“You’re saying there are children here and you’re protecting them from… us?”
“Yes. No harm.”
“Oh, no! We’d never harm them or anyone. Please, we only want to speak to you!” Cherry exclaimed.
“Hold on, Cherry,” I said as my thoughts raced to catch up. “The children are the ones moving things and talking, and the living are hearing them. You’re protecting them from us because we could exorcise them?” I asked, feeling I’d guessed right.
“Yes.”
“And you’re the one watching people and being scary to protect the children,” I finished.
“Yes!”the REMBuddie boomed.
“Are these your children?” Cherry asked.
“What… difference… it…?”
“What difference does it make?” Solace guessed the missing words.
“Yes.”
“None. The thing is, you’re drawing attention to them by being frightening,” Cherry said.
“Protect.”
“This cabin will be rented out to families who’ll have their own children, whom you’ll frighten. Do your children stay here permanently?” I asked.
“No.”
“If we could find somewhere for them to stay, would they leave the cabin?” I waited patiently for an answer.
“My home.”
Damn, that hadn’t worked like I’d hoped. Would this presence be quiet if it weren’t protecting children?
“What if we found you a new home?” Cherry asked. “Have you explored around here?”
“No.”
Cherry might be on to something. The question was what to fill it with and how.
“We’re going to head to dinner. Another team will come and talk to you. They might be able to find a solution,” I said.
“Leave.”
“We’re leaving,” I confirmed with a chuckle.
The cabin door opened, and we were told to get out very clearly. We did as the ghost asked, all the while my brain whirled. Where in the village could we offer ghosts somewhere to stay? These weren’t a threat; this was their home, andhonestly, it had been invaded by the living. I’d say the dead had more right to it; they’d been here so long.
My brain worked overtime to find a solution.
Jack
What Connor had discovered was interesting, and Callie’s belly dancing Santas had been hysterical. Fiona and Simon had both laughed at that. It seemed there were a lot of child ghosts here; could that have been from the TB outbreak? Harry was delving into records for Ernest and Janie and hoping to find them.
As we ate our meal, I listened to the chatter. So far, everything haunting seemed to be about gaining attention or adults deflecting it from children. Callie and I had agreed with Connor’s potential theory. It was a good one, but needed further proving.
Despite our attempts in the dining room, we’d not engaged Janie again. Callie had decided that we’d go to cabin nineteen next, and Connor would come here while she headed to cabin thirteen. Michelle had decided to join Harry in watching the monitors, and Freddie was filming us right now.
