Chapter 15. A favour asked

  Edith began her story.

  "I was thrilled when Miriam asked me to be a Governess for the

  children. Innis added a room to the family home and I moved in when

  they were abroad. Finn had only just started walking, so he must of been

  about a year old. Joan the housekeeper had taken the girls into town for

  a treat and I was minding Finn.

  He was fast asleep on a daybed in the sun room. It was a quiet afternoon,

  so I thought I'd catch up on some darning. I was looking for a needle and

  thread in the sewing room when I heard the back door open. I thought Joan

  and the girls had come back, but when I didn't hear their voices I went to

  check on Finn, and sure enough he was gone.

  Through the bay windows I saw him toddling across the backyard towards

  a stack of the timber the workmen had set fire to that morning.

  I called out his name. He turned and gave me a cheeky grin but he didn't

  stop. By the time I got to the back door it was too late. I saw him tumble into

  the pile of burning timber. I screamed and ran toward the fire.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I couldn't believe what I saw.

  Finn was sitting in the middle of the flames happily playing with the burning

  sticks and glowing embers as if they were toys - that's when I saw her for

  the first time."

  Edith glanced sideways at Gideon.

  ''Eurides.'' he said.

  "Eurides." Edith said. "She was sitting In the fire beside him,

  smiling and looking on like a doting Mother. I didn't know what to do.

  I thought maybe I could try to coax him out. When I moved closer

  Eurides looked at me and smiled.

  'Hello Edith, let him play a little longer.' It frightened me that she knew

  my name. Finn was laughing and waving his hands through all the

  coloured patterns and shapes the flames made. When he started to

  get tired he climbed into her arms. Eurides lulled him to sleep.

  She kissed him and held him out to me naked as the day he was born.

  All of his clothes had been burnt away and he was covered in soot and ash.

  'Don't be afraid' she said.

  I carried Finn into the house and looked back to see if Eurides was following

  but she was gone. I washed Finn, found some clothes and put him to bed.

  The routine of what I was doing made me start to think that maybe what I

  had just seen wasn't real. Maybe I had imagined it.

  I tucked Finn's blankets around him and when I stood up,

  Eurides was standing beside me.

  'I have a favour to ask of you' she said.

  "What did she want you to do?"

  Edith smiled. "Isn't your lunch break just about over."

  "The War department employs me as a civilian not as a soldier,

  so there's some give and take in the hours I work."

  Edith took off her sun hat and smoothed out her hair.

  "Eurides told me she was Finn's guardian and that she only

  wanted what was best for him."

  Gideon recalled a similar conversation.

  ''She wanted my help to watch over Finn until he was older."

  Gideon wondered what Eurides had given Edith in return.

  "Does anyone else in the family know about her." he asked.

  "Miriam and the girls certainly didn't."

  Gideon found that hard to believe and suspected Eurides subtle

  influence.

  "I thought Innis and Joan knew, but they never spoke to me about it.

  I lived with them until Finn was in middle school. Joan still lives in the

  house. I asked her once if she'd ever noticed anything out of the

  ordinary about Finn."

  "What did she say?"

  "She said that an apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

  "What on earth does that mean?" Gideon asked.

  ''I have no idea." Edith said.

  *

  Hidden from view in a stand of oak trees, the raven looked on as

  Edith and Gideon talked.

  ''An apple doesn't fall far from the tree." It repeated the sentence,

  then chortled and clacked it's beak in amusement.

  "Yes, very good. Very good indeed."

  *