Page 100 of Possessed By Shadows

“Hmm,” I muttered digging at it for a bit. Micah handed me a fold-out box cutter we normally used at the shop. I used it to score the paint and finally pry the first block free. Three other blocks out, and I could shine a light inside. It did look like pipes and dirt. Except there was something over near the corner.

“Can you shine a light so I can zoom the camera in?” I asked Micah trying to use my phone to get a better view. He aimed the light of his phone up into the space, and I used the screen to dial in, snapping a picture even as I swallowed back bile.

“What is it?” Micah asked, too short to actually see in the hole. If I removed more bricks there would be dirt spilling out.

I brought the camera down and shared the screen so he could see the picture. It was hard to tell with the dirt which appeared to still be wet, and muddy, though there were streaks in the soil to indicate there had been a lot of water through there.

“Is that a skull?” Micah gasped.

Lukas jolted, leaning over us, blinking wide at the picture that showed sort of the top upper left corner of a skull, part of a forehead and an empty eye-socket. Not an animal, not an adult.

I gave the little girl a soft smile as she faded away, her light jolting up toward the attic. Their safe space.

“There are bodies in my basement…” Lukas muttered.

Micah buried his face in my chest, hugging me tight. “I want to go home.”

“Okay,” I agreed. I forwarded the picture to Lukas’s phone. “Probably want to call the Marshals. But I’m thinking you won’t be using the house for much of anything for a while.” Did that mean we’d still have Sky bunking with us? I sighed. At least I’d have the afternoon with Micah. I hoped to wash away the memories of the day by bathing in the feeling of him draped over me.

I ignored my father as I walked out, and the black-eyed child who stood on the curb. Whatever time I had left with Micah was mine, and I planned to enjoy every second of it.