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Forging New Paths

Luca was hesitant to receive things that weren't from someone he knew, but after a pause did shuffle forward to take a cookie and even managed a quiet 'thank you' before retreating a step or two away again, closer to Evelyn. His eyes wandered as he started to feel more calm, soothed by the older man's friendly demeanor and the quiet neighborhood around them. Nothing bad was happening, and both Evelyn and Garrett were with him, and his Shadow was around. He was safe.

"I believe it was once referred to as Touch Empathy?" Evelyn offered for the sake of full disclosure, unsure if that term was more familiar. "It just means that touching things in your home may show me short moments of the past or present around them, though I have no control over which."

She listened to the rest of his story, nodding quietly along, and when he allowed them followed Garrett onto the house. It reminded her a bit of her own grandparents' home, from when she was a child, but she knew that the scents used inside, however light, were bothering Luca by the way he wrinkled his nose.

"Why don't you go sit on the back porch, Luca?" She offered gently. "I'm going to look around a little, but you can keep the door cracked and call me if you need anything."

He didn't quite like being away from her, but the weather was nice and the house felt safe, so when she showed him where the back door was he did go out to sit on the back steps and watch the clouds with the door propped partially open behind him. From there he could at least still dimly hear she and Garrett walking around.

Inside, Evelyn took a few slow, careful breaths, eyes closed for a moment as she focused on being calm and open, so that any information the rooms around her could give would come freely. When she was ready, she simply wandered, brushing her fingers over things as she passed them. Eventually, she was sure she would get something.
 
Mr. Emerald still looked a bit confused as to what Evelyn meant, until she described it in simpler terms. He nodded and smiled. "Go right ahead. You'll find quite a few happy memories, I'm sure."

And while Evelyn traced her hand along various objects, there were quite a few warm memories that brushed past her Insight. Mr. Emerald dancing with his wife across the living room floor. The pair of them sitting down to enjoy tea on the couch. Mr. Emerald calling out to her to be careful while dusting, and her playfully throwing the feather duster at him. But some of the objects held more recent memories.

If she touched the pillow, she'd find a young boy with blond hair and blue eyes curled up sleeping on the couch. A touch against the railing in the hallway brought her the same boy following Mr. Emerson down the hallway towards his bedroom.

And outdoors, behind the back porch, something rustled in the bushes. There was nothing visible at first. But Luca might notice the feeling of someone watching him.

Garrett, meanwhile, was also searching for clues, and found the pillow soon after Evelyn. ". . . Odd. This indent here looks too small to be Mr. Emerald's head. Perhaps an elbow or foot was laid here?"
 
It was always a bit disorienting, moving through a place that was unfamiliar to her with traces of information and even simple images floating through her head, but Evelyn had gotten practiced enough at letting it pass through her without it making her dizzy, without pulling her so far away from the present that she lost her footing or walked into furniture. She wandered here and there in little circles around the main rooms, expression as carefully controlled as she could manage. Good or bad, sad or happy, she had gotten used to the effort of keeping herself as detached from the object memories as she could.

Images of the child came even clearer to her than the older things, but his presence was a mystery. He didn't look much like Garrett's client, though it was hard to tell with the way the man aged. While Garrett inspect the couch pillows, she studied the family photos, trying to see if she could find the boy in them. "Do you know if Mr. Emerald had grandchildren?"

Luca sat quietly on the steps, taking small bites of his cookie and just enjoying the sunlight and the breeze. He blinked at the strange rustle when it came from the bushes, frowning when he couldn't see what it was, but though he sat a bit straighter for a moment, legs fidgeting nervously, he didn't get up to investigate. It wasn't big enough for him to see, so he thought it wasn't a person, or anything big enough to really be dangerous, but he hoped it wasn't a dog hiding in the backyard. He didn't want to have to run away.
 
"Why, no," Garrett said slowly. "He and his wife never even had any children. It was always the two of them until she passed away five years ago." He frowned and knelt down near one of the doors, examining the handles and keyholes. ". . . No signs of forced entry anywhere . . . hm. Maybe we'd better go look at the cabinets. I'm sure those will have more answers."

He strolled into the kitchen, looking over each of the cabinets for signs of being off kilter.

If Evelyn touched one, she'd see a few images of Mr. Emerald opening them and taking food out - as well as an image of the boy fading into view, climbing up on the counter, and taking out small amounts of food as well.

-----

A few moments passed. Luca didn't talk, or move around much, and he seemed safer than the other people in the house. Finally Isaac decided. He revealed himself, and his deep blue eyes stared out from the bush. He stayed frozen for a moment, just as ready to bolt as Luca was.
 
Evelyn followed after Garrett only a moment later, frowning as she ran her hands along the counters, the sink, the cupboards. ". . . There's been a child in the house." She admitted finally, having found enough signs of the boy to believe it wasn't memories so old they were from a previous homeowner. "But my sense of him fades in and out. Like he's not always here."

****************

Luca had only just begun to stop thinking about the sound when it didn't return, and jumped a little when something suddenly showed up in his peripherals. He blinked owlishly at the child in the backyard, glancing around a little as if to try and find where he had come from, but the boy was small, and a little dirty, and he looked nervous.

After a moment to try and think if he should shout for Evelyn or not, Luca quietly worked on tearing off the half of his cookie that he hadn't bitten yet, and hesitantly held it out in his hand towards the corner of the yard the boy was hiding in. ". . . are you hungry?" Maybe he was scared of whatever had been making the cabinets make noise. Luca knew he felt better when he had a distraction to keep the fear pushed away.
 
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Garrett raised his eyebrows. "A child in the house?" he asked softly. "As in, just - wandering through, or - or sitting on the couch, or - ?" Up until this moment, he hadn't put much stock in the idea of ghosts. But a random boy, who didn't belong in the home, appearing and disappearing . . .

----

Isaac blinked back at Luca, watching in confusion when the young man broke a piece of his cookie. But then Luca held it out to him. Was he trying to share? "Oh," Isaac said softly. He ambled forward out of the bushes, reaching out to shakily take the cookie. "Th - thank you."

He looked to be about eight years old, with a tattered shirt and jeans. He nibbled on the cookie hesitantly, savoring the flavor. "Umm. I'm Isaac," he said at last. He glanced up from the cookie to try and meet Luca's eyes. He'd never seen him around Mr. Emerald's house before; was he new?
 
Evelyn was shaking her head a little, trying to make sense of what she had gathered from the home. "Stealing from the cupboards. Napping on the couch. But surely Mr. Emerald would have noticed by now." Was it memory loss? Or some sort of strange ability at work?

After a pause for thought, she turned to give Garrett a dry look. "Don't say ghosts. He's more solid than that. I just can't put my finger on it yet." She refused to believe it was a ghost. "He must be able to fly, or disappear, or something else that would keep his memory from sticking." Those sorts of abilities were rarely mastered at such a young age, so she found it hard to believe, but if he could fly she was sure he wouldn't have climbed counters to get to the snacks.

****************

Luca was quiet and patient, watching the boy to see what he would do but without demanding anything from him. He was small, and dirty, and lost. Like Watson, when they had found him. And Watson had liked when Luca sat still and he could say hello at his own pace, so still Luca would be. He let the child come forward at his own pace, gentle when handing off the half of cookie and taking a little bite at the same time as the child did to prove it was safe.

"My name is Luca. . ." He said when Isaac finally spoke, shifting a little bit closer to the edge of the steps he sat on and glancing at the space beside himself. ". . . Do you want to sit?" He looked tired, Luca thought, and it was easier to sit down than to stand up when you were tired. They could sit and watch the clouds together, if Isaac wanted to stay and eat his cookie.
 
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Garrett looked relieved. "Ah. Yes, of course. Powers." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hm. Stealing from cupboards, and napping on the couch, without being seen . . ." He pulled out his phone to go over a few different types of powers. "Mind control? No, there'd be signs in Mr. Emerald. Shapeshifting? Eh, maybe . . ."

-----

Luca's voice was soft, and warm, like Mr. Emerald's. Maybe he was related. Isaac took another few bites of his cookie, carefully walked over, and sat down slowly on the concrete step next to the young man. He didn't move, and Isaac felt safe enough to try leaning against him. "Yeah," he murmured softly.

He finished the cookie off with a small yawn and wiped his mouth. It was tiring, having to stay invisible most of the time. But if Mr. Emerald was going to react the way Luca did, maybe he wouldn't have to keep staying invisible. "I like you," he murmured. "Are you his grandson?"
 
Evelyn gave up on getting any new images from the house, knowing if she tried too hard they would just start to repeat, and wandered over to look at Garrett's phone screen with a list of more commonly known abilities. "Only if he shapeshifts into inanimate objects, which is less common than simply changing appearance. What about changing density? If he's slipping through walls he might be able to keep himself secret. But I can't figure out if he's been here consistently or if he just keeps coming back. The timeline is indistinct."

****************

Luca was content to sit once Isaac had settled, sharing their cookie together and letting his eyes go back to the clouds again. He looked back down when the child leaned his weight into his side, but with some careful thought did his best not to move. He liked sitting with someone to lean against, so maybe other people did, too.

"Grandson?" He repeated, curious and thoughtful. "I don't think so. . ." He could hardly remember his own grandparents, but he was rather certain Mr. Emerald wasn't one, if that was who Isaac was talking about. It was easier to find the words to say with someone so small and frail beside him, like a less imposing figure wouldn't scare the words away, or just that he knew Isaac needed them more than someone else might.

". . . Are you tired?" He asked softly after a moment or two of sitting in silence, looking out at the small yard and all the sunlight that reached it, even as hesitant as he ever was to make suggestions. "We can lay in the grass . . . or go inside. . ." Eventually, Evelyn would come to get him and he would have to go, but for now they could spend some time in the sunlight where things were warm and soft. If Isaac wanted to go and sleep in the house, they could do that, too.
 
"Ah. That could be, but . . . if he's taking naps on the couch, surely Mr. Emerald would see him," Garrett murmured. Then he gasped and snapped his fingers. "Unless he can't! What if he's turning invisible? Sure, it's a more rare power, but it would make sense."

----

"Hm," Isaac murmured softly, thinking Luca's words over. He stayed leaned against him. If Luca wasn't Mr. Emerald's grandson, who was he? Why was he here? Then again, Isaac didn't have to worry much about him. He didn't even bother opening his eyes; somehow, he knew he could trust Luca. He yawned again and rubbed his eyes before blinking them a few times. "Maybe in the grass. I'm not really supposed to be in the house," he admitted at last.

He finally got up and ambled over to a patch of grass, laying down on a mossy patch where his imprint would be less noticeable. Then he curled up in the warm sun, curled up, and turned invisible to keep himself safe. "G'night, Luca. Hope you have a good nap."
 
Evelyn paused, arms crossed loosely and a thoughtful expression on her face. "I suppose invisibility could do it. . . But you would think Mr. Emerald would have noticed more noise. Unless a child has learned to be very quiet in order to sneak around. . ." She didn't like the thought of that and what it implied, either that the little boy had nowhere to go and was sneaking into homes to find food, or that he was likely some sort of abuse victim who either sought sanctuary or just acted out by 'pranking' people. "Do you think if I described what the boy looked like that Mr. Emerald might recognize him from around the neighborhood?"

*****************

Luca only gave his head a little tilt at the idea that Isaac wasn't allowed inside, frowning to himself. "That's not nice. . ." He murmured quietly, mostly to himself, but did get up and follow after Isaac a moment after the boy moved to lie down. Careful not to be too close and accidentally jostle the child, he laid down in the grass next to him and was going to just look at the clouds again when his vision felt funny again.

Surprised, Luca sat back up again and looked where Isaac had been, a confused expression on his face at the indent in the grass beneath where the boy had been. Isaac was gone. He hadn't walked away, but he was gone, and after a hesitation to try and figure it out, Luca reached carefully over to where the boy had been, flinching back when his fingers brushed across his shoulders.

"Oh." He said, a bit startled still, and blinked at the empty space that he thought the boy was still in. ". . . You're still here?" Was something wrong with his eyes?
 
Garrett shrugged and nodded. "Worth a shot. Wouldn't hurt anything, anyway." He wandered over back to the front porch, poking his head out. "Mr. Emerald? Do you know any boys from the neighborhood? Seen them around, I mean?"

Once Evelyn had described Isaac, Mr. Emerald frowned and shook his head. "Sorry, don't know anyone who looks like that. Why's that?"

Garrett cleared his throat. "Well . . . he may have been inside your house a few times. Maybe."

"Ohh. Is he a ghost?" Mr. Emerald asked, swirling his lemonade and taking another drink.

-----

Isaac shook his head. "Oh - not because of a rule or anything. I mean I'm not supposed to be here. This isn't my house. I've, um . . . I've been sneaking in," he admitted softly.

But then he giggled when Luca brushed his shoulder to try and figure out where he was. He became visible again, smiling up at Luca. "Yeah, I'm still here. I can turn invisible! Cool, huh?" he asked, fighting back another yawn.
 
Evelyn followed after Garrett, only glancing at the back door and thinking she would check on Luca when they were done talking to the older man before focusing on the mystery at hand. The fact that Mr. Emerald could accept the idea that there was a ghost in his house so nonchalantly was almost flabbergasting.

"No, he's very much alive," she explained, as patiently as she could. "We're theorizing he has some sort of illusionist abilities, or is simply making himself invisible somehow and sneaking around."

The fact that the boy didn't live in the neighborhood was concerning. Was he a runaway? Or homeless, perhaps?

****************

"Oh." Luca said again, a concerned little furrow in his brow. Sneaking in was bad, wasn't it? It could be dangerous, and Isaac was so small. Wasn't he worried about something bad happening?

His eyes widened a little when Isaac suddenly showed back up again, and he shifted to sit cross-legged in the grass, distracted from the clouds. "I've never seen that before. . ." He mused softly, voice a mix of confusion and wonder. He almost wished he could do that, sometimes, but as he considered all the things Isaac had said, and how the little boy looked and acted, Luca started to frown.

"Are you . . . okay?" He asked after a pause, wondering why Isaac didn't have somewhere to sleep. Didn't he have a family, or a home? All Luca knew was that when he had no family and no home, life had been full of bad things. It wasn't the same, he was smart enough to understand that, but it still didn't feel right. "Do you . . . need help?"
 
Mr. Emerald glanced over from his drink finally, his interest more caught than before. "He's alive, eh?" he asked in surprise. "Oh. So those conversations I've been having were with an actual person?"

Garrett blinked a few times. "I - you've been having conversations with him?"

"Sure! Sweet kid, from the sound of it."

". . . You, uh - didn't think to mention that?"

Mr. Emerald scoffed and shook his head. "Oh, no. Figured you only wanted the facts, and I was just convinced I was hearin' a ghost or something. Didn't seem pertinent to the case."

------

The smile slipped off of Isaac's face. He sat up in the grass, sighing heavily and folding his arms around his legs. He sat quietly for a few moments with furrowed brows. Finally he met Luca's eyes and swallowed. "I'm . . . okay. For now. But . . . you promise not to tell Mr. Emerald I'm here? Usually when people find me I have to leave. And - and I like it here. Sometimes he even talks to me. He thinks I'm a ghost," he added softly.
 
Evelyn was rather glad, in that moment, for all the practice she'd had at not smacking her hand to her forehead when something annoyed her. She didn't usually meet clients face to face, so she was proud of herself for remaining calm and keeping her own reactions inwards.

"He's been speaking back to you?" She clarified, and shared a glance with Garrett. "That's unusual, if he's trying to hide. What has he been saying?" Maybe he had asked for help, and the older man just hadn't understood because he thought it was a ghost.

*****************

Luca made an uncertain face at the request, not sure if it was something he was allowed to do. Wouldn't that mean lying? "But . . ." He fidgeted a little, fingers twisting anxiously together, and looked back at the house where he knew the others were. "My . . . friends can help. . ." Wasn't Isaac tired, or hungry? Didn't he need food, and a bed? Luca didn't want him to starve, or get hurt.
 
Detective Shiver, likewise, drew upon all his restraint and pulled in a deep breath to prevent himself from smacking his own head into a wall.

"Well, only sometimes. Usually it's when I call out and ask "Who's there?" and he'll say "Isaac." Or sometimes we ask how each other's feeling. Some days I ask him what he wants for dinner, and I'll be darned, sometimes it's like he actually eats part of it."

"He - he probably does," Garrett said softly.

Mr. Emerald smiled. "Well, anyway, I really do look forward to our conversations. I'm glad he's real. If you all want to stay for supper, you might get a chance to hear him."

----

Isaac tilted his head. He scooted a little closer, studying Luca's expression closely. "Your friends can help? Help with what?" he asked hesitantly. "Wh - what would they do?" If Luca's friends were like him, they probably weren't mean. But he wasn't sure what to expect, either.
 
Evelyn did her best to push down the temptation to be annoyed, reminding herself that Mr. Emerald was an older man and living on his own, so he was probably lonely. His family had gone, or never visited. Even a ghost could be someone to talk to, after a long time, and she should have sympathy.

". . . Perhaps it's best we stick around just for a little while," she suggested to Garrett, thinking that if nothing else came of the case itself they could at least keep the poor man company for a couple of hours, if Luca didnt need to go home. "In case he decides to speak up again."

****************

". . . I don't know," Luca admitted after a pause, knowing it wasn't a very good answer but unsure what else to give but the truth. "But they helped me . . . so they'll do something." They always knew what to do when there was a problem that needed solving. Some days, he felt like he was lucky if he even noticed the problem happening. ". . . Aren't you hungry? Or tired?" They could help Isaac find food, and a warm bed, and maybe even a bath. He didn't know how to explain it. Garrett and Evelyn just always helped. There were too many different ways to do that for him to figure out how to list them all. He just knew they would know what to do.
 
"Yes. Yes, that's a good idea," Garrett agreed, nodding. "Mr. Emerald, do you need any help getting supper ready?"

The older man slowly got up from his armchair, smiling and shuffling back inside. "You know, I wouldn't mind it. I was thinking of making chicken noodle soup tonight. Is that okay with everybody? No one's got allergies or nothin'?"

"I think that should work. Evelyn? Do you and Luca like chicken noodle soup?" Garrett asked, tilting his head. He was pretty sure it was a safe choice, but he didn't want to assume in Luca's case.

-----

Isaac's lower lip wobbled, and finally he nodded and dropped his gaze. "Yeah. I - I am hungry. And tired. Mostly tired. And I guess if they can help . . . it wouldn't hurt to ask anyway. Right?" He staggered to his feet and pulled in a breath. "Would they come out here? I don't want to go inside if Mr. Emerald can see me."
 
Evelyn shrugged a little when Garrett looked at her. "That should be fine, I think. Luca doesn't have any allergies I've discovered yet." He liked soup, she thought, though they didn't eat it very often.

Outside, Luca felt panicked when Isaac looked like he might cry, not sure how to fix it or what he'd done wrong, so all he could do was try to solve the problem by retrieving someone else that might know. "Okay." He said quickly, getting to his feet when Isaac did and starting to inch towards the door. "Okay, I'll get them." He would have to hurry, he thought, or Isaac might disappear again and then how would he find the boy?

It was, perhaps, the first time he had come so close to running since Evelyn had pulled him so urgently along to get away from Beckett. He stopped at the back door, knowing he wasn't supposed to run inside, and turned anxiously back and forth when he didn't see Garrett or Evelyn immediately, but couldn't gather the energy or the wherewithal to shout for them. He followed the sound of their voices instead, in a rush but doing his best to stay calm like Evelyn always told him to. It was hard when so many unfamiliar things were happening.

Evelyn began to turn at Luca's footsteps, eyes a bit wide when she saw the urgency in his expression, and stumbled along when he took one of her hands in both of his and started to pull, struggling for words. "I need help."

It was such a simple phrase, but it had panic instantly stirring in her chest. How often did he reach for her first when he needed her? How many times had he ever said those words to her? Never? Perhaps just once, if at all? What else could she do in response but stagger after him and hurry as he urged her, everything else forgotten?

"What's wrong?" She tried to ask as he pulled her towards the backyard, doing her best to stay calm. "Did something happen?" She had a feeling she would just have to wait and see.
 
Garrett, too, turned when he heard Luca hurry in. He'd first noticed his footsteps - they were far faster than normal, and he was clearly moving with intense focus, more than Garrett had ever seen save once or twice. And then he saw Luca's expression. Even before he heard the words, he knew something was wrong.

He glanced briefly back and forth between Luca and Mr. Emerald before holding up a finger. "We'll be right back. Please excuse us." And without hesitation, he hurried off after Luca and Evelyn out to the backyard.

But then he immediately froze when he saw a young boy staring at them, teary eyed, from beyond the doorway. He didn't look older than eight.

". . . Oh. Oh, what's wrong?" Garrett asked, stepping outside with a slower pace so as not to scare the kid.

Isaac swallowed and glanced between Garrett and Evelyn, and then to Luca again. "Are these your friends that help?"
 
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