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“Yes. I’ve been reading since I was living with my other parents. I could work with numbers too. That was one of the things that got me into trouble when they had me. Even as a little kid, I was smarter than they were.” He looked around the restaurant and then back at her. “I’m afraid, Aunt Piper. I’m so afraid they’ll know where I am and who’s adopted me and come back for me. I have this feeling they’re not only out there looking for me, but they’ll take me too.”
“Have you heard from them in any way?” He said he’d not, that he was probably being silly. “You’re magical, Abe. I know you’re aware of that. If you think this, feel it, then I’d think you have the right idea about them. Tell me what you know about them.”
He handed her a copy of his birth certificate. She had a feeling he’d gone online and ordered it for himself. She read the two names there and felt the hair at her neck tingle. Putting it away by sending it to her home, she looked at the kid.
“I have two questions for you. You have to be honest with me about it, all right?” He told her he’d never lie to any of them. “Good. The first question. Do you know how you ended up in the home in the first place? What I mean is, did they take you there or was it someone else?”
“The police. I guess they dropped me off at the hospital. I’d been hurt by my parents, so they’d have a reason for wanting me there. Then they left. The police took me to the home that night. That’s where I met Tracy.” She nodded and thought about the second question. “Ask me. I can take it.”
“You were sexually abused at the home. Did you...were you abused at home with your parents?” He said no. No hesitation, just a simple no. “How were you hurt when they dropped you off?”
Abe stood up and pulled his sleeve to his shirt to his elbow. The mark there made her think the fucking shits had burned him. However, when she touched it, Piper saw just what had happened to have scarred the kid for life.
“What do you want me to do?” He sat back down, and she watched his face. He wasn’t as readable as she had hoped he’d be. When he put his hands on the table, laying his over hers, she braced herself for whatever he was about to say to her. “Tell me, Abe.”
“Dead. I want them dead.” He squeezed her hands. “I know you can do it. I know you and the other birds have killed before. They’re not going to stop, I don’t think, until they have me dead. I know I can’t die, but I was told I could be mutilated in a way that would be forever. Like blinded. They cut off my hand or something. They’ll also try and hurt Mom and Dad. Tracy too. I don’t want them to come here at all.”
Piper told him she’d talk to him later about what he wanted. After that, the two of them talked about the clay and how to work it. She was sure that whatever else they’d done to him, it was going to be far worse than anyone had thought. Piper was afraid to look and see what she could learn about his biological parents.
When she took him home, Piper was glad to see the others were at the castle. After Abe said he needed to work on something, he left them in the living room. Piper stood up and started to pace. Telling them what she’d learned tonight was difficult to share. It wasn’t breaking a promise to him—he’d told her she could talk to the others. But it was going to hurt Duncan and Jude a great deal, she thought.
“I’ve had a long conversation with Abe. There are things he told me, things I’m sure you’ve not been aware of. Mostly it has to do with his parents.” Piper looked at Mercy. “You need to find them. Now. He believes they’re on their way here.”
“They are. That’s why we’re here tonight to figure out what to do about it. Since Christmas, I’ve had a couple of people keeping an eye on them. They’re making their way here to reclaim their son.” Piper asked her where they were. “They’re having difficulties that are keeping them from arriving too soon. What is it you know that we should?”
“Abe wants them dead.” No one said a word for several minutes. “He’s terrified they’re going to try and take him and then harm you guys. I didn’t tell him they were coming; he knew they were. I think, like Dante, he can see bits of the future.”
~*~
Abe waited in line to purchase the map he was going to work from. After reading the instructions through twice, he knew he could use a purchased map to start his project, but he had to make it wholly his. Excitement ran over his body as he was next in line to buy what he needed.
The little store wasn’t busy. It was one of the new shops that had opened in town a few weeks ago—an art supply store that had everything a person could want to work on something fun. He’d been tempted to buy himself some of the paints that were on the shelf, but he didn’t want to be distracted from what he was doing now. Maybe later, he told himself.
Then he saw the woman coming into the store with a big man. As they walked by him, Abe was pushed back a few feet. Neither of them said a word to him, but Abe knew they were in here for trouble. He did the only thing he could think of and reached out to his dad. He knew he was in town today for several meetings. Mom was looking for some plants to put around the house.
I’m at Arts and Crafts. Dad asked him if he was short on money. No. I have enough. There are two people in here that have plans to kill the woman that is ringing us out.
Do you see any guns? Abe told him they didn’t have any. They were going to cut her up with the knives they had on them. What will happen to the others in the store, son? I’m on my way there with Joel.
There won’t be any of us in here. They’re waiting on all of us to leave. Dad, I’m the last person in line. I think the three people ahead of me are together, so when they leave, it’ll just be me and them. Dad told him that they were nearly there. All right. I’m not afraid. I just don’t want Mrs. Clarity hurt.
Joel entered the store first. He looked at him and winked, then asked if he had everything he needed. It wasn’t until he was ushered out of the building that he realized what Dad was doing—getting Abe out of harm’s way as well. Dad told him to go get the police and to stay there. Running down the sidewalk, he forgot to tell them to be careful.
The police were still talking on and on about leaving the station, and Abe wanted to beat them up. They were taking their time about going to help his dad. When it looked to him like they weren’t ever going to get going, he called for his mom and the others. He was sure the next time he needed extra help, the police weren’t going to be called. They weren’t taking it seriously at all.
When the man was brought into the station where Abe was, he was mad. Not only had the police only just left the station, but his family had been the ones that had stopped the violence in the shop. He wanted to say something to the officers, but he was afraid he’d be in trouble. However, his dad had no such problems and told them off. Then he fired them.
“I’d rather know my family is safe because of the response from the police than think that my wife and her sisters needed to be called in for back up.” The chief said they’d not believed the kid. “That kid is my son. And it shouldn’t have mattered one bit that he came to you to tell you about what was going on. It should have had you out the door as fast as you could be.”
Hiring a new set of policemen wasn’t nearly as difficult as he thought it might be. Dad not only had a new crew in place shortly but more of them than before. The man in charge of the station now was someone he knew. Mr. Pilgrim was teaching him to tell the difference between shifters and humans at the packhouse. He asked Dad what had happened at the shop.
“Mrs. Clarity had had some issues with her daughter and son-in-law before, but usually they’d just rob her then take off. After she opened her shop, they’d been hanging around more. When she wouldn’t give them any cash, they decided they’d kill her. Great family there, I th
ink.” Dad looked at him as he continued. “I’m going to have to have Abe here tell you how he knew. But it’s not to go any further than this room.”
“I think I know. He’s got some kind of magic that tells him what’s going on. He’s been displaying it at my house for the last few weeks.” Dad asked him what he’d done. Abe was curious too. “Mae, my little girl, was playing on the floor, minding her toys when Abe there jumped up and took one of the blocks from her. He said she was going to swallow it. Not that she could or might, but that she was going to. There were other things too. Like he grabbed a cup just as it was crashing to the floor. He was in the living room when he rushed in and caught the cup as it tumbled off the table I’d hit with my body. I figured he was either seeing things that were gonna happen, or he was just one lucky kid.”
“I have to touch someone to know what’s going on.” Dad got down to his level and asked him if he’d seen what they did to Mrs. Clarity. “Yes.”
