Chapter 11:

A New Lesson

The weeks passed, and the children's behavior only improved slightly. Their sleeping patterns had become more controlled, but other than that, they were adapting to their new environment in mostly negative ways. They'd learned exactly how to push Bloodgood's buttons, and they'd also learned how to get away with it, too.

Tom was very capable of violent outbursts, which usually included throwing things, screaming and hiding somewhere in the house where it would take a long time to find him. Lillian behaved very similarly, though Spectra discovered that the only way to get her to calm down was to distract her with something, like a toy or the TV. The only known way to get Tom to stop his tantrums was to wait it out or get Tim to stop him, and sometimes Tim would get tired of babysitting his brother and ignore him instead.

A lot of trouble was caused by Caleb as well, though he rarely had outbursts like Tom and Lillian did. Caleb was more susceptible to mischief rather than violence: he would climb up the walls, chew on the edge of the table when no one was watching, and pull random items out of the kitchen cabinets to turn them into playthings. He especially liked to dig through bags of flour and sugar, much to Bloodgood's dismay.

Benny didn't cause problems very often, but when he did, the issue was very brief and he'd always wind up sobbing uncontrollably. Every time he broke down, someone would always have to comfort him until he'd stopped. Tim, on the other hand, seemed to always be in some kind of mood, and he always just sat in the middle of the living room and read books away from everyone else. The household had become a circus.

"What am I going to do!?" Bloodgood sighed, exasperated as she and Spectra sat in the office. "Thanksgiving is in two days, you and Jared are going to see your families, and my father is going to have to deal with these...these...monsters!"

Spectra just reached over and patted her former principal's shoulder. "Don't talk like that, Ms. Bloodgood! Look, if you want me to stay behind for you, I can and will. I can-"

"No, Spectra," Bloodgood waved her off. "You go be with your family. Perhaps my father can be some help,"

Upstairs, Jared had to deal with yet another of one Caleb's messes, with this one involving chocolate syrup. As Jared tried desperately to clean the syrup from beneath Caleb's nails, Caleb wouldn't stop resisting.

"No!" Caleb tried to wriggle away, but Jared kept his grip. "Let go! My show is on!"

"What show?" Asked Jared, grimacing at the dried syrup that would not come loose.

Caleb pulling his hand away, shoving a hand in his mouth and cleaning his nails with his tongue. "The Animal Planet!" He exclaimed once his hands had been removed from his mouth. "I like the meerkats best! I don't remember reading about them in school,"

Jared made another face at what Caleb had just done. "Ew...okay, well, wash your hands. You can watch your show after that,"

Reluctantly, Caleb ran his hands under the sink water, and he rubbed the bar of soap in his claws. Once he was done, he quickly scurried off to the TV. Jared sighed, and he turned the sink back on to wash his own hands.

This was when a peculiar tapping was heard on the outside of the bathroom window. The wind outside had also grown louder, and both those noises caught Jared's attention. He figured it was maybe a branch, but nonetheless, he went to the window to see what it was.

It was very foggy out, and when Jared tried to look outside, he didn't see anything. This caused him to open up the window and reach out to touch whatever had been tapping the glass. However, once he touched what he was sure was the branch, it grabbed him by the wrist with such strength that he yelped.

Jared looked up, staring directly into the dark eyes of anxious looking older man. The man's neck was turned in such a way that it looked snapped, and his hair was messy and raggedy. As he looked into Jared's eyes, he began to howl.

"Oh, please let me in!" The man sobbed, yanking Jared's hand violently. "I have to see the Weavers! I must make amends!"

Horrified, Jared tried to shake the man's grip, but the man would not turn him loose. "How did you get up on the roof!? Why are you out here!? Who are you!?"

"My name is James McAllroy!" The man cried, trying to force himself through the window. "Please, please let me in! I must see them!"

"No!" Jared finally freed himself from the ghostly stranger, and he slammed the window shut. After a few seconds of panting, he slowly opened the window once more. There was nothing.

"What was that?" It was Tim, who was just entering.

Jared took a moment to compose himself, and he stammered out, "A...a bird tried to fly in. That's all,"

Tim didn't seem to believe him, but he didn't press further. As he walked off, Jared closed the curtains of the window and let out a sigh, hoping this would never happen again.

Later that night, Spectra lay on the couch with Lillian and watched TV. Bloodgood had told Spectra to try and avoid keeping the kids up late, but Spectra had figured out that the best way to help get Lillian to sleep was to sit and watch TV with her until she got tired.

As a news report played on the TV, Lillian turned to Spectra, a quizzical look on her petite face. "Are you really leaving tomorrow?"

"Not for long," answered Spectra quietly. "I'll leave tomorrow morning, I'll be gone all that next day, and I'll be back by noon two days from now. Same with Jared,"

"Why are you going?"

Spectra sighed, sitting up a bit. "Well...it's Thanksgiving. I'm going to see my family: my mother, my father, my sisters and my grandfather. I haven't seen them in awhile, so I'm sure they miss me,"

Lillian thought this over. "Your grandfather is alive?"

"Of course he is! Well, not really. He is a ghost, but he's still with us,"

"Oh," Lillian looked down at Honey Bunny, picking absent-mindedly at his stitching. "I don't know my grandpa, or my grandma. Aunt Jenny used to say that I got my red hair from gramma,"

Spectra nodded thoughtfully. "Oh, really? Did you ever see any pictures of your grandma?"

"Nope. Mama didn't have any," Lillian looked back up at the TV- it was showing a dance troupe performing a routine. "But aunt Jenny also said that Grandma did the Lord's work and told people about God all around the world, an' then my Grandpa gave her Mama and left,"

There was a pause, and Spectra had a thought. "Lillian, could you...take down your hood?"

"Why?"

"I just want to see your hair,"

Lillian turned and stared at Spectra, and then she slowly pulled the hood down. Her hair was about shoulder length, and it was a light orange. Its intense color made her skin look paler than it really was.

Spectra went silent at the sight, and she whispered, "Lillian, you're really pretty,"

Lillian said nothing, and she turned back to the screen and kept watching.

Morning came, and Jared and Spectra had to leave for the next two days. The plan was that Spectra would drop Jared off at the bus stop so that he could get on the ferry, and then Spectra would continue to her parents' house. As the two rolled their suitcases out the door, the children called their goodbyes (well, except for Tom) and continued on with their day.

It was a little later in the afternoon when there was a gentle knock at the door. Bloodgood barely heard it as she worked in her office, but when the visitor knocked a second time, she looked towards the door and gasped.

"Father!"

Quickly, Bloodgood sprang from her chair and rushed for the door. When she opened it, she was faced with the tall, dark-haired and stone faced man she'd known all her life, and he kissed her when he saw her.

"My darling Nora," he sighed, tucking a finger beneath her chin to get a better look at her. "Aye, age has done you well, my dear. Though, you look a bit too much like your mother,"

"Why, father, that isn't my fault!" She grinned at him and embraced him, and she reached for his bags when they parted. "Here, allow me to help you,"

As Declan Bloodgood followed his daughter inside, he noticed Caleb sitting on the carpet, looking up at him. Declan raised an eyebrow, and he turned to Bloodgood. "Your dog looks sick,"

"Dog?" Caleb looked around. "What dog?"

Bloodgood gasped, shaking her head. "Why, father! That's Caleb! Remember, one of the children I told you about?"

Declan looked down again. "Ah. I see, though he is very skinny. What are you feeding him?"

"It doesn't matter," Bloodgood sighed, pushing the bags against the wall. "He's a rogue soul, he can't gain weight,"

At this moment, Tom entered, stopping when he saw Declan standing there. Declan noticed him, taking a step back in alarm. "Oh! Are you...another rogue soul, my good man?"

Tom just stared up at him, and he limped away, snarling all the while.

As the day continued, Declan silently observed the way the children behaved. He watched Benny have a meltdown after breaking a glass, he saw Caleb tear open a package of crackers, and then attempt to clean said crackers off the floor by eating them, and then Tom had his daily fit of rage. Once everything seemed to get quiet, Bloodgood went to prepare some potatoes for the next day, only to have Lillian throw a bunch of books down the stairs because they were 'boring' to her. This was all Declan needed to see, and he marched up to his room and slammed the door shut.

Noon rolled around, and Bloodgood put some sandwiches and fresh lemonade out for the children to eat. Once they were all at the table, Declan came back downstairs and threw a scribbled up paper on the table, stopping everyone in their tracks.

"Some serious changes need to be made around here," Declan announced, crossing his arms with contempt. "Children, your behavior is unacceptable and I cannot be silent any longer. Nora, you must listen, too. I expected better from you than this,"

Bloodgood tried to argue. "Father-!"

Declan silenced her with a wave of his hand, and he picked the paper back up. "I have here a schedule I have composed as well as a punishment system that is completely fool-proof. And, since you are rogue souls, I will show you how to channel your anger and unwillingness to behave into positive methods. Once you are finished eating, you will meet me in the yard for your training. You will not disobey me!"

The children, on any other occasion, would have simply ignored him, but they were genuinely curious with what he had to say. Sure enough, after lunch, they met him outside in the yard.

"Children!" Declan held up a round stone in his hand, showing it off in the sun. "I hold in my hand a lake stone, which I will throw and you will retrieve. However, you must retrieve it without your powers," he whirled around and threw the stone into a tree, where it stuck between some branches. "See?" He pointed to it. "Fetching that stone with no powers actually requires much concentration and problem solving, which is exactly what I want you to do. Your powers have made you lazy, and you must work against that by going back to your human roots and climbing that tree. Do you understand?"

Lillian decided that she would be first to try this. She hoisted herself up about three feet, and then tumbled down. She stood up, dusted herself off, and tried again. This was repeated a few more times before she gave up and tried to levitate, but Declan quickly stopped her by spraying her with a spray bottle.

"No!" Declan barked. "I told you not to use powers!"

Lillian sputtered and shook her head, exclaiming, "I hate water!"

Declan sprayed her again. "Then don't disobey me!"

She then let out a shrill shriek right in his face, but he didn't recoil in shock like her victims did. Instead, Declan just stared at her, unamused, and sprayed her again.

"Go sit down!"

As Lillian stormed away, Caleb decided to give it a try. He dug his nails into the bark, hoisting himself up in a mountain-climbing sort of manner. He was pretty successful, until one of his nails broke and he fell to the ground.

"My nail just broke!" Caleb held his hand up to show Declan, who just sighed.

"Stop being such a woman. Sit down,"

Tim went next, and he felt pretty confident about himself. "I climb trees all the time," he grabbed on to a branch and began to left himself up. "And I jump right down again. It's easy," however, it didn't take long for him to realize that this was a much talker tree than he was used to.

Once the stone was in view, he tried to reach for it, but he faltered, causing a branch beneath him to break. Tim yelped, reaching out desperately for another branch and falling straight to the ground when he was unable to. When he stopped himself telepathically from hitting the ground, Declan marched over and sprayed him with the bottle.

"Are you deaf, boy!?" Declan sprayed him a second time. "I said 'no powers'!"

Tim finally lost his temper, and he snatched up the spray bottle and threw it. As he stalked off, Declan began to shout after him.

"Do you know why you rogue souls attack others and have negative attitudes!? Because your death killed the soul you once were! Your first soul was strong, your new one is weak!"

Nora Bloodgood had been spraying down her casserole pan when Tim entered in a huff. As he pulled up a chair and sat down, Bloodgood just sighed.

"What happened?"

Tim looked up, and though his face was concealed, it was clear he was very upset. "Can I kill your dad!?"

Bloodgood just shook her head, going back to her work. "That's just how he is, Tim. He raised me that way when I was a child, and now he's rearing you this way. He used to be in the army, you know,"

"He sprayed me with water," muttered Tim, looking away.

There was a pause, and Bloodgood bent down and tucked a finger beneath his chin. "Well, that is concerning. I will talk to him, but for now," she handed him a mini eclair from a box. "It's frozen, but it's chocolate. I think you need it,"

Tim took the eclair silently, then he asked, "Bloodgood? If you like kids so much, how come you didn't have any?"

Bloodgood stopped, and she laughed a bit. "Why, I'm not even married!"

"Oh," Tim took a bite of the eclair, and he looked back up. "What difference does that make?"

Closing up the oven, Bloodgood just shook her head. "I'm afraid you're watching too much TV, my boy,"