mia said. “It was simply trying to survive. It was built from the wood taken from trees on the property, trees that grew along a very powerful line. Perhaps the influence of wizards didn’t help either. It became a living thing, and it wanted to survive. It enslaved the Waynes and would have done the same to you, Mark. You were already making plans to put aside your life in order to save the house.”
“Yes, all I could think was that the house needed me. That I had to save it at all costs.”
“It sensed your worth and saw an ally,” Mike said.
“So, let’s go back to our original questions. Was this a good house or a bad one? And did Wyatt kill his family over gold?” Burt asked.
“Bad one,” Mark said and looked around the room at the people agreeing with him.
“Wyatt did not kill his family,” Mia said. “The gold is at the bottom of that well.”
“Where it can stay,” Mark declared.
Chapter Thirty-three
Mia moved over to Glen Leighton’s bedside and introduced herself. “I’m Mia Martin. Your son Mark has asked me to visit you. He means a lot to us, and we would like to establish a way of communicating between the two of you. Right now, I’m going to try to establish a direct link with you. If you are afraid or wish me to leave, close your eyes now.”
Mia waited. The man blinked but maintained his gaze on Mia. She took off both of her gloves, grasped his hand with her right hand, and closed her eyes.
She moved into an echoing, empty hall. She was disappointed and turned to leave when Glen walked in. He was dressed in his National Guard uniform. Mia moved forward and waited.
“How is my son?” he asked evenly.
“He is worried about you. Otherwise, he is a very smart, gifted and supportive boy. Your wife is working very hard to manage all of this. Not much time for Mark, and he is lonely.”
Glen looked over at her blandly.
“Can you show me where the wall is?” Mia asked.
“I’m sorry, what are you talking about?” he asked.
“I sense a wall of fear has been built somewhere. It’s stopping you from reaching us. My husband and his friend Cid have built a device that will allow you to select a series of things that you can use to have a conversation with your son. They have taken your voice from some old videos and programmed the computer to respond in your voice. Mark can select things for you to choose, so you can speak less generically to each other. You’ll use your pupils to activate each response. You’ll control your pupils with your emotions. But we can’t seem to get it to work. The only emotion they can capture is fear and apathy. I’d like to see if I can help you to fix things on this side.”
“It sounds feasible. How can I help you?”
“Take me through your memories. I’m hoping I will find the blockage there.”
“Walk with me. I’m sorry in advance. I don’t think you will like what you will see.”
Mia nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
Ted watched his wife. She reached a hand behind her, and Ted grasped it. He was going to be her tether to this world just in case she got lost.
Cid was outside the room explaining the machine they had built to Sarah Leighton.
“It’s geared exclusively to Mark. He can select topics of conversation that, hopefully, Glen can respond to. If we’re successful, we will measure you so you can communicate too.”
“Why are you doing all of this?”
“Mark’s a friend,” Cid said simply.
“Thank you. I hope, for both of their sakes, it works.”
Mia walked into Glen’s memory hall. Inside, there was one horror-filled day that repeated over and over again. Mia watched as the captain arrived at the consulate office. There were reports to file and phone calls to make. Glen got up and walked over to help his aide with a problem. He was leaning over the coworker’s desk when the blast went off. For a moment, it was very disorienting as Mia tumbled and was buried with Glen.
Mia gripped Ted’s hand tightly, and he rubbed his thumb along the top of her hand. She lessened the hold, took a deep breath, and experienced the pain and then the nothingness. “Glen!” she called, feeling her way along the polished malachite tunnel she found herself in. She felt a presence in front of her. They were moving quickly through the tunnel. As the tunnel opened up, she moved beside
