The central characters of Poltergeist: the Legacy do not belong to me -
they are the property of Trilogy and MGM; I’ve only borrowed them for a while.
All other characters are created by me. Hope you enjoy …

POLTERGEIST:
THE LEGACY

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Chapter the First

– in which Kat receives an unexpected invitation
and an idea is born –

Kat looked startled. “Why me?”

“I can’t think of anyone else.”

Kat’s head angled. “Gee, thanks,” she said in a flat, resigned voice.

Wylie sighed. “That isn’t how I meant it, Kat. You know it isn’t. It’s just .. well, ever since .. y’know, you’re there, in the back of my head, as .. someone I can rely on. A friend when everyone else runs away, usually screaming. So .. I guess what I meant to say was I thought of lots of other people but you’re the one I really wanted to ask.” She hesitated, her fork idly pushing salad around her plate. “You think your Mom will say yes?”

Kat thought it over as she pushed salad around her own plate. “I don’t know. Honest, I don’t. Wylie, you gotta think of .. all the other stuff. It isn’t a simple question to ask her. It’s still school. She could say no just for that. An’ it’s so far away. If it was .. Sacramento, then maybe, yeah, she could say yes to a long weekend. I’ll have to plan my attack. Ask for assignments in advance an’ catch up later. But .. England? That’s a long way to travel.”

“Y’think? Imagine how I feel about it. I’m going to live there.” She hunched her shoulders and looked miserable. “I thought a friend, y’know, would help me over the transition. It wouldn’t cost anything. Ever since Coop got those books published, we have lots of money.”

“Enough to go live in England,” Kat remarked.

“Enough to live just about anywhere. He’s been to see the place an’ says it’s fabulous. He’s shown my Mom pictures an’ she loves it too .. but not as much as he does. She says it’ll be a lotta work to keep clean. Coop says we can hire staff to help but that isn’t my Mom’s way. Kat, please,” she begged, “I need you.”

Kat thought it over some more and silently agreed it could be fun. A trip overseas, at no cost, a couple of weeks with a good friend … Sure, why not? Where was the harm?

“Look, I can’t promise,” she said, “but I’ll ask my teachers an’ see what I can do. Then, if I get it all okayed by them, I’ll ask my Mom. Present her with a done deal. It’ll show that I’ve been responsible. I have my laptop so maybe I can keep up that way. Stay in contact with my teachers. It’ll be like I’m still here.”

“Great idea,” Wylie agreed.

“When do you leave?” Kat inquired, moving into the active planning stage.

Wylie sighed again. “End of next week. Ten days.”

Oh great, Kat thought. Nothing like hardly any notice at all to really pile on the pressure. And today started so well …

*****

That evening, she was still wrestling with the problem. She frowned and sighed, jotting down notes as she sat at the kitchen table and trying to work out a plan of attack which had some kind of a reasonable chance of success.

“Kat? There a problem?” Rachel inquired lightly.

“If I said no, I’d be lying. But .. I’m working on it, Mom.”

“Can I help?”
“Not yet,” she replied. “I’m still in the planning stage.” Kat looked up. “Can I call Peri?”

Rachel looked a little hurt. “She can help but I can’t?”

“I can’t ask you yet. I just need to talk over my ideas with someone. See if they are at least workable. If they aren’t, I can start over. I have time .. just.”

“Well, okay. But I’m intrigued.”

Kat grinned quickly. “It’s nothing bad, Mom, but it’ll probably make you mad at me. I’m trying to find all the answers to the questions you’re going to ask.”

“Now I’m very intrigued,” Rachel laughed. “Go on, call Peri.”

Kat ran up to her room and pressed out the number. She checked the time. It wasn’t late so she doubted the phone ringing would disturb either the baby or his parents. It wasn’t one of those horrible late night calls which signaled only bad news or maybe a wrong number.

“Yeah.”

“Oh .. Nick.” She tried to sound not too disappointed. “Is Peri there?”

“Hey, kiddo, how you doing?” he asked, his voice amused. “Don’t see you enough these days. Yeah, she’s here,” Nick laughed. “I’m kinda getting used to picking up her calls. Hold on a second.”

Kat heard him put down the phone and call, “Merli, it’s Kat, for you.”

A handful of seconds went by then she heard the phone being picked up again.

“Hi, Kat. How you doing?”

“I’m doing okay, thanks. I need your advice. Can you talk?”

“Sure. Want me to come over?”

“Oh, no, we can talk on the phone. You showing up .. may cause questions I can’t answer yet.”

“Sounds interesting. Go ahead; what’s the problem?”

“My friend Wylie is moving to England at the end of next week an’ she wants me to go with her for a while. Two weeks. Only it’s still school an’ my Mom will say no.”

“Okay so far.”

“So I thought if I talked to all my teachers an’ found out what I’d be learning during those weeks, get my assignments in advance, an’ so forth, my Mom would be more likely to say yes because it’d show I’ve been responsible an’ made inquiries an’ arrangements.”

“That is very true. She would be more likely to say yes. There’s no guarantee though that she will.”

“I know an’ that’s why I’m trying to cover the bases before I ask. I have a laptop. I figure, if I take it with me, I can stay in contact with my teachers by email. I can download all the books I’d need so I really wouldn’t be missing all that much.”

“Can’t fault your thinking so far,” Merlin agreed.

“Only .. I need a scanner. An’ I don’t have enough money to buy one.”

“I see.”

“Could you lend me the money?”

“You want my advice or is it a request?”
“It’s a request.”

“Well ... let me think some here … ”

Kat held her breath.

“As it’s for a good cause, I’ll buy you a scanner,” Merlin said.

“I’ll pay you back – ”

“No, don’t. It’s a gift. I can afford it. That’s why you called me.”

Kat blushed. “Well .. yeah,” she confirmed. “But you’re also my friend. My very good friend.”

Merlin laughed and Kat began to giggle. “That’s true as well. I’ll make the arrangements an’ get it to you before the weekend so you can start downloading the books.”

“Thanks, Peri.”

“Nice planning, Kat. Good luck with your Mom.”

“I think I’m gonna need it,” Kat said. She hung up and checked the first item on her list.

*****

“Coop, y’know .. this isn’t a house. I don’t care what it says, it isn’t a house. It’s a .. huge.”

“A huge?” he queried, his voice distracted. “Y’mean, a very very big house?”

“Yeah. That’s what I mean,” Karen replied. She shuffled thru the photographs again. “How the people in England could call this a house is .. well, they must have some strange ideas of what houses are. What would they call what we live in now? A broom closet?”

“It’s just their way, honey,” he said, putting down his pen and turning to her. “In the old days, they named places like that after the local town or village an’ it was the manor house or the castle. Like .. Windsor Castle. We are the proud owners of Hatherleigh House. The realtor described it to me as a .. grand pile.”

“It is beautiful,” Karen breathed. “How big is the yard again?”

“The estate is a little over one hundred seventy acres. It’s overgrown an’ it’ll need some work but it has a stream an’ pastureland so we could farm cattle if we wanted.”

“Cows?” she queried. “I don’t think so, Coop. We were born in a city. We don’t know how to look after cows.”

“We could get a pony or a horse for Wylie,” he suggested. “She could ride an’ never have to go outside the wall. Did I mention there’s a wall around the entire place?”

“Yes, you did. I guess buying a horse is an option. She may not want to learn how to ride. She never has said so this far. What about the interior of the house? Is it up to code?”

“The realtor says yes. It has electricity an’ mains sewerage. May even have domestic gas. The details are all there.”

“I love it,” she declared. “But .. England? What if we don’t settle? What if we don’t take to the life?”

“Then we think of other things.” Cooper came to the sofa and sat down next to her. “Honey, we can turn it into a hotel, live like royalty on the income. We can make it into apartments and rent ’em out. We have choices, Karen. We always have choices. Including coming home to the US.” He smiled. “All I ask is that you give it a chance. Six months. A year.”

“I can do that. I’d like to see all the seasons. Maybe .. we could open the yard to the public when it’s summer.”

“They call it a garden, not a yard,” he advised. “Especially when it’s over one hundred seventy acres.”

“Right. Yeah, it’ll be an adventure,” Karen decided. “An’ it’ll be fun. Our very own stately home.”

“I hope Kat Corrigan can come with us. It’ll mean a lot to Wylie.”

Karen nodded slowly, her eyes sad. “She’s giving up so much for us to follow our dream, Coop. Her friends, her life here.”

“Six months. A year. That’s all I ask. If you or Wylie hate it, we come home. I won’t fight you on that.”

“I love you,” she smiled.

“I love you too, sweetheart. I am the luckiest guy in the whole world,” Cooper grinned.

*****

Kat did her preparation as well as she could. Merlin was as good as her word and Nick delivered a brand new scanner to the house on Friday evening. Rachel was suspicious and Kat decided now was the time to go for it. To strike while the iron was hot. She wasn’t making a horseshoe or a sword, but the heat of the metaphorical forge was definitely making her sweat.

“Kat, what’s going on?” Rachel asked after Nick had gone, grinning broadly, into the night.

“Mom … ” Kat dried. Her heart climbed into her throat and strangled her. Slowly, her face filled with the burning blood of embarrassment.

“How mad am I gonna get?”

“Very. Sit down,” Kat requested. “Please don’t shout until I’m done.”

Slowly, one eyebrow raised, Rachel sat and calmly put her interlaced fingers on the table top.

“You remember Coop? Cooper? Ashcroft? He was your patient for a while a few years back.”

“Yeah. I remember him. He stopped seeing me after he met Karen. Wylie’s mother.” Rachel watched her warily, wondering what part Cooper was going to play. “Is he involved in this?”

“Yeah. He married Karen – ”

“Did he? Oh, that’s great! I’m pleased for him.”

“He never became a teacher. He gave up work to write a book. An’ it got published an’ he made a lotta money. He’s written a couple more since an’ made even more money. Lorenzo Peterson? That’s Coop.”

“I have his books!” Rachel exclaimed. “They’re very good. That’s Cooper? Wow, he’s done well for himself.”

“Yeah, he has. He’s made so much money that they’re moving to a new place.”

“That’s wonderful.” Rachel’s eyes were shining. There was nothing quite like hearing that a former patient had totally turned his life around.

Kat drew a deep breath. She could see the words lining up in her head ready to be spoken. “Wylie’s asked me to go with her, for a couple of weeks, to help her settle in.”

“Oh.”

If the word had been made of lead, it couldn’t have landed any heavier.

“I haven’t said I would. I’ve been working things out. Speaking with my teachers.”

“When are they going?” Rachel inquired, quickly and easily putting two and two together.

“The end of next week. A week tomorrow.”

“It’s during school, Kat. They couldn’t have waited until spring break?”

Kat ignored that. “I’ve been speaking with my teachers. I know it’s during school, Mom. That’s why Nick brought the scanner. I’m going to copy my books into the laptop an’ do my assignments an’ email them to my teachers. They’ve said it’s okay.”

“I can check.”

“Go ahead,” Kat invited.

“An’ how much is this gonna cost me?”

“Nothing. Coop will pay for my airplane ticket.”

“Airplane?” Rachel pounced. “Where are they moving to?”

Kat swallowed and mentally crossed her fingers. “England.”

Rachel blinked several times. “England ..?”

Kat nodded. “Can I go? Please?”

“Whereabouts in England?”

“I don’t know. I can find out. Can I go? Please?”

“For two weeks. And your teachers have said it’s okay if you do your assignments an’ send them by email. I will check.”

“They have. An’ my passport’s up to date.”

Rachel sat back. Kat watched her as the questions flickered across her eyes. Eventually, Rachel gave a small shrug.

“Okay,” she said. “You can go.”

*****

There were provisos attached. Kat had expected them. In fact, she’d expected them at the time of the agreement but clearly her clever organizational planning had thrown her mother a little. Kat had grown up. She wasn’t a little girl anymore able to do nothing but beg with tears in her eyes or throw a tantrum when she was refused. Now, she anticipated problems and got solutions in place so that a refusal would come across as a tantrum on her mother’s part.

Rachel lay in bed for an hour going over her decision and looking for pitfalls. She put together a list of conditions which she didn’t feel were heavy handed or too onerous.

She gave them at breakfast the next morning.

“One, I will check with all your teachers. If just one of them says no, you’re not going. This is not open to negotiation.”

“Okay,” Kat nodded. There was only one teacher she still had to talk with and she’d do that at the first opportunity after the weekend.

“Two, I want an address an’ a phone number for where you’re staying.”

“I’ll get them for you.”

“Three, I will call you every day – ”

“Mom, there’s no need to call every day. Every few days is fine. Please. Every day will be embarrassing. It’ll be like you don’t trust me.”

Rachel breathed in. “Okay, every few days. Four, I want to meet with Cooper an’ Karen.”

“Why?” Kat blinked.

“I wanna know they know about all this an’ that they’re okay with it.”

“Okay,” Kat sighed.

“I want flight numbers an’ times. An’ a postcard.”

Kat grinned. “Sure. I can do that.”

Rachel shook her head. “I’m impressed, Katherine. If you’d just .. asked me outright, I’d’ve said no. But you thought about it an’ then you asked. That’s good work. Now, about this scanner Nick delivered last night.”

“I called Peri an’ asked if she’d buy it for me. I explained why I needed it an’ she was cool. I offered to pay her back an’ she said no, that it was a gift.”

“You asked Peri for money.”

“Yeah.”

“Kat, I could’ve gotten you a scanner.”

“Yeah, but I would’ve had to tell you why I wanted it. I wasn’t ready.”

“You will pay Peri back. If not in hard cash, then in service. Baby sitting duties.”

“Sure!” Kat agreed happily.

“Okay. Well .. d’you know where in England you’re going? We’ll need to get some clothes for your trip. It can get cold over there if you’re going to the north. Or very wet if you’re heading west.”

“I’ll call Wylie, tell her the good news, an’ I’ll ask.”

“You do that .. an’ tell her too that I wanna meet with her mother an’ Cooper.”

“Okay, Mom. This is gonna be so much fun. Thank you.”

Watching Kat, Rachel smiled. Her eyes were shining, her face was flushed with excitement. She looked like a little girl again.

I almost wish I could go too. No .. I do wish I could go too.

*****

Karen had just finished cooking breakfast when she heard the phone start to ring.

“Dammit,” she muttered, looking around for somewhere near at hand to put a plate of toast. Then the phone stopped ringing. She sighed and turned to put the plate on the table. Then she heard a scream and almost dropped the food on the floor. “Wylie!”

The scream turned into a whoop and Karen let out a taut breath.

Wylie came bouncing into the kitchen. “Kat’s Mom said yes! Oh, an’ she wants to meet you.”

“Why? I don’t need my head examined. At least, I don’t think I do.”

“She’s waiting on the phone,” Wylie urged. “Just fix a day an’ time.”

Karen put the toast on the table and wiped her hands on her jeans. Feeling flustered, she went into the lounge. “Hello?”

“Hi, Karen, it’s Rachel Corrigan. Kat’s mother. It’s about this trip she’s making to England, with you.”

“Yes?”

“Obviously, I have some concerns.”

“So do I but I’m sure, once I’m there, I’ll get over them. There’s no need to worry about me.”

There was a slight pause. “I was talking about Kat.”

“Oh! Oh, that’s okay then.”

“Can I come see you an’ Cooper? I’d like to hear more about your plans. An’ .. congratulations on getting married. I think that’s wonderful. After he met you, he didn’t need me anymore .. an’ that’s what I always hope for with all my patients. A happy ending.”

Karen smiled. “That’s so kind of you, Rachel. Can I call you Rachel?”

“Of course! When can I call round?”

“Um .. we’re in a horrible mess as you can imagine. Things to take, things to leave behind. You’ll have to take us as you find us. How about .. Monday morning?”

“That’s great. Ten?”

“Ten’s fine. I’ll show you some photos of our new .. house.”

“I’m already envious. I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Okay. Bye now.”

The line went dead and Karen hung up.

“Who was that?” Cooper inquired, yawning, as he came in.

“Rachel Corrigan.”

“What did she want?” he frowned.

“She wants to see us.”

He blinked and frowned harder. “Does she doubt my decision? Does she think I need to talk it over with someone? I haven’t made a mistake, have I, Karen? You do love the house, don’t you?”

“Coop, she wants to talk about our plans an’ Kat coming with us. One parent to another. She isn’t going to analyze you.”

“Oh. That’s good.” He straightened. “Really. That’s good.” He nodded. “When’s she coming?”

“Monday, at ten in the morning.”

“Excellent. We’ll have to get things tidy. A tidy house is a tidy mind.”

Karen looked around at the crates and boxes. “It won’t happen, Coop. An’ she knows it’s a mess. I told her. We’re not only moving house, we’re leaving the country. You can’t pack for that the night before you go. Relax, sweetie. It’ll be fine.”

He nodded briskly. “Yes, it will. Absolutely fine.”

*****

When the initial excitement had worn off, Kat called Wylie again.

“There are conditions. She’s gonna ask every one of my teachers. I still haven’t talked with Mr Stein yet. I think he’ll be okay. I can make a photographic essay of my trip for his Art class. Black an’ white. Atmospheric.”

“More than you realize,” Wylie said softly.

“What?”

“Nothing. What else did she say?”

“Oh, the usual. She wants an address an’ a phone number an’ flight numbers an’ times. She’ll call every few days to see how I’m doing. An’ to meet your Mom an’ Coop to make sure they know about it.”

“She thought we’d made it up?” Wylie exclaimed.

“No-o. I think it was more .. do they know it’s two weeks an’ they’re okay with paying for me an’ to get them to make sure I do my assignments. Usual stuff.”

“Oh. Okay. I’m so excited, Kat. I was hating the idea of going but now I can’t wait.”

“Me too. Wylie, d’you know whereabouts in England the house is?”

“Hold on, I’ll ask.”

Kat sat and waited. She had a big suitcase already opened on the floor. Soon, it would start filling up.

“Coop says it’s in an area called Devon. On the moor or something.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll see you on Monday at school.”

“Right. Bye, Kat. This time next week .. we’ll be on the airplane!”

“Yeah.” Kat imagined it. This next week was going to be difficult to get thru.

She hung up and went downstairs. “Wylie says it’s in a place called Devon.”

They checked in the atlas.

“West,” Rachel pointed and looked up. “Wet.”

*****

Derek came to the gallery and peered over as the door opened. As a stroller came into view, he smiled warmly and hurried for the stairs. “Hello, Dominic. I wasn’t expecting to see you today. How are you?”

The baby gurgled at him.

“Well, that is very good to hear.” He straightened. “You could’ve called.”

“An’ spoil the surprise?” Nick queried. “Sure, you can pick him up. Mind your back though. He’s getting real heavy.”

Derek bent and lifted Dominic. “I see what you mean. Is Peri with you?”

“Just parking the car. It’s a logistical nightmare going outta the house with a kid. Going to war means taking less kit.”

Derek regarded him. “You’re not serious.”

“Actually, I am. Sure, I’ve jumped outta aircraft carrying more weight on my back than all this put together but it could be packed down small. Babies have a lotta gear which is light but takes over a big area. I never realized before it happened to me.” Nick shook his head. “I was worried about having a baby seat in the Mustang .. but it won’t happen. I can fit the seat but there’s no room in the trunk for the rest of the stuff. It’s incredible. He’s three months old an’ he has more possessions than I do.”

Derek smiled. “And you wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Not for a second,” Nick grinned. “I’ve done my share of the sleepless nights, the waking up at one an’ four. Sleep deep but light. Like being in the Teams on standby. My training came in useful."

Merlin elbowed open the door and came in laden with two enormous carryall bags. She gave a bright smile.

“Hi, Derek. We’re invading for the weekend.”

“You’re always welcome. Stay as long as you want.” He looked around. “Philip is upstairs doing something especially secret. Alex is in the city. Rachel called to say she won’t be here today but will come over tomorrow. Apparently, she’s taking Kat shopping for wet weather gear.”

“Oh ..?” Merlin queried, her eyebrows rising. “Is the forecast that bad?”

“For a trip Kat’s taking,” he elaborated.

Nick grinned. “She did it. She got Rachel to say yes.”

Derek looked from one to the other. “You know about this?”

“Well .. yeah, kinda. The prep anyway,” Merlin replied. “Kat called me to ask for advice. Something about a trip with a friend from school but it’s in school time so she had a few ideas to get around the inevitable ‘no’ response. Seems like they worked.”

Derek nodded. “Katherine Corrigan is no longer the child who found sanctuary with us.” He sounded rather sad.

“She was always smart, Derek, but I think she’s learned a lot from us over the years,” Nick responded. “You’ve said before that Rachel was meant to find her way here an’ join us. Maybe it worked for Kat as well. Even if she decides not to become a member herself when the time rolls round, she’s got the experience an’ the tools to cope with major league weird wherever she finds it .. an’ that has to be down to us.”

“You’re right,” Derek nodded, smiling. “Rachel may not thank us .. but we’ve done a good job.”

“You have,” Merlin agreed. “Kat has a sound head on her shoulders. She’ll enjoy the trip.”

“I’m sure Rachel will give us more detail when she arrives. For now .. I have another soul to educate in the ways of major league teddy bears. Come with me, young man.”

Nick watched his son being spirited away upstairs and he smiled. “He just loves this.”

“Are you talking about Dom or Derek?”

“Both of ’em,” Nick laughed then it faded away. “An’ .. it gives us some time alone.”

Merlin turned to regard him. “What did you have in mind?”

“We need to talk.”

“Ooh, that sounds serious an’ I’m really not in the mood for serious. The outside may not have realized it yet but spring has sprung.”

“Maybe, but we still need to talk.”

She sighed. “Okay. Let me go take these bags upstairs an’ .. we’ll talk.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah. If it’s that serious, I promise,” she said, her voice reluctant.

*****

“Can’t I have fashion boots?” Kat asked.

“They’d get ruined. Honey, wet in England is .. really wet. Functional galoshes are a safer bet than fashion boots.”

“Galoshes?” Kat echoed, sounding horrified and her face wearing a ‘I wouldn’t be seen dead in … ’ expression.

“It isn’t so bad. Jeans, sweaters, a waxed waterproof coat. Galoshes. Everyone in the country wears them. Madonna does,” Rachel commented lightly.

“I draw the line at a flat cap.”

“Okay. A ski hat. Rain takes it outta your hair.”

“Okay,” Kat accepted. “But,” she added sternly, “I’m gonna need a larger suitcase.”

*****

“Barry, at least think about it,” Alex coaxed. “Ellie would love it over there an’ it’s just for a weekend.”

“I don’t know, Alex. Yeah, it’s a great place but .. she still remembers she went there to be tested. Come to think of it, I think I did too.”

Alex smiled. “Barry, you were a victim of a diversion.”

He shook his head. “I got the feeling I was being .. vetted as a possible interest of Alex Moreau.”

“Well .. they do that. You have to understand – we’ve lived there, on that island, for .. a long time. All together in the same house where we work. We may have started out as colleagues joined in a common goal but time’s turned us into a family. We care about each other and, when we bring .. possible interests home, the others act like brothers and sisters. They don’t want us to get hurt. It’s a sign they care about you as well. They clearly considered you suitable. If they believed you didn’t stand a chance, they would’ve ignored you.”

“Really.”

“Oh yeah. Barry, please, think about it. It’ll be totally different next time. Peri may be there with Dominic. You like her. Ellie .. well, there may be a few problems but she’s small. We can work them out. And .. if she does like it there, next time you have to go away, she can always stay with me.”

“It’s a hell of a trip to do the school run, Alex,” he remarked.

“True,” she slowly conceded. “Maybe if you have to go away during the holidays, she can stay with me.”

Barry nodded. “Okay. I’ll think about it.”

Alex kissed his cheek and hugged him. “Thank you.”

*****

Merlin met Nick in the drive. The temperature was in the low fifties, cold but not bitter. The air held just the barest hint of a promise that, soon, the earth would start to stir and spring would make itself seen.

“You wanna talk. Okay; what’s the subject?” she inquired.

“You,” Nick replied, dropping an arm around her shoulders.

“I do something wrong?” He felt an immediate quiver of tension run thru her muscles.

“No, but, since Christmas, you’ve seemed .. not yourself.”

“Well, you’d gotten used to me being deaf an’ blind, helpless, not able to do a damn thing worth mentioning. Then it all came back. I would seem different.”

“Merli,” Nick began then fell silent. He pulled her off the path into the woods. When he found a convenient tree, he backed her up, put his hands on either side of her upper arms and looked her in the eye. “Merli, I knew you before you went normal. I’ve known you as Aquila for longer than I knew you as normal. I didn’t forget what living with Aquila was like. You’re different again. What happened?”

“How do you mean .. I’m different again?” she inquired warily.

Nick tried to articulate it. “It’s like everything is too … You’re ultra. Extreme. Everything’s pin sharp. You hear Dom waking up before he really knows he’s waking up. Your senses are hiked to the max. They were never like this before. They were enhanced, sure, but not this much.”

“Am I screwing up as a Mom?” she asked.

“No, never. You’re a great Mom. Fantastic. When I think of how you fight, how hard you hit .. I’ve never seen anyone be so gentle an’ caring. Never once think you’re screwing up. I’ve seen the way Dom looks at you, Merli. He feels safe an’ he feels loved. It shows in his eyes. When he’s old enough, he’ll tell you himself.”

He saw the tension bleed out of her eyes but her shoulders were still hunched.

“I’m so scared, Nicky,” she breathed. “One slip, I could really hurt him. I feel .. wound up like a spring.”

“I’m here. Tell me about it.”

“I don’t know if I can. What if I do an’ you hate me?”

“I could never hate you. Merli .. have you felt like this since Christmas?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Then it’s way past time you shared. Let me help you carry this burden.”

Merlin studied his eyes. “Okay. I’ll trust to faith .. an’ love. Don’t let me down. I kicked ass at Christmas. I had to .. yet .. you heard Alopex. He wasn’t lying. All of us together couldn’t have done it. We couldn’t whip Leaf. We’d’ve been wiped out trying. What I did was impossible .. or so I thought. Now, I don’t know if I could do it again to the same individual cos I don’t have the element of surprise anymore. But .. Dominic caused it.”

“Dom? He’s normal .. isn’t he?”

“As far as anyone can tell at this age, yeah. Completely normal. An’ that’s why he caused it. Y’see, if he’d been an Enforcer baby, the … ” She shook her head quickly. “Let me start over. When an Enforcer becomes pregnant, her spirit also becomes pregnant. Aquila went thru it too an’, yeah, she gave me hell for not warning her it was gonna happen. When the baby is born, the spirit gives birth to the baby’s power. They fuse together during the birth process. When Dom was born, the power Aquila had grown over nine months couldn’t go to him but had to go somewhere so it came to me. I was strong before, Nicky. It’s at least doubled. Michael said they only let me go ahead with it because they trusted me not to go rogue.” She shrugged. “I’m Michael’s equal for power. Same level. Just .. knowing that … ” She let out a tight breath. “Makes me feel like I’m in a straitjacket. I can’t relax. I have to guard everything I do. What I say, even how I breathe. One slip … I don’t know what I could do but I do know how hard I’ll be punished.”

For a moment, he was silent as he let this sink in. Then he straightened slightly. “What you need is something to fight. Some way of letting off the steam.”

Merlin angled her head. “It doesn’t scare you, knowing what I could do?”

“You don’t know what you could do. How can I know?”
“You know what I mean. We both have imagination. Mine’s been giving me some pretty dire dreams.”

Nick shrugged. “I loved you before I knew you kicked ass for a living. I didn’t love you any more when I found out. I respected you more cos I could understand another operator but it didn’t change the way just looking at you made my heart feel. You never scared me, Merli. You still don’t.”

Slowly, she smiled. “Thank you.”

“So .. not feeling so wound up?”

“A little. You’re right. I need something to beat the crap out of. Something I can whip into shape. Something I can .. test myself on so I know the limits, how much pressure I can apply, an’ where it doesn’t matter if I do go too far. Know anywhere like that?”

He didn’t. “Something’s bound to come up. It always does. Life in the Legacy means never really having a life. Vacations get screwed over. I could be walking totally alone on a sandy beach, not another soul in sight, an’ something would drop from the sky to land at my feet an’ pitch me into some kinda battle. Even going to the grocery store could lead to I don’t know what. An’ when it does go quiet like it is right now .. it balances out. The Legacy takes a hell of a lot but it also gives an’ sometimes more than we can handle. Something’ll happen, Merli. Always does.”

Nick kissed her and grinned. “In the meantime, let’s go see how Derek’s doing with his lessons on teddy bears.”

*****

They didn’t find Derek in the nursery. They found him in the room next to the nursery. He was with Philip and Dominic.

“What’s this?” Nick asked, his eyes dancing.

“A childhood hobby of mine,” Philip confessed. “Dom seems to like it too.”

Dom was just about at the age where he could lift his head to watch events in his world. Right now, he lay on a rug on the floor, his head raised and wobbling slightly, watching the little train chug past him on its track.

This was the especially secret project Philip had been working on.

He lay on the floor next to the baby, and he was blushing furiously. “My Dad used to get me something every month. A carriage, a level crossing, an extra piece of track. I built up a huge system. Took over the house.”

“You’ll have your work cut out if you’re gonna do that here,” Nick remarked. “Hey, little guy .. you see the train? Here it comes … ”

Dom’s head wobbled from right to left, his eyes huge, solemn and unwavering.

Philip got up. “I hope he enjoys it.”

“Philip, you’ve hardly begun. I mean .. it’s so basic,” Merlin commented. “There’s no landscaping. No stations. No roads. There’s a lotta work still to do here.”

“I thought – ”

“Dom could do it? He’s only a baby. He’ll need help .. an’ who better to help him than an expert uncle?” Merlin shrugged. “It’ll take years.”

“I’ve nowhere better to be,” Philip said, smiling. “If that’s all right with you, Derek? It’s your house. Your room.”

“Oh, go ahead,” Derek breathed, his eyes riveted on the little train. It was curiously soothing, watching it go round, and round. “I’d love to help in the project.”

“Don’t miss me out,” Nick added, crouching down. “I can do stuff. Buy the little cars to go on the roads we’re gonna build.”

Dominic watched the train go past again and he smiled.

Boys and their toys, Merlin mused as she left them to it.

*****

Six thousand miles away and eight hours into the future, a cold wind gusted over Dartmoor in the county of Devon in south west England.

Dartmoor was a bleak place. From high tors to little rocky streams, it was beautiful in a blasted, rugged way. There were no mountains to draw the eye, only an expanse of rocky, sparse moorland which stretched for mile after mile. Very few roads crossed the moor although several trunk roads ringed it. Towns and villages were dotted around the perimeter and a few villages were more bold, setting down their roots on the moor itself, but they didn’t venture into the interior. Princetown was the only settlement on the moor proper and its nearest neighbor was Her Majesty’s Prison, Dartmoor. Hardly anyone escaped – they would perish in the bleak, blasted wilderness.

On the south eastern edge, about fifteen miles onto the moor, stood the wall of an estate. The wall was ten feet high and the only break in it was for the big, double wrought iron gates. One held a shield with an old device on it. The other bore the initials ‘HH’. A broad, straight drive led on beyond the gate for a quarter mile where, sitting firmly astride the gray, crushed stone, was, as the realtor had said, a grand pile.

This was Hatherleigh House. A winged, turreted, towered, bleakly imposing edifice built from the local granite. It was old and frowningly, dauntingly imperious. It had been for sale for some years. No one in England wanted it because, well, let’s just say rumors were attached to it.

It hadn’t been empty in all the years it had been for sale. People sometimes stayed overnight, occasionally even for two nights. They never came back. The house had been on TV but the program hadn’t aired to a mainstream audience and, rather unfortunately, it hadn’t aired outside the United Kingdom.

The realtors in charge of selling it had said, jokingly and strictly between themselves, that what they needed was an American with more money than sense, and then Hatherleigh House would be snapped up. Hey, guess what …

If you climb over the wall on this cold, gusty night and walk the quarter mile to the dark, imposing granite façade, and if you then press your ear to one of the windows, you might hear a low, moaning sound. You may be scared and run away. Skeptics, of course, will always say it is just the wind in the chimneys.

When Cooper Ashcroft had heard it, he’d said, “Wow, neat. I’ll take it.”

And the moaning may just have turned into laughter.

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