Blaze of Memory

CHAPTER 17

Jack looked up as William walked into the garage. “Hey, kiddo. What’s up?”

“I have a question.” All big moss green eyes, Will hitched himself up on his usual spot on top of the closed tool chest.

“Yeah? Homework?” Setting down the old-fashioned saw he’d been using to shorten a length of timber in preparation for building a tree house, Jack headed over to hunker in front of his son, glad Will was acting more like his normal self. After the last incident . . . “Hit me with it.”

But Will didn’t respond with his usual mock punch. Instead, his lower lip trembled. “How do you know if you’re bad?”

Jack touched his son’s knee, fear a knot in his throat. “Did you do something, Will?” It had been two months since the dead birds on the lawn. Not one or two, dozens of them. All appearing as if they’d simply fallen from the sky.

Will had woken screaming in terror that morning, and while Melissa had cuddled his shivering form, Jack had gone out into the dark edge of dawn to prove to Will that it had only been a dream. He’d found a nightmare instead. But Jack had buried the birds before full light, and Will had never known. “Come on, son,” Jack said, raising one little hand to his mouth for an affectionate kiss. “Did you break a window or something?”

Will shook his head. “No. I haven’t done anything yet.”

Something in those words made Jack’s heart chill. “You think you’re going to do something?”

“I’m bad,” Will whispered. “I’m bad inside.”

“No, Will, you’re not.” He would not allow his son, his precious child, to become a victim of his own gifts. “You’re a good boy.”

But tears filled Will’s eyes. “Help me, Daddy.”