"Every time he'd see her," Bill said, "she looked worse. Bill always talked about the 'energy' people gave off, and Evie was giving off dark energy. He'd try to talk to her, to figure out how far she'd gone, but when she was around she didn't stay long. It's strange she and Mark had been very close before the gift emerged in her. Once it did, they were like oil and water.

"When Mark died, Evie seemed to go off the deep end. June tried to keep in touch with her, but she would be gone for long periods at a time. I believe she was arrested several times, things like theft and drug possession. June kept trying to get her to move in with her, but Evie wouldn't. Then, when she got pregnant, everything changed. She moved in with June. She got a job. It looked like she was pulling her life together. June told me that Evie had renounced the gift. She wouldn't have anything more to do with it." A slight smile spread across Bill's face.

"Something else?" Roy asked.

"Well," Bill said, "it's just that Evie is a liar. So I'm not sure I believe the bit about renouncing the gift, or anything else she says, for that matter."

"You think she might be using the gift? Now?" Steven asked.

"Maybe," Bill said. "With her, you can never be sure. The last few years, raising Robbie, she has mellowed a bit. But before that, you name it, she did it. Did June tell you Evie stole every bit of jewelry her mother had, and hawked it? Including heirlooms from June's great-grandmother? I was there the day they confronted her about it. There wasn't an ounce of regret in her. She was a suspect in a church arson. My daughter told me that once Evie had told her she'd stolen cars. So she just doesn't have any credibility with the family."

"But you said she's mellowed?" Steven asked. "Since she had Robbie?"

"Oh yeah," Bill said, "she's better. Or she appears to be better. But this thing about her renouncing the gift I don't think I buy that. When she was training with Mark, she loved it. And even after he couldn't reign her in, she was still using it to her advantage. I know people can change, but I don't get that from her. And she's an awful mother. Talks a lot about protecting Robbie, but it's all talk. She treats him like dirt."

"June mentioned bringing Robbie over here, to get him out of the house," Steven said.

"I wish she would," Bill said. "Robbie and June are welcome anytime. Evie is not."

"I don't think Evie is going to allow Robbie to visit you," Roy said. "She seemed against it."

"June is a good woman," Bill said. "G.o.d knows she doesn't deserve what she's been put though, with Mark's death, Evie's wildness, and now this. If you can help her, I'd appreciate it. I'll do whatever I can to help."

Steven and Roy thanked Bill for his help and left his house.

"I think we need to talk to the boy," Roy said. "We need to find a time when we can visit with him when Evie isn't around."

"I'll call June and see if she has any ideas," Steven said, dialing his phone while driving.

"The boy is involved somehow," Roy said, "I just can't make the connection."

"Well, he is entering p.u.b.erty," Steven said, waiting for the phone to connect. "It might be his heightened hormones and emotional state."

"For a poltergeist or something like that, yes," Roy said. "But this is worse, far worse. This is completely on the 'evil' side of the fence. For three ent.i.ties to be involved, there's more going on here than ghost bangings."

June answered the line and Steven spoke with her for a few moments, then flipped his phone closed. "Evie's out of the house, and Robbie is at home. I say we do it now."

"Agreed," Roy said, leaning back into the car seat.

Chapter Seven.

June opened the door, her hands pressed tightly together holding the token.

"Have a seat," she said, "and I'll go get him."

Steven and Roy sat again in June's living room. In a moment, June returned with Robbie. He was about four feet tall, thin, and pale. He had blonde hair cut short, and brown eyes. He looked worried as though he was about to get in trouble for something.

"Robbie, I want you to meet two good friends of mine," June said. "This is Steven, and this is Roy."

Steven held out his hand and Robbie shook it. Then he moved to Roy and did the same.

"We want to talk to you, Robbie," Steven said. "Would you answer a few questions for us?"

"OK," he said, and sat down in a chair opposite the sofa where Steven and Roy were sitting.

"Your grandmother tells me that strange things have been going on in the house," Steven said. "Is that right?"

"I guess so," Robbie said.

"She told me the other night you couldn't sleep because there were hands in your bed," Steven said. "Is that true?"

"Yeah," Robbie said.

"Did you see the hands?" Steven asked.

"No, I felt them," Robbie said.

"You felt them?" Steven asked. "How?"

"When I pulled the covers up," Robbie said, "I could feel hands grabbing my legs."

"And that scared you," Steven said, "so you went to sleep with your grandmother?"

"Yes," Robbie said.

"Why didn't you go sleep with your mother if you were scared?" Steven asked.

"Because she won't help me," Robbie said. "She would have just told me to get back into bed."

"How do you know she would have said that?" Steven asked.

"Because that's what she always says," Robbie said.

"Have there been any other strange things?" Steven asked. "Something unusual that scared you?"

"Sometimes I can't breathe," Robbie said, "when I'm in bed."

"Is he asthmatic?" Roy asked June.

"No," June said.

"Why can't you breathe?" Steven asked Robbie.

"I don't know," Robbie said. "It feels like someone is sitting on my chest, and I can't breathe in 'cause they're pushing down on it."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Steven said, smiling at the boy. Robbie smiled back. He's very charismatic, Steven thought.

"You and Roy can help me, right?" Robbie asked.

"We're going to try," Steven said.

"You have what they want," Robbie said, "like me."

"What do you mean?" Steven asked.

"Your hands," Robbie said. "Like mine."

"You can see something on my hands?" Steven asked him. "What do you see?"

"They're like mine," Robbie said, extending his hands.

Steven removed the planchette from his jacket pocket. He held Robbie's left hand, slipped into the River, and pa.s.sed the planchette over it. Nothing appeared.

"Like this," Robbie said, turning his hand over, exposing the palm. Steven pa.s.sed the planchette over Robbie's hand again, and two red diamonds came into view. As he examined the markings, Steven expected to feel the revulsion he normally experienced when looking at his own markings. Instead, he felt euphoric.

"Can I see yours?" Robbie asked.

"How do you know I have them?" Steven asked.

"I can tell," Robbie said, reaching for Steven's planchette. He let Robbie hold it, and Robbie turned Steven's hand over, searching his palm for the markings.

"Mine isn't there," Steven said, turning his hand over. "Mine is on top."

Robbie looked at Steven's markings through the planchette. After a few seconds he handed the planchette back to Steven, his face turning white.

"That's why they don't like you," Robbie said. "You scare them."

"Why?" Steven asked. "How do I scare them?"

"They think you're going to kill them," Robbie said. "At least, some of them think that."

"Are they scared of you, too?" Steven asked. "You have a similar marking."

"Mine's different. Mine's on here," Robbie said, showing Steven his palm. "They're not scared of me. They like me."

"Do you know what they want?" Roy asked.

"They say they want to play with me," Robbie said. "But I don't believe them."

"Good," Roy said. "You shouldn't."

Robbie raised his left hand and brought his index finger to his mouth, sticking the tip inside. Then his mouth closed around the finger.

What is he doing? Steven thought, but before he could stop the child, Robbie closed his teeth around the finger, digging the teeth into the flesh hard, and pulled the finger from his mouth, stripping off the flesh. He could see the white bone of Robbie's finger from the last knuckle to the tip, covered in blood. Robbie spit out the flesh he'd sc.r.a.ped from his finger into his mouth. Roy leapt to his feet; June screamed. Robbie pointed the finger at Steven.

"You did that," Robbie said, "it's your fault."

"We're leaving," Roy said to June. "Take him to the emergency room. And take the part he bit off."

"Oh my G.o.d!" June said. "Why did he...?"

"He did it because of Steven," Roy said. "We've got to leave to reduce the risk to Robbie. And you've got to get him to the emergency room."

"What do I tell them?" June asked.

"Tell them he went crazy," Roy said, pulling Steven up off the sofa, "and bit his finger off. We'll call you later. Come on, Steven."

Steven was in shock, and even with Roy's pulling, his legs didn't engage.

"Steven!" Roy said, grabbing him harder and giving him a shake. "Come on!"

Steven returned to his senses and stood up. "I'm sorry," he said to June. She just looked at him, desperate. Robbie had fallen back against the chair he was sitting in, holding his hand.

"Come on," Roy said, dragging him towards the door, "before something worse happens."

Roy opened the door. Steven was still half-there, so Roy shoved him through the door and closed it behind him.

"Can you walk?" Roy asked.

"Yeah," Steven said. "I can walk."

"Good," Roy said. "Let's go then."

"Where?" Steven said. "What do we do?"

"Back to that old b.i.t.c.h in Gig Harbor," Roy said, angry. "She needs to come up with a few more ideas. And we've got to smarten up."

"Smarten up?" Steven asked.

"If June needed protection," Roy said, "what made us think Robbie didn't need it too? It was a stupid move on our part."

"Judith said it would protect everyone," Steven mumbled.

"That's why we're going to go see her," Roy said.

They reached the car and got inside. Steven still seemed dazed.

"Maybe I should drive," Roy said.

"No, I can do it," Steven said, reaching for his keys.