“North knows about bees?”

  “No, I just don’t want to be in charge of that job, so we tell North and he handles it. If he doesn’t know, he’ll find out or find someone that does.” He went on to walk carefully toward the wardrobes at the beginning of the room and opened one.

  A small handful of clothes had been left on hangers.

  Girl clothes.

  Maybe for someone about my age and quite a few for someone younger. Untouched for years. Many pieces were a little faded and worn. A little dust covered. The style from a couple of decades ago.

  There were boxes on a shelf on top. And a few of the matching boxes had been opened, with contents scattered on the floor of the closet.

  Photos. Little toys. Pens. Notes.

  Her things.

  I panicked at the sudden realization. She had to have gotten these things, played with them. But...

  I swallowed hard, trying not to emit the wail that suddenly wanted to escape my throat. I don’t know why, in that moment, it struck me that hard.

  Those were hers and stuck in this room with a collection of dead bees everywhere. Somehow I pictured her being in this room, her face. Bees everywhere.

  She was dead.

  She’d died. Did she die here?

  We couldn’t just take these things. Grandfather would know. Yet... he never came up here.

  I wanted them. I couldn’t just let her things rot in this room, stuck here forever to be forgotten.

  And yet, I didn’t want to touch it. I was afraid. Afraid of crying and being unable to control myself and my feelings. Afraid to come any closer because... this was hers. And I was too close. The wall I’d built up to protect myself, to distance myself from my grandfather, from this place and everything about it... suddenly it crashed.

  I was alone. She was dead. Family was here.

  Family that had no idea that I was here. So close... and yet...

  Suddenly Gabriel was in front of me. He’d captured my cheeks in both palms and helped me focus on him.

  “Take a breath,” he said calmly. “Slow. Slo-o-ow.”

  I tried. I really did. But the breath came out as a gasp and I sucked in again, my lip quivering. Maybe because I was tired and overwhelmed all at once.

  And then suddenly I was out. It was only for a moment, but it was all suddenly black and then a split second later I was waking up, looking up at Gabriel.

  A panic attack. I didn’t even have a chance to do any of the things Lily had suggested I do if I noticed it coming.

  “Fuck,” Gabriel said as he held me, folding me gently against him, to prevent me from laying on any bees across the floor. He kept his voice low. “Don’t fall apart on me now. Please. He’s not going to... he won’t understand...” He shook his head. “Fuck. No. Please. I can’t. You cry, I cry. I can’t help it.”

  I was trying not to. I pulled away from him, on my knees on the carpet, avoiding any dead bees as I could. I just needed air to breathe.

  He was making it worse. I was trying to numb myself out again, to build the wall up, to block out thoughts of my mother, of this being my family...

  It was the only way to manage for now. He was right. Grandfather wouldn’t understand why I was so upset and crying if he saw me now.

  I went to the window, carefully stepping around bees, to stare out. I just wanted to breathe slower. “I just need a moment,” I whispered.

  He waited patiently for me for a long moment before finally saying, “Should I open the window?”

  I shook my head. I just didn’t want to move. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t look at the room. Staring off into the distance, pressing a finger hard against both lips as if to seal my mouth... that was all I could do to keep myself together.

  And breathe. Like he said.

  Gabriel waited. He didn’t move, didn’t touch anything else.

  Eventually, he lowered himself again. On his knees, despite bees around us.

  He just crouched there. Waiting. Waiting me out.

  After a few moments, he hummed. Slowly. Quietly. Just to himself.

  I listened. He didn’t say the words at all. Just hummed a tune.

  It was all too overwhelming. It took being in this room for it to get to me.

  I was torn. I wanted to remain here. My mother was here. Her things were here. A mother I never knew existed until recently, and then now I was facing this reality. Despite wanting to know, it was too much.

  Grandfather. Even though his past was strange, how paranoid he’d become, he’d a heart. He kept her things here. For his dead daughter.

  Did he miss her? Did he forget about her?

  Did he forget about me?

  I couldn’t think like that. I didn’t have time to wallow in misery. We’d have to go back downstairs...

  While I was trying to drum up a method of calming myself down, there was noise, like a truck coming up the road to the house. It might be North and Silas. They were pretty fast getting here.

  At least they could distract my grandfather for a minute. That would give me time to recover. I wondered about going downstairs to the bathroom, so I could take my time to get myself together again.

  I didn’t want them seeing me like this either. I’d have to stay downstairs while they examined the fireplace and fixed things.

  How could I tell them, without crying, not to touch anything else? I needed to go through it.

  I felt that more strongly than anything. I needed to be the one.

  I moved closer to the fireplace by sticking close to the wall, to check at the windows.

  There was a white, heavily dented work truck, one I didn’t recognize.

  Full of people I didn’t recognize.

  “Gabriel,” I said quickly, suddenly concerned. “Someone’s here.”

  In an instant, there was barking downstairs and raised voices from inside the house, both my grandfather and Nathan.

  My heart raced and Gabriel and I shared panicked gazes. When the voices intensified, I could only think of one thing.

  The thieves had come back?

  But When We Get Together

  Gabriel and I raced as fast as we could down the stairs.

  By the time we got to the living room, both Nathan and my grandfather were on the porch. Nathan’s stance was something I’d seen him do for his jujitsu practice.

  Grandfather had his rifle in hand.

  Gabriel stopped me from exiting, but he held out his phone, and was dialing instantly, for who, I didn’t know. “Stay out of sight,” he whispered to me.

  I went to the window. From my position, I could see, but anyone in the truck might not be able to see me inside.

  Chica was at the passenger side door, barking wildly at the men in the truck, who seemed afraid to exit. There were at least six of them, three in the bed, three in the cab together. Dark clothes. Stern faces.

  One of the men in the bed stood up, bracing himself against the back window of the truck cab.

  “Don’t shoot!” he called. “We just left our tools!”

  Grandfather had raised his gun, pointing the barrel at them. He wasn’t taking any chances. He muttered something to Nathan that I couldn’t quite hear.

  “What tools?” Nathan called to the man in the truck.

  “In the woods behind the house,” he said. “We did work here a week ago.”

  “You’re a fucking liar,” my grandfather barked at them and readjusted the rifle on his shoulder.

  “You get him, Grandpa,” Gabriel mumbled while pulling away to talk to someone on the phone. He quietly spoke, telling whoever it was what was happening and keeping them on the line.

  “I’ve been in the woods all day,” Nathan said. “All along here. I didn’t see any tools. And why would they be in the woods?”

  “Call off the dog!” the man said. Chica was still barking fiercely at the men, as close as she could get to the truck without touching it.

  The men inside the bed of the truck appeared ready to jump out and only they hesitated because of the dog.

  Chica’s barking wasn’t like before when we’d first arrived. When Gabriel and I had come, she’d quieted quickly once she could smell us. Now, it was like...

  Like she knew them... And knew they weren’t up to any good.

  Nathan pulled out a cell phone from his pocket. I wasn’t sure the men in the truck could see me and Gabriel in the house at all. I wondered if they thought they could take the two of them, but not without calling off the dog.

  “Go,” Nathan said. “Before I call the cops.”

  “No cops,” Grandfather said, more to Nathan than the others. “They’re no good.”

  Nathan couldn’t call the cops anyway. We were stuck here. Unless I made a dash for the woods and hid for a while. Even then, Grandfather might tell them there had been a girl here...

  Me. I’d have to answer questions...

  Suddenly, I realized how dangerous it was for me to stay here.

  And Grandfather... if men came to rob him, the police would come and he’d...

  My eyes widened as I realized the last robbery... it was never reported. Because my grandfather had guns and he didn’t want them taken again.

  He’d been fighting them off alone, wary and trying to prepare for if they’d be back. Barricading himself in the room. Waving a gun at whoever approached, especially at night when he couldn’t see.

  Which was why my uncle desperately wanted for someone else to stay with him. He really was alone. Completely. There would be no help if he wouldn’t even call the police.

  They needed someone he could get along with to stay. For this.

  “We can’t leave,” I whispered.

  “You say something?” Gabriel asked, coming back to me.

  I shook my head. Not important now.

  But inside, my heart was tearing into pieces.

  My Grandfather and I, we were too much alike. We both didn’t want to call the cops. For different reasons. Which meant the only people he could rely on were people like us. Before when I had assumed I couldn’t stay, it was for a different reason. Now realizing the truth, it was clear I had to stay.

  I couldn’t ask the Academy to have someone stay here all the time. Not like this. It was too dangerous.

  It was like a decision forced by circumstances, and the result was there was no way to leave without risking his life.

  It was like a standoff outside, while the men claimed there were tools in the woods, and Nathan shouted at them again that there aren’t any tools.

  “If I find tools, and they don’t belong to anyone else, I’ll call you,” he said. “What’s your number?”

  “Just call off the dog,” the man cried out again. The other men seemed nervous, but they still remained, waiting things out.

  They weren’t listening. I was beginning to suspect that the gun my grandfather was holding wasn’t actually loaded, because he kept waving it but not firing.

  Or maybe he had more self-control than I thought.

  Abruptly, from the start of the driveway came a large, black SUV, nearly skidding as it turned onto the narrow lane.

  My heart jumped for joy. It had to be North and Silas.

  It barreled up the drive. Their sudden appearance startled the men in the truck, enough that the main man who had been shouting slapped his palm on the roof. “Let’s go!” he cried out.

  North pulled out of the way, driving in the yard just as the other white truck pulled around. The men on the back swayed but held on as the truck went to the end of the drive and continued on down the road and out of sight.

  North and Silas jumped out, trying to get a good look at the truck that was leaving. “Who was that?” North called to us.

  “I wish I could remember,” Grandfather shouted to them but waved his gun at North and Silas now. “Who are you?”

  “Hang on!” Gabriel called and stepped out onto the porch finally. “These are the friends I told you about. To fix the bee problem. And the chimney.”

  Grandfather kept his gun up, while Chica went to inspect them. She raced at North first, excited about her last encounter and ready to go again.

  North remained stock still, allowing the dog to approve without moving a muscle. I was worried for a moment she would be so worked up by the last guys that she’d attack him.

  Chica barked once more and approached him cautiously. She sniffed for a minute at his ankle and then stopped, wagging her tail and licking at his pants at the knee.

  North reached down, offering a hand to sniff. She licked at it and nudged it like she wanted petting. He petted her and she wagged her tail happily.

  It was only then that Grandfather lowered the gun.

  “I’m pretty sure those are the guys that robbed me,” he said. “They knocked me out, though. I don’t remember their faces. I didn’t want to be wrong.”

  It was also likely if there was an injury... or worse... the police would have been out here. I was starting to connect why he was making certain decisions.

  “Do you remember someone coming to work?” Nathan asked. “Would they have left tools?”

  “Not in the woods,” he said. He tilted his head. “There’s an old shack out there.”

  Nathan perked up. “I saw it.”

  Grandfather shifted the gun in his hands. “It’s an old distillery. Moonshine. And no, they wouldn’t have reason to be out there. That’s my property. I haven’t hired anyone. I just worried it was the farmers that leased the land. But Chica doesn’t bark at them. Not like that.”

  “She might have known,” North said, “if they were bad guys.” He was still petting the dog, bunching up loose skin around her ears and releasing it before stroking her back. Silas came around the truck then, and he stopped as Chica came to inspect him, too. North stood up. “A lot of dogs have a good sense of people. They can tell.”

  At that, Chica did the same routine with Silas. Silas waited until she approved. After she was happy, Silas finally knelt, contentedly accepting a snuggle and face lickings as Chica got excited by someone being on her level.

  “Right,” Grandfather said, finally putting away the gun properly at his side. “At least those other guys are gone.”

  “Uh, Brian,” Gabriel said, motioning to Silas and North. “Sorry if I invited them at a bad time.”

  Grandfather waved a hand emphatically. “Couldn’t be better timing.”

  North stepped forward to offer his hand. “I’m James,” he said.

  Silas pulled himself away from the dog enough to say, “I’m Sam.”

  Grandfather chuckled. “I’m going to get confused by the names. Samantha. Sam. James. Joe.” He laughed and motioned to Gabriel. “All we need now is a match for you and we’re set.”

  Silas looked at me, puzzled.

  I shrugged. We hadn’t had time to brief them on names. I was going to get confused.

  Grandfather went inside with Gabriel first, talking about the men and what to do if they came back.

  North came up the steps first, and in a very low whisper to Nathan said, “Joe?”

  Nathan shrugged. “I don’t know where it came from. Popped into my head...”

  “Can’t be Joe Lewis, the guy you’ve got movies and posters from a few years ago... some karate guy?”

  Nathan slowly formed a goofy grin. “Naw, can’t be.” Then he paused and pressed a palm to is forehead. “Damn it, I could have been Bruce Lee...”

  Everything Is Fine

  Gabriel

  What a shitshow.

  Sang disappeared into the back bedroom quickly to call Dr. Green and Luke and let them know what was happening.

  Gabriel meanwhile figured out from talking to Brian the thieves were likely after the safe in the locked bedroom.

  “I think they came back to finish the job,” Brian said. The old man motioned toward the upstairs bedroom. “Don’t know what they think is up there. They couldn’t break it open the first time.”

  It made Gabriel wonder what was up there. Clearly Sang’s grandfather locked it all up for a reason. It was obviously not valuable, because he didn’t think the thieves would be all that interested in it.

  Gabriel assumed if thieves saw it the first time, and they didn’t get in trouble for the last robbery, and thought the old man was just by himself again... yes. A big problem. And it was just a matter of time before the tried again. They’d just wait for the old man to be alone.

  This was getting very serious, very fast. They were lucky Nathan stayed behind at all and had bothered to introduce himself.

  Over the afternoon, Gabriel worked together with North and Silas to figure out a plan for the bees and fixing the chimneys. Brian offered his suggestions, too.

  “We’re still learning masonry ourselves,” North said. “But we need to fix up the chimneys to keep the bees out once they’ve been removed. They’re digging out the mortar to build nests and making the whole thing unstable. Since we aren’t as skilled, we’ll have to get a mason out here to help. Chimneys are particular...”

  “How much is that going to cost?” Brian asked.

  Gabriel let them work out the details. Now that they’d been face to face with Brian for a short time, he didn’t seem that bad.

  Fucking nuts.

  But not bad.

  He could also see how it might have played out for Sang’s mother, if she’d gotten pregnant at young age, if she might have needed help, a doctor or psychiatrist... and if she hadn’t gotten help because he was paranoid of doctors, or people in general, and how Sang’s mother might have become severely depressed as a result.

  He couldn’t think about it now. He needed to go at this slower, too. Having Sang up there in the room her mother was in, it was like Sang shut down. Right in front of him.

  He’d seen it before. And now he knew it for what it was. Sheer panic.

  Too much too fast. And really overwhelming, he imagined. They needed time to go slow.

  And with how it was going, it was sounding like they’d be staying for a bit.