by Olsen, Lisa
That’s when she heard the whimpering cry.
Leaning out, a flicker of movement caught her eye and Sara turned to find Jack huddled on the ledge in the corner by the roof of the next wing. “Jack!” she screamed, clutching at the window frame as a wave of panic made her head swim. “What are you… don’t… are you alright?” Jack clung to the side of the house, his face drawn with fear, giving the barest of nods, too afraid to move. “Stay right there, don’t move a muscle!” she ordered, heart slamming in her chest as she tried to decide how in the hell she was going to get him safely inside.
In the yard below, a number of men milled around, each working diligently on the yard. “Will!” Sara yelled at the top of her lungs, trying to catch his attention. Maybe one of them had a ladder or something that might be able to reach him? “Will!” she screamed again, but he didn’t so much as look up, oblivious to the drama unfolding above thanks to the drone of earth moving equipment.
“Mom…” Jack whimpered, the sound tearing at her heart. “My feet are numb.”
“It’s okay, baby. It’s going to be fine. I’m going to get you down, I promise, stay where you are,” Sara replied as calmly as she could manage, dragging over a small chair to help boost herself up to the window. A blast of cold air hit as soon as she sat inside the window frame, making her clutch the side, closing her eyes until it passed. How long had Jack been out there in the cold in his bare feet?
Sara wedged herself in the window, doing her best not to look down. That was what they always said in the movies. Don’t look down… Her little canvas shoes probably weren’t the best thing for ledge walking, but she didn’t dare go down to change. Carefully, she pulled herself up to a crouched position, her spine wedged against the frame for stability. So far, so good… Only the tough part lay ahead. How was she going to get to him without slipping and falling? And how was she going to get him back inside the house without killing them both?
Chapter Twenty
“Hold on, Mommy’s coming,” she called out, setting one foot down on the ledge, closing her eyes again as another gust of wind whipped her hair into a frenzy. “You can do this… you have to do this…” she breathed, easing her other foot out, still clinging to the window for support.
All at once, a cacophony of calls floated up to her, people on the ground shouting out in alarm as they finally noticed her predicament. Instinctively, Sara made the mistake of looking down, head swimming from the rapid change in perspective, and she clutched at the window frame, desperate to regain her equilibrium as she swayed in the bitter chill of morning air.
“Sara!” Will’s shout sounded inside the window, startling a scream from her throat as she lost her balance, but strong hands pulled her back inside the nursery to tumble into his embrace.
Instead of relief, the sense of urgency surged at leaving Jack out there all alone, and she pulled free, desperate to get back to the window. “No, I have to get to Jack, there isn’t any time, he could fall at any moment!”
Will pulled her out of the way, vaulting easily into the window. “Leave that to me, you stay put inside where it’s safe,” he ordered in a tone that brooked no argument. Sara flew to the window as soon as Will was through, leaning out to watch, heart in her throat. With light steps, Will crossed the length of the ledge, pausing only once when the wind gusted to wait for it to pass. Sara could hear him speaking in soothing tones to Jack, but the wind tore his words away before she could decipher them.
The moment he reached Jack, Will immediately pulled the boy into the safety of his arms and Jack clung to him desperately as he sat down on the pitched roof, holding him safely in his lap. “Good, oh good…” Sara murmured, only then remembering to breathe; she forced a few deep, calming breaths. “Stay out there, we’ll get a ladder or call the fire department for help!” she called out to them, glad Will had a good hold of Jack, but Will shook his head, shouting something about a ladder. Was the ladder not tall enough?
To her horror, he shifted his hold on Jack, and rose up to a standing position. “No, don’t risk it, stay there!” Sara yelled. “Damn it, Will, I know you can hear me!” Eyes stinging from hot tears, she watched helplessly as he inched his way closer to the window, going much slower with his precious cargo. She didn’t know if she should try and take him the moment he came into reach or stay out of his way, and Sara decided to do the latter, hopping back as Will swung them into the window frame.
“Jack!” Sara pried him free of Will’s hold, pulling him into the room while Will’s head fell forward, catching his breath. “I’ve got you, you’re safe,” she whispered into his hair, not quite trusting that she’d gotten him back healthy and whole just yet. Jack was silent, but the feel of his arms around her neck and the thump of his heart beating against hers told her all she needed to know for the moment.
“Thank the Lord, you’ve gotten him,” Mrs. Poole appeared at the nursery door, Thomas, Katie and half a dozen workmen hot on their heels. “Is he injured?”
Sara pulled back to look at Jack’s face, his pallid complexion a little troublesome, but there were no visible injuries to be seen. “I think he’s okay, but he’s half frozen, poor thing. I think we need to warm him up.”
“Katie, go and run him a hot bath, I’ll call Doctor and have him come at once,” Mrs. Poole replied decisively and for once Sara wasn’t inclined to argue with her. “Will, come down from there before you fall and hurt yourself,” she scolded Will, who still sat braced in the window, and Sara could see he’d been more scared than he let on. But he’d still gone out there to save Jack; she really owed him big time.
“Thank you,” she mouthed to Will over the top of Jack’s head, and he accepted it with a brisk nod, still recovering from the rush of adrenaline.
Still pacing with nervous energy while she held Jack, Sara let Mrs. Poole chase the rest of the people out of the room, sending Thomas to make the call to Marwick. “I think something hot to drink would be good too,” she suggested. “Maybe tea or hot chocolate. Would you like some hot cocoa?” Sara asked Jack, disturbed by his lack of a response.
“I’ll see to it at once,” Mrs. Poole agreed, giving orders on her way out. “Katie build up the fire when you’re done fussing with the bathwater, and fetch the old bedwarmer, we’ll want to keep him out of the chill.”
“Jack? Are you alright, baby?” Sara sat on the edge of the bed, pulling back to get a better look at his face. “Does anything hurt?” A slow shake of the head was given and she exchanged worried looks with Will. “Honey, can you tell me what made you go out there like that?” He nodded, drawing an exasperated breath from Sara for making him so literal minded.
“Bath’s ready,” Katie announced, hurrying to build up the fire.
“Okay, the story of the century can wait, let’s get you in the hot bath before your feet fall off,” Sara sighed, carrying him into the bathroom. “Do you think you can stand for a minute?” Gingerly, she set him on his feet and Jack winced at the contact with the tile floor, but didn’t complain. “Are your feet still numb?”
“No, they’re all prickly now.”
Gratified to hear him speak, Sara worked on getting the pajama top up and over his head. “Pins and needles like when your feet go to sleep? That’s a good sign; it means the circulation’s coming back into your feet.”
Jack balked when she reached for the waistband of his pajama pants. “Mom, I can do it myself,” he insisted, and she drew a measure of comfort from the familiar petulance in the tone. At least he didn’t sound dazed anymore.
“Go ahead then, you do it.”
“You’re staying in here?” Clearly appalled, he looked to the door.
“Oh come on, Jack. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. I’ve bathed you more times than I can count, what’s the big deal?”
“That was when I was a baby, I’m eight now,” he declared indignantly, and Sara warred between the desire to get him into the warming bath and the need to stay and make sure he was really alright.
“Jack, I’m your mother…” she began, worry winning out.
“I could stay with him, if he’d rather,” Will offered from the door, and Sara looked to Jack to see if that would be acceptable.
“Yeah, that’d be okay, I guess,” Jack shrugged and Will sauntered in, taking a seat on the nearby commode.
“It’ll be fine, I reckon. Jack and I could use a bit of man to man time while he warms up. Don’t worry, we’ll try to keep the swearing and talking about girls to a minimum, yeah?” he winked at Jack, and Sara was relieved to see him grin back.
“I’ll be right outside if you need anything, sweetie,” Sara kissed her son’s cheek, leaving so he could get right into the water while it was still hot. Realizing the window still stood wide open, Sara fastened the window firmly shut, setting the lock at the top; a lock which Jack could never have reached on his own to open it in the first place. How had he managed to get himself out there?
“The water stings,” she heard Jack say from the bathroom, the door slightly ajar. Leaning against the common wall, she listened in to the conversation, hoping to find some clue as to his behavior.
“That’s what you get for going walkies on the roof,” Will replied. “What happened, you got bored and decided to go for a stroll? Go on then, get all the way in the water; your mum will have both our hides if you don’t warm up properly.” Sara heard a splash as Jack obeyed without question. “You scared your mum and me to death. What made that seem like a good idea?”
“I didn’t think it was a good idea, but she said I had to.”
“Who said you had to?”
“The lady.”
Gemma sent him out the window? After all that business about keeping Jack safe? Sara burned to ask him what she’d said, and what made it seem like a good idea, but Will beat her to the punch.
“She told you to go out the window? And you thought that was a keen idea?”
“She said it was the only way to be safe. That the Nine was coming for me and I had to escape.”
Will was silent for a few moments, echoing Sara’s stunned reaction. “Did she say who the Nine were? Or why they were coming for you?”
“No, only that I had to go now or it would be too late. I should have asked how I was supposed to get down from out there,” Jack sounded disgruntled, and Sara hoped like hell that would spell the last of him listening to Gemma’s advice.
“You should have come to me or your mum is what you should have done,” Will replied with just a touch of censure, his voice tempered with kindness.
“I was scared, she said…”
“If she said to jump off a bridge, would you do it?”
“Well, I suppose it would depend on the height of the bridge,” Jack considered aloud. “How deep would the water be below?”
“The answer’s supposed to be no, you git,” Will chuckled, and Sara heard the splash of water. “You’re not supposed to do anything stupid just because someone asks you to.”
“Even mom?”
“Well now, that’s the thing. Have you ever known your mum to ask you to do something stupid?”
“Making my bed comes to mind,” Jack muttered, and Sara stifled her laugh with a hand.
“Point is, you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, Jack. If something like this comes up again, I expect you’ll come up with a better solution if you think a little harder.”
“Okay,” Jack agreed, “Will?”
“Yeah, mate.”
“Are you my mom’s boyfriend now?”
“Maybe that’s a better question for your mum, don’t you reckon?”
“But do you love her and stuff?”
Sara held her breath, waiting to hear Will’s response, but Katie bustled in with a tray in one arm and a metal bed warmer in the other. “Oh, here, let me help you with that,” Sara took the tray quickly, setting it on the bedside table and hurrying back over to her position by the wall while Katie poked in the fireplace for some coals, but whatever reply Will had given was already gone, nothing but splashes sounded. “How are you coming along in there?” she called out.
“Just getting him out now, he’s warmed through enough I reckon,” Will replied, and the sound of draining water followed seconds later. In a few minutes Jack was dressed, in his warmed bed sipping hot chocolate, and chatting animatedly with Katie about some television show about people locked in a house without television or internet. Marwick arrived to check him out and Sara refused to leave, hovering nearby until she was certain he was well and truly fine. Only after the doctor pronounced him no worse for wear did she let herself be chased out to let him get some rest.
The house settled back into its normal daily routine, and Will went back down to pick up where he’d left off in the yard. Left to her own devices, once again the thought occurred to Sara; was Jack really in danger from the mysterious Nine? How much of it all was actual danger and how much was panic made up in the mind of Gemma Darling?
*
It was much later after dinner, when Jack was tucked into bed, that Sara tracked Will down out by the site for the new gazebo. “Boy, the boss must be a real pain in the ass, making you work this late,” she called out and his head came up with a welcoming smile.
“Naw, she’s a peach to work for, but I’ve a special reason for wanting to make her particularly satisfied with my work.”
“Oh? And what might that be?”
“I’ve a plan to make myself completely indispensible to her, that way she’ll always want to keep me around.”
“I think you’ve already done that this morning, that stunt on the roof is going to be pretty hard to top.”
“Ah, well then, seeing as how I’ve already made my quota for the day, I reckon I can turn in,” he tossed the tape measure he was working with aside into a worn tool bag as Sara approached.
“Seriously, Will… I don’t know how to thank you enough for what you did for Jack today. There aren’t words enough to…”
“No thanks necessary,” his hands came up in a supplicating gesture. “I told you I’d do anything to keep him safe.”
“Yes, but that was really going above and beyond the call of duty stepping out on that ledge like that. I don’t think many men would have done it.”
“I thought we’d already established that I’m not most men?” he grinned, his hands settling to rest on her hips.
“You’re not wrong there. Listen, do you think we could take a little walk?”
“If you like,” he agreed amenably, “did you have a destination in mind?”
“Not really, just… away,” she looked up at the house.
Catching on to her meaning, Will nodded, and they strolled side by side for a bit in companionable silence. After they left the gardens, Sara reached for his hand, twining her fingers with his.
“I couldn’t help feeling like… like we were being watched back there, I hope you don’t mind. I wanted to talk, but I didn’t want to actually leave in case Jack needed me for something.”
“Of course I don’t mind, love. What’s worrying you? Apart from the scare you had today, of course?”
“Like I said, I can’t help feeling like she’s watching us all the time at the house. Maybe it’s stupid to think she won’t see us here, but it’s better than nothing,” Sara laughed nervously. “Will, I feel like we have to do something to protect Jack.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“That’s just it, I have no idea. But it’s already gotten way out of hand. I’m starting to think the biggest danger to Jack is…her.” Loathe to say Gemma’s name out loud for fear it might attract the ghost, Sara trusted Will to understand what she meant.
“I’m starting to agree with you there, only what can we do but instruct Jack to ignore her? Clearly she can’t hurt him directly; if we rob her of her influence over him, what harm can she do? You’re not thinking of leaving, are you?” A kernel of fear appeared behind his eyes and Sara reached out to touch his cheek.
“No, no this is my house; we’re not leaving unless we run out of options. I think it’s time she moved on.”
“What… do you mean like ridding the house of her, for good?”
“Why not? Couldn’t we hire someone to exorcise her spirit or something? Help her finally find peace and leave us to ours?” A month ago she wouldn’t have believed in such a thing, but it started to look like their only real option.
“I… suppose we could. I expect we could find a spiritualist in London or perhaps even Weymouth. I could make some inquiries.”
“Could you? I think it’s best if it was done away from the house. Maybe you could go to your father’s place and make some calls?”
“Alright, I’ll get on it first thing in the morning,” he promised with a brief kiss to her forehead. “Of course you know, we mightn’t find the real thing on the first go. I don’t suppose there’s much of a vetting system for this sort of thing.”
“I guess that’s true, but I don’t know what else to try.”
“Maybe we should get away for a few days? Run up to London and we could look together?”
Sara shook her head, even though that sounded like heaven. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I couldn’t leave Jack just now and I don’t want to raise any suspicions.”
“We could take Jack with us then,” Will countered and Sara loved how he didn’t bat an eye at including Jack, but she didn’t think it was the best plan of attack.
“If she gets desperate or thinks I’m taking Jack out of here for good, there’s no telling what she might do. No, I think it’s best if we play it cool and not let on to what we’re planning.” Besides, Jack might not go for it, he’d been freaked out by the sight of the Ouija board; there was no telling how he might feel about a full fledged exorcism.
“Right then, seeing as how we’re not letting on that we’re planning anything, perhaps we should head back and find another distraction for the night?” his hands went around her waist, pulling her to him and Sara’s hands found their way up to rest on his shoulders, an inviting smile on her lips.