She seemed to think about it for a minute. She glanced at Millie momentarily and then back at Scarlett. “Some people . . . are on different channels.”
Scarlett frowned, glancing at the childlike man. “Tell me.”
Haddie wrinkled her nose. “Like how Sofia the First is on Disney channel, and Word Girl is on PBS. You have to switch back and forth. If you’re only on Disney, you can’t watch Word Girl. It’s not even there. It’s like it doesn’t exist, but it does. It is there, it’s just on another channel.”
Scarlett glanced at the man, at Millie, and then back at Haddie, giving herself a minute to digest what Haddie was saying. The moment in the church daycare came back to her. You’re nothing. Nothing at all. That’s what Haddie had said about the boy with the leg braces. She shivered, goosebumps causing her skin to prickle. Was it possible that since that moment Haddie had learned to . . . somehow communicate with people who otherwise couldn’t? Who operated on a different sort of . . . channel?
“Did you say something to the boy who lives near Millie that let him know you understood him?”
She bobbed her head. “Yes, Mommy. I wanted him to know I was on his channel.”
Scarlett struggled to understand but she knew one thing: This, this was the inner world she’d been wanting to share in. She could not mess this up. She had to be the mother Haddie needed. She had to try to understand, to believe in her even if it didn’t make sense. Cam’s reaction to the possibility of Haddie having a mental illness handed down by her father suddenly flashed in her mind.
“Does it matter?”
“What? Whether or not he has a mental illness?”
“No, whether Haddie has a predisposition. What will you do?”
“I would know better how to treat her.”
“It seems like you’re doing just fine, Scarlett.”
He’d been right. Haddie didn’t need treatment. She needed understanding and love. Acceptance and . . . awe. She’s so incredibly precious. And she’s spreading that gift . . . that light . . . everywhere she goes.
Even in a forest with a man who’d been left to die. Scarlett’s heart overflowed with love.
She nodded over to the man. “Did he tell you why he took you?” she asked Haddie.
“He didn’t take us,” she said. “I called for him and he came.”
“Why?”
“That nun came to Lilith House,” Haddie said, her expression going somber, eyes dull. She blinked and her eyes cleared. “She was heavy, Mommy. So heavy I couldn’t move. I made myself move though. I did it.”
Tears gathered in Scarlett’s eyes even while dread trickled down her spine. Sister Madge had told her she’d visited. She’d told her she’d dropped by to offer condolences. However, she’d gone to take, not give. “That’s good, baby,” she choked out.
Haddie nodded. “She left, but I think she’s coming back, Mommy. I think she’s bringing others. They want to hurt you, and me, and Millie too. They want to hurt us bad.” She looked over at the man, blinking his forest-green eyes at them, his lashes long and lush. “He knows this place. He’s going to help us,” she whispered.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Camden didn’t bother knocking. He threw the door to Lilith House open, rushing inside. Mason came bounding down the stairs. “Cam! I’ve been calling you.”
“Where are they?”
Mason reached the foyer. “Jesus, Cam, it took them. It had horns. Scarlett, she—”
“Mason. Calm down. Tell me where they are,” he gritted, his heart constricting so tightly he could hardly breathe.
“They’re in the woods. The thing, it took Haddie and Millie. Scarlett got home and went after them. Someone hurt her, Cam. She was real banged up.”
The thing? “When?” His voice sounded like it was coming from very far away, panic dripping through his veins. It had them? It? And Scarlett was hurt?
“Just ten minutes ago. If you run—”
He grasped Mason’s upper arm with one hand, holding the box in his other. He’d need to hide it quickly. “We have to call Georgia, and tell her to hide.” He’d prayed the entire way there—all twenty-four minutes of his far-too-speedy drive—that the guild was busy gathering, organizing, rather than going directly after Georgia. He prayed he was their priority. They’d figure out where he’d gone quickly enough and then they’d come after him. Here, to Lilith House. “Then you come with me. We’ll go after them together.” He pulled his phone out, but Mason held up his