Mimic (Wardens Legacies - Ancient Blood III)

25 - AN OFFER TO REFUSE

I admit I was shocked. I went room to room and found nobody. It was a bit concerning. His car was outside, the front door was unlocked, and an eerie sense of foul play hung in the air. I felt cold, a sense that I was used to when the spirits were swarming around me. I felt they wanted to speak, but the amulet held them at bay. I was not safe enough to remove it to find out. So, I continued my search through the house. When I came to the attic door, something again did not feel right. I was not afraid, but I had a feeling that something on the other side of the door was going to answer many of my questions. I opened it and climbed up the stairs towards the attic.

The moment my feet hit the top step, a breeze rustled through the room forcing my hair to fly in many directions. I spun in circles not seeing anything, until my eyes rested on a chair facing an old mirror. In the chair sat a man staring at the image of Elizabeth. They were not sharing any audible words, but I could tell that they were lost in some form of telepathic conversation. Her dark eyes looked up and rested on me. With a flicker, she dissipated, and the man turned around an angry expression on his face.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded, jumping to his feet, and flying across the room grabbing me by the shoulders. "What did you see?"

"Nothing," I stammered, trying to make myself sound as human as possible.

"Who are you?" His fingers bit into my flesh. If I had been mortal, I would have screamed out in pain. Instead, I stared at the man trying to see if there was something inside of him other than Mr. Grimm. To my surprise he was himself.

"Your wife..." My lip trembled, and he let me go. While I had no pain, I still rubbed my shoulders where the red welts from his grasp were starting to form.

"You know Megan?" He stepped away from me.

"She asked me to stop by today to do some work." I widened my eyes and pressed my lips together trying my hardest to look scared. I was anything but scared. I was intrigued at how he could be sitting in front of the mirror having a conversation with my mother-in-law. How was it possible that someone other than myself was able to allow the physical changes to their reflection?

"I am so sorry Miss." He frantically pushed his hair off his forehead.

"The door was unlocked." I took a tiny step backward.

"And you thought it was ok to enter?" The anger was returning.

"Mrs. Grimm said to come in if it was open. She said that she might be with the baby." I stumbled with the words, knowing that it might be something his wife would say.

"Oh." He calmed. "That sounds like something she would say. As you can see my wife is not here. She went on one of her random trips to see her mother. I'm sorry you came all this way for nothing."

"If you still need someone to clean up, I am more than willing to assist." I tried to plead with him. Maybe if I seemed unfortunate, he would be more willing to allow me to stay.

"You must be one of those single mothers that my wife picks up from the shelter from time to time. She's always had a soft spot for women like you." He began walking towards the stairs. I glanced at the mirror and shivered. "How many do you have?"

"Two boys, twins." I figured it was in my best interest to play along.

"Bet they are a handful." He laughed softly. "Megan can barely handle Celeste, let alone another child."

I proceeded to follow him down the stairs.

"There's lots of yelling, and they fight for my attention." It was not a lie, my boys really did act like this, even as grown men.