Post by StoryGirl83 on Aug 27, 2008 19:51:46 GMT -5
Chapter Nine – Busted!
In the attic, Leo was sitting on the couch next to Hannah, who was still sound asleep. Leo looked up as his two sons orbed into the room. Their backs were turned away from him. He watched in silence as Wyatt squatted down and put the four orbs he held on the floor and as Chris lifted the orbs out of his arms using telekinesis and let them slowly descend to the ground, joining the other four.
Wyatt stood and turned around to look at Hannah. He saw his dad and stopped. “Uh oh.”
Chris heard him and turned. “What’s wrong, Wy . . . Dad!”
Leo stood and walked over to where his sons were standing. “Your mother said you were up here. What’s going on? And who is she?”
Wyatt and Chris exchanged looks, but remained silent.
“Wyatt?” Leo said questioningly, focusing in on his older son.
“What?” Wyatt looked at him in disbelief. “You’re picking on me? Why not Chris?”
Leo’s eyes took on a look of sadness to them. “Because your brother managed to not let us know who he was for a year. You on the other hand. . . When your mom asks about the marble you’ll know what I mean.”
“Marble? What Marble?” Wyatt asked, unwittingly echoing words his mother had spoken years before.
“The one Chris swallowed when he was little,” Leo told him with a slight smile. “Believe me, when it comes up, you’ll know. Back to my question. What is going on?”
Wyatt turned to Chris. “Why do I get the feeling I’m being blamed for something that hasn’t happened yet?” he complained.
Chris shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe because you probably are.”
“Can you two focus on my question?” Leo’s requested, drawing his sons’ attention back to him.
“Can we pass?” Chris asked tentatively.
Leo shook his head. “Nom ducking out, Chris. You wanted the attention,” Leo reminded his son with a smile.
Chris looked at Leo for a moment and smiled. “Yeah, and you have been a great father this time ‘round. Thanks.”
Wyatt looked from his brother to his father and back. “This time around? What happened the other time?”
Not wanting to explain things he hadn’t really explained to anyone, including Leo, Chris just shrugged. “Let’s just say Dad learned from my experiences.”
“You will tell me the whole story one of these days,” Wyatt told him determined.
Chris had to smile at the look on Wyatt’s face. His older brother just wouldn’t let go when it suited him. “Probably,” he admitted, “but we’ve got your innocent to worry about now.”
“That’s right,” Wyatt responded, instantly shaken off the trail by the more immediate concern. Wyatt walked over to the couch, past his dad and looked at Hannah. He turned around and looked at Chris. “So all we have to do is break the orb and she’ll be fine?”
Chris walked over to the open book and looked at it.
Leo walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. He had been more concerned with the small girl in the attic that actually finding out what they were doing earlier. He figured they would confess when he confronted them.
“That’s what it seems to indicate,” Chris told them both once he had double checked the entry.
“Where did she come from?” Leo asked his sons.
Chris turned and looked at Wyatt. Both brothers knew that Leo wasn’t referring to Trae. “Well, Wy, should I tell him or do you want to?”
Wyatt scowled and looked at Chris, then at Leo. “Her name is Hannah. She is a patient at the hospital where I volunteer sometimes. I caught a demon attacking her and decided the only way to protect her was to bring her with me.”
Leo stared at his older son in disbelief. “You kidnapper a patient?”
“Not kidnapped,” Wyatt shook his head, trying to look innocent. “I had her permission.”
Leo gave his son a look. “Wyatt, she’s four. She can’t give permission for anything.”
“Five actually,” Wyatt protested, as if that changed anything, “and I couldn’t leave her there for Trae to attack, again.”
“Trae?” Leo asked, realizing he was missing a piece of this puzzle and that was probably it.
“The demon,” Wyatt reminded him. “Her name was Trae. She was what is called a Soul Thief.”
“And is Trae still a threat?” Leo asked, thinking she wasn’t, but wanting to be sure.
Wyatt shook his head.
Chris stood off to Leo’s side, smiling.
Leo turned his attention to his younger son. “Don’t think you’re getting off easy either, Mister.”
Chris wiped the grin off his face. “Never did, but I will remind you that he took her, not me.”
Leo turned his attention back to Wyatt. “So, what do you plan to do now that the threat is gone? You have to get her back to the hospital.”
Wyatt frowned. “Actually, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
Leo managed not to groan out loud. These were his sons? Didn’t they ever plan ahead? That question was immediately followed by memories. He sighed. “Figures. Any ideas, either of you?”
“We have to break the orbs, first,” Chris informed him reasonably.
“Orbs?” Leo asked confused. He had missed this part of the situation. What are you talking about, son?
Chris nodded and walked over to the pile of orbs, picking one up. It was Hannah’s. “The Soul Thief, Trae, put the souls of those she captured into these orbs for storage until she had filled all thirteen. Wy stopped her from completely stealing Hannah’s, who was her eleventh victim. Had he not, Trae not doubt would have finished by now.”
“What has this to do with breaking the orbs?” Leo asked, still not sure where Chris was going with this.
“According to the Book of Shadows, if the orbs are broken, it will release the stolen souls. If in the underworld they will wander, since they can’t escape there, but otherwise, they will return to their bodies.” Chris looked at Leo. There was something in his eyes that Leo cannot identify. “Scold us all you want later, but we need to do something about Hannah and the orbs.”
“You can’t just rush into things, Chris,” Leo warned his younger son. “It’s dangerous.”
“I’m just along for the ride,” Chris flashed his father a grin. “Wyatt’s the one who rushed into things.” Not to say, that I’m sorry he did, Chris thought as he looked at the little girl lying on the couch. I could never be sorry that you saved an innocent, Wy, even if you did do it by illegal means.
Wyatt looked up and scowled. “I resent that.”
“No,” Chris teased, “you resemble that.”
Wyatt gave him an annoyed look. “Man, that joke is so old and so lame.”
“Yet so accurate,” Chris shot back easily.
Remembering what might have been, Leo smiled at the easy comradery between his sons. “Focus boys. If we are going to postpone this discussion, then I want to see some action. Otherwise we talk now.”
Wyatt and Chris looked at each other. “Right,” Chris replied more to Wyatt than to Leo. “Wy, why don’t I take Hannah to an empty room at the hospital while you get your stuff?”
“Stuff?” Wyatt repeated, confused. “What stuff?”
Chris shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t care. We need you visible when someone finds Hannah.”
“Fine,” Wyatt agreed, seeing the logic in his brother’s words. “Visible. First though, we need to do something about the orbs.” Wyatt looked at the pile of orbs and a black one orbed to his outstretched hand. He held it up high and dropped it. The orb hit the floor and chipped. He reached down and picked it up. He held the orb up to eye level and looked at the chipped area. Inside the dark orb was hallow. He looked back up at his dad and brother and said unnecessarily, “It broke.”
Chris rolled his eyes and held out Hannah’s orb. “That’s great. How about one that actually matters.”
Wyatt walked over and took the orb. He looked over at Hannah and frowned. “There’s no way around it, is there? I have to break it to see if it works.”
Chris nodded.
Wyatt sighed and holding the orb up high, dropped it. The orb hit the floor and cracked into large pieces.
A ghostly figure that looked like Hannah came out of it like a genie out of its bottle. She looked around the room, stopping on her body. She smiled at Wyatt and headed strait for her body. She entered her body and the little girl turned over in her sleep.
Wyatt walked up to Hannah and checked her pulse. Finding it strong, he put his hand on her shoulder and shook her gently. “Hannah?”
Hannah pushed at his hand and mumbled, “Let me sleep. Tired.”
“Open your eyes a moment, Hannah,” Wyatt encouraged. “Then, you can sleep.”
One of Hannah’s eyes slowly opened, allowing Wyatt to see that it was no longer hazy. Still mumbling, Hannah asked, “Sleep now?” As soon as Wyatt nodded, Hannah’s eyes snapped shut, mumbling, “’Kay.”
Wyatt stood and walked over to his dad and brother. “Dad, did you see Hannah’s spirit before it reentered her?” When Leo shook his head Wyatt smiled, “Good. That means if we released the others we won’t have to worry about people seeing them.”
“Think it would help if we broke them in the hospital?” Chris suggested.
Wyatt considered this suggestion, “Might speed things up, but we’d have to be careful. We wouldn’t want someone finding the broken orbs.”
Chris walked around the room looking through the boxes until he located a cloth laundry bag. He pulled it out of the box and walked over to the orbs. As he packed the orbs into the bag he talked, “I’ll bring this with me when I get Hannah back to the hospital. I’ll take care of these while I’m there, then orb out and meet you at the apartment.”
“Here,” Leo informed him. “You’ll meet here. We need to talk.”
Chris grimaced. “Here then.” Chris closed the bag and tied it up. He hung it from his shoulder by the drawstring causing Wyatt to laugh. Chris ignored him and walked over to the couch. Awkwardly, he squatted down making sure the orbs don’t hit anything too roughly. He picked up the sleeping Hannah up careful of her cast and the orbs. He stood holding her and looked at Wyatt. “See you in a little bit.”
Wyatt nodded and Chris orbed out with Hannah and the orbs. Wyatt turned to Leo. “Can’t say I’m looking forward to this talk, but I’ll be back soon.” Wyatt orbed out leaving Leo, alone once more to wait.