both hands, her voice booming, eyes burning with sudden passion. “And He said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions!’” The gemstones on the crucifix flashed in the lamplight as she lowered her arms, her eyes narrowing as that cold smile turned her lips up again.
Kandace moved her gaze slowly from Ms. Wykes to the bird lying on the floor in the pool of blood. It was no longer moving.
It had died.
The other bird sat alone behind its bars, staring longingly out the window at the forest beyond.
CHAPTER FIVE
Scarlett took a sip of wine, glancing at Haddie across the card table she’d set up in the kitchen—along with two metal fold-up chairs—where they could eat meals. They’d dined on canned chili and crackers for dinner and had been living off items from the small box of non-perishable food she’d brought from their old apartment for the last few days. She’d have to venture into town in the morning to stock up on some more, especially now that the gas line was working and they had an operational stove and running water in the kitchen. The electricity had checked out, though Louis had had to reset several of the breakers, but once that was done, the old refrigerator had hummed to life. It was smelly and dirty inside, but it wasn’t anything some elbow grease and a quart of bleach couldn’t fix, so she’d take on that task right before she grocery shopped.
Haddie was deeply focused on her drawing tablet on the table in front of her, her colored pencil scraping softly over the paper. Scarlett clicked the mouse on the laptop in front of her, opening the program she was using to design the planned remodels on the house. She raised her gaze, glancing around the room. The size would work for her needs, but the entire layout would have to be reworked, the space gutted. Then she’d bring in industrial appliances, a prepping station . . .
The scraping of Haddie’s pencil drew her attention, the back and forth motion growing ever faster as her daughter worked diligently to color something in. Scarlett focused on the picture, what looked to be a page almost completely covered in black. She frowned, leaning forward. “What are you drawing, honey?”
Haddie blinked, her hand stilling as she looked up at her mother. Scarlett frowned, taking in the drawing from upside down. “Are those . . . horns? What is that, baby?”
Haddie glanced down at her drawing, looking at it curiously as if seeing it for the first time, as if she hadn’t been the one to create it. She tilted her head. “I don’t know.”
Scarlett watched her for a moment. Her daughter’s imagination had always been vivid. But though her drawing looked particularly morose, she didn’t appear distressed and Scarlett released a slow breath, and then took a sip of wine as Haddie went back to her work.
“See anything cool while you’ve been out exploring the property?”
Haddie stilled for a moment. “Just the flowers I brought you. And . . . something with horns.” She gave a small nod down to her picture, her lashes lowering. “And a fox.”
Scarlett frowned. “Oh . . . honey, maybe you should stay out of the trees. There are probably lots of wild animals that live in there.”
“The fox didn’t want to hurt me, Mommy.” She said it with the surety of a sage, as if it was an inarguable fact. As if she’d communicated with the fox and it’d told her of its intentions.
Scarlett regarded Haddie. She’d always seemed to sense things about people, and yes, even animals. Sometimes she went right up to a dog, kneeled down, and began petting him, and other times, she’d pull Scarlett to cross the street if one was coming toward them. She responded the same way with people. She either liked them immediately, or never warmed to them at all.
Merrilee had once asked Scarlett if she thought Haddie might be on the autism spectrum, but Scarlett had rejected that. It wasn’t that she was in denial, it was just that no one knew Haddie better than she did. Haddie had a vivid inner world, that was true. But she was overly emotional if anything. She felt things deeply and was keenly intelligent. She could be . . . secretive, but she also wore her heart on her sleeve. Plus, she had never had