No matter what Whit had said about wanting us to stay, I couldn’t put my son or myself at risk any longer than I had to. I just hoped he could understand that when I finally had enough saved to move out—and that the intruders tormenting us would stay behind.
The cuts on my feet were gone by midday, as mysteriously healed as the mirror itself, making me think they, too, were just a paranormal manifestation. But I was still nursing a headache and bruises that afternoon. Those weredefinitelyreal.
I slipped into my pajamas early and booted up my hand-me-down laptop to look at what class I needed to sign up for in the fall, hoping to focus on something other than events at the house for as long as my aching head would allow.
I’d only just signed into the student portal when Henry started singing.
I smiled. His little voice immediately quieted my fear and despair. I peeked into his room to see him sitting on the floor, arranging stones in a circle on the floor. Next to him lay a small green velvet bag that looked like it probably contained even more stones.
“Where did you get those?” I asked, wishing the pain reliever I’d taken would hurry up and start working.
He jumped at the sound of my voice and turned wide eyes to the doorway where I stood.
“I’m sorry!” I said quickly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just heard you singing and thought I’d see what you were up to.”
Henry blinked at me a couple of times as if trying to comprehend what I was saying but then held up one of the stones for me to see. “Do you like my rocks, Mama? Mamaw June gave them to me. She said I could have them.”
I lowered myself beside him, wincing when my bruises protested. “Those are really cool. I hope you thanked Ms. June.”
He nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, ma’am!”
“What are you doing with them?” I asked, picking up one of the polished stones to study the gold striations that ran through the white quartz.
“Making a circle like Addie,” he said. “But I don’t have bones, so I’m using my extra stones.”
I kept my tone light when I asked, “Are you playing the game Addie taught you? Was that the song you were singing?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, swapping out a couple of the stones for ones that were in the bag. “I don’t know all the words yet.”
“Well,” I said, picking up several of the stones from the circle and putting them in the pouch, “why don’t you play something else instead? Or I can sing songs with you, if want.”
He gave me a pouty look but put the remaining stones away. “Yes, ma’am.”
When Henry eventually grew bored with playing with me, I told him to go pick out a snack and I’d let him watch his cartoons. As soon as he scampered off to the kitchen, grinning, I tucked the pouch of stones in the top drawer of my dresser and covered it with some clothes.
There was technically nothing wrong with the gift from June, but something about the stones—and the game Addie had taught Henry—made me uneasy.
“What happened to your head?” Henry asked me later, casually swinging his legs as we sat at the kitchen table eating some of the mixed fruit and finger sandwiches our neighbors had dropped off.
I touched the lump on my forehead, glad to find it wasn’t hurting quite as much as it had been, the pain reliever finally taking effect. “I slipped in the bathroom and hit it,” I told him. “Did you hear me fall?”
He shook his head. “No, ma’am.” I reached for one of the sandwiches as he added, “But I saw the sad lady.”
I frowned. “The sad lady?”
He nodded. “She cries a lot.”
I set the sandwich on my plate, no longer hungry. “Why is she crying? Did she tell you?”
“No, ma’am.” He shook his head again. “She just cries and holds her stomach. Maybe she’s got a tummy ache. Or maybe she’s cold ’cause she’s wet and is giving herself a hug.”
The woman in the bathtub.
He’d seen her too. And yet, he didn’t seem scared at all.
“Do you know her name?” I asked. “Did she ever tell you?”
He nodded and popped a grape in his mouth. After swallowing, he said, “Eliza.”
