"What are we going to do?" Kit asked Sportacus once Robyn had been settled in her own bed.
"I don't know. I can't fly her to the hospital because of the weather on the mountains and if I take her home…"
Kit shook his head, "I'm sure Robbie's used to all this now. I know Robyn won't be taken to the hospital, if we get her away from here she'll be fine. It's always the way with these traces."
"I hope you're right."
Sparing a last look at Robyn, Sportacus jumped into the pilot's seat and pedalled back to Lazytown.
Kit tended Robyn's wounds with one of his handkerchiefs. There were lots of little nicks from the broken glass she'd landed on after jumping through the window. Some looked worse than others but none were very deep, thankfully. As the airship drew away from the wreckage of the shack Robyn began to wake up. Kit's theory had been right and he was anxious to know what had happened in the shack.
"What happened?" Robyn asked groggily, still coming round.
"That's what I wanted to ask you. I know for a fact that not all of these injuries came from you jumping out the window. Someone attacked you didn't they?"
Sportacus looked round shocked by Kit's statement. He'd not expected Kit to be so confrontational with asking what had happened.
For her part Robyn was unfazed. "The rules have changed. I can't tell you what went on in there."
"Why not?" Sportacus asked.
Robyn didn't answer. She couldn't answer. What could she say if she did? Telling the truth would mean that someone would die and lying wasn't something she could do. Again she was faced with one of those times where she wished she'd have a seizure so the question would be dropped. As always a seizure didn't come.
Sportacus was about to ask again when he saw someone appear as if from nowhere near Robyn's bed. It took a matter of seconds for his memory to click in and tell him who this person was.
"Detective Miller." Sportacus said by way of recognition not greeting.
The detective nodded. "You shouldn't press Robyn on this. I can't tell you the exact reasons why as we would all be in serious trouble. Leave any more discussion of this until you're back home and safely on the ground. It's easier for them to kill you in the air."
Before either man could ask anything more of the detective he was gone. Mindful of the detective's warning Sportacus picked up the pace and arrived back in Lazytown two minutes sooner than he would have done at his previous speed.
When Robyn, Kit and Sportacus arrived back home Detective Miller and Robbie were waiting for them. It was obvious that Robbie had been told what had happened to Robyn as he had some cloths and a bowl of water ready. Robyn walked over and Robbie finished off cleaning her cuts and put plasters on where they'd go.
"I assume you know what that place is." Kit stated looking at Detective Miller.
The detective nodded, "Sunny Acres Camp site. Thirty years ago an escaped convict from France who went by the name of Eloise DeChamp booked a shack or rather cabin under a pseudonym. Miss DeChamp was a bit of a fire fan and after spending a day at Sunny Acres decided to burn it to the ground. She lit fires in all of the cabins except her own while the whole camp was sleeping. Each cabin had a gas fire with spare canisters. I'm sure you know that if you mix compressed gas canisters with fire they go boom. By the time any of the fire crews arrived there was no camp left to save. Three hundred souls lost their lives in that fire. Strangely the only cabin that didn't go up in smoke was Miss DeChamp's. Need I say that she died anyway and the cabin that Robyn entered was hers?"
"You've got something severely out of balance here detective. Ghosts can't attack people."
"That is true but I wouldn't say that Robyn is normal people. It seems the game plan has changed. Robyn's ability is changing, growing faster than anyone expected. See dead people, hear dead people, and speak to dead people. That is supposed to be the deal. Not anymore. Physical contact now comes into it." Detective Miller walked over to Robyn, "if you'll allow me."
Robyn nodded seeing the detective holding out his hand. At Robyn's nod he clasped one of her hands to the great shock of everyone in the room.
Detective Miller himself was moved by the physical contact but not in the same way as anyone else. It had been twenty years since he'd touched anything and felt it. As a ghost his hand would go through anything he touched and all he had was a long, distant memory of how the item would have felt. The touch of Robyn's hand offered him hope. Before the sensation of flesh against his hand became too addictive he let go.
Getting lost in the feel of Robyn's warm, soft and living flesh would not do. There wasn't time for that and never would be. Even though he was a ghost and ought not to bother with such things he stuck by basic etiquette. Robyn was engaged and her flesh belonged to the man she was to marry.
Coming back to himself Detective Miller thought it best to offer some evidence that what had just happened wasn't a trick. Robbie had resumed his work and as he'd met Sportacus before Detective Miller went over to him. He held out his hand and Sportacus consented to be touched. The moment the detective's hand had made contact with Sportacus' it went straight through. This caused another jolt of surprise from everyone in the room.
As for Sportacus he'd never been touched by a ghost before. It was a curious thing to have someone's hand sticking out through his own and to not feel a thing. He watched as the detective slowly withdrew his hand and he tried to get his head around what had happened.
Detective Miller stepped back from Sportacus and looked at Robyn, "I'm sure you understand that this makes you much more vulnerable than before. You have enemies all around you, now that they can hurt you they will. Luckily you have your allies, those that see you as indispensable to their continued existence."
"Why would Robyn have enemies?" Kit asked confused.
"Her ability, there are those that view her as a threat. Others view her as a tool and an obsolete one at that. Both of these groups whatever, their views of Robyn, think ill of her and will do ill when they wish to." Detective Miller replied and then turned to Robyn, "if you don't mind there is something I must say to you, something that is to be heard by your ears only."
Robyn nodded and stood up. She made her way up the stairs and found Detective Miller standing in her room. He was back to his non-solid form; this indicated that he had to say could not be overheard by those it didn't concern.
Detective Miller gestured for Robyn to take a seat. When she did so he said, "Eloise DeChamp shouldn't have been able to attack you. Unlike me and your father she wasn't bound in purgatory. Because of her deeds she was sentenced to eternal torture by the Judges. This means that her spirit would always be bound to where it had been placed and would never make contact with this world."
"What are you saying?"
"When the explosion ripped into our domain your father wasn't the only one brought into this world. It breached what you might call hell and only one person was brave enough to take advantage of that breach. The breach is still open and only Eloise DeChamp has used it since the first person escaped."
Dread filled Robyn but she asked the question she was being drawn to ask, "Who was the first?"
"Lily."